Expand the invitations for "Cordon Sanitaire" focus. -> As Romania's description says: "Romania created a web of alliances all across the Balkans". The alliances are mentioned, but save for the Polish-Romanian Alliance, there is not much you can do about them in game, I'm talking about the Little Entente and the Balkan Pact.
In the interwar years, Poland and Romania signed a defensive alliance called the "Cordon Sanitaire" in the early 1920s aimed at containing the Soviet Union. In 1927, they expanded this alliance to include any aggressor. This alliance was still active even as Germany invaded Poland in 1939, however, Poland did not call Romania into the war hoping to use its ports to ferry allied supplies through safely while Polish troops held out in a pocket in Southeastern Poland, the "Romanian Bridgehead Strategy". This contingency plan though was ruined when the Soviet Union also declared war on Poland.
The "Cordon Sanitaire" is already quite overpowered for a non-major alliance. Poland starts with 40 divisions and Romania starts with 31. This gives the Sanitaire Cordon a whopping 71 divisions at start to bear on any potential attacker. For comparison, Germany starts with 30 divisions. Italy starts with 39 though their templates are smaller with 6x INF. The Sanitaire Cordon is a very scary force to be reckoned with early game. With the very powerful Polish Revanchism early focus and quickness for which Romania can upgrade it into a full faction, the "Cordon Sanitaire" can be quite an early game bully. Only the Soviet Union could initially keep them in check solo early on. As it stands, some interesting play-through and multiplayer potential is there.
If this focus is already overpowered, why would I want to overpower it even further? For the sake of using the full potential of alternative history. Things can be done to keep it in check, make it impossible to create the "Cordon Sanitaire", "Little Entente" and "Balkan Pact" factions in the same game. You pick one alliance of these that you want to focus on and that's it.
To make this possible I suggest creating 4 political lines instead of 3: communist, fascist, democratic (western) and independent. With the independent path being where the Eastern European alliances can be made.
Romanian Web of Alliances in the Interwar:
My Suggestion:
Every focus tree I added is grounded in reality, none is make-believe out of nowhere.
Although it doesn't look like it from the outcome, Romania was truly playing the diplomatic game before the war started and this focus tree is meant to reflect that.
Trade Treaty with France -> Romania made a military trade treaty with France, buying tanks and other military equipment from France.
Anglo-Romanian Wheat Agreement -> On 11 May 1939, an Anglo-Romanian agreement was signed under which Britain committed itself to grant Romania a credit of £5 million pound sterling and promised to buy 200, 000 tons of Romanian wheat at above-market prices.
Improve German Relationship -> This can be a wild card focus, Romania can create the Balkan Pact or Little Entente, but it doesn't have to support the Allies after doing so. In the aftermath of the remilitarization of the Rhineland and once it was clear that no sanctions were going to be applied against Germany, Carol started to voice his fears that the days of French influence in Eastern Europe were numbered and Romania might have to seek some understanding with Germany to preserve its independence. With continuing the alliance with France, after March 1936 Carol also began a policy of attempting to improve relations with Germany. On 9 December 1937, a German-Romanian economic treaty was signed that placed Romania within the German economic sphere of influence, but which left the Germans unsatisfied as the Reich's enormous demand for oil to power its increasingly large war machine was not fulfilled by the 1937 treaty.
On 24 November 1938, Carol visited Germany to meet with Hitler in order to improve German-Romanian relations. During the talks for the new German-Romanian economic agreement which was signed on 10 December 1938, Weinberg wrote that: "Carol made the needed concessions, but he demonstrated his concern for his country's independence by driving a very hard bargain". The British historian D.C. Watt wrote that Carol had a "trump card" in his control of the oil Germany needed so badly and that the Germans were willing to pay a very high price for Romanian oil without which their military could not function. During his summit with Hitler, Carol was much offended when Hitler demanded that Carol free Codreanu and appoint him Prime Minister. Carol believed that as long as Codreanu lived, there was a possible alternative leadership in Romania for Hitler to back, and that if this possibility was eliminated then Hitler would have no other choice other to deal with him.
