The backwaters are some of the most interesting parts of the modern world, OTL or TTL. Their interactions with modernity aren't always pleasant or easy. but they're definitely weird and informative.
The Silver Knight, a Lithuania Timeline
- Thread starter Augenis
- Start date
The backwaters are some of the most interesting parts of the modern world, OTL or TTL. Their interactions with modernity aren't always pleasant or easy. but they're definitely weird and informative.
The Russo-Lithuanian War and the War of the Danube have both just ended and I'm already excited to see the path to the "Second Great War".
Sweet Wormwood
Sweet Wormwood: Shun China (1942-1945)
The Sino-Japanese War (or as some might call it, the Second War of the East China Sea), had formally ended with the formal surrender of General Okamura Bakin and the remnants of the Japanese High Command on May 14, 1942, but this didn’t mean that resistance to the Chinese had ended as fanatical units continued to fight on for most of 1942 and 1943, devolving into banditry as time passed on and the Chinese marched into Northern Japan. However, while the Nagaist insurgency was a nuisance to the Chinese and the new Republic of Japan which had been established, it was the least of the worries of Imperial General Headquarters, which discussed the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War on October 2, 1942 in a secret HQ. What Imperial General Headquarters largely discussed on that fateful day were the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War and also how to deal with the threat of the Unified Indian State. The major lessons of the Sino-Japanese War were a major point of discussion amongst the factions in the Chinese General Staff. Even against the weakened Japanese Army, the Chinese landings were haphazard affairs with the Chinese forces largely without fire support and landing on small boats and the Chinese high command knew that such landings would be bloodbaths against a well-prepared Indian beach defense. In order to rectify this, the Chinese High Command decided that specialized landing craft would be designed to ferry infantry and vehicles directly to the beaches to provide speedy transportation of military equipment towards the beaches. In addition, High Command decided, based on the lessons of the landings on Japan, that the landing forces needed greater naval and air support as well, which required more coordination between the three branches of the Chinese military. With this, a new Chinese naval strategy took shape where amphibious landings would play a larger role in military thought.
In addition to this, the Chinese High Command discussed the menace of the Unified Indian State, which many Chinese thinkers had viewed as the biggest threat to China’s power and the biggest obstacle to China gaining what they saw as they saw as China’s rightful place as the master of Asia. Indian interferance in China’s sphere of influence in Southeast Asia had been a nuisance to the Shun Dynasty with Aceh and Burma falling to Unitarianism and with the Indians taking French Indochina and Malaya during their attack on France. However, the threat of Nagai’s Japan had led to China being unable to do anything about the Indian threat. Now, with the Japanese threat gone, the Shun Dynasty was now able to confront the Indian menace directly. China’s military discussed methods of containing the Indian menace and while some factions in Imperial General Headquarters called for a pre-emptive strike against the Unified Indian State, arguing that the UIS’ over-extended nature with them being tied up in the Middle East would make them easy pickings for a Chinese invasion, Marshal Sun Xinyi, the “Old Man of the Army” called for a more cautious approach, building up China’s military strength until the time is ripe for a Chinese attack while covertly supporting nationalist rebels in Indochina and Malaya. This was the course of action decided by Imperial General Headquarters, to build up the Chinese military and wait for the right time to strike. While General Meng Guanting, who was one of the main proponents for a strike against India, was initially disappointed by this decision, he eventually accepted said decision.
General Meng Guanting, main proponent of a pre-emptive Chinese attack on India
After this meeting, the Chinese armed forces set about a program of strengthening the Chinese military and applying the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War. Imperial General Headquarters during this time also introduced modifications to Sun Xinyi’s doctrine, which now had more emphasis on initiative by junior officers, who were now trained to function at two levels of command above their station in the army. This also had a practical effect as it meant that, with the cutdowns in size of the Chinese army brought about by the end of the Sino-Japanese War leading to demobilization of the army, the professional soldiers that the Chinese army had after the war would be ready to lead Chinese troops into battle in case of a war with the Unified Indian State. Also, the Chinese military during this time conducted exercises on remote Pacific islands that Lusang nominally possessed on how to iron out problems with the new methods the Chinese military was developing with it’s amphibious landing doctrine, developed from the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War and Operation Shenfang.
