hearts of iron iv

[Hęłupiąż]

Yeah but it's so late game that the people I've played with have already instated world dominance by the time my great depression modifier has worn off.

Well, tbh you need to quickly rush fascism or communism to counter this tactic.

 

[*honk honk*]

They should because the events that happen in Romania actually influence the major countries such as Germany and USSR.
Unlike Greece

gas jews should be part of the tree if you know what i mean ;)

 

[moonman]

gas jews should be part of the tree if you know what i mean :wink:

reduces population on all of polands cores by six gorillion

 

[*honk honk*]

reduces population on all of polands cores by six gorillion

mass produce pizza

 

[moonman]

mass produce pizza

poland's focus tree should be just one focus called "remind yourself of the 1400s" which increases your national unity by 1%

 

[Dostoevsky]

Well, tbh you need to quickly rush fascism or communism to counter this tactic.

But... how do you play as america without being the beaming beacon of hope towards the future of democracy and the freedom of the american peoples...........

(no but really thank you that's some useful info)

 

[Hęłupiąż]

But... how do you play as america without being the beaming beacon of hope towards the future of democracy and the freedom of the american peoples...........

(no but really thank you that's some useful info)

America is the best country to make NWO achivment, since if they are Fascist they can easly by focus tree influence all America countries.
I don't know if you said it with sarcasm or not...

 

[Hoxton]

They seriously need to update the AI in this game though... it's way too easily exploitable.

Great example
[doublepost=1488464252][/doublepost]Also AI Britain not defending the UK so you can just send 6 paratroopers to capitulate them

 

[Dallas]

They seriously need to update the AI in this game though... it's way too easily exploitable.

Great example
[doublepost=1488464252][/doublepost]Also AI Britain not defending the UK so you can just send 6 paratroopers to capitulate them

the solution is to play with actual people

 

[cns - he/him/his]

the solution is to play with actual people

the golden days
with the golden memes

 

[liew]

They seriously need to update the AI in this game though... it's way too easily exploitable.

Great example
[doublepost=1488464252][/doublepost]Also AI Britain not defending the UK so you can just send 6 paratroopers to capitulate them

@Redhunter

 

[Redhunter]

@Redhunter

Schlieffen plan would have worked if the Germans just rammed a truck into paris

 

[Ond]

Schlieffen plan would have worked if the Germans just rammed a truck into paris

live footage of germans racing through the streets of paris

 

[harry]

the best peace deal to secure europes safety

@ae poul

 

[Dostoevsky]

played hoi4 on a random multiplayer game yesterday

went switzerland
got germany and italy to boost facisim because stock focus tree takes a long time
became facist after help and focus
went down stock focus tree for infrastructure and army
built up army and defenses
waited 1 year
war goal austria
declared war austria
won against austria

long live the switzerland neutrality

(don't know if I have screenshots but I'll check)

 

[NightVeil]

I don't have it on me but I have a good screenshot of Canada naval invading the Italians.

Almost as good as me taking all of Italy in the war and all of East Germany int the peace deal as Turkey.

 

[Dallas]

KAISERREICH AAR

One Nation, One Family
The story of the Union of Britain 1925-​

In the ashes of the 2nd Weltkrieg, which reconfirmed German domination on the continent, the Syndicalist Union of Britain remained untouched. Led by the isolationist Annie Kenney, the Union had withdrawn itself from global geopolitics since her election to head of the Trade Union Congress in 1936. This policy of isolation had drastic consequences; declining to aid syndicalists in the American and Spanish civil wars had made Kenney unpopular amongst TUC delegates.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the leader of the Old Entente, Canada, was undergoing change. George V, hated by the proletariat of the Union, died at the age of 70. In his place rose his first-born son, Edward VIII, a vengeful young king who looked with avarice at the Home Islands the Royals had lost in 1925. This young and ambitious sovereign addressed his nation, and the world, reaffirming the Loyalist long-term goal of "reclaiming the territories and glories of the Empire."
The Union of Britain listened, and quietly began to prepare countermeasures.

