Read All About It! - A Community NewspapAAR

[El Pip]

As is always the way life throws problems at you just after you start a new project, but that is a poor excuse for my having being such an absentee-landlord.

@DensleyBlair - I am please to see the French media represented at last and is such fine communist voice, perhaps the will be the rallying cry the public need to finally embrace Marx?

@coz1 - I don't really need to say the Dominion Review remains excellent, but I'll say it anyway. Former President Lee remains a convincing polemicist but there is something of the "raging against the dying light" abotu him - the future of the Confederacy is another of his Civil War colleague and not someone from a more recent generation.

@SibCDC - I remain a sucker for a properly formatted paper with a realistic looking font choice, so of course I enjoyed the most recent edition of Vaderland and the firm defence of Christian Democracy.

@GangsterSynod - A welcome change of style with a proper government leaflet and I do like the idea of the Emperor of Austria finally putting a bit of weight behind their claims to be King of Jerusalem, even if they do not (yet) hold it.

@slothinator - While I am sure both would be disgusted at the comparison, the Piedmont communists are tied with the editors of Vaderland for most 'newspaper' looking effort. The little 'fundraising' column in the corner also made me smile, some excellent wording in there.

For my own efforts I fear I may have focused too much on the style while forgetting to think if anyone would want to read that style. But it was fun to stretch myself by writing it so I'm happy enough.

As we approach the many elections scheduled for this year I do note the mild interactivity licence does cover voting on in game elections. If anyone wishes to see the result of 'their' countries election decided not by the game engine but by a vote in this threat, and their persuasive arguments in their paper, then let me know.

Next round of the save game should be uploaded tomorrow.

 

[GangsterSynod]

As is always the way life throws problems at you just after you start a new project, but that is a poor excuse for my having being such an absentee-landlord.

@DensleyBlair - I am please to see the French media represented at last and is such fine communist voice, perhaps the will be the rallying cry the public need to finally embrace Marx?

@coz1 - I don't really need to say the Dominion Review remains excellent, but I'll say it anyway. Former President Lee remains a convincing polemicist but there is something of the "raging against the dying light" abotu him - the future of the Confederacy is another of his Civil War colleague and not someone from a more recent generation.

@SibCDC - I remain a sucker for a properly formatted paper with a realistic looking font choice, so of course I enjoyed the most recent edition of Vaderland and the firm defence of Christian Democracy.

@GangsterSynod - A welcome change of style with a proper government leaflet and I do like the idea of the Emperor of Austria finally putting a bit of weight behind their claims to be King of Jerusalem, even if they do not (yet) hold it.

@slothinator - While I am sure both would be disgusted at the comparison, the Piedmont communists are tied with the editors of Vaderland for most 'newspaper' looking effort. The little 'fundraising' column in the corner also made me smile, some excellent wording in there.

For my own efforts I fear I may have focused too much on the style while forgetting to think if anyone would want to read that style. But it was fun to stretch myself by writing it so I'm happy enough.

As we approach the many elections scheduled for this year I do note the mild interactivity licence does cover voting on in game elections. If anyone wishes to see the result of 'their' countries election decided not by the game engine but by a vote in this threat, and their persuasive arguments in their paper, then let me know.

Next round of the save game should be uploaded tomorrow.

Excellent! I don't want a change in Austro-Hungarian rulership, but if you could nudge it into looking more Levantward, I think that could be cool (they did add Lebanon as a wargoal against Russia, after all. And Franz Joseph is nominally King of Jerusalem, as you point out...). Not sure if that nudge is covered by mild interactivity, though.

Also, I played through the last save as Poland-Lithuania, which is apparently an utter beast if it makes it through the first two wars (which the AI probably won't). By 1936, I'd sphered basically all of the Balkans, grabbed all of Bohemia from Austria-Hungary, a few states from Germany, and sphered Russia, which was at that point a permanent secondary power. Also, interestingly, Japan actually did go communist, which I've never seen before. I guess Marx really was influential there...

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Well, I think it would be funnier if all the newspapers trying for political reform get nowhere and increasingly insane and desperate for change.

 

[El Pip]

Excellent! I don't want a change in Austro-Hungarian rulership, but if you could nudge it into looking more Levantward, I think that could be cool (they did add Lebanon as a wargoal against Russia, after all. And Franz Joseph is nominally King of Jerusalem, as you point out...). Not sure if that nudge is covered by mild interactivity, though.

