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Excellent work. I am entirely frightened of playing the UK because of the management nightmare I assume it to be. How has that been for you?
 
coz1 said:
Excellent work. I am entirely frightened of playing the UK because of the management nightmare I assume it to be. How has that been for you?

Well, when you are going for a world conquest, there's no such thing as a management nightmare- the entire game is a management nightmare. At least playing as the UK you start with a decent base. The early game I had a little trouble with, and played a few times before I realised what bits had to be colonised early to prevent the AI grabbing everything. The only annoying thing early on was upgrading RGO's in India. Lots of

e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e 0,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e until all of India had decent resource gathering limits.

The worst micromanagement came after the conquest of China- massive numbers of RGOs to upgrade, no railways- tedious. Definitely have to learn the keyboard shortcuts.

Dan, North America hasn't changes much since 1846. It does in the next 15 years though, after I bought the west from Mexico. Don't you love it how stingy Paradox were with cores (except Sweden)? By trading colonial claims, you can get 3-4 provinces per deal.

UK_NA_1846.JPG


No update til Sunday, as I'm going on Holiday soon.

Happy Easter Everyone!
 
Annex All N.america

Kill Everybody
 
Brilliant and well fought! Lets keep expanding those borders and truely set the most nobel Britannia's place in the sun.
 
M.ShawPyle said:
I lick my chops and await new chapters with avidity.

Thanks M.Shawpyle! The new chapter will come as soon as I have finished doing all of these replies!

Black_Rattler said:
I very much like this AAR

Thanks Black_Rattler, I hope you enjoy the rest of it. There hasn't really been much blood spilt yet. That will change after 1870 though.

Pax Britannia said:
Can we have a map that shows the whole world so that we can witness Britains Imperial spendor?

Um... No. Basically, I don't have graphics software advanced enough to shrik the whole world yet. I've downloaded some graphics programs (shareware) though, so I might be able to change that in coming days.

Rajj said:
Annex All N.america

Kill Everybody

Um Rajj, lighten up! If Britain sees fit to annex North America, it will do so with justice to bring peace to that troubled land. Killing everyone simply isn't cricket.

Sir Humphrey said:
Brilliant and well fought! Lets keep expanding those borders and truely set the most nobel Britannia's place in the sun.

Thank you sir Humphrey. I'm sure that the imperial bureacracy will be further expanded. ;)

Baneslave said:
Good work!
thanks Baneslave! I hope the rest of the work merits such praise! :)
 
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1855-1870

Gold!

With the defeat of Russia, peace once again descended upon Britain- but not on Russia however, as the Germans marched towards St Petersburg and forced the Tsar to establish a protectorate over the Baltic. Britain launched a formal diplomatic protest over the incident, but had it had full over an unpleasant conflict with one of her closest allies and Friends- The Netherlands.

By the mid 1850s, the reserves of gold remained the same, causing immense difficulties to the world wide economy. The Bank of England attempted to alleviate the situation by introducing the double gold/silver standard and introducing central bank printing, but although these measures caused some improvement, they were obviously not a long term solution. New sources of precious metals had to be found to allow the world economy to expand. In 1855, a new source was found, in the Dutch colony of Dutch South Africa.

The area north of the Transvaal possessed British and Dutch trading posts and mission stations prior to this period, and the colonial office was pleased with this situation. However, owing to a mistake at the foreign office, British claims in the area, thought to be worthless, were signed away by a junior clerk at the Foreign Office. At first, this was thought to be a minor error, as the land in question was thought to be totally worthless. However, the Netherlands, always known for their business acumen, discovered the first

OOC: I accidentally agreed to a Dutch negotiation buying the claim for a tech. Not a good move.

Previous to this period, relations between the Netherlands and Great Britain had been excellent. Numerous peaceful exchanges of territory and investment had occurred. War seemed a distant prospect. However, the fact that the Dutch now possessed the only functioning gold mine in the world cause enormous consternation. Britain could be blackmailed by the Dutch, and her entire economy could be controlled from Amsterdam. Such a prospect was not appealing to Her Majesty’s Government, especially the treasury. The Foreign Office examined the prospect of purchasing the province in question from the Dutch (Salisbury), but events on the ground moved too fast for them. An ambitious inhabitant of Cape Colony, not even in his 20s yet had gathered together a large armed force and seized control of the disputed region in September 1855. His name was Cecil Rhodes.