Battlecruiser RNS Mosley conducts naval patrols off the Scottish coast.

In 1938, the Union was placed under a trade embargo for conducting naval exercises in the Barents Sea and vocally supporting the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. This embargo was made worse by a failed overture for reconciliation with the Entente (The Loyalist government-in-exile in Canada, as well as the exiled French Republic) which backfired in a set of fresh sanctions. Unemployment began to soar, inflation

In this economic slump, Kenney - along with Deputy Chairman Arthur Horner, set about the creation of an infrastructure work program that would seek to heal the crumbling disrepair across the nation left by the 1925 Revolution. The crisis was averted, but only just, and Kenney's reputation was deeply affected by it.

Then the war came.

The 2nd Weltkrieg 1939-1941

June 1939. France and Germany's border disputes and ethnic discrimination come to a head in the German deportation and alleged massacre of the French speaking minority of Alsace-Lorraine.
France responds with mobilisation, war is declared before either side can negotiate a compromise. Europe is once again at war.

Public opinion is deeply divided in the Union of Britain, not only amongst the people - but in Kenney's cabinet too. The most prominent supporter of entry into the war came from Oswald Mosley, a hardliner who was already deeply frustrated with Kenney's policy of pacifist isolationism. He called for "immediate and swift entry into the conflict" to "strengthen our brothers in France".

Kenney was unconvinced. The Naval Rearmament Program was still two years off completion. She knew that a direct naval confrontation with the Reich would be a disaster for Britain and leave the island open for invasion. Furthermore, the Union's Army had been reduced since the Revolution. The once 1.7 million strong Revolutionary Army was now a defence force of 200,000 garrison units. All this plus the refusal of Arthur Horner to raise the manpower laws to wartime standards meant that the country was in no state to assist the French.

The call from French President came. It went unanswered. Britain remembered the Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele, a generation of men swept away by war. In a speech to the nation, Kenney confirmed that Britain would remain neutral. "Never again can we go looking for that darkness which is found only in conflict. We remember the fields of Flanders, the crosses in every town and village across these isles. From them we have learned the price of peace. We will not commit to a conflict that is not ours to fight."
Public opinion backed Kenney, even if the cabinet was split. Mosley threatened to resign, but calmed down after a compromise was given allowing the formation of volunteer divisions to ship out to France.

Many would argue that this choice to remain neutral is what lost France the war. Coupled with a disorganised military relying on militias, a lack of armour, planes and naval strength, it was not hard to see the war going badly for the Commune. Yet, the war dragged on. In three years, after one year of fighting the French losses had reached 2.5 million, already worse than WW1. The German casualties stood at just over 1 million. The combat was brutal, bloody and without quarter. In Reims, which changed hands no less than 6 times, three quarters of the local population were killed. While the French made gains in the south, thrusting armies into the lower Rhineland and Swiss-lands, even as far as Bavaria, all were costly operations. Atrocities against Germans by invading French armies were photographed and spread across the world.

German civillains are executed by firing squad, Strasbourg, 1940

The news coming in from Europe was unreliable at best. Germans boasted they were less than 70 miles from Paris, while French newsreels showed the newly captured cities of Freiburg and Stuttgart. It became clear that the German's new version of the Schlieffen Plan was flexible, elastic and improved. It allowed the French to gain ground in the south and draw their forces from the north.

The decisive battle came on December 1st, 1940. German divisions smashed through the Reims line, within two days they had seized Amien, then Compiegne. By Christmas Day, the Germans were less than ten miles from the outskirts of Paris.

In the Union of Britain, public mood had begun to sour against neutrality. It looked like the French might end up losing a 3rd war against Germany. Popular dissent rose, TUC meetings began to call for intervention to save France from German aggression. Amidst this, Interior Minister Oswald Mosley resigned his charges in protest. Kenney was glad to see him go - but this was not the last she would hear from him.

