1855: The Bulgarian Crisis
After a joke made by Chief of Staff Unger nearly got him arrested, he was allowed to manage the war against Pomerania with relatively little interference.
It was a masterpiece of military simplicity; with only three provinces to Pomerania’s name, it was hardly a serious threat to Germany. The western armies received new engineering brigades – 10 of them to start – while the navy received a long awaited upgrade. 16 Steam Transports (to replace the losses from the war against France) and 10 new Commerce Raiders (to replace the frigates) were laid down, and given preliminary status as a new fleet, pending the final decision of the Minister of War.
The battle of Kolberg was surprisingly bloody for Germany, as a result of the thick forests, but a clear victory which effectively eliminated all resistance.
The first revolution across the Atlantic showed how far Marx and the Jacobins could reach, as the Byzantine Empire fell to revolutionaries.
The Byzantines were a long way away, however, and the success of Germany in Pomerania was complete by 4 May.
Germans looked with sympathy at Castille’s struggles against France, despite the sums offered to maintain their armies. The Jacobin revolution in France did not, sadly, nullify French gains already made, and there was a very high likelihood that Castille would be forced to surrender their gains from the past two wars.
Norway went bankrupt, and cancelled all their debts with Germany. A few of the more reactionary politicians demanded war to enforce German policy, but Foreign Minister Michael von Hohenzollern steadfastly refused. “I promised no more wars, and no more wars is what Germany shall have, unless some fool attacks us.” A crisis in Pegu Ayutthaya went by without notice, as the Foreign Minister deemed it unnecessary and against German interests to intervene so far away. [1]
Then Bulgaria erupted. The Bulgarian government pleaded for German aid, as the Jacobins threatened to overthrow them (and end the lucrative trade and political arrangement that existed between the two nations). With an army still in Bulgaria, where it had remained since the war with the Byzantines, the Foreign Minister made a snap decision to come to Bulgaria’s aid. [2]
Pausing only to sign a new Treaty of Friendship and Economic Partnership with Brittany, the Foreign Minister telegraphed General Jakob von Zahringen to move to Bulgaria’s aid as soon as he could.
While the rebels’ army was destroyed, the Bulgarian government panicked, perhaps threatened by the Hungarian revolution next door.
They capitulated. Michael von Hohenzollern made the best of it he could.
While Michael von Hohenzollern was occupied by events abroad, the delicate political consensus forged within the Republic began to break down. Two separate incidents – one in Campania, and another in Bourgogne – both resulted in “deplorable but unavoidable” civilian casualties. Interior Minister von Altmark proclaimed that “it is better to have a few rioters put down now than to see a revolution here.”
Attempts by European leaders to “calm Germany down” were flatly refused by the Foreign Minister, who said that “Germany’s business is Germany’s alone. See to your own pathetic ‘Empires.’”
The German economy continued to chug along, unimpeded by all the talk of revolution or disturbances. The government invested considerable sums to modernize a handful of factories, and to install a more thorough system of keeping factories running, even when workers were busy with other things.
Minister of Education Carlo Brunelli was so pleased with the progress of German industry that he authorized funding for a new program of philosophy teaching. “Far too many Germans do not know how to read, or how to question their government,” he said during a speech. “We must pursue a very clear policy of finding out what works, what does not, and to discard all which is not Functional.”
All of these new policies and investments were very expensive, however, with the German treasury dipping below £300,000 for the first time in over 25 years.
The war against Pomerania was also very odd. For some reason, our CB vanished (despite our cores being there), so I had Pomerania DOW us and just added the wargoal to annex them. So, we have 22 infamy at the moment that we really shouldn’t, but meh, nothing we can do.
[1] The Byzantines did back one side, but it really doesn’t make sense to worry about the other side of the world.
[2] If that army hadn’t been there, I probably wouldn’t have done it. Hurray for my forgetfulness?
Jack LEagle, I wasn’t totally sure about the numbers, but you can see what I did above. Every army on the French border has their engineering brigade, as does at least one army on the Polish border. I've also got the fleet moving to pick up that last army trapped in Bulgaria.
Idhrendur, all the railroads are already being built.
So… any and all new proposals are welcome! Welcome to the AAR, BTW, Jacobi-99 and Mikkel Gladher; you’re officially eligible to vote!