a Valkyrie Rises Over Europe, a Alternate Story of the Cold War
- Thread starter Kaiser K
- Start date
Its about the Sierra Leone civi war and Leonardos character was an Angola vet and basically says Africa is always in crisis TIA. Relates in that even in a different timeline Africa is Africa. Not trying to generalize a continent but if is a troubled one.
Okay I got you now.
As for Africa still being Africa, I would have definitely preferred to see Africa get the better end of the stick in this timeline, but the various European governments in exiles, the colonies and the constant meddling nature of the Nazis (and the more intense Cold War of this timeline) meant that Africa was eventually going to be caught in the cross fire of the struggle between Democracy and Fascism; the only question is how much will burn?
The worst case probably won't come to fruition in this specific case, but will it bad?; you can fucking bet 20 Reichsmarks on it.
Speaking of Reichsmarks, time the start the betting pool, because I would like present a hint in a form of a short mini update towards the other part of the next actual update, "The Man in the Jungle Hut: Part 2" for you all to enjoy.
Where ever they are governments in exile
So a lot of it and possibly South Africa since Americas stance against fascism would make it a Nazi lapdog in their eyes.Where ever they are governments in exile
South Africa is technically a US ally at this point as I mentioned before, but things are already starting to tense up in that relationship.
Sorry must have missed that.
As for the snippet this is not going to be good for anybody.
No it's fine, it was easy to miss with all of the posts, in regards to the little snippet hint thing towards the next update I posted, all I will say that in the oh so immortal words of one Hulk Hogan might; it seems that "Nuclear Proliferation is about to run wild on the Valkyrie-verse brother!"
Admiral Halsey
Banned
If this was Mussolini's Italy I could see that nuke(least that's what I think it is) when the timer goes off having a flag that says boom coming out of it.
While that would certainly make for a very funny cartoon, this is real life (at least for the denizens of the Valkyrie-verse), and it is a real nuclear bomb; so Italy will be getting herself a good ole kick in power status if things go correctly (which they should
)Through I thought this upcoming update was a good enough time as any to talk about Italy as well anyway, since I have literally not talked about Italy for practically a single second at all during this timeline (damn me
); so it was long overdue.The Italian Army has undergone a vast (or at least attempted of course) modernization and rebuilding effort after the failures and successes of the Second World War, and the modern Italian Army is one of the larger and more "well-efficient" military forces in Europe now as we head to the new decade; through I will probably go more in depth in the update itself in regards to the Italian Military.
As for whether Mussolini is still around, you'll just have to wait and see.
I cannot wait to see what you do with Italy. I hope you do Nuovo Impero Romano proud - show those barbarians to the north who's civilized!
Going by the mention of Balbo, I'm guessing he has succeeded Il Duce. Hopefully so, he was one of the, for lack of a better word, "better" fascists.
Italy still controls Libya ITTL, correct? Did they snag Tunisia from the French? How goes the plans to make a Fourth Shore of North Africa?
Italy still controls Libya ITTL, correct? Did they snag Tunisia from the French? How goes the plans to make a Fourth Shore of North Africa?
Ryan
Donor
no, Italy was just as useless in ww2 as otl and lost all it's colonies. Libya is part of the united Arab republic and Tunisia is in the French sphere.
(latest world map is on page 39 post 772)
In regards to the situation on top with Balbo and Mussolini, that will be fully explored in the Italy update (which will be it's own full update, cause randomly cutting from 1959 all the way back to like 1949 to discuss Italy would be weird), so you will just have to wait and see.
As for your second question regarding Africa, that was answered below by Ryan here.
Beat me to it.
It's a bit of a shame (story wise that is) that Italy couldn't keep its colonies. Nevertheless, it'll be interesting to see how it's been getting along with Germany constantly on its back.
A question though; will you be brushing over what's been going on in Greece during this time (had it become more 'Italianised' under their neighbour's watchful eye)?
It was the only realistic option to occur (that is Italy losing her colonies in the war), nevertheless I still have very interesting plans set in store for Italy; including some things you might not expect at all.
In regards to Greece, I will probably talk at least a bit about it soon, through it may be in another update about Europe in general rather then the one about Italy.
Anyway, onto the next update!
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PART 26
The Man in the Jungle Hut: Part 2
"It is the destiny of the Portuguese people and their lands to remain united, wherever shore or continent those lands lay on, Portugal is a inherently at it's core a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state of many different peoples who share a common and unbreakable bond; and no Socialist or Radical will drive the Portuguese people off their destined path to greatness"
- Portuguese Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar, speaking in regards to the developing conflict in Angola.
PART 26
The Man in the Jungle Hut: Part 2
"It is the destiny of the Portuguese people and their lands to remain united, wherever shore or continent those lands lay on, Portugal is a inherently at it's core a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state of many different peoples who share a common and unbreakable bond; and no Socialist or Radical will drive the Portuguese people off their destined path to greatness"
- Portuguese Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar, speaking in regards to the developing conflict in Angola.
