Power to the People - A Sardinia-Piedmont Interactive AAR

[ThunderHawk3]

((Tally. Both revolutions are currently succeeding, meaning if the vote ended now it would certainly prompt a civil war.))

Spoiler

Aristocrats: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 14, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [14, 0, 0]

Contravarius: [6]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 6, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [6, 0, 0]

Industrialists: [7]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [7, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 7, 0]

Terraferma: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Nodscouterr & mrlifeless: [9]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Militarists: [12]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 1/3/0 [12, 36, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 3/1/0 [36, 12, 0]

Revan529: [13]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 13, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [13, 0, 0]

Firehound15: [30]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Marschalk: [19]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 19, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [19, 0, 0]

Gen. Marshall: [30]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Mikkel Glahder: [39]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 39, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [39, 0, 0]

Andre Massena: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 14, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [14, 0, 0]

Labor Leaders: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Dadarian & TJDS: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 2/0/0 [28, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/2/0 [0, 28, 0]

Antigov Demagogues: [67]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 3/0/0 [201, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/3/0 [0, 201, 0]

VibrantiumTaco: [70]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [70, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 70, 0]

Otto of england: [73]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 73, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [73, 0, 0]

Progov Demagogues: [1]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 1, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [1, 0, 0]

Bonus: [0]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Politicians: [1]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 2/1/1 [2, 1, 1]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/2/1 [1, 2, 1]

Totals:
Anti-Regime Revolution: 10/12/1 [384, 238, 1] [61.7%]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 12/10/1 [238, 384, 1] [38.3%]

((EDIT: Corrected for counting errors.))

 

[king cruel]

Anti-Regime Revolution: For the Revolution
Pro-Regime Counterrevolution: Against the Revolution

[Demagogue]
[Look, Tis Empty]

((After the Revolution, If I don't die, I will go into exile or rather travel the world. Starting with the lands of my ancestors. I will start in France and travel over to Russia, then across the mighty Siberia, Drop down into China across into India. Then see what happens after that before returning home, hopefully to kind free fair and beautiful Italy. Vive La Italia! Vive il Popolo!))

~Signora Roza Concordé

 

[Somberg]

Anti-Regime Revolution: For the Revolution
Pro-Regime Counterrevolution: Against the Revolution

[Politician]
[No bonus]

~ Fiorenzo Rossini

 

[Glueth]

Anti-Regime Revolution: Against the Revolution
Pro-Regime Revolution: For the Revolution

[Politician]
[The Stalwart Legacy +5% PP]

Death to Communism! Death to the Reds! Long live the Right!

I will die with a gun in my hand before I submit to the reds!

A cynical, unprincipled braggart they may have called me. A bloody opportunist, just blowing whichever way the winds blow.

Maybe they're right. But I'll be damned, a man's gotta die for something.

 

[Canadian_95_RTS]

Anti-Regime Revolution: Against
Pro-Regime Revolution: For

[Demagogue]
[No bonus worth mentioning]

 

[jeeshadow]

Pro-Regime Revolution: Against
Anti-Regime Revolution: For
[Militarist]
[-25% In Hiding]

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((Tally. There's about an hour left in the vote. Both revolutions are well over the success threshold of 12%.))

Spoiler

Aristocrats: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 14, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [14, 0, 0]

Contravarius: [6]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 6, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [6, 0, 0]

Industrialists: [7]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [7, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 7, 0]

Terraferma: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Nodscouterr & mrlifeless: [9]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Militarists: [12]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 1/3/0 [12, 36, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 3/1/0 [36, 12, 0]

Jeeshadow: [9]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [9, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 9, 0]

Revan529: [13]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 13, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [13, 0, 0]

Firehound15: [30]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Marschalk: [19]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 19, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [19, 0, 0]

Gen. Marshall: [30]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Mikkel Glahder: [39]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 39, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [39, 0, 0]

Andre Massena: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 14, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [14, 0, 0]

