Introduction
This will be an AAR for Portugal going down the Fifth Empire path. This is my first AAR so please be patient with me and I welcome any feedback on format, content, etc.
Having played this path a little bit, I am planning to be somewhat opportunist and not necessarily complete all the conquests the path suggests. The overall goal is for Portugal to have a world-spanning Fascist colonial empire by the end of the war. Initially, we will send volunteers to the Spanish Civil War and go fascist internally, but not fully intervene in the war. After the Spanish Civil War we will try to make some quick conquests for oil and rubber—Iraq and either Liberia or Siam. We will then intervene in China to expand our territories there while China is busy fighting Japan. After that we will assess how the war is going. If the fascists are doing well, we may try to seize southern Africa from Britain and the East Indies before Italy and Japan get there. Once America is in the war, there would be no consequences for going after Brazil and South America anyway. If the war is going in the Allies favor, we have the benefit of being our own faction separate from the Axis and can instead turn on Japan and Italy and fight alongside the Allies but seize African, Chinese, and Southeast Asian territory for ourselves. If an opportunity presents itself, we may go after Spain. Then we will see what fortune brings until 1948.
We will be developing the PIDE intelligence service in order to create collaboration governments for our conquests and fuel our war machines. We will be developing elite infantry and naval invasion focused forces as well as swift tank divisions and an air force of light aircraft including naval bombers to protect our overseas possessions. We will slowly be restoring the Portuguese navy to its glory days, focusing on economical naval mines, escort destroyers, patrol and raiding subs, and smaller capital ships to support naval invasions.
I hope to provide mix of RP and narrative to go along with the strategic readout.
Prologue
January 1, 1936 -- Lisbon
The clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve in the apartment of Jose Hipolito Raposo in Lisbon. He and his guests, Alberto Monsaraz and David de Noronha, each eat twelve raisins (one at each tolling of the clock) for good luck.
“1936. Hitler in Germany. Mussolini in Italy. Yet here we have Salazar. The army is in tatters and the republic in unstable. Portugal will continue to slide under and lose its place in the world,” Raposo says.
“I have seen this Hitler. I thought highly of him, but no more. He is a lunatic. No argument from me on Salazar, but what can we do? The Camisas Azuis is over and Preto is in exile in Spain,” Monsaraz says.
“I have a letter from Preto, actually,” Noronha says. “Let me read it.”
“David,
I write to you from Madrid on the eve of 1936. It appears the Popular Front may win the election here. I do not think the Nationalist movements will tolerate it.
Though the Blue Shirts may have been dissolved in Portugal, events in other countries show our cause is righteous. I am thinking of a new movement. Have you read Father Vieira and his concept of the Fifth Empire? The meeting of science and industry and wisdom and faith—Portugal leading the world under united rule and vision. Why can it not be so? Our movement cannot be public as we have all been scattered to the wind by Salazar. But Viera wrote of the hidden one. David, with your role in PIDE I know you understand the need for staying hidden.
Francisco Rolao Preto”
Laughter erupts in the room. “It appears Hitler is not the crazy one,” Raposo says.
“It seems an impossible dream. Still, we should toast to Preto and to the possibilities a new year may bring,” Noronha says.
“Here here. To Portugal and to what 1936 may bring,” Monsaraz says.
Starting Situation
Portugal starts in a paltry state, subject to serious negative national spirits.
We are led by Salazar, who manages to keep things together by offsetting the stability penalty and somewhat make up for the construction penalty.
Our army is a mess, with our main line infantry suffering a serious equipment deficit, most of our forces are spread among tiny units across our colonies, and our mobile forces outdated cavalry battalions.
We only have two research slots which we will devote to industry and electronics.
For our first focus, will pick Estado Novo to begin the path toward removing some of these penalties
We have two military factories producing rifles and support equipment. We will maintain that and start trading with Germany for the necessary Steel and Aluminum. We will start to construct another military factory to begin artillery production, though it will be slow going with our penalties. Given the construction penalties, we will focus early on creating our intelligence agency PIDE so we will begin creating that agency.
We have a small navy of early destroyers and subs. We will set these to drill to get some naval experience. We will do the same with our whopping 12 CAS and 12 pre-war bombers.
