Both sides are considering themselves to be the heroes fighting against an evil regime wishing to subjugate their country, of course.
The Silver Knight, a Lithuania Timeline
- Thread starter Augenis
- Start date
You know, nuking Japan worked because it came at the of a long, brutal, traumatising war that they had been losing.
India has nuked this city pretty much at the start. The Chinese were angry before, But now they are GENUINELY PISSED OFF!
India has nuked this city pretty much at the start. The Chinese were angry before, But now they are GENUINELY PISSED OFF!
The Chinese are angry, but also scared. Have they got what it takes to strike back? If they can't develop and deploy their own nukes fast, they had better surrender.
I imagine the World community now carefully attempts to isolate India without drawing the ire on themselves.
I imagine the World community now carefully attempts to isolate India without drawing the ire on themselves.
I'd wondered why the Great European War continued to be referred to as "European" despite involving most of Afro-Eurasia. It looks like the West TTL names wars after their place of origin, and even if this new war envelops the world it will technically be an "Asian" one.
Isn't it referred to as just "The Great War" at this point?
The Nuclear Gandhi meme is complete. But god, that was horrible.
That day will surely live in infamy.
That day will surely live in infamy.
Ok, I gotta admit i never got triggered over fictional event until now.
If we're talking applying it to practice, then yes, India is the only nation to have achieved notable breakthroughs. But that doesn't mean that other nations don't have their own nuclear scientists and knowledge of thermonuclear sciences, which could be put into work.
That was my feeling on this. Prior to WWII the Brits were the closest to making nukes. That's not to say the USA wasn't close, but it was going down a different avenue. Without the war, the USA probably would have developed their own nukes by the 50s.
In all likelihood Germania is probably close to developing their own and anyone in the bull park is going to get their fast now. Even taking into account the espionage of the USSR in obtaining research and data, the rest of the worlds powers, probably won't have to wait long for the next nuke.
Why this hype about China? Like they are destined to win the war just because they are democratic and India is alt-communist.
It is better to know about the economic and military capability of each country and their respective alliances before drawing on any conclusions.
It is better to know about the economic and military capability of each country and their respective alliances before drawing on any conclusions.
This. It's worth noting that Europe has not officially made steps to enter the war-- Lithuania's promise to Germania was to join the war if it came to Europe. For the time being, the EASA may be alone here. While that probably means trouble for the Indians at sea (Shun and Lusang are both stated to have respectable naval capabilities) the air war seems to have been won. And air superiority over Southern China (one of China's most industrially and agriculturally productive zones) is no laughing matter.
Additionally, amphibious landings can fail. Who's to say that the landings at Manamelkudi lead to meaningful results?
Chapter 101: Shock and Awe
Part 101: Shock and Awe (1956)
Once the 100 kilotons of force over Changsha subsided and the Chinese people reeled from the shock, Amrit Ahuya's government sent a peace proposal to their northern neighbor, and the terms they demanded were massive - complete occupation of Southeast Asia and a demilitarization of the Yunnan and Guangxi regions of China. Despite the insanity of the claims, the Chinese assembly debated on this possibility - the point hinged on the lack of knowledge if that was the only "nuclear weapon" the Indians had, or were they ready to destroy all of Southern China at a moment's notice? Hasty polls conducted in Nanjing and Changdong coincided with Chancellor Xuegang's view - no, China must not surrender. Or else, the many thousands lost in Changsha fell in vain. The day after the Indian peace proposal was sent, a note confirming China's declination of the offer arrived.
Two days afterwards, a second nuclear bomb landed, this time hitting the city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province and an important transportation link between China and Southeast Asia. Although not as devastating as the one before, it still resulted in severe damages to the city and almost 80 thousand casualties, not to mention a deep cut to the Chinese supply network. And then... the nuclear attacks stopped. Outside of sporadic fighting in Southeast Asia, the war seemed to have stopped. It took a good week for China and the rest of the world to realize this, but India was out of nuclear bombs. A few more had been ordered, but were still in early development, and mass production of these superweapons seemed to be a pipe dream. The original plan of subduing China with nuclear shock and dictating their own terms had failed. A long and grueling war was about to begin.
