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After thinking it over, I support keeping Russia whole. I think it is far riskier to split Siberia off from Russia (where you very well could see it get absorbed by Russia anyway) than to simply keep Russia intact. "Whole Russia" does carry with it this sense of "let's hope for the best" but I think that would be more sustainable than trying to keep Siberia afloat in light of the food and political problems.
Alright, in light of the fact that I only have 2 people voting so far, I have decided to extend the deadline to the end of this week to give people more time to vote.
Ok, now that is more like what I was hoping for when I put it to a vote. I think the winner of this vote is rather clear, so I will go ahead and write the update. Normally, this type of vote would mean a clear win for united Russia, but as you will see, the game seems to think otherwise.
After days of fierce debate, the House was finally brought to a vote on the issue of what to do with Russia. When the votes were in, the result was a clear win for Unified Russia plan with a vote of 287 in favor of a unified Russia and 56 in favor of a divided Russia. Problems would, however, emerge when the vote was then put to the Senate. There, with the reduced numbers, things looked like they might be more equal. This normally would not have been a problem as the man who would break any tie, the Vice President, was the one who had proposed the unified Russia plan and so it was clear which way he would vote in the case of a tie. The supporters of the divided Russia plan knew this, however, and endeavored to avoid a tie. Instead, they threatened to hold up the Senate with a filibuster if the supporters of the unified Russia plan would not give them something as part of the bargain. Frustrated beyond belief, Truman told them to resolve this issue and do it quickly or else he would personally step in to force a resolution. Faced with the possibility of total defeat, the Divided Russia plan supporters agreed to a compromise solution. The compromise that was then worked out went like this. Russia would be released whole, initially as just the European parts of Russia, as all parties agreed these lands should be part of Russia. The remainder would then hold a plebisicite to decide whether they wanted to remain part of Russia. After obtaining a sworn agreement from the Russian government to renounce all claims to any land that voted not to become part of Russia again, the plebiscite was held. Despite this, both the Russian government and the Unified Russia plan supporters viewed this solution as a win for them. Both believed that the Asian portions of Russia would vote unanimously to remain a part of Russia and therefore the vote would simply be a formality. After the vote happened, however, both would be proven to be only partially right. In Siberia, the portion of Russia that Patton and his followers most wanted released separately, the vote was indeed unanimous to remain part of Russia. In another portion of Russia, however, the vote was almost unanimous in favor of separating from Russia. That portion was the Russian Far East. This area of Russia had been largely abandoned by Russia during the war and had been relatively quickly and easily overrun by Japan with almost no Russian soldiers being deployed to defend them, all attention having been placed on defeating Germany in the West. by the time any soldiers did arrive, most of the region had already been overrun. This fact convinced the people of the Russian Far East of two things. First, that the Russian government would always place defending them as a very low priority, as they seemed to care very little about them. Indeed, many saw their virtual abandonment as a sign that the Russian government did not care at all about them. Second, it convinced them that the Russian were virtually incapable of defending them even if they wanted to. The size of Russia was such that getting troops to the region would take so long that the fighting would likely be over before they got there. The only way to protect them would be a permanent garrison and this Russia had seemed unwilling to provide. The people therefore believed that they would be better off on their own. If they signed a treaty with the Americans or the Chinese, both of whom were much closer to them then Moscow, they could have a large body of troops ready to defend them and close at hand if their own forces proved insufficient to handle the job.
When the vote came in, the Russians immediately began to cry foul. They claimed that the vote had been tampered with by the American military, who had a very heavy presence in the region, given the fact that they had only recently finished fighting Japan there. Given the fact that the plan to divide Russia had originated with the military, this idea did not look as farfetched at the time as it sounds. They demanded a revote, this time with all Americans being asked to vacate the area first and the vote being overseen by Russians. This was done, but the vote came out the exact same way. With no other argument to make to invalidate the plebisicite results, the Russians simply tried to back out of their agreement and refuse to accept the results. It was then that the aging statesmen and newly elected President of Russia Alexander Kerensky entered the fray.
Indeed, the when Russia had been released, Alexander Kerensky would not have seemed like an obvious choice for President. Many Russians still remembered him as the failed head of the last attempt at Democracy in Russia. They still remembered how he had refused to take Russia out of the obviously lost WWI out of a matter of honor and how he had failed to stop the Communists from overthrowing his government. The man then spent the next few decades of his life in exile. This, however, was not the end of his story. Despite his disagreements with the Stalinist regime in Russia, when they went to war with Germany, he expressed his desire for a Russian victory. When Russia looked likely to be defeated, he had begged the United States to save his country. He held speech after speech to the American people and meeting after meeting with their leaders trying to convince them to come to the aid of his people. Despite his best efforts, this would prove to be in vain. Neither the American people or their leaders had been swayed by his words. After Russia went down to defeat, he continued to write stirring pamphlets tying to encourage the Russians not to give up hope and to continue to resist by whatever means remained available to them. These were then distributed in secret by the few contacts he still had in Russia. The Russians read these pamphlets religiously and it greatly helped them preserve their morale. When America did enter the war, he provided advice to the American armies on the best routes to take in their invasion of Russia and tried to help by encouraging the Russian villages in the path of their advance to rise in support of them. Thus, despite his legacy of failure while in charge of the failed provisional government, his work afterwards had redeemed him in the eyes of most Russians. When the time came to chose a new President, they therefore chose him in a landslide. Now he lent his voice to block the Russians attempts to back out of their agreement.
Kerensky claimed that the Russian Far East, he claimed, was hardly an area worth creating an international incident over. The area was incredibly sparsely populated, being one of if not they least populous parts of Russia. Its only value was that it provided Russia with a port on the Pacific, which it could easily still have after releasing the area by the means of a simple trade agreement and accompanying treaties to let Russian goods pass through the countries ports. He also argued that arguing over it made little sense from a military standpoint as Russia did not absolutely need a Pacific fleet. Most of their population resided in Europe and they had other ice free ports in the Black Sea that could serve the same function as Vladivostok, which was not ice free all year, did. Indeed, if Russia did not have to maintain a Pacific fleet, this would let them focus more attention on their Baltic and Black Sea fleet, which were infinitely more important to Russia's interests. Finally, he also argued that trying to keep the Russian Far East as a part of Russia when it clearly did not want to be would be idiotic. While the area was sparsely populated, it was also huge. That meant resistance cells would have plenty of places to hide in from which to harass Russians trying to hold the area. holding the area against its people's will, he stated, would be a nightmare and an unnecessary drain on the resources of a Russia that was still trying to get back on its feet. Eventually, these arguments won over the more recalcitrant members of the Russian government and population. Thus, they agreed to withdraw their claims to the area without incident.