Chinese soldiers practicing amphibious warfare in a military exercise
In terms of military equipment, the Shun military took from the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War, where the shortcomings of Opustil suspension were laid bare during the Japanese campaign and the Overlord landship’s torsion bar suspension, despite the landship’s flaws, was deemed by General Zhang Gan, who was the head of the Chinese Landship Corps. The Chinese army in early 1943 tested out the Fast Overlord, a modification of the Overlord landship which combined the armor of the Overlord with the speed of the Battlemaster and the Improved Battlemaster, which was an improvement on the basic Battlemaster design which featured a larger turret with a three-man crew, radios for all landships, and torsion bar suspension. After a few months of testing, the “Improved Battlemaster” won out and mass production on the Improved Battlemaster began in earnest on September 1943. The Improved Battlemaster would be the workhorse of the Chinese army for the rest of the 1940s and into the early 1950s. The Fast Overlord would be used as the basis for a new series of heavy landships, the Emperor.
The Improved Battlemaster, which would be the Chinese army’s main landship for a long time.
The Chinese navy also developed new weaponry during this time. The lessons of the Japanese War had revealed that the carriers of the Chinese navy needed fast escorts to provide AA support and prevent them from being ambushed and sunk. The Chinese navy decided to provide this by building 5 battlecruisers using elongated versions of the hull of the 6 Liu Bei-class carriers. Said battlecruisers were the Fujian-class and were amongst the fastest capital ships on the planet when they were built in 1944. In addition, the Chinese navy had all Magentas built pre-1925 scrapped during this time as well except for the Shaanxi-class, which were modernized as a stopgap until the Fujian-class and the Guangdong-class, which would be the largest Magentas of all time, were ready for service. If all went according to the navy’s plans, the Chinese navy, by the time that Plan X would be completed in 1950, would have 15 aircraft carriers (the 6 Liu Bei-class carriers, the 4 Li Zicheng-class carriers, 2 Kublai Khan-class carriers, and the 3 Zhou Yu-class carriers) and 14 Magentas (the 5 Fujian-class, 3 Guangdong-class, 2 Shaanxi-class, and 4 Liaoning-class, all of which, with the exception of the 2 Shaanxi-class Magentas, would have 18.1 inch guns), making Shun China one of the main naval powers in the world, able to face down the Unified Indian State’s naval forces in battle. In this, the Chinese navy also didn’t neglect it’s submarine force with the Chinese navy, under Admiral Jia Ping, designing the world’s biggest submarine, the S-300, an “underwater aircraft carrier”able to circumnavigate the world non-stop and launch 3 seaplanes. Under Plan X, the Chinese navy would build 15 of these “submarine carriers”. Plan X’s goal was to turn the Shun Empire into a naval force to be reckoned with and a titan on the high seas.
A drawing of the Liaoning-class Magenta.
An image of the S-300 submarine carriers
On the domestic front, the Shun Empire wasn’t exactly silent as the first post-war elections in China saw the Progressive Union Party consolidate it’s role as the “natural party of government” as it won 322 seats in the Legislative Yuan with Yang Long entering his third and final term as Chancellor of China. Future historians would consider Yang Long to be one of China’s greatest leaders with his daughter Yang Xiao Long becoming a prominent politician in the late 20th century as well. During Yang Long’s third term, internal development became a major concern for the Chinese government with large-scale infrastructure projects to open up Xiboliya to development, with Xiboliya’s natural resources deemed vital for China to attain self-sufficiency. Also, during this time, the Chinese military cooperated with Douhang for soybean oil-based fuels to be used by the Chinese military in a measure to make China self-sufficient in terms of fuel. In addition, Yang Long’s government passed a measure to give Xiboliya and Mongolia representation in the Legislative Yuan, enlarging the Legislative Yuan to 700 seats. In terms of foreign policy, the government of Yang Long pursued a stance of forming friendly relations with both Germania and France during this period but avoiding any hostilities with the Unitarians out of a desire to build up China’s strength for the inevitable clash. However, the Chinese Jinyiwei started covertly backing nationalist rebel groups in Indian-occupied Cambodia and Malaya with arms and money smuggled via Dai Viet and Ayutthaya. By 1945, Shun China was now stronger than ever and after dealing with the threat of the Union of Japan, the Chinese, in case of a war with India, would be able to deal with the Indians with all their strength.
