Bolivar II - An epic of valour, pride, corruption, espionage & cross dressing

[Heretic]

As another long, hot morning dragged on, the sun beat down on the Ramblas.
A stray dog sneaked past, nosing into piles of rubbish hear and there. Some scrappy pigeons flitted out of the way, only to land a yard or two further on.

Estevan Maimon looked up from the dusty bench he sat upon, staring up at the cracked plaster on the wall in front of him. Times were hard, and he could not feed his family. It had all gone so wrong from the moment that the bank had finally agreed to secure the loan based on the security of his farm.

If only the bank had never found out that the farm was held as a commune, and some old aristocrat claimed that they still owned it. If only the last order for vases had not fallen through. If only the deliveries of fine clay to the docks had not been caught in the stevedore’s strike.

“Estevan, why the long face?”; his friend Paulo had appeared, and drew the problems out from him.
“Look, your ideas were good, just your timing was bad. The system caught you out. What you need is a fresh start in a country where people stick to the law. You should ship out to Federal Venezuela, they don’t care if you are Catalan or a Chinaman, they respect hard work out there.”
“But Paulo, my family, my two sisters, my aged parents, how will I care for them”
“Estevan, I know of a ship that needs some hands, I know the first mate, I can cut you a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Sure, when you make it big out there, just send me the money back. Hell, if you make it like I think you will, you can buy me a ranch someplace out there.”
“Paulo, a thousand thanks, see if it can be done”

And so, the first ever Spanish Liberal Anarchist Catholic Capitalists came ashore in Greater Venezuela!

 

[unmerged(23487)]

Spanish Socialist Anarchist Capitalists? :rofl:

South America must be a good palce for all kinds of weird ideals, in my Columbia game all my clergymen are socialists! :rofl:

 

[Heretic]

The young ensign shifted uneasily in the saddle. It was new and had seen little more service than the boy it carried. There was a horseman approaching.

The ensign squinted, since no patrols were due. More importantly, that route led to Boa Vista, deep inside Brazil, with no Venezuelan towns in between.

He spurred the horse, and trotted back to camp. Eager to find the Corporal of the new Federales regiment, he scurried around, and eventually tracked him down to the signals tent.

Inside the Corporal squinted at the code book, checking what the incoming message was. His face turned pale for a moment as the meaning became clear.

The Peruvians had declared war, and their allies the Brazilians were coming too. Soon, all his men would be tested.

 

[Heretic]

An attack by a weak neighbour, backed by a stronger neighbour is an interesting situation. The temptation is to try and take them both on, but that may not be the best policy. To take out the weaker neighbour quickly is also tempting, although in the case of Victoria, not the best route in terms of prestige, or other peace deal benefits.
This was the situation at the start of the war:

Most available armies were piled into the rump of Peru, since that is where the standing army was left after the last bout of bashing. Some new divisions had been commissioned in the intervening years, and they were deployed near the northern corner of Brazil. As ever, defence spending and army maintenance to max and then mobilisation. Conscript armies were posted along most of the Brazilian border, mainly for defence.

The regular armies did their work against the Peruvians with very little fuss, although use of the old cavalry regiments in support of infantry was not advisable, since they did not survive long battles well. If only there was a decent way to retreat individual units out of a battle.

The new units in the north needed to be called back to Caracas to fend off a landing in the capital by a small force from Chile. This also prevented me form making any headway into the north of Brazil.

A peace was settled with Peru alone, for some land. Next time, I would be better prepared so that more could be made of the conflict.

Finally, in the brief years of peace and retrenchment after the conflict, further rails were laid around the Pacific coast, taking the Pacific Express deep towards Chile.

 

[Heretic]

Evening found Constantina and Gaspar reclining on the veranda of the Estancia, looking out over the wide valleys of the upland country. The heat was beginning to seep from the day, and a million insects were starting to enjoy the dusk.

Time had been kind to the pair, and cruel to their enemies. For almost forty years now Constantina had led Venezuela onto greater heights, yet the lines etched into her face were not yet deep.

Gaspar pondered, “Those wretched Brazilians still refuse our diplomats, I wonder why they were ever so stupid as to leave our alliance.”
“Well, the Portuguese they speak must have addled their brains.”

“Reports from the borders with Peru speak of only a light guard, maybe they begin to bend to our will?”
“Oh, and expect the inevitable and become one of our Federal States? Surely not! Those old windbag politicians in Lima couldn’t spot historical inevitability if it was staring them in the face!
The Federation has grown and grown, sometime it must stop, these countries that we attack these days are not just rebellious scum like in the old days, they are nations with a history.
It is time I think for the policy to change a little.
Venezuela was carved out by my father from the rotten empire of the Spanish, carved out in the name of liberty and equality for men.”

“And women?”
“Oh, he was too old fashioned for that, but I think, these days, we could say that too. After all, the English have had their queen. She is no less a statesman than the puffed up presidents of some places I could mention. Where was I? Oh yes.
It is time for a change; we must bring peace to our neighbours. They do not need to be states of our Federation, but allies perhaps, followers”

“Like the planets around the sun?”
“Gaspar, you have always had a delightful turn of phrase”

“So, the Constellation of South America shall be ruled from Caracas?”
“Where else?”