Three days later, a bomb exploded outside of the TUC Parliament building, killing over 30 people. It was the start of the New Year Revolution.
Oswald Mosley declared "I can no longer stomach to sit idly by and watch the light of revolution flicker and perish around the world. The hour is now, we will arise again and break the chains that shackle man - wherever they may be." Mosley was calling for a revolution, a coup against Kenney and her government.

MET Police struggle to keep order in the NY Revolution.

Mosley's Blackshirt paramilitary was mobilized across London, seizing control of the Houses of the TUC, the Republican Naval HQ and Whitehall. In response, Kenney called for a general strike and mobilized the Defence Force against Mosley. Clashes in the streets ensued, violence and rioting consumed London for five days, culminating in the raid on Whitehall, which led to the capture of Mosley himself. Shortly after, the Blackshirts surrendered to Government forces. The putsch had failed. Mosley would be publicly hanged in March 1941.

Back on the continent, the Germans launched their major final offensive operation, taking Paris in a crushing and bloody battle which saw the French government evacuated to Bordeaux. Over the next month and a half, the french army began to disintegrate. The desire for peace was proving stronger than any love for world-revolution. As German armies advanced across the center of France, the death blow came from the news that fifty French divisions has been encircled in southern Germany.
The French President addressed his cabinet, the war was lost. He would later be found dead that night after shooting himself.

French delegates sign the peace agreements imposed by the Germans. June 1941.

The Treaty of Nuremberg was harsh. France would surrender its sovereignty entirely. The north would become a German puppet state, while the south was reclaimed by the exiled French Republic. France's ally, Spain, would also be turned into satellite state. Military dictatorships set up in these new states would go on to be absolutely brutal to their native populations.

_______________________________

The Union of Britain decision of neutrality was now more than ever a controversial issue. At the Party Conference of the Federationist Syndicate, Kenney's pacifist closing speech received no applause. The feeling of regret was strong. However, the Union had not been idle. The Republican Navy was now the greatest in the world. The newest designs and doctrines had been cranked out by a revitalized and self-sustaining economy that was relying less and less on imports. The Navy now sported over 40 new top-of-the-line battleships, 15 battlecruisers, 50 crusiers and 6 new aircraft carriers.
Although her army was in peacetime mode, the Navy was anything but. Naval excursions went as far as the Loyalist possessions of Iceland and Greenland. Testing, prying, judging the rival across the Atlantic.

Amidst this, the young Irish Republic - which had received economic backing from Germany since the 1920s, was now attempting to settle the question of Ulster. Michael Collins, leader of Ireland, adopted a hardline approach which discriminated against the population of Ulster. Everything from mandatory Gaelic in schools, to revisionist history, to the banning of Pro-Union parades. This began to boil over into dissent, which was nothing new in Ireland. However, Collins was overconfident and expected immediate resolution to any civil unrest. When a new tax reform passed, which targeted against those of the protestant faith, it proved to be the final straw. A protest in Belfast soon became an armed riot, then an uprising. Within a week, law enforcement had lost control of the situation and had been driven from Belfast and Derry (re-named to Londonderry). Ulster was declared a free-state. Militia took up arms and an emergency government was formed from local leaders.

The 2nd Irish Civil War 1942
September 8th - December 13th

The Irish Civil War was a conflict that was underestimated in terms of bloodshed. Initially, Kenney made a phonecall to Michael Collins, reaffirming that the Union would remain neutral to the conflict - and that she recognised it as an internal conflict that should be be intervened in by any world power. However, unbeknownst to Kenney, Deputy Chairman Arthur Horner had issued a memorandum -in secret- to the Republican Navy. This memorandum issued orders to transport materiel and funds to the Ulster separatists, with the aim to prolong the conflict and weaken the Irish state politically, economically and militarily, with the eventual aim of the Union intervening and occupying Ireland.