The Sino-Japanese War (or as some might call it, the Second War of the East China Sea), had formally ended with the formal surrender of General Okamura Bakin and the remnants of the Japanese High Command on May 14, 1942, but this didn’t mean that resistance to the Chinese had ended as fanatical units continued to fight on for most of 1942 and 1943, devolving into banditry as time passed on and the Chinese marched into Northern Japan. However, while the Nagaist insurgency was a nuisance to the Chinese and the new Republic of Japan which had been established, it was the least of the worries of Imperial General Headquarters, which discussed the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War on October 2, 1942 in a secret HQ. What Imperial General Headquarters largely discussed on that fateful day were the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War and also how to deal with the threat of the Unified Indian State. The major lessons of the Sino-Japanese War were a major point of discussion amongst the factions in the Chinese General Staff. Even against the weakened Japanese Army, the Chinese landings were haphazard affairs with the Chinese forces largely without fire support and landing on small boats and the Chinese high command knew that such landings would be bloodbaths against a well-prepared Indian beach defense. In order to rectify this, the Chinese High Command decided that specialized landing craft would be designed to ferry infantry and vehicles directly to the beaches to provide speedy transportation of military equipment towards the beaches. In addition, High Command decided, based on the lessons of the landings on Japan, that the landing forces needed greater naval and air support as well, which required more coordination between the three branches of the Chinese military. With this, a new Chinese naval strategy took shape where amphibious landings would play a larger role in military thought.
In addition to this, the Chinese High Command discussed the menace of the Unified Indian State, which many Chinese thinkers had viewed as the biggest threat to China’s power and the biggest obstacle to China gaining what they saw as they saw as China’s rightful place as the master of Asia. Indian interferance in China’s sphere of influence in Southeast Asia had been a nuisance to the Shun Dynasty with Aceh and Burma falling to Unitarianism and with the Indians taking French Indochina and Malaya during their attack on France. However, the threat of Nagai’s Japan had led to China being unable to do anything about the Indian threat. Now, with the Japanese threat gone, the Shun Dynasty was now able to confront the Indian menace directly. China’s military discussed methods of containing the Indian menace and while some factions in Imperial General Headquarters called for a pre-emptive strike against the Unified Indian State, arguing that the UIS’ over-extended nature with them being tied up in the Middle East would make them easy pickings for a Chinese invasion, Marshal Sun Xinyi, the “Old Man of the Army” called for a more cautious approach, building up China’s military strength until the time is ripe for a Chinese attack while covertly supporting nationalist rebels in Indochina and Malaya. This was the course of action decided by Imperial General Headquarters, to build up the Chinese military and wait for the right time to strike. While General Meng Guanting, who was one of the main proponents for a strike against India, was initially disappointed by this decision, he eventually accepted said decision.
General Meng Guanting, main proponent of a pre-emptive Chinese attack on India
After this meeting, the Chinese armed forces set about a program of strengthening the Chinese military and applying the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War. Imperial General Headquarters during this time also introduced modifications to Sun Xinyi’s doctrine, which now had more emphasis on initiative by junior officers, who were now trained to function at two levels of command above their station in the army. This also had a practical effect as it meant that, with the cutdowns in size of the Chinese army brought about by the end of the Sino-Japanese War leading to demobilization of the army, the professional soldiers that the Chinese army had after the war would be ready to lead Chinese troops into battle in case of a war with the Unified Indian State. Also, the Chinese military during this time conducted exercises on remote Pacific islands that Lusang nominally possessed on how to iron out problems with the new methods the Chinese military was developing with it’s amphibious landing doctrine, developed from the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War and Operation Shenfang.
Chinese soldiers practicing amphibious warfare in a military exercise
In terms of military equipment, the Shun military took from the lessons of the Sino-Japanese War, where the shortcomings of Opustil suspension were laid bare during the Japanese campaign and the Overlord landship’s torsion bar suspension, despite the landship’s flaws, was deemed by General Zhang Gan, who was the head of the Chinese Landship Corps. The Chinese army in early 1943 tested out the Fast Overlord, a modification of the Overlord landship which combined the armor of the Overlord with the speed of the Battlemaster and the Improved Battlemaster, which was an improvement on the basic Battlemaster design which featured a larger turret with a three-man crew, radios for all landships, and torsion bar suspension. After a few months of testing, the “Improved Battlemaster” won out and mass production on the Improved Battlemaster began in earnest on September 1943. The Improved Battlemaster would be the workhorse of the Chinese army for the rest of the 1940s and into the early 1950s. The Fast Overlord would be used as the basis for a new series of heavy landships, the Emperor.
The Improved Battlemaster, which would be the Chinese army’s main landship for a long time.
