Chapter 4:
The Crimean Peninsula and the surrounding area is seeing a lot of action, and the 10th of January a battle between 100,000 Russian troops and 90,000 British troops takes place in Melitopol, as the British try to break thru the Russian lines.
Home in Prussia we are reorganizing the coastal defence into a force that will be used in invading Denmark.
The 20th January the Russian defence in Melitopol repulse the British attackers, and the British send another 95,000 troops up there to try again. Meanwhile a combined Russian and Prussian force is trying to break the Ottoman lines in Silistra.
The 7th of February 1 Danish division lands in Malmö and the Swedes quickly order several divisions down there to throw the Danes back into the sea. And on the 10th of February a Danish division lands in Stralsund, but two days later a Prussian force of 66,000 men arrives and throws the Danes out.
Thanks to the Russian fleet, having defeated the Danish fleet the division was transported on, it has nowhere to retreat to, and is forced to surrender. This is quite fatal for the Danes, as they only have 2 divisions left, and only one of them is at home defending the capitol.
The Prussian force, named 2nd Korps, leaves one infantry division behind as defence, and begins to march towards Holstein, who are also involved in the war, but on the Danes side.
Meanwhile, on the 16th of February, the Ottoman lines in Silistra are broken, and the Prussian force continues towards the Ottoman capitol.
The Ottoman’s situation seems hopeless, as they just don’t have enough troops to halt the advance in the west anymore, and the forces in the Caucasus won’t be able to get back in time. Plus they can’t afford to pull any troops from that front without risking its total collapse.
The British continue to launch attacks on the Russian position in Melitopol throughout February, but due to the Russians bringing in even more reinforcements, any breakthrough seems unlikely at this time.
The 2nd of March the Swedes repulse the Danish invaders, but the Danes are able to retreat due to them having their fleet back in the waters of Storebælt.
The 18th of March, the Prussian 2nd Korps engage hostile forces in Lauenburg, a province owned by Holstein, and defeat them with ease.
The Danes offer a white peace on the 20th, but it is declined.
The 28th of March Prussian forces engage and defeat Ottoman troops in the province of Burgas, they are now only one province away from the Ottoman capitol.
The 13th of April, the Ottomans launch a weak counterattack in Burgas, but it is repulsed after two days of fighting. And on May the 1st, the Prussian forces reach the province of Edirne, on of the capitols neighbouring provinces. Heavy fighting ensues, and on the 17th of July, the Prussian forces are forced to retreat due to massive casualties.
But on the 24th of August, the Prussian forces once again try to assault the Ottoman forces in Edirne.
Meanwhile, Sweden has launched an invasion of Copenhagen with a massive 90,000 men against the Danish 20,000.
The 21st of September the Ottoman troops in Edirne are routed, and the road to the capitol is open.
Two days later the Swedes annihilate all Danish forces in Copenhagen, and are now working on taking control of the whole province.
And on the 2nd of October the Danes offer Virgin Islands, Reykjavik, Gothab and Ribe for peace. Their offer is turned down.
The 4th of October Prussian forces have taken full control of Edirne, and start their march towards Konstantiniyye.
On the 21st of October the Prussian forces reach the Ottoman capitol, and begin occupying it.
Meanwhile on the Crimean peninsula, the British forces now number 360,000 troops!
And on the 22nd of October, Hannover annexes Holstein.
On November 1st, the Prussian forces control the capitol of the Ottomans, and hopefully the Ottomans will offer peace soon.
By December the Ottoman’s Balkan possession are being conquered by the Russians with great speed.
The Ottomans being pushed back in the Balkans
The 9th of January research is done on Organized Factories, and work is started on Steam Turbine immediately.
There’s also some action in Melitopol, as 150,000 British troops tries to defeat the Russian defenders numbering 320,000. By February the British are forced to retreat.
By now the Ottomans was also struggling to hold the line in the Caucasus, due to them being forced to send troops to the western front or risk a devastating loss.
February saw Ottoman counterattacks in the Balkans, but the Russians repulsed them with ease. The Ottomans were starting to bring a rather unsettling large amount of troops to the Balkans however, a total of 220,000 men to be exact.
Meanwhile the British kept hammering at the Russian defenders in Melitopol, but they still were unable to break through.
In March the Ottomans managed to retake one of the provinces the Russians had held in the Balkans, the Russians tried to counterattack and retake the province, but failed.
But in the Caucasus, the Russians had broken the Ottoman lines, and the whole area was now in danger of falling to the Russians, and the Ottoman troops there were also in danger of being encircled due to the Russians breaking thru in the centre.