I've done mild interactivity on other AARs and I understand this sort of thing is OK as it's just nudges/suggestions/ideas to the player (me in this case) not people running individual countries. Plus of course all these things can be ignored, see below;

Well, I think it would be funnier if all the newspapers trying for political reform get nowhere and increasingly insane and desperate for change.

This is also very true, though I think the occasional "be careful what you wish for" would also be fun as a newspaper editor gets the policy it wishes for and then discovers it's not quite as expected.

 

[Kazanov]

I forgot to post mine, ill be posting it in the following hours

 

[El Pip]

Third Save;

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oEuhGfpP3okUJRiD2g1P9HogKp1hJqi7

Game has been taken to October 1889 and the outbreak of the German War of Bulgarian Freedom (the snappy name given to the Crisis War. That is obviously the main event so I stopped there.

Next session I will be adding in some additional wargoals (using the console as required). I already have some ideas what will go in, but a particularly convincing column from a newspaper could change government policy and influence the specific goals.

Spoiler: A History of Other Events since the Previous Save

Relatively quiet session;
July 28th - Russia declares '3rd Rome' and moves capital to Moscow as St Petersburg is too close to the border

28th July - Venice declares war on Modena. This is a very slow moving war and the Venetian Army only starts marching south in October.

1st August Orissa went Bankrupt

27th Aug - Netherlands had an event to speed up their war justification against Atjeh.

1st Sept - Ottomans and the PLC alliance sign an alliance

Mid Sept - AH finally clears out the last rebel from their post-war nationalist rebellion.

Early October - AH joined the crisis on Bulgarian side.

Mid October - Russia joined in as well

22nd October - German war of Bulgarian Freedom begun.

'Fun' fact - Germany still has a valid Casus Belli against France to claim back Alsace Lorraine....

 

[DensleyBlair]

LE LIBERTAIRE
Journal du Monde Libéré

NUMÉRO 2—OCTOBRE 1889​

War, at last, has visited our troubled Continent once again! The so-called Socialists in Germany, who have brokered a deal with the imperialists and in so doing won the machinery of state for their own ends, have answered the call from Bulgarian nationalists in the occupied Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire. And what a venerable cast of heroic nations have leapt to the defence of the Bulgarian cause! Supporting their bid for self-determination we find none other than arch-imperialists, the British; the racialist former slave state of Confederate America; and the emperors of Russia and Austria-Hungary. What a fine array of crusaders, united in the struggle for liberty of all peoples!


In war the capitalist reveals himself as, at heart, an imperialist. The work of self-determination is not accomplished by the state, for by its very nature the existence of the state stands in direct contradiction to the fact of self-determination. Thus we must start from the assumption that, like all other wars waged between the imperial powers, this is a war fought purely for enrichment and political gain. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia all stand to gain from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and thus they have fabricated the means to enact this collapse themselves. Make no mistake, there is nothing noble about this war above any other war; the veneer of brotherhood between nations is as hollow as the barrel of a gun, and one state will turn on the other like partners in a courtly dance as soon as it proves more advantageous. This is what history tells us.


France’s entry into the war on the side of the Turks may as well be read with complete disregard for the existence of the Bulgarians, so little does their light feature in the true workings of this conflict. Clearly, the interests of the French state are benefitted by the downfall of the German state, thus wherever the German interest may be opposed, it will be opposed. Meanwhile, these abstract games of diplomacy, conducted with all of the gravity of after-dinner divertissements, spell the ruin of the peasant and the worker, pressed into service or plagued by the devastation of the land he works or the home that shelters him. In France at this moment there are three-hundred-and-sixty thousand workers without employment, and the ranks of the unemployed are of almost exactly the same strength as the ranks of the French army. Since July, spending on the military has increased twofold, while concern for the abjected poor continues in its non-existence. The bets bet for a worker today is to join the army and hope against all hope that his pitiable luck will protect him. Thus the system works as it was ever intended: war distracts the worker from his misery with the promise of glory, hot meals and a false camaraderie born out of a shared subjection to the whims of the upper classes. Those outside of the services are allowed to share in the spoils through an augmented love of country, which one is meant to cheer on like a dog in a fight. For the capitalist–imperialist class, war is bearbaiting on the scale of nations.