Labor Leaders: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Dadarian & TJDS: [14]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 2/0/0 [28, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/2/0 [0, 28, 0]

Antigov Demagogues: [67]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 4/0/0 [268, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/4/0 [0, 268, 0]

VibrantiumTaco: [70]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [70, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 70, 0]

Otto of england: [73]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/1/0 [0, 73, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 1/0/0 [73, 0, 0]

Progov Demagogues: [1]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/2/0 [0, 2, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 2/0/0 [2, 0, 0]

Bonus: [0]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 0/0/0 [0, 0, 0]

Politicians: [1]

Anti-Regime Revolution: 3/2/1 [3, 2, 1]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 2/3/1 [2, 3, 1]

Totals:
Anti-Regime Revolution: 13/14/1 [516, 262, 1] [66.3%]
Pro-Regime Revolution: 14/13/1 [262, 516, 1] [33.7%]

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((Voting is now closed.))

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((Alrighty, as both revolutions have achieved well over the necessary 12% threshold for success, we're going to have a Civil War. Whichever side wins gets its revolution goals enforced.

But how does a civil war work, you ask?

First, a few important points. I have decided to term the pro-regime revolutionary forces Nationalist Italy. They are supported by the reactionaries, fascists, and anarcho-liberals. The anti-regime revolutionary forces will be Republican Italy. They are supported by the communists, jacobins, and minority separatists. Which ideologies support which side is important in determining the course of the civil war.

Basically, a civil war is decided by the balance of forces and balance of leadership. The balance of forces is determined by the following factors:

• Regular army units without a rebel affiliation go to the side backed by the most militarists (in this case the nationalists)
• Regular army units with a rebel affiliation go to the side their rebel affiliation supports
• Each side in the civil war gets a % of the national mobilization equal to its vote share in the revolution vote [1]
• Militias go to the side their ideology supports

[1] In this case, this means 2/3rds of the mobilization goes to the Republicans and 1/3 to the Nationalists.

The balance of leadership is much simpler - each side gets the militarists that voted for it.

For the more visual learners, I have created this handy infobox

All clear? Great. I'm going to write the update soon.))

 

[ThunderHawk3]

Civil War 1916-1917, Part 1: Opening Shots​

The army declared they had achieved victory over the Communists in July of 1915. Six months later, in the winter of 1916, it had become clear that they'd done nothing of the kind. While the Red Guards had been dispersed from their territorial holdings, Italy was more unstable than ever. Between economic turmoil, suffragism, stalled political reform, and ongoing rebellion, the population was furious with the conservative-fascist Lega-Legio government. Only a small minority of the Italian population had been reactionaries or fascists (or even conservatives) to begin with. Most felt that this government did not represent them; if the system had put it in power, then the system was broken.

The 1914 General Strike was not the end of labor unrest. In early 1916, Lucrezia Costantino - one of the leading figures in the CSI - would announce and distribute a new "People's Charter," signed by all of Italy's leftist parties and factions, demanding an end to right-wing rule, a people's republic, and vast new political and social rights. Initially, Jacobin groups opposed the declaration, pointing to clauses and oaths in the last Communist constitution that disqualified enemies of the revolution from office and only allowed leftist institutions to nominate candidates. Costantino assured them, however, that these clauses would be removed from the new charter and allow all opposition ideologies to run for and hold office.

1. Lucrezia Constantino​

The more moderate opposition thus assured, the jacobins would line up behind the communists - along with regional separatists who felt they had been oppressed under Irredentist rule. In the days following the Charter's publication, the republican left responded to the charter on grand scale, and there were mass demonstrations in support of the republic on the streets.

By mid-January, the regime could smell revolution in the air. In response to the growing threat of the violent overthrow of his government, the Marquess of Solemis declared a state of national emergency, proroging the parliament, suspending democratic freedoms, and granting himself vast new powers. He promised a return to democracy in five years.

No one believed him. The Italian people had heard enough such promises to know that nothing came of them, or as one commentator put it, "there is nothing more permanent than a temporary dictatorship."

