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Interresting to say the least. Guess the Chinese home advantage will kick in soon. In my games they usually hoard their troops in the east.
 
The Abdication Crisis

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On December 3rd 1936 King Edward VIII became the first British Monarch ever to willingly give up his throne. The abdication followed a constitutional crisis which was caused by Edward’s determination to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Believing that Edward’s marriage would never be accepted by British people and could indeed lead to the downfall of the Monarchy British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, gave the King two choices: give up Wallis Simpson or give up the throne. Edward chose to surrender the throne in favour of the woman he loved and in doing so he dramatically changed both British and world politics. Meanwhile, having brought down an Emperor PM Stanley Baldwin resigned a few days later giving way to the Chancellor, Neville Chamberlain.

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Edward had been one of the greatest supporters of Fascism, in particularly German Fascism outside of the Axis and was an extremely strong supporter of peace in Europe. Indeed earlier in his reign the King had looked into the possibility of the British Empire aligning itself alongside Germany and the Axis against Stalin’s beleaguered Soviet state. Contrastingly the new King, George VI, despised Fascism almost as much as he hated Communism and supported the hawkish sections of Parliament in a strong anti-Axis stance, shortly after he took the throne George managed to get the military budget substantially increased. In future decades many historians questioned whether Britain would have ever got involved in the Second World War had Edward retained the throne and to this day they remain divided on the issue.

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Stanley Baldwin had been a supporter of some level of Appeasement with the Axis, allowing Hitler to re-occupy the Rhineland, yet he did have a limit to just how far he would let them go, sending aid to the Anti-Fascists in Spain, his successor Neville Chamberlain would take the policy of Appeasement to a whole new level, allowing the Germans and Italians to make great strides across the Continent unopposed and severely harming the British position in facing them.
 
Good. Two down, one to go. You know who I want to lead Britain in this war. Also, can one ask for the scenario/savegame from the start?
 
All you guys seem to be terribly underestimating the Asian Alliance. I don't think its giving away too much to say that they are far from beaten.

Never forget the Chinese infantry hordes ;)
 
Good. Two down, one to go. You know who I want to lead Britain in this war. Also, can one ask for the scenario/savegame from the start?

OK here is what I did:

China acceptall demands territory from all nations it has claims on (including Japan) and then allies with them before DOWing USSR

Germany coups France and then forces Turkey, Hungary, Italy and France into the Axis

Quite a simple one :)
 
Doesn't the abdication crisis deal a huge blow to Churchill's stock in Britain? What does he do to avoid its hit this time, if anything?
 
Good. Two down, one to go. You know who I want to lead Britain in this war.
Yep- global conflict just wouldn't be the same without winston ;)
nice start to the AAR btw- are the allies the same as normal minus France?
 
Nationalism and Ireland

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On February 27th 1937 a delegation from De Valera’s Republic of Ireland demanded that Britain turnover Ulster to the Republic. Needless to say they were laughed out of London however the consequences of this ridiculous ultimatum would lead to a new wave of British Nationalism amongst the British inhabitants of Ulster.

The territory of Ulster was radically different form the Republic of Ireland, indeed the rest of Ireland had more in common with Italy than it did with the northern third of the Emerald Isle. The very idea of uniting under a Catholic, worse still Socialist, Irish government was abhorrent to the fiercely Protestant and widely conservative Ulstermen. Whilst Northern Ireland was one of the industrial powerhouses of the British Empire the Republic was a backward agrarian nation considerably poorer than prosperous Ulster. But perhaps most important of all was the fact the majority of the people of Northern Ireland considered themselves British and not Irish having descended from Scots and English who settled there during the Plantations of previous centuries.

Although the Irish demands were barely even considered by the British government the British Loyalists in Northern Ireland began to fear of a union with the south once more and there was a huge swell in recruitment for the British army in Ulster as thousands united under the Union Jack and Red Hand of Ulster.

