The Eastern Vikings, Part 3 - Baltic Mega-Campaign

[Idhrendur]

I've been very unpleasantly surprised by how easily my allies have folded. I figured Italy would have a rough time because they've been more or less useless for most of this campaign, but I didn't expect Arabia and Vijayanagar to get their teeth kicked in so quickly by Andalusia and Persia. I was certain they would have swallowed up southern Persia for me, but it looks like all the pressure is going to have to sit on Estonia's shoulders for the remainder of the war.

The USA has also been generally useless, as they apparently didn't care to build any naval transports and haven't attacked South America or Europe even once.

I can't recall if the converter got better about this, but it can be worth tag switching to the different AI nations and check how they're doing on naval force limits. The AI isn't smart enough to scrap old ships, or too many ships, which will both block them from building newer ships and mess with their economy. Save edits can be a worthwhile intervention.

 

[RedTemplar]

April 1904 - April 1905 AD

Fighting for Change - The Great War Brings New Leadership to Estonia
The disastrous Battle of Klagenfurt saw the Estonian army suffer its most severe loss of the war. While other battles had cost more lives, no battle had ever seen such a disproportionate loss of life, with fifty Entente deaths for every one casualty suffered by the defending Compact forces. While the Germans were surrendering ground, they were winning the war of attrition by dealing crippling blows against their enemies every time they attacked. So severe was the loss at Klagenfurt and the subsequent losses across the German front that the previously beloved Estonian General Olev Hurt took his own life in shame when the army was recalled back home to regroup in the spring of 1904.

Estonian soldiers hurried onto trains, horse carts, and any form of transportation they could find for the mass withdrawal to the Estonian-German border. As the spring turned into summer, they set up sprawling camps along the border provinces to make a temporary home for themselves while the military command staff held a long series of planning meetings to attempt to get the war effort back on track. President Aleksander Klavan pressed his officers for better results, but his leadership would not last until the end of the war.

The failures of the army had destroyed the confidence of many Estonians in the leadership of Klavan's administration, and during the campaign for the 1904 election all of his political opponents seized on the debacle at Klagenfurt as a key talking point against him. Klavan was unable to adequately satisfy their doubts, and the Estonian people responded at the ballot box by electing the first conservative government in years under the leadership of Janus Ojakaar. Ojakaar had run a pragmatic campaign, acknowledging that Estonia had seen unprecedented economic success under the liberal policies that his ENCP had so vigorously opposed. But those policies, he had argued, were meant for peacetime; during a war, a heavier governing hand was needed to ensure that all of Estonia's economic and military might was mobilized for absolute victory. He promised to reinvigorate the war effort and deliver a decisive victory over the Compact, and his promises won him the presidency. He took office in the summer of 1904, usurping Klavan's high command meetings and putting a new warplan into action.

The army had suffered devastating casualties since Klagenfurt, but by bringing the troops home, reinforcing those losses had been made substantially easier. Hundreds of thousands of new recruits were rushed to their regiments, and within a few short months of Ojakaar's election enough losses had been replaced to restart their campaign. By the estimates of their intelligence, the German army had a remaining strength of around 250,000 men. After the newest wave of reinforcements, the Estonian army numbered just over one million -- more than all of the Compact nations' remaining strength combined. Though the Germans were known to be fierce fighters who could make up for numerical disadvantage, Ojakaar believed he had enough men at his disposal to launch the final crushing strike that could break the Kaiser's men for good.

Placing the German front in the hands of a well-regarded young general, Heino Sirk, Ojakaar directed the army to seek out the remaining concentrations of Compact troops and focus on defeating them in the field. Once the German army's back had been broken, Ojakaar believed that it would be a simple affair to fight through the remaining fortified strongholds of the empire and break them down. The results were precisely what Ojakaar had hoped for. German morale had reached a high point after Klagenfurt and the following battles, but they were not prepared for the overwhelming number of troops that Estonia was prepared to commit to this new wave of attacks. In spite of their best efforts, the Germans suffered a series of defeats and were relentlessly pursued by Estonian regiments who were hungry to avenge their humiliation.