2. Amedeo Cesare Amat, Marquess of Solemis and Prime Minister of Italy​

That night, armed paramilitaries operating under the direction of the Ministry of Justice arrived at the offices of Lucrezia Costantino and shot her dead, leaving the leadership of both the CSI and the revolution in question. Though the government would insist Costantino had been killed in a gunfight, the opposition would quickly spread the story that she had been lined up against the wall and shot along with several other prominent trade unionists. (Which version of events is true is open to historical debate and also irrelevant.)

The next evening, the Chairman of the government's Press and Information Committee, Gianmarco Leone Ceruso, was attacked by Red Guards and killed along with several of his bodyguards and aides. By the next morning, the entirety of Italy had exploded into violence. The Italian Civil War had begun.


----------------------------


Player Actions Needed:

More to come.

 

[ThunderHawk3]

Civil War 1916-1917, Part 2: Balance of Power​

Amat was aware that Italy was about to spiral into violence regardless of what he did; his subsequent actions were based around the pursuit of victory rather than the pursuit of peace. His declaration of emergency powers was greeted enthusiastically by the military and virtually every senior-ranking commander in the armed forces would enthusiastically back his bid for absolute power, as would both the Lega and the Legio. The industrialist syndicalist and anarcho-liberal establishment would also back Amat despite its liberal leanings, deciding he was the lesser of two evils and "better dead than Red."

Military support would put a half-dozen at-least competent generals at Amat's disposal, while the leftists had only Lorenzo Cuomo - the commander of the Red Legion - and Vito Roncalli to rely on as commanders. While Cuomo and Roncalli were arguably no less competent than the likes of D'Auria, Pedrotti, and the Comte d'Annecy, the limited leftist general staff would mean many Republican divisions were left without experienced leaders. At the outbreak of the civil war, the Nationalist leadership was confident that this gap would allow them to achieve a rapid victory.

1. Anti-regime action would initially be disorganized. Pictured, aftermath of an anti-regime riot.​

However, there was more to fighting than generals. Since their defeat in 1915, the communists had been working to infiltrate the Italian armed forces and convert junior officers and enlisted men to the cause of the proletariat. They had been overwhelmingly successful in this, as - after all - soldiers were people too, and those who were not the elite generally did not believe in Amat's vision for Italy. Many were socialists or communists themselves, or had relatives who were the same, or were tired of fighting. When they were ordered to begin fighting against demonstrators, rioters, and rebels in the cities they were garrisoned in, army units began to make common cause and defect to the Republicans.

South and Central Italian regiments were particularly hard hit, as these were where socialism had classically been strongest. The IV and V Corps defected almost in their entirety to the Republicans. Even the 1st Corps and the Roman garrison split evenly between reds and whites. The III Corps, based in Genoa, would have the fewest defections - just a quarter of the force would join the rebels. Ultimately, of the approximately 330,000 regular army units based on the Italian mainland, over 195,000 - about 60% of the army - would defect to the Republicans.

However, the initial balance of power wouldn't last long. Both sides would, naturally, begin to recruit everyone who could bring a gun. The nationalists would ultimately mobilize an additional 162,000 reservists and recruits to fight for their side, while the republicans - which a much broader base of popular support - would muster 327,000. This would place about 300,000 regulars or semi-regular soldiers on the nationalist side and more than 500,000 on the Republican side.

2. Large fractions of many army units (left and center) would defect, while others (right) would remain more loyal​

Militia contributions, owing to the unofficial nature, would naturally be much harder to quantify, but nationalist militiamen would be few and far between. Everyone who supported the regime had already joined the army. Estimates put nationalist militia numbers during the Civil War as somewhere between none (0) and 93,000, and these mostly anarcho-liberal 'Citizen Guard' units. The nationalist regime would estimate enemy militias, on the other hand, as 141,000 Communists, 153,000 Jacobins, and 21,000 minority separatists. The Communists, who believed strongly in mass action, gave much higher estimates of their own strength and claimed the Red Guards numbered 1.41 million (fully ten times the government estimate, probably to portray themselves as having done the lion's share of fighting), the Jacobins 313,000, and the minorities 210,000.

