"Prussian Moderation." - An alternative German AAR

[SirCliveWolfe]

Shame to see all your work go down

As I said any help I can give is yours...

Sir Clive.

 

[unmerged(10426)]

Thanks for the help, everybody. I don't have an additional HD, nor memory sticks or anything like that. What really bugs me is the fact that I can't re-format the damn thing. If I could, then I could at least re-mod it all from memory.

 

[unmerged(34884)]

With pleasure, i hope you can restore the mod. How much time would it take to start over?

 

[unmerged(10426)]

Not long, really. And if I had an internet connection, it wouldn't take any time at all.

I'm really hoping to get a new PC and a net connection sometime around Christmas, which should kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

 

[Rensslaer]

Vincent! Congratulations on earning the Weekly Showcase!

For obvious reasons, I have an interest in this sort of thing... I've popped in here before, to see what you're up to. Not sure if I've posted.

But this is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy -- political AND military history!

I've been studying the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany for years, and it's good to see that you've put so much work into recreating the age. I love the detail you've put into this, and the understanding of the political interplay.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Rensslaer

 

[unmerged(10426)]

Lindbergh baby in snatch attempt​

The famous aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and his wife were last night in shock, after an apparent attempt to snatch their infant son from his nursery.

The Lindbergh estate, at Hopewell, New Jersey, was the scene of the apparent abduction attempt, when a figure in darkened clothing was spotted half way up a ladder resting against the Lindbergh property, by the caretaker of the estate, a one Ollie Whately, around 9.07 PM. Whately immediately instructed other family staff to call the police while he challenged the man.

Lucky escape for Charles Jnr

Whately seemingly managed to bring the ladder down from it's position, and the man fell onto the ground near the house, but escaped apparent injury. Before Whately could restrain the man, he had fled into the darkness of the 390 acre estate.

Although police have yet to discover any clues as to the man's identity, it seems likely that the motive was financial, and the intent was to remove Lindbergh Jnr from his nursery for the purposes of ransom. It seems that the child has been fortunate indeed to escape a criminal attempt at abduction.​

(Cutting from a section of the New York Times, March the 2nd, 1932.)​

 

[unmerged(1020)]

Has someone been reading their Roth?

 

[unmerged(10426)]

Rensslaer: Thanks, I love your Prussian AAR as well. I'm pleased that I'm achieving an apparent sense of realism here.

Evil Capitalist: No, I haven't read The Plot Against America; my inspiration derives purely from Mett's 'Advantages'.

 

[unmerged(28944)]

Nice!

So are you going to try to move foward with this AAR, story-wise and catch up game wise when you get your system issue fixed?

 

[unmerged(10426)]

I should be updating it properly some time early next week. Thankfully, my ability to actually play the game is a non-issue at this point.

 

[coz1]

Well, VJ, your recent showcase gave me the opportunity to read through this magnificant work! What Mett did for the US under Lindbergh, you have done for Germany under Ludendorff (with perhaps a little Hitler thrown in. )

The attention to detail in setting up this alternate world is outstanding, and endlessly fascinating! Red France with Trotsky? A Germany with Hitler gone and the Nazis marginalized (to a point)? Who would have thought of such...well, you, of course. Wonderful. If anything, I am curious about where Spain is at the moment, internally and internationally.

And all this before the game has even started! Great stuff!!!

One word of note - some of the pictures do not seem to show in the earlier pages of the AAR. Certainly did not hinder my reading, but I saw that you had captioned them and there were no photos to accompany that.

I really hope you get your computer issues dealt with as I will surely be following this AAR as it goes forward and cannot wait to see how things shake out. Sorry it took me so long to come aboard, but I'm totally in for the rest of this voyage!!!

 

[unmerged(10426)]

This is high praise indeed, coz. I'm pleased people are enjoying this so. An update soon, hopefully.

 

[Chengar Qordath]

Another update coming up sounds good; hopefully all the problems that keep delaying your AAR wil eventually disappear.

 

[Rensslaer]

Vincent,

I will have you know that -- although I am still not through your story -- I have read enough of your detailed story that it has inspired me to consider how my Prussian Vicky AAR might proceed beyond 1920.

I'm hoping to have a gift certificate that will enable me to get HOI2 for my birthday. And I'm taking a look at the whole conversion process.

We shall see!

Thanks for your encouragement, and for all the work you've put in over here!

Rensslaer

 

[unmerged(10426)]

Chengar Qordath: Yep, an update soon.

Rensslaer: Pleased to have been such a source of inspiration to you!

 

[unmerged(34884)]

Good news on the update, you were losing your spot as my favorite AAR, so an update is just in time .

