Chapter 19: Loss of the Mediterranean (March 1888 – Jan 1889)
In the Livonian Parliament, great changes were being made. The long-standing issues which led to the civil war had convinced most that Parliament was far too slow to make any changes – and those it had made weren’t necessarily the ones the people actually cared about. While it wouldn’t come into effect until 1889, the revised constitution of Livonia would grant far more authority to both the King and the newly-designated Master of Parliament.
The decline in the King’s authority over the last few centuries had been a gradual change. When parliament was founded, they mostly had been in charge of provincial matters, leaving the national policies to the King – but during the reigns of the two previous monarchs, the crown’s power had eroded, and consequently the country had become less stable. The people yearned for a strong ruler (certainly part of why the Titovist movement had gained such a large following), but currently there was nobody in such a position to do so. The current king, Aivars, was 74 years old and mainly behaved as an advisor and cheerleader to parliament. Now, he had been convinced to call for a full election in 1889, giving the country a chance to elect the Master of Parliament who would be given significant authority to make reforms.
During the chaos in Europe, England had been strengthening its position in Asia. The Indian country of Talakad had once been a colonial power in the 1500s, but their golden age had long since ended. In exchange for a large sum of money, they agreed to sell most of their islands in the Pacific Ocean to England – most of them were sparsely inhabited in the first place, and Talakad had little need for faraway strategic ports anymore.
As a result of the purchase, England’s reach now extended all the way to Hawaii, giving them much easier access to the west coast of the Americas, as well as Japan and Korea.
Between the French invasion of Aquitaine and the Livonian Civil War, Genoa was in the best possible position for re-expansion. In June of 1888, England agreed to form an alliance with Genoa and assist them in regaining the land that had been stolen from them in Italy. Just one month later, Genoa declared war on Rom.
Livonia had only ended its civil war four months earlier, and the mainland army was in disarray. The forces in France were still in good shape after the invasion of Aquitaine, but weren’t nearly large enough to handle a full war against Genoa. Rom’s army was also rather small and no match for the massive conscripted Genoese horde that would soon flood into their country.
Despite their size, the Roman defense was strong at first. Livonia called France into the war, hoping that a two-front war would be enough to curtail the Genoese advance and delay the fall of Rom in time for enough reinforcements to arrive.
Unlike the last war against Genoa though, the Baltic Army wasn’t allowed to pass through Bavarian territory– any armies that would arrive would need to do so by boat, and given the amount of soldiers needed to properly defend against Genoa, this was a big problem.
While transporting its first army, the Baltic Navy encountered the English Atlantic Fleet. This wasn’t their entire navy, but it was a good portion of it. The Livonians had long speculated about the advancement of England’s navy in recent years, but this battle confirmed that Livonia’s technological advances were equally matched by England.
Thanks to its far larger size, the battle was a victory for the Baltic Navy, with all of England’s North Atlantic ships being sunk, while only seven Raiders and one Monitor were lost on the other side. While the bulk of England’s navy was located in the Mediterranean and overseas, this loss had robbed them of their numerical advantage, meaning a fight against the Baltic Navy would be far too risky to be worth it. Instead, their Mediterranean fleet would be positioned off the coast of Africa, where they could easily stop any Livonian ships from entering or leaving.
Meanwhile, the offensive into Genoa from France had been broken after enormous reinforcements surrounded the invaders. While the small physical size of Genoa was a big disadvantage for them (as any occupation would be a big hit to their ability to fight), it also meant that mobilization was extremely fast– soldiers could be transported from the Roman front to the French one in mere hours. The Genoese shift towards France did help to take the pressure off Rom, but the relief would only be temporary.
Only a few weeks later, the French offensive collapsed completely, and the shattered Livonian and French armies retreated far into the borders of France – worse yet, half of France’s army had been completely encircled by the counteroffensive. The Genoese followed right behind the retreat, immediately advancing into Provence. On the other front, the Romans were beginning to exhaust from the nonstop Genoese reinforcements, and it seemed their defense was about to disintegrate.
All this, and the first Livonian reinforcements hadn’t even arrived yet.