When one is forced to beg for one’s own Liberty by the intervention of capitalists, imperialists and statists, this is no Liberty at all! Never does on find true freedom at the hands of state armies, nor through the largesse of career politicians, aristocrats and capitalists who deign to take an interest in your petty cause. Beware, for the interest of the state in your cause means only that it has found a way to profit from it! True freedom may be won only by the rejection of nationhood everywhere, and by the coming of the international fraternity of workers, untied in common cause against all those bodies who seek to oppress them! The workers’ revolution is stateless, and its force may be felt equally in all places. Let all the empires of the world tremble at the imagination of the liberated worker, freed from his bond of serfdom to a state which pays him no loyalty in return! Thus will this press continue to oppose all wars fought by the capitalist–imperialist class, concocted always in the service of their continued enrichment. Our masters seek to profit from the shedding of the workers’ blood. Do not give them the satisfaction! Soldiers: resist the slavery of service! Remember your power as workers! Fight only for the true liberation of your class!

 

[Le Jones]

Oh Lord - this is wonderful

 

[coz1]

Dominion Review​

Editorial by the Founder​

Dear friends...how we rush head first into these twin perils. It is told to me that war is declared! At this critical juncture when Jackson has been defeated for the Democratic nomination, this President Pettigrew calls forth good young and able men to send across the world. In Mr. Hill’s speech of last week, he rightly calls out this President for creating a crises when one does not exist. All for the sake of Pettigrew’s office and legitimacy. This so called German War for Bulgarian Freedom is sold to us as citizens about that which we care most about. Our freedom. And yet, who are the actors? Germany? A hotbed of socialists no different from their mortal enemies in France. Shall we consider Russia or Austria-Hungary a friend when they too practice in the same form? Let Great Britain play peacemaker there and not us, I say!

An election is less than a month away and it is likely the most important of our lifetimes. If we see the populist cause win once more, how many more of these foreign adventures may we look forward to? With all we hold across the ocean in Africa, how long will it be before we are drawn into more European affairs? It is right and true that we have done well work to colonize and help our more vulnerable men and women in the homeland from which they derive. More to that, these colonies do so much to assist our economy. And yet, at some date I foresee a day in which we are at odds with these European powers. This moment here, my friends...this is a true world war. I cannot sit here to Arlington without raising my fist in the air and shouting “No!” “Stop!” “Cease!”

I need not tell you of my history and knowledge of what war could mean to this country. It is good that it is so terrible for we may grow too fond of it. It granted us our freedom and we were forced to defend that again, but now we choose to enter into a devil’s pact. There are merely days left to you so we might defend our future once more, my friends. This now is war by another name. Vote Hill so we might avoid these unnecessary conflicts. Vote Hill to stop these populists from gaining any further ground. Vote Hill to see anarchy defeated both here and to our north. Vote Hill to maintain our hard fought freedom here and not some place that so few of us will ever see. In short, my friends, vote Hill to see your future secured. Anything else is grievous suicide for my country and yours. This I give to you as promise.

- Robert Edward Lee is the founder of Dominion Review. Former three term President of the Confederate States of America and General of the Armies from 1859 to 1879.​

 

[liefwarrior]

EL SIGLO FUTURO
Primera Edición | Octubre 1889
​

Once More, the Great Powers of Europe have returned to the Field of Battle. Once More, the Brave Men of our Continent must take arms to protect their Home and Family. Once More, God has called upon Us to take part in a Crusade against the Infidel, to Liberate our fellow Man. The Leader of the Non-Believers, He who calls Himself the Sultan, has Oppressed those Good People living South of the Danube, Los Búlgaros, for Far too Long. They have Risen Up in Resentment against the Barbaric practices of the Turk, Denouncing his False god and Praising the Name of Our Lord. The Christian World has responded to their Cries and has too Risen, Risen to Face the Infidel and Protect the Children of God from their Wrath. Be they Anglés, Castellá or Alemany; all of Europe are Lambs for whom God is thy Shepard, and God has Spoken, and it is Known, that the Will of God be that His Children shall protect Our Christian Community from the Danger of the Infidel.