The Chinese navy also developed new weaponry during this time. The lessons of the Japanese War had revealed that the carriers of the Chinese navy needed fast escorts to provide AA support and prevent them from being ambushed and sunk. The Chinese navy decided to provide this by building 5 battlecruisers using elongated versions of the hull of the 6 Liu Bei-class carriers. Said battlecruisers were the Fujian-class and were amongst the fastest capital ships on the planet when they were built in 1944. In addition, the Chinese navy had all Magentas built pre-1925 scrapped during this time as well except for the Shaanxi-class, which were modernized as a stopgap until the Fujian-class and the Guangdong-class, which would be the largest Magentas of all time, were ready for service. If all went according to the navy’s plans, the Chinese navy, by the time that Plan X would be completed in 1950, would have 15 aircraft carriers (the 6 Liu Bei-class carriers, the 4 Li Zicheng-class carriers, 2 Kublai Khan-class carriers, and the 3 Zhou Yu-class carriers) and 14 Magentas (the 5 Fujian-class, 3 Guangdong-class, 2 Shaanxi-class, and 4 Liaoning-class, all of which, with the exception of the 2 Shaanxi-class Magentas, would have 18.1 inch guns), making Shun China one of the main naval powers in the world, able to face down the Unified Indian State’s naval forces in battle. In this, the Chinese navy also didn’t neglect it’s submarine force with the Chinese navy, under Admiral Jia Ping, designing the world’s biggest submarine, the S-300, an “underwater aircraft carrier”able to circumnavigate the world non-stop and launch 3 seaplanes. Under Plan X, the Chinese navy would build 15 of these “submarine carriers”. Plan X’s goal was to turn the Shun Empire into a naval force to be reckoned with and a titan on the high seas.
A drawing of the Liaoning-class Magenta.
An image of the S-300 submarine carriers
On the domestic front, the Shun Empire wasn’t exactly silent as the first post-war elections in China saw the Progressive Union Party consolidate it’s role as the “natural party of government” as it won 322 seats in the Legislative Yuan with Yang Long entering his third and final term as Chancellor of China. Future historians would consider Yang Long to be one of China’s greatest leaders with his daughter Yang Xiao Long becoming a prominent politician in the late 20th century as well. During Yang Long’s third term, internal development became a major concern for the Chinese government with large-scale infrastructure projects to open up Xiboliya to development, with Xiboliya’s natural resources deemed vital for China to attain self-sufficiency. Also, during this time, the Chinese military cooperated with Douhang for soybean oil-based fuels to be used by the Chinese military in a measure to make China self-sufficient in terms of fuel. In addition, Yang Long’s government passed a measure to give Xiboliya and Mongolia representation in the Legislative Yuan, enlarging the Legislative Yuan to 700 seats. In terms of foreign policy, the government of Yang Long pursued a stance of forming friendly relations with both Germania and France during this period but avoiding any hostilities with the Unitarians out of a desire to build up China’s strength for the inevitable clash. However, the Chinese Jinyiwei started covertly backing nationalist rebel groups in Indian-occupied Cambodia and Malaya with arms and money smuggled via Dai Viet and Ayutthaya. By 1945, Shun China was now stronger than ever and after dealing with the threat of the Union of Japan, the Chinese, in case of a war with India, would be able to deal with the Indians with all their strength.
Now we need an update on the Indian military, because last we saw of them they were using OTL's Japanese "medium" tanks.
I'd love to, but I can't tell a dreadnought from an ironclad and that probably shows through in my posts :^)
If you're wondering about the name of Yang Long's daughter, that was a deliberate reference to RWBY.
Chapter 96: Late Stage Cartography
Part 96: Late Stage Cartography (1943-1948)
Regardless of what your opinion is, the transition from Revivalism to the Second Republic was far from orderly. In fact, it was so chaotic that many both in Germany and in Lithuania itself believed that the Peace of Vilnius was a mistake - Lithuania appeared as if it will soon collapse, or undergo a Unitarian revolution, or restart its war with Russia, or all of the above. Far from all units in the Eastern Front agreed to lay down arms in accordance to the treaty, many held their ground and, once Russian troops began retaking formerly occupied Russian territory, a number of clashes began between rogue Lithuanians and the Russians, as the pseudo-conflict known as the Continuation War. In response to both the Continuation War as well as a thirst revenge for the number of atrocities committed against Russian civilians during the war, the Krutovist government declined to give back Lithuanian prisoners of war, citing that they were taken during the time of Revivalist Lithuania and thus are not under the Treaty's jurisdiction. Of course, the Lithuanians then refused to give back Russian prisoners, and the exchange of POWs only ended up happening in 1951. Back home, the few remaining Green Berets were among the first to rise up and try to execute a counter-coup against Sidabras, but due to lack of competent leadership, it ended up thwarted. Many other members of the Revival Front reorganized to the Party of Lithuanian Revenge (Lietuvos keršto partija), which hoped to win the scheduled election and restore the suddenly destroyed government.
