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To All: I know it has only been 4 days since the last update, but since the last week was so disrupted by snow, I got off schedual, and now intend to get back on it, updating on the customary saturday or sunday. Hope this momentary change doesn't cause any hassle. Also, I didn't like the last update, so writing a new one might get it out of harms way. Update later today.

comagoosie: The most important words in that sentance are 'for now'. Austria has crossed the line getting me worried, and the Emperor will have to pay for his insolence, but being Careful, I must choose a time both when Austria is weak and I have a casus belli that won't get France and Britain on my back.

Director: The French have obviously learnt their lesson, and won't be rash as to go wading in on their own. All it takes is from Germany to provoke Britain, or get into a war with Russia and alliances will follow. As for Russia, I will not act in haste, and will wait to see just what the Russians are up to. I will let them come to me, just like with the French. Perhaps it is playing with fire doing the same thing with both of them...

demokratickid: I could do without having to worry about Poland, but their provinces are just too nice and populous to give up. Like I said before, in the future, a fair number of my troops are likely to be Polish.

canonized: Yes, it is just the waiting to see who exactly will be the firelighter. This will make November 5th look like a picnic.

Kampf_Machen: Great to have you along. Also, if you spot any mistakes in my German, don't hesistate to tell me.

Enewald: I promised to avert war for a period, and I am sticking to it. I only joined the war against Kraków because I accidently pressed yes. Then again, being Alliance leader, I got to milk the prestige from Kraków when peace was made :)

ComradeOm: Well it is that old thing about central Europe. You can attack anywhere you please, but you can also be attacked from any direction. It is as much a weakness as it is a strength. However, once I get consolidated, I will be doing the attacking, I hope.
 
[demokratickid: I could do without having to worry about Poland, but their provinces are just too nice and populous to give up. Like I said before, in the future, a fair number of my troops are likely to be Polish.

I see. Pierogis make for good cannon fodder... :D Jk...
 
1846: The Quiet Colony

Despite the diplomatic setbacks following the Franco-German War, the economy was recovering quickly. With the highly inflated war taxes cut, the people began to make a proper living for themselves again. Investors began investing, labourers started working, and families that had stood in fear of having their sons taken away for war with a grand mobilisation of the nation now could sleep at night with no concern for a drafting order. The general mood was quite divided, though.

The common people were, generally, all in support of the continuation of a prosperous peace. As the Reichstag parties started to campaign for next years elections, the over whelming call was an anti-military one. In Baden, a peaceful crowd took to the streets to demand that the increase in the number of drafts taken in each year be halted. So many sons of Germany, but mostly Prussia, had been lost in the past few years of ‘Total War’ that the nation was bled like it had never been. Now was the time, a Liberal member of the Landtag put it, ‘to lick the wounds of battle… and let the beaten break free from the shackles of their inglorious and painful defeat.’ Indeed, the Landtag would have liked to help them with the keys, but the Dukes were simply not allowing that. It would take a true man of the people to help them unlock their chains.

The Industrialists saw it quite differently. Germany had been beaten, yes, but there would be more wars in the future, no doubt, and Germany needed to be prepared for it. They started constructing massive works to manufacture explosives, small arms, rations and all the things the armies of their nation would need to defeat the enemy. That they were constructing such industries out of patriotic fervour is highly debateable; more likely they saw that the nation would be willing to pay a high price to have its revenge, and they would offer that high price. However, it did not matter if or if not they were doing it for the money or for the nation; when Germans did something, they did it well. German arms were by far the best in the world. Germany was the first nation to boast an army, now including the reserve formations, armed entirely with muzzle-loaded rifles: the Potsdam Rifle. The Imperial Artillery was still only a small arm of the Emperor’s forces, but with the industry behind them, importing expensive pieces from around the world would no longer be necessary, and a large contingent of Artillery would not only be a possibility, it would be a reality.

For all the people’s constant calls, it was soon proved that the Industrialists were, for once, probably in the right. The war with Kraków, though short lived, proved that Germany was never very far from a conflict. And in July, Austria and France both agreed, diplomatically worryingly for Germany, to invade Switzerland after the Seven of Switzerland’s Cantons, all of them Catholic, had formed the Sonderbund (separate alliance in German) to protect their status among the much higher percentage of Protestant Cantons. The Federal government reacted with violence, and sent General Dufour with several thousand troops to disperse the independent league. To protect the Catholic faith, France and Austria both intervened. Several Catholic nobles from southern Germany also raised private armies and went into Switzerland, so to save face Germany officially sided with Austria. Britain sided with the protestants and threaten all the other intervening powers with war if they continued their campaigns. All three backed down. Germany was pleased to see that relations between France and Britain were still not good enough that they would work together, but was equally as worried that France and Austria had co-operated and that Britain was showing willingness to get involved in European affairs. Again, it proved from fragile the new Pax Europa really was.


