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Slan

Mr. Fixit
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Oct 30, 2009
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Introduction:
I'm Slan, involved in a major Hearts of Iron 3 mod, and I've spent the last few months with almost nothing but tweaking and testing HoI3. I guess I need to take a break now... (I won't stop developing the mod for HoI3, but I need to do something else occasionally.)

Technical information:
Version, mod: Victoria: Revolutions with VIP.
Difficulty: Normal
AI Aggressiveness: Normal
Nation: USA
Style: History-book in the First Act, but changed to Gameplay from the Second.

Goals:
  • Get all cores. Failed. Damn you, Cree-Athabaska!!!
  • Industrialize: get top score in Industry, and a good Infrastructure all over the place. Fullfilled.
  • Have a decent standing army and a good navy. Fullfilled.
  • Be and remain a Great Power. Fullfilled.
  • Above and beyond that: enforce the Manifest Destiny Doctrine, meaning that America will be ruled by the United States of America. Europeans will be expelled (gradually), other American nations will be made Satelites. (To ensure peace of course!) Fullfilled.
  • The Manifest Destiny Doctrine is expanded over Africa and Oceania as well. Fullfilled.
  • France must be made a Satellite. Fullfilled.
  • Germany must be kicked out of the 'Great Powers' list. Fullfilled.



Table of contents:

Prologue - The last days of the Democrats
Act One - Settling in
*Chapter I - The early years of the Whigs
*Chapter II - In for another round (and some fun)
*Chapter III - They just don't know when to give up (The Second US-Mexico War)
Act Two - Finally, some action!
*Chapter IV - Gathering strength
*Chapter V - Bulls don't like baguettes.
*Chapter VI - Trouble in the South
*Chapter VII - That was... anti-climactic... Or was it?!
Intermission - Another look at the goals
Act Three
- Manifest Destiny
*Chapter VIII - Back in business
*Chapter IX - Three Hurrays
*Chapter X - War in the East
*Chapter XI - Clash of Titans
*Chapter XII - The colonial race
*Chapter XIII - Turn to the East
*Chapter XIV - Adventures on the Old Continent
*Chapter XV - The last days of an Empire
Act Three
- United Nations
*Chapter XVI - An Empire under the Sun
*Chapter XVII - The rules of war
*Chapter XVIII - Europe in flames
*Chapter XIX - The Russian Bear
*Chapter XX - The Road to Berlin
*Chapter XXI - Arc de Triomphe
*Chapter XXII - The Final Showdown
Epilogue - Farewell


NOTE: A lot of the text in the first act is directly taken from the event descriptions with some minor changes for continuity reasons, so credit goes to the VIP team for that!
 
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Prologue


Prologue - The last days of the Democrats



Background​
The late '30s of the 19th century marked a new begining in the United States of America and the American continent as a whole: the start of the Industrial Age. If we are searching for the roots of the USA's industrial might today, we can look back to that era. At that time, the territory of the States laid from the Eastern Coast to the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and parts of today's Iowa (although the latest of these wasn't granted the full rights of a State yet), and from Maine and New England in the North to Florida (which also wasn't a full State) in the South.

The nations most important productions were fish, coal and cotton. The USA was the leading producer of tobacco and cotton at the time, mostly due to the slave-labour still in wide-spread use.

The factories were still pretty much concenrated on the Eastern Coast in the States of New York, New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Virginia. Also, a deficit of some needed resources (like chemicals and dyes) caused parts of even that limited industry to go wasted. One of the main concerns of the last months of the administration was to secure the needed materials through trade, if necessary. The other main goal was to make some progress in the regulation of state-economics, defining the Market Structure.

The Democrats controling the Senate were in favour of a really unequal distribution of taxes, taking much more from the poor than the rich. The reason for that was a hope of creating a strong, active capitalist class, which will help the nation reach industrial greatness. To offset this, they initiated a widespread educational program (the Literacy of the nation was only 50%!) and also cut back on naval and military spending.

In the late '30s, the US Army consisted of one Dragoon division, three Infantry divisions (two of which had Artillery attachments) and three divisions worth of local Militias. Most of these figures only existed on paper though, as all these divisions were understrength.

The US Navy consisted of three Man-O-Wars* (the USS Washington, USS Pennsylvania and USS Franklin), 9 squadrons of Frigates and some old clipper transport flotillas. Far from today's super-navy, but still competitive in local affairs. (For reference the two most important nations in the region, Mexico and Brazil had only one squadron of Frigates with a transport flotilla and one Man-O-War with two squadrons of frigates at the time.)

The most pressing domestic matters at the time were the questin of Slavery and the stance towards the Natives. In late 1835, the Seminole tribe was in a stir in the Florida (which was only recently purchased from Spain). The local governor, under pressure decided to take a defensive posture, which escalated the situation even more, resulting in open revolt in the city of Tampa, Florida. The revolt was put down quickly by the local militia, but it left lasting scars on the populace.

The war between the recently seceded state of Texas and their former oppressor, Mexico caused some concern among the population of the United States, but it had no real influence on the actual ruling elite. According to private mail of the President and some of the cabinet members, they were absolutely sure, that the USA won't be involved in that conflict. They hoped for a quick resolution though. Instability in the region can cause many problems!

Otherwise, relations were mostly welcoming with the neighbours, except maybe Mexico. Some of the Native tribes in the Mid-Western region were still supportive towards white men, considering the States their allies.

*Correction: The US Navy actually had eleven Man-O-Wars: USS Alabama, USS Colombus, USS Delaware, USS Franklin, USS New York, USS North-Carolina, USS Ohio, USS Pennsylvania, USS Vermont, USS Virginia, USS Washington. The documents (shiplogs, registries, etc.) of the eight ships not mentioned in the first edition were lost in a fire, but thanks to the research of Jacob Gyps (Phd), we were able to figure out their fates. The editor.
 
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continued

The population of the United States (according to the rather unreliable census possible at the time) was 18,607,341. Almost half of the employed populace was working in mines or plantations, about one third on farms and there were about thirteen percent still in slavery. Five percent of the workforce had jobs in factories.

As it is to be expected, the two ruling ideologies, liberalism and conservativism (by European standards) was mostly equally distributed even back than. In the 1836 election campaign, the Liberals had some slight advantage, but due to the limits on voting rights (only the wealthy were allowed to vote), this advantage wasn't really dominant at the start of the campaign.

Almost ninty percent of the population was protestant (that being the state-religion), but there were still catholics, and even a small pagan group, consisting of natives and some African slaves.

Also according to the somewhat scetchy census, over half of the population considered themselves to be 'Yankee'-s, a considerable twenty percent were 'Dixie'-s, and over fifteen percent were Afro-Americans in origin. It is important to understand the cultural, social and economic differences among these groups, because that was the main source of conflicts in the years to come. The Yankee population in the North were fairly industrialized, living in big cities, working in factories or on the railroads. The Dixie population in the Souther parts were mostly living in the countryside, working on plantations, crop fields, or simply having slaves to do the dirty-work. The dividing line was around Virginia, which already had some industry, but was mainly populated by Dixies and Afro-American slaves.

An important event of the decade was the advance of the Oil Industry. Back in the day, it didn't seem that imporant, but very soon, Oil become the Black Gold, worthing much more than any other substance known to man. A somewhat less important turn of events was the plans for first Artillery factory. No such factory was built yet, but the technology was there, if the investors wanted to start such a company.

The settlement of western territories were continuing in this year with treaties signed with the Ottawa and Chippewa nations, seceding the territory of Western lower Michigan to the US.

The war between Mexico and Texas ended with a return to Status Quo after Battle of San Jacinto on 29 of April.

In a presidential speech, President Jackson promoted the idea of Manifest Destiny, stating that the United States of America holds the divine mission to spread democracy across Northern and Southern America. The concept justified the territorial expansion in Nothern America and later the intervention in Southern America to break the autocratic regimes in defence of freedom. The speech had some adverse effect on Mexican relations, but that had very minor consequences in the long run.

On July 5., a new star was drawn on the flag for Arkansas.

The Lowell Strike in August was solved with giving in to the demands of the textile workers, providing a dangerous precedence for other strikes later on. But according to the Secretary of the State, "The economy can bare the expenses!". That notion was proven wrong the next day, when the Small Arms factory in Virginia came close to destruction because of an accident, and it almost burned down. The government decided to intervene to save the factory, but a huge loan had to be taken for that. The economy wasn't that strong after all!