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Yes, Ireland always wants their claims. I feel your pain. ;)
 
The Battle for Tuva – Far Eastern Front 1937

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Just 2 days after the fall of Lhasa, on February 19th 1937, the Chinese army launched the Tuvan Offensive which aimed to overthrow the Tuvan government and turn it over to Chinese control. Over the following month a huge Chinese army of 120,000 men would crush the Tuvan defence which consisted of 60,000 Tuvans and Russians. The Chinese army had steadily sent more and more men to the offensive as the small Communist army held the Chinese back time and time again, this left the Chinese (in Mongolia in particular) under strength along the front. Although the Chinese eventually won the battle for Tanna Tuva they were badly exposed for a Soviet attack on their flank, which eventually arrived when the Russians attacked Ulanbaatar in early April. The Mongolian capital was placed under siege for over a month with the heavy Russian artillery pounding the city relentlessly and on May 30th the beleaguered Chinese garrison finally surrendered. Meanwhile the last of the 90,000 Chinese trapped in Tibet surrendered less than one week before Ulanbaatar.

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At the start of June, having lost Tanna Tuva a few months ago the Soviets began their campaign to retake it, during the initial battle for Tanna Tuva the Chinese had employed a very large army but since then the territory’s garrison had sunk to a little over 30,000 men. During their attempt to envelop Tuva the Soviets employed 3 entire tank divisions to smash through the exhausted Chinese soldiers who had to fight off countless Russian infantry attacks before the Soviet armour made its presence felt. By the third week of June Tanna Tuva was completely surrounded by Russians and just three days later the Chinese garrison surrendered. After this last major offensive the front seemed to revert back to trench warfare, the failure of the Soviets to take advantage of their very favourable position in the late Summer of 1937 would be one of their greatest mistakes of the entire war with the Sino-Japanese Alliance, never again would they be in such a position to really take the war into China Proper.

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Did I detect a degree of foreshadowing in that last update? The implication appeared to be the Soviets were not going to win the war. Interesting, most interesting.
 
Oh dear. I find myself rooting for the Chinese in this war mainly because by the time Britain can turn on the Japs, they should have loads of nukes to deal with the Chinese Infantry.
 
Germans Unite! – Anschluss

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On the morning of April 1st 1938 several thousand Wehrmacht soldiers crossed the German-Austrian border to enforce the unification between Austria and Germany tat Adolf Hitler had declared less than one hour before. The soldiers were greeted by jubilant and had reached Vienna in just a few hours where they officially shut down the Austrian government. By the afternoon Adolf Hitler himself had begun a grand parade through his country of birth celebrating the unification of the Germans the world’s only two majority German states.

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In just one bold move Hitler had taken the first step along the road to Pan-German unification but also the first major step on the road to war in Europe. Even before the Anschluss the Axis had dwarfed Britain in terms of sheer military might, however the British had given a series of grantees to nations threatened by Axis expansionism (at the start of 1938 these nations were: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Yugoslavia and Greece) that should and Axis power attack them then Britain would intervene. Yet the speed at which Hitler took over Austria (coupled with Neville Chamberlain indecision) meant that Britain could do nothing to honour its agreements with Austria, this apparent betrayal of the Austrians would see the nations of Eastern Europe loss confidence in Great Britain and set a precedent for Neville Chamberlain’s disastrous Appeasement policy with which he abandoned Eastern Europe to its fate.

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Despite Chamberlain’s insistence that war could be avoided through Appeasement the Foreign Minister, Anthony Eden, pushed through a new military budget which dramatically raised military expenditure. He then began to go on diplomatic expeditions all over the world in search of Allies to face down the ever strengthening Axis.
 
Friends in the Americas – Venezuela joins the British Alliance

Following the German annexation of Austria both Axis and British diplomats went around the world looking for allies to join their cause. With Japan, China and the Soviet Union all involved in the great war in Asia and the United States still sticking to its staunch isolationist policy it was South America where the vast majority of European diplomats descended in the Spring and Summer of 1938. The two main targets for the diplomats were oil rich Venezuela and the South America’s top military power Argentina. The Argentine government seemed happy to play both British and German diplomats against each other yet refused to commit to any solid agreements. Contrastingly the Venezuelans made clear exactly what they wanted in return for an alliance and that was the promise of protection, technology to help modernise the country (the oil industry in particular) and a market for Venezuela’s vast oil exports.