Geltwil1847.png

The Battle of Geltwil was the only major engagement of the Sonderbund Rebellion, as General William Henry Dufour's Federal troops quickly broke the spirit of the Catholic Cantons and the Great Powers were not allowed to intervene.

The most worrying turn of events, ones that had come close to a war, had come earlier in the year, though. Mexico had been suspiciously quiet after capitulating to Prussia. There had been no attempts to remove Gustav from the throne, and the Mexican troops under German supervision* in the area had only had to suppress a few minor uprisings against their unusually lenient rule. The Mexican Imperial Army had been left, more or less, on its own to suppress the various revolutions that had been Prussia’s casus belli for war back in 1840, and for the most part had done well. Sonora had been pacified, and the Republic of the Rio Grande had been crushed in a small skirmish outside Matamoros. California had been more problematic, the governor having almost total autonomy from Mexico City, threatening immediate revolution should his position be compromised in anyway. Secret negotiations to sell Alta California to Berlin were underway, and it was agreed that German forces would have much better success in quelling the area than Mexico, which could not spare the men to tie the area down without losing other places. The main place they had in mind was the Yucatán Peninsular. For years, the remnants of the Maya people, those that the Spanish had left, had cause almost constant revolt against their Mexican brothers; ideas of freedom and liberty filling their heads. With the help of the adventurous Texan Navy, their dream had become a very annoying and embarrassing reality for Mexico City.

In march, the Republic of the Yucatán was formally incorporated into the Republic of Texas, and the Mexican army could do little to install order in the tough Mayan jungle. Instead, Gustav ordered that Texas be invaded and forced to hand back the peninsular, as a matter of pride rather than necessity; it was more of a hindrance than a useful asset. Mexico meant business, and the Texans knew that there would be no foolishness on the part of the Mexicans this time they invaded. The Prussian officers, well versed in European tactics and not driven by politics, but rather by a duty to their country, would never make the elementary mistakes Santa Anna had made in 1836. In desperation to see the land that had been so hard fought over before not fall back to Mexico, the Texans did the one thing, something they had always been considering anyway, to save their land. Two weeks after having annex the Yucatán, Texas was accepted as a slave state into the United States of America, along with its holdings in New Mexico and the Yucatán. The ‘Fire-eaters’ were said to have literally jumped with joy as the news was read out in Congress. Another slave state had been added to thwart Wisconsin and Michigan, and the south’s new enemy, Germany, had been out witted by them.

Gustav was said to have gone mad, running around his court shouting ‘They think that a Blücher of the West will be as foolish as a Napoleon?’ The German consul ordered Gustav to take some rest, and decided to sort out the situation himself. Berlin’s orders were clear enough: prevent war at all costs. Lucky for him, The American’s were happy enough with their limited victory so as not to follow up with a military campaign to take more land, something which he laid on the fact that they were scared of the German military and the Northerners were scared of the south’s new powerhouse and prohibited further action to stop Congress becoming a house for slave owners to meet in.

The consul travelled to Washington D.C. and talked with President Tyler, and they came to an agreement that no war would come over the disputed lands in Texas, though the Consul pressed on the president that the Americans would have to reconsider their position on the Yucatán, or the Germans would, eventually, make them realize it. Peace was maintained, but only for so long as Germany was willing to wait. How much of a patient hunter could she be?

Notes:
*:Commonly known to the Germans as Mexikanische troops, for unknown reasons




 
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Well, the US needs to be put back in place. I say let them have it full on!

I don't think Britain would stand idly by in such a case though...

Interesting spin on the German Mexico...had almost forgotten about them.

I really need to read up on the Sonderbund rebellion...

Thanks!
TheExecuter
 
Is the text blue, or am I just seeing something? :D

The politics in Europe is still troubling, why can't everyone be friends, this type of diplomacy where everyone is on the edge is quite annoying. Either we are going to need true alliances or a war to ravage the continent as to shut up it. ;)

Darn. Texans.
 
I agree with Comagoosie, let there be general war throughout Europe. Everyone verses everyone. It always turns out well when that happens.

Oh wait... Thirty Years War... WW1 & WW2... Well at least general war is fun. :)
 
I don't think Britain would stand idly by in such a case though...

But if there can be some, err, distraction for the UK. Get the US while Britain is at war with a different power...
 
I think it might be now time to take the heat off Europe and focus on you're colonial efforts if we can't march into the North Americas then I think it's time to move south. To Panama!
And maybe taking other African/Asian objectives as well? :D
 
I've been giving it a quick read through to try and catch up, this is great stuff Robou, I regret not being around to keep up with it, the writing is very enjoyable and it is wonderfully presented, Bravo!
 
