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unmerged(85800)

Marshal of the Empire
Oct 19, 2007
2.527
0
vietnamflag.jpg


To whomever may read this:
This is my second AAR, and will likely be rather different in a number of ways to the first. It will have more writing, and less screenshots, certainly at first as nothing screenshot worthy is likely to happen for a number of game years. My main inspirations come from Trekaddict (probably my favourite author, for all of his AARs), Grayghost (for the excellent idea of the Warlord Club and The Manchurian Candidate), and Myth / Discomb (for Permanently Operating Factors). There are others also, too many to name, and a few films, games, music and even TV programmes I’ve stolen ideas / random things to put in the story from. Some you won’t even get unless you watch British TV, but tell me if you spot a reference and ill give you your choice of a hug, an air mansion (fully furnished), or a cookie.

One last thing before you cry and die of boredom: I’m going to own up to a few instances of cheating, to slightly make what is a very hard task for me a bit easier. Basically, so far in the game I have cheated to get essential tech and resources from France, as the game has stolen all my rare materials to give to France, and in order to stay in business I had to steal some back. In order to advance the story, I will use ‘acceptall’ and ‘freedom’ at one or two points. You’ll see. Anyway, if anyone’s still reading at this point our story will begin…

‘Our Proud Country – a History’ translated into English in 1967. (otherwise known as wikipedia said:
French Rule and it’s subsequent overthrow

‘Vietnam's independence ended in the mid-1800s, when the country was colonized by the French. The French administration imposed significant political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education was developed, and Christianity was introduced into Vietnamese society. Developing a plantation economy to promote the exports of tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee, the French largely ignored increasing calls for self-government and civil rights. A nationalist political movement soon emerged, with leaders such as Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, Emperor Ham Nghi and Ho Chi Minh calling for independence. Dozens of meetings and rallies occured in the late 1920s and early ‘30s, with even extremists such as Ho Chi Minh believing the only way to beat the French was to peacefully persuade them that self rule was the best for both countries. However all advances were met with increasing disdain and nationalist sentiment grew amongst all levels of Vietnamese society. By 1933, there had been several bombings, riots and even the assassination of the French Governor-General in Hanoi – ostensibly carried out by militant nationalists who wished to see an end to French rule, but unknown to the French widely sponsored by key Vietnamese governing figures , most famously Emporer Bao Dai and his ally, Ho Chi Minh. They made an unlikely brotherhood, but Minh had strong nationalist sentiment, which could be traced back to his rescue from a burning building by a holidaying White Russian politician from Manchuria, who later became his mentor and the seed from which his political views grew. It was Ho Chi Minh who operated secretely to bring events together in the early years of the 1930s, building up pressure upon the French governors, who were hugely overstreched due to the pacifist sentiment and manpower shortages plaguing France in the years after WW1. In March of 1934, events reached a head when mass riots broke out across the country, overwhelming the 10,000 or so French forces stationed there. A series of jungle ambushes resulting in massacres of French troops further worsened the situation. The Vietnamese militants demanded self rule, and proclaimed that the country would be brought to a complete halt and French forces would be made to ‘bleed profusely from every orifice’ (in the words of one particularly outspoken militiaman) unless self rule was issued. Bao Dai, in his place as figurehead leader of Vietnam, agreed that the situation was dire and convinced the French authorities that he and his men should be put in charge to prevent a full-scale bloody uprising. Eduoard Deladier, who was Prime Minister of France at the time, reluctantly agreed – Hitler’s Germany was stirring in Europe and he couldn’t cope with extended, manpower-consuming conflicts overseas. So it was that on 9th April, 1934, Vietnam was released as an independent nation – still subsidiary to Paris, but it was a point from which events could continue in the vein that Emporer Bao Dai and Ho Chi Minh had begun.’

rhc-parade-th.jpg
The parade through Hanoi marking independence.

vietnamcountry.jpg
The borders of independant Vietnam as of April 1934

All comments welcome, next update will be soon – having a lot of problems accessing the forums during the day, I guess they’re overloaded.
 
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I've always wondered what it would be like to play as an independent Vietnam during WW2. I'll be watching this :D
 
thanks man. at least one person commented :D let me tell you, as of november 1937 its... uneventful, in game terms. theres going to be some story of events between now and (when the war starts) - spies and plans and stuff.
 
I'm not surprised it's uneventful, but your survival will probably depend on how well you prepare--and who you choose to fight, or fight for. Thank goodness it's uneventful, really ;)
 
I've always wanted someone to do a Vietnam AAR good luck.
 
Myth: True. For the first few years i will be as weak as a kitten. But not forever.