Reafirm Old Alliances -> In 1934, Titulescu played a leading role in creating the Balkan Pact which brought together Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey in an alliance intended to counter Bulgarian revanchism. The Balkan Entente was intended to be the beginning of an alliance that would bring together all of the anti-revisionist states of Eastern Europe. Reflecting his initially pro-French orientation, in June 1934 when the French foreign minister Louis Barthou visited Bucharest to meet with the foreign ministers of the Little Entente of Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, Carol organized lavish celebrations to welcome Barthou that were made to symbolized the enduring Franco-Romanian friendship between the two "Latin sisters". The German minister to Romania, Count Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg complained with a disgust in a report to Berlin that everyone in the Romanian elite was an incurable Francophile who told him that Romania would never betray its "Latin sister" France.
Request Turkish Support -> In July 1939, when Carol heard rumors that Hungary supported by Germany was planning on invading Romania following a new crisis in Romanian-Hungarian relations caused by complaints from Budapest that the Romanians were mistreating the Magyar minority in Transylvania (which were supported by Berlin), the king ordered general mobilization of his military while taking off in the royal yacht to Istanbul. During his unexpected trip to Istanbul, Carol held talks with the Turkish President Ismet Inonu and the Turkish Foreign Minister Sukru Saracoglu during which the Turks promised him that Turkey would immediately mobilize its military in the event of an Axis attack on Romania. The Turks in their turn pressed Carol to sign an alliance with the Soviet Union, something that Carol said very reluctantly he might do if the Turks were to serve as the middlemen and if the Soviets were to promise to recognize the border with Romania. The show of Romanian resolve supported by Turkey had the effect of causing the Hungarians to back off on their demands against Romania.
The Balkan Pact -> Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey become a full-fledged alliance. Carol's foreign policy going into 1939 was strengthen Romania's alliances with Poland and the Balkan Entente, work to avoid conflicts with Romania's enemies Hungary and Bulgaria, encourage Britain and France to get involved in the Balkans while trying to avoid giving offense to Germany.
The Little Entente -> Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia become a full-fledged alliance. In the fall of 1938, Carol together with the rest of the Romanian elite was deeply shocked by the Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938, which he saw as allowing all of Eastern Europe to fall within the German sphere of influence. Romania had long been one of the most Francophile nations in the world, which meant that the effects of Munich were felt especially strongly there.
The Cordon Sanitare -> Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland become a full-fledged alliance.
Invite France -> Reflecting the changed emphasis, Carol vetoed in February 1937 a plan promoted by France and Czechoslovakia for a new alliance which would formally unite France with the Little Entente and envisioned more much closer military ties between the French and their allies in Eastern Europe. Because of its oil, the French were keen to keep the alliance with Romania strong, and because of Romania's manpower was a way of compensating the French for their lower population vs. Germany's (the French had 40 million people while Germany had 70 million people). Additionally it was assumed in Paris that if Germany invaded Czechoslovakia that Hungary would also attack Czechoslovakia to regain Slovakia and Ruthenia. French military planners envisioned the role of Romania and Yugoslavia in such a war as invading Hungary to relieve the pressure on Czechoslovakia.
Other useful information: In the summer of 1937, Carol told French diplomats if the Germany attacked Czechoslovakia, he would not allow the Red Army transit rights across Romania, but was willing to ignore the Soviets if they crossed Romanian airspace on their way to Czechoslovakia. Right up until 1940, Carol's foreign policy teetered uneasily between the traditional alliance with France and an alignment with the newly ascendant power of Germany.
Soviet-Romanian Negociations: Unlocks the decisions suggested at point 13 and 14 on the masterpost.
