I rather thought the empire would do both, add the complaint to the growing case against the company whilst also using the 'treachery' of the Burmese to empire build there too. After all, it's not like anybody will stop them now.
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I rather thought the empire would do both, add the complaint to the growing case against the company whilst also using the 'treachery' of the Burmese to empire build there too. After all, it's not like anybody will stop them now.
Never demonstrated more vividly by Thatcher's reaction to the news that the Task Force would take three weeks to reach the Falklands. "You mean three days?!"
British generalship from this period going forth is worth an orgy of AARs in its own right; I could see a younger Raglan, I really could, in a diplomatic-type command role (Eisenhower); Flashman sums it up quite well in Flashman at the Charge (I'll have to find my copy) about him being extremely kind, but not a commander. He was rare (in the British Army) in having not commanded previously (at all - I think he may have briefly had a company before the Peninsular War). I have often worried about our habit (which goes on) of favouring good battalion commanders over all else, but when you see the effects of Raglan, you kind of see why it evolved as it did...
Evidently not. You get the real sense of the chaos of conflict in those first few hours.
My father remembers a lot of confusion. Both in the sense of 'wait, what?' And 'wait, where?'
And then, presumably, a few weeks later, 'wait, how?'
Catching up! Reading through these reminds me of much I love Victoria II and this period and eager to get back there! 
The Opium War was perhaps less honourable but written in a very exciting and informative way. I really like this focus on thetroublemakers individuals on the ground who cause these crisis opportunities.
The Opium War was perhaps less honourable but written in a very exciting and informative way. I really like this focus on the
Ah.....the opium war
I loved the whole description of Tan's attempt to attack Bengal. I guess he would be pretty surprised to see the Indians fighting back on the British side.
The final treaty thus starts the century of Chinese humiliation!
Good updates
I loved the whole description of Tan's attempt to attack Bengal. I guess he would be pretty surprised to see the Indians fighting back on the British side.
The final treaty thus starts the century of Chinese humiliation!
Good updates
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The question now is do the british press their advantage and commit most of the humiliation themselves or let their rivals and fellow empires have their share of china? I certainly think that with some more domineering, a few splinter states could be formed along the coast under British control rather than Chinese.
Well the others powers are all going to pile in to get their own treaties and Britain really should abide by the truce it has just signed, so this is a question for a few years time. It does sounds somewhat pricey and surely the Chinese will start being reasonable about trade at this point? Surely?
Given the past few years, we can hardly be judging of any nation in history being weird about their trade laws...
It depends how other nations try to split the pot of Chinese trade I suppose? If the Russians do the sensible thing and kick the Chinese as far away from siberia as possible, thats one empire out of the way. But portugal and the Dutch already have hands in the Chinese Market and probably won't just sit there whilst brittania gets lovely loot and a rival port in between their own settlements. And if those two do something, france is sure to try also, just because. And then if all the colonial powers except spain have done their nasty in china, the US presumably will show up at some point in the middle of it. So that's all the great empires running around china trying to do their thing, which surely at some point means a tremendous and exciting collusion of interest or arms?
Can't wait for Lancaster: Victoria edition. Nothing but page after page of economic debate in the wittenmamgot and sly, effusive polite bitching between members on small, minor policy decisions.
And Secret the Bear, claiming the Pole for the glory of the Empire.
He is a zombie bear of many talents, so may indeed be around, doing stuff. Given that, as I understand it, the search for the pole is RNG based, he may get lost or get bored and go somewhere else however.
One thing this AAR might comment on depending on Japes time is the housing crisis and related health crisis in the industrial cities. The factory acts have just passed, making it goverment policy to intervene in the health of every child at work in the cotton industry. This is sure to lead, as it did in OTL, to an outrage/crises over king cholera, sanitation, housing, food etc.
Increasing the vote is only going to make this more pressing for parliament, especially as indistrial cities get more and more seats.
The Portugese already have Macao and will try to get the same privileges for it as the British have for their treaty port, which probably can't go as badly wrong as OTL (they won, but their punitive fleet caused more casualties to themselves than the enemy).