Mozla: Thanks mate. Welcome aboard, hope you enjoy it.

Quanto: Indeed not. It was disheartening to begin with to realise that i would lose a war to Tibet, should they become aggressive :D . Which thankfully they havent, though i do have the allies to protect me... for now. No news is good news, it has to be said.

I will update when The Bill finishes... a guilty pleasure of mine :eek:o
 
I've always wanted to see a Vietnam Hoi2 AAR (there was one a while ago that died I think), so good luck and I'll be reading it.
 
Thanks, and thanks again! :)
 
This sounds very interesting! From the flag I'm assuming your taking on Imperial Vietnam?

Will follow!
 
Saber said:
This sounds very interesting! From the flag I'm assuming your taking on Imperial Vietnam?

Will follow!

yep, certainly am. hence the weird little bit about ho chi minh not being a commie this time :) there was also very little choice on google images apart from the big red one with the star which screams communist - and i didnt want it to be communist because they are crap and it wouldnt fit in the story.
 
Chapter 2: Dreams, schemes, and Irish Creams


Hanoi District, 1st Jan 1936

The sound of a telephone ringing brought Nguyen Van Xuan, foreign minister of Vietnam, to his senses with a start. He groped around wildly, and then sat back in his bed with a groan – his head felt like someone had rode over it with a tank. ‘Shouldn’t have had that last Pernod last night, damned Froggy drinks.’ He muttered. The shrill ringing did not stop on account of a hangover, however, and so he managed to manoeuvre the headset to his ear, only to wince and hold it further away as the loud voice of the Emperor Bao Dai’s personal secretary (and more, if popular rumour was to be believed) penetrated his head like a sharpened stake. ‘Mr Van Xuan, the Emperor wishes you to remember that today is the handover of military power to our legitimate government. He expects you will be there in plenty of time.’ With that, the secretary hung up – he had always been an abrupt man. ‘Did they have to have this meeting on the first of January?’ Nguyen questioned the room at large, with no result except to wake the woman who had been sleeping next to him in a strange position. She did not look very much like his wife.
Ten minutes later, Nguyen was getting into his chauffeur driven imported French Renault, the lady having been sent on her way with a wad of cash and a slap on the behind as reward for what he had to admit had been a pretty good night. They began to make good headway along the jungle road into the capital, Hanoi. So much so that Nguyen felt there was time to stop in a small town to buy some headache remedy and a small flask of what the British call ‘hair of the dog’. He then made his way back to the car, ignoring the cries of a mad vagrant on the street, who apparently wished to be known as ‘Old Greg’ and asked every third passer-by, including Nguyen, if they wished to drink some Irish drink from a shoe.
He arrived outside the government complex with plenty of time to spare and walked inside, passing the blue-uniformed French guards at the door, to find the Emperor and his head of government, Ngo Dinh Diem, already seated at the long conference table in the main meeting hall. As Nguyen approached the man and bowed in deference to his royal status the man began rubbing his neck, a habit he seemed to have had since becoming emperor many years back. He looked tired, as always, as if his job was dragging him down, but his voice was bright and enthusiastic. ‘Ah, Foreign Minister, good to see you. Good night last night was it? The damned Frogs will be here soon. We know what this meeting is going to be about, of course, but I wish you to know that immediately afterwards I am calling a meeting of the true government (by which he meant the Vietnamese non-collaborators amongst the ruling party) which will take place in Room F.’ Nguyen nodded assent as he sat down and took a short gulp from his flask. He was starting to feel better, and was now excited by what the 2nd meeting could be about. ‘Room F’ was Vietnamese nationalist code for the small room in the lower levels of the building, completely soundproof and enabling talks to occur of which the French overlords would not necessarily approve. As he was thinking of this a small bell tinkled, announcing the entrance of the French overlords to the meeting hall. Handshakes were exchanged, hiding mutual disgust and contempt for the other – the French seeing the Vietnamese as savage outdated warlords who couldn’t control a shrimp stand, let alone a country, and the Vietnamese looking at the French as big-headed, puppeteering bastards who were denying a country its rightful autonomy. Despite the release of the country as an independent state in 1934, tight economic and political controls had been placed upon the country: no diplomatic deals could be conducted with foreign nations, even for basic resources, and no military units beyond local militias who kept the peace. The first of these measures had already been broken, but the French were oblivious.
The meeting took only just over an hour, with the French as usual dictating the terms of the agreement they were offering. This time though, the Vietnamese didn’t mind too much – the French, fearful of Hitler’s ambitions, didn’t want to maintain a garrison in the region any longer. The Viet government would be free to raise an army of its own, ‘purely defensive of course’, to defend the borders and allow the French to transfer their troops to where they were needed in Europe – to sit on the Maginot line, the Emperor thought with a snigger. The terms were surprisingly liberal – one division of garrison troops, consisting of no more than 10,000 men, could be deployed in each province of the country. This would allow Vietnam a strong military force, but the garrisons would be hard to manoeuvre and so would represent no risk to French held Cambodia or French puppet mastery. A number of trade deals were announced to go with this, to ensure the Vietnamese would be able to supply and outfit these garrisons – the basic deal, Le van Hoac, (who as armaments minister was the man being dictated to), thought sourly, was that Vietnam would surrender the entirety of its large surpluses of rare materials every month in exchange for the little other resources it needed. The deal would keep Vietnam afloat, but not allow them to build anything in the way of a stockpile. The talks ended in mixed feelings for the Viet contingent.

