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Crusader Kings III Available Now!
The realm rejoices as Paradox Interactive announces the launch of Crusader Kings III, the latest entry in the publisher’s grand strategy role-playing game franchise. Advisors may now jockey for positions of influence and adversaries should save their schemes for another day, because on this day Crusader Kings III can be purchased on Steam, the Paradox Store, and other major online retailers.
Interesting idea. good luck with the war and all that.
From my brief experiences with South Africa, they have a rather small army but then again they did in real life. Mind you i play HOI 1 so it might be different in HOI 2
From my brief experiences with South Africa, they have a rather small army but then again they did in real life. Mind you i play HOI 1 so it might be different in HOI 2
Great !! A fascist south africa AAR. I think someone else was going to make one but they were busy so they made a quick summary of what they did.
Well I must let you know that this AAR faces several problems in the near future, the main one being that my copy of HOI2 is 12,000 kilometres away back in Australia. However I expect to be mailed it by my brother in the near future and as such will have it in a week or so. Untill that time we will explore a little of the back story as to how that bastion of Britishness, South Africa, became the continents only fascist regime. (technicaly it was one of three independant nations on the continent but we can look past that 
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looking good! ic might be a problem in the beginning tho. not much in africa anyway...are you going to look elsewhere?
Chapter One, The Arrival of Europeans at the Cape
This story begins many years before the present. The heat that fanned the flames had been building for centuries. All it would take is one spark.
It was the Portugese who would be the first Europeans to explore the region around the Cape of Good Hope. Indeed it was Vasco da Gama who first rounded the cape on his voyage to India in 1498. However the Portugese colonists focused their efforts on the rich lands of Mozambique to the east, full of gold, iron and lush forrests, while the lands to the south were little more than vast grasslands. Indeed, no great power saw fit to lay claim to this stretch of coast, and it was an act of God (namley the shipwreaking of a Dutch East India Company vessel in Table Bay in 1647) that finaly brough Europeans to settle the region that now encompasses Cape Town. The shipwreaked sailors constructed a makeshift fort and waited a year for rescue. Shortly thereafter, the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement. The VOC, one of the major European trading houses sailing the spice route to the East, had no intent of colonizing the area, but only wanted to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could shelter, and where hungry sailors could stock up on fresh supplies of meat, fruit, and vegetables. To this end, a small VOC expedition under the command of Jan van Riebeeck reached Table Bay on April 6, 1652.
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Chapter Two, Dutch Expansion and the Founding of the Boers
Dutch settlers began to trickle into the new colony. Many chose to leave the area close to the coast in search of fertile farmland further inland. These "Burghers", groups of farmers and pastoralists steadily increased and pushed their holdings further inland. The majority of burghers had Dutch ancestry and belonged to the Calvinist Reformed Church of the Netherlands, but there were also numerous Germans. In 1688 the Dutch and the Germans were joined by the French Huguenots, also Calvinists, who were fleeing religious persecution under King Louis XIV. As the burghers, too, continued to expand into the rugged hinterlands of the north and east, many began to take up a semi-nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. n addition to its herds, a family might have a wagon, a tent, a Bible, and a few guns. As they became more settled, they would build a mud-walled cottage, frequently located, by choice, days of travel from the nearest European. These were the first of the Trekboers (Wandering Farmers, later shortened to Boers), completely independent of official controls, extraordinarily self-sufficient, and isolated. Their harsh lifestyle produced courageous individualists, who knew the veld and nature intimately, and based their life on their main source of guidance, namely the Bible. 
The Boers were to become a fiercley independent people. And it would be this independence that would have dire and far reaching consequences in the years to come.
Chapter Three, The Arrival of the English
As the 17th Century drew to a close, the power of the Dutch had began to wane. No longer could the Dutch East India Company claim to rule the seas, it was a new power that could now claim this honor. The newly emergent British Empire. In 1795 the British seized what had come to be known as the "Cape Colony" from the Dutch to prevent its capture by the French. The fiercly independant settlers of Dutch, German and French origin viewed the arival of a new power on the Cape with suspicion and in many cases outright hostility.
At the tip of the continent the British found an established colony with 25,000 slaves, 20,000 white colonists, 15,000 Khoisan, and 1,000 freed black slaves. Power resided solely with a white élite in Cape Town, and differentiation on the basis of race was deeply entrenched. Outside Cape Town and the immediate hinterland, isolated black and white pastoralists populated the country.
