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Springtime of Nations II: A European Republic Quest

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I wonder if the history of radicalism from the Hussite Church in Bohemia (specifically the Taborites), and how they could synergyze with various strains of republican radicalism, means we could see the first religious social radical faction in Germany after accepting their request for annexation 🤔
 
The September 1898-November 1898 update is now posted on Patreon for all $5 patrons and above. It will remain there for up to 24 hours and then I'll post it in the thread. Thank you to everyone, patron or otherwise, for your continued support and participation.
 
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The Great Eastern War: September 1898-November 1898
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    • The Great Eastern War: September 1898-November 1898​

    As summer turns to fall and the first year of the war comes to a close, it does so with a seismic event: while still at war with the Austrian Empire, the German Republic annexes one of its occupied territories, the Kingdom of Bohemia-Moravia, and incorporates it as an integral part of its state. The decision to unify the two regions is accompanied by legislative votes in favor on both sides and a plebiscite to ratify the process. No nation outside the Alliance acknowledges the legitimacy of this maneuver; to the monarchist and conservative voices of Europe, it is nothing less than a return to the darkest days of the French Revolution. Even the Republic's supporters are reluctant to endorse the new state of affairs until there is a post-war treaty to confirm it.

    Nevertheless, it cannot be undone, and Czech and German people celebrate in the streets as the Republic's protection and its many benefits are extended to them. They have been liberated from an ancient tyranny and swept up into the embrace of a vibrant, modern democracy, and this is just the beginning of their story as free citizens.

    Baltic Sea
    Efforts by the Allied Combined Fleet to lure the Baltic Fleet out of its anchorage go unanswered, and so the Marinewehr and its allies continue to prey on what remains of the Russian coastal trade. Numerous merchant sailors are caught up in the blockade and sent back ashore via rowboat, while their vessels and cargoes are impounded by the Alliance, leaving the former captains with chafing hands and a brief receipt written out in German or Italian.

    Poland
    News of the Russian Imperial Army's so-called "Atlas Offensive" far precedes its arrival, as Polish partisans deliver intercepted messages and snippets of overheard conversations that roughly sketch out its contours. It is a return to the broad-front offensives of the early war, but only in a very limited scope; while the Russian armies all along the front will attack at every viable point, the preponderance of Russia's heavy guns and materiel are to be concentrated on the recapture of Lvov.

    As the massive bulk of the Russian army reorients itself toward the coming fall offensive, General Vogel initiates Operation Medusa, a comprehensive defensive effort aimed at maintaining the land blockade between Austria and Russia. Taking inspiration from the multi-layered trench works present at Rzeszów, she builds her defense of her Polish strongpoints in much the same manner, with several interlocking lines of trenches built with clear lines of retreat and redeployment. Behind those initial works, fortifications of an even more elaborate nature follow.

    The Atlas Offensive kicks off in late October, two weeks behind schedule but no less harrowing for it. All along the line, German defenses are forced into activity by wave after wave of attacking Russian troops, along with an unprecedented expenditure of ammunition from the usually-frugal or otherwise undersupplied Imperial Army. Those soldiers go charging into mine fields, machine gun nests, barbed wire forests, and even pitfalls, all the fruits of Landwehr soldiers challenging each other to come up with the most devious possible ways to stymie their enemy's advance.

    The heaviest blow comes across central and southern Poland, as in the north, the defensive cordon around Danzig has been built up into a veritable line of modern fortresses, and the offensives there simply wither on the vine. Instead, a major secondary offensive is targeted at Warsaw as a must-defend point for the Landwehr, hoping to draw troops away from Lvov for the coming hammer-blow. If it doesn't work, the theory goes, at least they'll get Warsaw.

    The Russians do succeed in their advance, but only up to a point. The constant wave assaults batter down the first defensive lines, forcing the Landwehr defenders to abandon their positions and retreat. The Russians then take possession of the fortifications, which are almost entirely bereft of salvageable equipment and frequently blown up or otherwise sabotaged, a process that takes the ponderous army upwards of a week. Having consolidated their position and moved their logistics forward, they then advance again... only to encounter a second defensive line. And a third. And a fourth.

