1936, November 2nd - 14th:
- The Organizacao Henrique Lage beats out the British in the development of Improved Machine Tools, and we immediately offer the blueprint to our good friends in London. Baldwin proves willing to give one blueprint of our choice in exchange, but demands gold we don't have to buy a second. Days pass as the Americans refill our coffers and we eventually meet London's price.
With gleeful anticipation, our diplomats whirl into Paris, Toronto, and Sydney, ultra-modern blueprints in their hot little hands. Paris eventually gives us Early Battleship for a mildly extortionate price, but in the Commonwealth we receive answers so dusty that it would cost more even to negotiate than we would get out of the deal. Brow furrowed in bewilderment, an Aussi clerk asks us "Why would we give you Brazilians anything for what Britain will soon give us free?" ... And that was the end of that cunning plan!
There's weeping and wailing in
Itamaraty tonight, folks.
1936, October-November:
- The news from Spain is better. German
panzers sweep down from Bilbao in a daring end run around Madrid, seeking to link up with the large, but isolated, Nationalist army in Seville. However, Condor Legion is stopped in the hills of Albacete, surrounded by massed infantry, bombed day and night by the
Cazas Sovieticos, and annihilated. Spanish anti-fascists celebrate a major victory.
1936, November 30th:
- Our first round of factories is complete; base industry rises to 38. We begin work on a second round, this time of five factories. Assuming no delays, construction is expected to take just under ten months. We hope to have greatly improved that rate by late 1937.
1936, December:
- With two-thirds of Spain in their hands, Republican forces assault Bilbo, Franco's capital with two Soviet-equipped tank divisions. Madrid's great blow turns to disaster as German Junkers and Dorniers rain death from the sky. The light tank division is beaten back, forced to retreat, and wiped out in its entirety. Nationalist forces stage a counterattack into Saragossa. The killing continues.
1937, January 1st:
- A new year begins; Brazilian leaders again choose to become more Hawkish.
Although Vargas makes no immediate changes in his cabinet, some Brazilian naval leaders start to agitate for the installation of Jorge Martins as Secretary of the Navy. If in office, his Base Control orientation will reduce transport and marine cost*time by 19% and destroyer cost*time by almost 10%, but render cruisers more expensive to build and capital ships less powerful in combat. For Brazil, this may well be a good trade-off.
1937, January 7th:
-
Argentina joins the Axis! Brazilian diplomats are dismayed at this latest demonstration of Argentinean admiration for Fascism. Military theoreticians on both sides of the river Uruguay ponder the possibility of war between our two nations, something that, despite many scares since, has not happened for a hundred and nineteen years.
1937, January 14th:
- Graver and graver news: The entire Argentinean export economy is being devoted to building up strength for whatever struggles lie ahead. Hundreds of German technicians are arriving in-country to professionalize the armed forces and build up armament production. Agustin Justo, now an outright Fascist, is a growing threat, not only to Brazil, but perhaps even more so to his small neighbors of Paraguay and Uruguay. Not since Rosas gained and lost a Platine empire in the early 1800's have such grave dangers threatened southern South America.
- We ponder force comparisons.
- There are two excellent defensive lines at or near the frontier between Brazil and Argentina. The first is the broad river Parana within Argentina; we clearly lack the strength to advance to it and dig in. However, the second, large and mountainous Curitiba province in southern Brazil, is a chokepoint ideal for defence. Mascarenhas de Morais is already conducting exercises in the region. Argentina will have to gather considerable force and spend considerable time to break through towards our capital by land. This will, in all probability, give us the approximately 90 days we will need to mobilize a proper army.
- Argentina does have transports and is also known to have plans for descents upon the Brazilian coast. Our two battleships are outnumbered, but -- used judiciously -- will probably suffice for a littoral defence during the initial stages of a war.
- Conclusion: We can, just barely, get away with not raising more troops. We resolve to press on with industrial growth.