The war for what became known as “Rhodesia” was something of a civilized affair- Britain and the Netherlands both came to an unspoken agreement not to attack each others centers of population. British troops reluctantly occupied the Dutch settlements in Southern Africa and one or two minor pacific trading posts. Rhodes occupied Salisbury, but his success was temporary- In early 1856 Rhodes was driven out by a Dutch led African force, which eventually grew to be almost 50,000 strong. Reluctantly, the Indian Office allowed the use of Bengali troops to attack the Dutch, but attention was distracted by events in China.

The Second Free Trade war, as it became universally known, began when Qing forces rudely attacked a British ship named the Arrow. After bursting on board, the Chinese hauled down the British flag, molested the mean women and children and reintroduced restrictions on the opium trade.

Naturally, Britain could not allow the Qing to destroy the lives of their subjects by destroying trade, and thus a powerful force was sent from India to restore the Status Quo Ante, which they did with magnificent pluck and dare by again capturing the forbidden city and forcing the Qing to stop their harassment of British traders and pay the British traders substantial indemnities for the money lost.

There was another consequence of the war with China. Some parts of Northern India and even Bengal were occupied by Chinese forces, who committed the most unspeakable atrocities against the Indian population. Naturally, most of the population was appalled, but a very few reactionaries and criminals joined the Chinese invaders in a short lived rebellion. The mutiny was very small and localized, and easily put down by loyal forces. However, without the prompt action, the mutiny could have become much more severe.

After China and the Dutch Pacific claims had been dealt with, Britain moved to occupy the disputed colony. Curiously however, the Dutch forces proved to both well equipped and well led, and the British expeditionary force found it necessary to retreat, leaving Salisbury in Dutch control.

However, the cause of the war was soon made meaningless, as new gold deposits were discovered in Australia and Borneo. The Borneo deposits were discovered by none other than James “Rajah” Brooke. Almost independent, the “White Rajah” of Sarawak had made his name campaigning against Dyak pirates in Sarawak, over which he assumed autocratic control. However, the very success of the war with the Dutch ended his independent status. British forces occupied most of Borneo, and established the Crown Colony of Borneo in early 1858, with the result that Brooke was now subject to increased control from London. He did however, maintain enormous influence within the new colony.

Brookes.jpg

James Brook, the White Rajah of Sarawak

By 1858 the Foreign Office succeeded in its efforts to persuade HMG that the best course of action was to make peace as soon as possible. At first, the Dutch resisted these efforts, but after the occupation of Java and Okinawa by British forces, the Dutch were persuaded to sign a peace which left the frontiers unchanged apart from the trading posts seized by the British Army. Strenuous efforts were made by the British to normalize relations. Dutch companies were allowed very generous terms to establish Dutch factories in Britain itself. Britain was also not averse to returning certain of the trading posts seized to Dutch control, although some monetary and technological concessions were normally made.

UK__east_asia_1859.JPG

East Asia following the Anglo-Dutch War

The performance of they army in the war was widely criticized in parliament. Numerous reforms were made, to the extent of examining military technology available from the Americans and Dutch.

UK_USA_tech_1858.JPG
UK_dutch_deal_1847.JPG

The Americans give some military tech and the Dutch pay generous war reparations to British citizens inconvenienced by the Netherlands unprovoked defence

Previously, reform of the army had been regarded as too expensive- however, that was soon to change.

Economic Boom

The release of gold generated a boom in both the British and world markets. At last, there was sufficient capital available for large-scale industrial enterprises. Of particular importance was the establishment of training programs for the industrial workforce. The pace of industrial research and development improved significantly. The best example may be found in the steel industry. The Bessemer process revolutionized the steel industry, allowing for a much greater output. This lowered the cost of steel, which in turn allowed the more widespread implementation of railroads. This in turn allowed the improved transportation of goods, opening up development of previously inaccessible resources, further boosting the economy.