    One Landwehr officer, the son of a sausage-maker, coins the phrase "meat-grinder" to describe the Atlas Offensive, because after a certain point, the frustrated Russian generals are just ordering pointless attacks to salve their own egos. Each successful Russian advance takes only a thin strip of land before it runs into yet more difficulties, further extending their fraying logistics tether in the process, while the Landwehr simply retreat back into prepared defensive positions, already fully stocked with supplies.

    By the first snows, Atlas has succeeded largely in trading an enormous quantity of Russian blood and materiel for a relatively unimpressive strip of eastern Poland, with none of its strategic objectives actually achieved. At the offensive's abrupt termination in late November, the Imperial Army is spent, exhausted, and in desperate need of a winter reprieve to regroup and rearm. The Landwehr, by contrast, has expended quite a lot of ammunition and used up many of its stockpiled supplies, but its personnel are fighting-fit and have only been moderately blooded by the entire experience.

    Austria and Italy
    Despite the heroism, sacrifice, and brilliance displayed on the Polish front, Operation Medusa is largely considered a secondary affair to General Dillinger's long-awaited Operation Thunderbolt. Envisioning nothing less than the seizure of the Austrian imperial capital, with the tremendous blow to morale and logistics that would ensue, it calls for major Allied offensives from the northwest and southwest. The full resources of the Alliance are at Thunderbolt's disposal, including a naval attack on the Dalmatian coast and a full-throated Italo-Spanish push into (and hopefully through) the battered Alpine defenses.

    Not known until after the fact is that the Austrian high command, after months of fruitless pleading, has finally convinced Emperor Franz Joseph to withdraw from the endangered capital. With him go the imperial court, numerous works of art and national treasures, Vienna's gold and currency reserves, and most of the government and upper classes. The massive baggage train relocates first to Eisenstadt, then to Budapest, guarded by professional soldiers desperately needed on the front lines at Vienna.

    While Austrian engineers and conscripts labor on the defensive line anchored at Pressburg and Zagreb, much of the Imperial and Royal Army is preparing Vienna for an extended defensive battle. These preparations are the culmination of efforts begun early in the war after the German lightning advance over the Inn, and represent the most extensive and dangerous fortifications ever approached by the Landwehr.

    When lead elements of the Landwehr's veteran pioneer brigades meet the defensive line at Pressbaum, they are confronted with a layered defense similar to the one Vogel has constructed in Poland. However, there is one crucial difference: the materiel situation. While earthworks and trenches abound, there is a distinct shortage of heavy artillery, machine guns, barbed wire, and the other deadly fruits of military industry that have proven essential to modern warfare. The Austrians have instead chosen to shore up their line with a large number of untested, poorly-trained conscripts, often bearing just a rifle and an armband, and are using them as human shields for the imperial capital.

    Conversely, Dillinger has spent much of his preparation period having the railways traveling through St Polten converted over to the German gauge so he can bring up his super-heavy rail guns for the pre-attack bombardment. The heavy guns, joined by a multitude of their lesser brethren, lay down a tremendous barrage of explosive ordnance on the frightened, unprepared conscript defenders, and the initial defensive line begins wavering almost immediately. A day later, and there are gaping holes in the outer perimeter; many of the conscripts are dead or fled, but their work of absorbing the German heavy weapons is largely accomplished.

    Not wishing to give his opponents time to regroup, Dillinger begins the first of several dedicated assaults on the outer defenses of Vienna, taking several layers before casualties begin to mount and his troops are forced to pull back. Those Austrian conscripts which fled now return to the field, now bolstered by some of the Empire's dwindling professional regiments, as well as most of Vienna's remaining artillery.

    What was envisioned as a lightning offensive to decapitate the Austrian state instead degenerates into a bloody slog through trench after trench, as stubborn imperial regulars hold out beyond anyone's expectations with the capital at their back. By now, the German arms industry has depleted its extensive pre-war stockpiles, and every shell is one fresh from the factories, thinning and reducing the available artillery support. This new stringency in the supply situation further slows the advance, especially with so many resources dedicated elsewhere.