Side historical note: In light of this, I can only wonder why Carol II did not request that Hitler publicly anounced the guarantee of Romania in exchange for the oil deal in 1938. Maybe he thought that even if he publicly did, Hitler would not eventually respect it anyway. But I can see why Germany eventually picked Hungary over Romania, Hungary was only looking at Germany for support, while Romania was playing both sides and Hitler knew that he could not trust Romania as much as he could trust Hungary.
Add "Night of the Vampires" focus on the Carol competent king path. -> Both because of the cool name, and it was indeed called like that, and for utility. This focus should remove a lot of fascist and communist party popularity and/or increase the non-aligned party popularity. A focus like this is necessary if you want to play the "All Parties Must End" path because there is no non-aligned minister to boost non-aligned popularity, you only get +0.02 non-aligned boost from the national spirit while Italy and German will influence your politics with +0.10 fascism on the historical path, making it difficult to keep your country non-aligned.
Carol II had initially planned to keep Codreanu in prison, but after the Iron Guard's terrorist campaign began in October 1938, Carol agreed to Călinescu's plan drawn up in the spring to murder all of the Iron Guard leaders in custody. On the night of 30 November 1938, Carol had Codreanu and 13 other Iron Guard leaders murdered with the official story being that they were "shot while trying to escape". The killings on the night of 30 November 1938 which saw much of the Iron Guard's leadership wiped out have gone down in Romanian history as "the night of the vampires". The Germans were much offended by the murder of Codreanu and for a period in late 1938 waged a violent propaganda campaign against Carol II with Germans newspapers regularly running stories casting doubt about the official version of events that Codreanu had been "shot while trying to escape" while calling Codreaunu's murder "a victory for the Jews". But ultimately economic concerns, especially the German need for Romanian oil caused the Nazis to get over their outrage over the killings of the Iron Guard leaders by early 1939, and relations with Carol soon went back to normal.
I made a Romanian suggestions masterpost here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ggestions-for-romania-1-9-2-or-later.1388028/ that I updated with these suggestions.
What do you think? Good ideas or overkill?
I know that "Cordon Sanitaire" is already quite overpowered for a non-major alliance which I why I suggested to make investing in any of these 3 alliances exclusive so that you won't be able to form a huge alliance with: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. It's mostly a lot of what-if for the sake of using the full potential of alternative history.
In the interwar years, Poland and Romania signed a defensive alliance called the "Cordon Sanitaire" in the early 1920s aimed at containing the Soviet Union. In 1927, they expanded this alliance to include any aggressor. This alliance was still active even as Germany invaded Poland in 1939, however, Poland did not call Romania into the war hoping to use its ports to ferry allied supplies through safely while Polish troops held out in a pocket in Southeastern Poland, the "Romanian Bridgehead Strategy". This contingency plan though was ruined when the Soviet Union also declared war on Poland.
The "Cordon Sanitaire" is already quite overpowered for a non-major alliance. Poland starts with 40 divisions and Romania starts with 31. This gives the Sanitaire Cordon a whopping 71 divisions at start to bear on any potential attacker. For comparison, Germany starts with 30 divisions. Italy starts with 39 though their templates are smaller with 6x INF. The Sanitaire Cordon is a very scary force to be reckoned with early game. With the very powerful Polish Revanchism early focus and quickness for which Romania can upgrade it into a full faction, the "Cordon Sanitaire" can be quite an early game bully. Only the Soviet Union could initially keep them in check solo early on. As it stands, some interesting play-through and multiplayer potential is there.
If this focus is already overpowered, why would I want to overpower it even further? For the sake of using the full potential of alternative history. Things can be done to keep it in check, make it impossible to create the "Cordon Sanitaire", "Little Entente" and "Balkan Pact" factions in the same game. You pick one alliance of these that you want to focus on and that's it.
To make this possible I suggest creating 4 political lines instead of 3: communist, fascist, democratic (western) and independent. With the independent path being where the Eastern European alliances can be made.
Romanian Web of Alliances in the Interwar:
My Suggestion:
Every focus tree I added is grounded in reality, none is make-believe out of nowhere.