This put estimates at the total Nationalist Italian strength at between 300,000-400,000, while estimates of Republican strength ranged from 837,000 (Nationalist estimates) to 2.375 million (Republican estimate). All in all, this meant that the nationalists were badly outnumbered - at least 2:1 and maybe as much as 8:1 on the mainland - very tall odds indeed. Regardless of how many actually joined militias or the armies, millions fought. Post-Civil War estimates would claim that more than one in three - perhaps one in two - adult males, and more than a quarter of the entirety of Italy's population of 40M - had at least fought in one battle during the civil war, making it a much broader conflict than any of the anarchies or revolutions that had preceded it.

3. Many families would be torn apart by fighting​

​

​

Fighting would be worst in Dalmatia, where the majority-Croat population had come to resent Italian irredentist dictators' imperial attitude towards their homes. The local garrison would split in half between loyalists and Republican-sympathetic separatists. Indiscriminate use of poison gas in urban centers by panicked loyalist troops would incense the local population and lead to the bloodiest fighting of the war, "Bleeding Dubrovnik." Some estimates would say 80% of the population of Dalmatia fought in the Italian Civil War - in essence, everyone who could hold a gun.

4. Croatian soldiers commemorating events of Bleeding Dubrovnik​

Egyptian and Tunisian nationalists would not form armies per se, but would heavily engage in partisan actions to damage local occupying armies in an effort to drive them out of the city. Most of the colonial armies remained loyalist (though not entirely - there were some defections to Republican forces in Egypt), but would be harassed by local militias throughout the war. As in Dalmatia, up to 80% of the populations of Tunisia and Italian Egypt were thought to be members of anti-regime militias. Algeria would see peaceful demonstrations of hundreds of thousands demanding freedom from Italian rule. Though this had no bearing on the critical fighting on the mainland, it did show how deep resentment towards colonialism ran.

----------------------------


Player Actions Needed:

More to come.

 

[Contravarius]

The Knights in White Satin published an array of information about the Republican Forces, estimating, for example, about 97.5% of them to be either Jacobins or separatist groups.
A lot of their commentary is based around the facts that all strands of leftist ideology but Jacobinism had lacked for almost two decades not only just any political credibility, but also leadership at all competent enough to lead groups larger than a few men.
Both socialism and communism had, quite non-surprisingly, almost completely died out after the Second Anarchy, leaving the few parties supporting it (namely the CSI - the only non-Jacobin leftist party bigger than a few dozen people) in a dark limbo of sorts, full of imaginary fights irrelevant to anybody but themselves and their increasingly worried families ("Giuseppe, me and father are getting rather worried about the red flag you hanged up in your room. We think that you might not fully understand what those symbols really stand for." - LEAVE ME ALONE, MOM!").
Bonarettis had been right all along - it had always been the Jacobins who were the biggest threat from the Left.

 

[Andre Massena]

Rosa's poodle, Pedrotti, eats part of an Italian flag.

She laughs ruefully.

 

[Otto of england]

The Anarch Liberal FDL was often citizen by socialists and other left wing groups for betraying the 'left' in their loyalist stance. This is often refuted by hysterical laughter by FDL members. The idea that someone could either genuinely think that a socialist or communist and a FDL liberal could share a room without one man leaving it in a bodybag seemed so absurd and naive it was priceless. Members of the FDL, unlike naive old guard socialists knew the left could not unite for practical reasons, economic policy. It was in this that led FDL support for the loyalists government, breathing much needed life into the the loyalist ranks. FDL members alone claim to have swayed 50k reservists and 100k partisans to the loyalist cause. Without those troops, or god forbid with those troops against the loyalists the war would have ended immediately. Giving communists full power.