The only other regions that voted to leave Russia was Karelia and Viipuri. This area, which had a large ethnic Karellian population, was closer to the Finns in terms of language and, to some degree, culture. As these areas were far less valuable, the Russians let them go without much fuss. Due to it being cut off from Russia with the loss of Karelia, Murmansk was also given to Finland. This also gave Finland much more defensible borders, as the Winter War had proved that Finland was hard pressed to defend its previous borders with a much stronger Russia. The current borders would be smaller and much easier to fortify and thus Finland would be better able to defend itself. Russia did, however, demand the signing of an alliance and non-agression pact, as the fact that the border was so close to Saint Petersburg still made them nervous.
Thus, after much debate, the release of Russia and Primorsk, as the new Nation formed out of the Russian Far East would be called, went off without any more fuss. Russia, under the guidance of Kerensky, then focused its attention on recovering its economy. with help from the Americans, they were able to do with remarkable speed. Russia never forgot who had helped them regain their freedom and get back on their feet afterwards and they remain good friends with the Americans to this day.
After days of fierce debate, the House was finally brought to a vote on the issue of what to do with Russia. When the votes were in, the result was a clear win for Unified Russia plan with a vote of 287 in favor of a unified Russia and 56 in favor of a divided Russia. Problems would, however, emerge when the vote was then put to the Senate. There, with the reduced numbers, things looked like they might be more equal. This normally would not have been a problem as the man who would break any tie, the Vice President, was the one who had proposed the unified Russia plan and so it was clear which way he would vote in the case of a tie. The supporters of the divided Russia plan knew this, however, and endeavored to avoid a tie. Instead, they threatened to hold up the Senate with a filibuster if the supporters of the unified Russia plan would not give them something as part of the bargain. Frustrated beyond belief, Truman told them to resolve this issue and do it quickly or else he would personally step in to force a resolution. Faced with the possibility of total defeat, the Divided Russia plan supporters agreed to a compromise solution. The compromise that was then worked out went like this. Russia would be released whole, initially as just the European parts of Russia, as all parties agreed these lands should be part of Russia. The remainder would then hold a plebisicite to decide whether they wanted to remain part of Russia. After obtaining a sworn agreement from the Russian government to renounce all claims to any land that voted not to become part of Russia again, the plebiscite was held. Despite this, both the Russian government and the Unified Russia plan supporters viewed this solution as a win for them. Both believed that the Asian portions of Russia would vote unanimously to remain a part of Russia and therefore the vote would simply be a formality. After the vote happened, however, both would be proven to be only partially right. In Siberia, the portion of Russia that Patton and his followers most wanted released separately, the vote was indeed unanimous to remain part of Russia. In another portion of Russia, however, the vote was almost unanimous in favor of separating from Russia. That portion was the Russian Far East. This area of Russia had been largely abandoned by Russia during the war and had been relatively quickly and easily overrun by Japan with almost no Russian soldiers being deployed to defend them, all attention having been placed on defeating Germany in the West. by the time any soldiers did arrive, most of the region had already been overrun. This fact convinced the people of the Russian Far East of two things. First, that the Russian government would always place defending them as a very low priority, as they seemed to care very little about them. Indeed, many saw their virtual abandonment as a sign that the Russian government did not care at all about them. Second, it convinced them that the Russian were virtually incapable of defending them even if they wanted to. The size of Russia was such that getting troops to the region would take so long that the fighting would likely be over before they got there. The only way to protect them would be a permanent garrison and this Russia had seemed unwilling to provide. The people therefore believed that they would be better off on their own. If they signed a treaty with the Americans or the Chinese, both of whom were much closer to them then Moscow, they could have a large body of troops ready to defend them and close at hand if their own forces proved insufficient to handle the job.
When the vote came in, the Russians immediately began to cry foul. They claimed that the vote had been tampered with by the American military, who had a very heavy presence in the region, given the fact that they had only recently finished fighting Japan there. Given the fact that the plan to divide Russia had originated with the military, this idea did not look as farfetched at the time as it sounds. They demanded a revote, this time with all Americans being asked to vacate the area first and the vote being overseen by Russians. This was done, but the vote came out the exact same way. With no other argument to make to invalidate the plebisicite results, the Russians simply tried to back out of their agreement and refuse to accept the results. It was then that the aging statesmen and newly elected President of Russia Alexander Kerensky entered the fray.
Indeed, the when Russia had been released, Alexander Kerensky would not have seemed like an obvious choice for President. Many Russians still remembered him as the failed head of the last attempt at Democracy in Russia. They still remembered how he had refused to take Russia out of the obviously lost WWI out of a matter of honor and how he had failed to stop the Communists from overthrowing his government. The man then spent the next few decades of his life in exile. This, however, was not the end of his story. Despite his disagreements with the Stalinist regime in Russia, when they went to war with Germany, he expressed his desire for a Russian victory. When Russia looked likely to be defeated, he had begged the United States to save his country. He held speech after speech to the American people and meeting after meeting with their leaders trying to convince them to come to the aid of his people. Despite his best efforts, this would prove to be in vain. Neither the American people or their leaders had been swayed by his words. After Russia went down to defeat, he continued to write stirring pamphlets tying to encourage the Russians not to give up hope and to continue to resist by whatever means remained available to them. These were then distributed in secret by the few contacts he still had in Russia. The Russians read these pamphlets religiously and it greatly helped them preserve their morale. When America did enter the war, he provided advice to the American armies on the best routes to take in their invasion of Russia and tried to help by encouraging the Russian villages in the path of their advance to rise in support of them. Thus, despite his legacy of failure while in charge of the failed provisional government, his work afterwards had redeemed him in the eyes of most Russians. When the time came to chose a new President, they therefore chose him in a landslide. Now he lent his voice to block the Russians attempts to back out of their agreement.
Kerensky claimed that the Russian Far East, he claimed, was hardly an area worth creating an international incident over. The area was incredibly sparsely populated, being one of if not they least populous parts of Russia. Its only value was that it provided Russia with a port on the Pacific, which it could easily still have after releasing the area by the means of a simple trade agreement and accompanying treaties to let Russian goods pass through the countries ports. He also argued that arguing over it made little sense from a military standpoint as Russia did not absolutely need a Pacific fleet. Most of their population resided in Europe and they had other ice free ports in the Black Sea that could serve the same function as Vladivostok, which was not ice free all year, did. Indeed, if Russia did not have to maintain a Pacific fleet, this would let them focus more attention on their Baltic and Black Sea fleet, which were infinitely more important to Russia's interests. Finally, he also argued that trying to keep the Russian Far East as a part of Russia when it clearly did not want to be would be idiotic. While the area was sparsely populated, it was also huge. That meant resistance cells would have plenty of places to hide in from which to harass Russians trying to hold the area. holding the area against its people's will, he stated, would be a nightmare and an unnecessary drain on the resources of a Russia that was still trying to get back on its feet. Eventually, these arguments won over the more recalcitrant members of the Russian government and population. Thus, they agreed to withdraw their claims to the area without incident.