In the later half of the year, British India started an all-out war against some of the still-independent nations in South Asia. The fall of this year saw the fall of Fezzan and later Navarra. These formerly independent nations were annexed by the Ottoman Empire and Spain respectively. Differences reached the boiling point in between Chile and the Bolivian-Peruvian confederation in December, and war broke out.

The Voyage of Discovery was also started in this year under the command of Charles Wilkes with strong government funding. Despite of the heavy loans, the new president felt that scientific advancement is an important ground for government investment (despite the Whigs Party's supposed Laissez Faire policy).


The Election Campaign of 1836​
Pacifist movements were popularized in Delaware in early '36. The government, being the Democrats (the conservatives) they are, prefered Jingoism in the debate. The charter of the Second Bank of the United States made the Laissez Faire type of a state more appealing for a big chunk of the population, favouring the Whigs (the current Republican Party). Trust in banks was pretty low at the time anyway, thanks to "Wildcat banks" causing a flurry in land speculation. To combat this, on April 21. 1836, the president tried to forbid the payment of paper money for land purchases, but was stopped by capitalist lobbying.

The main issue in Maryland was Trade Policy, which is strange because both leading parties agreed on Free Trade being the best approach. The debate only hurt the standing of the two minor parties: the anarcho-liberal Liberty Party and the reactionary American Party.

Slavery was the main issue in Mississippi. Abolitionist argument prevailed in that case. But not only in Mississippi was the issue of slavery the main target of attention. In the entire South the Dixie population was mainly in favour of maintaining the way of how things was in the old days, prefering slaves over hard labour. Statesman John C. Calhoun was one person in defense of this institution, and he became synonymous with the 'Southern way of life' after his speech "Slavery is a Postivie Good". This was an important factor in the Dixie thinking and voting-behaviour. A few weeks later another scandal fired up the populace, when two daughters of a slave-holding judge from the South moved to New York, and started to publish anti-slavery phamhplets. They were practically exiled from South Carolina after that. The murder of Elijah Lovejoy, a well-known abolitionist journalist probably didn't help the cause of slavery either. Later that year, to hold back trouble with slavery, the congress passed the 'Gag Rule' which automatically tabled any motions related to this issue. Surprisingly few opposed it when it was initiated, and it became increasingly tightened over the next few years. But it didn't help too much in the long run.

The election was held on September 8th, and the Whigs party won by landslide victory. The firts thing that the new government did after it formed was introducing Universal Suffrage, in an attempt to cement their position as the ruling party of the United States.
 
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Act One
Settling in


Chapter I - The early years of the Whigs



Demographics​
Literacy was on the rise, increased from 50% to 58% in four years, thanks to the exceptionally high education investment of the Whigs. Within this program, in 1837 William H. McGuffy prepared the first two of his 'Eclectic Readers'. These Readers offered lessons in morality, religion and patriotism as they helped millions of children learn to read phonics, word repetition, letter association, and chalanging, vivid stories. Later, in 1838, Horace Mann, politican and lawyer began his reforms in Massachussetts. His system of schools became a model in the United States, and was later adopted in many other American countries. Some of the greatest libraries in the States were founded in this period as well.

The short visit of Frédéric Chopin in 1838 brought Romanticism to the United States.

Emigration was on the rise, creating temporary unemployment because the level of mines and farms couldn't generate enough jobs without sufficient government backing for expansion, which was unavailable at the time due to the depression caused by land speculation. But once the emigrants settled in and had their papers in order, it was much easier for them to move inside the States, and there was always some jobs in different places, so in the long run, it was good for business. It is important to mention that at the time, only full citizens (meaning yankees or dixies in origin) were allowed to vote or participate in social affairs because of the slave-holder menatlity in the nation's ruling parties. But that was about to change in a few decades.

The States started a long-term plan of creating a strong Reserve Army to assist in case of an attack, while a decent Standing Army would be in charge of any interventions on foreign lands. The creation of said Reserve Army was a long process which took many years, but by the end of the Whigs' first term, twelve divisons' worth of Infantry was the formal strength on paper. Still way behind what was deemed necessary to protect the entire nation. With the Post-Napoleonic ideas developing in the US Navy, the military thinkers of the time decided that the Superior Crew Thesis will be the one to pursue, which was based on the best possible training the Navy could give, ensuring better chances in naval battles for our fleets. Following that, the Army adopted the analogy in army-terms: the Clausewitzian Theory. It was already known back then and mathematically proved just recently, that the results of battles fought with a Clausewitzian mindset will always triumph over one fought by Jominian terms.

With the failure of the Mormon bank, and internal squabbling amongst the faithful in Kirtland, Ohio, most of the church, including John Smith migrated into West Missouri, where they staked out land in Daviess county and other areas in Northwestern Missouri, including settlements at Far West and Zion. They caused some trouble later on with tension with the local settlers rose. As part of the many raids during the so called 'Mormon War', the village at Haun's Mill was attacked by over two houndred settlers from Livingstone and other counties, killing 18 and wounding 15. This raid helped persuading John Smith and the rest of the Mormons to surrender, ending the conflict. After the end of the war, the Mormons moved to the east, now settling in Illinos.

Industry​
The infrastructural progress that became the trademark of the era started in these four years. When the Whigs came to power in '36, most of the country still had no railroads, but within a few years, the North-Eastern territories had an extensive Experimental Railroad system, and even Tennessee and Georgia was covered by trains. This was possible due to the good conditions created by the government, that allowed private investors to found new companies to expand Westward. The USA's infrastructure was far better than most of the World at the time, but still way behind the British and the French.

infra_in_41.png

A railroad map of the United States from 1841.

New inventions of the late '30s made some pioneering new branches of industry possible: the Furniture and Luxury Goods Factories, which would help people improve their homes, the Paper Mills, making paper (and thus books and newspapers) available to the masses and the Steel and Cement Factories, which would help the construction-industry take off the ground, literally.

The progress made in the field of Mechanical Produciton then later Organized Factories were also very influential.

And where there's infrastructure, industry is sure to follow! A new Lumber Mill was built in Virginia; a Fabric Factory, Paper Mill and a Steamer Shipyard in New York; a Steel Factory in Louisiana (still not meeting the ever increasing demand); a Chemical Plant in Missouri; a Canned Food Factory in Illinois, a Luxury Goods Factory (which soon went bankrupt because of lack of proper workforce) in Maine; a Small Arms Factory in South Carolina; a Liqour Distillery in the Mid-Atlantic region and an Explosives Factory in Southern New England.

industry_in_41.png

A statistical breakdown of the major companies of the early '40s.

Then in '40, with the stabilization of the economy, the modernization of the society could begin, with more and more farmers and miners starting to migrate to cities and taking up jobs in the industrial sector as factory workers. The rapid industrialization of the country was sucking in the people of the countryside quickly.

Economy​

The earlier decision of not forbiding paper money to pay for land purchases took its toll a year later with the 'Panic of 1837': New York banks began refusing to make specie (bullion coin) payments in early 1837, and the bubble of land speculation and paper money in the United States finally burst, leading to a collapse of the nation's finances and an onset of depression. In the second half of their term, the Whigs decided to increase tarrifs and decrease army maintenance to help pay back the ever growing national debt.

Another huge blow to the economy (strongly attacked by the oposition of course) was the 'Third System Fort Construction Project'. The first phase of this plan was put into effect on 1 July 1838, again, taking a heavy toll on the budget, and necessitating another loan. But in exchange, the major ports of the Eastern Coast were fortified in record time.

The harshness of the panic of 1837 caused many in the Unites States to place the blame on the Harrison administration and its failure to renew the charter of the Second National Bank. It was argued that a central bank would have had the means to intervene in such a crisis. The President broke with the former policy, reinstating the Second National Bank. Then on 5 July 1840, the government initiated the Independent Treasury Act, which would allow the them control over their own money. This was supposed to fix the damage already done started by the land speculation.

The introduction of Market Structure, then later the Stock Exchange was undeniably very helpful in helping the economy back to its feet again. Later.

With the burden of repaying the Laon taken to save that factory in Virginia in '36, the economy was recovering very slowly, becuase the new purchases of land and the Industrial expansion did cost quite a lot for the treasury. Still, by early '40, all the national debt was repayed, and the treasury had enough reserves that the government could start to reduce taxes and increase spending somewhat. Not by much, but it was a start.