It was these Anarcho Liberal brigades, representing 40% of the loyalist forces that held the option of victory open.

 

[Glueth]

Let nobody claim that I only know Disney Musicals. I do other bad songs too! Presenting, from ITALIA: The Musical, and sung to the tune of this.

The NATIONALISTS, BONARETTI, DI BARNARDI, VACARELLO and BALBO are gathered around AMAT

BONARETTI: Hey, I wanna hear about what Amat did in the war?

AMAT: Ah it was nothing, you know?

BALBO: Sure, nothin'.

BONARETTI: C'mon, Amat.

DI BARNARDI: Ya killed 'em all, right?

NATIONALISTS: Yeah, yeah, c'mon!

BALBO: C'mon, tell us about that war!

Cut to the SOCIALISTS, MALPURGO, CUOMO, LUCREZIA and CAMILLERI who are gathered around CONSTANTINO

CUOMO: How did you further the class struggle Constantino?

CONSTANTINO: Oh, I spent my time in the Civil War. I fought the Fascists there.

LUCREZIA: You spent all that time in the Civil War just to fight the Fascists?

CONSTANTINO: They're sort of powerful.

LUCREZIA: There ain't no such thing.

CONSTANTINO: It was really heroic.

Cut to the NATIONALISTS

AMAT: Come on, you don't want to hear all the gory details.

NATIONALISTS: C'mon, what are you talking about! C'mon c'mon!

AMAT: Alright I'll tell you!

AMAT
Civil War, had me a blast,

CONSTANTINO
Civil War, happened so fast,

AMAT
I crushed the left, with iron fist,

CONSTANTINO
Fought the Right, with only a whisk,

CONSTANTINO AND AMAT
Spent my days, bleedin' away,
Oh oh oh, oh that Civil War!

NATIONALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,
Did you drive them apart!

SOCIALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,

LUCREZIA
Was it bloody and dark?

AMAT
They came by,
An army of tramps,

CONSTANTINO
I went by,
rading their camps,

AMAT
Saved the land,
We nearly fell

CONSTANTINO
Killed the lords,
we gave 'em hell!

BOTH
Bloody fights, all through the night,
Oh oh oh, oh that Civil War!

SOCIALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,

CUOMO
Did they put up a fight?

NATIONALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,

BARNARDI
Did you win for the right?

AMAT
Drove 'em back, through the parades,

CONSTANTINO
Slaughtered them, through every glade,

AMAT
We brought death, from the dark,

CONSTANTINO
We gave 'em hell, from every park!

BOTH
Bloody thing, death is awing,
Oh oh oh, oh that Civil War!

NATIONALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,

VACARELLO
Are there any left?

SOCIALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,

LUCREZIA
Thats a real dent!

CONSTANTINO
They got desperate, needed a hand,

AMAT
They got butchered, out on the strand,

CONSTANTINO
It was bloody, on every street,

AMAT
Their cries for mercy, were bloody sweet!

BOTH
Deadly heat, out on the beat,
Oh oh oh, oh that Civil War!

SOCIALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,

MALPURGO,
Just how many were dead?

NATIONALISTS
Tell me more, tell me more,

DI BARNARDI
Can you count 'em by head?

CONSTANTINO
It got colder, but it still went on,

AMAT
Its still going, bodies by the tonne,

CONSTANTINO
Then I made, my bloody vow...

AMAT
Wonder what they're doing now...

BOTH
Mighty dreams, ripped at the steams,
buuut, oh that Civil War...​

 

[ThunderHawk3]

Civil War 1916-1917, Part 3: The Fallen Banner​

By the outbreak of civil war in 1916, the communists had learned well from their previous defeat. Poison gas was a powerful weapon and they were determined not be without it. Defecting army units would bring gas supplies with them, and the Republicans assumed control of armament factories nationwide to produce more, ensuring both sides were amply supplied with one of the deadliest weapons man had ever known. Since no one had yet devised a way to mass produce effective gas masks, soldiers and civilians alike would die in droves.