Like the Dutch before them, the British initially had little interest in the Cape Colony, other than as a strategically located port. As one of their first tasks they tried to resolve a troublesome border dispute between the Boers and the Xhosa on the colony's eastern frontier. In 1820 the British authorities persuaded about 5,000 middle-class British immigrants to leave England behind and settle on tracts of land between the feuding groups with the idea of providing a buffer zone. The plan was singularly unsuccessful. By 1823, almost half of the settlers had retreated to the towns, notably Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, to pursue the jobs they had held in Britain.
While doing nothing to resolve the border dispute, this influx of settlers solidified the British presence in the area, thus fracturing the relative unity of white South Africa. Where the Boers and their ideas had before gone largely unchallenged, European Southern Africa now had two language groups and two cultures. A pattern soon emerged whereby English-speakers became highly urbanised, and dominated politics, trade, finance, mining, and manufacturing, while the largely uneducated Boers were relegated to their farms.
The gap between the British settlers and the Boers further widened with the abolition of slavery in 1833, a move that the Boers generally regarded as against the God-given ordering of the races.
Chapter Four, The Great Trek
Beginning in 1835, several groups of Boers, together with large numbers of Khoikhoi and black servants, decided to trek off into the interior in search of greater independence. North and east of the Orange River (which formed the Cape Colony's frontier) these Boers or Voortrekkers ("Pioneers") found vast tracts of apparently uninhabited grazing lands. They had, it seemed, entered their promised land, with space enough for their cattle to graze and their culture of anti-urban independence to flourish. Little did they know that what they found — deserted pasture lands, disorganised bands of refugees, and tales of brutality — resulted from the difaqane, (The scattering of the African tribes in the wake of invasions by the powerful Zulu Kingdom under the tyranical leader Shaka I)
With the exception of the more powerful Ndebele, the Voortrekkers encountered little resistance among the scattered peoples of the plains. The difaqane had dispersed them, and the remnants lacked horses and firearms. Their weakened condition also solidified the Boers' belief that European occupation meant the coming of civilisation to a savage land
The Great Trek first halted at Thaba Nchu, near present-day Bloemfontein, where the trekkers established a republic. Following disagreements among their leadership, the various Voortrekker groups split apart. While some headed north, most crossed the Drakensberg into Natal with the idea of establishing a republic there. Since the Zulus controlled this territory, the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief paid a visit to King Dingaan: the suspicious Zulu promptly killed him. This massacre triggered others, as well as a revenge attack by the Boers. The culmination came on 16 December 1838, in the Battle of Blood River, fought at the Ncome River in Natal. Though several Boers suffered injuries, they killed several thousand Zulus, reportedly causing the Ncome's waters to run red.
After this victory, which resulted from the possession of superior weapons, the Boers felt that their expansion really did have a long-suspected stamp of divine approval. Yet their hopes for establishing a Natal republic remained short-lived. The British annexed the area in 1843, and founded their new Natal colony at present-day Durban. Most of the Boers, feeling increasingly squeezed between the British on one side and the African populations on the other, headed north, adding yet another grievance against the British.
The British set about establishing large sugar-plantations in Natal, but found few inhabitants of the neighbouring Zulu areas willing to provide labour. They turned to India to resolve this labour shortage, and in 1860 the SS Truro arrived in Durban harbour with over 300 people on board. Over the next 50 years, 150,000 more indentured Indians arrived, as well as numerous free "passenger Indians", building the base for what would become the largest Indian community outside of India. As early as 1893, when Mahatma Gandhi arrived in Durban, Indians outnumbered whites in Natal.
All of these factors would soon combine in a brutal conflict that would determine the fate of the southern tip of Africa in the years to come
Ok dear readers (The few of you that are out there) Here ends the historical back story (Thanks to the ever reliable Wikipedia for the info)
Now we can all see what is comming, namley the Boer War, now I offer you some choices that will help to shape the game in the future.
Option
a) The historical outcome, Britain kicks some ass and wins the Boer War.
b) The new nation of Germany, increacingly outgoing in its view on world politics, sees the conflict as an opportunity to unbalance British superiority on the Continent and thus covertly sends the Boers (who do share a German herritage) arms and supplies through German West Africa. The British, facing a new form of hit and run warfare against a well trained and well supplied enemy agree to recognise the independance of the Boer Republics as soverign states.
c) In combination with the above mentioned German support, the Indian independace leader Mahhutmah Ghandi realises the uniqe opportinty to press an advantage against the British, hoping to distabalise the British enough in Africa that a meaningful resistance movment may be made in India against the British Raj. Thus the Indian population of the Colony rise in rebellion against their British masters. The Boers seeking any advantage against a superior foe support the Indians in their rebellion.
d)The Boer War never happens at all
Now we can all see what is comming, namley the Boer War, now I offer you some choices that will help to shape the game in the future.
