Dead by Dawn: The Road to Revolution

[Enigmajones]

1957- A Year of Violence

The World War had begun in a lightning strike of activity. The German capture of Gdansk (Danzig) and occupation of West Prussia, had taken advantage of the Polish preoccupation with the Soviet force invading from the East, who had captured Wilno, Bialystock and Lvov and were pushing toward Lublin. The German 3rd Army was being held at bay in the West, protecting Poznan from attack and keeping Germany from crushing all resistance in Poland. The Polish Navy, without a port to take refuge in, had been completely defeated by the Reichsmarine at the Battle of Rugen. Although the battle was far off of Rugen, the name was given by German Naval Commanders, rather then the Polish name, which roughly translates as the Ambush of the Baltic. The German ships lied in wait and launched an attack against the polish ships as they left Polish waters. The Polish fleet was defeated and the ships that weren't sunk, were captured by the Germans, renamed and put into service with the Reichsmarine. The Polish Front quickly transformed into one of the most violent in European history. With thousands dying every day, although casualties were much higher amongst the Polish. As 1957 began, the Germans entered East Prussia, taking Konigsberg in days, defeating the local armed force and declaring the "liberation" of East Prussia. Political dissidents, aka supporters of the SPD regime in Konigsberg.

The Soviets also began to launch their assault on Romania and Finland. The USSR's plan was to take the capital's of each nation in a lightning offensive. According to Soviet plans, Helsinki and Bucharest would be in Soviet hands by the end of the year. However they faced some serious opposition. The Polish front was proving to be far more difficult then anticipated. Added to that, Romania had entered Greece and Bulgaria into the war with them. The additional land forces added to the Romanian army, allowed the Romanians to keep the Soviets at bay. In Finland, the harsh terrain proved to difficult for Soviet tanks to traverse easily and threw a gigantic monkey wrench into Soviet planning. The Finnish managed to hold them off, but by no means were winning the war. The Finns and the Romanians both suffered heavy losses.

The rest of the world was shocked by the outbreak of war. In Hungary, Miklos Horthy, the long time regent, died of old age, and the far right took advantage of Hungarian fears that the Soviet Army would roll across Romania and take Budapest, by throwing a coup, establishing Laszlo Endre as the new Regent of Hungary. The far right coup established a state eager for war, and Hungary was swept up into a nationalistic fervor, with calls by Regent Endre to retake Transylvania and reestablish all of Hungary stolen in the Treaty of Trianon. In Austria, Dollfuss was facing a population divided. His ministers and those in support of the far right were agitating for war with Czechoslovakia, while Labor organizers, working in secret, were organizing protests against the war. In Great Britain, the war was seen as a power play on the part of the Germans and the Soviets, but with rebellions in former French Africa, India and the Asian territories, Britain had enough on its hands. In the United States, the war was plastered over the American media, with radio reports from Warsaw garnering special interest amongst the populace. Polish and German immigrants and Americans of Polish and german descent clashed in the streets of American cities, like Chicago and Milwaukee and formed volunteer legions to assist their homelands in their respective fights.

[Sumeragi]

Sorry for missing this.

Wow, President Reinhard Heydrich invading Poland..... This would probably be the worst case scenario, since Heydrich was one smart genius

[Enigmajones]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Sorry for missing this.

Wow, President Reinhard Heydrich invading Poland..... This would probably be the worst case scenario, since Heydrich was one smart genius

A Heydrich who also happens to be a career Naval man. The war will get slightly more convoluted. Especially when Asia gets involved.

[Enigmajones]

1958- Death Comes Swiftly

In 1958, the war that had at one point been considered a war of German and Soviet conquest took a very sharp turn. Emperor Tensho, with the support of his generals ordered the formulation of an attack plan on the Soviet Union. The Republic of China also began to mobilize its forces, skirmishing with National Socialist troops on the border. The war seemed ready to gain its historical name, the World War. In Europe, Regent Endre ordered the Hungarian invasion of Romania. The Hungarians gained some early advantages, occupying the Romanian province of Crisana in the early months of 1958. The Romanian reaction was swift, with a Romanian force of 60,000 facing the Hungarians at the battle of Cluj. It was in the instance that the Romanians defeated the Hungarians decisively and forced them to retreat back to Crisana, where the Hungarians began to garrison forces. The Romanians, busy with the massive Soviet force present in Bessarabia, were to busy to dedicate forces to liberate Crisana, but were able to begin a mass persecution of the Hungarian's remaning in Transylvania. As a result, more then 60% of the remaining Hungarians fled to either Hungary or to Crisana, settling in what was declared as the newest County of Hungary.