Although it doesn't look like it from the outcome, Romania was truly playing the diplomatic game before the war started and this focus tree is meant to reflect that.
Trade Treaty with France -> Romania made a military trade treaty with France, buying tanks and other military equipment from France.
Anglo-Romanian Wheat Agreement -> On 11 May 1939, an Anglo-Romanian agreement was signed under which Britain committed itself to grant Romania a credit of £5 million pound sterling and promised to buy 200, 000 tons of Romanian wheat at above-market prices.
Improve German Relationship -> This can be a wild card focus, Romania can create the Balkan Pact or Little Entente, but it doesn't have to support the Allies after doing so. In the aftermath of the remilitarization of the Rhineland and once it was clear that no sanctions were going to be applied against Germany, Carol started to voice his fears that the days of French influence in Eastern Europe were numbered and Romania might have to seek some understanding with Germany to preserve its independence. With continuing the alliance with France, after March 1936 Carol also began a policy of attempting to improve relations with Germany. On 9 December 1937, a German-Romanian economic treaty was signed that placed Romania within the German economic sphere of influence, but which left the Germans unsatisfied as the Reich's enormous demand for oil to power its increasingly large war machine was not fulfilled by the 1937 treaty.
On 24 November 1938, Carol visited Germany to meet with Hitler in order to improve German-Romanian relations. During the talks for the new German-Romanian economic agreement which was signed on 10 December 1938, Weinberg wrote that: "Carol made the needed concessions, but he demonstrated his concern for his country's independence by driving a very hard bargain". The British historian D.C. Watt wrote that Carol had a "trump card" in his control of the oil Germany needed so badly and that the Germans were willing to pay a very high price for Romanian oil without which their military could not function. During his summit with Hitler, Carol was much offended when Hitler demanded that Carol free Codreanu and appoint him Prime Minister. Carol believed that as long as Codreanu lived, there was a possible alternative leadership in Romania for Hitler to back, and that if this possibility was eliminated then Hitler would have no other choice other to deal with him.
Reafirm Old Alliances -> In 1934, Titulescu played a leading role in creating the Balkan Pact which brought together Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey in an alliance intended to counter Bulgarian revanchism. The Balkan Entente was intended to be the beginning of an alliance that would bring together all of the anti-revisionist states of Eastern Europe. Reflecting his initially pro-French orientation, in June 1934 when the French foreign minister Louis Barthou visited Bucharest to meet with the foreign ministers of the Little Entente of Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, Carol organized lavish celebrations to welcome Barthou that were made to symbolized the enduring Franco-Romanian friendship between the two "Latin sisters". The German minister to Romania, Count Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg complained with a disgust in a report to Berlin that everyone in the Romanian elite was an incurable Francophile who told him that Romania would never betray its "Latin sister" France.
Request Turkish Support -> In July 1939, when Carol heard rumors that Hungary supported by Germany was planning on invading Romania following a new crisis in Romanian-Hungarian relations caused by complaints from Budapest that the Romanians were mistreating the Magyar minority in Transylvania (which were supported by Berlin), the king ordered general mobilization of his military while taking off in the royal yacht to Istanbul. During his unexpected trip to Istanbul, Carol held talks with the Turkish President Ismet Inonu and the Turkish Foreign Minister Sukru Saracoglu during which the Turks promised him that Turkey would immediately mobilize its military in the event of an Axis attack on Romania. The Turks in their turn pressed Carol to sign an alliance with the Soviet Union, something that Carol said very reluctantly he might do if the Turks were to serve as the middlemen and if the Soviets were to promise to recognize the border with Romania. The show of Romanian resolve supported by Turkey had the effect of causing the Hungarians to back off on their demands against Romania.
The Balkan Pact -> Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey become a full-fledged alliance. Carol's foreign policy going into 1939 was strengthen Romania's alliances with Poland and the Balkan Entente, work to avoid conflicts with Romania's enemies Hungary and Bulgaria, encourage Britain and France to get involved in the Balkans while trying to avoid giving offense to Germany.