Shaded with pastel hues, the darkening sky was clear from clouds.

 

[Heretic]

Venezuela’s breakneck economic development places it at the lead in terms of international finance. So much so that it is not unusual even for the middle class to own the odd share or two. I expect to have researched all the economics techs before 1890, even with popping into other necessary fields (like naval).

The strength of the economy is still mainly in the fabric and clothing industries. There is some small production of steel and machine parts, also ammunition and canned foods. The factories generally lie around the coastline, with the largest ones on the Caribbean coastline. Some advances have been made towards industrialising the new Peruvian holdings. There is thought to be little future in trying to bring the scattered population of the interior into factories.

Education funding has been remorseless, and literacy has hugely increased over the past decades. This has allowed tech trading with my satellite, which means I get the tech, but no fear from pumping up an opponent.

Crime fighting has also been strongly supported, although tends to fall off when the national debt is too large, particularly after wars. The liberal government unfortunately does not allow a high level of funding to the social program, but it is also not neglected.

Finally, we see the armies in 1874 lining up against the tattered remnants of the Peruvian army.

 

[november]

Where does Venezuela stand as a great power? What are your aims at this point? SA-centric?

 

[Heretic]

november,

Right now, in 1874, Venezuela stands annoyingly just outside Great Power status, at number 9. The military score is actually at rank 6th, but prestige still isn't too hot (thanks to all those DOW's on countries in the early days) and due to the fairly thin population (10 million, but spread out in smallish POPS) my economy isn't fantastic.

I was delighted when major regular clothes factories brought my income up to £100/day. The I had to put crimefighting back up. Then I wanted to start funding defence. And then I wondered about not whomping all my divisions minimum size. So that's why I've been majoring on economics tech, just to squeeze as much as possible out of the land.

Well, Constantine just declared a means of avoiding all future war on this continent, so we'll see how long it takes to implement that. I can't help noticing that Spain nabben Haiti, and still holds Cuba. I think that if this (or the next) generation are any kind of liberators, they really should do something about that.

Heretic

 

[stnylan]

Deveoping nicely though. Surely Great Power status is just around the corner.

 

[unmerged(23487)]

Exactly. It is just a matter of time.

 

[Heretic]

Bernard Ganteaumes placed the head of the croquet mallet gently onto the closely cropped lawn. The lawn was a product of careful work by a team of dedicated gardeners, and Bernard was particularly proud of it.

“I say, good shot!”
Bernard Ganteaumes smiled, and steadied his aim for the next hoop. The shot this time went a little wide.
“What about these German altercations, eh, Alphonse?”
”What, the claims by the Bavarian Assembly?”
“Sure, my exports of fine officer’s tunics have shot up.”
“They are clearly not satisfied with what they won a few years back”

A view from 1869

“And what of the French? They showed some of those southern princelings a thing or two! You’d think they wished they had joined the Northern Assembly years back. Now they are all having to learn French!”
“Yes, and from what I hear the Belgians pitched in well too. Showed up those Krauts something rotten.”
“Well, maybe it was a matter of time before the Germans muster a few more reserves?”

The situation in 1871

“Yes of course, the Kaiser couldn’t let himself be shown up by some crowd who lather their fries in mayonnaise, now could he?”

By 1872, things are not so rosy for the Belgians

“Still, all in all a poor show from the Assembly, they abandoned the Germans to fight the French on their own.”
“No stomach, these talking shops, they need a real leader, eh?”
“Like our Presidente?”
“Oh, I think that Elle Presidente knows her limits – the ocean on every side”
“Don’t joke, she has surely brought us all great opportunity.”
“I’ll say, and great reward too”
“What about the French then?”
“Oh, well they have showed their powers, I think, and their restraint too!”
“Yes, you can’t beat a gentleman’s agreement, even if it was hammered out by diplomats.

The peace in Europe

 

[Heretic]

stynlan, Nerfix,

Yes, Venezuela has finally started to move on up a gear, the next few conflicts make quite a difference to the standing in the world

Heretic

 

[Heretic]

Antonio Guzmán Blanco, as undersecretary in the defence ministry was the sort of person that the men about town in Caracas liked to know. He could often be relied upon to give a little advance notice of a new state order for tents or for saddles. He was often seen dining with the magnates of the new ammunition and armaments industries.

He generally carried out Zamorna’s orders faithfully, although occasionally things were known to go slightly astray, where Guzmán saw there could be a more beneficial outcome. Beneficial naturally, to the advancement of Senor Guzmán.

The early stages of the latest Peruvian offensive had gone rather well, thanks in part, Anotonio thought, to the new standardised order for each of the four principal armies of Gran Colombia. A uniform arrangement of divisions, well supported by massed infantry was repeated in each army. This in turn meant that all supplies to the armies were standardised. A couple of the Generals understood that battles were not won by courage alone, but by careful planning.