As a result of Estonia's renewed assault, Compact forces were beaten quickly into submission, and one year later in the spring of 1905, troops from Estonia, Finland, and the Republics had broken into Compact-controlled France and begun capturing the territory they hoped to build into a restored French nation. Germany and Andalusia were soundly defeated as sieges spread across France, and what was once a war of major open-field battles became a string of forest ambushes and desperate defenses of hastily fortified towns. Celtic troops were hesitant to continue to engage in the mainland, and Emperor Deaglan withdrew most of his remaining military strength to the safety of Albion, protected by the Celtic fleet. It seemed that victory was only a few months away -- but an unforeseen enemy struck Estonia where it was least anticipated: at home.

One common theme that had remained consistent throughout the Great War was the efforts by communist revolutionaries to use the chaos and death of the war as an opportunity to make a bid for power, hoping to catch a war-weary nation off guard and finally wage a successful revolution. In April of 1905, just as victory on the European front seemed to have been secured, the largest coordinated communist uprising of the Great War broke out in Estonia, concentrated in the west and south of the nation. All across Estonia, red revolutionaries rose up by the hundreds of thousands in an attempt to seize control of their local government facilities, military posts, and population centers. This rebellion began a period of time in Estonian history that would come to be called the "Red Summer."

 

[stnylan]

One can always rely on the Communists

 

[DensleyBlair]

I was going to say that a minority conservative-reactionary government was probably not going to provide most stability during the latter stages of the war, and here we are! Good old late Vicky mass rebellion. Very unfortunate timing though, just as things were looking like improving. I don’t envy your position at all…

 

[diskoerekto]

as much as I have an intrinsic affinity to communism, this is a wrong time time to revolt from a Vicky2 player's perspective. Still, they seem to be not numerous enough to be more than a setback in the general war effort.

 

[HistoryDude]

Hopefully, the Communists will be dealt with quickly and the war will continue successfully...

Let’s hope Estonia here doesn’t become the equivalent of Russia in OTL...

 

[eoncommander]

Let's hope Estonia doesn't go the way of Germany either! A stab-in-the-back mythos doesn't lead anywhere good.

 

[RedTemplar]

as much as I have an intrinsic affinity to communism, this is a wrong time time to revolt from a Vicky2 player's perspective. Still, they seem to be not numerous enough to be more than a setback in the general war effort.

There a a whole lot of them, but I do definitely still outnumber them. It's more of an inconvenience than a proper threat right now.

 

[Michaelangelo]

I guess the Estonian communists have a death wish, revolting just as the Estonia military is on the edge of victory. I expect the crackdown to be swift and brutal.

Looks like the western front is all but won, but what is happening in the east? Has Arabia succumbed to Persia's and Andalusia's invasions?

 

[Nikolai]

That rebellion system definitely is among the worse features of Vicky2...

 

[stnylan]

That rebellion system definitely is among the worse features of Vicky2...

It reminds me of the massive revolts that could occur in 1.05 EU2 (rebellions in EU2 were toned down in a later patch, but off the top of my head I can't remember when). Certain events like Time of Troubles for Russia, or situations like very low stability and whatnot were fun

 

[RedTemplar]

I guess the Estonian communists have a death wish, revolting just as the Estonia military is on the edge of victory. I expect the crackdown to be swift and brutal.

Looks like the western front is all but won, but what is happening in the east? Has Arabia succumbed to Persia's and Andalusia's invasions?

I'll be touching on that front soon -- basically Vijayanagar has been completely knocked out of the war, and Arabia is barely hanging on in the homeland but has lost most of its African territories.

And yes I'd be happy if the rebellions were a tad more... Threatening. Unless your country is really gassed, it seems easy to put them down. But if you lose the Great War and end up with no army training for five years, I can see how Commies or Fascists could take over relatively easily.