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In the end the British could offer a higher level of technological assistance for the Venezuelan oil industry and unlike the Axis Britain was in a situation to protect Venezuela from any aggressor. So on August 29th 1938 the Venezuelan government signed a military alliance with the British Empire and the Axis largely abandoned their hopes of building a block of friendly nations in the Americas. Although the Venezuelan military was small and unlikely to make a major difference in any war with the Axis by denying the Axis access to any Venezuelan exports the British gave themselves a substantial long-term advantage over the Axis powers (Germany in particular) who would be unable to remain self sufficient for oil in a war with the British alliance.
 
The Summer Offensives – Campaigning Season in Spain 1938

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Exhausted from the battles of 1936 both the Republicans and Nationalists had settled down into a series of trenches which stretched through the centre of Spain. For more than a year the Spanish Civil War deteriorated into a conflict very similar to the Western Front of the Great War just with a lot less offensives. Neither side had the numbers, equipment or will to launch a major offensive against the other. All that would change in March 1938.

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On March 1st, using their entire tank force in one concentrated thrust to break through the Nationalist trenches the Government army went on the offensive. The assault smashed straight through the Nationalist defensive line and the Republican armour raced dozens of miles behind the Nationalist armies into the territory of Siguenza before beginning a sharp drive westward towards the city of Valladolid and the Portuguese border. Just three weeks after breaking through the Fascist lines the Government army had successfully surrounded over 100,000 Fascist troops around the cities of Madrid and Salamanca however just at the point when victory seemed assured the Nationalists launched an offensive of their own.

The Fascist army chose a completely different method of attack when they broke past the Republican defences in late March as around 150,000 Nationalist infantrymen crossed the Ebro River just to the south of the military base of Tarragona. With most of the Republican army concentrating on the battles to the West only 50,000 militiamen stood between the Nationalists and the Republican capital city at Valencia. Luckily for the Republic however, unlike their own offensive the Nationalist one was slow and relied on slow moving heavy artillery. Yet despite some significant resistance at the Ebro itself the Republicans could do little to stop the Nationalist charge until it reached the outskirts of Valencia itself on April 12th.

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Just as the Fascists approached Valencia Franco began a counterattack against the Republicans at Valladolid as he used a tank heavy army from Burgos in conjunction with large amounts of infantry from the pocket at Madrid and Salamanca to force the tired Republican spearhead eastward and relieve the troops previously trapped around the Spanish capital.

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Franco’s battle in the West was a mere sideshow to the carnage that would ensue in the Northern suburbs o Valencia. For three weeks the Nationalist artillery pounded the city into the ground whilst their infantry fought from street to street, from building to building to root out the Government soldiers. This tactic, although extremely costly in terms of casualties was working well right up until the second week of May. Ever since the start of the battle for Valencia the Republicans had slowly been drawing more and more troops to save the city however the Nationalists had continued to advance so during the second week of May they decided to launch and offensive to the North of the city, against the Nationalist supply lines. The sudden and total collapse of the Fascist army was truly incredible as following just four days without supplies the Nationalists began to desert in their thousands and at the end of May their commander called for a retreat back across the Ebro, this quickly turned into a rout as the Government army pursued back across the river and into Catalonia where they captured the military base at Tarragona before finally being halted only a few miles to the west of Barcelona.

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After the fall of Tarragona the conflict once against reverted back to trench warfare however there was one more major territorial change to be made in 1938, through June, July and August wave after wave of Fascist offensives smashed against the province of Siguenza and wave after wave was fought off however in early September with the largest attack yet the Nationalists were finally able to take the province and thus add some more security to the city of Madrid.

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With that the campaigning season came to a close with the only long-term territorial change of the year being the transfer of Tarragona from the Nationalists to the Republicans. Over the Winter both sides would lick their wounds and prepare for the following years battles.
 
At this pace, the Republic is going to manage to stay alive when WW2 erupts.

Even when WW3 does so. :D
 
Hmm Venezuelan crude goodness, should come in handy later I'm sure. ;)

And I agree with Kurt, at this rate Spain will still be fighting come the end of time unless someone pulls themselves together!
 
Ah, old fashioned Spanish trench warfare. Perhaps that some foreign cough British cough support can break the stalemate.