Domestic events​
In 1836, six thousand New Yorkers attending to a bread, meat, rent and fuel rally in Chatham Square rioted against flour merchants whom they claimed were hoarding their goods in order to drive up prices. A warehouse was burned down, and the incident was one of the first major riots in the States of poor versus property. The Whigs tried to calm down the masses by paying some remedies.

Next year Texas, before applying for statehood in the United States of America, first applied for formal recognition, as they believed that this might make membership in the Union follow more easily. The Whigs government (despite some oposition within the party, bringing up issues with Texas' slaveholding practices) took the oportunity to improve the relations with an enemy of neighbouring Mexico. Tension between the two nation was on the rise.

Later that year Michigan was added to the United States flag, now holding 26 stars. Michigan was always known as a free state, never having a noticable slave holding population.

Settlement of the West never stopped. The years 1837 and 1838 saw Northern and Southwestern Wisconsin, Northwestern Iowa purchased from Sioux natives. The States was on its way to fulfill the Manifest Destiny, and people were happy about it. Not so much the natives. Relations with the tribes was worsening every day, and a war was hanging in the air.

In late '38, a new socialist newspaper was founded, but it went bankrupt in a matter of weeks. Proponents of socialism (the few there were) stated that it was forced out of business by the joined forces of the conservatives and liberals, but actually noone ever bought it because of lack of interest to begin with. Socialism never really had a strong support in the United States.

After years of guerilla fighting in the swamps of Florida, which saw many Seminole victories, Chiefs Micanopy and Osceola wanted peace and agreed to move west. In October 1837, Osceola met with General Joseph Hernandez to ask for the release of a captured chief, but the flag of truce was not respected and he was captured, later dying in 1838. This is one detail of history that the American nation might not be proud of, but still can't hide from the World. But at least it stopped the fighting in Florida for good.

In 1827, the Cherokee tribe tried to form a state of their own independent from the state of Georgia, called the Cherokee Nation. But in the late '30s, gold was found in their territory, which Georgia wanted for themselves. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the autonomy of the Cherokee Nation, Georgia secured an order for their removal, which was enforced by military assistance. President Harrison decided not to intervene. It was decided to be an internal affair of the state of Georgia. The Cherokee emigrated to the West, but many of them died on the journey which was later refered to as the 'Trail of Tears'.

In 1841, Ralph Waldo Emersson published his first collection of 'Essays' and introduced to the World a new, rather mystical, philosophy indigenous to the New World. Although many Europeans didn't consider him much of a philosopher per se, his influence on Continental thinking was unmistakable, mostly on Nietzsche.

Foreign politics​
In December 1837, the United States agreed to sign a Defense Pact with Texas in case of any future wars with Mexico. At that time, the US really needed this pact, as the Standing Army was nowhere near the needed levels for an actual war, and neither was the Reserve Army, yet a war with Mexico wasn't that far from becoming a reality, as relations between the two freed former colonies were far from being warm and friendly.

The US' involvement in the Canadian revolt of William Lyon Mackenzie didn't go unnoticed in the Canadian minority, but President Harrison decided that the relations with the United Kingdom (the most powerfull country in the World at the time, and also a neighbour of the States!) are more important than 'what a handful of treecutters think about our government'. Improveing the relations with the British Empire was a major goal of the Whigs at the time, so this was hardly a surprise, actually.

In early '38, an important conference was held in Austin, Texas, where a sizeable delegate of United States bankers were present, exchanging interesting new innovations with their Texan collages in the areas of Ad-Hoc Money Bill Printing (something not yet practiced in the US) and the theories regarding Market Structure (a very new concept in Texas at the time). All attendands agreed that this meeting was beneficial for both nations' economy.


Other foreign news​
In early '36, Ernst August became King of Hanover, after William IV, king of the United Kingdom and Hanover died. Because of the differences between the succession laws in the two countries, Queen Victora accended to the throne of the United Kingdom, but she couldn't inherit the throne of Hanover, which debarred women from the succession. The other German countries, including then Great Powers Prussia and the Austrian Empire, quickly accepted the newly independent king into their formal Alliance (practically only a Defence Pact).

After a very short war, India annexed Sindh in 1837. After almost two years of war, they also made peace with Afghanistan, returning to Status Quo. The political situation in the region was still very chaotic in the years to come.

Argentina joined the Chilean war on Bolivia in '37. Chile was making some progress in the early months, while Bolivia had trouble in the Northern parts. The war ended on 15 January of 1838, with the Bolivian-Peruvian Confederation being dissolved, thus the two nations of Peru and Bolivia were born. Later, in '41, conflict was renewed when Agustín Gamarra Messia, then current President of Peru started an invasion of Bolivia to fulfill his ambitions of a new, unified Peru-Bolivia but now under Peruvian rule.

The Piratini Republic (trying to break away from Brazil) was on the verge of collapse by mid '37, and surrendered in the harsh winter of '37, keeping only their capital. Uruguay, an ally of Brazil got nothing out of the war, but that was to be expected, as the Piratini Republic was claimed to be entirely the territory of Brazil.

But disturbance was not limited to South America: in the United States of Central America riots and rebelions were commonplace throughout the '30s. This somewhat artificial nation was never really stable, and a split among the separatist factions was only a matter of time. More or less the same could be told about Mexico. A rebellion in Yucatan led to the creation of a new, independent state on 10 January 1838. The United States recognized the new nation immediately, hoping to hurt Mexico a bit in the process.

After many small incidents, the Opium War broke out between India and China in 1839. The rest of the British Empire joined the conflict on the side of British India. The war was settled on 28 June 1840 with the Treaty of Nanjing, giving control of most major ports in China to the United Kingdom. Western technology triumphed over Eastern manpower and tradition.

In January 1840, the United Kingdom granted some self-governance to their new dominion in Northern America: Canada.

Election Campaign of '41​
At the start of the '41 Campaign, the Democrats held about 85% of the votes according to the early poll, while the Whigs only held 15%. Even though the government managed to bring back the economy from the crisis in '37 and had a positive balance lately, even though they had built (or help build) many new factories, creating thousands of new jobs, even though infrastructural progress was unprecedented, even though literacy has increased by almost 8% in the 4 years of the Harrison administration, the population was not satisfied.

Trade Policy was the main issue in North Carolina. As usual, Free Trade argument prevailed without breaking a sweat.

Sometime around February, a Reactionary Demagogue appeard out of nowhere in Maryland, trying to convince the population to vote for the American Party. He was quite successful, but by far not successful enough.

This year's election couldn't go by without incidents of the slavery issue. In August, 1839, the Cuban schooner 'Amistad' was seized off Long Island with Africans aboard who had overtrown their captors and taken the ship. In a trial spanning almost two years, the case touched on the volitale issue of slavery and brought attention to the divisions of the country again.
Slavery was also the main issue in Delaware, where in the end, abolitionist arguments prevailed.

Military spending was more important in Mississippi, where the majority agreed that a strong Army is necessary to keep the European expansionism and South American chaos at bay.

Maybe the Universal Suffrage, initiated 4 years ago wasn't that good an idea after all? Maybe. At least President Harrison thought it wasn't, and as a last attempt to remedy the situation (citing some obscure ammendment of the Constitution) rectified the act, returning to the 'voting-by-wealth' system. As it turned out, this helped. A lot. The new poll stated that about 75% of the now voting population supported the Whigs! That was enough to turn the tables, and help the Whigs be elected for a second term.
 
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By the way, the fact that I do this only to relax a bit doesn't mean that you, dear ReadAARs can't put some comments here ;) It might even get interesting in a few weeks when we get to the actual action! :)
 
Well, due to some unforseen complications, there will be some more screenies next time, which you can expect at the end of the week. I guess this AAR will be a weekly affair :)
 
Chapter III - In for another round (and some fun)


Demographics​

Many important things happened during the second term of the Whigs between '41 and '46. One of them was the return of the Wilkes Expedition (launched in 1836) from the voyage to the Antarctic Ocean on October 26, 1841. Commander Wilkes reported the discovery of a 'stupendous vulcanic mountain in a high state of activity'. It has been named Mount Vincinnes after Wilkes' flagship. This revelation influenced the great horror writer, Howard Phillips Lovecraft to write his last novel, "At The Mountains Of Madness". Of course the 'remote frozen and ancient (non-human) city in the central wastes of Antarctica' is nothing but fiction, but it entertained many generations since.

