Chapter 11: The Socialist International
With most of my newly created
puppets sister proletariat republics now back on their feet, I've opted to liberate the majority of them in order to gain a bulk increase in IC production and cut the resource cost of maintaining states unable to trade with the rest of the world. I'd say that sometimes it's better to maintain mastery, particularly for low IC states that are dependent on you for resources as it is, but that isn't the case for European states. The effect is immediate and dramatic with Germany, in particular, becoming a strong second to France. At the same time, my own industrial plan is completed putting me ahead of Russia.
German and Poland in particular will be necessary to make up for France's lack of manpower once we invade liberate Russia.
Now that our European partners can enjoy true freedom and democracy (or else), it is high time to export the revolution abroad! Turns out I could have taken Romania a lot sooner without starting an all-out conflict via an event to decide the fate of Transilvania, but it's hardly much of a problem. I am afraid I didn't document the Balkan war properly up until I got to Istanbul, but I can't say there's much to tell about it. When you're so superior to your opponents, the only real challenge is how to win with as few casualties as possible, especially when playing a low manpower state like France.
The advantage of war with smaller states is that they normally don't have a lot of VPs meaning it is possible to knock them out in short order. Whereas the immediate goals against larger states such as Germany and Russia are to encircle and destroy their armies, minor power armies can be circumvented, though the size of minor powers often means there aren't a lot of places they can be forcing you to slog it out. The immediate goals of the Balkan War were to quickly collapse Romania, Albania, and Bulgaria going for VPs rather than armies where possible. Various factors delayed operations till June though.
Romania was quickly annexed with much of its army successfully pushed into unimportant pockets in Bessarabia. Bulgaria, up to that point the regional power of the Balkans, put up more of a fight since much of its army was positioned in the path of my advance. It was unfortunate because I wanted to get to Istanbul and make a crossing over the Bosphorus as quickly as possible, but that was not to be. A big mistake on my part was not using my naval power more aggressively. I could have made landings in Attica and Anatolia instead of taking the casualties I did but I am not used to thinking of the CoF as a naval power.
I had to demand territory from Yugoslavia to get Bulgaria back. I forgot that allies take territory whereas puppets give it to you.
The battles of Istanbul and Greece could and should have been avoided, but through the application of overwhelming numbers and firepower, I was able to cut my way through. France can probably take the hit to the manpower pool, though I would recommend avoiding attritional battles over rivers and mountains. In the case of Greece, I was able to push much of their army to one side and avoid costly battles, but I royally screwed up in Istanbul. At first, it looked like I might be able to take the city before substantial forces could reach it with my motorized divisions. But then, more of them arrived, and I chose to stick with the offensive.
Another near-disaster was averted during my attempted landing on Crete. The first sign of trouble came when a squadron of Nationalist destroyers managed to sink the old escort carrier assigned to my transports (though the transports managed to avoid damage). I got my light carriers to closely cover the movement of the transport ships, and while they do escort roles well, they aren't great at carrier battles. The German fleet, which has been rather inactive and hard to find, intercepted my light carriers. Though I did more damage to the enemy I decided to beat a hasty retreat when I saw that Jeanne D'Arc was at risk.
Crete wasn't an immediately vital goal, and considering these developments perhaps I couldn't really manage the sort of amphibious landings I mentioned earlier. My fleet carriers, while almost ready, were still some ways off. Instead of risking the light carriers I wanted to employ as transport escorts, I decided to proceed with the invasion of Turkey and get down to Suez (still under German control) as fast as possible. Without Suez, that fleet would be left either out of the Med, or be cut off from supply. That's why I'd argue that, save for more ambitious goals, France doesn't really need a navy. It can invade Africa via Egypt.
The speed of my motorized divisions was fast enough to enable me to get to the other side of the Bosphorus before the Ottoman army, most of which had participated in the Battle of Istanbul could retreat. I was thus able to annihilate the mainstay of their army avenging my own losses. With the mainstay of their army gone, the invasion of the Ottoman Empire followed the same logic as before; quickly capture VPs rather than fight every isolated division. By the time I ran into the Ottoman Army again, it was a pale shadow of itself that I was able to quickly brush aside as my motorized divisions raced down the crescent.
Once my armies got to Sinai, they were able to quickly overwhelm the small German garrison. The success was greater than I could have hoped, with the mainstay of the remaining German fleet getting destroyed in port, including those pesky carriers. The Med was now my lake allowing me to dominate it without a fight.
As my armies took Suez, I also received a delivery of new transport ships and completed recruitment of new marine divisions I deployed in Athens. With the German fleet gone and the National navy more or less impotent even against my light carriers, I tasked the marines to take Crete and complete the liberation of Greece. The German garrison there was larger than expected, and it took significant air support to break resistance allowing my larger TAC force to prove its worth.