In all this chaos, Sidabras made it clear that he was going to retire after the first election, scheduled in 1943, so the burden of leading the breaking and weakened country fell on the shoulders of Antanas Garšva, an interesting personality, indeed. Both his own memoirs and others people's descriptions of him report that he was diagnosed with neurasthenia, stemming from his difficult upbringing and later stress during the Revivalist era. Garšva was a poet, a profession heavily repressed by the totalitarian regime for not towing the party line, and once the Russo-Lithuanian War broke out, he was pushed to the anti-Revivalist democratic resistance, eventually ending up as the leader of the Sąjūdis. With the first democratic elections in the Second Republic coming up and the Avengers gaining popularity, the threat of a Revivalist restoration a civil war, and to oppose that possibility, Garšva reformed the Sąjūdis to a non-ideological democratic movement, its name symbolizing both the need for a new beginning and referencing the famous Shroud of Turin - the White Shroud (Balta drobulė).
The Lithuanian general election of 1943 was held on April 7th, 1943, and with a lack of third-party opposition, as most of the anti-Revivalist forces coalesced under Garšva, the White Shroud gathered up to 70% of the vote and won the election with a stunning majority. The former resistance fighter and charismatic personality Garšva was elected as the first Democrat of the second Republic of Lithuania. A following election to the Prezidiumas saw similar successful results for his party.
Antanas Garšva, Democrat of Lithuania
While the Second Republic started in as low of a start as the first, its path eventually became far smoother. A combination of German investment, comparatively high national unity and a stronger executive in the form of Garšva meant that by the time 1945 rolled in, gross domestic product growth finally began reaching positive levels, although with some uncomfortably high government debt levels. Internal resistance attempts (though not the Sarmatist bitterness) were eventually quelled, relations with Russia and the refounded Krajina normalized, and optimism returned. The problem of Lithuania's future in international politics also found a solution. After recommendations from business lobbies and his foreign ministry, Garšva began aligning the Lithuanian nation to the Baltic-Adriatic Coalition, signing a number of free trade agreements with both Germania and its auxiliaries. This was not only a step in the opposite direction from the decades of Lithuanian revanchism against their western neighbours (and was thus heavily criticized by the Avengers, among others), but also placed Lithuania at the precipice of something far greater than mere economic growth...
Of course, it's not like everything was sunshine and rainbows in the Second Republic. Anti-Republican resistance continued in small scale into the late 1940s, while only careful rationing prevented a complete collapse of the Lithuanian food system. Many both domestically and in foreign countries were confused by the choice to rehabilitate the military, too - even in historical revisionism, declaring that the numerous atrocities committed by the Lithuanians in Russia, from burning of villages to mass executions of intellectuals, were only committed by the Green Berets. The "Clean Armija" myth, 'Armija' in this case standing for the Lithuanian Army of the 1940s, would later become a notorious example of public opinion not matching with historical fact.
Vilnius in 1948
The collapse of Visegrad and the War of the Danube, combined with constant German promises of national self-determination, incited a surge of nationalism across Central Europe and the Balkans. Nationalist politicians from various nations were already drawing up their proposals for borders for the country they represent and sending them to Vienna, and usually, these were maximum possible goals, with plenty of extremism in the mix - Greeks wanted to turn the Aegean into "their sea", regain Constantinople and annex Western Anatolia; Bulgarians wanted lands from Macedonia to the Dobrudja; Romanians wanted a "greater Romania" from Banat to the Dniester; Hungarians hoped to retain all of their pre-war territory and at the same time obtain access to the sea; and we're not even talking about Silesia yet. And what about the occupied western Anatolia? The Germans watched the unfolding Second Turkish Civil War and the ascendant Yenilemist state as a potential threat both to their influence in the Middle East and to the new order in Europe, should this rising nationalism manifest in imperial ambitions. It should be obvious that this was a headache for everyone involved, and the Germans experimented with various ideas of differing levels of craziness. Proposals were made for duct-tape solutions in the form of countries such as Yuzhno-Slavia (Slavonia + Albania + Bulgaria), Aegean Federation (Greece + German-occupied Turkey), Zapado-Slavia (Poland + Bohemia) or Carpathia (Hungary + Romani State + Romania), but none took off the planning stage. As time went on, more and more nationalities came up desiring their own states, too, cropping up like mushrooms after a warm rain - Slovenians, Bosniaks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Aromanians, Rusyns, Moravians, Kashubians, so on and so forth... The only thing they could agree on was that Visegrad should stay dead.