One month after hostilities started, and after thousands of casualties, the German Empire kept true to its agreements with Ireland and began to funnel advisors and resources in support of the free-state. Although the Ulster forces were also backed by a foreign power, the German resources tipped the scale against Ulster firmly. The war would be brief and immensely bloody. Towns would be fought over, captured, recaptured, then captured again. Occupation would become indistinguishable from frontline combat, with militias hiding among the population and inflicting terrible casualties.

Londonderry surrendered on the 25th of November, Belfast followed on December 1st. The fighting would go on in guerrilla form for a few more days, ending in the official surrender of the Ulster government. The war had been incredibly hard fought, with nearly a quarter of a million dead. Most of them civilian and most of them from the Irish bombing campaign against Ulster towns and cities.
The scars of the civil war would stay with the Irish nation forever. In many ways, the war would never truly end.
_______________________________

After learning of the involvement in Irish affairs, Kenney fired Arthur Horner from his position and, in an unprecedented move, made Barbra Castle Deputy Chairwoman of the TUC. The world's first all-woman leadership of a modern nation state. Castle, like Kenney, favoured a nation that was peaceful and inwardly focused on itself. She also favoured a strong navy and small army. By this point, the Republican Navy far surpassed the Royalists in terms of capability, however its range was limited. The Canadian annexation of Denmark's Atlantic possessions: Greenland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, put the range of their navy within striking distance of the Home Isles.

Secretary of the Navy, James Sommerville, warned Kenney that an attack could be expected if the Union continued down the path of disarmament, warning the the garrisons across many parts of the UK were ill-ready to counter an invasion. Kenney had confidence in the navy. She thought that time was on her side.

The Great Atlantic War 1943-

Entente Dreadnoughts move into battle formation, Battle of the Western Approaches, 1943

February 10th, 1943 was a morning like many others. A cabinet meeting was being conducted, led by Deputy Castle. Kenney herself was on vacation in Scotland. The Republican 1st Fleet, the largest of its kind, was conducting a naval operation off the western Irish coast. All seemed perfectly within order.

The cabinet meeting was interrupted by a team of admirals, who announced to the cabinet that the Entente had declared war on the Union of Britain - and that this morning a large amphibious assault force has stormed Orkney, capturing the island and catching the garrison unaware.
Kenney was informed via telephone that morning and had got on the first plane back to London. Chaos engulfed Whitehall - how many Republican ships are in the area? How did they get past us? Will try strike anywhere else?

The Navy rushed to defend the Home Islands, while a sub forces slipped out into the mid-Atlantic in search of Entente vessels. Keeney issued orders that the Entente fleet be found and brought to make battle. A thing that proved difficult. As the weeks passed, the defence force was strengthened by volunteers, a dedicated offensive expeditionary force was being mustered and plans for the recapture of Orkney were being drawn up. Yet it seemed that, besides the occasional intercepted convoy bound for Orkney, the fabled Entente Combined Fleet - supposedly the biggest in the world, was nowhere to be seen.

Finally, after two months of patrols, the Entente Fleet was spotted once again, circling in for an attack on Dover's shipyards. Thanks to the work of Cytologist Alan Turing, the codes of the Entente were broken and the orders could be read. The 1st Fleet was directed to attack the Combined Entente before it got too close to the UK - they deiced it would be engaged 50 miles off the Irish coast, in the open Atlantic.

What would become known as the Battle of the Western Approaches was one of the largest naval engagements in history, with just over 300 ships doing battle. Roughly outnumbered 2:1, the Republican Navy had to rely on its improved navy and doctrine to repel the Entente and save the Home Islands from invasion.

The battle lasted all day and was a baptism in fire for the new Republican ships. The enemy fleet, made of British Imperial and French ships were old - some as old as 30 years or more. They were dreadnoughts and battleships which had been used in the First Weltkrieg, supporting aircraft carriers converted from cruise liners and transport vessels. The Republican Navy, by contrast, was modern, well trained and had dedicated aircraft carriers constructed for modern Atlantic warfare.

