Scorpions in a Bottle: 'For Want of a Nail' Expanded

[SpanishSpy]

The Rhenish Wall

In the months and years after the war in Europe, many refugees in France and the Netherlands attempted to escape to the relatively free nation of Germany (despite its less than stellar record in eastern Europe). The border with Italy was already fortified; very few people could get across to Lombardy and Piedmont. President Cordonnier had every reason to therefore stop the tide of emigrants in France escaping his purges, or so he thought.

The decision was made by Minister of the Interior Isaac Desmarais to construct a wall along the Rhine, with artillery emplacements ready to strike cities such as Saarbrucken if the need arose. This wall would not follow the course of the Rhine exactly; as it went northwards, it would straddle the border between the Netherlands and Germany, with local headquarters at Liege and Assen. Military bases would be established in these areas with the goal of preventing as many French and Dutch citizens from entering Germany.

The Germans were acutely aware of this; Saarbrucken became a host of flurried military activity, as did Oldenburg and Aachen. Forces being brought back from the war in Russia would therefore be stationed in the western part of the country; compared to the misery of the Russian winter, this was seen as an absolute relief.

German domestic politics was found to be very distressed, with the constant accusations of Neiderhofferism of those at the target of whatever screed a politician needed to concoct. Hysteria pervaded society, with many in literature and the arts being arrested or blacklisted for being "Neiderhofferist sympathizers." Being pro-French was something that could ruin careers.

There had been the Treaty of Eindhoven, but there had been no exchange of ambassadors. Berlin and Paris had none of the other's diplomatic staff in their city limits, and so there was no formal communication. They were essentially blind, walking into a confrontation that could very well scar the continent once again.

 

[SpanishSpy]

British and German Cooperation

German Foreign Minister Adalwin Schickendanz was sent to London by Prime Minister Schottenstein to discuss the possibility of a joint military strategy to effectively prevent revolutionary France from spreading their ideology to either country. "Britain is a valuable potential ally," said Schottenstein, remarking on the new natural enemy. "They must be courted." British Prime Minister Joseph Priestland, representing a riding in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, was cautious about the proposal from his former wartime enemy, but was interested nonetheless.

The British foreign minister, Fulton Parchester, a Liberal from a riding in Gloucestershire, had no reservations about such a proposal. "What Mr. Schickendanz proposes is best for peace in Europe and for peace in the world. If France is counteracted, war is counteracted. Revolution is counteracted, and revolution is hardly good," said Parchester, speaking to Parliament in May 1982.

The debate about such an agreement was vitriolic in parliament, with conservatives opposing it. "Germany was the country that dropped horrifying bombs on our cities," said conservative Member of Parliament Joseph McKinney, of a district in Aberdeenshire. Mass veterans' protests broke out throughout the country, with several thousand coming from all across the island of Great Britain to personally protest the vote at the Palace of Westminster.

Despite the protests, Parliament agreed to the bill, which established a relationship between the German and British armed forces. Soon, German advisors and engineers came flooding into the south of England, the most devastated part of the war, and began to rebuild what their own country had destroyed. "It is like rebuilding your little sister's block tower after you knocked it down," said a German engineer. "You feel guilty, but you have to do it."

 

[SpanishSpy]

The German-British Defense Agreement

The agreement signed between McKinney and Schickendanz, authorized by both Priestland and Schottenstein, allocated several billion Thaler to the British government for the reconstruction of the southern counties of England, as well as less funds for the rest of the country. The public was deeply divided; some were virulently angry at what seemed like a betrayal of the war effort during the Second Global War. Nevertheless, Parliament saw need to rebuild the country.

Almost immediately, ships in the northern parts of Germany, mostly the ports of Oldenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Kiel, and others on the northern coast of the country. These docked at Dover, Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton, and other southern ports. These ships came bearing material for new infrastructure and workmen to build them, with all the accompanying equipment to do so. Among these were hazardous materials workers with the necessary countermeasures to the fallout that the nuclear bombs had strewn across the landscape.