The only other regions that voted to leave Russia was Karelia and Viipuri. This area, which had a large ethnic Karellian population, was closer to the Finns in terms of language and, to some degree, culture. As these areas were far less valuable, the Russians let them go without much fuss. Due to it being cut off from Russia with the loss of Karelia, Murmansk was also given to Finland. This also gave Finland much more defensible borders, as the Winter War had proved that Finland was hard pressed to defend its previous borders with a much stronger Russia. The current borders would be smaller and much easier to fortify and thus Finland would be better able to defend itself. Russia did, however, demand the signing of an alliance and non-agression pact, as the fact that the border was so close to Saint Petersburg still made them nervous.
Thus, after much debate, the release of Russia and Primorsk, as the new Nation formed out of the Russian Far East would be called, went off without any more fuss. Russia, under the guidance of Kerensky, then focused its attention on recovering its economy. with help from the Americans, they were able to do with remarkable speed. Russia never forgot who had helped them regain their freedom and get back on their feet afterwards and they remain good friends with the Americans to this day.
With the release of Russia and China, the Americans now turned their attention on what to do with Japan. Surprisingly, this proved to be a rather easy task. Everyone agreed Japan should be given its freedom and that this should happen as soon as a government could be assembled. The sticking point came, however, when it came to the issue of the Emperor. The Americans were fiercely divided over what they wanted to do with him and especially with the members of the Imperial family
On the one hand, you had the camp who wanted to have them all branded as war criminals for their crimes, tried, and executed. Indeed, with the memory of the sack of Nanking, which was believed to have been led by Prince Asaka, still fresh in their minds, the Chinese were among the loudest voices calling for reprisals. They demanded that all responsible for the abuses they suffered be made to face justice. For the most part, Americans were happy to oblige them.
The problem came when the issue of the Emperor was considered. the Chinese wanted Hirohito himself tried for failing to stop the abuses his army carried out. Many in America, however ironically thought quite well of him. This stemmed from the fact that he had tried to end the war when it became apparant that Japan could not win. Indeed, he had been suggesting from about the moment that Germany's fall became inevitable that Japan should seek to make peace with America. Hirohito was no fool. He knew his country didn't stand a chance against America alone. When the war started, this had been in the realm of possibilities. The American army was much smaller then and badly disorganized and it would take a long time before they could organize their men and raise more armies. Indeed, at the start of the war, the Japanese industrial capacity was close to being on par with the Americans and they had a fleet that could challenge theirs. Once the American economy turned its full might towards the war however, those advantages vanished. The Americans were able to produce a navy that crushed that of Japan and enough soldiers to drown the Japanese. Their only hope had been for Germany to stand their ground. Germany had an industrial capacity that was on par with the Americans after their conquest of Europe and a manpower pool that was just as large as the Americans. These were things Japan did not have and never would. Thus, while Germany remained strong, Japan had a chance at victory. Once Germany collapsed, however, the game was up for Japan. Despite these suggestions of peace talks, his advisors almost always told him the Americans would not accept a peace. This was mostly true, as the Americans now had a chance at simply achieving a total victory anyway and would have no reason to let the Japanese keep their empire. However, if Japan was willing to part with large parts of their empire, especially China, a peace might have been achievable, as it would have ended the war much earlier and saved the Americans much trouble. Japan might even have been allowed to keep some of their gains. These were all things that Hirohito, now certain he would be defeated would have been willing to consider. His councilors knew this and, unfortunately for Hirohito, did not share his willingness to give up the empire, preferring to die in defense of it. Thus, they continued to advise against seeking peace. When he ordered them to do so anyway, they would make noises as if they agreed, pretend to request peace talks, and then claim the Americans had rejected the proposal. Thus, they were able to manipulate the Emperor into believing that no peace was possible and to try to force the Americans to the negotiating table. When it became apparent that even that would not work, he had tried to end the war and his people's, at this point needless, suffering. This had led to the coup that deposed him and the Emperor joining up with the Americans and trying to encourage the Japanese people not to resist the Americans.
All of this had come to light when the war ended after the Americans found documents proving the Emperor had tried to end the war years ago were found. While some claim these were forged by the Emperor or his servants, no proof of this was ever found and the documents were believed by most to be genuine as a result. This combined with his earlier efforts to quell the Japanese people and stop their efforts to resist the Americans led to the Americans largely having incredibly favorable opinions of the man. Thus, they called for a pardon for him, with some even arguing that this pardon should extend to the Imperial family.
The stalemate was broken by probably the most unlikely of people. General Douglas McArthur, who had made his personal dislike of Hirohito known, actually spoke up in defense of the man. He professed that while he personally did not like the man for starting the war in the first place, he had come to have a tremendous amount of respect for him. This came from the fact that he was willing to potentially throw away his power to try and end what had become a pointless war. He also respected him for trying to save his people. "Here is a man" the general said " Who loves his people above all else and would do anything to protect them. Even though he stood to gain little from doing so, he tired to convince them to stop resisting us and to lay down their arms. Had it not been for the treachery and deceit of his councilors, he could have saved many of his people's lives and stopped much American blood and Japanese blood from being shed." He respected the man for knowing when the game was up and trying to back out of a war that Japan could not win. While he argued this did not excuse him from not stopping the abuses of his men, it did show that he was not simply a monster who needed to be put down. He also added the following: "Given the level that his advisors went to in order to deceive him of the infeasibility of peace and to manipulate him into continuing a war he clearly did not still not want to fight, it is not impossible to think that they may have tried to hide many of the abuses from him. While it is true that atrocities on the scale of Nanking could not really have been kept beyond his notice, it is not difficult to imagine him being reluctant to put his own flesh and blood to death. In addition, I hardly believe that he was the man who ordered any of the atrocities carried out by his men and many of their smaller abuses might well have been kept from him entirely".
While McArthur favored leniency for the Emperor, this same feeling did not extend to the Imperial family. On that topic, he is on record as having said the following: "Certainly there are those among the Imperial Family who share none of the blame for the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army. This, however, is not enough to excuse the acts of those who not only encouraged, but in many cases actively took part in these self same atrocities. As the Pope once said of the Templars 'If some among them are innocent, it is expedient that they should be assayed like gold in a furnace by proper judicial examination". Many of the American generals supported them in this statement, among them Patton, who issued a similiar statement. "The Emperor may well be a son of bitch, but so are most of us fighting men. I am probably one of the biggest sons of a bitch you will ever meet. That does not make me evil though, just hard and ruthless. If the Emperor had ordered the atrocities of his men himself, there would be no question he should be put down like a rabid dog, just like what I did with that bastard Hitler. No one is saying he ordered them though and I don't believe he did either. Lets spend our time chasing those that are actually guilty rather then persecuting those who played no part in actually carrying out these crimes", Patton was supposed to have said. The support of both of these tremendously popular generals was enough to win many Americans over to the side of the Emperor. One man in particular was eventually persuaded that the Emperor should be spared: President Truman himself. To mullify China, he stated that the Emperor would be spared and allowed to keep his title. However, he would have to renounce his godhood and would have almost no power, serving only as a figurehead and symbol of the nation. This pardon, however, would not extend to the rest of the Imperial family, who Truman ordered should be investigated for war crimes. Those who were guilty were tried for their actions and were duly executed. This act, despite not being everything the Chinese wanted, was enough to keep them satisfied. Once the business of the investigation was done, the announcement was made of the liberation of Japan
This was made especially true by the fact that the Emperor seemed both bound and determined to make up for the sins his country had committed during the war. While China was in the process of recovering from the war, the Emperor asked the Japanese parliament to authorize the giving of monetary and other support to the Chinese to help rebuild their ruined country. The Japanese Parliament wholeheartedly agreed and shipments of aid began flowing into China. While the Chinese originally remained distrustful of both the Emperor and Japan, both nations continued to shoe genuine contrition for what they had done. Thus, while relations could never be regarded as perfect, they did eventual resume to semblance of normalcy, with the nations still remaining not quite friends but certainly not enemies.