On New Years Eve 1842, another meeting was held in Houston, Texas (Second Texan Conference). Among the topics were the idea of the Stock Exchange, Private Bank Money Bill Printing and the Practical Steam Engine. But now it was more than a simple gathering of bank accountants: the High Command of the two nations' Army and Navy has met as well, discussing advances in the fields of Military Plans, Muzzle-Loaded Rifles, Strategic Mobility and Battleship Column Doctrine. It gave a lot to think about for both sides.

An important milestone of the century was the invention of Samuel Morse: the Telegraph. Using electric current, this machine was able to forward messages accros great distances almost instanteniously. The messages themselves needed to be encoded in order to be possible to forward in a language called the Morse-code: letters were translated directly into dots and dashes in a certain number and order which could then be translated back into letters at the destination. In 1844, the first inter-city telegraph was sent from Baltimore to Washington.

In March, 1846, a census was held, and the results were really promising at the time. 61.5% Literacy among the entire population, thanks to the ever increasing education funding from the government. About 32% of the population was satisfied with the current Laissez Faire policy of the Whigs, Limited Citizenship was somewhat more popular than Slavery (Note that this reflects the population as a whole. The citizens of the South still held to their old rights and traditions mostly.) The process of industrializing is also visible in the results, as more than 25% of the population was working in factories in different jobs. Still, the number of slaves was more than the soldiers, or educated workers, so there was still a lot of room for improvement. An interesting fact that can also be learned from the data gathered is that the Irish immigrant population was higher than the newly gained population of Texas and the Cherokee natives combined! The 'Yankee'-s were still the dominant culture of the nation with the 'Dixie'-s being a rather strong second, and mostly enslaved Afro-Americans a close third.

census_46.png

Pie-charts from the 1846 National Census.

Industry​

The government didn't stop financing the building of new factories, and neither did the private investors of the nation. The first half of the '40s saw the opening of new a Furniture Factory in Northern New England, a Steamer Shipyard in Southern New England, a Cement Factory in Del-Mar, a Chemical Plant and a Lumber Mill in New York State, a Cloths Factory in the Mid-Atlantic Region and a bright new innovation, a Sugar Beet Factory in Missouri. Mechanized Sugar Beet Refinement, developed in the days of the Napoleonic wars because of the blockades, but later dropped in favour of overseas plantation worked by slaves lived a renesaince after steam power made it economically efficient to produce beet sugar instead of importing cane sugar. It was only a matter of time until it monopolized the market.

By the end of the First US-Mexico War ('42-'44), the entire US (not including the freshly gained territories in the West) had some kind of early railroad network, but within the year, even the newly gained Western territories had some the opportunity to see trains for the first time in their life!

Economy​

in late '41, the Massachussetts Supreme Court ruled that unions were lawful institutions, and members could not be prosecuted by conspiracy charges. Even with this ruling, labor rights were far from being consistently recognized - even being systematically undermined in the courts through injunctions, anti-trust charges and the like. Still, it is undeniable that unions (at least non-socialst ones) were now legal to form and be a member of in the United States. By '42, the effects of the Crisis of '37 were finally starting to fade away, and investors started to hope for a bright future again.

Domestic events​

Expansion to the West never really stopped during the 19th century. Northern Michigan and Southwestern Iowa were purchased from the Sioux natives in '42 and later in '45 Eastern Kansas from the Cherokee. Natives were pushed westwards, or forced into reservations. In 1843, the first large wave of pioneer settlers set out from Missouri into the Oregon Territory of the Northwest, along the route which would later become the famous Oregon Trail. This spelled the beginning of a steady flow of settlers from East to West.

After the Seminole wars finally ended for good in '42, Florida gained full membership in the United States, increasing the number of Stars on the flag to 27. With the purchase of Southwestern Iowa, the State also became a full member of the US in October 1842.

Foreign Politics​

Mexico could only tolerate the 'rebellion' in Yucatan for so long: on January 17, 1842 the government declared a state of open war. This in itself have remained an internal affair of Mexico until in April, as a sudden turn of events, Texas entered into a Military Alliance with Yucatan, joining the war. The result was a somewhat rushed decision from the US senate, increasing war readyness immediately. Eventhough they only had a Defense Pact with Texas, it seemed to be necessary to intervene in case Mexico gained the upper hand. At first, when Texas joined the war, they already had a greater army (on paper) than Mexico, so many representatives in the Senate and Congress were confident that intervention might not be necessary after all, but what's on paper might be pretty far from reality and this was the case with the forces of Texas and Mexico: the Mexican divisions were full strength, by then as they were already at war for a few months, while the Texan formations were only one tenth of that. The United States started to mobilize their 24 Reserve Divisions on June 4, 1842 and they were deployed in September. By that time, Texas was also able to mobilize their forces, but it was still far from certain whether they could hold out on their own or not, and thus - still without a formal Call to Arms - the United States decided to intervene and declare war on Mexico on October 1, 1842.

dow_mexico_42.png

Presidential Message to the President of Mexico, declaring a state of war, 1842.

International reception of this turn of events was rather bad: the general opinion was that the United States is the invader and intervening in foreign affairs. That didn't stop them from doing what they thought needed to be done, though. The declared goal of what later became known as the First US-Mexico War was to defend the independence of Texas, but it was most likely also intended to deliver a serious blow to Mexico, ensuring US dominance in the area for the time being.

situation_42_oct.png

Left: Map of the Gulf of Mexico, showing the US blockade of the port of Veracruz and some of the Mexican, Texan and Yucatan divisions; top-right: A muzzle-loaded rifle, similar to the ones used by the US Army in the war; bottom-right: Allocation of the US forces

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The attack on Veracruz was made in an attempt to force the Mexican Navy out of their safe haven in port. The invasion was a success, as the US Main Fleet was able to sink almost the entire Mexican Navy in one battle.

Incited by American encouragement, a group of Anglos marched on Sonoma and took its leading citizen, Mariano Vallejo, prisoner. They then announced the Californian Republic, declared themselves independent of Mexican rule, and raised the famous Bear Flag. Mexican residents however fought back against the anglos.

bear_flag.png

The famous Bear Flag of the Republic of California

By April, 1843, the North-American Alliance were clearly gaining the upper hand in the war against Mexico and by July, the capital, Mejico (Mexico City) was in American hands, and a week later, the Western Coast was also fully occupied. Despite a minor setback (the Battle of Sombrerete, practically the only battle won by Mexico), the US Army (with the help of Texas and Yucatan) was winning the war.

mexico_43_july.png

The war is already decided, but not yet over.

Then came another unexpected turn of events: Yucatan settled for a separate peace, reunifying (although with some self-governance) with Mexico. That still didn't make it less obvious that Mexico was losing the war, and they sent a peace offer in early November, 1843, which was turned down. The US was not done just yet. But Texas was. On December 17, they signed a separate Peace Treaty with Mexico as well. Matamoros, Revilla and San Fernando were seceded to them. This had some important consequences later on.

In June, 1843, with the signing of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the United States of America and the United Kingdom agreed on the disputed boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. This border is still present today. Not only did this treaty secure peace between the two nations for a long time, it also made possible for a certain Major General Robert of Laxley to be smuggled out of neighbouring Fredricton unnoticed. He also brought detailed blueprints of British Point Defense Systems with him.

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American progress in early '44.

By May, 1844, President Harrison felt it was time to start negotiations with Mexico. The offer consisted of the secesion of California, New Mexico and Arizona, and Mexico would have had to pay War Indemnities for five years, leaving them Humiliated in the eyes of the World. They promptly accepted the offer, without much hesitation and the treaty was signed on May 1, 1844 in Mexico City.

After the end of the war, it was clear that the USA will apply the Monroe Doctrine a bit more openly from than first thought: it will mean defending American interests first and foremost, and defending against European influence only second to that. What that actually meant is that the US was now eager to intervene more directly in the affairs of other American nations in case of armed conflicts among themselves as well. The first act in line with this was a Guarantee of the Independence of Texas.
In preparation for further wars, as a means of educating its naval officers, the U.S. Naval School was established in October, 1845, later renamed the U.S. Naval Academy. The Academy brought a tradition of professionalism and esprit de corps to the service.

