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A pity. Democracies should stand together.:(
 
The Western world shook with the signing of the Molotov-Crispien Agreement, by which Germany and the USSR signed a nonaggression pact and mutually recognized the territorial aspirations of both states.

Great name for the agreement.:D
Also i find Köninsberg Conference event rather stupid as you can't decide if you want Danzig and lose cores or keep cores to be conquered later.
And i think the war starts with USSR attacking Poland. That should be "Danzig or War!" of this mod.
 
Well, I have spoken with Arcanjo Zero and the final event launches in September 1942. Unless someone opposes strongly, I think it would be best to wait for the event to fire, since it is the best for game mechanics and will also give Germany some time to reinforce the recently arrived divisions from the "Reichswehr mobilization" event. Don´t worry, I would play it alone and quickly advance it in a mini-post so the next regular update one would be about the start of the war right in 1942. However, any thoughts?

@Nikolai

Well, they had that chance in Könisberg and messed it up.

@Borakapan

You are right, it happens in 1942 as I explained above.
 
*Subscribes to to this neat AAR*
 
Thanks for the support! I have played a really quick game (almost hands off) to see if everything runs fine, and it does, so the AAR can contine without any problem. Well, all that apart from the fact that Belgium and Netherlands join the Allies a week before all starts (which means redeploying more units) and that Czechoslovakia has 49 divisions in Prague....God, this is gonna be harder than I thought! Note to myself: annex the Czechs in 1939 the next time!

As I said, I´ll make one comprehensive update that will cover the lapse until the war starts, explaining also the typical measures taken once it is declared: mobilization, propaganda, etc. That way the 1st war update will be mainly focused in the battles.
 
Good to see that you helped Romania against the Hungarians ! :D
WW2 is coming, but I think that there will be no Barbarossa this time.

I hope too...if the Russians declare war on Germany, it would be too late to surprise and encircle them! BTW, update until the start of war coming in a few hours...stay tuned!
 
A bit weird for the Zentrum to be that close to the DNVP, since the DNVP was anti-Catholic. oh, well, it's an AAR after all, and a great one

Yes, but sometimes it is really difficult to find a way to merge all that happens in the game and turn it into a history to tell. And well...I guess we all have seen other weird political alliances in any country of the World :).
 
Intermission: the Stony Road to War


With the signing of the Molotov-Crispien Treaty, Germany managed to dispel any uncertainty regarding its relationship with the Soviet Union, but at the same time provoked an unavoidable split with the Western Allies. According to reports from the Abwehr, both France and the UK were preparing to declare war on Germany in 1942, and had even contacted the United States, Belgium and the Netherlands to join their alliance. Although the German Army had a good number of modern divisions trained to fight at the highest level, the diversity of Great Britain´s allies entailed the need to fight in three different fronts: Poland, Czechoslovakia and France. According to the OKH, the Polish campaign could be resolved with relative ease, but the 45 divisions established in Prague and the more than expected French offensive across the Rhine could embarrass the Wehrmacht, at least until the campaign in the East ended and the divisions deployed there could be sent westwards.


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The French had deployed the bulk of their Army in the Maginot Line


It was necessary, therefore, that the German people enlisted en masse, in order to increase the Army to more acceptable levels, thus being able to provide greater security to the Western Front. While the recent recruitment campaigns had worked well, the High Command considered necessary to mobilize the rest of the country, but without a clear threat seemed almost impossible ... unless such a threat was created artificially. According to Arthur Crispien, this goal could only be achieved by creating an enemy, someone that should be stopped before it was too late..and such enemy existed on the other end of the world. After an emergency meeting, the cabinet grew increasingly favorable to the option of creating a "Nebelkrieg" which will mobilize the rest of the country but at the same time would not involve any real threat to Germany. After a virulent press campaign in which the Foreign Minister proposed the need to halt Japanese expansionism, in June 18th, 1941, Germany officially declared war on Japan. With such an action, the Reichstag could have the tools to govern the country as in wartime, whereas it was considered absolutely impossible that any actual combat between Japanese and German forces could occur.


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The war declaration against Japan


Once the President signed the declaration of war, the Government quickly reacted to achieve the desired goal, and a few days later the Parliament approved the "Decree for the Protection of German People and Reform of the Army," which granted the possibility to call in arms to every male between 21 and 45 years. Finally, High Command would have the so desired expansion and the Wehrmacht could reinforce the existing divisions currently low in actual effectives. The decree, that received the affirmative vote of most forces in the Reichstag, also provided for the possibility of censoring content "that could damage the German war effort." It was estimated that one in ten Germans was radically against this decree, but this problem was easily solved by an statal program of discounts in consumer goods for all those families who had a male recruitable according to the decree.


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In order to prepare war, the Government was forced to approve censorhip


Similarly, the Government established an state propaganda campaign designed to raise the spirits of the German populace, overlooking the upcoming war that the allies would inevitably wage against the restoration of Germany. Finally, the law also allowed for the first time the presence of foreign volunteers within the ranks of the Wehrmacht. Thousands of Italians fleeing the dictatorship of Mussolini would join, and also other volunteers from Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland and the Baltic States.


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War propaganda campaing and some Estonian volunteers that recently joined the Wehrmacht


However, this war would not only be won with infantry, and for this reason an special department was created and put under the responsability of Albert Einstein; under the name of Uranverein, the new project would further investigate the possible military applications of atomic energy. At the same time, OKH ordered to start the installation of the enormous Flakturme installations, impenetrable towers equipped with air defenses to protect German civilians against any allied bombing.