England’s involvement in the war meant that Africa was now a battleground as well – and it was a disaster. The Livonian management in Africa had only recruited enough soldiers to manage the natives - not nearly enough to handle any sort of war with England. Meanwhile, England had committed far more armies to their colonies – their relative lack of enemies and island position meant that they didn’t require nearly as many men to defend their homeland as Livonia. The Baltic colonial forces were quickly overwhelmed by England in East Africa, while the resistance in West Africa was practically nonexistent.
By October, the Genoese had advanced halfway into France. Consequently, the French leadership quickly surrendered to Genoa in a white peace. It had been only three months since the war began, and already Rom’s defenses were crumbling and France had been beaten.
In November, Bavaria declared war on Al-Turkis, emboldened now that they weren’t crippled by separatist rebellions.
However, their invasion plan hadn’t taken into account the potential of a Pomeranian front, which turned out to be exactly what happened. Pomeranija had been quite active in their diplomacy over the past few years, forming a defensive alliance with Al-Turkis only a year earlier. The Bavarians had assumed this was simply to protect Pomerania, but it turned out that Pomerania was willing to protect Al-Turkis as well.
Pomeranija had also formed a defensive alliance with Livonia last month (meaning neither country was involved in each other’s current war). This was a good deal for both of them, as the prospect of being on opposing sides in a war could potentially devastate both sides (The Prussian region of Livonia which bordered Pomeranija was the most densely populated and industrialized region in the entire country.)
Only days after the French left the war, the Baltic Navy finally arrived in the Mediterranean with its soldiers. By the time they were unloaded in Rom, the Genoese had already started to push well into its borders – the Roman army was still putting up an incredible resistance, but they were now encircled and it would take quite a push to relieve them.
The Livonians immediately began attacking along the coast,but given the sheer number of Genoese soldiers between them and the Romans, the situation was becoming dire. Genoa had been consistently taking heavy casualties against the entrenched Roman machineguns, but the Romans were about to run out of supplies.
In France, the government’s sudden capitulation didn’t end up saving the country from destruction like they had planned. After the Baltic Navy had arrived, the remainder of Livonian soldiers in the country had been boated over to Rom, leaving the country almost completely undefended. As a result, the French Communists, who had been the original architects of the movement in the first place, took this opportunity to rise up.
The movement already had quite a following within the country, but the devastation and rapid advance by Genoa along the border had convinced many of the people in those territories to join the rebellion.
As the news arrived in Livonia, there was quite a mixed reaction. The military had already come to the consensus that propping up France was a lost cause, especially given the incompetence of their leadership, and with the Battle of Rom ongoing, Livonia couldn’t spare any soldiers anyways. On the other hand, allowing communism to officially establish a state, especially in Livonia’s own puppet, was both dangerous and humiliating.
Despite the fact that France had practically spawned the Titovist movement in the first place, Parliament generally leaned towards inaction, as usual. The elections were coming up next year, although they would be delayed to the latter half of the year due to the war situation.
The progression of the war in Rom ended up making intervention in France impossible anyways – The Livonians were steadily advancing north, but the armies weren’t large enough to properly cover their rear, and now the Genoese were attempting to encircle them as well. Rom’s army was also ready to collapse at any moment now, which meant it would be impossible to reach them in time anyways.
The war in Bavaria was going alright for the country at the moment, although the armies were still mainly fighting along the Turkish border. The Czechs, now a puppet of Al-Turkis, had joined the war on their side, and it was there where Bavaria found the most success – as they held the Turkish border, the Czech defenses were quickly being surrounded. It seemed the Bavarian plan was to force their surrender, although instead of reincorporating the country into the empire, their goal was a more pragmatic cessation of land.
The Pomeranians had pushed quite a bit into the north of Bavaria after encountering almost no resistance, but at this point they had been halted by a series of battles.
By January of 1889, Livonia was in bad shape. It still was recovering from the wounds of a civil war, the war in Rom was going terribly, and France was likely about to be overthrown by the Communists. With the upcoming election, a new direction for the country would need to be established, or else the empire could very well shatter.