The losses were staggering for the Entente. The old navies were swept into the ocean by fleets of naval bombers and battery guns, battleships and cruisers ripped them apart. Suddenly, the overconfidence of the Entente was made clear - they had kept the same mentality since the Battle of Jutland. They assumed they were the unquestionable naval power and did not shy away from a decisive engagement. Now, they paid the price.
With the Entente Navies crushed in a single day, the Union of Britain could begin their advance across the Atlantic, taking them eve closer to Canada.

Republican forces raise the flag of the Union of Britain over Orkney, having recaptured it without a fight.

The Republican Atlantic Expeditionary Forces marches through Reykjavik after the surrender of the Iceland Royalist Garrison.

With the North Atlantic secure by sea, and the AEF (Atlantic Expeditionary Force) under the command of Field Marshall Montgomory now occupying the Danish Atlantic possessions as far west as Greenland, the war was now turned against the Entente.

Kenney issued a call for peace. It was left unanswered, the Entente did not wish to surrender. Although their navy was beaten, they would fight on. The Union of Britain was left with no choice but to organize plans for the invasion of Canada.
So far, the war had been small scale, but now Kenney feared that this might be the start of something much, much bigger...

PART 2 COMING SOON

 

[Dostoevsky]

KAISERREICH AAR

One Nation, One Family
The story of the Union of Britain 1925-​

In the ashes of the 2nd Weltkrieg, which reconfirmed German domination on the continent, the Syndicalist Union of Britain remained untouched. Led by the isolationist Annie Kenney, the Union had withdrawn itself from global geopolitics since her election to head of the Trade Union Congress in 1936. This policy of isolation had drastic consequences; declining to aid syndicalists in the American and Spanish civil wars had made Kenney unpopular amongst TUC delegates.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the leader of the Old Entente, Canada, was undergoing change. George V, hated by the proletariat of the Union, died at the age of 70. In his place rose his first-born son, Edward VIII, a vengeful young king who looked with avarice at the Home Islands the Royals had lost in 1925. This young and ambitious sovereign addressed his nation, and the world, reaffirming the Loyalist long-term goal of "reclaiming the territories and glories of the Empire."
The Union of Britain listened, and quietly began to prepare countermeasures.

Battlecruiser RNS Mosley conducts naval patrols off the Scottish coast.

In 1938, the Union was placed under a trade embargo for conducting naval exercises in the Barents Sea and vocally supporting the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. This embargo was made worse by a failed overture for reconciliation with the Entente (The Loyalist government-in-exile in Canada, as well as the exiled French Republic) which backfired in a set of fresh sanctions. Unemployment began to soar, inflation

In this economic slump, Kenney - along with Deputy Chairman Arthur Horner, set about the creation of an infrastructure work program that would seek to heal the crumbling disrepair across the nation left by the 1925 Revolution. The crisis was averted, but only just, and Kenney's reputation was deeply affected by it.

Then the war came.

The 2nd Weltkrieg 1939-1941

June 1939. France and Germany's border disputes and ethnic discrimination come to a head in the German deportation and alleged massacre of the French speaking minority of Alsace-Lorraine.
France responds with mobilisation, war is declared before either side can negotiate a compromise. Europe is once again at war.

Public opinion is deeply divided in the Union of Britain, not only amongst the people - but in Kenney's cabinet too. The most prominent supporter of entry into the war came from Oswald Mosley, a hardliner who was already deeply frustrated with Kenney's policy of pacifist isolationism. He called for "immediate and swift entry into the conflict" to "strengthen our brothers in France".

Kenney was unconvinced. The Naval Rearmament Program was still two years off completion. She knew that a direct naval confrontation with the Reich would be a disaster for Britain and leave the island open for invasion. Furthermore, the Union's Army had been reduced since the Revolution. The once 1.7 million strong Revolutionary Army was now a defence force of 200,000 garrison units. All this plus the refusal of Arthur Horner to raise the manpower laws to wartime standards meant that the country was in no state to assist the French.

