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Carefully Applied Force: A Prussian AAR

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I decides to visit vicky forum to get more post counts, looking for aars of some well known authors, and read this.
No, read as well as I could. A word from every sentence. Not wise.

No, I sleep in my bed. :p
 
1840: Planning and Execution

The Reichstag knew that they would have to continue with their conquests, especially colonial conflicts, for face slipping back down into the second-rate power they had once been. Mexico would have to be taken as soon as possible, not only to keep the momentum going, but to make sure the French didn't get there first. It was most probable that their neighbour would have got wind of what was happening, so Prussia would just have to pray the French were not so quick to act on it.

Unfortunately the Army had to foot slog it's way back through Austrian territory, across the Carpathians and into Prussia then up to Danzig to be embarked to go on month long journey across the Atlantic. It would be a while before the whole Expeditionary force was ready and prepared to set foot on the New World soil of Mexico.

While the King waited for the inevitable decleration of way that would come sooner or later, he entertained himself with news from around the world, some important and some less so. His intrest with the conlict in southern Brazil would soon no longer trouble him as it was very clear from reports that the Piratinos were winning the conflict. The Juliana Republics troops had advanced far into Imperial Territory, meaning that the 30,000 Brazilian troops stuck in the Rio Grande do Sul would have a long way to march across hostile ground to reach Imperial territory again.

General Garibaldi, in the mean time, had not wasted the oppertunity and was slowly grind the Brazilian's down into a small pocket around the town of Sao Borja in the hope of forcing the huge force to surrender which would leave the road to Rio de Janiero wide open for Piratini troops.

pirawin.jpg

The Piratini forces tighten the noose​

However, Father Fejio was no fool, and saw that to have his whole Army destroyed for nothing would be folly and foolhardy. On the other hand, to loose the War of the Farrapos might destroy what little stability the massive country had left, and give the chance for other areas to claim independence. He ordered that the armies continue their stuggle and attempt to break out of the encirclement, but it was no use, the Piratinos were now too strong. Eventually it took the Emperor Dom Pedro II himself to stand up and speak out. He ordered an immediate ceasefire so the side could talk for peace and fully understand the demands of each other.

It was true that, at first, the Piratinos had revolted on the grounds of tarrifs destroying their economy, but now they had a full leap for independence and had beaten the largest power on the South American continent. They demanded that Brazil grant and recognise their independence or face Piratini troops marching on the Capital. Brazil would also recognise the rights of the Piratini holdings in Uraguay and that of the Juliana Republic. Brazil had no option but to accept, which they did on October 15th, 1839. It was the last major event of the year, and would change the face of South America for years to come.

After this, the first consignment of Prussian troops, Von Zieten's 20,000 Cavalry, arrive in Port-au-Prince.

Something that would have huge effects on the world as a whole, and certainly on Prussia later on, happened in early March, 1840. China had been, since 1838, cracking down on the opium trade which had been ruining their economy ever since the British became the leading power in India. Indian Opium was sold to the Chinese for inflated prices and dulled the productivity of the Chinese ports ten-fold. It was slowly killing both the Chinese economy and the Chinese people. However, during February, while a routine check for Opium on a ship was being taken, a scuffle between Chinese and British sailors came about resulting in the death of a British Sailor. The British commisioner in Hong Kong, Captain Charles Elliot of the British East India Company, sent a letter to London demanding war with the Chinese as a result of the murder. It was the excuse the British had been waiting for to show the Chinese that the Opium trade would continue, or China would suffer British military intervention.

opium.jpg

Resulting decleration of war after the Muder at Guangzhou​

How the war would go was yet to be seen. Though by the time this news reached the rest of Europe, British Marines had already landed and taken the city of Hong Kong.

The second consignment of Prussian troops, General von Wrangel's 22,000 Infantry arrive in Port-au-Prince. The Third consignment, General Von Rauch's 24,000 Infantry arrive in Veracruz Bay and the fouth consignment, General von Boyen's 24,000 Infantry, arrive in Tampico Bay.