....... continued from last time
To an outside observer it may have seemed as if the African continent was on a path to mayhem and sorrow, which it was in way; but not for the reasons many would think. The conflicts in Africa were instigated by deep seated and long standing tensions and historical effects, all of which had boiled under the radar for a long period of time before finally reaching a point where it could not be contained anymore.
The Portuguese Colonial War, and more specifically the Angolan War, was no different in this regard; as the issues that ultimately instigated the breakout of the conflict were heavily rooted in the history of the region. Through too really understand the conflict, one must go back just a bit in time; all the way back to 16th Century.
Figure 1: António de Oliveira Salazar, Prime Minister of Portugal since 1933 and leader of the country at the outbreak of the Angolan War; picture circa 1960
The history of Portuguese rule in Angola dated back to the year 1575, when Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais founded the settlement of Luanda along the coast, south of the borders of the then existing Kingdom of Kongo and in what is now these days northwestern Angola, the founding of Luanda is generally considered by most historians as the beginning of Angolan colony, through Angola in it's modern contemporary form in actuality did not begin to take shape until the late 19th century when various medical advances gave European explorers the protection needed to combat the various jungle diseases (such as and including Malaria) on the continent and push their territorial control further inland; with Angola's modern borders only fully achieved by Portugal in the early years of the 1920's. It was around this same time period that the Angolan colony began to undergo a long period of strong economic growth thanks in large point to not only the region's abundant and vast wealth of natural resources (including and not limited too diamonds and iron ore, and later Oil upon it's discovery in 1954), but the further development of local business and social infrastructure as well, through this growth period also had the side effect of attracting increased amounts of immigration to Angola by both Portuguese and other white European settlers; many (in actuality most) of whom sought to take advantage of the vast potential opportunities available within in the colony.
Despite this growth however, instabilities and seeds for conflict down the road were already quietly beginning to appear within Portugal's overseas possessions; and Angola in particular due to the fact that this period of economic growth also happened to coincide with the early beginnings of the nationalist movement within the colony. The early leaders of the Angolan nationalist movement mainly consisted of a group of like-minded young university-educated intellectuals, who were growing increasingly dissatisfied with both the clear legal inequality to the ruling white Portuguese minority and vast economic and social disadvantages that the native Angolan peoples were forced to live under, especially in the wake of the passing of the Portuguese Colonial Act of 1933, which only further reaffirmed and expanded the existing legal supremacy of the white Portuguese minorities over the native peoples in the country's various colonies; with the later growth of nationalist and decolonization movements in both Africa and Europe in the wake of the Second World War only further exacerbated this growing nationalist feeling along the way. While a few European countries (namely the British, and France to a certain extent with specific colonies) did not try particularly hard to fight this (especially as the fight Greater German Reich and the United States to increase their spheres of influence intensified), Portugal on the other hand attempted to actively fight these movements and ensure the continuation of their colonial empire, the territory of which many in Portugal (including Prime Minister Salazar) viewed not as colonies; but as integral parts of a wider "pluricontinental" and multi-ethnic Portuguese nation state (an idea which would later be affirmed in legality in early 1952 when an amendment to change the status of the colonies to that of being overseas provinces of the Portuguese Republic was passed with minimal opposition through the Portuguese Assembly).
Figure 2: A Portuguese infantryman, armed with a model of the Portuguese produced variant of the Sturmgewehr 46, conducts a routine patrol in the Angolan countryside for nationalist forces; circa 1959
While one would think that the restructuring of Angola from a colony to a province would in theory mean that all of it's citizens were entitled to same rights and privileges as all individuals with Portuguese citizenship, the situation of the white Portuguese minority continuing to hold supremacy over the native population would not only continue almost unabated even after this restructuring, but would actually grow in strength with the continued migration of white settlers and encouragement from the Portuguese government in Lisbon; which ultimately would only further exacerbate and intensify the growing nationalistic feeling among the native Angolan population. While some individuals in certain circles in Angola continued (quite fruitlessly I may add) to try more peaceful and indirect avenues of protest against the colonial government, it was becoming quite clear to more and more people as the decade marched on that peaceful protest was not working and was never going to work, due to the fact that the Portuguese government had absolutely zero intentions of letting go of Angola (or any of their other colonies for that matter) any time soon, at least if they had anything to say about it that is; the failure and fruitlessness of prior peaceful protest soon lead to a great shift of attitude among Angolan nationalist circles that they would need to fight for their freedom if they truly wanted it. Sowing the final seeds in place for the conflict that was to come in the years to follow.