The remains of a public school in Kunming
In July of 1956, after a few weeks of debates with fellow members of the German government as well as other country leaders in the European Defense Commission, Prime Minister Volker Braun declared the beginning of the "Generalplan 'Ost'", more commonly known as the Braunplan, which, while it originally began as an EDC-only initiative, later involved nations across the whole planet, with France, Spain, Italy, and even Vespucia joining in. In all essence, what it entailed was one of the largest, if not the absolute largest international relief mission known to history. To relieve the stress of the Chinese industry and economy, much of which was growing paralyzed by Indian air raids, resources, industrial machines, produce and especially weapons and ammunition were being shipped almost for free, only requiring extremely low interest loans from the Middle Kingdom. Unrelated to the Braunplan, volunteers from the West started to arrive to China, serving as medics, support and occasionally as frontline units - by 1958, these so-called "Western Dragon" battalions counted up to 10 000 personnel. It ended up beneficial for both sides - for Germania and the EDC, it was an easy excuse to start economic mobilization and military preparations for a potential direct intervention in the East, while for China, it was necessary relief while fighting a foe superior both economically, militarily and in nuclear armament. At the same time, it was a glove thrown to Amrit Ahuya's feet: "sure, India, you hate the West supporting China - and if you consider bombing this route of supplies, then brace yourself for retaliation".
Not everyone was willing to join up with Germania in helping China, however, often because of their own grievances with the sender. An example of these were the Three Bogatyrs - Russia, Krajina and Volga - whose economic and nationalistic competition against the EDC was simply too much to allow them to join in on this initiative. At the same time, however, the idea of jumping to the other side and outright attacking either Germania or China was out of the cards. Simply enough, the three Slavic nations knew better than to wage an opportunistic war against a kingdom itching for an excuse to mobilize and go to war. Many of them did not even want to go to war, either - the citizens of the Volga, for example, saw the Russo-Lithuanian War as a Pyrrhic victory and thus wanted no dealings in conflicts of similar scale, while Russia, under the new leader Yevgeniy Vetlugin, began undertaking important democratic reforms after the pressure of their fellow allies, and thus were too busy in domestic affairs to take on risky foreign ventures. Outside of shaking their fist at the West, there wasn't much the Three Bogatyrs could even do. Turkey was a whole other beast. With negotiations between the Yenilemists and the Germans failing, the division of Turkey into East and West appeared to turn permanent, even though neither side truly wished for such an outcome. West Turkey, guided into democracy by their German big brother, had many ills and weaknesses, from government corruption to Unitarian and monarchist terrorism to a massive economic disparity between Constantinople and the countryside, but at the same time was still a functioning democracy. East Turkey inherited the poor parts of the state, but was catching up to its neighbor through a combination of centralized economic development and a cold-blooded cleansing of corruption and bureaucratic entanglements to boost its status. With war breaking out in the east, Yenilemist Turkey found a window of opportunity to once again stake its claim on the "occupied Western territories" and their eternal capital of Konstantinyye, even going as far as to prepare its military for a potential war of liberation, even if such a hypothetical conflict seemed even more like a long-shot than even the Crimean War.
Vespucian convoy en route to Tianjin, early 1957
Naval warfare was a thing which set the Great Asian War apart from its European counterpart - because of the rough, mountainous, forested landscape of Southeast Asia, military operations there were limited in scope, so both sides took to the sea, especially to the massive Nusantara archipelago, to gain the so desired decisive advantage against the opponent. The Indians brought the pride of their navy, five super-heavy Magentas built during the late Nijasure era - Independence, Bright Tomorrow, Unity, Lucknow and Strength - to the fray to wrest control of the South China Sea. Each one weighing well over 80 thousand tons, they were hyped up by the Indian propaganda machine as the "naval superweapon", the rulers of the sea, as potent of turning the tide of a war as the atomic bomb itself. They weren't the only Indian ships in the area, either - to support the quintet, the UIS mobilized eight aircraft carriers, 12 Magentas and three squadrons of cruisers, alongside many auxiliary ships. In exchange, the Chinese were armed with competent carrier task forces and Magenta ships of their own, although many were delegated to support roles during the conflict, making the battle for the South China Sea not just a battle of ships, but a battle of naval doctrines.