Over the next two years the Germans would use both German labor and British local workers to rebuild the ruined cities of southern England. In return, however, the Germans would have access to British nuclear weapons information and would be positioning nuclear missiles in Sussex, Surrey, Kent, and Essex. These missiles were to replace some of the lost locations in the ruins of Strasbourg, which had been destroyed by British weapons during the war.

The most viable form of resistance was the resurgence of Workers' Armies in Sussex and Kent, which terrorized the new workers. Both Berlin and London sent in military forces to quash them; from there the militaries of both countries, under a German general, would guard the projects.

The reasons for the agreement on both sides were the shrewd application of realpolitik on the European situation. The French were the main enemy, undoubtedly, and the Netherlands, Catalonia, and the Basque Country were its main lackeys. With a strong Britain, France would have to fight a two-front war if it attacked Germany. Likewise, allying with Germany would allow a cheaper reconstruction in Britain.

 

[SpanishSpy]

The Militarization of Piedmont, Sicily, and Sardinia

In 1982, the Prime Minister of Italy, Sigismondo Morasco felt deeply fearful of Neiderhofferist France. Elected after the fall of the Serafini government, Morasco was of a military background, and had fought against the French in Provence, participating in several small engagements, but nothing to the scope of the Germans.

Morasco had denounced Neiderhofferism as a "great and terrible evil" in the world, that the Italian government was obligated to help Germany destroy. The naval base at Palermo, which had been established eight years before, was used in coordination between Italian and German forces during the recent war, and now assumed a point of significant importance. It was the countermeasure against the potential threat of French naval power in the Mediterranean; the French Navy had already commandeered old German bases at Montpellier and Marseille, and was preparing for whatever war would come next.

As if this was not enough, the Italians asked the Germans for the construction of a new naval base, this one at Cagliari on Sardinia. From there, another base was constructed at Genoa. However, it was to be around Turin where the most militarization was to take place.

Morasco sent out conscription orders throughout Italy, taking up new young men that had come of age during and after the Second Global War. Terramobiles, infantry, and airmobiles were sent up to the area around Turin, where new military bases under the command of General Libero Briguglio were being established, with airstrips that could launch planes that could bomb as far as Bordeaux, the spiritual home of the Egalitarian Republic of France.

Perhaps most worrisome, but not to the knowledge of Cordonnier in France, was the establishment of German nuclear weapons in the Aosta Valley, in the far northwestern reaches of Italy. Much like the weapons in Britain, these weapons were intended to bring the balance of power further into the Germans' favor.

 

[SpanishSpy]

The Victorian Revolution

The Dominion of Victoria was a state that was characterized by a degree of segregation between the minority European population and the majority indigenous African population. It was not government imposed; indeed the Prime Minister of the country was African, and so had several of his predecessors. Rather, there was a wealth disparity, with Europeans, despite being less then ten percent of the country's population, holding around seventy percent of the wealth. Europeans dominated the military and the civil service.

Fighting against the Mexican-allied forces in the Second Global War, a conflict which did not bring the same level of devastation to Africa as it did to North America or Europe, but did bring widespread social discontent to the country. The people of Victoria were angry at having to fight people culturally similar to them at the behest of those who were essentially alien.

Neiderhofferist ideas saw a headway in Victoria, which was undergoing its social troubles but was not wrapped in war as of yet. With the Second French Revolution, President Cordonnier saw potential to extend his revolution to Africa. Neema Lowassa, a former soldier and later a labor union leader, grew to be the leader of the movement after being educated and trained by French covert operations.

The Revolution began in late 1982, some years after the war, when workers in cities like Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu, Rutledge, Mzizma, and Middlesbrough attacked military bases, government buildings, and the like. The capital was established at Mzizma after that city was seized by the rebels, who established, on the French model, the Egalitarian Republic of Maziwa Makuu, the name derived from the many lakes in the country.

By the beginning of 1983, the Egalitarian Republic had seized around half of the country, with large amounts of covert French aid. With this, the loyalist government, led by Governor-General Donovan McTavish, decided to petition the British and Germans for help.