Sack Texas!

And yes, California is a beautiful piece of real estate to buy. Gold and vast, fertile lands with great potential to serve as Germany's stronghold on the New Continent. Wait a century or two and it might even become one of the world's biggest economies on its own even! ;)
 
To All: Unlikely to update until Sunday, so those that haven't read the latest update still have a while to do so.

demokratickid: Hmm, I don't think that would be wise. We can jsut wait for the opertune moment when America will be at her weakest. I can see the seams breaking as we speak.

TheExecuter: Heh, well I named the update 'The Quiet Colony' because of it. I had forgotten about it mostly. I went to just have a check and found that the Texans had taken over the Yucatán. It was a shock...

comagoosie, Kampf_Machen: I want to avoid wars wherever I can, even though looking at the history of my nation so far that doesn't seem true. By knocking the other nations early I hoped to make sure I always had an advantage over them, but it seems to have backfired a little. Now what I have to avoid is a Franco-Russian alliance. Otherwise, Europe is my oyster for now. Austria is the one I need to deal with, again...

demokratickid (2): It will have to be very well timed in that case. America has to have broken itself, and Britian needs to be at war with someone else. Won't be easy to get in that situation, but i'll see what I can do.

Eöl: Certainly, I have a few more things to clear up in Europe, but the colonies are now on the forefront of my mind. When I have purchased California, and perhaps Cuba, I will still have to beat America to ensure my position, at least for a while. Africa I am in no hurry to get. It is a hot bed of revolt and contention with other powers, and I am content with only a small, perhaps even historically correct, African Empire.

Enewald: No nasty wars now. Things will be done, but they will be done with the slyness of a fox. And I can't speak German, thats why not...

English Patriot: Funny thing is I was just wondering to myself 'is EP still reading'. Seems my prayers have been answered. Always a pleasure to have you along, old friend.

Irenicus: Indeed, it will be of huge assistence in the later period, and the industry, fertility and population potential of the region will be put to good use, I have no doubt as to my goals there.
 
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1846: The Cunning Fox

To Bismarck, it was all so clear. Germany was a nation meant for war; a large population, resources aplenty and a national urge to be victorious. To ensure the success of his nation, he saw, quite plainly, that Germany would need to continue fighting wars, and winning them. The problem that he saw, however, was that Germany was in no state to fight any wars. The decentralized nature of the new nation made it so internally weak that it could not support itself in a major European land war; the Holstein War had proved that.

It was the Dukes’ constant meddling in the affairs of the nation continued to ensure that the countries funds were going into their pockets rather than where they were really needed. This impoverished the entire nation. It affected every aspect of life. The lack of social reform and high taxes ensured the poor were kept exactly in that predicament. The government never had the funds it needed to enact reform, and when they wanted to the Dukes simply out voted it. It affected war time Germany too. The government could not afford to keep the nation in a state of mobilisation for more than a few months, and even if they could, the people were so impoverished that they would have no choice but to ignore the mobilisation and stay at their work and bring in all the money they could. And if the government tried to force mobilisation on them after that, well, there could be a full scale revolt of the hands of the Reichstag.

So why did Bismarck hesitate to do something? He asked it of himself just as others asked him of it. Why did he not just stand up against this stupidity that was ripping apart the nation he loved? Why not go and talk to the Kaiser? The Kaiser would see reason in Bismarck’s argument, no doubt. Not only did he trust Bismarck, due to his excellent record of conduct so far, but the Kaiser already knew the mischief of the Dukes and wanted to do something about it, Otto was sure. But in reality, what could the Kaiser do? If he tried to actively oppose the Dukes power, kick them out of the House of Lords, remove their puppets in the Landtag, take away their estates and commissions, then Germany could have a whole Southern Rebellion on their hands. Bavaria would lead, certainly, Württemberg would follow their heed and Saxony would trail along behind. Prussia could crush these other Dukes, though, easily. However, what of the hatred that would forever be held in the Southern Germans if they should be forcefully united? And at the cost of how much life would peace eventually be made? Then there was Europe to think of. Prussia had made enemies, and France, Russia and maybe Austria would come in at the sides at pick at Germany while she had her back broken. It could be a disaster if the south decided to secede from Germany.

No, it was just too much of a risk. Things would have to be done more… subtlety… politically. A cunning plan was needed that would ensure that the Dukes’ power was destroyed by politics, not by Germany and its monarchy. He had played around with several ideas, but finally it had come to him; the most efficient, yet possibly failure ridden plan available. After a long period of research, it was clear to Bismarck that most of the Conservatives were as annoyed by the Dukes as the Liberals were, and it was the opinion of most that they were hindering German progress while only helping themselves. Others, like the industrialists, might have been helping themselves, but they were helping German progress at the same time. Yes; he could see his plan working already, though still more work had to be done.

