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Springtime of Nations II: A European Republic Quest

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We also aren't Syndies though. I assume (?) we still have unions as a dual structure for accountancy purposes/because we never abolished them, but they definitely aren't in charge in most place.
 
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The Great Eastern War: March 1899-August 1899
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    • The Great Eastern War: March 1899-August 1899​

    As war exhaustion steadily mounts at home alongside the casualties on the front, the Alliance aims to end the war in the East with a single powerful knockout blow. This decisive attack on Budapest, the second capital of Austria and the sole remaining pillar of the Habsburg empire, has the potential to secure victory for the Republican forces, so long as they're willing to pay the butcher's bill.

    Poland
    As supplies and logistical support are rerouted toward the Austrian front, General Vogel orders a general readiness level across the lines in Poland. Lacking the resources to properly fortify her entire area of responsibility, she makes a rather controversial decision: intentionally weakening the defense of eastern Galicia to shore up the defenses in Poland proper.

    With the entry of Romania into the war, the Lvov cordon has outlived its usefulness, and serves only to grossly over-extend the Landwehr's lines while also making it vulnerable to a potential attack on three sides. Rather than risk encirclement, she pulls her forces back into west Galicia, leaving only enough men and trenches behind to serve as a tripwire.

    Vogel's decision proves prescient, as Russian high command has identified Lvov as a vulnerable target and ordered a general offensive from the east and south in early summer, incorporating Russian, Romanian, and Bulgarian troops in the attack. The operation bogs down almost immediately in layers of trenches, minefields, and barbed wire, but with curiously little actual resistance on the part of the Landwehr.

    Instead, League forces inherit empty earthworks devoid of heavy artillery or usable supplies, with the rails and roads torn up. Partisans harass their every step, with a special zeal for targeting Russian officers. By the time Lvov is retaken, the League armies are bloodied, and when the subsequent push for Rzeszów encounters determined Landwehr resistance, the offensive begins to fall apart. Several futile attacks later, at which point summer is coming to an end, the commanding Russian general finally elects to hold fast and consolidate rather than continue smashing his head into a brick wall.

    Hungary
    While Vogel makes do in the north, General Dillinger is flush with troops, ammunition, and rolling stock so that he can carry out Operation Sickle, a bold lightning offensive in the style of the early phases of the war. With Allied forces now behind the Franz Joseph Line in the south, Operation Sickle envisions a hooking thrust further into Croatia, then north toward Budapest, with the ultimate objective of taking the Habsburg empire's second city. Sickle is the brainchild of General Paula Baumann, whose argument for a single determined strike won out in both the command council of Army Group Austria and back in the National Assembly, narrowly triumphing over General Speyer's proposed Operation Hammer, which called for the reduction and capture of Pressburg prior to a full envelopment of Budapest.

    Though Sickle is a far bolder stroke than the more methodical Hammer, it is by no means a fly-by-night maneuver. Instead, Allied forces spend March and half of April preparing for the attack, building up surpluses of needed supplies and refining the operational and logistical plans until they're taut and cohesive. Speyer, despite having lost the debate, works fervently toward Sickle's success, and his organizing genius plays a major role in what is to come.

    On what some wags in the army have dubbed "the Ides of April," Operation Sickle launches into motion. Spearheaded by multiple veteran armies, the main force smashes into the secondary defensive line erected following the fall of Zagreb, nearly blasting it apart with the sheer force of the artillery bombardment that precedes the attack. The southern part of the League's defensive line is largely held by hard-bitten Russian regulars, but when they're reinforced by fresh Bulgarian troops, the cohesiveness of the defense actually decreases. A Romanian army marching in only confirms the state of mild chaos that's engulfed the League's command structure.

    Indeed, it is through these Romanian conscripts that Sickle achieves its first breakthrough, exploiting a gap between them and their Russian counterparts to pry open the League defenses. Soon, the demoralized Romanians are fleeing from the battlefield, while the Bulgarians are paralyzed from the communications breakdown, leaving only the Austrians and Russians to make a coordinated withdrawal toward Osijek.

    Dillinger moves as though he intends to follow, telegraphing some kind of dividing push through Slavonia to hew Bosnia and Dalmatia away from the Habsburgs, but the Allied forces dedicated to the push on Osijek come up short. While they take up defensive positions, reinforcing the Croatian salient, the second attack wave is already moving behind them. By the time the Osijek forces realize that no attack is incoming and reorganize for a counter-push, it's already too late.

