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Suddenly, there's justification for what the Russians have probably been wanting to do to the Ottomans for a loooong while.
And now Germany can't get involved against you without looking like total arses. Stomp them into the dirt.
And now Germany can't get involved against you without looking like total arses. Stomp them into the dirt.
I haven't advanced into Arab territory yet..
That would be putting it lightly. Education, life experience, ideology and youth come together to create a perfect storm of outrage in the person of Vladimir here.
It's certainly time to talk to the Greeks, far too early to commit to giving them the Queen of cities and control of the straits though.
Justice is a good in short supply in the KR universe. But we may just get some here...
And it sort of just suprised me. After the AI blocked me in the east I at first wondered if their troops had been there fighting Kurdistan and rebs (the Ottoman troops have massive -dissent mallus at the moment) and then i checked the casualty screen and was shocked at the scale of the bloodletting. Add to that an assumption that civilian populations would have been targeted in at least as great a number as fighting troops, and suddenly you had the last update.
but now the Ottomans are ethically bankrupt and i'm very much enjoying the next update and the gameplay that came with it. My self imposed narrative gloves have come off and I'm determined to punch them in the face as hard as I possibly can.
Yes, i realise they may possibly have been a german ally against the reds... but principle and several hundred years worth of Russian ambitions have to win out here.
I think i've come up with a possible plan that is truly worthy of vladi in its levels of ambition and romantic nostalgia, but we'll see how things go.
You won't hear me complaining. With what has happened in the narrative I could care less to what happens to the Ottomans. Just try not to get your own hands dirty.
P.S. I've found that I'm starting to think in terms of this world while reading this AAR. I know it's a game but the story you've created from it just makes me want to be a part of it. (not really but you get the point)
Indeed, it is far to early to commit to that idea, but I see it as a possible future that would complement the fall of the House of Osman well.
Whatever Vladi intends to do with the Queen of Cities and the rest of his conquests I am sure we will be impressed.
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Chapter 92: Surrender and Recalcitrance.
Bucharest, 24th June, 1939:
The interior of the Romanian royal Palace echoed with the percussion of dozens of officers and men snapping to attention. The Russians lined one side of the grand chamber in full dress uniform, medals and honours proudly presented , some still bearing the marks of wounds incurred over the last two days.
The Romanian contingent on the other side was Paltry by comparison, a mere eight men, but the Iron Guard's officers had done their best to present a proud display. At their head, Marshal Ion Antonescu, the architect of the most effective elements of the Romanian's defensive campaign in the North, advanced at their head towards the squat table between the two delegations offering up a salute. With Codreanu apparently killed by artillery fire during the push into the city, it fell to the Marshal as the senior military officer present, to undertake perhaps the hardest action of his career.
The Marshall offered no words as he took up the pen and set his name to the short document on the table and he was thankful that the Russian Marshal opposite did not press him further. With a final flick of a pen and the setting of the ink, it was done, and all was lost.
1) We the undersigned, acting by the authority of the Romanian High Command, hereby surrender unconditionally to the Commander of the Besserabian Front of the Imperial Russian army in his capacity as representative of His Imperial Majesty, Vladimir, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias all forces on land, sea and in the air who are at this date under Romanian control.
2) The Romanian High Command will at once issue orders to all Romanian military, naval, air and civil authorities and to all forces under Romanian control to cease active operations 20:00 hours, Central European time, on 25th June and to remain in the positions occupied at that time. No ship, vessel, aircraft, vehicle or piece of equipment is to be scuttled or damaged.
3) The Romanian High Command will at once issue orders to the appropriate commanders, and ensure the carrying out of any further orders issued by the Commander of the Berssarabian Front or duly appointed representatives of His Imperial Majesty.
4) The Romanian High Command, acting with the emergency war powers granted by the instrument of national emergency enacted on May 15th, will issue orders to all civilian authorities within the borders of Romanian or those territories presently under its control, to fully co-operate with the Imperial Russian Army and obey all orders issued by the command thereof.
5) The Romanian High Command will at once make available to the Commander of the Bessarabian Front, all person accused of war crimes either within its ranks or residing within those territories under its control.
6) In the event of the Romanian High command or any of the forces under their control failing to act in accordance with this Act of Surrender, the Commander, Bessarabian Front of the Imperial Russian army will take such punitive or other action as they deem appropriate.
Signed at Bucharest at 09:15 on the 24th day of June in the year of our Lord, 1939.