Alright, that only leaves two or three more updates left until this AAR comes to its long awaited conclusion. Once I am finished, I will begin trying to find out what happened to the initial save for this game. Once I have found it, I will begin taking volunteers for people who want to help me turn this into a mod. Then we can move onto my next exciting AAR.
On the one hand, you had the camp who wanted to have them all branded as war criminals for their crimes, tried, and executed. Indeed, with the memory of the sack of Nanking, which was believed to have been led by Prince Asaka, still fresh in their minds, the Chinese were among the loudest voices calling for reprisals. They demanded that all responsible for the abuses they suffered be made to face justice. For the most part, Americans were happy to oblige them.
The problem came when the issue of the Emperor was considered. the Chinese wanted Hirohito himself tried for failing to stop the abuses his army carried out. Many in America, however ironically thought quite well of him. This stemmed from the fact that he had tried to end the war when it became apparant that Japan could not win. Indeed, he had been suggesting from about the moment that Germany's fall became inevitable that Japan should seek to make peace with America. Hirohito was no fool. He knew his country didn't stand a chance against America alone. When the war started, this had been in the realm of possibilities. The American army was much smaller then and badly disorganized and it would take a long time before they could organize their men and raise more armies. Indeed, at the start of the war, the Japanese industrial capacity was close to being on par with the Americans and they had a fleet that could challenge theirs. Once the American economy turned its full might towards the war however, those advantages vanished. The Americans were able to produce a navy that crushed that of Japan and enough soldiers to drown the Japanese. Their only hope had been for Germany to stand their ground. Germany had an industrial capacity that was on par with the Americans after their conquest of Europe and a manpower pool that was just as large as the Americans. These were things Japan did not have and never would. Thus, while Germany remained strong, Japan had a chance at victory. Once Germany collapsed, however, the game was up for Japan. Despite these suggestions of peace talks, his advisors almost always told him the Americans would not accept a peace. This was mostly true, as the Americans now had a chance at simply achieving a total victory anyway and would have no reason to let the Japanese keep their empire. However, if Japan was willing to part with large parts of their empire, especially China, a peace might have been achievable, as it would have ended the war much earlier and saved the Americans much trouble. Japan might even have been allowed to keep some of their gains. These were all things that Hirohito, now certain he would be defeated would have been willing to consider. His councilors knew this and, unfortunately for Hirohito, did not share his willingness to give up the empire, preferring to die in defense of it. Thus, they continued to advise against seeking peace. When he ordered them to do so anyway, they would make noises as if they agreed, pretend to request peace talks, and then claim the Americans had rejected the proposal. Thus, they were able to manipulate the Emperor into believing that no peace was possible and to try to force the Americans to the negotiating table. When it became apparent that even that would not work, he had tried to end the war and his people's, at this point needless, suffering. This had led to the coup that deposed him and the Emperor joining up with the Americans and trying to encourage the Japanese people not to resist the Americans.
All of this had come to light when the war ended after the Americans found documents proving the Emperor had tried to end the war years ago were found. While some claim these were forged by the Emperor or his servants, no proof of this was ever found and the documents were believed by most to be genuine as a result. This combined with his earlier efforts to quell the Japanese people and stop their efforts to resist the Americans led to the Americans largely having incredibly favorable opinions of the man. Thus, they called for a pardon for him, with some even arguing that this pardon should extend to the Imperial family.
The stalemate was broken by probably the most unlikely of people. General Douglas McArthur, who had made his personal dislike of Hirohito known, actually spoke up in defense of the man. He professed that while he personally did not like the man for starting the war in the first place, he had come to have a tremendous amount of respect for him. This came from the fact that he was willing to potentially throw away his power to try and end what had become a pointless war. He also respected him for trying to save his people. "Here is a man" the general said " Who loves his people above all else and would do anything to protect them. Even though he stood to gain little from doing so, he tired to convince them to stop resisting us and to lay down their arms. Had it not been for the treachery and deceit of his councilors, he could have saved many of his people's lives and stopped much American blood and Japanese blood from being shed." He respected the man for knowing when the game was up and trying to back out of a war that Japan could not win. While he argued this did not excuse him from not stopping the abuses of his men, it did show that he was not simply a monster who needed to be put down. He also added the following: "Given the level that his advisors went to in order to deceive him of the infeasibility of peace and to manipulate him into continuing a war he clearly did not still not want to fight, it is not impossible to think that they may have tried to hide many of the abuses from him. While it is true that atrocities on the scale of Nanking could not really have been kept beyond his notice, it is not difficult to imagine him being reluctant to put his own flesh and blood to death. In addition, I hardly believe that he was the man who ordered any of the atrocities carried out by his men and many of their smaller abuses might well have been kept from him entirely".
While McArthur favored leniency for the Emperor, this same feeling did not extend to the Imperial family. On that topic, he is on record as having said the following: "Certainly there are those among the Imperial Family who share none of the blame for the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army. This, however, is not enough to excuse the acts of those who not only encouraged, but in many cases actively took part in these self same atrocities. As the Pope once said of the Templars 'If some among them are innocent, it is expedient that they should be assayed like gold in a furnace by proper judicial examination". Many of the American generals supported them in this statement, among them Patton, who issued a similiar statement. "The Emperor may well be a son of bitch, but so are most of us fighting men. I am probably one of the biggest sons of a bitch you will ever meet. That does not make me evil though, just hard and ruthless. If the Emperor had ordered the atrocities of his men himself, there would be no question he should be put down like a rabid dog, just like what I did with that bastard Hitler. No one is saying he ordered them though and I don't believe he did either. Lets spend our time chasing those that are actually guilty rather then persecuting those who played no part in actually carrying out these crimes", Patton was supposed to have said. The support of both of these tremendously popular generals was enough to win many Americans over to the side of the Emperor. One man in particular was eventually persuaded that the Emperor should be spared: President Truman himself. To mullify China, he stated that the Emperor would be spared and allowed to keep his title. However, he would have to renounce his godhood and would have almost no power, serving only as a figurehead and symbol of the nation. This pardon, however, would not extend to the rest of the Imperial family, who Truman ordered should be investigated for war crimes. Those who were guilty were tried for their actions and were duly executed. This act, despite not being everything the Chinese wanted, was enough to keep them satisfied. Once the business of the investigation was done, the announcement was made of the liberation of Japan
This was made especially true by the fact that the Emperor seemed both bound and determined to make up for the sins his country had committed during the war. While China was in the process of recovering from the war, the Emperor asked the Japanese parliament to authorize the giving of monetary and other support to the Chinese to help rebuild their ruined country. The Japanese Parliament wholeheartedly agreed and shipments of aid began flowing into China. While the Chinese originally remained distrustful of both the Emperor and Japan, both nations continued to shoe genuine contrition for what they had done. Thus, while relations could never be regarded as perfect, they did eventual resume to semblance of normalcy, with the nations still remaining not quite friends but certainly not enemies.