    The entire planned defense of Budapest, the last stand of the centuries-old Habsburg Empire, envisioned an attack from the west, and so the League high command is left dumbfounded when instead troops under the Moravian Valkyrie come screaming up from the south, crushing the garrison in Pecs and moving against the Danube's flow toward the backup capital. The west-facing fortifications of Budapest, the work of months, are immediately rendered obsolete as the entire League force reorients itself to account for this unexpected maneuver.

    The Battle of Dunaupentele is unique in that, for the first time in the course of this war, neither side seeks to attack into, through, or from a fortified position. Instead, League commanders are looking for a proper field battle to neutralize the Landwehr's defensive advantages, and so Austrian and Russian troops attack into the oncoming Allied forces in a desperate attempt to delay their advance. What they get is somewhat different.

    Balloonists aboard the scout airship Hegel are the first to notice the incoming League attack and dutifully warn their superiors. Their precise troop estimates and projected vectors of approach are so helpful that Hegel itself ends up being the first airborne vessel ever awarded its own citation for meritorious service. This feat leads some to suggest the expansion of the Balloonist Corps into a full aerial division.

    Forewarned and therefore forearmed, Allied forces get a rare opportunity to show their sheer skill in field fortifications, digging out and fortifying an elaborate system of earthworks in a little under twelve hours. By the time the League assault force arrives, it confronts an army that looks like it's been in central Hungary for weeks, if not months.

    The battle itself is much-touted in the popular press for its relative novelty, but the actual proceedings are somewhat less exciting. Most of the League troops are second-line conscripts or raw recruits, sent into a meat-grinder by their superiors in an effort to trade their lives for more time fortifying the capital. Instead, the offensive hits the Allied position like a wave hitting a rock, and like most waves, it is subsequently broken. The Allied counter-charge routs the enemy troops and sends those not captured or killed fleeing back to Budapest, where rumors spread among the soldiers there of the unstoppable force headed directly for them.

    Delayed by only two days, the Operation Sickle forces arrive on the outskirts of Budapest and are confronted with a city whose nerves are taut like piano wire, with incipient panic writ large in every soldier and citizen. The imperial court has fled yet again; some say for Russia, others for Romania. All that remains is a determined Austrian army group, ordered to stand fast or die trying, bolstered by a few royalist militias.

    The Battle of Budapest is a far bloodier affair than the simple set-piece that preceded it. While the Allied forces successfully batter through the far weaker southern defenses, the Austrian defenders are reinforced by troops falling back from all-but-surrounded Pressburg, and the commanding general continues funneling his soldiers into a vortex of blood and shrapnel. German, Italian, and Spanish forces all take heavy losses fighting street by street for the Hungarian capital, with particularly high casualties incurred trying to cross the Danube. Only the belated arrival of the German riverine navy allows the Allied attackers to lay down a pontoon bridge and force a crossing, but not without paying a high price.

    By the time the eastern city center falls, it's mid-summer and much of Budapest has either burnt or been shelled into ruins. Only then do the Austrian forces begin to withdraw in substantial numbers, evacuating what soldiers of theirs remain eastward toward Szolnok. The front line finally stabilizes with Allied forces in control of most of Slovakia and Hungary, leaving only a strip of eastern Hungary and Transylvania under Habsburg control, along with still-garrisoned Bosnia.

    Having swept through the Habsburg Empire's soft underbelly, Operation Sickle has succeeded in tearing its heart and lungs out. All that remains is to see what the blood price paid for such a feat will buy the Republican cause.
     
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    Situation Report: August 1899
  • Informational
    • Situation Report: August 1899
    ​

    All numbers are abstract, relative, and not precise, and exist solely as an illustration of comparative troop strength rather than as an exact 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 (8,000,000/8,000,000)
    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)
    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
    Allied Forces (6,400,000/6,400,000)
    Germany (3,600,000/3,600,000)
    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 (5,200,000/5,200,000)
    Austria (2,800,000/2,800,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)
    IV Army (400,000/400,000)
    X Army (400,000/400,000)
    XI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army* (400,000/400,000)

    Russia (1,600,000/1,600,000)
    V Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (400,000/400,000)
    VII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (400,000/400,000)

    Bulgaria (400,000/400,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)

    Romania (400,000/400,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)

    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: 2,340,000
    Italy: 1,680,000
    Spain: 370,000

    Austria: -3,210,000
    Russia: 2,870,000
    Bulgaria: -180,000
    Romania: -120,000
     
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    • damn that's a huge progress, but yeah i feel somewhat weary on the war too. feels like we just went as far as we can with our luck and skill, best not to push it further.
     