    Ultimately, it is not a tactical breakthrough that ends the battle of Vienna but a strategic accomplishment, as the fifteenth Battle of the Alps (the preceding fourteen having mostly been minor skirmishes, feints, or particularly heavy artillery barrages) concludes with the routing of the veteran Austrian III Army, which had previously served as the linchpin of the Alpine defenses. With VII Army pulled away to defend the Dalmatian coast from the Allied "naval invasion," the regulars have only depleted Russians and fresh conscripts to rely on, and when the conscripts panic in the face of a fortress' reinforced frontage collapsing, half the line goes with them.

    Italian and Spanish troops pour across the Alps in the last gasp of autumn, seizing the coastal cities of Trieste and Pola to secure their supply lines once the passes close. As Austrian and Russian forces frantically retreat to the so-called Franz Joseph Line at Zagreb, Slovenia and Tyrol fall in short order to the Allies, and pressure begins to mount on Vienna from the south. Faced with an assault from three sides and no prospect of Russian reinforcements, the Austrian general in charge of the defense orders the retreat.

    As Landwehr troops pour into the abandoned capital and begin taking up positions around strategic chokepoints and government buildings, General Dillinger is heard to say, "Well, I said we'd be here by Christmas, didn't I? Damn good thing I never said which one, though."
     
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    Situation Report: November 1898
  • Informational
    • Situation Report: November 1898
    ​

    All numbers are abstract, relative, and not precise, and exist solely as an illustration of comparative troop strength rather than as a precise indication of how many soldiers are in which place. The numbers should not be judged on the basis of realism. I tend to round to the nearest 10,000 when possible.

    Armies with asterisks are those made up of fresh conscripts, and may operate at reduced efficacy compared to their reservist counterparts.

    "Reserves" indicate the amount of reserve manpower that's readily available to a given state. More troops may be mobilized beyond that number, but it'll be costly politically and/or economically.

    Ships listed as "under repair" will be back in service by the beginning of the next three-month period.

    Also, the map is very rough; please do not point out issues unless something is dramatically, wildly incorrect.

    Front Status
    France
    Germany (400,000/400,000)
    X Army (400,000/400,000)

    Poland
    Germany (6,000,000/6,000,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)
    IV Army (400,000/400,000)
    V Army (400,000/400,000)
    VII Army (400,000/400,000)
    VIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (400,000/400,000)

    Russia (8,400,000/8,400,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)
    VI Army (400,000/400,000)
    X Army (400,000/400,000)
    XI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXVI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXVIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXXI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXXII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXXIII Army (400,000/400,000)

    Hungary-Croatia
    Allied Forces (6,400,000/6,400,000)
    Germany (3,200,000/3,200,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    VI Army (400,000/400,000)
    IX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army (400,000/400,000)

    Italy (2,400,000/2,400,000)
    I Legion (400,000/400,000)
    III Legion (400,000/400,000)
    IV Legion (400,000/400,000)
    V Legion (400,000/400,000)
    VII Legion (400,000/400,000)
    VIII Legion (400,000/400,000)

    Spain (800,000/800,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    V Army (400,000/400,000)

    League Forces (4,830,000/5,200,000)
    Austria (3,540,000/3,600,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)
    IV Army (400,000/400,000)
    VII Army (400,000/400,000)
    X Army (400,000/400,000)
    XI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XII Army* (370,000/400,000)
    XIV Army* (370,000/400,000)

    Russia (1,290,000/1,600,000)
    V Army (310,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (330,000/400,000)
    VII Army (330,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (320,000/400,000)

    Baltic Sea
    Germany
    9 Armored Cruisers
    2 Second-Class Cruisers
    3 Coastal Battleships
    2 Corvettes
    29 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats
    9 River Monitors

    Italy
    4 Armored Cruisers

    Spain
    3 Armored Cruisers
    3 Second-Class Cruisers

    Russia
    2 Battleships
    5 Armored Cruisers
    2 Second-Class Cruisers
    8 Coastal Battleships
    3 Corvettes
    19 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Scandinavia
    1 Second-Class Cruisers
    3 Third-Class Cruisers
    11 Coastal Battleships
    4 Corvettes
    29 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Mediterranean Sea
    Italy
    2 Battleships
    3 Armored Cruisers
    6 Second-Class Cruisers
    11 Third-Class Cruisers
    7 Coastal Battleships
    25 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Spain
    4 Armored Cruisers
    4 Second-Class Cruisers
    6 Third-Class Cruisers
    3 Coastal Battleships
    72 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Austria
    3 Second-Class Cruisers
    3 Third-Class Cruisers
    5 Coastal Battleships
    16 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats
    3 River Monitors