‘Right Gentlemen,’ the head of the Imperial Government, as the nationalists called themselves, addressed the occupants of Room F, in the depths of the main government building. ‘myself and the Emperor come before you today, our trusted leaders, to put to you a bold proposition we have developed, one which, if properly carried out, will give us our rightful independence – I for one cannot breathe these days for the scent of garlic.’ His words, and the winning smile upon his face, caused a smirk and even a laugh amongst the nationalist cabinet, who to a man hated the French occupiers. ‘I am about to outline the plan we have devised, which from now will be known as Vampire. Everyone knows garlic hates vampires, eh?’ This time there were smiles from some of the men, mingled with looks of puzzlement from those familiar with Transylvanian myth. ‘Um sir I don’t think… never mind. Vampire is good’
‘Well then let’s continue. We are going to make no bones about it, we wish to overthrow our French overlords, and we are even now taking steps to bring this about. Firstly, the armed forces. We currently have none, as you will know, but this will change. Using our industry to its very fullest, we will gradually raise an army capable of swiftly taking the neighbouring provinces still under French rule, and then holding it against the inevitable backlash. From there we have other ambitions, but we must not count our chickens before they are hatched. As we know, the Frogs called for garrisons to be raised, as purely defensive measures against foreign and internal aggression. And they will be garrisons, when the Frogs are looking, but we will be training and equipping them for offensive action, to strike when the time is right, to suddenly plunge our fangs into the arteries of our foes, like a vampire.
At the same time, we must increase our industrial potential. We will be building at least two more factory complexes, which in the long run will let us raise bigger armies and equip them to the extent needed. Our industry is almost non existent at present, but the situation is not as bad as it looks. I have here Mr Mung Cho Whin, who owns several factories in the country.' A small, smartly dressed man nodded around the room. 'He has been a sympathiser of our cause for many years, to the extent that on his own brave and selfless initiative he has concealed the size and scale of his factories, not wishing to contribute more than possible to the French economy. When fully staffed and equipped, he will be able to provide the equivalent to roughly six extra factory complexes to our war effort. He will help us to grow strong, and he will be rewarded.
‘The next issue is our economy. Our entire plan, gentlemen, involves the concealment of our strength from the Frogs. We will provide our resources to them, as ordered, but surpluses will be hidden and go missing. Gradually we will build up our stockpiles, but all must be done in secret or this will be for nothing.
‘The next point: foreign diplomatic relations. Officially, we have none – we communicate only with our Froglike overlords. But they do not know we have men in sympathetic foreign nations who are not following their orders… that is all I shall say for the moment.
‘Oh, and technological research. We need not hide this, at least at the moment – the Frogs have kindly provided us with many technologies, and we are fairly advanced in every respect, and encouraged to advance ourselves. We could build some excellent battle tanks, if we had the capacity, or terrain to use them in. We will firstly be concentrating on new artillery guns, which I think will be useful in years to come.
‘That is all gentlemen. As you leave, you will receive precise details of our plans, and your roles in them, in coded written form. And remember, not a word to the French.’
 
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quanto: neither can i ;) plans not quite finalised yet, but ill try to make it readbale and exciting

myth: well twood be unexpected, but it would take me about 3 years to build a division and you know... theyd get caught on trees and stuff
 
Myth said:
Oh man, tanks? In the jungle?! ;)

Better than hairy Scots with kilts, for sure :D
 
Kurt_Steiner said:
Better than hairy Scots with kilts, for sure :D

i don't know, hairy scots with kilts could be the secret weapon im looking for, but why would they be in the vietnamese jungle??? :wacko:
 
Got your PM and all on board! :D

Dreams, Schemes, and Irish Creams? Oh man.

As for your title "Welcome to the Jungle", you really needed the "Guns & Roses" song for your intro theme...that would have rocked...erm, well, you get the idea. ;)