Alright, that only leaves two or three more updates left until this AAR comes to its long awaited conclusion. Once I am finished, I will begin trying to find out what happened to the initial save for this game. Once I have found it, I will begin taking volunteers for people who want to help me turn this into a mod. Then we can move onto my next exciting AAR.
It's been quite some time since I've been in this thread but, the updates are just amazing. It's exciting to wait for the long-awaited finale.
Thanks for all of the support. Without further ado I shall begin what shall probably be the last post of this AAR dealing with the ancillary territories under my control, the civil rights issue that one poster pointed out had been ignored until now and Truman's resignation in favor of Kennedy.
Truman breathed an audible sigh of relief. The debate over Russia had been overly long and drawn out in his opinion. Indeed, in his opinion the whole idea of potentially dividing the country to him had been nothing short of idiotic. The idea that the wastes of Siberia could ever have even approached self sufficiency had struck him as absurd and all it would have accomplished is the creation of an eternal enemy and an eternal albatross hanging round the neck of America in the form of the new Russia and Siberia Respectively. Indeed, he still doubted that giving the Russian Far East its independence was a good idea, but at least they had successfully avoided angering Russia with the decision. Now that all of the hard and important decisions about what to do with the larger post-war nations had been decided, they could get to the much easier and, he hoped, much less controversial decisions about what to do with the smaller territories now under American control.
the first area that needed sorting was New Guinea. Unlike the other smaller territories in the Pacific, this island was large enough to be a self sustaining nation. Despite this fact, however, there still remained the small problem that the area had remained under Australian and Dutch colonial control and therefore many of the island's natives did not have enough experience with self government. As a result, Trumut an worked out an arrangement whereas the area would remain under American control for 10 years. initially, most government positions would be filled by Americans appointed by the President. Over the remaining 10 years, the territories would slowly transition into self government with more and more positions being filled by native New Guineans every year until they took over government completely and were given independence. The arrangement would work out perfectly and New Guinea would transition into independence without the slightest hitch.
The question of what to do with the many smaller Pacific Islands now under their control was a relatively easy one. As many of these territories were too small to ever hope to be truly self sufficient, it was decided that they would become trust territories under America to give them more economic support and protection. It was also decided that this should be an organic situation and that, much like what was done with Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War, these territories would be given an opportunity to vote every few years on whether to maintain the status quo, become independent, or petition for statehood. However, in truth, no one really expected them to petition for statehood as the expectation was that they would prefer to enjoy the relative autonomy given to them combined with the remoteness of the territories.
In the Carribean a similiar arragnement was made with the various islands that dotted the area. These areas had initially been under German and Japanese control but had been seized without any opposition and to much local fanfare very early in the war. These territories had been under American control for so long now as to be relatively accustomed to it. They were also given the same status of Puerto Rico. Here, however, the expectation was that eventually either the various territories in the area would pick to become independent or vote for statehood. The only exception to this was Curacao, which had freed itself from the Germans by revolt during the American liberation from the area and would thus become its own independent nation.
The final issue that needed sorting out was potentially the most thorny. This was the issue with the new state of Isreal in the Middle East. While official recognition of Israel had been written into the treaties of independence that most Middle Eastern countries signed, there remained great resentment as many people in the area viewed the land as stolen from them. However, with the groundswell of support for the country both domestically and internationally, there was no question of undoing the decision. Therefore a compromise would have to be made for the Palestinians who had lived in the area. Truman, however, believed he had a solution. His solution was to create a second country for the Palestinians out of territory not claimed by the Israelis but still close to their original homeland. Truman eventually settled on two areas for this new country: the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Both of these territories were under the control of Egypt, a country that had expressed a great amount of sympathy and support for the Palestinians. Truman leveraged this support as well as the good will he had won from Egypt from liberating them to get them to agree to create a new Palestinian nation on these territories. There remained one sticking point, however, in American possession of the Suez Canal. Truman, however, had a plan to deal with that. Truman agreed to give the territory of Suez on the Asian side of the canal to the Palestinians whereas the African side of the canal would be given to the Egyptians. While all sides agreed this was far from an ideal solution, it was the best that could be worked out. Shortly after the decision was made, Truman and the Egyptian government made a joint announcement of the creation of the state of Palestine. Seeing an opportunity to win some good will from their neighbors who might otherwise be inclined to be hostile, Israel instantly recognized the new state of Palestine. An announcement was made that the American and Israeli governments would cover the costs of any Palestinian who wished to relocate to the new state. A deal was also worked out where the Israeli and American governments agreed to pay compensations for vacated property of those who did chose to relocate. Instantly, many thousands of Palestinians leaped at his opportunity and signed up to become part of this new state. Relations were struck up between the two new states instantly. Despite this and guarantee of equal treatment of those Palestinians who chose to stay, there were still those who decried the move as a forced expulsion of the Palestinians from their land. However, while hostilities continued to linger in the area, the creation of the new State of Palestine at least removed the possibility of these hostilities turning into open warfare.
(I apologize, but I couldn't actually get Egypt to release it in game as even after editing the country files, they still considered the sinai and Gaza their national provinces even though I removed them from the list. We will all have to pretend that happened)
With all of these decisions thus made, Truman began preparations for his transfer of power to Kennedy. Despite this, however, there remained one more issue that still needed to be resolved and that was the issue of Civil Rights. When war was first declared, Truman had issued an executive order banning any form of racial discrimination in the army or in defense industries. While many in the South objected to the move, Truman had countered with the fact that the war was undoubtedly going to be the biggest, longest, and probably bloodiest war that America ever faced. Given that fact, they needed all available manpower to have a chance at winning the war and "could not afford to discriminate on any basis other then an inability to serve." While many Southerners remained unhappy about the decision, this argument convinced them of the necessity of the move and, while they could never truly have been said to have liked it, they at least no longer openly opposed the policy. Now, many prominent African American leaders were arguing for equal rights in recognition of their service to their country. In the words of one young up and coming civil rights activist by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King " We Black Americans sacrificed the flower of our youth for this war. All across the world, young Black men gave their life in service to their country, bleeding out on the fields of countless battles throughout the Old World. These men did a service to the entire world by stopping one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known and while he certainly needed to be stopped, that is not the only reason they gave their lives to this cause. They gave their lives for a promise. A promise that in exchange for helping to free others from the tyranny and oppression of Hitler and his allies, they would be freed from the tyranny and oppression they themselves had always experienced right in their own backyards. Mr. Truman, we have fulfilled our end of the bargain, it is now your turn to fulfill yours." All across the nation, King and others like him threatened protests if their demands were not met. Some even threatened violence if the President would not accede to their demands, despite the objections of men like King that resorting to violence would not help their cause.