On behalf of the Romanian High Command.
Field Marshall Ion Antonescu.
Vladimir Cyrilovich Romanov said:
27th June, 1939.
The news of Ottoman atrocities in the East has electrified the Christian world. The papers in Saint Petersburg call for the complete destruction of the house of Osman with a zeal that borders on the fanatical. More importantly, I am informed that the news has severely shifted the mood amongst the German public against any support for this barbarian regime.
Given what we have discovered, I can see no alternative but to escalate the conflict further but remain mindful of the potential diplomatic and political consequences. What we have before us is an opportunity to unite disparate peoples against their ancient enemy. If we are to proceed, then it must be full support of all the peoples of the Balkans lest we waste that invaluable chance.
In three cases, this has already been accomplished. Markov informs me that our armies have now fully subdued the Romanian State and its occupied territories. I have resolved that Bessarabia shall be immediately re-integrated into the Empire while the rest of Romania's territory shall be occupied until a permanent resolution can be reached.
Our relief of the remaining strip of Bulgarian territory was greeted with jubilation by their people and considerable thanks by the Royal Boris. While we have saved much of the Bulgarian army, there is little doubt that their state has been effectively shattered. Given the circumstances, I expect them to thankfully accept the new order which we are now building in the Balkans though I do not expect their troops to be ready to go into action against the Ottomans in the immediate future. Instead, our immediate priority in Bulgaria must be humanitarian relief for the population so as to secure their support for the agreements to come.
The Greeks too have agreed to my proposals, though they were initially incredulous. They began this war to regain a small stretch of territory from Bulgaria but once convinced of the sincerity of the offer, have proved more than willing to accept all of our proposals provided we make good on our promises. The Greek public realise this is a time for grand ideas and grander actions, that their Government would realise this eventually was all but inevitable. The Church has been vital in all of this, and I am convinced that given all that has happened, the Greeks will become staunch allies in the future.
Albania continues to resist, though only because we have not yet been able to bring much in the way of force to bear against this Ottoman puppet. I fully expect that as soon as Markov is able to redeploy the cavalry, Albania will fall into our sphere. With that completed, all the Balkan powers will be united and prepared for what is to come...all that is except for one.
Our Serbian brothers remain recalcitrant. Alexander is a strong ruler, and I have every sympathy for his position but his offer of peace at the cost of considerable Bulgarian territory is unacceptable. Otto has been extremely understanding and remains focused on internal matters but Alexander must understand that Russia can not allow Serbia to continue to pursue a hawkish policy towards Vienna, at least not while Syndicalism remains a threat. Nor can Russia afford to relinquish such large swathes of Bulgarian territory without alienating a people that have been the victim of a vicious and unforgivable war of aggression. To do so would shatter any hope of things proceeding as hoped. I am prepared to uphold a number of their just claims, no doubt to the ire of many, but they seem to have determined that I will offer more if they stand firm.
And so we remain at an impasse. The Serbian people consider us their brothers and I refuse to relinquish the duty I owe them as their protector but if I am to provide that protection they must be brought within our sphere. Alexander, I am sure, knows this, but it goes against the instinct of any King to yield any of the authority granted to him by the Lord. I had hoped this situation might be resolved with patient negotiation, but things have now escalated.
Yesterday I received news of a skirmish along the Serbian border. In a state of confusion, one of our reconaissance units moving to scout the frontier was fired on before they responded in kind. While the fighting was able to be quickly brought to an end, I understand that almost sixty Russian and Serbian soldiers have been wounded or killed.
That is sixty too many, and proof that we can not wait for simple diplomacy to wake noble Alexander to what must be done.
Tomorrow is Vidovdan, a day of great significance to Serbia. I pray it is also the day on which what I hope is the last war ever fought between Russia and Serbia might be brought to an end.
Heaven help me if I am wrong.
Russian Airfield, Constanta.
The Russian aircrew lounged back on the cool grass as the warm July sun shone down on them through clear skies. At twenty nine degrees, many of the men had shed their heavier clothing and enjoyed the touch of sun against skin, other sheltered in the shade provided by the wings of their colossal aircraft.
