Chapter 3: Unto the Cruel
A new war had brewed anew on the old continent. A war that had every sight of finishing even faster than any of the older wars had ever achieved. Perhaps in our hearts we have high hopes of a german victory, as this might lead at long last to a longer lasting peace than to the timebomb ticking away that occured after the Great war. Of far greater concern however was the loss of an important position in Strasbourg, a key line of fortifications part of the french Marginot line, and supposedly the most powerful defensive location in the world. The loss of said location, added to the fact that this attack clearly occured while most of the german army was fighting a perishing polish power, was the real concern. If the germans can take a fortress city with only part of their army, what matter of striking power will their full force bring to bear upon the world?
While the world watched in awe and fear at european affairs, our eyes remain firmly planted onto our own location. With the turn of events occuring worldwide, we were desperately needed to become a powerful force again, even if not immediately. Two new divisions were raised by the state, fully equipped and trained, as well as giving us greater freedom of action in regards to industrial usage for the growth of the army, yet it was still an infantile amount to raise a full army in a period of five years, as military planners gave.
With scarce money available to operate and with so many massive gaps in the technological aspect of our armed forces, comprimises and objectives needed to be made with haste: we began to search for better assembly lines for our forces, our navy's future fleet would be properly manned and trained to the highest technological standards and our land and airforces would receive new up-to-date equipment to palliate our lack of experience in the fighting of wars, rusty of nearly 30 years of passiveness.
Regardless of whatever was happening in the european half of the continent, the asiatic half was facing its own fighting, thousands of miles away, and yet it seemed to be somehow connected to one another, with the result either helping one side or the other. As sit stood, the chinese nationalists, in a show of desperation, truced their communist counterparts in an effort to stem the japanese strike. Progress had been slow and cumbersome for the japanese, and chinese forces, despite their lack of modern equipment, continue to resist as best as it is possible. How the future of this sector will play out, remains to be seen.
The UK truly remains one of the last bastions of true freedom in the continent, and historically our ties have been not just of mutual aid, but of survival and of brotherhood in blood and combat. Whatever the result of the war over there, our friends across the ocean, with their modest industry and available men for their fleets and army, must endure, and we must help them do so, no matter the cost.
It seemed, even now that Germany was reaching a poweful zenith of strength and unity, that the german people themselves were afraid of a great war brewing once more; many thought that with the objectives achieved, a truce needed to be signed and respected with the west, to allow the full power of the army to strike at their eastern enemies. When the Fuhrer denied any real effort to seek peace, a man, known by newspapers as 'The Saint of Germany' abroad and as 'The Bastard Betrayer' by german newspapers, attempted to kill the Fuhrer with a timed explosive device, yet regrettably the device detonated a mere five minutes too late, destroying the building and killing over 15 close affiliates of the regime. The upcoming time of repression and arrests was hardly giving towards peace talks with any foreign power, it seems.
When a great event happens, it is a great time to create your own event and hope it flies under the newspapers. The Soviet Union, the largest country in the world and the second most populated one, had long seen the finnish freedom of action and their independence as an affront to their own affairs, and the war seemed the best opportunity to make sure that this state could dissapear from maps across the world, with a big X scratched across it. The world is slowly devolving onto madness, and there is little to stop this madness from overtaking not just them, but the entire world.
We, despite our great passiveness lately, remembered that we were indeed a power within our own right, yet not perhaps in direct power. Our seemingly limitless industry and our wealth of resources could be used to achieve and force others to follow our orders, or at least pressure them. The US-Japanese trade rights, exclusive before between us and Japan, were cancelled as both a means to show our support to chinese fighters, and as a way of weakening japanese influence in the world theatre at large. Though it would take a long time for the scarce resources of the japanese mainland to be drained, without any trade from us or from other power willing to trade, often at exhorbitant prices, the japanese will have no other choice but to slow down their constant fighting, or face being ostrazised by the world.
Such trivial events, however, cannot deter from the obvious threat the world now faces...