    If we make our way up the Baltic we can probably bring the war to a close. The Russians won't like us threatening St. Petersburg. That's where the bulk of their remaining industry is too, according to Godwinson's map.
     
    Romania is also almost certainly pretty close too falling into revolt too, especially now that their so close to being on the frontlines, their armeis have largely died in futile defense of the hapsburg regime that only lasted half a year with their support, and are currently drawing replacements from untrained conscripts.
     
    Whenyouseeyou said:
    Remember guys we will need to take the Russian breadbasket so they can starve themselves
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Inflicting starvation policies on a people is bad, actually.

    The route to Lvov having been comprehensively ruined by our scorched earth tactics, I think the next offensive into Russia ought to be toward Memel and Minsk. Aiming to take Memel, Kovno, Grodno, and Bialystok.
     
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    The International Proposal: Autumn 1899
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    • The International Proposal: Autumn 1899​

    The year following the first failed peace mission by the Imperial League has seen little but catastrophe for the forces of Austria, Russia, and their press-ganged allies. The fall of Budapest has rendered Austria little more than a collection of field armies kept alive by foreign loans and Russian arms, and the collapse of the Franz Joseph Line has paved the way for a push across the Pannonian plain toward the Black Sea.

    Additionally, Russian Emperor Alexander III is reputed to be on his last legs, and his son Michael is known to be a much less forceful figure. Dissent is on the rise throughout Russia, both in the commons and the salons. If the Allies break through into coastal Ukraine and begin taking Russia's Black Sea ports, its sole lifeline to Western loans and arms, things could get... messy.

    This potential outcome is of some concern to the Western Entente, which up until this point was quite content to see Russia humbled and its control of the Balkans shaken loose. A weakened Russia is to be welcomed, even encouraged. A disintegrating Russia is to be avoided at all costs.

    And so the second peace mission is not just Austrians and Russians, but also British, French, and Portuguese diplomats. The Entente envoys are not bearing threats, veiled or otherwise, but a simple premise: all sensible war aims have clearly been achieved, so why not resolve this diplomatically rather than continue to fight? Austria is done. Surely the insult has been avenged many times over by now.

    For its part, Allied High Command is not averse to ending hostilities here. The Allied war economy is somewhat overheated maintaining the present pace of the conflict, even with limited offensives, if operations are to be conducted in the style to which the Republican armies are accustomed. Logistics are stretched in covering not just an ever-growing front line, but also extensive occupations and garrisons. This could well be an opportune moment to stop.

    Of course, the Landwehr and Marinewehr, as well as their Allied counterparts, are still in good form, and caution does not foreclose on the possibility of further gains. Perhaps there is yet more to be achieved on the battlefield, and it is likely that the Entente can be safely put off for some time yet.

    As such, it is up to the Assembly to answer the usual question:


    What is to be done?

    [] Enter into negotiations.
    EFFECT: A cease-fire is declared, ostensibly just for the autumn, but in practice it is likely to include the winter as well. Negotiations move forward. Allied forces will spend the six-month pause consolidating their hold over occupied territory and building up for future operations, just in case negotiations fall through.

    [] Refuse to negotiate.
    EFFECT: No cease-fire, no negotiations, no peace. We'll move directly into the Autumn 1899 planning phase. The Entente will be somewhat perturbed.


    24 hours to vote.
     
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    • [X] Enter into negotiations.

    Let's at least see what they're offering. We can always tell them to fuck off.
     
    [X] Refuse to negotiate.

    Somewhat perturbed is fine, especially given that the Entente fears there's a real risk of Russia disintegrating and there's discontent in the commons. Maybe next offer we can come to the negotiating table, but we cannot leave Russia unhurt.
     
    [X] Enter into negotiations.

    Poland is free and Austria is destroyed. We've accomplished basically all of our initial war goals, and we need to be ready to fight the next one. Let's not overstretch ourselves.
     
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