With the back of their army broken and their VPs captured, the Ottoman Empire and its Persian puppet finally surrendered.
You'd think that this final victory in the Balkan War would be cause for celebration, but you'd be wrong. For just as I went about the work of re-forging the region in the Commune's image, a travesty emerged. It wasn't due to a military defeat, AI event decision, or in-game problem. No, my problem was so much worse...
GREECE APPOINTED A KING AS ITS HEAD OF STATE!!!
Unacceptable! The Third International cannot tolerate this kind of bellicose force of reaction in the cradle of ancient democratic socialism (if you question this narration of history, please report to your local party office for a free seminar that will... re-educate you in correct historical socialist thinking.) Evidently, the anarchist mob had undermined our Syndcialist ideology to such an extent our people on the ground thought such a compromise with aristocratic privileges acceptable. It was clear that this... scandal would require a harsh response to make an example. I thus instituted a rapid ideological purge to defend our freedoms!
A quick sweep through the Greek mainland (minus one royal family) later, the new sister Republic finally took an ideologically correct position. Romania briefly alarmed Paris with what appeared to be their own monarchist tendencies, but it soon emerged it was just the guy's academic title. While still at odds with our egalitarian ethos, it was decided to humour our Romanian comrades who clearly wished to make an example of the importance of higher education. (Or to put it in another way, I couldn't get rid of the guy, so I had to be satisfied with simply "correcting" Romania to the present ideological canon.)
All that was left was to decide upon the new borders of the Balkans. I decided to largely establish states with consistent linguistic groups in order to make party propaganda less troublesome. Any suggestion that the Commune of France entertained the nationalist-chauvinism of the Balkans is as ludicrous as the Imperialist accusations that France sought its own aggrandisement in its voluntary incorporation of Geneva, Wallonia, and Luxembourg! Absurd! Those lands were an integral part of the French Revolutionary ethos since 1789 and their people were given a choice to approve their ascension into the commune via plebiscite.
Albania, already rather flimsy relative to other sister Republics, was granted control of provinces with Albanian speakers to increase its capacity to contribute to the world revolution. Similarly, Bulgaria retained control of Southern Dobruja and custodianship of the linguistically similar Macedonians. France will retain control of Alexandroupoli to construct a port and then transfer control of the province back to Bulgaria to allow it equality of access to the Mediteranean. Romania renegotiated a bit of its border with Poland in exchange for an international commitment to assist it in overseeing the liberation of White Ruthenia once the war with the Russian Imperialists begins. Greece received most of its claims short of half of the Island of Cyprus it will co-manage with the newly established Turkish Republic.
On that matter, while sound Syndcalist thinking would mandate the creation of large Turkish and Arab states in the Middle East, the Paris Academy of Industrial Efficiency has conclusively proven that Middle-Eastern peoples are industrially more effective in dispersed rather than centralized regimes. In other words, the game does grant some states an IC bonus well in excess of their native industrial capacity. This bonus does not reach everyone equally, formally independent states such as Albania and Kurdistan (and Iraq for some reason) can't get it, but I decided to humour their demands along with attaining a maximum industrial output in the levant. It's true that in the immediate term Arabia will be weaker due to the loss of potential industry, but overall, it represents a long-term gain for the international.
The process was conducted in the following order. Firstly, France gave Egypt control of Port Said as a measure of goodwill and trust building to show the complete absence of imperialist designs on their territory (and because I didn't want it to become the Arab Federation's capital in the absence of Cairo) I then erected a zone of French guidance in the Jewish coastal enclaves, the...culturally compatible land of Lebanon, and a buffer state in the Transjordan between the historically challenged spheres of Turkey and Arabia. Each one of these states received the benefit of the industrial bonus (5-8 IC) after taking this screen-shot.
I then partitioned Anatolia into Turkish and Kurdish sister republics (Kurds received most of their demands to connect them with industry)
The next step involved the transfer of Jerusalem and Syria to Turkish custodianship out of respect for their historical dialectic (and to compensate them)
Finally, Persia and Arabia were liberated and no, that isn't a king, but a culturally significant individual to the Mohammedan faith the International decided to afford certain recognition thereof in the interests of peace and solidarity (socialist Persia apparently only has one core so I liberated the regular one)
The final shape of the free post-imperialist Middle-East at last toom form!
To finish off this update, other notable developments include the 2nd round of industry putting us well ahead of our competitors. With the newly found industrial might and a fully recovered manpower pool, I've opted to construct mechanized divisions as the supporting arm for our future armoured forces.
The more interesting development is the beginning of the Indian Unification War which is steadily going in the reds' favour. With the liberation of Persia, it will now be possible to both assist our Indian comrades in concluding the war and then benefit from their support in future wars against the imperialist powers!
No commands are needed, they really love us that much!
With the international now a genuinely global community, I think our choice of ending song is obvious!
STOP! COOKIE TIME