Negotiated by Caleb Cushing, following the end of the First Opium War in China, the Treaty of Wanghia opened five Chinese ports to US merchants, ensured legal rights for Americans in China, and gave the USA 'the most favoured nation' status. It was the first step in American involvement in China. By some, this was thought of (to a lesser extent) as a direct continuation of the Manifest Destiny concept now applied not only to North America (or America in general), but to other uncivilized parts of the World as well, even though in practice, it was only the official start of diplomatic relations with the Qing.

The effort to keep the good relations with the United Kingdom finally payed off on January 26, 1846: by signing the Oregon Treaty, the two nations agreed that the border between the claims of them will be on the 54th paralell instead of the formerly proposed 49th. This was the last great move of President William Henry Harrison.

oregon_treaty.png

The result of the Oregon Treaty.

Relations with Texas were good in the first half of the 19th century, and that was to be crowned on February 9, 1846, when Texas was offered Statehood in the United States of America, which was accepted with virtually no internal opposition. External opposition is an entirely different matter though: Mexico, who felt threatened by this turn of events, declared that this can only mean war! This behaviour can be compared to that of a cornered wolf: when he has nowhere to run or hide, it leaps on the attacker in a desperate attempt to bring him down before its too late.
But in case of Mexico, it was most likely already too late: the United States Standing Army (including the Texas Army) now consisted of six Infantry Divisions, a Cavalry Division and a Dragoons Division, while Mexico only had four divisions in fighting shape. Adding to that the US capability to mobilize her reserves in a few months, amounting to twenty-four more Infantry Divisions, the future for Central America's most powerfull ex-colony didn't look too bright. The comparission of the Navys of the two nations was also in favour of the US, much more so in fact: twenty-six ships against three.

Other Foreign News​

The war between Peru and Bolivia ended on December 6, 1841 with a return to Status Quo. Relations between the two remained uneasy at best.

In 1844, the internal struggles in the United States of Central America reached the breaking point and the nation split up into five new ones: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Probably gathering their courage from this, the people of Haiti taken up armes against the Dominican Republic a month later, which lasted only a few months, and the participants agreed on a new border. Still, Central America was in utter chaos, needing someone to restore order very soon.

Election Campaign of '45​

The Campaign of '45 started out with a firm 88% of the votes in the hands of the Whigs, and only 11% were secured by the Democrats: even though the majority of the population as a whole favoured the conservatives, the liberal party had much more supporters in the richer tier of society, helping out Harrison's party again. But this time (adhering to the tradition of only serving two terms), he didn't run for this election, giving the upcoming John Tyler a chance for greatness.

Debate was hot everywhere in the States nevertheless. In Luisiana for example it came as no wonder that Slavery became the single most important issue of the local campaign. In the end howecer, Abolitionist argument prevailed, which was much more as a surprise. The same happened in Tennesse and Maryland. The issue of slavery led to a division in almost all aspects of society, including America's churces. The Presbyterians split in 1828, while the Methodists and Baptists severed in 1845 into pro- and anti-slavery factions. During the war with Mexico, Congress attempted to pass a bill authorizing a fund for settlement with Mexico. Northern Congressmen, lead by Pennsylvania's David Wilmont, attempted to add an amendment to the bill, which would ban slavery in any territories aquired as a result of a peace treaty with Mexico. The Congress passed the bill with the amendment, and so did the Senate. The issue increased sectional tension in the US even further. This was actually made possible to begin with in late '42, when the Gag Rule (forbiding any debate about Slavery), after getting increasingly unpopular, was finally rescinded.

In South Carolina, the minority issue was debated somewhat more generally, not restricted to slaves only, but every minority and every immigrant. The final verdict was that all people are equal, but it is in the best interest of the nation if everyone within it tries to assimilate in the big melting pot and the poeples create a common culture, bringing everything of value. It was a nice idea to be sure, but it had its limits, as history has shown later on.

In North Carolina, religion was in the main focus of voters. The secularist view gained the most supporters in the debate that lasted for about three months in '46.

The election was held on March 8, 1846, and saw a strong victory of the Whigs again, giving them their third term in a row.
 
Just wanted to note that even though I have Victoria 2, I don't intend to start playing it while this AAR is in progress. When I started playing HoI3, I had serious trouble going back to HoI2, and quite frankly I expect the same in case of Victoria, and I don't want to abandon this AAR. It strated out so nicely :)
 
Chapter III - They just don't know when to give up (The Second US-Mexico War)

Demographics​

In 1845, the United States Congress founded the Smithsonian Institute which reports directly to the President. Its goals were and remain the support of research and expeditions, as well as popularization of science. Today, it is the World's largest museum complex with over 136 million items in its collection in museums mostly in Washington D.C., but it has several museums and research centers in New York, Virginia and even Panama. By 1850, in no small way thanks to this institution, the literacy of the United States was above 65%. Among the earliest results of the research groups funded by the Smithsonian were the High & Low Pressure Steam Engines, a method to produce Clean Coal, Scientific Management of businesses and factories in particular, Interchangeable Parts in production, several different kinds of Medicine among them the Prophylaxis for Malaria and with Clean Coal being available, it was possible to build much more robust trains and stronger railways, which some claimed to be a vast improvement over the Experimental version of Railroads, and in comparission could be called the Early Railroad.

After the Second US-Mexico War, the Congress gained enough confidence to vote for the increase of military spending. The US Army set up four Infantry Divisions in April 1847. Two of these were deployed to Washington D.C., called the Washington Guard and tasked with defending the nation's Capital. The other two were deployed to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, called the Mid-West Guard, and tasked with ensuring peace and order with the Native tribes in the West. With that, the Standing Army now had one Cavalry Division, one Dragoons Division, ten Infantry Divisions and two Artillery Regiments The growing tension between the United States and the United Kingdom in the late '40s led to another increase in the Standing Army with four more Infantry Divisions established on May 30, 1850. The Reserve Army was also increased to 52 Divisions in case of hostilities renewing with the British Empire.

After the Mormons migrated to the territory now called Utah, they settled down forming a new nation called Deseret (meaning 'honeybee' in the language of the Jaredites). At first, the new nation was not recognised by the US government, but in November, 1847, after negotiations with the leaders of the community, Deseret became a US State under the name of Utah with full rights. The institution of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company funded by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the official name of the Mormon Church) helped to increase the population of the State (and the surrounding regions) by giving financial aid to Latter-day Saint converts who wanted to move to the West from church assets and private contributions.

In the late '40s, the area around Sacramento settled by Americans and Vancouver Island (also known as Victoria) was bought from the Nez Perce tribe and in 1848, Wisconsin joined the Union as the 28th Star on the flag.

Industry​

The introduction of Clean Coal and then the improvements in the construction of rails led to a new wave of railroad building. As with the first great wave, it began in the North-East, and sprawled towards the South and the West slowly, but steadily. By the end of the '50s, a US citizen could travel from one side of the Country to the other in a few days, while changing trains only once or twice!

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Railroad-map of North-America from 1850. The railroads built in Mexico with US help are also visible.

And as before, infrastructural improvements led to industrial improvements. A new Glass Factory and Liqour Distillery was funded in Texas, an Explosives Factory, another Liqour Distillery and a Machine Parts Factory in Virginia, a Cloths Factory in Luisiana and a Small Arms Factory in Indiana. In 1850, the amount of Craftsmen working in factories exceded the number of Farmers and there were more Clerks (the educated factory workers) than Slaves.

Economy​

The war-taxes introduced during the Second US-Mexico War were pretty unpopular. Still, as the war lasted less than a year, and in retrospect, people agreed that it was necessary.

After the war was concluded, the United States sold back San Fernando, Revilla and Matamoros (captured by Texas in the First war) to Mexico for the sum of 34400$ in gold bullion. Also included in the deal was an agreement to send some industrial and economic advisors to the Central American country to help them develop into a strong ally of the States. The money was more than enough to pay back the loans taken previously to finance the war and the Panama Railroad, and the technological aid to Mexico allowed the nation to start improving their industry by first building some experimental railroad lines. The cooperation continued from then on, by the US giving financial and industrial aid to Mexico for many years.

