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The names I chose were the best sounding ones; I really speak no German so to me I doesn't make a donkeys. Sacremento isn't yet in German California, it is still Apache, so I shan't rename it yet.

Sorry that I didn't update yesterday. I made a map that took hours but I accidently mucked it up and then had to go out. So I remade it this morning... took less time as well...
 
1847: And Rumours of War

Things had been getting slowly tenser in Europe since the end of the Sonderbund Rebellion. The Rebellion had been an absolute failure for the Catholic forces, and their hopes had been crushed at Geltwil. The threat of Britain intervening had kept the Catholic Superpowers, Austria and France, away from the Swiss border; Germany had been neutral throughout the conflict due to the large Catholic and Protestant populations of the country ensuring the Kaiser could not take sides without having half the country rising up against him. However, when the Catholics were crushed, everything got more complex.

The now totally Protestant Government in Bern unleashed massive penalties on both the Catholic Cantons and the people living inside them. Sometimes it was merely a fine, but elsewhere some people were refused the vote and it was not unknown in some of the more radicalized Cantons that hangings and murders were rife. Austria was beginning to have troubles at home; the result of a seriously mentally handicapped Monarch on the Imperial throne, but the reaction in France was one of outrage when the papers heralded mass killings of Catholics in Neuchâtel, right on the border with France. These claims were most probably overstated; Swiss records only state that throughout the whole country only fifteen people were murdered, and the perpetrators were usually caught and sentenced. With such a huge outcry from the public, King Louis-Philippe I ordered that Switzerland be invaded and the Catholic’s be rescued from Protestant oppression. Nine months after their first decision to invade Switzerland back in 1846, French troops crossed over the border and occupied Basel.

Britain, of course, stood up to its guarantee and two days later declared war on France. Within a month, the war was in the balance. French troops had crushed the Swiss Federal forces and taken Genève and Bern, but had had to concede Cherbourg and Nantes to British landings, and now the British and French armies fought their battles in Normandy. Crucially, though, with the British landed successfully in Nantes, the French Atlantic Fleet at Brest was afraid of being captured by landing forces. French Admiral Albin Roussin decided to make a dash to the safe havens of Oran and Toulon. However, the British were waiting outside the harbor and during a vicious fight; the British channel fleet devastated the French fleet. Out of the thirty various vessels that set out from Brest, only eleven limped into Oran a week later. Albin Roussin, undoubtedly on of France’s most accomplished seamen, was among the fallen.

With French naval forces decidedly defeated, the British redoubled their efforts, also landing at Calais and Rennes. Indian forces also were involved and occupied Oran. Such was French desperation that the forces guarding the border with Germany were taken away to be sent to Normandy. Even the tiny Swiss forces continued to resist inside the Italian portion of their country in an attempt to further disrupt French efforts.

Germany was caught in an opportunistic situation. If France took over Switzerland, Germany itself could be threatened from the South, so the Kaiser had a different casus belli than assisting Switzerland; it was a war for homeland defense. And, of course, another bonus was that the German forces would be completely unopposed. The border was bereft of troops, and the nearest was the small French army still operating in southern Switzerland. The rest would have to come from the other side of the country, and it was unlikely they could be brought. And the best bit was that Britain was in this war too, so if France collapsed and the precious ‘Balance of Europe’ was affected, Britain could only blame herself as much as she could blame Germany.

By late July, German plans were almost complete; the invasion date was set for August 4th, but, as usual, something else got in the way. Taking Austria’s refusal to join in the war with Switzerland, as they had promised, as a sign of weakness, and knowing of the mental state of the Kaiser, Italian revolutionaries took over Milan. The actual situation was much more complicated; several citizens had refused to partake in buying tobacco and playing the lottery, which fed into the Austrian treasury, so Austria soldiers had shot five of them in anger. The news spread quickly, and within days the Lombardy-Veneto region of Austria Italy; the most densely populated part of Europe, had erupted into revolt. Sardinia-Piedmont rallied the other Italian states around and they all declared war on Austria. Of course, the Austrians had enough problems already and not enough troops to deal with them and called upon Germany to assist.

Using Germany’s momentary distraction, France signed a peace with Switzerland, taking over the north of the country and allowing troops from that had been fighting in Switzerland to take over the border defense. When Germany turned its head back at France, it found that the earlier advantages were gone: the borders were garrisoned, the British had lost the battles in Normandy (though still had footholds in Oran, Calais and Rouen) and their southern neighbor was collapsing. In sheer anger the Kaiser refused the Austrian request.