The development of railways was spurred primarily by Belgian firms, who were instrumental in building the first steel railways in Britain. There was however, a rather sad reason for this, as the Germans had invaded Belgium in 1861 and placed large parts of the nation under “permanent occupation”. In this case, Belgium’s loss was Britain’ gain, as large numbers of educated Belgians fled the country. It wasn’t long before steel and Iron railways crisscrossed all of Britain, although in the rest of the Empire services were much more rudimentary.

UK_Overview_1859.JPG

Iron railroads crisscross Britain

Increased funding allowed the government to spend more money on certain areas. The Home Office was allowed, after much parliamentary debate to re-establish the defunct metropolitan police force. Although the new force was small and overworked, it did do some good in preventing the spread of crime, although eradication or even a reduction in crime levels were far beyond its capabilities.

There was one large company the boom did not reach – The British East India Company. For unclear reasons, perhaps due to its clinging to outdated aristocratic ideas in this new age of worker control of the means of production, the East India Company went bankrupt in 1858. The result of this was that the administration of British India, which had previously been under Company control with only modest influence from Her Majesty’s Government, was placed under the control of the Indian Office. This did not include the Bengali Army, which fell under the control of the War Office.

Queen Victoria laid out her vision of the new British India in a speech to the House of Commons in 1859.

…To stimulate the peaceful industry of India, to promote works of public utility and improvement, and to administer its government for the benefit of all our subjects resident therein. In their prosperity will be our strength; in their contentment our security; and in their gratitude our best reward;

Naturally, these changes in India did bring enormous benefit to Britain. Particularly important were the establishment of colleges and other institutions, which allowed India an academic establishment.

OOC: I had an event involving India which gave me 100 research points in about 1860. That and the ability to promote clerks basically solved all of my research points.
 
Bring The World Rugby

Wheter It Likes The Sprot Or Not
 
You are making me want to take on the UK in my next game. Great work here, as usual. I might like to see some more in depth looks at some of the players involved, but over-all you have really captured the history book style quite well!
 
Pax Britannia said:
When can we expect the next update?

In the next few minutes! Well, I'll do a sort of idealogical interlude, examining theories coming up at this time, and do a more thorough military and diplomatic history by the end of the day.

Coz1 said:
You are making me want to take on the UK in my next game. Great work here, as usual. I might like to see some more in depth looks at some of the players involved, but over-all you have really captured the history book style quite well!

Thanks Coz1. Playing the UK is takes a certain touch, and an intimate knowledge of keyboard shortcuts. Basically, you are the top dog from day one, and spend the rest of the game trying to prevent others from usurping your position.

Rajj said:
Bring The World Rugby

Wheter It Likes The Sprot Or Not

How can they not like the Sprot? Everyone likes rugger, don't they? League or Union? Anyway, thanks for reading.


To continue!
 
New thoughts

In 1859, an obscure naturalist named Charles Darwin published a book called Origin of the Species. In it, he put forward the idea that animal and plant species, in particular finches, evolved by a “process of natural selection”. This theory posited that mutations in these species would occur, and that occasionally these mutations may offer some advantage to animals, who would thus thrive more quickly than their brethren and thus change the stock. Although Darwin was loath to apply this theory to humans, the application seemed obvious. Races had adapted to certain needs, and were thus different. This led to the notion that many indigenous peoples were incapable of bettering themselves, and would remain in their present position forever.

This view, although supported by many, was fiercely opposed, especially by the Christian churches. The Churches held a contrary view, namely that by accepting the words of Jesus Christ, it was possible to attain redemption. Salvation was a matter of morality, rather than genetics.

The battles between Darwinism and Clericalism were just some of the idealogical disputes occurring. The battle of new ideas for the hearts and minds of men and women was constant. New political theories were propounded all the time.