Based on previous skirmishes in the northern extremities of Brazil, a new plan had been worked out. The newly established ‘Federales’ mounted regiments would scout deep into the terrain, and engage the defenders where necessary. The units would then fall back, having covered the advance of the infantry. By tying up the Brazilian forces in the north, Venezuelan troops were able to carve through the countryside below, eventually reaching the Atlantic coast.

These gains were enough for the diplomats to agree a treaty with Brazil, whereby indemnities would be paid for the next few years. Rapid redeployment of troops from Brazilian soil allowed actions to continue further south.

The Chileans also bowed out of the war, having had enough of defending the useless Peruvians.

Argentina had long been the aim of diplomatic moves, and it was distressing that they chose to back the loosing side in this war. A special fate would be reserved for them.

 

[stnylan]

I'm sure the Argentines will be privleged to know that great care has been taken working out their "fate".

I liked your croquet game to keep track of europe. Good device.

 

[Heretic]

Little Anna-Maria trotted down the caked earth of the alleyway, under strings of washing spanning from house to house. Her bunches of glossy black hair bounced in the sunlight as she skipped, the schoolbag swaying in time too.

“Mama mama, we learned lots and lots in school toady”
“Oh, that’s great dear, why are you knees dirty?”

“Oh lots and lots, about all the clever things the Presidente has done for us.”
“Here, stand still, let’s get those legs clean”
Anna’s mother swiped a rag to remove the thin crust of mud on Anna’s knees.

“If I learn all my lessons, can I be Presidente one day?”
“You can’t become the Presidente if you have dirty knees, my girl!”

“If I have clean knees, will daddy come home?”
“Daddy is out in the jungles, my love. Daddy is right where the Presidente wants him to be, and very far away from where mummy wants him to be.”

Anna stepped in front of the little shrine next to the doorstep;
“Will the baby Jesus bring daddy home?”
“Maybe if we all pray very hard, and clean our knees, he’ll come back”

And many hundreds of miles away, ensign Vasquez Baronna was also wishing that the Presidente had not yet seen fit to send him home to see his little daughter.

 

[Heretic]

My Dearest Alicia

I trust that the good auspices of the Military Post, their friends the Censorship Department, and indeed the reliable postmistress of Bucaramanga have all conspired to transport my words to you with the haste that my heart desires.

I can waste no time, and must tell you forthwith that my application for early leave has been postponed. Our wise and thoughtful Government and the prudent Administration of the 3rd Army have seen fit to keep me out here for a little longer.

Have no fear, the Argentineans are a scattered rabble that flee from our muskets. We have travelled for months now, generally heading (DELETED). It is nice to be back near the sea again, it reminds me of those happy days we spent when were first married in that apartment in Riohacha.

The food here is so dull, nothing but beef for days, how I miss your spicy food. I only have my memory to warm me at the moment. Do not fear, it will not be long now because we have almost arrived in (DELETED). The feeble Argentinean leaders will surely not stay in power after we have (DELETED) down their (DELETED).

I must try to avoid such coarse soldier’s words, and then you can let dear little Anna-Maria read my letter to. I send her my love too, tell her that her Father is proud of her, and she must be good and help her Mama.

Your dearest,
Vasquez

NOTE:
The deleted phrases in the letter are:
1) South
2) Buenos Aires
3) Closed
4) Parliament

The Government of Argentina formally agreed to a binding non-aggression treaty with the Federal State of Gran Colombia on the 14th November 1876, thus becoming the first of the ‘planets’ that would orbit around the ‘sun’ of the state that Bolivar formed.

 

[unmerged(23487)]

O' my.

Good work

 

[Heretic]

1877 Would find the ascendant state of Gran’ Colombia in a more secure condition. Proof was incontestable that it had little to fear from it’s neighbours. The newly agreed border with the rump of Peru was as follows:

Guzmán was hungry for more, and always a driven man, if he wanted it, surely he would get it. Now that Conatantina Bolivar was becoming more and more a figurehead president, the various arms of the state acted with more freedom.

The state of Paraguay had lost badly in ’65 or so to an attack be the Peruvian-Brazilian alliance, and was much reduced in size, and humiliated internationally. This scrap of a state surely needed protection. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Armies were sent in to occupy the land:

After some brief skirmishes on the border, and a spirited defence of the capital against overwhelming odds, the administration agreed to become the second of the ‘planets’ to Gran’ Colombia:

Guzmán worked hard to gain support from the finance ministry to modernise the army, although they always claimed that their priority was reducing the national debt. Thanks to advanced financial instruments, this was held at a much lower interest rate than in previous years. Elections passed, and the stranglehold of the Federal party over the state grew ever stronger.

 

[stnylan]

I cna't help it, but for some reason I am expecting a revolution to occur just around the corner.

 

[Heretic]

Stnylan,

I hate to dissapoint, but the state seems to be holding together rather well. I am also somewhat short of socialists etc, so there is not much rabble to go rabble rousing.

I was wondering about triggering a civil war event, but I can't script, so it will have to wait.

Heretic