 

[RedTemplar]

April 1905 - December 1905 AD

The Red Summer - Estonia's Wartime Communist Uprising
Communism first gained popularity in the middle of the 19th century, but the adherents to the philosophy of Marx and his intellectual descendants had limited success in attempting to bring their envisioned utopia into existence. Socialism, its more moderate cousin, had enjoyed widespread popularity in Europe, and its presence had grown significantly since its introduction into formal politics. Many European countries had substantial representation in their legislatures from socialist political parties, with two nations -- the Celtic Empire and the United States -- having elected their socialist parties to lead their governments by the time of the Great War. But while socialism was able to find a home in many nations, its more radical cousin did not enjoy such success.

Instead, communist parties in most nations were heavily marginalized. Some countries outright banned the formation of formal communist political parties, and those that didn't were known to keep a close eye on them, even to the point of turning a convenient blind eye to efforts to undermine them. Growing agitated with their inability to gain support for a communist revolution in the political sphere, a number of pro-communist elements took to planning more violent means to effect change in the early 20th century. The Great War provided the perfect opportunity for these uprisings; the participating nations were fighting vicious wars outside of their borders, making it difficult to respond to internal turmoil with sufficient military strength. The war was also an expensive affair both in terms of the financial capital required to finance such a large campaign, as well as the high cost of life that left many civilians disillusioned and questioning their respective nations' participation in it. By 1905, most of the major participating nations of the Great War had weathered some form of attempted communist coup. In all of these cases, even in weakened and war-torn Italy, these movements were defeated.

In April of 1905, it would be Estonia's turn to deal with its own attempt at a communist coup in what is termed Estonia's "Red Summer."

By the early 20th century, the Estonian Socialist Party (ESP) had gained a full 25% of the seats in Estonia's legislative houses, placing it on roughly equal footing with the longstanding Estonian National Conservative Party (ENCP). The small and poorly-organized Communist Party of Estonia (CPE) held a paltry 4% of those seats, and the Estonian National Liberal Party (ENLP), which had held the presidency for the better part of several decades, enjoyed the largest representation at 30%. Estonia's communist activists had long hoped that the gradual drift to the political left signaled by the ENLP's usurpation of the presidency would eventually lead to a move even further to the left, allowing for the gradual adoption of communist ideas democratically. But when Jaanus Ojakaar of the ENCP was elected in 1904, those hopes were dashed. In the name of ending the war decisively, Ojakaar doubled the national tax rate, spent hundreds of thousands to expand and reopen factories, and increased military spending by an order of magnitude. The Great War would not end anytime soon, and sympathy for communism continued to drop.

Hindrek Laikmaa was the head of the CPE in 1904, and Estonia's return to the right prompted him to begin preparations for an armed uprising against the Ojakaar government.. He met with the leaders of communist organizations from across the republic as well as from neighboring foreign countries, and he secured money and weapons from a number of sources to equip a popular militia for his cause. With Estonian troops being shipped abroad to continue fighting the Germans, smuggling weaponry into the country proved particularly easy. Within a year, caches of arms and supplies had been established in multiple key locations across Estonia, and pro-communist volunteers from Germany, Finland, Persia, and Italy had entered the country to assist their Estonian comrades. In April of 1905, the communists and their supporters would launch their campaign to take Estonia, hoping to occupy key locations swiftly and install a new government before the army could respond in force.

The attempted overthrow came swiftly and aggressively. Groups of armed revolutionaries rose up all across the republic, storming police stations, government buildings, and military outposts to seize them in the name of the Estonian proletariat. Not even the capital of Saaremaa was safe; over 10,000 rebels besieged the city, forcing President Ojakaar to remain in hiding inside the capital building while his officers attempted to get word out to the front. All of Estonia's military resources had been committed to fighting the Compact out west; only local police forces remained to safeguard the country, and they lacked the numbers and strength required to put down such a large rebellion.