 

[The Uchronian]

Nice post on Victoria, SpanishSpy! I was wondering if you might do something with Victoria Madoka; she was one of the most interesting characters in "For All Nails".

 

[SpanishSpy]

Nice post on Victoria, SpanishSpy! I was wondering if you might do something with Victoria Madoka; she was one of the most interesting characters in "For All Nails".

I have deliberately avoided doing anything with For All Nails as to preserve my originality. I have not read the project nor do I intend to until this timeline is finished.

 

[SpanishSpy]

The intervention in Victoria

The civil war in Victoria, backed by Neiderhofferists and by extension France, was deeply worrying to Berlin, to Mexico City, and to London. The possibility of a member of the United British Empire falling to the revolutionaries was simply terrifying, something almost too alien for them to comprehend. It was not merely evil, it was unfathomable.

Immediately, German, British, Italian, Mexican, North American, and Australian delegates met in Sondershausen, in Thuringia, to discuss what to do with Victoria. Neiderhofferist states were already rising up in Africa, and the Mexican allies on the continent, such as Katanga, were already preparing to intervene. On February 2nd, 1983, the Sondershausen agreement was signed, creating a multinational force to bring peace to the country. "Now," said Chancellor Schottenstein, "peace must be achieved, by arms if necessary."

The state that was chosen to be host to the Coalition forces (echoing the nomenclature of the intervention in India; Mexico opposed it but did little to stop such a name from becoming official) was the Republic of Angoche, a Mexican ally that bordered Victoria to the south. The government of Angoche had been at war with Victoria during the Second Global War, and had invaded the southern part of the country, attacking towns like Bradford and Suffolk. With the war's end, the two governments signed the Treaty of Mzizma, ending the war in that portion of Africa.

Coalition troops began landing in the port of the city of Angoche, the Kingdom's capital, and immediately began establishing airfields in the countryside that would be used to aid Victoria from the forces of Maziwa Makuu. Simultaneously, the motorways that were built for civilian usage were awash in terramobiles headed to support the loyalists.

The first battle of the intervention was between German and Neiderhofferist forces at the small town of Harlington, south of Rutledge, the national capital. The battle was one conducted with a no-nonsense approach by the staff in charge; stickzine, dropped from airmobiles, was deployed almost immediately. Harlington was reduced to ashes and dust; it was there decided that the campaign would be as brutal as the Indian intervention.

 

[SpanishSpy]

The Battle of Letterkenny

Letterkenny was a small town settled by Irish immigrants in the central portion of Victoria; it was a key intersection of multiple highways in the country, and such a natural target for the forces of Maziwa Makuu, whose forces began advancing on it as soon as possible.

The attack began with tactics inspired by the Indian Liberation Movement (ILM) in India in the previous decade; the first attackers on the fortified Loyalist base in the country were destroyed by locobombs ramming into the fortifications, levelling the walls and turrets that had been established. From there, the captured weapons from Victorian depots and army bases were moved into position, shelling the base and warmobiles engaging the those of the Loyalists.

With the Victorian Commander, Ernest Randall, in full retreat, the commander of the Coalition, German General Melchior Hanselmann, a veteran of the wars in Britain and Russia, led a combined force of German, British, and Mexican detachments to engage the insurgency. Their weapons were superior to those of the old Victorian hand-me-downs from Britain or North America, and as such they initially seemed the easy victors of Letterkenny.

However, the Coalition was shocked by the arrival of an air force loyal to Maziwa Makuu; they were rebellious pilots from the Victorian Air Arm that had defected. They swooped in with French-provided planes (this was not determined until after the war) and destroyed the advancing column of armor that was preparing to fortify Letterkenny. Coming as a complete shock, the Coalition forces scrambled their fighters to shut down any air base that would be serving as a base.

An airfield was destroyed; from there, however, Maziwa Maku forces came scrambling from the villages, seen by scout airmobiles sent to scan the area. Hanselmann ordered his bombers into action, equipped with stickzine. He wanted nothing less than the destruction of the villages.

The entire area was razed.