The call from French President came. It went unanswered. Britain remembered the Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele, a generation of men swept away by war. In a speech to the nation, Kenney confirmed that Britain would remain neutral. "Never again can we go looking for that darkness which is found only in conflict. We remember the fields of Flanders, the crosses in every town and village across these isles. From them we have learned the price of peace. We will not commit to a conflict that is not ours to fight."
Public opinion backed Kenney, even if the cabinet was split. Mosley threatened to resign, but calmed down after a compromise was given allowing the formation of volunteer divisions to ship out to France.

Many would argue that this choice to remain neutral is what lost France the war. Coupled with a disorganised military relying on militias, a lack of armour, planes and naval strength, it was not hard to see the war going badly for the Commune. Yet, the war dragged on. In three years, after one year of fighting the French losses had reached 2.5 million, already worse than WW1. The German casualties stood at just over 1 million. The combat was brutal, bloody and without quarter. In Reims, which changed hands no less than 6 times, three quarters of the local population were killed. While the French made gains in the south, thrusting armies into the lower Rhineland and Swiss-lands, even as far as Bavaria, all were costly operations. Atrocities against Germans by invading French armies were photographed and spread across the world.

German civillains are executed by firing squad, Strasbourg, 1940

The news coming in from Europe was unreliable at best. Germans boasted they were less than 70 miles from Paris, while French newsreels showed the newly captured cities of Freiburg and Stuttgart. It became clear that the German's new version of the Schlieffen Plan was flexible, elastic and improved. It allowed the French to gain ground in the south and draw their forces from the north.

The decisive battle came on December 1st, 1940. German divisions smashed through the Reims line, within two days they had seized Amien, then Compiegne. By Christmas Day, the Germans were less than ten miles from the outskirts of Paris.

In the Union of Britain, public mood had begun to sour against neutrality. It looked like the French might end up losing a 3rd war against Germany. Popular dissent rose, TUC meetings began to call for intervention to save France from German aggression. Amidst this, Interior Minister Oswald Mosley resigned his charges in protest. Kenney was glad to see him go - but this was not the last she would hear from him.

Three days later, a bomb exploded outside of the TUC Parliament building, killing over 30 people. It was the start of the New Year Revolution.
Oswald Mosley declared "I can no longer stomach to sit idly by and watch the light of revolution flicker and perish around the world. The hour is now, we will arise again and break the chains that shackle man - wherever they may be." Mosley was calling for a revolution, a coup against Kenney and her government.

MET Police struggle to keep order in the NY Revolution.

Mosley's Blackshirt paramilitary was mobilized across London, seizing control of the Houses of the TUC, the Republican Naval HQ and Whitehall. In response, Kenney called for a general strike and mobilized the Defence Force against Mosley. Clashes in the streets ensued, violence and rioting consumed London for five days, culminating in the raid on Whitehall, which led to the capture of Mosley himself. Shortly after, the Blackshirts surrendered to Government forces. The putsch had failed. Mosley would be publicly hanged in March 1941.

Back on the continent, the Germans launched their major final offensive operation, taking Paris in a crushing and bloody battle which saw the French government evacuated to Bordeaux. Over the next month and a half, the french army began to disintegrate. The desire for peace was proving stronger than any love for world-revolution. As German armies advanced across the center of France, the death blow came from the news that fifty French divisions has been encircled in southern Germany.
The French President addressed his cabinet, the war was lost. He would later be found dead that night after shooting himself.

French delegates sign the peace agreements imposed by the Germans. June 1941.

The Treaty of Nuremberg was harsh. France would surrender its sovereignty entirely. The north would become a German puppet state, while the south was reclaimed by the exiled French Republic. France's ally, Spain, would also be turned into satellite state. Military dictatorships set up in these new states would go on to be absolutely brutal to their native populations.

