Played on through to 1869. Lots of backtracking. First run through - had Russia DOW me in February of 1868. I had the larger military score - 73 to about 103. Decided to play on. Took quite awhile but eventually forced Russia to peace out for all of Siberia. Got stuck again right afterwards, when China reformed. I I couldn't consolidate China as I had to remove troops to fight Russia. Decided to rerun the game
On try 2, I decided to test what happens if I maintain a sizeable (200+) manpower pool. Russia declines to go to war with me. Interesting, I didn't know that the AI cared about my existing manpower. Then I did my original plan which was war with the United States for Civil War part II. I hired 100 divisions of Taureg cavalry from Morocco, and deployed 60 divisions staggered out to overwhelm their defenses. By the time I reached 75 percent war score, the Great War finally ended with France peacing out against Prussia and Italy. Austria declined the peace offer and continued warring with Prussia. Once they signed peace, France decided to enforce a containment DOW due to the border in Morocco.
I had a difficult time prosecuting the war with France by attempting to clipper dodge and land on Metropolitan France. So, once again I had to make a choice whether to accept the save and continue on from there or retest and see if I couldn't do better this run.
In run number 3, I tested what happened if I put troops on the Morocco border with Algeria. This time the Great War never ended. That will be very useful to me later on if I can intervene with 100 divisions attacking from North Germany into a war exhausted Prussia to finally break them. Prussia is a tough, tough nation.
Redid the game. This time, while I was preparing my armies for Civil War II, the AI noticed my troop buildup near Richmond. The AI realized that if they waited they would get crushed even harder. Was too late, they DOWed me but my 40 divisions were enough to carry the day. Ended up shipping over another 20, and took all of the Great Plains. Few people, no factories. 30 provinces.
3 different games, 3 different DOWs. Civil War II ended with total victory and few casualties. Only significant battle was the battle of Albuquerque, where American troops from California guarded the passes west. Next up, Prussia war part II, as a continuation of the Great War.