 

[SpanishSpy]

Chinese Intervention in Vietnam

China was the one major non-Neiderhofferist power intervening in the Victorian revolution; its leadership, Wen Pan and Carl Salazar included, were worried about the potential discrediting of the newfound Chinese power. To do so, attention had to be turned down to Southeast Asia, where Neiderhofferist revolts, inspired by the revolutions in France, in Victoria, and in Chiapas, were gaining in popularity.

This was a threat, pure and simple, to the government in Nanjing. Wen selected gifted veteran of the Second Global War, Zhuang Rong, to lead a Chinese force to quell the uprising that had already taken Saigon and threatened to take the capital city of Hanoi. Dinn Ngoc Lanh, the Commander in Chief of the Egalitarian Republic of Vietnam, was personally leading the charge towards Hanoi.

Neither side had particularly good weaponry; Kramer Associates had dropped some reasonably good quality terramobiles onto the beaches of northern Vietnam, but these were not enough to stop the surplus Mexican weapons given to the non-Neiderhofferist rebels supplied by the Global Association for Peace during the Second Global War.

The invasion began in June of 1983, with Chinese bomber aeromobiles destroying rebel positions to the south of Hanoi; long range bombers made runs over Saigon. Larger terramobiles, such as the newly designed Fucanglong Terramobile, and other vehicles, such as the Yinglong self-propelled artillery, outclassed the Mexican-designed terramobiles in every way (which were themselves in short supply).

Yi Pengfei, one of the highest ranking naval officers in China, was sent to bombard rebel positions on the Vietnamese coast. Not prepared for a naval war, the rebel positions fell quickly and easily to Chinese naval forces, including the marines. These forces were able to clear a way for the army led by Zhuang to advance down to Saigon, capturing it in October.

Dinn was captured and executed by the Chinese forces, and Vietnam was established as a pro-Chinese state, which was brought in the Global Association for Peace as a Republic of Vietnam, not unlike its pre-Revolution status.

 

[SpanishSpy]

The Commonwealth of Egalitarian Republics

With the uprising in Victoria and the ongoing wars in Chiapas, New Granada, and Vietnam, Mathieu Cordonnier considered it necessary to strengthen the international nature of Neiderhofferism. "We need to stand firm against the economic oppressors of the world," he said in a speech to the People's Assembly in Paris. From there, the Foreign Minister of France Georges Gaudreau was instructed to "bring together the various Egalitarian Republics as one cohesive bloc in the world."

Gaudreau sent out word to his ambassadors to propose such an idea to the various governments that were of a similar governmental persuasion; all consented on the basis that France was their main backer against the imperialism of whatever power happened to be hostile towards them. On July 9th, 1983, the various Neiderhofferists coalesced in Paris in the new government's capital building, Hotel de Gambetta, to sign the Hotel de Gambetta agreement that would establish the Commonwealth of Egalitarian Republics. In this document, it was written that "no monarchy or aristocracy" would be permitted among the nations of the Commonwealth, which would be dedicated to the economic and social equality of all human beings.

It was, however, noted that the French were very much insistent on a military alliance, which, in the case of "sufficient cause and aggression" from imperialist powers (implicitly Germany, Britain, North America, Mexico, and China), would call for a "general war" against the aggressors. The delegation from Maziwa Makuu held that the multinational intervention in their country against the Neiderhofferists was "sufficient cause and aggression;" however, France said that the success of the movement in Chiapas, which was coming close to independence, New Granada, and in the European states of Catalonia, Euskal Herria, and the Netherlands, and from there concluded that the state of the Neiderhofferist movement was in good condition.

Despite this, the Maziwa Makuu delegation ultimately agreed to sign on to be a part of the Commonwealth, which chose Paris as its meeting place; the city was among the largest in the Neiderhofferist bloc and was sufficiently safe from German and British attack. Satellite offices were to be established in Mombasa, in Tuxtla, and in Cartagena to supervise the spreading of the revolution.

The Commonwealth had high standards for admission, but was insistent on bringing poor nations that were oppressed by the imperialist powers to revolution and thusly meet those standards. There would also be military aid to those currently fighting them, including Maziwa Makuu and Chiapas.