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Crusade Against France
I'm playing as Germany and have just entered the industrial age. Unfortunatley, I have only one supply of coal, and its near the city of Hastings, on my northern border with France. I have also recently entered into a mutual defense/right of passage pact with Persia.
The French are also entering the industrial age, but they have no coal deposits anywhere in their territory. They begin to mass troops on our mutual border, and my riflemen in Fort Bismark (located on strategic heights overlooking the only road connecting France to Germany) report that French soldiers are beginning to infiltrate towards Hastings. When my ambassador in Paris protests, the French declare war.
The German generl staff had calculated that the small standing army of four veteran calvary divisions would be enough to contain the French army in its southward march. Yet within several turns, all four calvary divisions were exhausted, and French armies had suceeded in cutting the road to the crucial coal supply. With defeat looming, the government passed an emergencey decree mobilizing the country for war: conscription was introduced, and industry adapted to meet the needs of the military. On the diplomatic front, the Persians honored the defense pact and declared war against France. Yet the question remained: would any of these measures come in time to save Hastings and stop the French advance? It would take time to produce new German divisions and for the Persian army to march to the French front, time which Hastings did not have.
The French, realizing that they must claim victory before overwhelming Allied reinforcements arrived, threw themselves against Hasting's defenses. Yet the French generals had made a crucial blunder: Fort Bismark remained uncaptured, and its garrison pounded the French divisions marching south towards Hastings. By the time they arrived at the gates of the city, they were exhausted and no match for the defenders. The French army broke itself on Hasting's defenses. Exhausted, the survivors retreated across the border, just as the first waves of new German and Persian divisions reached the front.
The Allied juggernaut crossed the border in a seemingly endless flood of calvary and rifle divisions, as well as units of the famous Imortals. French attempts to make peace with the Allies were rebuffed. In a matter of turns, the German army was at the gates of Paris, while the Persians were pressing deep into the French interior, destroying entire cities along the way.
With the end in sight, the Russians decided to get in on the final kill. In the spirit of cooperation, Russian forces were allowed to enter Germany and march towards France, despite the fact that there was no formal right of passage agreement.
Although the French armies were defeated, the French people refused to yield. Resistance was widespread, and several cities openly revolted against the invaders. It was a futile effort. The rebellions were ruthlessly crushed, and thousands of French citizens starved as food shipments remained undelivered.
Appalled by these ruthless government tactics, the German people began a revolution against the republic, and the modern German democracy was born.
With victory against France acheived, the Persian armies marched back to their homeland. The Russian armies were another story. Now unwelcome guests, they made permanent camps inside German territory. War soon broke out again, and although the Russians did great damage (even pillaging the road leading to the vital coal deposits), their divisions were cutoff in a hostile country. Not one Russian soldier made it out alive.
As for the French government, they fled from their homeland to a distant colony, and continued to support resistant efforts against the new German authorities. Their efforts resulted in the Great Paris Revolt of 1742, which returned the city to French hands. Although caught off gaurd, the German army soon raced northward and quickly crushed the uprising. Following this bloody revolt, the French government recognized that the German occupation was permanent, and signed the Treaty of Berlin in 1745, officially ending the the great crusade against France.
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"Terminate, with extreme prejudice"
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