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Design of a Flakturme



As Germany prepared for the final showdown, the Spanish "Bando Nacional" managed to penetrate the last line of Republican defense and took Seville, last bastion of the government led by Azaña, who was forced to flee to Mexico to avoid being captured. After declaring the Republican Army "captured and disarmed", Franco proclaimed victory and was named Head of State and "Caudillo por la Gracia de Dios". For its part, Japan, in another attempt to appear as a liberator of Asia, integrated his new Chinese puppet in the "Co-Prosperity Sphere" under the name of Menjiang. The citizens of Chad, tired of the French oppression, declared themselves an independent nation and were forced to fight for their freedom. Again, France evidenced his more than doubtful conception of democracy.



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ABC newspaper relating Franco´s victory and the new states of menjiang and Chad


Back in Germany, the Reichstag decided not to suspend the elections for President scheduled for late 1941, and after a short campaign, Arthur Crispien won the right-winged candidate, Oskar von Hindenburg, but only by a short margin of votes. According to analysts, the fact that he was one of the makers of the agreement with the USSR that ensured peace in the east helped a lot in his narrow victory. Crispien promised a reform of the Weimar Constitution, and although it would not be applied until the end of martial law, the reform granted greater civil liberties and recognized the concept of Human Rights as something to be defended by the state, and also limited the President's powers to leave it as a merely representative figure. Without much opposition, the reform was passed by the Reichstag in late 1941.



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Once he won the elections for President, Crispien and Vogel drafted a Constitutional Reform that was approved by the Reichstag


And one tragic November morning, the world suddenly exploded. Without warning, the Japanese launched an infamous surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, damaging many American vessels and causing hundreds of deaths. Such action would not go unpunished as President Roosevelt, a strong supporter of a more interventionist politic in the Pacific, received the unanimous support of the Congress to declared war. Perhaps without knowing it, Japan had awakened a giant. While these seemed news that did not affect Germany, all this would change the announcement that the United States joined the alliance with France and England, thus darkening the future of the Axis.



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"A date which will live in infamy"



Throughout 1942 OKH continued its relentless efforts to increase the military, work that was only disturbed by the death of Carl Heinrich von Siemens, who would be replaced by the veteran aviator Harry von Bülow-Bothkamp. Von Siemens had achieved an incredible modernization of the Luftwaffe, but in the future it would be necessary to have the experience of a combat pilot commanding the Luftwaffe.

Finally, in September 1942, members of the Czech Army trespassed into German territory and assassinated several German radio operators. It was clearly a provocation orchestrated by the British Government to force a war that they had been desiring for so long, but Germany would not sit idly against such a terrorist act. After sending a ultimatum to Czechoslovakia and receiving its refusal, the Reichstag unanimously declared war on Czechoslovakia, after which the British Government announced that " both the European and American allies were at war with Germany." The real war had begun.



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Vorwärts, Vorwärts!
 
So it begins...and..Germany vs. Japan...why?

Because I desperately needed some MP, and could only get it with a general mobilization. Japan was the only country with enough belligerence, and I was a little tired of having to wait and wait and wait...
 
Declaring war on Japan? Gamey!

BTW, was not Czechoslovakia in the Axis? :huh:
 
Declaring war on Japan? Gamey!

BTW, was not Czechoslovakia in the Axis? :huh:

Well, I don´t consider it gamey for two main reasons: first, because I was preparing for a war starting in early 41 and not late 42, thus a war without the Unite States as enemies. And second, precisely because Czechoslovakia abandoned the Axis by an event in which I could not do anything to prevent it. If I had annexed them in 39, none of this would have been necessary, but now it is, and even with the mobilization I will still have problems with the French attacking Saarbrucken.

I even thought of returning to a 1938 savegame to make Munich happen, but that would have been totally unconsistent with what I´ve wrote so far and had to choose this path. I also thought of just keep on the update and not mentioning the Japan decision, but that would have been dishonest.

And finally, mind that France and Britan have also their ICs and MP buffered with the war against Chad, so I am just balancing rhings.
 
Well, I don´t consider it gamey for two main reasons: first, because I was preparing for a war starting in early 41 and not late 42, thus a war without the Unite States as enemies. And second, precisely because Czechoslovakia abandoned the Axis by an event in which I could not do anything to prevent it. If I had annexed them in 39, none of this would have been necessary, but now it is, and even with the mobilization I will still have problems with the French attacking Saarbrucken.

I even thought of returning to a 1938 savegame to make Munich happen, but that would have been totally unconsistent with what I´ve wrote so far and had to choose this path. I also thought of just keep on the update and not mentioning the Japan decision, but that would have been dishonest.

And finally, mind that France and Britan have also their ICs and MP buffered with the war against Chad, so I am just balancing rhings.

You're not changing my mind. :p

In fact, you could have the USA allied by you, since "European colonial represion" are unwelcome news in the USA. ;)
 
You're not changing my mind. :p

In fact, you could have the USA allied by you, since "European colonial represion" are unwelcome news in the USA. ;)

No. Once the US gets attacked by Japan, they automatically join the Allies even if they are in another alliance, it is kinda hardcoded and cannot be changed by modders.
 
No. Once the US gets attacked by Japan, they automatically join the Allies even if they are in another alliance, it is kinda hardcoded and cannot be changed by modders.

That is new. In any case, it is still a cheat. :p

PS: I think you can eliminate the AI event that triggers that.
 
That is new. In any case, it is still a cheat. :p

PS: I think you can eliminate the AI event that triggers that.

No, it is not a cheat at all since all the allies have experienced a big overpower due to the AI being incapable of finishing the revolt in Chad and having their ICs and mobilizations overpowered. I have calculaed the differences, and theyve had more benefit with that than me dowing Japan not to mention that the 45!!! updated Czech divisions should not even exist.

And according to the mod creator, it cannot be eliminated.