Moving on, the US fleet was probably already on it's way before the ink on the British-Chinese treaty was dry, they certainly were in OTL. The US may not have been a 'colonial power' at this point (you can argue the toss about what that phrase exactly means), but they were aggressive in using military power to force treaties onto people who couldn't fight back, both at home and abroad. And as you say the French will turn up looking for the same deal.
And yet I don't think it will end in the Western powers fighting each other. The Chinese market is large enough to share for quite some time, long enough for the OTL realisation that it is better to work together than risk the Chinese playing 'divide and rule' back on them.
Hmm. So a toss up as to what happens in game then? No idea how aggressive/competent the aI would be, but since the Portuguese are already there, I thought they would probably have a go. Same with the Dutch.
Yes they were prolific in the Pacific. Depending on what's going on in their country however, they might not show. Vicky has a weird fixation with ruining the US in early years or otherwise blobbing them across the amercias. Same deal with France come to think, though if they manage to not start a European war soon they probably will show up.
Is the game capable of simming a boxer rebellion situation where everyone really does drop everything and unite in the name of self interest? That would be as entertaining as a battle royal over Asia, I suppose.
I think the Boxer rebellion is coded in as an event for China, but I can't recall ever seeing a great deal of intervention. Which is like self defeatingly odd.
I was thinking more about things like the Shanghai International Settlement. 1863 the British and US concessions in Shanghai were merged and everyone else (bar the French naturally) joined in over the following years. This was a reaction to the ongoing Taiping Rebellion and the Battle of Singapore the previous year and was part of the general "We'd better prop up the Qing and work as something like a team on this" reaction from the Concession powers. The Ever Victorious Army, Frederick War and 'Chinese' Gordon, all that good stuff.
I believe Victoria 2 has the Taiping Rebellion event for China, but naturally skims over this international reaction. If Jape gets that far it'll be interesting to see what happens this time around.
Now that is a humilation when everyone gets around the table and agrees taking advantage seperatly is a little too easy and disrupting the goverment too much, so they formed an international syndicate to gank anyone in china who tried to stop the government paying their dues.
Drug smuggling, intimidation, syndicates, assassinations, corruption and front companies. The british and the amercians were classic gangsters in china at least.
I suppose the US was a tad distracted by the Civil War in 1863 so it might be more a bit of British Foreign Office cunning than deliberate planned international scheme. After all the British ended up basically running the combined Settlement in the years that followed.
Which I suppose is just another sort of humiliation, your largest city and commercial hub is just a plaything in the games of the Great Powers. And they can play these games while China is experiencing the single bloodiest war of the 19th Century and one of the worst of all time, a conflict that has been raging for years but ends shortly after Western interests are threatened and they bother to pay attention.
Any wonder japan moved earth and heaven to catch up as quickly as they did, and then didn't trust anyone with interests in asia.
Speaking of, POD could easily crush their efforts before they get anywhere if someone were to take an interest?
While the government is certainly clamping down on the Company compared to the glory days of the 18th century, their Indian empire is still going strong. Much as IOTL, I'm afraid tropical disease is about the only thing keeping redcoats out of Rangoon at this point. Still, pretty good disincentive.
Funny you should mention Flashman, going through a box of old novels actually inspired me to start this AAR. They're full of fascinating facts and give a great 'flavour' for the period.
Catching up! Reading through these reminds me of much I love Victoria II and this period and eager to get back there!
The Opium War was perhaps less honourable but written in a very exciting and informative way. I really like this focus on thetroublemakersindividuals on the ground who cause thesecrisisopportunities.
Glad you enjoyed the skullduggery of the Opium War. Yes the more I read about Victorian imperialism the more horrified/entertained I am by how much history has been dictated by sunburnt little Englishmen in white suits.
Tan was bold if nothing else! And thank you
The "Condition of England" as they called it will certainly be coming up. We'll be jumping back into domestic politics shortly.
I'm playing with the HPM so Boxer rebellions are to be expected, though as in my Italian AAR they may differ greatly from OTL
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The next update will be up later today, focusing on Britain's relations with the other great powers