General von Rauch entered Vercruz under a flag on truce and then delivered a formal decleration of war to the Governor of Veracruz. The Governor had one hour to deliver the news to Mexico City, and impossible task, or surrender un-conditionally to the Prussia forces. The Governor refused to surrender the town outright, but a force of Prussia marines attacked the Fortress of San Juan de Ulloa, that protected the harbor, half an hour before the truce ended. After that, Von Rauch's main force of 24,000 Infantry with supporting Artillery and Engineers landed and surrounded the city. It would be a short seige, and soon after a short bombardment, the city surrendered to Von Rauch.

mexwar.jpg

Von Rauch seiges Vercruz and begins the war​

A similar scene happened at Tampico, but without such a large fortress to guard the harbor there, Von Boyen's troops landed and only had to storm the town to gain the area. A few days later, the reinforcements from Hati, Von Zieten's Cavalry at Vercruz and Von Wrangel's Infantry and Engineers at Tampico, and the campaign could begin in ernest.

The basic plan went somewhere along these lines:

All known Mexican forces were busy fighting Apache tribes and a Quasi-war with Texas in the north, therefore meaning that Veracruz would be no threat from regular enemy formations. The situation in Tampico was not so, and troops would have to be left to guard the landing site. Von Wrangel's Corps was chosen to defend Tampico while Von Boyen would cross Mexico via the cities of San Luis Potosi and Villa de Léon to take the Iron mines at Collima on the pacific coast. This would also secure the northern flank of the advance from Veracruz which had much more important objectives.
From Veracruz, the whole force would advance along the National Road (A road way running from Mexico city to Veracruz making the march inland much easier for the troops at Veracruz rather than the ones at Tampico) to take Mexico City itself. The cavalry would ride ahead of the main column of infantry to do this as soon as possible, while the infantry secured the routes to the city via the city of Tlascala. The end objective would be the Gold mines on the pacific coast.

mexplan.jpg

The plan for the march inland​

However, by September 16th it was clear that not everything was good. True, Mexico City had been taken on September 1st with no resitence, but it was obvious that the word had got to the the Capital had fallen. Mexican Dictator, Antonio Lopéz de Santa Anna might not have been a military genius, but he knew that he would have to react quickly if he wanted to beat the Prussians. Mexican troops marching through central Mexico to try and take Mexico City back had cut Von Boyen's axis of advance and he would no doubt run into them, with more Mexican divisions behind. Hence, the tactics of the campaign had to be rethought out. It was decided that Von Wrangel would continue to hold Tampico while von Boyen held up the main Mexican attacks somewhere around San Luis Potosi (known simply as San Luis to the Prussians). While the Mexicans were held up, von Zieten's cavalry would finish off the job by capturing th rest of the objectives with Von Rauch staying in defense of Mexico city incase the plan went wrong.

sep16.jpg

The revised plan​

So the plan went into action and von Boyen engaged the Mexican forces in central Mexico. However, he had been expecting a single Infantry division to be facing him, but the Mexican's had one infantry division and a cavalry division, which brought the numbers near equal with the Mexican's having the advantage in knowledge and of being in control of the terrain. With von Wrangel's scouts reporting another Mexican division marching southwestwards from Matamoros, the commanding officer of the campaign, von Wrangel himself, decided to advance fro Tampico and lend von Boyen his full support; an extra 22,000 men.

SanLuis.jpg

The Battle of San Luis begins​

to be continued.....
 
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It seems that there are some hitches to your mexican plan, but overall the situation doesn't seem too bad.

The Opium war...I had to write the biggest essay of my life (exaggeration) on it :eek:o
 
Mexico should be manageable.
 
After this initial resistance they'll fall apart pretty easily. Don't worry. :)
 
So do you planning on eventual complete annexation or just taking a few chunks?
And where to next? Persia, Japan some bits of China Britain has not taken yet perhaps?
Good colonial adventuring to you!
 
An interesting gambit in Mexico, let's hope it pays off, and Piratini is blowing my mind!
 
Satellite Mexico and propose them to "take care of fully industrialising those mines". ;)
 
You know it just occurred to me that your conquest of the Far East would be most hastened by some sort of Canal over the small region known as Panama.
Perhaps it would be wise to take some of Mexico’s southernly regions...
 
To All: Update will not follow straight on, but will do it today, probably this afternoon, so keep an eye opned.

comagoosie: My plans always have hitches, otherwise they would just be too good to be fun to write about (god forgive me :D)

stnylan: For the Prussians it goes without saying!

Enewald: Why not fair for the Mexicans. I didn't know they were going to not be in Mexico City. Bad planning on their part, not expecting a Prussian invasion. :p

ComradeOm: Yeah, damn those Yanks, we will get 'em! :rofl:

likk9922: You think? hmm, they are tougher than they seem, as ComradeOm will probably vouch for :)

Eöl: Complete annextion would take several wars to complete, is impractigable and risky. What Phargle said, and that is strangely what I was intending to do, is the better idea ie. take what is worthy and leave the Mexicans everything that isn't.