This will be an AAR for Portugal going down the Fifth Empire path. This is my first AAR so please be patient with me and I welcome any feedback on format, content, etc.
Having played this path a little bit, I am planning to be somewhat opportunist and not necessarily complete all the conquests the path suggests. The overall goal is for Portugal to have a world-spanning Fascist colonial empire by the end of the war. Initially, we will send volunteers to the Spanish Civil War and go fascist internally, but not fully intervene in the war. After the Spanish Civil War we will try to make some quick conquests for oil and rubber—Iraq and either Liberia or Siam. We will then intervene in China to expand our territories there while China is busy fighting Japan. After that we will assess how the war is going. If the fascists are doing well, we may try to seize southern Africa from Britain and the East Indies before Italy and Japan get there. Once America is in the war, there would be no consequences for going after Brazil and South America anyway. If the war is going in the Allies favor, we have the benefit of being our own faction separate from the Axis and can instead turn on Japan and Italy and fight alongside the Allies but seize African, Chinese, and Southeast Asian territory for ourselves. If an opportunity presents itself, we may go after Spain. Then we will see what fortune brings until 1948.
We will be developing the PIDE intelligence service in order to create collaboration governments for our conquests and fuel our war machines. We will be developing elite infantry and naval invasion focused forces as well as swift tank divisions and an air force of light aircraft including naval bombers to protect our overseas possessions. We will slowly be restoring the Portuguese navy to its glory days, focusing on economical naval mines, escort destroyers, patrol and raiding subs, and smaller capital ships to support naval invasions.
I hope to provide mix of RP and narrative to go along with the strategic readout.
Prologue
January 1, 1936 -- Lisbon
The clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve in the apartment of Jose Hipolito Raposo in Lisbon. He and his guests, Alberto Monsaraz and David de Noronha, each eat twelve raisins (one at each tolling of the clock) for good luck.
“1936. Hitler in Germany. Mussolini in Italy. Yet here we have Salazar. The army is in tatters and the republic in unstable. Portugal will continue to slide under and lose its place in the world,” Raposo says.
“I have seen this Hitler. I thought highly of him, but no more. He is a lunatic. No argument from me on Salazar, but what can we do? The Camisas Azuis is over and Preto is in exile in Spain,” Monsaraz says.
“I have a letter from Preto, actually,” Noronha says. “Let me read it.”
“David,
I write to you from Madrid on the eve of 1936. It appears the Popular Front may win the election here. I do not think the Nationalist movements will tolerate it.
Though the Blue Shirts may have been dissolved in Portugal, events in other countries show our cause is righteous. I am thinking of a new movement. Have you read Father Vieira and his concept of the Fifth Empire? The meeting of science and industry and wisdom and faith—Portugal leading the world under united rule and vision. Why can it not be so? Our movement cannot be public as we have all been scattered to the wind by Salazar. But Viera wrote of the hidden one. David, with your role in PIDE I know you understand the need for staying hidden.
Francisco Rolao Preto”
Laughter erupts in the room. “It appears Hitler is not the crazy one,” Raposo says.
“It seems an impossible dream. Still, we should toast to Preto and to the possibilities a new year may bring,” Noronha says.
“Here here. To Portugal and to what 1936 may bring,” Monsaraz says.
Starting Situation
Portugal starts in a paltry state, subject to serious negative national spirits.
We are led by Salazar, who manages to keep things together by offsetting the stability penalty and somewhat make up for the construction penalty.
Our army is a mess, with our main line infantry suffering a serious equipment deficit, most of our forces are spread among tiny units across our colonies, and our mobile forces outdated cavalry battalions.
We only have two research slots which we will devote to industry and electronics.
For our first focus, will pick Estado Novo to begin the path toward removing some of these penalties
We have two military factories producing rifles and support equipment. We will maintain that and start trading with Germany for the necessary Steel and Aluminum. We will start to construct another military factory to begin artillery production, though it will be slow going with our penalties. Given the construction penalties, we will focus early on creating our intelligence agency PIDE so we will begin creating that agency.
We have a small navy of early destroyers and subs. We will set these to drill to get some naval experience. We will do the same with our whopping 12 CAS and 12 pre-war bombers.