The Crusades are Fused into the Blood of Our King. It was the Ancestors of Our King who rescued the Holy Land from the Moslem Caliph, who Answered the Call of Urban II, and Rode to the Birth Place of the Christian People. It was the Ancestors of Our King who purged the Moslems from Our Very Homes, from the Iberian Peninsula upon which we Reside, who Led the Glorious Reconquista. It is the History of Our Kingdoms, of Our Monarch, of Our Peoples, to Spread the Word of God to all those that Can Hear It. To Spread the Word of God by Oratory if it is Possible, by the Blessing of Lands, by the Building of Churches; but We are Not to Shy Away from the Tasks that Our Lord places in Front of Us, and so we shall Spread the Word of God by Fire and Sword if that be Necessary, and we will do so Knowing that such is the Will of God.

Even though Most of Us - we Catalans, Francés, Espanyols - most of Us are Good God Fearing Men, But even amongst We, the most Devout of Christian Communities, there still Exists Heresy. Many of Our Fellows in Espanya are guilty of Great Sin. They continue to Claim that the False Isabel is La Reina de España despite the Rightful Succession of Our King, Carlos VII & XI, to the Throne of the Regne d'Espanya following the Abdication of His Father, Juan III. The Good People of Espanya know that that Carlos VII is the One True King by the Grace of God, And it is Merely the Cruel Violence of the False Isabel which has Silenced their Voices. Despite the Fear which she has Oppressed them with, the Godly Espanyols have heard of the Plight of their Búlgar fellows, and Now they March to their Rescue.

The Alemany will March as Well, be they Children of Emperor Franz Joseph I or Kaiser Wilhelm II. Here the Power of God is Remarkable. It was not Two Years ago that Christian fought Christian, that Alemany fought Alemany, that Brother fought Brother; at the Behest of Our Lord Those that Once Fought against Each Other will Now March Shoulder to Shoulder, United in their Faith. They are an Example for All of Mankind. An Example of How A Good Christian Man might Live. How One Might Live in the Defence of Our Faith. They carry with them the Souls of the Saints who Marched before them, those who Carried the Sword of Christ into the Hearts of the Moslem in the Earlier Crusades. This Conflict is the Crusade of the Modern Day, and All Those who Fight and Die in the Defence of the Faith shall become Saints and be Raised into Heaven, and they shall emerge Victorious for they Fight with the Power of the Almighty God.

This Crusade presents an Opportunity to those who remain UnEnlightened in the Ways of Our Lord. An Opportunity who have ever become Wayward in the Faithfulness. An Opportunity for every Boy to become a Man with the Blessing of God. Those who have Struggled to find Work, who have Lacked the Faith and the Ability to Toil God's Soil, who are not Employed to Reap the Harvest Bestowed upon us by Heaven, should look upon this Opportunity, and seize upon it. Those, who in the trappings of Decadence have fallen to Material Greed, who have Sinned against Natural Law, who Entertained the Psuedo-Intellectual Rejection of God, should Seek Now to Take Up Arms. This is Their Chance at Redemption. The Chance for Redemption of Your Brother, Your Son, Your Self. For in Following in the Steps of those who have Crusaded before You, You shall be Forgiven of Your Sins, and come the Day of Judgement, You will Not be Found Wanting. This is the Example Set by Our Christian Brothers.

It is of No Coincidence Nor Surprise that the Heretical Pierre of France has Chosen to Betray the Will of God. That Devil who Goes by the Name Tirard has Elected to Become Involved in the Coming Crusade, But Not on the Side of God. He has Shown the True Colour of His Coat, there can be no Doubt of the his Nature. The Ministers who have Illegally seized control of França have Forsaken God and Submitted themselves to the Infidel. They are a Vessel of Lucifer, given in to His Temptations, and he has Ordered that they Oppose the Liberation of their Christian Brothers, the Búlgars. Instead they Whip the Innocent Francesos into Conscription for the Devil's Cause, they shall be Forced to Serve under the Infidel Sultan, to Fight against the Alemanys and Espanyols.

