Did the bevrijding achievement while always staying democratic (Unity through democracy focus). Took a while, because you are relying on the Allies AI. Also despite me playing on historical AI, a lot of weird things happened.
Imgur link with highlights and pictures of some weird stuff:
https://imgur.com/a/nVPZ144
For the strategy itself:
I started out by building forts on the German border. This so I could send troops to the south of France. The idea is that you want to stall the Axis for as long as possible to make their attack on the Soviet less strong. That should lead to the Soviets being able to get a stalemate with the Axis.
While doing the stalling, I boosted popularity of Democracy in Japan from day 1, so I could fire a coup the moment that Japan wins against China and starts attacking the Allies. Since most of Japan's army will not be in the mainland, the democratic Japan should win easily with your help. From there I help the Allies to win in Africa, while boosting popularity in Italy and other Axis countries for the next bunch of coups.
Eventually Turkey joined the Axis. I staged a coup on Turkey and eventually encircled a lot of troops there (see the imgur link). From there, It was a matter of defending close to Istanbul (the 2 provinces adjacent to it) until the Axis simple went through all their material trying to take Istanbul.
Once the Axis were weakened enough, the Allies could start pushing into the Balkans. In the meantime I staged a coup on Spain (who joined the Axis as well) so we could regain control over the Mediterranean (was blocked for big ships because Spain controlled part of the strait). With the Mediterranean under control, the Allies landed in Italy and Greece. From here it was mostly just waiting for the Allies and Soviets to do their thing.
All in all, a fun if somewhat frustrating achievement. You really learn how to help out AI Allies to succeed instead of doing all the heavy lifting yourself like you would in other Allies related achievement.
Imgur link with highlights and pictures of some weird stuff:
https://imgur.com/a/nVPZ144
For the strategy itself:
I started out by building forts on the German border. This so I could send troops to the south of France. The idea is that you want to stall the Axis for as long as possible to make their attack on the Soviet less strong. That should lead to the Soviets being able to get a stalemate with the Axis.
While doing the stalling, I boosted popularity of Democracy in Japan from day 1, so I could fire a coup the moment that Japan wins against China and starts attacking the Allies. Since most of Japan's army will not be in the mainland, the democratic Japan should win easily with your help. From there I help the Allies to win in Africa, while boosting popularity in Italy and other Axis countries for the next bunch of coups.
Eventually Turkey joined the Axis. I staged a coup on Turkey and eventually encircled a lot of troops there (see the imgur link). From there, It was a matter of defending close to Istanbul (the 2 provinces adjacent to it) until the Axis simple went through all their material trying to take Istanbul.
Once the Axis were weakened enough, the Allies could start pushing into the Balkans. In the meantime I staged a coup on Spain (who joined the Axis as well) so we could regain control over the Mediterranean (was blocked for big ships because Spain controlled part of the strait). With the Mediterranean under control, the Allies landed in Italy and Greece. From here it was mostly just waiting for the Allies and Soviets to do their thing.
All in all, a fun if somewhat frustrating achievement. You really learn how to help out AI Allies to succeed instead of doing all the heavy lifting yourself like you would in other Allies related achievement.