Battaglia_di_Novara.jpg

Italian dreams of unification were, albeit temporarily, crushed by Radetzky's forces at Novara. It also forced Charles Albert to abdicate the throne of Sardinia-Piedmont in favor of his son, Victor-Emmanuel II.


Throughout the latter part of 1847, the Austrians, led by the more than capable Field Marshal Josef Radetzky von Radetz, pushed back the Italian revolutionaries on the peninsular while the ageing Archduke Charles of Austria held back the forces of Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilians, which landed on the Croatian coast. At the Battle of Novara (February 3rd 1848), Radetzky’s Army crushed the united efforts of the Lombardy-Veneto-Piedmont Army under King Charles Albert. The Italian revolution was over; and Germany’s old dream of seeing a united Italy to be a possible ally was crushed. Worried by Austria’s shock victory, 100,000 troops were diverted to the Austrian border.

However, even after defeating one revolution, Austria then had to face another. In a confusing series of events involving the abdication of the Imperial governor in Budapest, Hungary, a massive portion of the Empire, declared independence. The reaction from Vienna, which was now a frontline city, was predictable: Hungary would remain an integral part of the Empire or suffer the consequences. In a small amount of time, Europe had ripped itself apart, and everyone in the country now knew that Germany would not just sit on the side lines and see who came out best. Now was a time for action; it was time for war!



hungary.png

The Hapsburg Empire was robbed of a large amount of its territory by the Hungarian Revolution; territory it was loathe to give up.




 
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Austria shall beat Hungary with easy, I hope!!! :eek:
And you should have attacked France!!!
Now it's too late!
Next time it will be also too late!!!
 
Bah! The *true* Galicia is in Spain. :p
 
Speaking of Galicia, you could make some nice landgrabs there if you intervene...

But then again, that would also increase the size of your border with Russia, which could be disadvantageous

Ah, decisions and plans, don't ya just love Victoria...
 
I vote for crushing the weak Austrian bug and incorporate its German lands into Greater Germany.:D Then let the non-German parts get independence, under the careful and loving supervision of the Kaisar of course.;) And you would get that Italian ally if you want it...;)
 
Remember, though, that Russia *will* ally with Austria sooner or later and a Germany busy waltzing through the Danube will find its precious Prussian territories swamped with the endless minions of the Tsar. He could try a lighting campaign to Vienna to force the issue before Russia can intervene in force if he wants to, though.

Also, just because she is fighting Britain, whom every non-British player of Victoria is aware is the worst hypocritical scumbag in the entire game (and just why are Gurkhas landing in Europe in the 19th century!?), I'm throwing my unconditional support for the gallant heroes of tricolour and wish them the best. Of course, sooner or later Germany will crush all, starting with France, but until then...
 
I say, assist the Austrian forces in taking back Hungary with a punitive force then use the rest to take new colonial possessions.
Attacking Austria now could lead to all the great powers ganging up on you and I’m not sure Germany could quite cope with being at war with France, Russia, Denmark Austria and possibly Great Britain at once.
 
What's going to happen to Galicia?
 
Ha! You should have taken france down when you could have. It would have been the easiest war ever. Now you are going to pick on Austria and for some reason I feel horrible. Don't pick on them too hard, ok? :)
 
Arnold von Schwarzenegger should be dispatched to Kalifornia immediately.
QUOTE]

First you have to conquer... er I mean unite with Austria. Remember, Schwarzenegger is an Oesterreicher. I think perhaps it'd be better to just recruit him into the army and send him to conquer France. He could do it in just four weeks. :D
 
Nah, four weeks is a bit long...I mean, you forget how pumped up he is. :D
(I was going to say "it's France", but that's too obvious :p)
 
Well you got to take into account transit time. I suspect it'd take four weeks to walk to Paris from the German border. ;)
 
Are you supporting Austria? From experience, I've found out at several occasions that a strong Hungary can be a more efficient ally than Austria, and even has a lot of capacity for reaching Great Power status fast. As a less historic nation, they also don't seem to suffer from dissent events as much as it's Austrian counterpart.
 
Are you supporting Austria? From experience, I've found out at several occasions that a strong Hungary can be a more efficient ally than Austria, and even has a lot of capacity for reaching Great Power status fast. As a less historic nation, they also don't seem to suffer from dissent events as much as it's Austrian counterpart.
Yes but why have an 'efficient' Ally like Hungary when you can have an incompetent one like Austria and backstab them later?