While many of his advisers suggested that Truman simply leave the matter to be settled by Kennedy, Truman steadfastly refused to do so for two main reasons. First, while certainly a popular figure, Kennedy lacked the almost universal love and support that Truman enjoyed. As a result, Truman feared that Kennedy would not be able to muster up the support needed to get a civil rights bill passed through Congress. Even worse, Kennedy might even be convinced to abandon the idea altogether out of pure political pragmatism out of fear of torpedoing his own fledgling support. Indeed, Truman felt that many of his advisers actually hoped this would happened. Second, He believed that since it was him who made the promise, it should be him who fulfilled it.
As a Result, Truman held a press conference where he announced that he would be introducing into Congress a bill mandating equal rights and treatment for all person's regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, sex, or religion. "Americans of all strips, White, Black, Asian, Irish, German, English, Chrstian, and Jewish, risked and in some cases forfeited their lives in service to their country in this great conflict. To deny them the freedom at home that they fought to achieve for others oversees would be to spit on their accomplishments, graves, and memories and that is something I will never do. It is for this reason that I plan to ask Congress to pass this new Civil Rights Bill that I will be introducing to Congress with the full support of myself and my office." This news was met with joyous celebration from civil rights advocates all across the country while many Southerners and their political allies tried to stop the legislation from passing. Faced with the organized campaigning of civil rights groups all across the country and Truman's open support, however, they stood little chance of success. Truman appeared regularly in speaking tours, on radio shows and even on a few shows on the newly introduced television sets to express his support for this bill. While this move cost him and his part great support in the South, Truman himself remained unfazed and stated that he neither needed nor wanted the support of those who would deny others their god given right to equality. This sentiment and the spectacle of him flying in the face of political pragmatism and his willingness to go against the wishes of his own parties political base won him even more support both at home and abroad and, despite gaining almost no votes of approval from the Southern states, the Civil Rights bill would pass into law to much fanfare.
With this last act accomplshed, Truman finally accepted that it was time to hang up his hat and retire from public life. Thus, He held a Joint session of Congress to announce his resignation to them and to the nation. When the cameras turned on, he gave his last address to the American People as their president. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I come to you today to announce my resignation as your President. I have served now for 13 years as your President and while it has been one of the most stressful experiences of my life, I have no regrets about my time of service. When I entered this office, our nation was faced with the greatest threat it has ever known. Through our own inaction, we had allowed the forces of Nazi Germany and their allies to overrun the Old World. We watched as Britain fell and the Soviet Union was overrun and we, facing our own problems at home, refused to take part. This led our nation to stand as the Last Bastion of Freedom in a world overrun by tyranny. While many people favored simply accepting this fact and simply coexisting with Hitler and his allies, You, the American people, rejected that option outright. You elected to face the challenge of freeing the World from the yoke of tyranny, like your forefathers had freed themselves. We all knew this would be no easy task and that the cost of both men and treasure would be very great. But yet you persevered. While we met great success initially, causing many to believe the war would be a quick won affair, those hopes were dashed when the German and his allies rallied and managed to stop our mighty armies in Italy, in the Pyrenees, and in the Middle East. Despite this stalemate, your resolve did not falter and you pushed through to the victory that I always knew you were capable of achieving. The Armies of the New World came to the aid of the Old and we were victorious. We managed to give them back the freedom they had lost, fulfilling the promise of our nation to always stand as the defenders of freedom and to oppose tyranny wherever we might find it. Like we did in WWI, we once again made this world safe for democracy. I am filled with nothing but pride to have served as your President through our nations darkest hour. You faced this darkest hour and you proved you had the willpower to persevere through it. I am proud that I am the man you have chosen to lead you through this time of trial and tribulation and I can now retire being able to say what so few presidents have been able to say: that I have accomplished everything I could have hoped to accomplish and more in my term in office and more. As such, I will now step down and leave the nation in the very capable hands of my Vice President John F. Kennedy, who I know will serve you just as well as I have. And so, America, I bid you farewell and go to my well deserved retirement without any regrets." He then stepped off the podium and proceeded to shake hands with Kennedy to symbolize his handing over of power to him.
When he finished, all Present, Democrat and Republican, stood and gave the President a standing ovation. Truman had led the nation through the largest and bloodiest war in his nations history and many now pronounced him the greatest President to ever serve. Thus with his departure, ended the era of World War II with America as the unquestioned most powerful nation on Earth, fully prepared to lead the newly free world into the future.
Alright, at long last, this AAR has finally come to a close. It has been going for four years and I am kind of sad to see it end, but I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it. My next AAR shall be a Kaiserreich AAR and I have not decided whether to do it in HOI2 or Darkest Hour. I think the Darkest Hour version has some events that are not available in HOI2 and if that is the case, I will definitely download Darkest Hour and the mod and do an AAR for that. If not, I will be doing it for HOI2, as I already have the mod and have played around with it a lot. The nations that I am thinking of doing are as follows:
USA: I really like the alternate history behind this one and while there is a glut of AAR's that do it, It might be quite fun to do especially to see what happens after the Civil War is won. I have played this a few times and I believe it could be quite fun
Qing Empire: I have personally never seen someone carry this one much beyond final unification of China. I myself plan to do just that if this is the option that I go with and take the newly united China into WWII and build up my own alliance independent of the Entente, the Internationale, and Mittleuropa and try and lead it to dominance over the other three. I have done this before, but I stalled out when I tried to invade the AUS and got deadlocked after seizing part of the West Coast by an AUS that had allied with the Entente, as I was at war with both alliances. Would be fun to have a second go around
Austria: This is another I have played around with but there do not seem to be a lot of AAR's for it. My plan would be to either federate Austria into the Danube Federation or simply centralize power back under my control to create a new Austrian Empire and then try and create the Catholic League and enter WWII as another independent force
These are the main contenders and I have some experience playing as all of them. Other potential games include Russia, Italy, or Mongolia though I am not really sure where I would go with those other then with Russia where I would probably try to put the Romanov's back in power. feel free to post your opinions of which of these you would like to see as it would certainly help me make my final decision.