Life had been good for the heavy bomber crews this war. While the fighters and short range bombers had been worked to the bone, the heavy units had barely been utilised. The need to exercise restraint against the Ottomans and minimise collateral damage in the Balkans had limited the potential usefulness of the four engined heavies with their dubious accuracy. Of course, with the news coming out of the East, the crews had begun to expect they may soon be unleashed on Turkish naval bases, but for the moment, they enjoyed all that their new airbase on the Romanian coast could offer.
Few took much notice as the squadron car drove across the runway and came to a stop next to the makeshift huts that were serving as barracks and briefing halls while the permanent structures were being repaired. One flying officer tipped his cap back and called out as he noticed the messenger carrying a folio of operational orders.
“Where are we going? A nice sightseeing trip over the Golden Horn perhaps?” His voice was full of levity, the crews were eager to get into the war and the reconnaissance pilots had reported the AA defences around the Ottoman capital were a joke.
The dispatch rider met this levity with a deadpan delivery.
“Belgrade.”
The levity was more or less gone from that point onward.
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Albania continues to resist, though only because we have not yet been able to bring much in the way of force to bear against this Ottoman puppet. I fully expect that as soon as Markov is able to redeploy the cavalry, Albania will fall into our sphere. With that completed, all the Balkan powers will be united and prepared for what is to come...all that is except for one.
Hehehe, Greece may have been "peacefully" persuaded but apparently the Bulgarians need a little bit more "humanitarian relief" to go along. :laugh:
You won't hear me complaining. With what has happened in the narrative I could care less to what happens to the Ottomans. Just try not to get your own hands dirty.
P.S. I've found that I'm starting to think in terms of this world while reading this AAR. I know it's a game but the story you've created from it just makes me want to be a part of it. (not really but you get the point)
I know the feeling, hopefully that means i'm doing my job as a writer. As for keeping my hands clean, that's going to be very difficult but Vladimir is going to try. There will be no retribution against the Turkish population.
I hope so, but firstly he's more or less bringing the Balkans under his control, then we can turn East!
Haha, when i annexed Romania i got all of Bulgaria's territory that Romania had taken. I'll start parceling it out to my new puppets over the course of several diplomatic deals as their Governments recover enough to administer the territory and disputes over claims are resolved (thanks again all who contributed to that discussion a few pages back). Romania is definitely going to remain under occupation for a while. The Russians will need to see which royals are still alive and figure out what the administrative status of Romania will be going forward now that the rest of the Balkans looks like it will become a cluster of Russian satellites.
Then comes to real question, how badly does Vladimir mutilate the Ottomans and where go the spoils.
Keep Romania really close, and I won't really complain on how to partition Romanian held Macedonia...
For the Ottomans, once again my suggestion, I put Ottoman held Armenian territories in the Northwest (Trabzon, Kars & Erzurum) to come to Russian control, Adrianople to come under Bulgarian control and Greek control over the western Anatolian Province of Smyrna as well as Gallipoli (with the possibility of expansion over all of Western Anatolia including Constantinople), and the possibility of a new state for the Pontic Greeks if they aren't incorporated into Greece proper...
...Too much?
Give the Assyrians, Kurds, Pontines and Cappadocians independence as buffer states. Russia might even want a new Pale of Settlement in the Holy Land to serve as a buffer against the Egyptians, minus Jerusalem of course.
You are not going to bomb Belgrade on Vidovdan will you. That would have the opposite effect in the populace than breaking our resolve. For Serbs it's a day martyrdom, so anybody that dies on that day, the propaganda can turn into a martyr. A swift move to destroy our army in the south and bring Alexander to the table could be understood (it could be passed off as mistake of the government and not the king). But bombing a civilian city (and 4 engine bombers have no hope in hell of NOT hitting civilians) . . .
...Cappadocia? Were there really Greeks living there?
Now I can understand Assyria and Kurdistan (especially Kurdistan since they were just as wronged as the Armenians by the Ottomans here...) but I think Cappadocia is overkill (then again what I said might be a bit overkill as well except for the bare minimum of Ottoman Armenia)
I agree with this, this is only going to make even more difficult for whatever Russia plans on in Serbia...
"Oh, Codreanu? Artillery. Yeah. Very sad. I KNOW! Yeah, we wanted him to stand trial as well!
"Just... give us some time to secure the Royal Palace and DON'T follow us if you hear screaming coming from any rooms off the beaten path!"
(And now, let's reduce the line of Osman to that of common courtesans.)
"Just... give us some time to secure the Royal Palace and DON'T follow us if you hear screaming coming from any rooms off the beaten path!"