Otto Krohn, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Germania, responsible for many of the early negotiations over self-determination with nationalists in Visegrad, proposed a compromise solution - taking "self-determination" to its natural conclusion and organizing open referendums in conflict zones over which country should hold which area - and this soon became Germania's primary solution for the can of worms that was occupied Central Europe. On May of 1944, in what was soon dubbed as the Schönbrunn Declaration, the German government declared the foundation or recreation of 8 countries - Bohemia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Albania and the supposedly temporary Democratic State of Turkey (West Turkey) - and a grand total of 35 territorial referendums across the entire occupation zone. The most notable highlights were up to three referendums in Silesia, each for a separate region of the state (choices being joining Bohemia, Poland or Germania), one in Thrace (Bulgaria, Greece or West Turkey), five (!) in various regions of Bosnia (Croatia, Serbia or independence to Bosnia), one in Slovakia (Bohemia, Hungary or independence), one in Transylvania (Hungary, Romania or independence) and many, many others, dealing with matters as small as counties. The majority of them took place throughout 1945.
Was it the best possible choice? Did it end conflict between Balkan and Central European states? Not really... but, eh... a referendum wave was perhaps the best Germania could come up with. Well, this and one more thing. For a long time, Augustina Sternberg fostered hopes of seeing a Europe united under one supranational organization of peace in her lifetime, and the period after the Schönbrunn Declaration was the best chance for finally forming one. In the tail end of her second term, the winter of 1944, Sternberg and representatives from Central Europe and the Balkans met in Frankfurt for negotiations to iron out an alliance of nations as a cemented successor to the unofficial "second Baltic-Adriatic Coalition" which defeated the Unitarians. Discussions took place not on how feasible this ambitious project was, but also on what it would entail - common defense is an obvious one, but what about eliminating trade barriers and political integration? Many saw it as a German plan to solidify their sphere of influence in the east, and they had all the right to believe that - after all, if was obvious who would hold the higher say in such an organization. However, in the end, pragmatism and German pressure prevailed. June 1944 saw the foundation of the European Defense Commission, an organization for common defense and diplomatic cooperation between Germania, former Visegrad states, the Balkans, West Turkey and Krajina. While originally merely a fancy name for Germania and it's sphere of influence, it soon began to expand outward, starting with Lithuania's application in 1948 (although it also entailed that Krajina left in protest the following year.). Later years would see the Defense Commission continuously reformed to include economic and political cooperation.
While later on, this move would be seen as a tactical German diplomatic victory, it was viewed with disappointment in Germania itself. The German people were already grown tired of both war and diplomatic entanglements and sought domestic reforms, fueled by successful Democratic Unitarian campaigning against the Centralist "warmongery". Polls showed that the foundation of the Defense Commission was viewed negatively across almost all parts of the population, both rich and poor, and while the surge of patriotism after defeating Unitarian Turkey helped Sternberg's Centralists a little, the German legislative election of 1945 showed them the back door. A loose blue-wing coalition headed by the Federal Democratic Party and its leader Franz Wagner replaced Sternberg's eight year long government - but the 65 year old former Prime Minister left politics with her head raised. All that she hoped to accomplish was accomplished, and in the later years, Germans would learn to recognize just how transformative her two terms were.
The blue-wing German government declared a policy of non-interventionism, planning to leave any potential conflicts in Europe to their own devices (or at worst use economic pressure to solve them), but did not dismantle the Defense Commission - in fact, it was Wagner who later controversially accepted Lithuania into the alliance, although at the price of Krajina. Did non-interventionism pay off, though?.. Well, Sweden's National Unitarian government, after some trade pressure from the Germans, did agree to reform back into a democratic, albeit somewhat unstable government in 1947, but that was perhaps the only major victory scored by the Wagner government. The passive outlook failed to prevent a disaster which later affected not just Germania or all of Europe, but also the rest of the world.
Augustina Sternberg declares the independence of Serbia in Belgrade, May 1944
A far different situation unfolded in the south, where the United Republic of Arabia was busy having a fight which seemed to, once again, determine its survival. Well-equipped and supplied by perhaps the biggest land military power on the planet, the restorationist Unitarian government faced off against rallied militias, tribes and insurgents under the banner of Arabia - and at the beginning, victories obviously followed the former. Indian troops scored victories against the Arabs in Karbala, Kuwait and across the Syrian desert, while at the same time striking to the back of the Republic of Kurdistan and seizing the city of Mosul within weeks - an operation which, combined with a Yenilemist and Armenian offensive from the north, was practically the last nail in the coffin of the Kurdish state, after one violent and chaotic year of existence. Those with enough awareness of what was about to happen, and could afford it, ditched their wagons - thousands fled east and west, to Iran and Arabia. Others, especially the Kurdish tribesmen, went low and began a long and grueling insurgency against the occupation. But back to Arabia.