_______________________________

The Union of Britain decision of neutrality was now more than ever a controversial issue. At the Party Conference of the Federationist Syndicate, Kenney's pacifist closing speech received no applause. The feeling of regret was strong. However, the Union had not been idle. The Republican Navy was now the greatest in the world. The newest designs and doctrines had been cranked out by a revitalized and self-sustaining economy that was relying less and less on imports. The Navy now sported over 40 new top-of-the-line battleships, 15 battlecruisers, 50 crusiers and 6 new aircraft carriers.
Although her army was in peacetime mode, the Navy was anything but. Naval excursions went as far as the Loyalist possessions of Iceland and Greenland. Testing, prying, judging the rival across the Atlantic.

Amidst this, the young Irish Republic - which had received economic backing from Germany since the 1920s, was now attempting to settle the question of Ulster. Michael Collins, leader of Ireland, adopted a hardline approach which discriminated against the population of Ulster. Everything from mandatory Gaelic in schools, to revisionist history, to the banning of Pro-Union parades. This began to boil over into dissent, which was nothing new in Ireland. However, Collins was overconfident and expected immediate resolution to any civil unrest. When a new tax reform passed, which targeted against those of the protestant faith, it proved to be the final straw. A protest in Belfast soon became an armed riot, then an uprising. Within a week, law enforcement had lost control of the situation and had been driven from Belfast and Derry (re-named to Londonderry). Ulster was declared a free-state. Militia took up arms and an emergency government was formed from local leaders.

The 2nd Irish Civil War 1942
September 8th - December 13th

The Irish Civil War was a conflict that was underestimated in terms of bloodshed. Initially, Kenney made a phonecall to Michael Collins, reaffirming that the Union would remain neutral to the conflict - and that she recognised it as an internal conflict that should be be intervened in by any world power. However, unbeknownst to Kenney, Deputy Chairman Arthur Horner had issued a memorandum -in secret- to the Republican Navy. This memorandum issued orders to transport materiel and funds to the Ulster separatists, with the aim to prolong the conflict and weaken the Irish state politically, economically and militarily, with the eventual aim of the Union intervening and occupying Ireland.

One month after hostilities started, and after thousands of casualties, the German Empire kept true to its agreements with Ireland and began to funnel advisors and resources in support of the free-state. Although the Ulster forces were also backed by a foreign power, the German resources tipped the scale against Ulster firmly. The war would be brief and immensely bloody. Towns would be fought over, captured, recaptured, then captured again. Occupation would become indistinguishable from frontline combat, with militias hiding among the population and inflicting terrible casualties.

Londonderry surrendered on the 25th of November, Belfast followed on December 1st. The fighting would go on in guerrilla form for a few more days, ending in the official surrender of the Ulster government. The war had been incredibly hard fought, with nearly a quarter of a million dead. Most of them civilian and most of them from the Irish bombing campaign against Ulster towns and cities.
The scars of the civil war would stay with the Irish nation forever. In many ways, the war would never truly end.
_______________________________

After learning of the involvement in Irish affairs, Kenney fired Arthur Horner from his position and, in an unprecedented move, made Barbra Castle Deputy Chairwoman of the TUC. The world's first all-woman leadership of a modern nation state. Castle, like Kenney, favoured a nation that was peaceful and inwardly focused on itself. She also favoured a strong navy and small army. By this point, the Republican Navy far surpassed the Royalists in terms of capability, however its range was limited. The Canadian annexation of Denmark's Atlantic possessions: Greenland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, put the range of their navy within striking distance of the Home Isles.

Secretary of the Navy, James Sommerville, warned Kenney that an attack could be expected if the Union continued down the path of disarmament, warning the the garrisons across many parts of the UK were ill-ready to counter an invasion. Kenney had confidence in the navy. She thought that time was on her side.

The Great Atlantic War 1943-

Entente Dreadnoughts move into battle formation, Battle of the Western Approaches, 1943

February 10th, 1943 was a morning like many others. A cabinet meeting was being conducted, led by Deputy Castle. Kenney herself was on vacation in Scotland. The Republican 1st Fleet, the largest of its kind, was conducting a naval operation off the western Irish coast. All seemed perfectly within order.