(And now, let's reduce the line of Osman to that of common courtesans.)
Yeah actually, a fairly substantial population about as influential as the Pontines. Elia Kazan was one.
how about a thing, kinda exotic, kinda nuts, but there is a mod hellenic extension for KR, there is the possibility to recreate Bizantium as a Federation of orthodox nations of the balkans + conquered lands in Asia Minor, that originates from a pu between Greece and Serbia. perhaps Teivel could go for just such thing, create a Bizantic Federation?
Yeah...there is one problem with that? Serbia has a King, Greece has a King, both have heirs...how is this going to be possible short of direct conquest?
EDIT: Don't answer that, I know Yugoslavia is coming soon.
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It is done...Serbia will, if needed, fight even against its greatest friend - mother Russia, to regain its rightful territories in Macedonia and Kosovo (Skopie, Tetovo, Kumanovo and Pristina ). Just as Serbian army was ready in 1878. to fight Russia for Nis, it is now ready again, desperately, to stand against brothers. It is deeply disappointing that you gave Macedonia to Bulgaria, which took it criminally in the Great War. Instead of punishing Bulgarian stab in the back against Serbia, you reward them...
I can already tell settling this war is going to be interesting. I'll check Bulgarian claims, i'm not sure they have one on Adrianople.
That would Balkanize things pretty badly but i'll take it into consideration. I imagine control over Jerusalem, while controversial, only has one potential answer.
Four engine bombers are a weapon you use to hit big targets like cities with a heavy payload carried on a survivable platform. I considered destroying the army, but I just can't bring myself to do it. And so I expect Vidovdan will have its martyrs.
I expect this will, in fact, make things considerably easier in Serbia.
Yep, you can be 100% sure that the major villain was killed off screen by the hand of fate in the form of an errant shell.
And from my back of the envelope efforts to track which provinces revolted and were thus purged by the Ottomans, they have probably survived fairly well. Some of the Eastern provinces have been crushed more than once though..
But then there would be two great Orthodox Empires, I'm not sure how i'd feel about that. That would require putting a Greek on the same level as a Russian. As it is, the Greeks (with two cavalry divisions just outside of Athens) agreed to a somewhat less grandiose deal. If I were playing as Greece however, i'd be modding as we speak
.No Yugoslavia, not happening. I've pushed Otto so far and he's been good about it, but Yugoslavia would put a question mark over Croatia and other territories under Vienna's control. It would be a bridge too far.
Time will tell. I doubt the Russians will completely stop looking until they find a body, they're going off Iron Guard reports right now.
To Vladimir, Serbia is a proud nation filled with a strong and tough people. They bled more and fought harder than any other people in the Weltkrieg, and lost as much as Russia proportionately. It can be understood why Serbia desperately wants to reclaim its lost territories. Vladimir wasn't referring to Serbia's common sense claims btw, but rather some of the very ambitious ones that the Greater Serbia event gives, Alexander has to realise he's not getting all of those in a world where Austria remains a power and Bulgaria remains a going concern. As it stands, i haven't given Macedonia to anyone, Bulgaria only has once province left, i can't take it from them without annexing them and destroying the army they have left which i'd like to make use of. All i can say is, keep watching.
I knew the last update would get a response, hopefully you like the way its resolved. Not all is as it appears
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Coudenhove-Kalergi this man will please everyone. literarly. period.
House Kallergi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phokas_(Byzantine_family)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kallergis_family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coudenhove-Kalergi
But then there would be two great Orthodox Empires, I'm not sure how i'd feel about that. That would require putting a Greek on the same level as a Russian. As it is, the Greeks (with two cavalry divisions just outside of Athens) agreed to a somewhat less grandiose deal. If I were playing as Greece however, i'd be modding as we speak
so what? so what twice? so what again thrice? ;D so what again? xD Hmh, i'm not sure your greece would receive such a friendly russia...
IT is all in your hands, how you will set them in comparison to Russia. but i wont explain my stuff any further, i'm tired of having constantly explaining my ideas.
Ok i'll explain a bit: Richard Kallergi has in his blood Imperial Greek, Italian, Polish, German, Russian, Japanese intake. Perhaps Bizantic Federation could be a hope for united Europe and beyond(as iOTL EU begun with Roman Pacts, that this TL EU could begin with Bizantium Pact), but House Kallergi would be best as the Chairman/President/Emperror that would soften everyone up with that idea.
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