 

[unmerged(10426)]

Entrenchment – 1932 - 1935​

A French girl in 1935. Trotsky's rule would be a hard time for the French people.​

The elevation of Trotsky to the highest position within the French state would finally set - if there had been any dispute that they had not been set already – French relations with the rest of Europe. If there had been any possibility, however remote, of rapprochement before Trotsky’s impromptu coup, then that possibility was gone. France was now clearly under a style of leadership thinking which was dedicated to widespread re-armament, international extension of Communism, and a contemptuous attitude to it’s neighbours. Although the extent of Trotsky’s exact strategic thinking was only dimly perceived at the time, the coup was certainly acknowledged as a step towards a more potentially troublesome France, and policy began to shift accordingly. The coup is often cited as a prime reason for Britain moving towards finally dropping it’s caveats with regards to German re-armament and quiet abandonment of Versailles, and the ultimate fulfilment of this tendency in, for example, the Anglo-German Naval agreement of 1934, (Where German naval re-armament was confirmed, but pegged at no more than 42% that of the Royal Navy.) the Osnabrück finance agreement of the same year, which continued policies from the twenties aimed at assisting German capital and trade, particularly to ease the potential economic consequences of re-armament, and joint-confirmation in 1934 of non-aggression on the part of Germany towards Poland.

In France, Trotsky's plans for continuing expansion of the army demanded a change just as wide and aggressive within French society as within that army itself. Beginning in 1933, a large programme of industrialisation was introduced, with a new five-year plan directorate being established under the auspices of the occasionally inspired Trotskyite technocrat Georges Lévy. This was a move that overturned the rather haphazard and sloppy approach to the economy since the twenties. Industrialisation was now largely modelled on Trotsky’s own views on industry and the economy, with a particularly hard drive towards reducing France's large peasant base in favour of a more urban and worker-orientated heavy industrial capacity designed to serve military production; the quaint popular perception of provincial towns producing perfumes and lace was stifled by the increasingly real outpouring of tractors and fan belts; War Communism under Lenin was often invoked. Military production consequently increased exponentially, although poor planning in the effects this would have on agriculture lead to chronic food shortages, which would create a generation of underdeveloped French children due to poor nutrition and housing conditions. Although France largely avoided the mass-fallout of the same process in the USSR, thanks in part to its already substantial industrial base, the process would often be a brutal one. However, by the mid-decade, production was taking off and beginning to rival the traditionally hegemonic capacities of German and British production in some respects.

Construction of defences in 1934. The idea of the 'Thorez Line' appealed to Trotsky's instincts.​

Although these processes would not be looked on with any favour by the population, they virtually eliminated the more intolerable effects of the depression in France, and by the later years of the thirties there were often chronic labour shortages in some key areas. Added to industrialisation and army expansion was a mass of public works projects aimed at improving infrastructure, together with a fortification project, which, in the words of Thorez, was "unprecedented since the days of Vauban." It was certainly ambitious, not only in its scale, but also, in what was becoming typically Trotskyite, its attempt to solve long-term strategical problems and mundane, present economic ones at a stroke. Essentially, planning envisaged a massive string of fortifications stretching from the Pas-de-Calais to Switzerland, with a particular focus on the German border. However, Trotsky would attempt to keep the general quality stable along the entirety of the line (Which was soon christened the 'Thorez line', as Thorez was nominally ultimate supervisor for it's construction, although in Germany it was often referred to as 'Trotsky's wire'.), in a bid to both keep all options open in case of attack by Germany, and also to attempt to play down the idea - which was gaining some currency in international circles - that he was preparing for aggression. It at least gave the impression that France was quite content within a defensible frontier, but, as some wits in the foreign press pointed out in response to Thorez's remark, Vauban's employer was hardly known for his love of peace.

The church of St. Louis des Invalides, Paris: nominal headquarters of the Fourth International from 1933. However, most of the administration would be housed in the Invalides proper.​

The establishment of the Fourth International in 1933 would, however, fit badly with this attempted image. Aimed to challenge the authority of the Moscow-based Third International, it would be met with limited success in converting European parties within an already occupied ideological marketplace. The Fourth International would, however, meet with some success in the Americas and Asia, where nascent parties found the Trotskyite view of energetic and violent progress to Socialism attractive. Trotsky did not, though, lose sight of the necessities of realpolitik. France's commitment to Czechoslovakia was confirmed and expanded, with a similar amount of energy being expended on relations with Austria and Poland. In any potential attempt at revision of Germany's borders, it was clear where France's loyalties would lay, and such a fact had to be carefully considered by Germany.

 

[unmerged(10426)]

Good news on the update, you were losing your spot as my favorite AAR, so an update is just in time .

Well, I hope you like it.

btw, I'm haven't been ignoring the USSR or America - not on purpose, anyway. I'll be getting onto them in the next update.

 

[VILenin]

Hooray, an update! Trotsky scheming and the world growing suspicious. The upcoming Franco-German conflict should be very interesting.

 

[unmerged(34884)]

Trotsky's effort surely pay off, with an employee shortage in the thirties! Will be hard to get a rural country like france into Industralization, but the Trotsky has established his power of course. Also good to see Trotsky's awareness of the International theatre, probably his strongest point. Im curious to see in what way the aggresive politics of France will be countered.