Next up, the Kingdom of Sorbia. This plucky little state did not exist for much of EU4 and V2, but has returned stronger and fiercer than ever. The new leadership has big plans - too big for their shoes, perhaps.
THE KINGDOM OF SORBIA, 1936
Population: 18.70M
Capital: Kilonia (
Kiel)
Government: Constitutional Monarchy (Authoritarian Democracy)
Head of State: King Czimislav II Gryzmala
Head of Government: Chancellor Jurij Skala
Military Estimate: 19 divisions (est. 163,800 men), 5 warships
Industry Estimate: 15 Civilian Factories, 11 Military Factories, 2 Naval Dockyards
The Kingdom of Sorbia has a complicated history. Its predecessor was the medieval Lusatian realm, which was extinguished in the early modern period. Sorbia returned as a satellite state of Bohemia/Czechoslovakia in 1859 and gained full independence in the final decades of the century. It was an Italian ally in the Great War and harnessed Italian backing into diplomatic victories several times in the period to grow into a formidable regional power. Its latest victory came in 1929, when Sorbian forces invaded Polish Bramborska and annexed the Sorb-majority region into the nation. Areas of Germany and Czechoslovakia are still claimed by Sorbia as ethnic regions of the state, however, and Sorbian martial ambitions appear to have only grown since 1929.
The reason for this is the election of far-right demagogue Jurij Skala into the Sorbian Chancellory. Skala's fascist Luzynska Strona (Lusatian Party) movement has ridden the back of economic downturn and revanchist feeling into a great deal of popular support during the past five years. Now they have a slim majority in Parliament and sympathizers filling the high seats of the administration and the military. Under Skala's tenure, democratic opposition parties in Sorbia have been marginalized and demonized by state propaganda. With the tacit blessing of the King, Skala and his party have began the work of transforming Sorbia into a fascist nation where racialism, eugenics and aggressive nationalism rule the day.
It is likely that Skala's authoritarian rule shall be cemented in the coming year. The Parliament prepares to vote on a controversial Austerity Powers Decree, which would grant unprecedented emergency powers to the Chancellor and allow for a total restructuring of Sorbia under the pretext of administrative and economic discipline. Yet Skala's authoritarian tactics have not entirely destroyed the democratic opposition or the rule of law yet. Democratic forces work to oppose Skala and are steadily regaining their lost popularity. New elections would threaten Skala's government - and so he is desperate to see the Decree pass before his enemies make their move.
Skala seeks the support of the conservative nationalist establishment, the King and the Church. Their support should allow this murder-suicide of the democratic rule of law to pass, and so despite his personal distaste for all three forces, Skala goes to them cap in hand to see his power furthered. And should the Decree pass, what are Skala's plans for the nation?
Skala's fascism originates from the same poisonous cauldron as that of the Jeune Nation and Latvianism, but with some differences. The alliance with the King and conservative elements of Sorbia have necessitated a moderation of the anti-clerical and anti-monarchist tendencies of the fascist doctrine, despite Skala's personal distaste for the 'slave morality' of Christianity and the stagnant reaction of hereditary rule.
In similar vein to fascists elsewhere, the LS believes in supremacy through eugenic development and racial regeneration; for Skala, the Wends
were a great people, but miscenegation and foreign pollution of native bloodlines has led to widespread degeneration and weakness of character that allowed Lusatia to fall under foreign sway for so long. Only through the strict hand of the new fascist physician and the national fitness office may this situation be redeemed, and the Wendish heritage redeemed. His dreams are of new institutions to monitor marriages and births for 'the common good'; state physicians enjoying enormous freedoms in terminating and sterilizing 'undesirable elements'; children taken away from 'unsuitable' mothers and fathers; harsh and mandatory military service for national fitness; and discrimination of minority Danes, Germans, Jews and Romani as the Wendish race grows stronger.
In this intermediate phase, the Wends should strive to overcome their genetic weaknesses by emulating the heroes of the past. The state sponsors histories and art of an idealized warrior people from the past. A certain, state-approved kind of culture flourishes, while state censors aggressively attack anything that 'insults the national character', a crime that can be interpreted for any situation.
Once he has the reins of power tightly in hand, Skala aims to look outward. Only through war may the Wendish race be purified and the unnatural state of Europe set right. Sorbia's neighbors can only eye its growing militarization and Skala's belligerent rhetoric with concern. United, they should have nothing to fear. Czechoslovakia alone boasts an army nearly twice the size of Sorbia's, and the German Federation one far beyond that. But German politics are deadlocked by the trauma of devastating defeat in the Austrian War of 1927 and anti-war feeling dominates; and the Czechoslovaks will not make any move on their own. Their concerns lie in the south, in any case - where the Red hordes of the Italian Union wait for any sign of weakness to begin their Liberation War.
Sorbia thus has a historic chance to strike. Will its neighbors find allies in time, or will they fall one by one and allow Sorbia to forge the European empire dreamed of by its mad leaders?
Sorbia's military is modest compared to its southern neighbors, but far outclasses that of Denmark, Poland or Pommerania. It is made of 10 regular infantry divisions, 4 reserve divisions, 3 cavalry brigades and 2 new armored divisions - 163 000 men in total and growing. For now, it lacks an air arm entirely. Sorbia's armored units are paper tigers: the nation's old Ss.22s are slow and uncoordinated machines weighed down by two cannons. Then again, any armored might can decide the battle against forces with little counters or experience with tanks - and Sorbian factories are ready to roll out more advanced models as the nation's military establishment comes up with them.
The Sorbian Navy is even smaller and unlikely to play any real role in the conflicts to come. It consists of a single flotilla with a single battleship, a heavy cruiser and a few light cruisers. Sorbian naval manufacturing capabilities are modest, but may grow with conquests and construction.
Skala aims to sustain these military operations with an ambitious Ten-Year Plan to reform and reorganize the entire Sorbian economy and military establishment. It is already in its third year and has seen a major expansion of Sorbia's materiel industries. Going onwards and with the potential breakout of war, it strives for greater and greater sacrifices and changes of the Sorbian state. The nation's conquests shall fuel this expansion and guarantee Sorbia the industrial base it needs to make itself a world power - or so Skala claims.
Sorbia stands at a crossroads. Skala's policies will bring untold ruination and death whatever the case, but will the dream of Sorbian hegemony be stillborn, or shall the weakness of its neighbors empower it into a thousand-year empire?
There we have it. I always feel a bit dirty after writing about fascist content. You can probably identify the historical inspirations for Sorbia and Skala.