1863-1870 : Expanding our protection and getting ready for the race to Africa
In 1863, we are at war with Tunisia. No other European power is protecting them, so somebody has to take care of them. It's our burden.
We are industrializing, slowly but surely....
In 1864, we are "protecting" Tunisia. But we are losing Great Power Status ! That would be a disaster, as we would lose our sphere of influence. Damn you, Bavaria !
That's why we are at war with Abu Dhabi, to get more prestige.
We prevent losing GP status by mobilizing. In 1865, we are now "protecting" Abu Dhabi as well, but we are still at risk.
We could have actually solved this problem colonizing a couple of provinces, that became accessible after researching nationalism, but we didn't notice that at first. This is the colonization map.
Instead, we tackle this problem declaring war on Dai Nam, who is begging to know more about the benefits of civilization. We do not need to mobilize this time, just being at war raises our military score. Prestige and military score compensate our abysmal industrial score.
Militarily the war isn't challenging. But it is putting a heavy strain on our budget.
To keep on fighting in the 1868, several cuts on the expenses are necessary. But the war is easy to be won eventually.
In the year 1870, what was once Dai-Nam has become a Portuguese protectorate.
The provinces of Zambezi and Zambia have been successfully colonized, which has given us a very welcome boost in prestige.
We have, somehow, switched allies again. Now we are allied with... USA and Austria. Don't ask me why, they unally and then we ally again.
We make sure we have good relationships with every other GP and Spain, so that they do not get CBs on us.
We have steadily expanded our sphere of influence, preferably on countries which have a border with us - and there are now some in the Arabian peninsula and in Indochina.
We have been using our national focuses alternatively on capitalists and clerks, but have been neglecting our industries and some are bankrupt. And the only one who is reliably making a profit is the liquor one.
Luckily, the capitalists keep investing in new projects, so maybe the market will take care of the problem by itself.
And we can't really throw money at the problem, as we haven't managed to pay back our debts yet. That's obviously our highest priority.
This is our research status. We have chosen to research one last, useful technology before starting the run towards machine-guns and mindless colonization in Africa.
We have also built naval bases in several overseas provinces, so that we will be able also to colonize generic coastal provinces.
World and Portugal in January 1870.
World map.
Portugal map.