By the time 1944 arrived, both Damascus and Jerusalem were under threat of Unitarian invasion. The first artillery shells were falling on the shores of the Dead Sea, and the fall of Amman in January of the same year paved the way for Indian invaders to Palestine. However, success was starting to turn away from them. After long battles across the previous year, most of the sparse transport infrastructure in the Syrian Desert had been destroyed, and this meant that supply lines were thinning. Organizational and morale problems were also starting to show up - the Indian Army was fighting in a hostile environment with zero local support for their army, which not only eroded morale and complicated food requisitioning, but also meant that large-scale insurgencies were forming up behind the front lines. Meanwhile, as time went on, more and more arms and support was getting to the hands of the Arabs - Egypt supported the Republic since day one, while France and Germania, who soon realized what Nijasure has been planning with this endeavor, initiated their own supplies and arms deals. In the Battle of Nazareth, only a few dozen kilometers away from Jerusalem, the Indians suffered their first major defeat and their plan to envelop the holy city was thwarted. A counteroffensive soon began, which, while very costly to the Arabian forces, was slowly melting away the Indian and the few Unitarian Turkish soldiers, whose units found it hard to be reinforced and resupplied under the poor conditions. The front line was pushed back into Mesopotamia, after months of desert warfare, until suddenly, the Netaji's government demanded all Indian troops to return home. What was that all about?
The venture in the Second Turkish Civil War turned out to be a lot more costly to the Indians than originally anticipated - after all, a geopolitical project such as a Middle Eastern puppet state requires either lots of local support (of which there was none) or spending lots and lots of resources, and, after weighing all pros and cons, Indian geopolitical experts simply determined that carving out a puppet in the Levant would just be too much trouble than it's worth. Not to mention that, as one could tell by now, Sanjay Nijasure's goals in the Middle East were being fulfilled without the need of a direct intervention - the Indians couldn't not know about the growing conflict between Germania and Yenilemist Turkey over Western Anatolia, and an anti-Western Turkish state was just perfect for a buffer between the German sphere and Indian interests. January 9, 1945 would become the Day of Victory for the United Republic of Arabia, as it is the day when Arabian forces reached and seized the last Unitarian bastion, Basra, and the Second Turkish Civil War came to a close, birthing two states out of it - a nationalist Turkey and a, hopefully, democratic Arabia.
There was only one more front to resolve in the world - East Africa. The East Africa war of unification and liberation happened parallel to the War of the Danube and the Turkish Civil War, and thus, outside of France and sometimes, gained zero press. That's not to say that there wasn't action going on here - far from it. To deal with the ascendant monarchical Unitarian state, France threw an expeditionary force known as the Africa Corps, decked out with landships and heavy artillery, but it proved to be not so effective in the mountainous, low-scale warfare across East Africa. As such, the war continued for many years with both sides tugging along for the long haul - however, by 1944, the tide had turned in favor of the French. Simply enough, the end of the war in Europe, and India's participation in the Second Turkish Civil War, meant that French troops received more and more reinforcements while foreign support for the Ethiopians suffered. However, despite this materiel superiority, the Africa Corps was unable to defeat their African opposition - intrinsic difficulties like the terrain and lack of local support remained. In addition, knowing that Indian intervention in the Middle East was over, France, for obvious reasons, feared that the Unitarians now have free hands for a direct attack on East Africa (after all, India had not signed a peace with Germania and France, even if hostilities were over). As such, negotiations with the Ethiopians were over, and the Peace of Jeanville in December of 1944 settled the Franco-Ethiopian War. East Africa secured its independence - however, without Somalia and without Nouvelle-Lyon.
Celebrations in Damascus after the news of the capture of Basra, January 1945
Britannia entered the late 1930s as a fading, weakening state. While the Catholic absolute monarchy had made some noticeable strides in technology and economic development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this boost had practically disappeared by then, as the nation failed to maintain competent GDP growth and thus was falling behind its competitors in Europe and the rest of the world. Its colonies in the New World and Oceania were also starting to grow unruly, irritated by high tariffs and lack of acknowledgement of the different identity that had arisen in these distant parts of the Empire. The War of the Danube and the massive demand for military materiel it created was a straw Britannia immediately grabbed on - arms exports to all of the participants in the conflict was a ludicrous deal which helped fill up the kingdom's coffers in this worsening condition. Eventually, Britannia became one of the few neutral countries in the world which underwent full economic mobilization - but as reliance on arms trade goes, once the demand fades away, problems ensue, and once the War of the Danube and parallel military conflicts ended and a postwar recession began, Britannia found itself in an even worse situation than before. Many of the sales, especially to Turkey, were made on credit, which now could never be returned. Economic growth immediately dipped to the negatives and the demobilization of the economy would take too long for that to be fixed.