With some evidence compiled he gathered around him several die-hard supporters and they worked tirelessly for month, accumulating information on conservative members of the Landtag and organising them into two groups they would probably join when Bismarck made his move. The ‘Moderates’ were those most likely to support him, closer as they were to the Liberals in policies than the Dukes. The other group was the ‘Reactionaries’, or those most opposed to change, who it was more plausible for to join with the Dukes. To Bismarck’s joy he found the ‘Moderates’ to be the much larger section of the Conservative Party. After this momentous find, Bismarck knew now was the time for action. On the night of December 1st, in a secret meeting at Mehringplatz between Bismarck and Chancellor von Arnim-Boitzenburg, the leader of German politics agreed to follow Bismarck’s lead when the time came for Bismarck to act openly.

In a session of the Landtag Bismarck, with some background help from von Arnim, was able to gain a position of speaking. He began with naming the crimes of the Dukes, without mentioning that he was talking about the Dukes, so at least he would get listened to for the first part of his speech. When he began to mention that these crimes were attributed to the Dukes and their own personal greed, there was uproar from the members of the Ducal Faction. With great difficulty this was silenced, but only when Bismarck stopped talking. The House sat silent as minutes went by. None of the Conservatives moved, but Bismarck held his ground, leaning almost casually on the speaker’s platform. Finally, and with slow movements, von Arnim stood up, stretched out his arms and paced over the floor to the Liberal side of the hall and sat behind Bismarck. Suddenly the hall erupted into sound as most of the Conservatives, practically all of the ‘Moderates’ got up and walked over to Bismarck, leaving only a small percentage of members sitting on the Conservative side.

The act was done, the Conservatives had been split from the Reactionaries; the whole Reichstag had been abruptly changed in a matter of seconds. The news quickly spread to the Imperial court, and the Kaiser was said to smile weakly when told of Bismarck’s success before retiring to his quarters, sitting down and laughing heartedly to himself.



HeinrichVonGagern1848.png

Heinrich Von Gagern, the Liberal leader who graciously accepted the Liberal-Conservative coalition to make a better Germany that was properly unified; an idea he had always been very vocal in supporting.



Over the following days, the new parties were structured and given their seats in the Reichstag. The Conservatives and Liberals, in an unusually simple process, formed a coalition and agreed on joint policies; later their success in this period of formation was put down to the leading role Bismarck played in it. Chancellor von Arnim would keep his position as leader of the party, with Liberal leader Heinrich von Gagern becoming Vice-Chancellor. Bismarck was not given a necessary position; his role being dictated now by what special missions the Kaiser had in mind for him, but was ensured that he would be the next Conservative-Liberal candidate for chancellorship.

Of course, not all the Liberals were so happy with holding hands with the Conservatives, and a small number of them broke away from their old party and formed their own one: The Radical Party. Bordering on anarchism, their gain some support from people who were tired of the old order and were more inclined to overthrow the Reactionaries rather than barter with them. However, following policies including Full Citizenship, including the Haitians and Mexicans, and an early form of atheism, there would never have the following they needed to start an anarchist revolution.

And then there was the Ducal Faction. Left with barely 2.5% of the electorate to vote for them, they were utterly destroyed by, as it was becoming known, the Reichstag Split. Following their old policies of preventing everything they knew would never get them any power again, and if they lacked power they also lacked influence on the Kaiser. Forming under the new name of the National Party, they presented much reformed and toned down version of their old policies with which, if the conditions were right, could get them a portion of the vote. They were beaten back by the Split, but they, and the Radicals, were not out of the political equation yet.

However, Bismarck had taken a massive risk that had paid off. The country was now ready to reform itself and inject money into the economy and the people. The country might have to wait a little longer for big change; von Arnim had never been a man of action*, but change was on the way and with a new face at the head of the country, the world was now Germany’s oyster.


Notes:
*: Throughout most of his term, few of the decisions had been in his hands, and he had been almost cowed into submission but the huge amount of power the Generals had been given during the period of 'Total War'.





 
Interesting update :)

Did some split really occur ingame or is purely roleplaying? I'm quite the vicky noob sorry :D
 
I love Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen.
But how could it be happening that Sachsen, Bade, Swabia and Bayers could have split away from the Kaiserreich?
 
Yes! Yes! Yes!

Although the Liberal-Conservative coalition obviously couldn't last, and in any case shouldn't, this period of national unity is certainly necessary to clear out the self-serving reactionary aristocrats from the seats of power. Once the process is done, Germany's unbelievable potential which I believe is among Vicky's greatest successes as a game portraying this period will show through.

Nice little piece of Parliamentary politics though. :)