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So I recently discovered a game on the Play Store called Domination, which is a Java version of the classic board game Risk. Essentially, it’s a turn-based game where the goal is to take over the entire map. I play with the maximum number of AI factions, which are colour-coded as follows: blue, green, pink, red and yellow. My faction is light (neon?) blue. There’s a lot of different maps available to play on, and one of them is a map of Austria-Hungary in 1914.
To cut a long story short, I think Domination is a very powerful tool to simulate civil wars, and I’m going to post a few of the weird civil war scenarios that sprouted in my head while playing this game. If you guys have any suggestions on what countries I could play next, do feel free to post them on this thread.
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Chapter 5: Civil War (1919-[ILLEGIBLE])
The Austrian Civil War is generally considered to have begun with the eruption of rebellion in Szatmár on 11 June 1919. For the past five months, as the Russians surged further south and the Italian expeditionary force in Croatia began to take on the characteristics of an occupying regime, a fifth column of pro-independence Hungarian businessmen and politicians had been plotting with notables in Galicia and Transylvania to overthrow the Habsburgs and establish a “more equal union” under Budapest. On 11 June, motley bands of insurgents took over the towns and quickly established control over much of the countryside, calling themselves the "Austrian Democratic Front" (ADF).
As word spread of the rebellion, left-wing cells in Temes, Pilsen and Somogy rose up as well over the course of July, heralding the total collapse of order in the Empire. Similarly, in early August, a collection of military commands in the Balkans disavowed all loyalty to Vienna and began to establish statelets of their own. In the Bukovina, the shattered remnants of the Eastern Command coalesced under a military regime that served mostly as a safe haven for refugees, while in Moravia, a collection of veterans established a semi-feudal proto-state paying lip-service to Vienna.
On the first of September, the Germans began to march south, occupying Vorarlberg and much of Bohemia. The justification provided by Frankfurt was that their troops were merely “maintaining order”, but no one was fooled. Nevertheless, Vienna was in no shape to restore control over the rest of its Empire, and its legitimacy was in tatters.
On 18 October, however, a troop surge emerged from Carinthia and quashed the Tyrolean Popular Front. This surge was primarily composed of the Austrian Home Army, which had initially been designated as a reserve for the armies on the Southern Front, but about a fifth of its strength was made up by volunteers. By mid-November, they had arrived in Vorarlberg and demanded that the Germans return them their rightful territory. This was done in due course, but Frankfurt retained control of much of Bohemia. It was clear that Vienna as an ally had outlived its usefulness to the Frankfurt-Rome axis.
Concurrently, in Transylvania, the ADF had been pushed out by the Romanian Fifth Army and the Russian Third Army. Similar successes were not forthcoming in Bosnia, where the Serbian VII. Corps was pushed out of Tuzla by the Balkan military regimes, now calling themselves the Illyrian Alliance. This was an ominous sign that Belgrade's will to fight was flagging. In Szatmár, however, despite losses in Transylvania and Galicia, the ADF remained upbeat as news was forthcoming from Bohemia that the Moravian Free Province had been occupied.
Frankfurt's refusal to yield Bohemia to Vienna was quickly rendered a moot point as the Czech Industrial Alliance pushed the Bavarian Volunteer Corps out of Budweis, leaving only the Fifth Saxon Division in control of Prague and northeastern Bohemia.
To cut a long story short, I think Domination is a very powerful tool to simulate civil wars, and I’m going to post a few of the weird civil war scenarios that sprouted in my head while playing this game. If you guys have any suggestions on what countries I could play next, do feel free to post them on this thread.
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Chapter 5: Civil War (1919-[ILLEGIBLE])
The Austrian Civil War is generally considered to have begun with the eruption of rebellion in Szatmár on 11 June 1919. For the past five months, as the Russians surged further south and the Italian expeditionary force in Croatia began to take on the characteristics of an occupying regime, a fifth column of pro-independence Hungarian businessmen and politicians had been plotting with notables in Galicia and Transylvania to overthrow the Habsburgs and establish a “more equal union” under Budapest. On 11 June, motley bands of insurgents took over the towns and quickly established control over much of the countryside, calling themselves the "Austrian Democratic Front" (ADF).
As word spread of the rebellion, left-wing cells in Temes, Pilsen and Somogy rose up as well over the course of July, heralding the total collapse of order in the Empire. Similarly, in early August, a collection of military commands in the Balkans disavowed all loyalty to Vienna and began to establish statelets of their own. In the Bukovina, the shattered remnants of the Eastern Command coalesced under a military regime that served mostly as a safe haven for refugees, while in Moravia, a collection of veterans established a semi-feudal proto-state paying lip-service to Vienna.
On the first of September, the Germans began to march south, occupying Vorarlberg and much of Bohemia. The justification provided by Frankfurt was that their troops were merely “maintaining order”, but no one was fooled. Nevertheless, Vienna was in no shape to restore control over the rest of its Empire, and its legitimacy was in tatters.
On 18 October, however, a troop surge emerged from Carinthia and quashed the Tyrolean Popular Front. This surge was primarily composed of the Austrian Home Army, which had initially been designated as a reserve for the armies on the Southern Front, but about a fifth of its strength was made up by volunteers. By mid-November, they had arrived in Vorarlberg and demanded that the Germans return them their rightful territory. This was done in due course, but Frankfurt retained control of much of Bohemia. It was clear that Vienna as an ally had outlived its usefulness to the Frankfurt-Rome axis.
Concurrently, in Transylvania, the ADF had been pushed out by the Romanian Fifth Army and the Russian Third Army. Similar successes were not forthcoming in Bosnia, where the Serbian VII. Corps was pushed out of Tuzla by the Balkan military regimes, now calling themselves the Illyrian Alliance. This was an ominous sign that Belgrade's will to fight was flagging. In Szatmár, however, despite losses in Transylvania and Galicia, the ADF remained upbeat as news was forthcoming from Bohemia that the Moravian Free Province had been occupied.
Frankfurt's refusal to yield Bohemia to Vienna was quickly rendered a moot point as the Czech Industrial Alliance pushed the Bavarian Volunteer Corps out of Budweis, leaving only the Fifth Saxon Division in control of Prague and northeastern Bohemia.
Austria, c. 30 November 1919