With the Romanians slightly occupied, the Soviets attempted a push into occupying all of Bessarabia, which succeeded, pushing back the Balkan forces, who faced heavy casualties in the face of Soviet aggression. The Balkan forces fell back, but were able to stabilize their ground. In Anatolia, the Soviets began overtures to the government in Ankara to allow Soviet troops to march through their territory. Turkey responded that any Soviet forces in Turkey would be considered an act of war, and would force Turkey to join with the Greeks. However, the Soviets ignored this, and merely invaded, declaring that the Treaty of Kiev had been violated by the Turkish government. As a result the government in Malataya was declared the legitimate successor of the Turkish State. In Greek Anatolia, the Turks had been ethnically cleansed from many areas surrounding the coast and had been replaced by ethnic Greeks and Slavic Christians. Taking advantage of the advancing Soviet and Communist Turkish armies, the Turks in Greek territory rose up in defiance, forcing the Greeks to fight a two front war in Anatolia itself. Although Rebel activity was kept to mostly guerilla warfare, the rebels did have success against Greek forces, as proven by the fall of Izmir to Turko-Soviet forces in the Summer of 1958. The Greeks, as a result were forced to pull support from Romania and to use its full populace to defend against the Turko-Soviet push to capture Constantinople.

It is considered at this point in the war, that the German High Command began to consider going to war with the Soviets. While the Germans had much to lose from entering against the Soviets, the USSR was fighting a war on 4 fronts and was poised to take control of Eastern Europe, a goal that the Germans did not agree to. The first plans to attack the Soviets came in August of 1958, as German forces began to break the Siege in Warsaw. The proposal was to make the Polish their puppet and use Polish and German soldiers to attack the USSR along with Greece, Finland, Romania and to a lesser extent Bulgaria. The concept was appealing, but Heydrich was unconvinced it would succeed. He began to speak with the Japanese ambassador on a regular basis, questioning if and when the Japanese would enter the war, assuring the ambassador that any Japanese entry would be accompanied by a German advance. The Japanese Ambassador, after gaining permission from his superiors, told Heydrich that the Japanese would enter the war in the Spring of 1959. This was good enough of a promise for Heydrich to order the strike against the USSR.

As a result in late August of '58, German forces opened up warfare against the Soviet forces across the border from them in Lithuania. From East Prussia, the Germans launched a lightning attack liberating the Baltic States by October. The Soviets were caught off guard, and were forced to draft more troops to deal with the Baltic situation. The recruits were not enough and the Baltics remained in German hands, as they dug in for defense over the long winter, planning to advance in the Spring, coinciding with the Sino-Japanese invasion of National Socialist China and Mongolia.

[Enigmajones]

Any comments?

[Life In Black]

Originally Posted by Enigmajones

Any comments?

Sorry. I liked the update.

[Enigmajones]

Originally Posted by Life In Black

Sorry. I liked the update.

No problem I was just bored and was going to post an update so I figured I'd ask.

[Sumeragi]

I really need to find a way to make a mod of this for HoI2.

[Enigmajones]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

I really need to find a way to make a mod of this for HoI2.

A video game!

[Enigmajones]

Gas to the Fire

As 1959 began, the Germans settled into the Baltics for a defensive position. It was during this time that Germany got Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to sign treaties that essentially made each nation into a German protectorate. There was some resistance amongst the governments of the Baltics, especially Lithuania, but the situation proved to be either Germany or the USSR and the government chose the better of two evils, which was the Germans in their case. Germany also included the annexation of the Memeland in the treaty with Lithuania and the ceding of the Vilnius region to Lithuania after the war. There was a problem with this however. Although the Germans had been able to push the Soviets out of Lithuania, they had not been able to dislodge the Soviets from Western Poland, including the Vilnius Region. And even as the Germans claimed victory in the Baltics, raids on German positions were common and the help from the local armed forces was a large part of the German strategy. However, the majority of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian forces had been disarmed and taken as prisoners by the Soviets. They were then shipped to POW camps in Byelorussia. As a result, the Germans were alone in the Baltics against a far larger force. The Soviets were still attacking Finland, Romania and were laying siege to Constantinople with a Turkish force as the year began. The Germans began to push the Japanese to attack earlier then planned, however the Japanese refused to break with the plan and the Germans suffered because of this choice.

The Baltic Front, originally meant to be a launching pad towards Moscow, became a self made prison, with the borders being riddled with trenches and a gigantic drain on troops for the Germans. In Berlin, Reinhard Heydrich began to plan a German offensive to capture Leningrad, to break the Baltics Front and liberate the POWs kept in the camps outside of Minsk. He planned to use the Reichsmarine to blockade Leningrad in the winter and to land troops to coincide with a Finnish offensive. However, the Finnish commander, Ruben Lagus, was hesitant to advance. The Finnish forces had managed to force the Soviets into a stalemate and Lagus had ordered his forces to remain defensive, even as nationalists in Parliament called for the liberation of Karelia and Ingria. Lagus was aging and near death so Heydrich had hope that his successor would be more reasonable to his plan. However, Lagus's successor, Hugo Ostermann was even more worried about the potential of the Red Army seizing Helsinki and was completely opposed to any offensive.