    Russia
    1 Armored Cruisers
    8 Coastal Battleships
    2 Corvettes
    17 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Remaining Reserves
    Germany: 3,080,000
    Italy: 2,120,000
    Spain: 620,000

    Austria: -2,630,000
    Russia: 3,640,000
     
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  • Informational
    • We're finally through, that's one capital and the manpower differential down.
     
    I think we need to halt mass offensives until our supply and materials shortages are resolved. We can conduct raids and harassment using partisans but now we hold.

    OOC: Do American or any Western Women have suffrage?
     
    Traveller76 said:
    I think we need to halt mass offensives until our supply and materials shortages are resolved. We can conduct raids and harassment using partisans but now we hold.

    OOC: Do American or any Western Women have suffrage?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Is there any way we could use Italian forces for limited operations? They're probably less drained of supplies and materials, if we wanted to do relatively limited offensives or etc.
     
    All in all, we've taken about 500k casualties this quarter, while the Russians have taken 1 million. Hey Étranger, have you updated the Austrian 'reserves'? Since it hasn't changed since the last quarterly update.
     
    The League Proposal: Winter 1898
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    • The League Proposal: Winter 1898​

    Envoys from the Austrian and Russian courts arrive on the front lines in late November of 1898, following the fall of Vienna. The international news is rife with reports that the Russian Emperor, Alexander III, is seriously ill, and has ceded many of his daily responsibilities to Tsarevich Michael. His son is have to be a much less assertive personality than his father and is more interested in reform, and so he has been largely sidelined until this point. Now, with the succession an imminent possibility, he has exerted some of his new influence to send this peace mission to the Alliance.

    The Austro-Russian proposal is simple: in exchange for peace and a general exchange of prisoners, the Austrians and Russians will cede Bohemia-Moravia and most of the core Polish lands to the Alliance, to do with as they will. Austria will likewise apologize for its role in the loss of the Heligoland sailors and pay death benefits to their families.

    The initial position is just that: a position, from which further concessions can be extracted. However, it is clear that, even if more substantial gains are made at the negotiating table, the Habsburgs and Romanovs will continue to operate as geopolitical entities in some manner if peace is achieved now. Such a reality may well change if the war continues, but is the cost worth the potential reward? That is for the Assembly to decide.

    ​


    What is to be done?

    [] Enter into negotiations.
    EFFECT: A winter cease-fire will go into effect while negotiations commence. There will be a further vote or votes on the peace deal, which can ultimately be rejected if the terms prove insufficient. Negotiations will last through the winter season, and the Allied armies will work on defensive and logistical efforts until the spring.

    [] Refuse to negotiate.
    EFFECT: No deal, no cease-fire, no negotiations. The war continues and we move directly to the winter phase. The international community will take notice.


    A straightforward binary selection this time. 24 hours to vote.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Refuse to negotiate.

    We don't negotiate with royalists.
     
    Obviously want to continue the war, but unless we want the Entente to go full Red Scare right now piggybacking off of the French Revolutionary vibes theyres getting from mid-war annexing Bohemia, I'd say do negotiations and deliberately torpedo them with harsh conditions that are completely unacceptable so the Entente can at least see that 'we tried'.

    Yes, it would be good to capitalize on Russian exhaustion but we also just expended out shell stockpile and the Italians can reshuffle while we redeploy our forces.

    [X] Enter into negotiations.

    Like, the main thing here is if we're ready to confront the Entente diplomatically right now or not, given prior Korean fuckery, Bohemia, and then seeming (to them) like 'bloodthirsty revolutionaries'.
     
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    Can't tell if negotiating and then saying no would be better than just saying no, but I think it might be in order to grant our forces in Galicia a respite and allow us to rebuild our material stockpiles for a new attack come spring and summer.
     
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