English Patriot: I know, those Piratini's were either very lucky or the new VIP modded something slightly wrong. :eek:

phargle: arrg, he is inside my head.... arrrrrg!

asd21593: Like i said, bold but impractical

Lord_D: Yes, we will give back the mines in, say, 1,000 years. What did you say? No, industrialisation does ake that long *ahem* the way we want to do it. Look, well placed distraction. *runs off*

Eöl: Well Mexico doesn't quite go that far south, but Panama would be a nice place to have. Unfortunately the Canal will not be constructed in-game until 1890's (i think).
 
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1841: Win the Battle to Win the War

It had soon become clear to, the now promoted, Field Marshal Graf von Wrangel, that the series of battles and skirmishes outside of San Luis were becoming the major battle ground for the entire war. The Mexican Army was throwing it's full weight* at San Luis, desperate to break through von Boyen's lines and re-take the Capital. Without his capital, Santa Anna could not administrate the country and run an efficient war against the Prussians. Casualties for both sides were still not great, as the sporadic nature of fighting and small scale of forces meant that neither could inflict large ammounts of fire on the other without the possibility of using, and then loosing, their entire army.

However, the Prussian's lack of Cavalry, as von Zieten was caputring Colima on the Pacific coast, meant that the Mexican cavalry were free to roam and harras the Prussians, as well as the precious supply lines that snaked up into the mountains from Tampico. With the threat of infantry holding them down and cavalry hitting their sides and rear, the starved Prussian troops began to break. It would still take another matter of days for the Mexican's to whittle them down to nothing, but they were begining to show signs of cracking under the weight of the Mexican tactics. The situation became even worse when another fresh Infantry Division arrived from the north on October 27th. That said, the Mexican infantry that had been there had taken a real beating at the hands of Prussian couterparts. While the cavalry might have been affecting the Prussians, the infantry, small in number, had to hold down the front. They had suffered dearly for their brave actions, and even by the early stages of the battle, became a disorganized unit with little morale to speak of. So while von Boyen had the numerical advantage, over 2:1, he could not inflict enough damage to the Mexicans in return to what he took.

sanluis2.jpg

The Situation grows worse for the Prussians​

However, the high-ranking Mexicans in Mexico City obviously didn't read the situation quite like von Boyen. A group of these men took it upon themselves to ask the Prussians for peace, even without Santa Anna's blessing. To them, they saw San Luis as a slaughter ground for the Republic and that a Prussian vicotory was assured. They, afterall, had witnessed Prussian cavalry enter Mexico City and not face a shot in resistence. The letter, signed by 13 high-ranking members of the Centralist Party (the ruling party), was delivered to von Rauch, in command of Mexico City, who then gave it too his superior, von Wrangel. The old man thought it through hard. The Mexicans were willing to hand over all rights to California too Prussia. It was a good offer, but the Field Marshal had his orders from Berlin, and they were blunt: Place Hohenzollern on throne, take treaty ports, secure gold and iron mines. One must also remember that at this time, California meant little. Gold had not yet been discovered and the population of the land was still small. California, to the Prussians, meant nothing. von Rauch informed the Centralists that the deal had been refused, at which 50 of the members stormed out of the room, and within 2 hours had mustered their retinues of 7,000 men, armed and mounted. These 7,000 then proceeded to fight their way out of the northern parts of the city, to try and break through to head northwards to San Luis. The Prussian troops were un-prepared for such a sally, and allowed most of the Mexicans to get out of the city un-harmed. Casualties for both sides did not even add up to 100 men. von Rauch decided to break camp and chase after them. He would not let them raise support in the towns north of Mexico City, namely San Juan del Rio.

peacedealno.jpg

The Prussian Refusal​

von Rauch would probably have been ordered northwards a little later anyway. The situation at San Luis was becoming critical after another disaster befell the Prussian Army. General von Boyen and some of his staff were out recontering their positions when a squadron of Mexican Lancers burst out from the tree lines and slaughter the small band of men. von Wrangel himself was still in Tampico, and was becoming a little old to lead troops into combat. von Rauch and von Zieten were still away from the battlefield, so no Lt. General was present. In the way of things, Brig. General Heinz Eberswalde, one of von Boyen's Brigade commanders, took over the battle. He was a fine commander, for a brigade, but could not handle having to command 37,000 men and logisitcs for them. The battle now really took a bad turn, and when von Rauch threw the Mexican cavalry, from Mexico city, out of San Juan del Rio, they joined the battle at San Luis. It was expected that Eberswalde would call the retreat under the pressure. However, Prussian efficiency saved the day once again.