April 1st the Danes offered peace, giving Ribe and Flensburg to Hannover, and ceding Viborg and Aarhus to Prussia. The deal was taken. It also gave us some 80 prestige, so now we have 61 prestige.
By now the British had 450,000 men stationed on the Crimean Peninsula.
The front in the Balkans was also being slowly pushed back in favour of the Ottomans.
By now the Prussian high command was considering to offer the Ottomans peace, since they weren’t interested in continuing the war much longer, and the Russians did not seem to be willing to make any deal with the Ottomans right now. Our alliance with Russia had even expired by now, and there was a feeling that they weren’t a beneficial ally anymore, especially since it seemed like the Prussian army, if reinforced some, would be able to defeat the Austrians alone.
As June came, not much was happening, the fronts were moving, but always back and forth. And with the Prussian forces forced garrisoning the Ottoman capitol, or risk losing it, they were unable to try and help the Russians break the Ottoman lines in the Balkans.
The 4th of July, the Prussian high command was so tired of Russia’s lack of will to negotiate for peace, that they asked the Prussian government to offer the Ottomans peace.
While the Prussian government were debating peace with the Ottomans, the Prussian forces were forced to evacuate Constantiniyye to reinforce the Russian defenders holding the door out of the city open.
The Prussians arrived just in time, and secured their way out. However now the Ottoman capitol would surely be retaken if it was not re-garrisoned, but Prussian high command ordered the Prussian forces to continue making their way back towards Russian territory.
The reason was that the Russians did not appear to be able to prevent entrapment for much longer, with them now being outnumbered.
By September the Ottoman capitol was lost, and the Russian defenders on the retreat. With the Ottomans also bringing in 200,000 troops to secure the city, it would not be possible to retake without more troops.
And, on September the 21st, the Prussian government offered the Ottomans a white peace. The war did not appear to be ending soon, and if it ever was to end, it would require massive reinforcements from Prussia, which was not a viable option.
However the Ottomans rejected the offer of peace, which quite frankly surprised the whole of Prussia, and angered the government and high command. So, the Prussian forces in the Balkans were now ordered to go on the offensive, to try to force the Ottomans to accept peace.
Within November the Prussian forces had secured two provinces in the Balkans, and a new offer of a white peace was given to the Ottomans.
And once again they declined.
But on the 9th of January they finally accepted, and Prussia was finally at peace again. Preparations could now be undertaken to conquer the rest of Germany, and to defeat the Austrians and hopefully take their Czech provinces.
On the 27th of January, our scientists discovered Steam Turbine, and work was started on Cheap Iron.
In March, 5 new infantry divisions with artillery brigades were ordered to be trained.
This would be the first of many new divisions to be trained over the coming months.
In May the Russian situation continued to worsen, as they now had lost two provinces to the Ottomans in the Caucasus, and were slowly being pushed back in the Balkans. They were still managing to keep the over 600,000 British troops in Crimea though. This was the major reason the Russians couldn’t defeat the Ottomans really, as they were forced to keep almost 500,000 men up there to keep the British from breaking through and conquering their lands.
In July the Ottomans offered us a military alliance, but I declined.
The 2nd of July training of an additional 5 infantry divisions with artillery brigades was commenced.
The 3rd of July the Frankfurt Assembly offered the Prussian king the Emperors title, and urged us to unite the country. We declined (+50 prestige, accepting would have made us form Germany, and I don’t want to form Germany at a so unhistorical time).
As August comes around, we are ranked number 8 according to industrial ratings. Austria as ranked 3rd, with almost twice our rating. However, we do not mind, as soon we will be ranked top, once Germany is united.
In November we start the training of 5 infantry divisions with Guard attachments.
By now the Russians are only barely holding on in the Balkans, and are getting pushed further and further backwards in the Caucasus. They British still haven’t been able to break out from the Crimean Peninsula, even though their troops their almost number 1,000,000!
As January 1st, 1850 rolls around, the Prussian Army is larger than the Austrians. Plans are made for war around October 1850.
The 27th of January research on Cheap Iron is done, and work is started on Point Defence System.
In April the whole Austrian army except for 2 division’s rebel and the plans for invasion are put forward to May 2nd, when the last of the divisions in training are finished.
As May 2nd arrives, all of the 30 Prussian divisions in reserve are deployed, most of them on the borders to German minors, as Austria no longer poses any threat at all.
Prussia’s military rating is now 49, the 6th highest rating in the world. All that remains now is the declaration of war!
Prussia fully mobilized, ready to strike.
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Ok, last update for today. Tomorrow there will be alot of annexing of german minors
Also the links are the screenshots, this has been done to help those with lower screen resolutions.
*Edit* Fixed Pictures