Option
a) The historical outcome, Britain kicks some ass and wins the Boer War.
b) The new nation of Germany, increacingly outgoing in its view on world politics, sees the conflict as an opportunity to unbalance British superiority on the Continent and thus covertly sends the Boers (who do share a German herritage) arms and supplies through German West Africa. The British, facing a new form of hit and run warfare against a well trained and well supplied enemy agree to recognise the independance of the Boer Republics as soverign states.
c) In combination with the above mentioned German support, the Indian independace leader Mahhutmah Ghandi realises the uniqe opportinty to press an advantage against the British, hoping to distabalise the British enough in Africa that a meaningful resistance movment may be made in India against the British Raj. Thus the Indian population of the Colony rise in rebellion against their British masters. The Boers seeking any advantage against a superior foe support the Indians in their rebellion.
d)The Boer War never happens at all
In clarification, we are talking about the 2nd Boer War here. As the 1st war ended in British defeat and the establishment of the afformentioned Boer Republics. Its the outcome of the conflict between 1899 and 1902 that will really make things more interesting.
I dont really like this myself...Iron-Chef said:
I personally dont think that this would happen, Germany went far enough in helping the Boers anything more could see a major clash between GB and GER, the Royal Navy would deverstate the Germans leaving no supplies for the Boer'sIron-Chef said:
At this point Ghandi did not want independace until he returned to India, and even then he wanted India to be governed by Indians inside the Empire.Iron-Chef said:
This is the best option for me, perhaps with some sort of division of the 'Cape Colony' into a British part and a Boer administered part?Iron-Chef said:
Feel free to disreguard all of this, but I like the Boers, b ut people are always bashing the British Empire.
Well with the voting completly tied at one all, and with me having no better way to spend my evening, Im going to throw my weight behind, oh hell you will just have to find out! With this in mind we pick up the story in 1883.
Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic sat looking in wonder around the emense banquet hall of the Imperial palace in Berlin. He chuckled slightly at the abserdity of it all, he was at home on the vast planes and rugged valleys of the transvaal, not in this busseling metropolis. However his nation was under dire threat and he mused, running a hand over his beard, desperate times called for desperate measures. Kruger was completing a tour of Europe instigated to garner support for the Boer Republics and negotiate a settlement with the British following the success of his countrymen in the recent war. A slight cough brought him out of his reflective state. He turned and smiled at the stiff, typicaly Prussian man seated next to him. While it was true both men shared Prussian blood, the only similarity that could be drawn between Kruger and this man was a fierce nationalistic pride.
"President Kruger, both Kaiser Wilhelm and I think there may be some merrit to the plans you have outlined, however, I think it best we discuss such matters somewhere more..... private, than your official welcome banquet"
Kruger nodded seriously, suddenly fully aware as to the gravity of the sitation facing him in the days, months and year ahead.
"Of course Chancellor Bismark, I shall wait on your pleasure"
Both men gazed at eachother for a moment, sizing the other up, ones features hardened by the strains of decades of European warfare and politics, the others from the hard life of on the fringes of the African bush, before turning back to their meals. Yes, Kruger thaught to himself, the winds of change are stating to blow. Now we must just pray they blow in a favorable direction.
A Meeting in Berlin
Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic sat looking in wonder around the emense banquet hall of the Imperial palace in Berlin. He chuckled slightly at the abserdity of it all, he was at home on the vast planes and rugged valleys of the transvaal, not in this busseling metropolis. However his nation was under dire threat and he mused, running a hand over his beard, desperate times called for desperate measures. Kruger was completing a tour of Europe instigated to garner support for the Boer Republics and negotiate a settlement with the British following the success of his countrymen in the recent war. A slight cough brought him out of his reflective state. He turned and smiled at the stiff, typicaly Prussian man seated next to him. While it was true both men shared Prussian blood, the only similarity that could be drawn between Kruger and this man was a fierce nationalistic pride.
"President Kruger, both Kaiser Wilhelm and I think there may be some merrit to the plans you have outlined, however, I think it best we discuss such matters somewhere more..... private, than your official welcome banquet"
Kruger nodded seriously, suddenly fully aware as to the gravity of the sitation facing him in the days, months and year ahead.
"Of course Chancellor Bismark, I shall wait on your pleasure"
Both men gazed at eachother for a moment, sizing the other up, ones features hardened by the strains of decades of European warfare and politics, the others from the hard life of on the fringes of the African bush, before turning back to their meals. Yes, Kruger thaught to himself, the winds of change are stating to blow. Now we must just pray they blow in a favorable direction.
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STOP! COOKIE TIME