The tensions between the native population and the Portuguese would continue to simmer under the radar for the next several years, with grievance after grievance (in particular the forced relocation of blacks from the countryside by Portuguese authorities; and the subsequent forced labor they were put under) slowly and ever so surely building up the animosity between the two sides, all that was needed for things to cross the line into open violence between the government and the natives was a trigger point to push it over the proverbial edge, and that trigger point would ultimately come in July of 1959; and come in the form of the arrest of a top Angolan Nationalist leader named Holden Roberto (the leader of the main nationalist group, the National Liberation Front of Angola; or FNLA) by Portuguese authorities in Luanda for supposed "terrorist activities" (which were in actuality just trumped up charges brought on Roberto by the police). Roberto's arrest quickly sparked a series of violent protests and riots (often met with lethal force from Portuguese police) in major cites all across the Angolan colony, the most famous of which was an attack conducted on August 15th, 1959 by 100 armed FNLA-aligned militants on the Lunanda police station where Roberto was being held prisoner, an attack which would not only cost the lives of 11 police officers and 56 militants; but result in the successful escape of Roberto and 8 other political prisoners. Who quickly retreated from Luanda and returned to the countryside to plan the FNLA's next move. But what was going on was clear to all parties involved, and that was the fact war had indeed begun.
Figure 3: Angolan nationalist militants from the "FNLA" (National Liberation Front of Angola) prepare to engage Portuguese forces operating at a government military base in Northern Angola; circa 1959
In the aftermath of the Luanda Police Station Raid, the FNLA quickly regrouped their military assets and began to launch sporadic cross border attacks from their bases in the Belgian Congo (established under the quiet secret approval of the United States) and into the northern part of the country, attacking Portuguese farms, military and government outposts and trading centers, in addition to launching a series of attacks against both the above mentioned types of targets as well as Portuguese civilians from forces operating within Angola itself; gradually driving the northwestern part of the colony into a state of low-level warfare. The Portuguese response to these initial attacks by the nationalists was ultimately as expected swift and brutal, with Portuguese police and military forces quickly moving in and attacking suspected nationalist hideouts in both major cities and locations further inland, these attacks would achieve reasonable amount of initial success for the Portuguese, despite the success however, Portuguese military officers within Angola were incredibly skeptical of the country's long term ability to combat the nationalist efforts within the colonies, and many at the time even held a belief that the Portuguese government should have opened negotiations with the independence movements to achieve a settlement which would suit both sides, Prime Minister Salazar, ever determined to ensure the continuation of Portugal's "pluricontinental empire"; would shut down these ideas of theoretical peace negotiations and subsequently order the immediate mobilization and stationing of over 50,000 troops from the mainland and to the Angolan colony to reinforce the existing forces there and conduct counterinsurgency operations against the nationalist forces.
Events in the war would only continue escalate as the days continued to pass on, with the FNLA's attacks against Portuguese forces continually increasing in regards to their frequency, intensity and brutality, which would in turn prompt even more brutal and violent responses from Portuguese authorities to these attacks as a result; creating a vicious cycle of escalation as the war continued to intensify over the following months. Portuguese forces were however finding themselves glaringly under-equipped and under-trained to effectively deal with the sort of intense and committed insurgency that they were being forced to deal from the FNLA's forces (which were being covertly trained by American advisers) on a long term basis, in order to deal with this glaring weakness, Portugal would find itself forced to turn to a fellow fascist state in Germany for support in the conflict (and particular Führer Albert Speer; a close personal friend of Salazar's), the Germans quickly agreed to assist the Portuguese, and offered their own expertise in combating insurgent forces in the form of military advisers from the Heer and the SS to assist and train Portuguese forces in counter-insurgent and counter-terrorist operations (as well as offering an expanded version of the existing military aid program that the Reich already had with Portugal at the time), in addition to this however, the Reich (in stark contrast to other conflicts they had actively intervened in) would offer the direct assistance of several thousand soldiers of the Waffen-SS (including the 45th Waffen Grenadier Division, which mainly consisted of Portuguese recruits) to assist the existing Portuguese forces in Angola in "security" and counter-terrorist operations; an offer (in addition to the already laid out offers of military advisers and expanded military aid) which Salazar would in the end reluctantly accept. Deciding to ultimately trust his gut that Speer and the Germans wouldn't screw him over in the long run.
Figure 4: German soldiers pose for a photograph after arriving at Portuguese positions in Northern Angola to reinforce their allied forces defensive positions; circa 1960
The first German advisers would soon begin to arrive in Luanda shortly thereafter in the later days of November, with German ground troops (totaling roughly 7,000 men initially) and equipment (for both Portuguese and German forces) following suit several days later via boat, while the forces and aid supplied by the Germans were most certainly a boon to Portugal to say the least, the biggest thing to take from this (at least initially here, before even delving deeper into the extent of Germany's actual involvement) is just how unprecedented the direct intervention of actual forces into a proxy conflict (which Angola was, due to the United States and the ACT Alliance's support of the Angolan nationalists) really was at that point of the Cold War (through the later intervention of the United States into the Soviet Civil War would become another example of the actual forces of the superpowers getting directly involved in proxy conflicts outside of the standard aid and advisers), so it can be said that Germany's for the lack of a better word directly changed the landscape of the Cold War in a way, through the fact that Germany chose this war of all wars to intervene in directly; with the (admittedly minimal) intervention done to actively and (more or less openly) assist an actual (and ethnically European) ally rather then doing so in any prior conflict can not and should be ignored at all.
What can not be denied however, is that the landscape of Angola would be changed forever as a result of Germany's involvement; and changed for what would turn out to ultimately be not for the better.
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