The Little Entente -> Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia become a full-fledged alliance. In the fall of 1938, Carol together with the rest of the Romanian elite was deeply shocked by the Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938, which he saw as allowing all of Eastern Europe to fall within the German sphere of influence. Romania had long been one of the most Francophile nations in the world, which meant that the effects of Munich were felt especially strongly there.
The Cordon Sanitare -> Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland become a full-fledged alliance.
Invite France -> Reflecting the changed emphasis, Carol vetoed in February 1937 a plan promoted by France and Czechoslovakia for a new alliance which would formally unite France with the Little Entente and envisioned more much closer military ties between the French and their allies in Eastern Europe. Because of its oil, the French were keen to keep the alliance with Romania strong, and because of Romania's manpower was a way of compensating the French for their lower population vs. Germany's (the French had 40 million people while Germany had 70 million people). Additionally it was assumed in Paris that if Germany invaded Czechoslovakia that Hungary would also attack Czechoslovakia to regain Slovakia and Ruthenia. French military planners envisioned the role of Romania and Yugoslavia in such a war as invading Hungary to relieve the pressure on Czechoslovakia.
Other useful information: In the summer of 1937, Carol told French diplomats if the Germany attacked Czechoslovakia, he would not allow the Red Army transit rights across Romania, but was willing to ignore the Soviets if they crossed Romanian airspace on their way to Czechoslovakia. Right up until 1940, Carol's foreign policy teetered uneasily between the traditional alliance with France and an alignment with the newly ascendant power of Germany.
Soviet-Romanian Negociations: Unlocks the decisions suggested at point 13 and 14 on the masterpost.
Side historical note: In light of this, I can only wonder why Carol II did not request that Hitler publicly anounced the guarantee of Romania in exchange for the oil deal in 1938. Maybe he thought that even if he publicly did, Hitler would not eventually respect it anyway. But I can see why Germany eventually picked Hungary over Romania, Hungary was only looking at Germany for support, while Romania was playing both sides and Hitler knew that he could not trust Romania as much as he could trust Hungary.
Add "Night of the Vampires" focus on the Carol competent king path. -> Both because of the cool name, and it was indeed called like that, and for utility. This focus should remove a lot of fascist and communist party popularity and/or increase the non-aligned party popularity. A focus like this is necessary if you want to play the "All Parties Must End" path because there is no non-aligned minister to boost non-aligned popularity, you only get +0.02 non-aligned boost from the national spirit while Italy and German will influence your politics with +0.10 fascism on the historical path, making it difficult to keep your country non-aligned.
Carol II had initially planned to keep Codreanu in prison, but after the Iron Guard's terrorist campaign began in October 1938, Carol agreed to Călinescu's plan drawn up in the spring to murder all of the Iron Guard leaders in custody. On the night of 30 November 1938, Carol had Codreanu and 13 other Iron Guard leaders murdered with the official story being that they were "shot while trying to escape". The killings on the night of 30 November 1938 which saw much of the Iron Guard's leadership wiped out have gone down in Romanian history as "the night of the vampires". The Germans were much offended by the murder of Codreanu and for a period in late 1938 waged a violent propaganda campaign against Carol II with Germans newspapers regularly running stories casting doubt about the official version of events that Codreanu had been "shot while trying to escape" while calling Codreaunu's murder "a victory for the Jews". But ultimately economic concerns, especially the German need for Romanian oil caused the Nazis to get over their outrage over the killings of the Iron Guard leaders by early 1939, and relations with Carol soon went back to normal.
I made a Romanian suggestions masterpost here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ggestions-for-romania-1-9-2-or-later.1388028/ that I updated with these suggestions.
What do you think? Good ideas or overkill?
I know that "Cordon Sanitaire" is already quite overpowered for a non-major alliance which I why I suggested to make investing in any of these 3 alliances exclusive so that you won't be able to form a huge alliance with: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. It's mostly a lot of what-if for the sake of using the full potential of alternative history.
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