Domestic events​

On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. That event led to the so-called 'California Gold Rush', a boom of emigration to the West in hopes of finding gold and making a fortune. While most of the newly arrived settlers were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and China.

Foreign Politics​

It was obvious that the relation between the US and Mexico wasn't exactly warm and the continuation of the war between the two was inevitable, but it still came as a surprise to happen so quickly. But as explained in the previous chapter, it was somewhat rational from Mexico. They had no real other choice: the alternative would most likely have been a US declaration of war within a decade or so.

This war was much shorther than the first: after a quick and decisive US campaign, peace was signed on December 4, 1846, with Mexico effectively becoming a Satelite State of the United States.
On January 20, 1847, acting on his own initiative, Ambassador Benjamin Bidlack has negotiated a treaty which would grant the United States the right to build and operate a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama. This great endavour was finished on June 14, 1848.

The investments of Vanderbilt in Nicaragua and the move to secure a canal route prompted by the United States to move in and formalize a treaty guaranteeing those rights, which upset British interests greatly. But according to the Manifest Destiny, it was in the interests of the United States and thus the entire American continent to keep Europeans out if possible, so the treaty was made. The United Kingdom responded with a counter-offer, taking over Tonglas in Nicaragua.

In 1850, the newly created Union of Canada was suffering problems and many radical intellectuals yearned to join the United States. They found little public support for the idea in America since it would lead to war with Great Britain and the addition of several free states, disrupting the balance of power. But the President was on a different view. From the two, the former was the greater problem, but he deemed that a risk worth taking in face of the possible advantages: the newly gained free states would upset the balance in favour of what he thought to be the way America should go. So an offer was made to buy Canada from Britain. The offer was turned down, but it was not forgotten, and it caused tension between the two nations. An example of this was that a week later, on San Juan Island near Seattle, a dispute over a farmer's pig nearly drove both sides into war. Another example would be the declining of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, which would have declared, that neither the US nor the UK would build a canal in Central America without consulting the other, nor would either have exclusive control of it. Such a treaty would have been in direct oppositon to the Manifest Destiny Doctrine and the Monroe Doctrine, so President Tyler had to refuse.

In 1850, US Commodore Perry arrived in Japan with a letter from the US President. The USA demands a trade agreement with Japan. Even though it was clear from the begining that the USA will enforce the demands, should Japan decline, they did.

Other Foreign News​

The War of the Farrapos in Brazil ended in Januray, 1848, with the defeat of the Piratini Republic. But in the same year, on a different continent, another revolution started: in Northern Italy, Lombardy and Venetia declared independence from Austrian rule. The Two Sicilies and Sardinia-Piedmont. A day later, the Papal States joined the Italian forces, and after some hesitation also did Tuscany.

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The Habsburg Empire at the start of the Italian Revolution in 1848.

Tuscany failed to retain their freedom and were reinstated into the Habsburg Empire on July 6, 1848, and so did Venetia, two weeks later. The Italian Revolution lasted only five months, but it gave a short lived chance to Hungary for independence.

As the Italian Revolution started the people of Hungary declared independence as well. The Habsburg Empire was on the verge of collapese. Because of this, Austria decided to grant the Hungarians what they wanted but only until the situation in Italy was stabilized. After a few weeks they created Croatia, to gain an ally against Hungary. Prussia, long-time friend of Austria also promised to help in case of a possible confrontation with the now somewhat pacified revolters. In July, Croatia decided to try and force Hungary back into the Empire. Austria didn't intervene right away. Not until October, the Lamberg incident. Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg, Feldmarschallleutnant of the Austrian Army born in Mór, Hungary and imperial commissioner charged with bringing about a peaceful adjustment between the emperor and the people was sent to Hungary. But after he arrived in Pest and a short discussion with general Hrabowsky, he was lynched by a mob while crossing the Danube river. His death marked a turning point in the Hungarian Revolution, and the Imperial Court in Vienna decided to dissolve the Hungarian Pairlament and declared the state of war. With Austria now involved, the table quickly turned against the Hungarians, and when in April 1849, Russia made an Alliance with Austria to suppress the rebellion, the Revolution was effectively over. Thirteen of the leading Generals were executed in Arad and Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány in Pest. Lajos Kossuth, Regent-President of Hungary during the revolution.

Prussia went to war against Denmark over Slesvig. Soon after, Austria decided to join the war on the side of Denmark, now waging war against two countries. The war ended in November, 1848, with the London Protocol, practically returning to Status Quo, despite considerable Prussian success.

Election Campaign of '50​

The Election Campaign of '50 brought no surprises, as the Whigs started the campaign with a 95% popularity.

The tension between the United States and the United Kingdom caused the issue of Military Spending in Texas. Protesters convinced the Governor and the representatives that it is necessary to increase the defence budget.

Slavery was still in the main focus in the South West. In New Mexico, protesters against the slave-holding practices of neighbouring Texas played a role in the decisions of the voters there and also in North Carolina.

Other parts of the States had other issues. The people of Alabama, for example was more concerned about Market Regulations. With the arrival of a liberal University professor, Laissez Faire argument prevailed decivily.

On December 8, 1850, President John Tyler started his second term.
 
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Alright, people, I realized that I'm not really good at this history book thingy, so I will switch to simple gameplay. But I've learned a lot from doing this four chapters, which will (hopefully) help later on when (if) I decide to try another history-book.
 
Act Two
Finally, some action!

Chapter IV - Gathering strength

Alright, I've changed to gameplay style because I'm pretty bad at history book... I guess I should finish the game before even starting to write, only taking notes before that, otherwise I will get into logical and chronological traps. The writer of a history book should already know what happened when writing the book, shouldn't he? But where's the suspense, where's the drama in that?

Soooo... Here we are, in 1850 December, with the Whigs still in power after fifteen years of gametime. I want them because they are Laissez Faire, and that is good for industrializing for free. I'm not really that good in this game but I know for a fact that having those nice capitalists building your factories and especially your infrastructure for you is a really good thing. If I had a HMS Goverment and a Constitutional Monarchy, it would be even better, because I could switch parties like underwear if I wanted to, but having a Parliamentary Democracy has its own advantages. (Non of which comes to mind at this time, but it surely does...) They also have Pro. Military and Pluralism, which are very important because I can convert Clergy and Soldiers if I want to. Converting Soldiers can be a good idea when you have a 1000 men POP of them and a 30000 men Farmer POP, and you want to swithc the two. Converting Clergy can become handy later on, when they get (much) less efficient in generating research points than Clerks do. (Or was that changed for VIP???) Their main function (lowering conciousness) isn't that good in a democracy anyway.

Now let me elaborate on our goals. First and most obviously, I want to (re)take every core I have. Currently that encompasses the traditional USA territory (except for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico), and British Columbia as well (thanks to my bold attempt to force the '54 in the Oregon Treaty). Other than that, it is a major goal to have top Industrial score. This is an Industrializing USA AAR after all. I also want to have a decent Army and a good Navy. These will be needed later. In line with that, I want to be and remain a Great Power, and if I can, become #1. That might be difficult though, as I intend not to intervene in Europe, and most of the Prestige improving stuff happens there. I will hand out a lot of guarantees to help me start wars in America, but that will probably only help with scripted wars, as the AI is most likely more clever than to DoW me... And last but not least, I want to paint the American continent green on the Diplomatic screen. What's more, I want to have every nation on the continent my Satelite. They need a guiding hand!

As you could already see in the example of Mexico, I will help out my new vassals with Industrial and Economic techs. Not military or naval though. I very much doubt they could use it anyway. I guess I would give them Culture techs, but I don't have any, and I'm not even sure they can be traded... (I played Victoria a long time ago the last time, and I seem to remember that you can't trade culture techs for whatever reason. Or was it just me?)