In addition, I will now be taking volunteers to turn this scenario into a mod. The overall plan is to create a mod with three possible start dates: the date were I started this game in 1948, another date after the liberation of Great Britain but before the invasion of Europe, and a third after the initial stalemate set in and before I broke out in Spain. I also have plans to add in some cool events that I wanted to write but my computer failed to run that could make this situation even more fun. Either post on this thread or PM me if you would like to help out and anyone with modding experience would be greatly appreciated as I have very little idea what I am doing with this. If my PM box is full, simply leave a visitor message stating your willingness to help out and telling me any experience you might have. I also promise to read any AAR's that come from said mod as often as I can.
Truman breathed an audible sigh of relief. The debate over Russia had been overly long and drawn out in his opinion. Indeed, in his opinion the whole idea of potentially dividing the country to him had been nothing short of idiotic. The idea that the wastes of Siberia could ever have even approached self sufficiency had struck him as absurd and all it would have accomplished is the creation of an eternal enemy and an eternal albatross hanging round the neck of America in the form of the new Russia and Siberia Respectively. Indeed, he still doubted that giving the Russian Far East its independence was a good idea, but at least they had successfully avoided angering Russia with the decision. Now that all of the hard and important decisions about what to do with the larger post-war nations had been decided, they could get to the much easier and, he hoped, much less controversial decisions about what to do with the smaller territories now under American control.
the first area that needed sorting was New Guinea. Unlike the other smaller territories in the Pacific, this island was large enough to be a self sustaining nation. Despite this fact, however, there still remained the small problem that the area had remained under Australian and Dutch colonial control and therefore many of the island's natives did not have enough experience with self government. As a result, Trumut an worked out an arrangement whereas the area would remain under American control for 10 years. initially, most government positions would be filled by Americans appointed by the President. Over the remaining 10 years, the territories would slowly transition into self government with more and more positions being filled by native New Guineans every year until they took over government completely and were given independence. The arrangement would work out perfectly and New Guinea would transition into independence without the slightest hitch.
The question of what to do with the many smaller Pacific Islands now under their control was a relatively easy one. As many of these territories were too small to ever hope to be truly self sufficient, it was decided that they would become trust territories under America to give them more economic support and protection. It was also decided that this should be an organic situation and that, much like what was done with Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War, these territories would be given an opportunity to vote every few years on whether to maintain the status quo, become independent, or petition for statehood. However, in truth, no one really expected them to petition for statehood as the expectation was that they would prefer to enjoy the relative autonomy given to them combined with the remoteness of the territories.
In the Carribean a similiar arragnement was made with the various islands that dotted the area. These areas had initially been under German and Japanese control but had been seized without any opposition and to much local fanfare very early in the war. These territories had been under American control for so long now as to be relatively accustomed to it. They were also given the same status of Puerto Rico. Here, however, the expectation was that eventually either the various territories in the area would pick to become independent or vote for statehood. The only exception to this was Curacao, which had freed itself from the Germans by revolt during the American liberation from the area and would thus become its own independent nation.
The final issue that needed sorting out was potentially the most thorny. This was the issue with the new state of Isreal in the Middle East. While official recognition of Israel had been written into the treaties of independence that most Middle Eastern countries signed, there remained great resentment as many people in the area viewed the land as stolen from them. However, with the groundswell of support for the country both domestically and internationally, there was no question of undoing the decision. Therefore a compromise would have to be made for the Palestinians who had lived in the area. Truman, however, believed he had a solution. His solution was to create a second country for the Palestinians out of territory not claimed by the Israelis but still close to their original homeland. Truman eventually settled on two areas for this new country: the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Both of these territories were under the control of Egypt, a country that had expressed a great amount of sympathy and support for the Palestinians. Truman leveraged this support as well as the good will he had won from Egypt from liberating them to get them to agree to create a new Palestinian nation on these territories. There remained one sticking point, however, in American possession of the Suez Canal. Truman, however, had a plan to deal with that. Truman agreed to give the territory of Suez on the Asian side of the canal to the Palestinians whereas the African side of the canal would be given to the Egyptians. While all sides agreed this was far from an ideal solution, it was the best that could be worked out. Shortly after the decision was made, Truman and the Egyptian government made a joint announcement of the creation of the state of Palestine. Seeing an opportunity to win some good will from their neighbors who might otherwise be inclined to be hostile, Israel instantly recognized the new state of Palestine. An announcement was made that the American and Israeli governments would cover the costs of any Palestinian who wished to relocate to the new state. A deal was also worked out where the Israeli and American governments agreed to pay compensations for vacated property of those who did chose to relocate. Instantly, many thousands of Palestinians leaped at his opportunity and signed up to become part of this new state. Relations were struck up between the two new states instantly. Despite this and guarantee of equal treatment of those Palestinians who chose to stay, there were still those who decried the move as a forced expulsion of the Palestinians from their land. However, while hostilities continued to linger in the area, the creation of the new State of Palestine at least removed the possibility of these hostilities turning into open warfare.
(I apologize, but I couldn't actually get Egypt to release it in game as even after editing the country files, they still considered the sinai and Gaza their national provinces even though I removed them from the list. We will all have to pretend that happened)
With all of these decisions thus made, Truman began preparations for his transfer of power to Kennedy. Despite this, however, there remained one more issue that still needed to be resolved and that was the issue of Civil Rights. When war was first declared, Truman had issued an executive order banning any form of racial discrimination in the army or in defense industries. While many in the South objected to the move, Truman had countered with the fact that the war was undoubtedly going to be the biggest, longest, and probably bloodiest war that America ever faced. Given that fact, they needed all available manpower to have a chance at winning the war and "could not afford to discriminate on any basis other then an inability to serve." While many Southerners remained unhappy about the decision, this argument convinced them of the necessity of the move and, while they could never truly have been said to have liked it, they at least no longer openly opposed the policy. Now, many prominent African American leaders were arguing for equal rights in recognition of their service to their country. In the words of one young up and coming civil rights activist by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King " We Black Americans sacrificed the flower of our youth for this war. All across the world, young Black men gave their life in service to their country, bleeding out on the fields of countless battles throughout the Old World. These men did a service to the entire world by stopping one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known and while he certainly needed to be stopped, that is not the only reason they gave their lives to this cause. They gave their lives for a promise. A promise that in exchange for helping to free others from the tyranny and oppression of Hitler and his allies, they would be freed from the tyranny and oppression they themselves had always experienced right in their own backyards. Mr. Truman, we have fulfilled our end of the bargain, it is now your turn to fulfill yours." All across the nation, King and others like him threatened protests if their demands were not met. Some even threatened violence if the President would not accede to their demands, despite the objections of men like King that resorting to violence would not help their cause.
While many of his advisers suggested that Truman simply leave the matter to be settled by Kennedy, Truman steadfastly refused to do so for two main reasons. First, while certainly a popular figure, Kennedy lacked the almost universal love and support that Truman enjoyed. As a result, Truman feared that Kennedy would not be able to muster up the support needed to get a civil rights bill passed through Congress. Even worse, Kennedy might even be convinced to abandon the idea altogether out of pure political pragmatism out of fear of torpedoing his own fledgling support. Indeed, Truman felt that many of his advisers actually hoped this would happened. Second, He believed that since it was him who made the promise, it should be him who fulfilled it.