This Author suggests that those of the Audience who might be more Tepid of Stomach, or who belong to the Fairer Portion of Society, should Avert their Gaze from That of Which I shall Next Write. It would do great Damage to thine Eyes and Curdle within thy very Soul. Carry Forth and Understand the Truth of what this Author Speaks at a Risk that is Thy Own. That Same Devil which Doth possess the Heretic Tirard to Deny that Which has been Granted to Carlos VII & XI by the Grace of God, Namely Dominion over El Poble de França; that Very Same Devil hath also Moved Tirard to Engage in the Acts which Damned Sodom, it hath moved Him to Engage in these Acts with those other Ministers of His Government. It Has even been Suggested that the Heretic Tirard, in part of the Devil's Temptations, has so made it that the Infidel Sultan has been Degraded from his Sinful and Barbaric practice of Polygamy, to that Cardinal Sin of Amusement between just themselves. Such is the Corruption of Tirard's Heresy, that it is Capable of bringing Even the Infidel into Greater Sin. There Can be No Doubt, that the Return of a Crusade such as that against the Albigensians is Necessary, to Purge the Sin from the Flesh of the People.

The First Step towards the Return of Faith and Sanctity to the Lands of Carlos VII & XI has begun. Christians, not only from the Continent, but even the far off América, have answered the Call to Crusade against the Turkish Infidel. The Power of God, actualised in the Fire and Steel of the Armies of the Continent, shall grant a Great Victory, and Free the Búlgars from the Oppression of the Infidel. Then, having Spread the Word of God into the Land of the Turks, and brought them into the Light, the Eyes of God can turn once more to the very Heart of the Continent. They can turn to França, where the Unspeakable Acts committed by the Heretic Ministry have begun to Corrupt the Fine People of His Majesty's Nation. Then, having Scoured the Devil from the Continent it shall be the turn of the False Isabel. God shall Eject the Pretender from Her Phoney Throne, and by the Grace of God, the Benevolent Rule of His Majesty Carlos VII & XI shall be Returned to the People of Espanya.

((The Tiny Little Independent Catalonia is an absolute monarchy, so I figured they might as well be ruled by Carlos VII of Spain & XI of France, the Carlist and Legitimiste claimant respectively. Obviously the views expressed in this newspaper are not my own, instead that of a very traditionalist Catholic monarchist...))

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Tickety-Boo #1​

A message from our Illustrious Editor, Mr E. Bear​

Today’s featured article comes from a quite brilliant gentleman who lives opposite where he works, a dream we can all aspire to. I have not read his missive personally, given the timely arrival of a rather large and excellent pot of honey at the exact moment I was due to edit that day. However, I doubt any man who loves elevenses as much as Mr Mycroft Holmes can possibly lead our little paper astray, so I have the highest possibly faith that you shall enjoy his message to you all.

…​

Is there anything more loathsome to the civilised individual than getting up in the morning? Being hurled from a wonderful land of slumber upon a sumptuous mattress is one thing, but it is in aid of that most repulsive of tasks as a day’s work. Truly the morning routine is an escalation in dread as one leaves the bedroom entirely, descends the stairs, rescind because you have forgotten to dress, descended again to a frigid ground floor where the horror of servants, spouses or (GOD help you!) children doth dwell. The street may seem like an escape from such bedlam but alas, the road offers little respite. Your fellow man is a pig and an ass, and all the worse in the morning for having gone through the same horror as your good self.

The final circle of hell is breached upon arrival at the office, shutting out the clerk and taking a deep breath before the worst trial of all. The morning papers, that most disgusting and puerile collection of what some madman calls literature, informing you that yes, indeed, the world continues to spiral into ever decreasing depravity from the golden times of when you were around five years old.

This very paper offers to be a balm to the afflicted, and by GOD, looking at the dredge of news dockets these days, it is a long time in coming. I hate these glory hound gutter presses delighting in the oncoming slaughter of thousands of no doubt decent yet repulsive common soldiers. I despise these ridiculous socialists who demand whatever poor unfortunate nation should come together in these troubled times, eat their own rich and then, unsated, frenziedly attack their neighbours as well. I abhor these objectors to war, having nothing to counter it with but the dried hopes of millions. And as for the Americans… LORD, those Americans.

Our country indeed appears at times circling the drain, when it is not down and out completely. However, it must be noted that we have, somehow, managed to avoid the catastrophic mistake of being the rest of the world. There is certainly no trouble in our fiscal markets, though plenty in the restaurants of London, who have yet to adequately supply a gourmet enough wine in the evening. However, this recent news of our involvement in a ridiculous little war in the Balkans somewhere can only lead to trouble. We should be concerned with far greater things like who on earth approved the closing of Regent Street for that new construction monstrosity, or what tricks the FRENCH are up to (this war is nothing but a smokescreen, mark my words).