An important factor in this game will be the uncertainity from using the VIP mod. I only played through Victoria once, and that was unmodded, so I have no idea how long will the modded events go. I know that I will have a bloody (or hopefully not that bloody) Civil Wat in ten years, I hope that the Land Purchases will cover all of North America, and hopefully there will be some event to buy Alaska from Russia, but I honestly have no idea what else. Oh, yes, I'm pretty sure there will be a Panama Canal event chain and there was a Spanish-American War event even in vanilla, so I geuss there will be one here as well. They will help out with my plans :)


Now with that out of the way, let's move on to actual plans! I have probably ten years to prepare for the Civil War. I'm not really afraid of that, actually. I currently have 44 divisions in my reserve pool, that alone might be enough to win. (Again, that was in vanilla, this might be an entirely different affair!)
I just realised that I'm lagging behind even the other American nations in Army techs. We have Liberty as our national value, so researching military techs costs more. Which means I will buy them instead. My trade partner will be Brazil. They don't know yet, so I will start to bombard them with 'Improve Relations'. They already have two techs I don't!
The next thing is to guarantee all the Central American nations: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Haiti. (Eating up alomst every Diplomacy Point I had... But no matter, I generate 8.13 of them every year anyway.) This, as I already said, might help if they get the fancy idea of doing something un-nice. Just in case, you know. A bit later, I also guaranteed Bolivia. They have quite a few potential enemies, so that might come in handy.
We currently have about 23000 money, which is not that much. The plebs pay as much as possible (50%), the middle-men only 33.6% and my beloved capitalists pay with building infrastructure instead of me. I also tax trades as much as I can with a Free Trade government. Income is about 50-100 per day. Could be better. Aside from occasionally building new armies, I invest my money into promotions. Currently 7 factories have less than max workers, and 5 of that is actually empty. Promoting farmers/labourers into Craftsman costs 1000 money, and promoting a Clerck POP is 2500 money, which (compared to our current financial standing) is quite a lot. But attaining a high Industry score is one of our major goals, so let's convert some POPs! New York has some unpopulated factories! Spending about 6000 money, that problem is now solved. Another few hundred bucks, and the factories are full in Southern New England as well. Unfortunately, I can't do the same in Texas, where there's too many Slaves, who cannot be converted. Yet.

factories_50.png

The factories of the USA in some of the States.

The last stop on our promotional trip is Virginia, where filled a Liqour Factory with actual workors for a change instead of drunkards salivating all over the floor. That was quite a mess to clean up, so unfortunately it couldn't make it for that nive picture above.
With that trip, we successfully reduced our treasury to 2500, and also managed to consume more Sulphur than we produce. Oh, and by the way, I've developed a habit of not selling the Machine Parts we produce, keeping the demand for that high, while denying it from the other parts of the World. I'm not really sure if it works, actually, but it sounds so sinister and vile that I have to do it :)

In February, Liberia improved our mutual relations, and while checking out this important event, I noticed that even they have military techs that I don't! Fortunately they are much more inclined to share them with me in exchange for the Practical Steam Engine and they even give me 1700 money. It's good to have some lapdogs... I mean friends around! That costed me 9 points of Research though, so I can't do this too often... Then again, I gain 1.04 every month (and intend to get more) and my next project is due only in July anyway.

Meanwhile I get nasty events from time to time (like the Navajo Raids I just got), but I think I won't mentine every single one of them, as VIP has a LOT! (Actually a bit too much for my tastes. I always have to have a lot of money on hand in case some random (or not so random) event comes up and takes it away, pushing me into debt... For example I just got a Support the Industry - Steamers event, which was pretty nice, but costed 7500 money, and then another called Fort Union, giving me a fort in New Mexico, but costing another 7500 money, getting me into -4500.)

In mid-1851, I got an event called the Fort Laramie Treaty, where I could decide whether to protect the rights of the Natives to their lands or guarantee no such thing. It had very few direct effects, but I'm sure it will have some long-term consequences. In accordance with the Manifest Destiny Doctrine I established earlier, I will go with not ratifying anything with the Indians. That means a +2 Militancy for Dakota POPs, but I can live with that. (The other would have had -1 Prestige, which is negligable, but still, the plans need the Natives out of the way.)

After developing the Scientific Management, I continued with Cheap Iron. That will soon lead to Iron Steamers (hopefully)! Meanwhile, I spread the invention of the Early Railroad to Mexico, so they can benefit from it as well!

To ensure my ability to increase the Mobilization Pool, I set Small Arms and Canned Food to be sold over 40 units, and using that, I increase the pool when I can (and I don't forget to do so...) I also started to train 4 more Infantry Divisions to increase the max Mobilization Pool. They will be ready in March, 1853.

After some consideration, I promoted a 8700 POP of Clergy to Labourers->Clercks->Capitalists, because there were no Capitalists in the State, but a lot of workforce, so getting some factories there would be a good idea.

Unfortunately when Cheap Iron was finished, I didn't get the option to develop Iron Steamers, so I choose Late Classical Theory instead. +2% Capitalist Income will come in handy, and it has some inventions as well. The only real alternative would have been Inorganic Chemistry, but that didn't sound that good.

When I resigned in late '52, I was third in rank and my score was only slightly lower than France's, who was second. The UK is first of course, with almost twice as much score as I have... There's quite a long way to go, I'm afraid.
 
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@Van5: Thank you, and welcome aboard!

@Legosim: Thank you too for your support, and sorry for not really reacting earlier :)
 
Chapter V - Bulls don't like baguettes.


I was minding my own business and all, when all of a sudden, the Dominican Republic decided to ask me to annex them! Such nice guys. That will probably cause trouble with the UK, though. Not that I care, actually. They refused to sell me Canada! I disbanded the irregulars I inherited in Santo Domingo, and sent the two Clipper Transports to Houston to join the Texas Fleet and bring the Texas Army over to the island. I suspect there might be trouble with Haiti. Actually, I hope there will be, because they produce Coffee, which I don't. Actually, we have like -160 relations, so it wouldn't be a surprise if I attacked them, would it? :rolleyes: The four new Infantry divisions are ready (which I may need if things get hot with the UK), I have 56 Infantry in Reserve, and will be able to increase the pool to 60 within the year. It would cost me 100 Prestige to attack Haiti. What a dilemma! When I decided to go forward and attack them, I was utterly surprised that on the next day, a cr*pload of popups came up telling that a bunch of nations that joined the war. Than I realized that the Crimean War just started :) Phew... My didn't last too long, and in the end, it only cost me about 50 prestige when I annexed Haiti, as I got 50 when the war was over. (By the way, the Crimean War didn't last long either, except for France and Greece, who remained at war for about a year or so, but not doing anything against eachother.)

Word of advice: you should really check the Trade window occasionally. After I annexed Haiti and gained a province that produces Coffee, I changed the settings to now sell it when I'm over 5 of them instead of buying when I'm under 5. I noticed that I have a huge stockpile of Fabric and Lumber. I produced less than I used previously, but I guess production became more efficient recently, and there was now a surplus. Problem is, nobody told me! I guess I could just let the AI handle trade, but I very much doubt that it would be capable of continuing my sinister plot with Machine Parts ;)

Is it just me, or is it really strange that in this game, I need to buy everything for my factories with state money (questionable), even get the stuff the factories produce unless I sell it on the world market (very strange except in a very few cases), but when I sell it, the money doesn't come back to me? Only in the form of taxes. Which is an anacronym of Texas ;).

The 9000 capitalists I promoted in Ohio did worth it: they started to build a Cloths Factory. Not the best factory, but still worths Industry points. Meanwhile, they are also building railroads, which is also good, because I would hate building that with my own money. (Not to mention it would be tedious as hell.)

After finishing 'Late Classical Theory' (improving the income of capitalists and thus angering Marx (and Spencer) even further), I started Organic Chemistry. The two most important things I want right now are Iron Steamers (which just doesn't want to pop up) and Iron Railroad (because we are almost finished with the Early Railroad everywhere), but neither of them came up. I really don't like the idea of spending Prestige for changing the Intellectual Establishment. It would be alright if I could chose the next one but getting one randomly and having to pay for it is pretty stupid IMHO. We currently have Traditional Academic, and it will have to do for the time being.

On January 16, 1854, I got an interesting event: 'A Reciprocity Treaty With British North America'. The text told me about trade tarrifs and open trade borders between British North America and the US, and that Southerners thought this would eventually lead to the annexation of British North America. What could I say? I liked the idea very much :D Also, signing the treaty gives +3% Capitalist income and some improvements of relations with Canada and the UK. So, I accepted.

A bit later, the 'Black Warrior Affair' fired, basically giving me the opportunity to go to war with Spain over Cuba. The nice guy I am, I offered to buy the island first. They refused of course, because they are dumb (Seriously, how dumb you must be to let bulls massacre your friends while you could simply shoot the beasts?:confused:). So I went to War. Hopefully that will make an interesting story for this chapter :) (It probably will, because France was guaranteeing Spain, so they are now at war with me as well...) The goals will be to take Cuba, Puerto Rico and if we can manage, the Philippines (while keeping everything we have of course), and as the French were nice enough to drop in as well, I will go for their American holdings (French Guayana) too.