The deep Communist sympathies in central Italy would prove to be critical to deciding the outcome of the war. Defecting corps would quickly hand the rebel forces control of Toscana and Romagna, allowing the Republicans to cut Italy in half and isolate Rome from potential reinforcement by the loyalist III Corps based in Genoa, while at the same time opening Rome to attack from both local partisans and the defected VI and VII Corps advancing from the south. Since half of the I Corps itself (based in Rome) and the Roman Guards had also defected, this was no laughing matter. Though Cesare Giacomo d'Auria - and to a certain extent Amat himself - took control of the defense of Rome, they were obviously being overwhelmed.

Rome needed reinforcement, and it needed it fast. The Loyalist III Corps was the only unit obviously positioned to respond, but its potentional avenues were limited. Advancing to Rome over land would require crossing through central Italy and charging through machine gun lines of numerically superior Republican troops. Realizing that this was infeasible, the III Corps would instead opt to go by sea. The largely Nationalist navy was divered to Genoa, where it picked up the III Corps and diverted them to Rome to fight. This strategy worked, but it took weeks to transport the III Corps. The commitment of naval resources would mean that the fleet could not be dedicated to import reinforcements from the colonies (not that the nationalists trusted these colonial irregulars anyway), and cut off the regime from additional manpower. It also left Savona's II Corps - which had largely defected but with large pockets of loyalists remaining - to its fate. The Republicans would overwhelm the Nationalists in Savona and ensure that the II Corps would go Republican.

The III Corps did not arrive in Rome until early April, by which time the situation for the nationalists was already very dire. After weeks of deadly street fighting, the government had already abandoned most of the city and evacuated to western earthworks and fortifications; the government was running out of a bunker and the King was sitting in an army tent rather the Quirinale Palace. Their positions were being shelled daily by artillery within Rome. The III Corps mounted a counterattack only to be driven back by the Republicans. By June, the nationalists had realized that the situation was untenable and abandoned Rome, evacuating by sea.

Ironically, they would establish their provisional capital at Genoa - the birthplace of the Italian labor movement and one of the reddest cities in Italy - and remain there until August. The Amat government realized that the simmering socialist sentiment in the city made it a terrible provisional capital and planned an evacuation to safer ground. Many favored Sardinia as a provisional capital. Indeed, Sardinia had many advantages: the navy could render it virtually immune to attack, and it was probably the most conservative province in Italy. However, Amat realized that evacuating to Sardinia would be tantamount to abandoning the mainland when the mainland was not yet lost, and Sardinia - despite its general conservatism - still had a huge Red Guard and Red Legion presence. Moving to Sardinia would therefore probably require a large garrison and split the war effort. Amat therefore decided to move the provision capital to Milan, where it would remain until the end of the war. He was joined in Milan by well over a hundred thousand mobilized reservists and recruits, bringing Amat’s forces back to healthy numbers.

Nationalist supply lines now ran through the Swiss border as the loss of territory and industrial capacity forced the regime to rely on imports for the necessities of warfare. Against superior Republican numbers, the Nationalist ability to generate breakthroughs had clearly been limited; nationalist generals were forced to take the defensive and try to wear down Republican forces, looking for opportunities to counterattack. The front line initially ran through Savoy down to coast Savona in the west and through central Italy in the south, but the Republican II Corps rapidly seized Genoa, as Cuomo pushed north, thereby unifying the front. It was becoming obvious that the war would be decided in Lombardia - the Nationalists would either perish there or break Republican lines.

During this period, various political factions began to jockey for clout in both the Republican and Nationalist camps. It was in vogue to make odd numerical proclamations about manpower in the war. For example, the anarcho-liberals and syndicalists to claim they were providing 40% or 50% of the troops to the nationalists in hopes of winning post-war concessions, while the communists said that they had mustered more than a million men. The fascists would allege more than 97% of enemies were separatists or Jacobins. This would make everything very confusing, albeit no less deadly.