Alas, it appears my page is running short, and I have not yet got to the crux of the issue regarding annoying family members and bumbling sidekicks. Well! At least this paper serves a modicum of hope to those who are into such things. Myself, I much prefer to be unsociably miserable and depressive at all times. But by all means, say tickety-boo to that. I hate you all anyway.

- M. Holmes, KBE (and all that nonsense)​

 

[Le Jones]

 

[Tom D.]

Interesting choice to put the ads on the first page - 19th century ads are quite interesting to glance over if you can.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I like that the paper clearly shows the bias pretty much straight away. The French Republic, the Ottoman Empire....and Belgium and Japan.

Also I demand @El Pip write at least one article from The Daily Generic Example. He's been circling the Devon vs Cornwall cream tea debate for years at this point.

 

[El Pip]

It's the weekend, so time for my mid-session literary review.

@DensleyBlair - Le Libertaire taking a typically strident position on the war I see and one charmingly detached from even a pretence of reality.

@coz1 - President Lee raging well as always, interesting he sees the war as only negative and not as a chance to, say, expand Confederate West Africa at the expense of France. I would imagine President Pettigrew would point out those colonies were only acquired during the CSA's last involvement in a 'foreign' war and he hopes to repeat the trick. Luckily the Dominion Review can see through such misleading falsehoods.

@liefwarrior - I was not expecting a Catalan paper but I do like what you are doing with it, a very distinct style and I look forward to more of it.

@TheButterflyComposer - I was going to wonder which 'Americans' Mycroft was particularly annoyed with, as there are at least three flavours to chose from. Then I realised the answer was obviously "All of them, equally." I also like the fact that he considers actively being at war with French as inadequate for keeping an eye on what tricks they are up to.

@Le Jones - Glad you have joined us and done so with a 'proper' style of paper, I do always appreciate that extra bit of verisimilitude and as others have said the adverts are a nice touch. As for the editorial line, well I wonder if this concern for what the men of Shrewsbury think will continue when it is unpopular Liberal policies that are being pursued.

Also I demand @El Pip write at least one article from The Daily Generic Example. He's been circling the Devon vs Cornwall cream tea debate for years at this point.

Lies. With the blood of Trelawny possibly in my veins, and as a proud alumni of the one true School of Mines, I have never wavered in my belief that it is jam first, then clotted cream.

If those poor souls from the wrong side of the Tamar persist in getting it wrong that is their heretical error. Indeed as the Queen herself favours the Cornish approach, as one would expect, one could even say they are traitorous in the persistence in getting it wrong.

 

[DensleyBlair]

@DensleyBlair - Le Libertaire taking a typically strident position on the war I see and one charmingly detached from even a pretence of reality.

Lucky for us, the Libertaire has done away with all bourgeois trappings like “feeling any commitment towards inherited ideas of realism” and “running to more than a page in length”.

 

[coz1]

I have to say for my part, I've starting writing Lee as a very grumpy old man. I nearly considered having Jackson winning the nomination, but he's not that much younger.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

@TheButterflyComposer - I was going to wonder which 'Americans' Mycroft was particularly annoyed with, as there are at least three flavours to chose from. Then I realised the answer was obviously "All of them, equally." I also like the fact that he considers actively being at war with French as inadequate for keeping an eye on what tricks they are up to.

Yup, he really doesn't like anybody really, sides from his teddy, Nanny and the Queen.

For the suitably paranoid or racist, not even thermonuclear destruction will wipe france off the map enough.

 

[El Pip]

Before I carry out the next run, is there any desire to do any detailed war reporting? Basically do I need to collect details of the heroic battles fought by one (or more) of the participant nations or is a high level summary more than good enough?

As, the Catalans aside, all our papers are anti-war I suspect not, but I feel I should at least ask our editors this. I'd hate to do the work for no reason, or worse fail to provide the required raw materials for our writers.

 

[coz1]

Before I carry out the next run, is there any desire to do any detailed war reporting? Basically do I need to collect details of the heroic battles fought by one (or more) of the participant nations or is a high level summary more than good enough?

As, the Catalans aside, all our papers are anti-war I suspect not, but I feel I should at least ask our editors this. I'd hate to do the work for no reason, or worse fail to provide the required raw materials for our writers.

I'd say no and then give us the opportunity to ask for more detail if needed.