In Asia, the President of China, Zhang Xueliang began the invasion of National Socialist China. The Nazi Republic, had been popular amongst the locals, even after the death of Hu-Hsiang in 1948. The European Nazi's had long since aged but had given birth to a generation of half-Asian, half European children littered throughout the Xi'an. Otto Strasser, the brother of the famed Nazi rebel Gregor Strasser, had become an active part of the Xi'an government, ruling as a part of the government. He served to legitimize the stance of the Xi'an government that they recognized the true dream of Adolph Hitler, and more importantly Gregor Strasser. The writings of the Strasser Brothers were translated into the local dialects throughout China and spread by Nazi agents. The Nazi movement benefited from Xueliang's harsh rule and the view of the populace of the Beijing government as nothing but Japanese puppets. But no major movement had formed to challenge the government since the fall of the Yunnan KMT in 1953. The formation of Nazi cells in China would become key to world history later on. As Spring began in Asia, Japanese forces seized control of Karafuto and landed a force to capture Vladivostok, as well as advancing across Eastern Russia with a goal of capturing Irkutsk by December. With the Soviets busy in Europe, the Japanese figured such a strike would be easily completed. They were correct and Irkutsk fell in December of 1959 to a Sino-Japanese force, which had formed after Chinese force had occupied NS China and Mongolia, linking up with the Japanese. However, the invasion had stretched the supply line quite thin and Japan and China were forced to devote all resources to the armed forces.

In Russia, the German force managed to break the Soviet front in Estonia, but became caught in the Battle of Leningrad, massively outnumbered and were forced to retreat by the winter of 1959. As 1960 began the USSR had amassed a force to defeat the Japanese force occupying their territory.

[Life In Black]

Great update!

[Enigmajones]

By the way, just to clarify, the Japanese do not occupy all of Eastern Russia up to Irkutsk, they merely occupy a string of cities including Chita, across Eastern Siberia. Chinese troops do occupy Mongolia however.

[Enigmajones]

Well I wordled this.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/4559323/Dead_By_Dawn

[Enigmajones]

Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Stanley Baldwin: 1923-1929: Conservative
Ramsay MacDonald: 1929-1931: Labour
Stanley Baldwin: 1931-1939: Conservative
Clement Attlee: 1939-1940: Conservative
Winston Churchill: 1940-1951: Conservative
Douglas Dodds-Parker: 1951-1963: Conservative
Oswald Mosely: 1963-1965: NBWP-Labour coalition
Second British Civil War: 1965-1976

[glenn67]

Originally Posted by Enigmajones

Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Stanley Baldwin: 1923-1929: Conservative
Ramsay MacDonald: 1929-1931: Labour
Stanley Baldwin: 1931-1939: Conservative
Clement Attlee: 1939-1940: Conservative
Winston Churchill: 1940-1951: Conservative
Douglas Dodds-Parker: 1951-1963: Conservative
Oswald Mosely: 1963-1965: NBWP-Labour coalition
Second British Civil War: 1965-1976

Holy cow!! The sheet will be really hitting the fan in the UK as we enter the 1960s. Keep it coming.

[Enigmajones]

I will. I most certainly will.

[Enigmajones]

The Spread of National Socialism Part 1

Although originally known as a fringe radical force in a neutered European nation, National Socialism as an ideology spread gradually over the next 30 years, across the globe and into the mind of like minded individuals. The first places for National Socialism to spread to, were states with large German minorities. In the 1920's, the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party) spread to Czechoslovakia and Poland, popular amongst the Germans of the Sudetenland and Silesia. The parties were popular in their ideology and in Czechoslovakia, the NSDAP absorbed the upper class German National Party and became the most powerful party in the Sudetenland. In 1931, they were banned because of the NSDAP's actions in Germany. This revolt in Germany was matched with a smaller one in the Sudetenland. The Sturmabteilung in German Bohemia were able to take control of Reichenberg briefly, before being occupied by the Czechoslovakian Army. Sudeten German territories would remain occupied until the end of the German Civil War, with German Bohemia and the Bohemian Forest region being the exception, as both shared borders with Germany and Austria. Although the NSDAP would remain banned, the Sudeten German Party would take its place, using National Socialist ideology to preach for German annexation of the Sudetenland, late in the 1960's.