While massive clashes took place alongside the scattered islands of the sea, India, Aceh and Oceania took advantage to begin a direct assault of Nusantara itself. Southern Sumatra had been occupied by Acehi forces in the very beginning of the war, while amphibious assaults took place on Brunei, Java and Timor - only two of them ended up succeeding, though. Indian troops seized control of Sambas and Sarawak in western Brunei, threatening the capital of the entire confederation, while the Oceanian occupation of Timor took off without a hitch, only yielding the occupiers 92 casualties. The assault on Java, however, was met with fierce resistance in the port of Sunda Kelapa, leading to a bloody three-week battle which ended with the evacuation of the Indian and Acehi marine forces. As Java was by far the most densely populated island of the confederation, maintaining control of it had been made top priority by the EASA high command, and the victory in Sunda Kelapa marked their first important victory in the front. Lusang saw its share of action, too, as Aozhou (or New Guinea, depending on who you ask), became a front between the kingdom and the Oceanian forces - however, the harsh climate of the tropical jungle and mountains meant that the front stagnated.
Stagnation is also a word best used to describe the fighting in Southeast Asia. Although getting off to a great start, the Indian invasion of the region, also known as Operation Ashoka, began to struggle once consistent Chinese reinforcements began to come in and reinforce the local defenders. The mountains of Yunnan and Assam were just as bad for the Unitarian invasion, and the Chinese knew this, using the terrain to their advantage by inserting fighters behind enemy lines and preparing ambushes against invading forces. In one ingenious maneuver, courtesy of meteorologist Wu Xuizhang, Chinese artillery and aircraft began firing rounds of silver iodide to strategic mountain paths, especially to clouded ones, causing rain and thus creating unfavorable weather conditions for the attackers. Still, in the end, Laos and Assam ended up almost completely overrun, Dai Viet only held on thanks to Chinese troops, and the Indian 11th Army was getting near Kunming, threatening this infrastructure hub and potentially paving the way for a direct invasion of China.
The world in January of 1957
>Not waging war against an enemy that has ten times the population and industry.
Maybe Eastern Slavs should take notes from the Turks on how to be real men:
If the Turks have landships that aren't glorified armored cars and actually use artillery I think they might be doing better than the Crimeans did. They should have enough manpower to not be forced to relly on usage of rebel militias and if they do, they should have enough industrial might to equip them properly.
Anyways, how are the revivalists in Morroco doing?
With the instability of the 1930s over, Revivalist Lithuania defeated and no notable foreign backers showing up to help the resistance, the Moroccan independence movement lost a lot of steam, and by now, armed resistance has been phased out in favor of more peaceful campaigning for independence. That would be my take.
So, how good are the Chinese bio-weapons and chemical weapons programs, I may ask? Also, is the monarchist terrorism in West Turkey connected to the Egyptians in any way (remember, the Egyptian royal family is a cadet branch of the House of Osman)?
Egypt would love nothing more than to be a respected member of the Mediterranean-European community, and so far it's done admirably on that front. It's more likely that the monarchists in West Turkey hope to create some kind of Horthy-style "regency" government first and then find a suitable Sultan later. If the Egyptians won't give them a Sultan and the Ottoman exiles living abroad won't return, there's always the Crimeans. The Shirvanis are also an option-- Shirvan may very well give a monarchist-leaning West Turkish government a noble son of theirs in order to spite the Armenian-friendly Eastern Turks, if nothing else.