As a Result, Truman held a press conference where he announced that he would be introducing into Congress a bill mandating equal rights and treatment for all person's regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, sex, or religion. "Americans of all strips, White, Black, Asian, Irish, German, English, Chrstian, and Jewish, risked and in some cases forfeited their lives in service to their country in this great conflict. To deny them the freedom at home that they fought to achieve for others oversees would be to spit on their accomplishments, graves, and memories and that is something I will never do. It is for this reason that I plan to ask Congress to pass this new Civil Rights Bill that I will be introducing to Congress with the full support of myself and my office." This news was met with joyous celebration from civil rights advocates all across the country while many Southerners and their political allies tried to stop the legislation from passing. Faced with the organized campaigning of civil rights groups all across the country and Truman's open support, however, they stood little chance of success. Truman appeared regularly in speaking tours, on radio shows and even on a few shows on the newly introduced television sets to express his support for this bill. While this move cost him and his part great support in the South, Truman himself remained unfazed and stated that he neither needed nor wanted the support of those who would deny others their god given right to equality. This sentiment and the spectacle of him flying in the face of political pragmatism and his willingness to go against the wishes of his own parties political base won him even more support both at home and abroad and, despite gaining almost no votes of approval from the Southern states, the Civil Rights bill would pass into law to much fanfare.
With this last act accomplshed, Truman finally accepted that it was time to hang up his hat and retire from public life. Thus, He held a Joint session of Congress to announce his resignation to them and to the nation. When the cameras turned on, he gave his last address to the American People as their president. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I come to you today to announce my resignation as your President. I have served now for 13 years as your President and while it has been one of the most stressful experiences of my life, I have no regrets about my time of service. When I entered this office, our nation was faced with the greatest threat it has ever known. Through our own inaction, we had allowed the forces of Nazi Germany and their allies to overrun the Old World. We watched as Britain fell and the Soviet Union was overrun and we, facing our own problems at home, refused to take part. This led our nation to stand as the Last Bastion of Freedom in a world overrun by tyranny. While many people favored simply accepting this fact and simply coexisting with Hitler and his allies, You, the American people, rejected that option outright. You elected to face the challenge of freeing the World from the yoke of tyranny, like your forefathers had freed themselves. We all knew this would be no easy task and that the cost of both men and treasure would be very great. But yet you persevered. While we met great success initially, causing many to believe the war would be a quick won affair, those hopes were dashed when the German and his allies rallied and managed to stop our mighty armies in Italy, in the Pyrenees, and in the Middle East. Despite this stalemate, your resolve did not falter and you pushed through to the victory that I always knew you were capable of achieving. The Armies of the New World came to the aid of the Old and we were victorious. We managed to give them back the freedom they had lost, fulfilling the promise of our nation to always stand as the defenders of freedom and to oppose tyranny wherever we might find it. Like we did in WWI, we once again made this world safe for democracy. I am filled with nothing but pride to have served as your President through our nations darkest hour. You faced this darkest hour and you proved you had the willpower to persevere through it. I am proud that I am the man you have chosen to lead you through this time of trial and tribulation and I can now retire being able to say what so few presidents have been able to say: that I have accomplished everything I could have hoped to accomplish and more in my term in office and more. As such, I will now step down and leave the nation in the very capable hands of my Vice President John F. Kennedy, who I know will serve you just as well as I have. And so, America, I bid you farewell and go to my well deserved retirement without any regrets." He then stepped off the podium and proceeded to shake hands with Kennedy to symbolize his handing over of power to him.
When he finished, all Present, Democrat and Republican, stood and gave the President a standing ovation. Truman had led the nation through the largest and bloodiest war in his nations history and many now pronounced him the greatest President to ever serve. Thus with his departure, ended the era of World War II with America as the unquestioned most powerful nation on Earth, fully prepared to lead the newly free world into the future.
Alright, at long last, this AAR has finally come to a close. It has been going for four years and I am kind of sad to see it end, but I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it. My next AAR shall be a Kaiserreich AAR and I have not decided whether to do it in HOI2 or Darkest Hour. I think the Darkest Hour version has some events that are not available in HOI2 and if that is the case, I will definitely download Darkest Hour and the mod and do an AAR for that. If not, I will be doing it for HOI2, as I already have the mod and have played around with it a lot. The nations that I am thinking of doing are as follows:
USA: I really like the alternate history behind this one and while there is a glut of AAR's that do it, It might be quite fun to do especially to see what happens after the Civil War is won. I have played this a few times and I believe it could be quite fun
Qing Empire: I have personally never seen someone carry this one much beyond final unification of China. I myself plan to do just that if this is the option that I go with and take the newly united China into WWII and build up my own alliance independent of the Entente, the Internationale, and Mittleuropa and try and lead it to dominance over the other three. I have done this before, but I stalled out when I tried to invade the AUS and got deadlocked after seizing part of the West Coast by an AUS that had allied with the Entente, as I was at war with both alliances. Would be fun to have a second go around
Austria: This is another I have played around with but there do not seem to be a lot of AAR's for it. My plan would be to either federate Austria into the Danube Federation or simply centralize power back under my control to create a new Austrian Empire and then try and create the Catholic League and enter WWII as another independent force
These are the main contenders and I have some experience playing as all of them. Other potential games include Russia, Italy, or Mongolia though I am not really sure where I would go with those other then with Russia where I would probably try to put the Romanov's back in power. feel free to post your opinions of which of these you would like to see as it would certainly help me make my final decision.
In addition, I will now be taking volunteers to turn this scenario into a mod. The overall plan is to create a mod with three possible start dates: the date were I started this game in 1948, another date after the liberation of Great Britain but before the invasion of Europe, and a third after the initial stalemate set in and before I broke out in Spain. I also have plans to add in some cool events that I wanted to write but my computer failed to run that could make this situation even more fun. Either post on this thread or PM me if you would like to help out and anyone with modding experience would be greatly appreciated as I have very little idea what I am doing with this. If my PM box is full, simply leave a visitor message stating your willingness to help out and telling me any experience you might have. I also promise to read any AAR's that come from said mod as often as I can.
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Ahhhhh! He said it! HE SAID IT!
Well done, History_Buff! I love reading it. Well done.
I really vote on getting KR for DH. As someone who have played both, the KR-DH version is much better.
For your next AAR, play as the US and then switch to the PSA during the 2nd Civil War. For bonus points, be National Populist. All of the PSA AARs are democracies, so it'd shake it up.
Well, I seem to have encountered a small problem. I just downloaded Darkest Hour and was going to try and download Kaiserreich, but none of the download links to where I can download it for Darkest Hour work for me.