While all of that was terrible, it was, for the most part, only a lighter for the entire gasoline-doused chain of problems which plagued the British nation since the beginning. The Home Islands had been severely overpopulated for centuries, and while in the past, this problem found solutions in colonization and mass emigration to the Vespucias, even those choices were starting to run out of steam - Vespucian nations were starting to put immigration controls after severe Protectionist politician pressure, and the British colonies were starting to turn unwelcoming to fresh settlers. The abolition of guided democracy in Britannia in the early 1930s irritated many, especially since as time went on and as Britannia opened up to the world more and more, the idea of a religion influenced absolute monarchy in the 20th century was turning absurd. Unitarian ideas arrived from the Commonwealth (now basically India & Friends), while German and French influence was bringing forth the possibility of a democratic, republican Britain. While King James III still retained his absolute grip on power, vultures were gathering around his throne.
And unfortunately for all that lived in the British Isles, the isolationist outlook in continental Europe meant that there will be no Germania or France bringing in a sensible government. The only option now was grassroots revolution.
Map of the world in 1948
Aside from Serbia, the new Eastern European borders look pretty good 
And props to Sidabras for doing the right thing.
I am very excited to see Britannia fall. It's time for the remaining Celts to start breathing more freely.
And props to Sidabras for doing the right thing.I am very excited to see Britannia fall. It's time for the remaining Celts to start breathing more freely.
India is going to be a trouble spot for a while I guess. On another note, glad that Monarcho-unitarian Ethiopia survived. Hope the Indians don't get their thumbs in too deep.
Also, Poor Kurdistan. Is the Turkish civil war over completely?
BTW, it's not quite clear from the map: Does Bohemia have the sudetenland?
Also, Poor Kurdistan. Is the Turkish civil war over completely?
BTW, it's not quite clear from the map: Does Bohemia have the sudetenland?
Yes, the Turkish Civil War is over and yes, Bohemia has Sudetenland.
I wonder what vain of revolution Britian is going down. I don't see it going down Unitarlian after the failure of the last war. Could it be going for a National Socialist angle?
Not all the way happy with Democracy, not all the way happy with Nationalism (gotta keep the Scottish and Irish in line.). The question is how will the rest of the world respond? Hell how will the Isles respond?
Not all the way happy with Democracy, not all the way happy with Nationalism (gotta keep the Scottish and Irish in line.). The question is how will the rest of the world respond? Hell how will the Isles respond?
Godless republicans? In my Britain? Out Out Out!
The parallelism has been too strong recently, I'd like to see Britain buck that trend and have a nice transition to liberal democracy in the best form of government as a constitutional monarchy.
It does feel that there is far more republicanism amok ITTL than there really should be.
The parallelism has been too strong recently, I'd like to see Britain buck that trend and have a nice transition to liberal democracy in the best form of government as a constitutional monarchy.
It does feel that there is far more republicanism amok ITTL than there really should be.
Could be my personal bias showing. I'm uh... not a fan of monarchism at all.
I have tried to avoid it being all a barrage of republican democracies for the most part, thought it's a question how well I have been doing. Though, two of the three main powers in the TTL world are constitutional monarchies, at least...
It just feels weird to have things like the Republic of Japan when there are obvious Imperial claimants and a country with a similar dynastic system will likely want to promote the idea that even if the will of the Gods is expressed through history that such troubled times between dynasties end and that the dynasty will prevail and be restored.
There's also the "Republic of West Turkey" when some people must surely be feeling some nostalgia for the Ottoman Sultans and the generally conveniently republican nature of the disintegration of Visegrad. I mean in A-H there were restoration attempts in both Austria and Hungary over the years and in Austria the last Chancellor prior to Hitler's annexation was a pretty ardent monarchist who is believed to have been plotting out a restoration there.
I suppose my point is that monarchs and their order and their partisans just seem to vanish more quickly than they should, and a surprising number of people seem to never contemplate restoring the monarchy or inviting a German princeling to help secure their alliance with Germany etc.
It's not TL ruining, just comparatively minor nitpicks.
Hopefully chin
Although @Augenis could mention the existing monarchs a bit more. At least their reactions or something. No offense. It just seems like you forgot them.
At least imperial China is still a thing.
Although @Augenis could mention the existing monarchs a bit more. At least their reactions or something. No offense. It just seems like you forgot them.