The cabinet meeting was interrupted by a team of admirals, who announced to the cabinet that the Entente had declared war on the Union of Britain - and that this morning a large amphibious assault force has stormed Orkney, capturing the island and catching the garrison unaware.
Kenney was informed via telephone that morning and had got on the first plane back to London. Chaos engulfed Whitehall - how many Republican ships are in the area? How did they get past us? Will try strike anywhere else?

The Navy rushed to defend the Home Islands, while a sub forces slipped out into the mid-Atlantic in search of Entente vessels. Keeney issued orders that the Entente fleet be found and brought to make battle. A thing that proved difficult. As the weeks passed, the defence force was strengthened by volunteers, a dedicated offensive expeditionary force was being mustered and plans for the recapture of Orkney were being drawn up. Yet it seemed that, besides the occasional intercepted convoy bound for Orkney, the fabled Entente Combined Fleet - supposedly the biggest in the world, was nowhere to be seen.

Finally, after two months of patrols, the Entente Fleet was spotted once again, circling in for an attack on Dover's shipyards. Thanks to the work of Cytologist Alan Turing, the codes of the Entente were broken and the orders could be read. The 1st Fleet was directed to attack the Combined Entente before it got too close to the UK - they deiced it would be engaged 50 miles off the Irish coast, in the open Atlantic.

What would become known as the Battle of the Western Approaches was one of the largest naval engagements in history, with just over 300 ships doing battle. Roughly outnumbered 2:1, the Republican Navy had to rely on its improved navy and doctrine to repel the Entente and save the Home Islands from invasion.

The battle lasted all day and was a baptism in fire for the new Republican ships. The enemy fleet, made of British Imperial and French ships were old - some as old as 30 years or more. They were dreadnoughts and battleships which had been used in the First Weltkrieg, supporting aircraft carriers converted from cruise liners and transport vessels. The Republican Navy, by contrast, was modern, well trained and had dedicated aircraft carriers constructed for modern Atlantic warfare.

The losses were staggering for the Entente. The old navies were swept into the ocean by fleets of naval bombers and battery guns, battleships and cruisers ripped them apart. Suddenly, the overconfidence of the Entente was made clear - they had kept the same mentality since the Battle of Jutland. They assumed they were the unquestionable naval power and did not shy away from a decisive engagement. Now, they paid the price.
With the Entente Navies crushed in a single day, the Union of Britain could begin their advance across the Atlantic, taking them eve closer to Canada.

Republican forces raise the flag of the Union of Britain over Orkney, having recaptured it without a fight.

The Republican Atlantic Expeditionary Forces marches through Reykjavik after the surrender of the Iceland Royalist Garrison.

With the North Atlantic secure by sea, and the AEF (Atlantic Expeditionary Force) under the command of Field Marshall Montgomory now occupying the Danish Atlantic possessions as far west as Greenland, the war was now turned against the Entente.

Kenney issued a call for peace. It was left unanswered, the Entente did not wish to surrender. Although their navy was beaten, they would fight on. The Union of Britain was left with no choice but to organize plans for the invasion of Canada.
So far, the war had been small scale, but now Kenney feared that this might be the start of something much, much bigger...

PART 2 COMING SOON

A play-through as detailed and thorough as the mod (and it's lore) itself. Pretty cool idea.

 

[cns - he/him/his]

proper ireland

 

[Redhunter]

A play-through as detailed and thorough as the mod (and it's lore) itself. Pretty cool idea.

I hate how Kaiserreich has shit tonnes of scripted events which sometimes fail to load.

Like I remember when I was playing Russia and the focus tree slowly opens up. That's nice and all but no matter how much I try I end up being stuck a least a year behind because THAT SINGLE EVENT TO UNLOCK THE MILITARY FOCUSES WON'T LOAD!!!