The First Spanish-American War (with special guest star Pierre la Francais)​

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Situation report in '54.

So, we are at war with Spain and France. Spain is 11th on the ladder, France is 2nd, and I'm 3rd. France also has a slightly higher Industrial score (I should kick their asses just for that), somewhat more Prestige (of which I couldn't care less) and even a bit higher Military score. I could even be scared right now, but I'm not. I'm the archetype of calmness. Like a lighthouse in the middle of the storm, like a hill in the whirlewind, like Buddha himself. But I will mobilize my reserve, just in case. I also increase Army and Navy Maintenance to max. The Navy will wait until they prepare for active duty (they are at 19% strength now), the Standing Army (21 divisions) will form the invading force, and the now 60 divisions strong Reserve Army will stay at home and defend against the regular French invasions. (I do remember fighting the French in one earlier game, and they did do invasions quite frequently. Silly, isn't it? But what did you expect? They are French! :D) The invasion force's first target will be Cuba (being the actual Casus Belli), then Puerto Rico, French Guayana, the South Leeward Islands and last but nat least the Philippines and the Spanish possessions in the Pacific. Maybe even New Caledonia (a French-held Island near New Zealand). If I still need to take more land to force a surrender, I will first try to invade Spain (I expect this to be easier) then if necessary, France itself.

The first French landing happened before I could even mobilize, but fortunately my Standing Army was already gathering in Washington, so the French in Salisbury will be defeated quickly. Or so I thought at first. But then more and more of them came, so I had to bring a fleet (which wasn't yet fully repaired) there to keep them at bay... Meanwhile, the Kansas-Nebraska Act came up, so I'm actually starting to worry that the Civil War may come early, which would be pretty bad... Let's hope it won't. The battle of Salisbury took some two months, but we've eventually won. That's 7 less divisions for France.

In July, the Republican Party was founded. Strangely enough, they are Anarcho-Liberals. Or does this only surprise me?... I have a hard time imagening Abraham Lincoln as an anarchist :) The US Navy, defending the shores of America from the imperialist French, fought mostly Transports, thankfully. We currently have 20 ships, of which 6 are transports. France has 93 ships. I guess most of them are transports though. (Spain has only 4 ships, so that's not really an issue.) On July 27, two new divisions arrived in Boston. There were three divisions waiting for them in fortified positions. This was the time when I thought it would be a good idea to ask Brazil to join my nice little party ;) (They quickly took French Guayana.) After that (and when I managed to defeate the French Fleet, although they still seem to have 92 ships) I rearranged my navy into two fleets: a Transport Fleet, which would start to conquere Cuba and the Main Fleet which will keep patroling the coast. Still, it costs me a lot to fight the French (the two fleets concept didn't last long as the Main Fleet was reduced to two ships pretty quickly), so I decided to start amassing some Steamers to build some Commerce Raiders. It will take about a year to complete them, but hey! The war will still last for quite a while. I'm not yet sure if it will be effective against French Man-O-Wars, but I'm still Buddha reincarnate :cool:

Then, in May, I had the misfortune to run into a 20 warship French fleet... I lost five warships, but at least I managed to save my transports with the six regular divisions on board.

Stupid mod. In late May, after occupying all of Cuba, I got an event giving me the option of either demanding Cuba from Spain or demanding Cuba for the sum of 50,000 Money... I decided to demanding it without paying anything, hoping that they will refuse and I can keep fighting them. Unfortunately, it didn't really work, they accepted. That concludes the First Spanish-American War.
This affair resulted in some important and some not so important changes. First of all, I have a higher Military score than France (they still have a somewhat higher Industrial score, but I intend to change that soon), which lands me on the third place after the United Kingdom and India. I now have all the former Spanish posessions in the Caribbean. France now has 36 ships and I have 10. That is important, because France started the war with almost a hundred, while I started with 30 or so. We both lost about 1/3 of our fleets, but I can rebuild it much faster. (I think...) I also have more Prestige than France. (That is the least important.)

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Freshly gained lands in the Caribbean.

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Some French tourists, checking out the landmarks in Southern New England.

Alright, time to demobilize. But I think I won't decrease Army and Navy spending to minimal anymore, because my financial status can afford me to have a strong standing army. I guess with about 80 Infantry divisions (even with 3/4 of them being reserves) I achieved the my goal of 'having a decent army', now on to 'having a good navy'. To this end, I tried to invest into Clippers, beacuse I can only build one type of Steamer ship, and that is an escort. I wanted to build some twenty Man-O-Wars in case of another war before I manage to get some plans for proper, modern ships, but unfortunately Clippers are hard to come by on the World Market, and I don't have any Clipper factories. Oh, well. But at least I got the opportunity to invest into an Artillery Factory, which is great news! I will need a lot of these puppies for my great dreadnoughts of utter destruction! Question is: where to build it?

  • a) Washington, (no, seriously)
  • b) North Carolina or
  • c) New York?

I don't want another factory in New York, because there's no manpower there. So, North Carolina it is. (So the new factory will be in the South, but that shouldn't be a problem for too long.) The best thing in these 'Invest in XYZ Industry' events is that the factories are immediately up and running, unlike when the Capitalists build them. They like to take their time to make fancy ornament and shiny new offices and whatnot, but the State builds instant factories! Add some water, and it is done! Now that we are producing BIG GUNS, we might even consider selling some of them. When we are, say, above 50 of them! BIG SHIPS need a lot of BIG GUNS!

By the way, I'm currently generateing about 1.5 more research points then I need, meaning that during researching a tech, I get half the cost of the next one. This is usefull as I can trade for techs as well! (Although I don't really have that many clever friends now. The only nation I can properly trade with Brazil :))

After I finished Business Banks, I finally had the option to start Iron Steamers. That's great news, because this will enable the invetion of Ironclads, Monitors and Torpedo Boats. And I must say that Steamer Transports were much harder to sink than I thought they would during recent naval battles, so I think it will be a very good idea to build Steamers instead of Clippers! To strenthen my grasp on the Caribbean, I started to build a naval base on Puerto Rico.

I just got another strange event, telling me that if the Republicans win the election, then the South will either have to bend to the tyranny of the North, or will secede. Currently, the Whigs have 95%, the Republicans 0.23%. I very much doubt that the Republicans can win this election...

Land Purchases from the natives are going nicely, but I noticed something disturbing. The stupid Apache are still selling their land to Mexico! That is unfortunate, because now I will have to destroy them (Should I mobilize for that?:rolleyes:), and what's even worse, I will have to cheat to get my cores back from my puppet... I don't really like these Land Purchases events, to be honest. I was perfectly content with the way vanilla handled colonization, but I may be the minority here, I don't know.

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The natives I will have to destroy.

Then came September 8th, and the Whigs won the election again. Will the success of the Republicans (I mean they had 0.18%! That's a lot, no?) will spell doom for the Union? Or will the Civil War be postponed due to a lack of interest? And even more importantly: Will the United States of America fail utterly in their attempt to subdue the Apache tribe? Tune in next time, to find out! ;)


P.s.: I will try to limit the screenshots to 800x600 from now on if I can, because I hate to scroll the screen horizontally...
 
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@Legosim: Thank you for your continual support, I won't let you down ;)

@Zeldar155: Indeed. We bring them freedom, no matter if they want it or not ;)

@Enewald: Well, the Whigs are nice guys, but I actually do have a problem with them: they prefer Slavery. And that is a problem (aside from spreading democracy all over the place), because I want to build more and more factories, which will need workers in them. And I can't promote slaves into workers. Still, I will most likely end up with Limited Citizenship (I don't want Socialists in my government with their Planned Economy!), so I won't be able to promote them up from being Labourers or Farmers, but they assimilate more quickly if we have Limited Citizenship rather than Residence for example. (Maybe I can try to elect the Progressive Party in 1895, but that's still 40 years from now. And they have Interventionism, which somewhat hurts Capitalists...)

I'll be on vacation from tomorrow untill next weekend, but then there will be a new update with crying Apaches, more railroads and probably with some inner turmoil!