december19.jpg

Brig. General Eberswalde takes command at San Luis​

By January 5th, it was clear that within a week, the Prussian forces would be unable to put up a fight, and would either have to retreat or surrender. Eberswalde decided on retreat back to Tampico, and made preperations to sound the retreat on January 13th. However, he did not know that the Mexicans were as close to break as he was, with hardly regimental strength for each Division. Also he didn't know that help was on its way. On January 12th, with perfect timing, von Rauch's infantry smashed into the rear of the Mexican Army, cutting them off from Mexico City and adding a further 20,000 men, with Artillery and Engineers, to the Prussian effort. By the end of the next week, most of the Mexican forces had been anihilated. The arrival of von Zieten from Colima added even more forces, and allowed the Prussians to force most of the Mexican cavalry. When Mexican forces did finally retire on Febraury 1st, there were only 3,000 men left.

sanluisend.jpg

The epic Battle of San Luis ends​

The battle had lasted 5 months, and was a Prussian victory at a huge cost to both sides:

Prussian -
IV. Korps 'von Boyen' ~ 14,000 men and commander
V. Korps 'von Wrangel' ~ 11,000 men
III. Korps 'von Rauch ~ 4,000 men
IX. Korps 'von Zieten ~ 1,000 men
Overall ~ 30,000 men

Mexican ~ 37,000 men

But, the battle had forced the Mexicans for face facts. Out of their whole Army, they had only 1 full division of Infantry and an irregular cavalry unit to speak of. The Prussians still had four crippled but operation Corps available. They would have to seek terms, or face annextion by the Prussians.

Field Marshal von Wrangel offered the terms to the centralists:

1) Mexican Presidential Dictator Antonion Lopéz de Santa Anna is to be exiled to Spain
2) Gustav von Hohenzollern is to be crowed 'Emperor of Mexico' and swear loyalty to the King of Prussia
3) The ports of Tampico and Veracruz will come under Prussian supervision
4) The Iron mines at Colima and the Gold Mines at Zacutula will be run by the Prussians for Prussia
5) A force of 40,000 Mexicans under Prussian officers will be stationed in Mexico to prevent a coup over the Emperor and to protect Prussian holdings and businesses.

In return, the Prussians offered to make all the memebers of the Centralists nobles of some esteem and give each lands equivilent to their double-annual salary under the old government. The corrupt centralists quickly gave in to the Prussians, and Mexico became a semi-autonomous region of Prussia. Gustav Hohenzollern was crowed Emperor a days later, in the Cathederal in Mexico City. Prussia, however, was not done with the America's yet.

mexpeace.jpg

The Treaty of Mexico City, February 2nd, 1841

hohenmex.jpg

Emperor Gustav of Mexico is crowned​

nextime: International Outrage!
 
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Nice victory :)
 
A most noble peace, sir!

I hope the Americans react to this clear violation of the Monroe Doctrine. It's not like they are even distracted by civil war - and this complicates their intentions vis a vis the southwest. I suspect Prussia might have backing from northern states; German extraction plus antipathy towards manifest destiny adventures makes any reason not to attack Mexico a good one. But I'd like some kind of American protest or response.
 
Aww, California! :(

Well, it's good for RP purposes: the Prussians probably thought that it was just a bunch of empty land, and not a gold-rich region that has the potential to become one of richest places on the planet. :wacko:

Plus, treaty ports and puppet governments are the way to go for pre-1880 colonialism!

Also, Prussia isn't done yet? Are you sure you can take even more BB hit? Other major powers are probably extremely disturbed by now with Prussian growth -- Austria just lost a war to you, France doesn't like the idea of a strong German state on its border growing stronger, the USA doesn't want yet another European power mucking around in its backyard, and the British doesn't want yet another colonial competitor...
 
Good thing you refused peace, or your wouldn't have gotten everything that you wanted. Though I wonder if you did get california, if it would have payed for itself, but hey, at least you won and did it with fewer casualties than the mexicans.

Where to next? Texas?
 
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