In Poland, the NSDAP and National Socialist symbols were immediately banned by the Sanation Regime. The success of the NSDAP in Danzig were one of the Polish reasons for its annexation. Poland was largely worried about German irredentism for West Prussia and now that it held an independent nation, East Prussia, and as a result were eager to have less Germans in its territory. The area seen as most dangerous by the Polish was the Poznan Voivodship, which had a heavy ex-Nazi community and a vibrant anti-government movement. National Socialism would remain banned and much of the veterans of the German Civil would depart Poznan for China, weakening the Polish Nazi movement to its eventual deathbed in the late 1940's, being replaced by the more conservative DNVP based DVP or NPL as it was known. Nazism would also spread across Europe, becoming most popular in Great Britain and France.

In France, the power of the Croix de Feu and its hegemony on power in France, was palpable. However National Socialism began to appear in student organizations throughout the 1940's. The younger people of France admired Otto Strasser and Gregor Strassers ultimate goal, socialist unity. They used National Socialist symbols, banned by the government, as a way to casually rebel. They formed an underground movement, known as the French Socialist Workers Party, creating a far more leftist version of Nazism. After the fall of the Croix de Feu in 1953, and the holding of free elections in France, the French Socialist Workers Party (POSF), won an overwhelming majority, gaining 60% of the vote, an act which many claimed was thanks in large part to its famous defiance of the Croix de Feu throughout its existence. The POSF would go on to enact many social reforms, taking part in the de-Rocqueization of France, famed for their use of a militia wing of the party, known as the Sturmtruppen to break up "Conservative", "Reactionary" movements, allowing for its dominance to be retained.

In Great Britain, a nation which seemed unlikely to accept such a radical movement, was one which would be majorly affected by the spread of Nazism. During the German Civil War, some 250,000 German Jews sought refuge in Great Britain, gaining approval from Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.
MacDonalds "Refuge Scheme" would cost him the Ministership, and allow for Baldwin to regain the Ministership in the 1931 General Election. As a result, the Jews would still arrive, staying mostly in the South of England, around London, adding to the ever growing melting pot of British society. However, these German Jews, arriving in such a large fashion, allowed for the spread of xenophobic attitudes amongst the native English population, especially in the lower class. Although xenophobia and anti-semitism were already quite common amongst populations across the world, it began to rise and in 1933, the National English Workers Party was founded in the Greater London Area, as an organization dedicated to the deportation of all non-English people from Great Britain. They were a fringe party, but were able to win several seats in the House of Commons in the late 30's. In the 1940's, the NEWP, experienced a makeover. The party was taken over by famed orator and Labour MP from Smethwick, Oswald Mosely, who shifted the party from a fringe, xenophobic, English nationalist party, to a populist, nationalist, xenophobic British Party. Once Winston Churchill took the Ministership in 1940, the people of Great Britain began to experience a malaise. The Empire was at a standstill, culturally, people were growing restless, and many feared that the wounds of the Great War were not yet healed and about to be reopened in a painful second chapter. The Danzig War and the Third Balkans War were both seen as catalysts, but the position of the Conservatives and the Croix de Feu to remain neutral until attacked became the saving grace for Europe.

However, increasing tension between France and Great Britain, would be cause for worry amongst the British community. Taking advantage of those fears was the newly christened National British Workers Party, whose new platform attracted more people to its banner, gaining the approval of the Conservatives as a more likeminded secondary power. The party to be most affected by the rise of the NBWP was Labour, who lost many voters to its populist and Nationalist stance, including a vibrant anti-semitic strain, while the descendants of the Jews who had arrived thanks to the MacDonald were firm in their support of Labour. As a result a divide occurred, wherein the British workers shifted their support to the NBWP, breaking much of Labours power in England. However, the dominance of the Tories in Great Britain, ensured the NBWP a long time before it could challenge for power. Their chance came in 1951, when Winston Churchill was replaced by Conservative whip, Douglas Dodds-Parker, Churchill's protege. Dodds-Parker was considered to have done a good job and would remain popular in Britain as a result of his leadership in the Franco-British War. However, Dodds-Parker was left in charge of the Indian War, which would last until 1965, bringing the highest casualties worldwide in 1960, more then all of the fronts of the World War. In 1963, the Conservatives lost the Ministership for the first time in 32 years, to a NBWP-Labour coalition. The coalition government was less then successful, with Labour and the NBWP having major issues working together. Mosely gained the Ministership and attempted to broker a peace that would retain parts of India within a British dominion. All hope was lost, and in 1964, British troops evacuated India. This "retreat" would enact the dominoes that would lead to the British Civil War.

[PariahNihil]

This timeline is very interesting. Having completed reading it, the only problem I see is the lack of a map... it's rather hard to visualize all these changes

[Enigmajones]

Originally Posted by PariahNihil

This timeline is very interesting. Having completed reading it, the only problem I see is the lack of a map... it's rather hard to visualize all these changes

I would love to put up a map, seriously, it is something desperately want, but I lack any ability to make one, and no one seems willing to make one, so I am at a loss.

[Enigmajones]

Im going to try and put together a Christmas update. Any comments on how things are shaping up?