Capitalism- Engelism

One of these was the notions of “Capitalism”. Capitalists were in general regarded as the most worthless creatures in Victorian Britain, although Aristocrats were not far behind. Capitalists were generally overworked and poorly paid by their clerk and worker betters. It is somewhat surprising therefore, that one particular German immigrant, Friedrich Engels, developed his theory of “Capitalist Revolution”.

marx-engels.jpg

Freidrich Engels, Capitalist prophet and his hanger on friend Karl Marx.

Engels, together with his friend Karl Marx, posited that Capitalists of all races and creeds would one day unite under their own leadership, and stage a bloodthirsty revolution. Capitalists would control the means of production- workers would be subject to gruelling labour with few benefits. The management of companies would be controlled by Capitalists, and power in the new society would be based upon possession of wealth or “Capital”. Capitalists would then invest their own money in order to increase it. Monay would be transferred to non-capitalists solely on the basis of their service towards capitalists.

Naturally, these ideas were totally incompatible with the modern industrial Britain in which Engels found himself, but curiously his ideas did not vanish, and to this day there are still capitalists to be found in many industrialised nations. Nevertheless, these revolutionary ideas were strenuously suppressed by HMG by a variety of means, and academics who preached these ideas were often ejected from all work and found themselves no better than the capitalists who they admired.

Liberalism

Classical Liberalism shared many tenets of Capitalism, but was generally regarded as a separate philosophy. Liberals believed that the power of the government was too great, and that only the most minimal set of laws should govern them. Defence spending and taxation should be cut. Religion was often seen as a negative force, too often tied down in superstition. Likewise, liberals often saw the monarchy as an obsolete institution.

In spite of these views, liberalism remained a relatively powerful force in Britain. Indeed, the arch-Liberal Gladstone was the opposition leader for much of the late 19th century, although he never succeeded in toppling the conservative governments.

Socialism

Socialism is a curious theory, proposed by members of a small college known as the “Harvard Business School”. Socialism proposed an equal distribution of wealth, regardless of birth or merit, and the “Dictatorship of the proletariat”, which broadly contained the working classes. Curiously, Socialism appealed to many of the wealthy labouring classes, who had prospered tremendously under successive conservative governments. In particular, the upper middle class university educated elite of Yorkshire and Lancashire coal miners. Socialism was apparently caused by a sense of guilt at the plight of capitalists and aristocrats, and the need to share their wealth with these groups. It gained relatively few converts amongst those who would have stood to benefit most, such as capitalists and aristocrats.

Anarchism

Anarchism was a more extreme version of liberalism. Anarchists envisaged a total destruction of all organs of state and government. The future would then be free from all state intervention. The method for achieving anarchy was normally violence- what would happen once anarchy was achieved always remained unclear. Anarchists were mainly a continental phenomenon, and Great Britain had very few.

Conservatism

Conservatism was of course the creed to which the bulk of the population of Great Britain subscribed. The principles of conservatism were outlined by thinkers and politicians such as Edmund Burke. Conservatives did not oppose progress- they merely asked that progress should take place within the existing framework of law and government. In general, conservatives also emphasized the importance of morality, duty and family obligations. In general, conservatives had a dim view of most political theories, generally trusting that changes to current institutions would serve well with minor adjustments. Given their proven track record of economic and political management, the conservative party won every election after 1832.

Nationalism

Despite the establishment of efficient British colonial administration in many areas, “Nationalism” was a recurrent problem in the administration of good government. Nationalism held that peoples deserved self government, and that the peoples constituting a nation were indivisible. Many also held that national cultures must be protected against outside influences, and held that peoples with similar languages and cultures should be ruled under one state, by those peoples rather than foreigners.

Her Majesty’s government placed good government against self government. Far better to live under British freedom than a native tyranny. Curiously, in many cases after the tyrannies and despots who ruled colonial peoples had been chased away by the British army, lingering resistance to British rule often took place for at least a period. And often natives were found to be capable of only half the work that a British or Canadian worker was capable of. Nationalism remained a prom for Her Majesty’s Government, although normally after ten years or so conquered peoples would realise the benefits that being part of the Empire brought them, and ceased their struggle.