The front remained static through the Winter of 1916 and into the spring of 1917. Heavy artillery bombardments and machine-gun fire would reduce most of the province, once the most prosperous in Italy, to rubble. By May, locals had developed an only half-joking response - “it rains artillery shells,” to questions about the weather. Piedmont would largely fall into rebel hands through the spring. In the summer of 1917, Cuomo would mass the Red Guards for an assault against the southern front and, through sheer strength of numbers, break through Pedrotti’s lines, pushing the Nationalists all the way back to Milan.

The siege of Milan would last until winter, with artillery pounding the city and poison gas leaving death in the streets. The communist massed infantry tactics would send tens of thousands of men charging into regime machine gun lines for fractional gains, but after tremendous sacrifice the Republican forces managed to breach and flood the city. The Comte d’Annecy would be killed in the ensuing fighting, along with Michelangelo Ezzo. Generale Vaccarello was killed by a communist assassin as he tried to command the defense of the city. Niccolo Cavalieri-Salvatore, one of the prominent industrialist backers of the nationalists, would escape death by only the narrowest of margins - though he was shot in the chest by a marksman during the fall of Milan, the bullet would narrowly miss his heart. He would be carried across the border to safety by FDL members.

With the eastern route of escape cut off, the King, along with much of the Amat cabinet - including Italus Balbo and d’Auria would escape into Switzerland. Amat himself would also escape. He had survived every social upheaval since 1884, including three revolutions, two anarchies, innumerable armed rebellions, and one dictatorial overthrow, but most predicted that this was his final vanishing act. It seemed unlikely that he would ever return to govern Italy again. Legend has it that when the Nationalist cabinet fled, they departed cursing the ungovernable Italian people.

For the Republicans’ part, they were as confused in victory as ever. Over the nearly two years of fighting, they had failed to construct a useful cabinet and no one seemed to know exactly who was in charge. While most assumed it was Egeo Cirelli or the CSI, they certainly held no institutional authority - instead, they were left with only the mountain of promises that Costantino and others had made to the Jacobins and the regional separatists in exchange for support. As calls for elections grew, it remained to be seen if they would make good on them.


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Player Actions Needed:

And that’s it for me. I’m going to sleep now.

 

[Andre Massena]

Rosa sighs and starts preparing (or barks at her maids to) the government-in-exile room.

 

[Glueth]

Donatello di Barnardi sighs, and once again crosses the swiss border.

"See you soon, I guess," he says, as the train crosses the border. "Ya right bunch of sods."

 

[VibraniumTaco]

The following speech is broadcast over the radio and printed in the newspapers.

My fellow Italians, victory is ours! This victory is one of the poor and downtrodden over the mighty, corrupt, and powerful. This victory is one of the oppressed over their oppressors, and of the unrepresented and marginalized over those who wished to keep them that way. And so I say, that this victory is one of the People of Italia! However, as much as we may wish to bask in martial glory, we must take this time to acknowledge those we have lost in the fight for equality, those who set aside their lives in order to pick up the rifle for liberation, and those who labored in the farms and factories to feed and clothe a nation at war.

Furthermore, we must not forget the reasons for which we fought this damned civil war: for a new Republic, free of monarchy, aristocracy, and tyranny. And so begins the task that we set out to do two years ago, for a equal and free Italia awaits us if we work together as comrades to build it from the ashes of the past. For if we do not, what was the purpose of fighting this accursed war anyways? The years ahead will not be easy, anyone can tell you that, but we must unite as Brothers and Sisters to fix this nation. And so, I implore our leaders to call the First National Congress of the Proletariat so we can begin the process of rebuilding.

Viva il popolo! Viva la Repubblica!

- Catarina Mopurgo

 

[sealy300]

"They can take my love, take my land, take until I cannot stand, but I will always truly be free; 'cause they can take can't take away my liberty."
~The last words of Lucrezia 'La Dame de Nice' Constantino (01/05/1881-01/05/1916.)

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