It would take several weeks for the news of the communist uprising to reach the men at the front, and the message came at a terrible time. The eastern front with the Germans was looking to be largely won, but the Kaiser still had a single large force of men fighting around northern Greece that needed to be dealt with. While the German threat remained, troops would have to be pulled from that front to respond to the communist coup. Valmar Kupine, whose skilled command had defeated the Persians in the east early in the war, was charged with taking a large detachment from the eastern German front and quelling the rebellion as swiftly as possible. He would need to break into the country, defeat the communist forces, and liberate the capital swiftly enough so as to not compromise the advantage Estonia had gained against Germany.

Kupine broke his men into three groups. The first was sent to cross the Carpathian Mountains and attack the communists camped out at the base on the Estonian side; these units spread out and marched in a wide and loose formation, launching swift strikes at communist camps and catching their enemies off guard. The second group marched up through the Balkans, where they engaged small concentrations of communist forces that provided little resistance on the way to joining up with the Carpathian group. A third group, led by General Kupine himself, would bypass the border skirmishes and attempt a rapid march into the interior to hunt down the largest concentration of communist forces, which had gathered around Kharkov.

The fighting was the harshest at Kharkov. There, the communist rebels had taken advantage of the flat terrain, digging deep fortifications and multiple trenches which they lined with machineguns captured from Estonian storehouses. When General Kupine arrived at the head of his army, he found them facing a seemingly impenetrable wall of massive firepower. In spite of their inferior training, the communist forces were able to hold him at bay simply through the volume of bullets with which they could saturate the battlefield. The mass-assault tactics that Kupine was famous for and which had helped him defeat Persian General Kashani, were rendered useless. Instead, Kupine had to use artillery and cavalry to his advantage. The republican forces dug their own trenches for cover, and their superior number of heavy cannons allowed them to soften up the communist position from afar. While heavy barrages kept the machinegun teams suppressed, dragoons made swift and precise attacks. They would ride into a safe position under cover of artillery fire, storm a small portion of the trenches, and then retreat to a hidden location to repeat the process.

Kharkov would see a continual back-and-forth fight for almost a full month, but the communist position was eventually overrun. Kupine scattered their forces, and the communists who survived the vicious battle fled in any direction they could manage in hopes of finding safety.

The loss at Kharkov broke the largest communist force of the revolution, but that victory was only the first in a string of many that would be needed to purge the rebellion properly. Even as attempts to seize major cities failed, small pockets of insurgents had gathered across the country and attempted to hole up in small, fortified communes which they hoped to defend with their hastily-assembled militias. Unfortunately, with their largest proper military units defeated by General Kupine's retaliation, the writing was already on the wall for Estonia's communist revolutionaries. For the remainder of the summer of 1905, units of Estonian soldiers spread out across the country, hunting down each small pocket of resistance as they found it in systematic and brutal fashion. By the beginning of autumn, only a few very small holdouts remained, and even those would be fully defeated before the end of the year.

General Kupine's successful subjugation of the Red Summer secured the stability of the Estonian homeland; but while he was fighting communists across Estonia, the remainder of the army had broken through Germany and begun the occupation of Andalusia and the liberation of Compact-occupied Italy. As winter approached, it appeared clear that the Democratic Entente had broken the Monarchist Compact's military strength -- after four long years of war, an end to the violence was finally coming into view.

 

[HistoryDude]

It seems as if the Monarchists will be comprehensively broken... Will fascists rise to power and cause a Second Great War?

Also, what possibly made the communists think that revolting when the Estonians were successfully defeating their enemies was a good idea? That paints them as unpatriotic and monarchist sympathizers to almost everybody in Estonia… so they weren’t going to get anymore support. Why not rise after the aftermath of one of those defeats early in the war?

 

[Nikolai]

after four long years of war, an end to the violence was finally coming into view.

And not a moment too soon it seems!

 

[DensleyBlair]

Why not rise after the aftermath of one of those defeats early in the war?

Would that Vicky included clear-thinking rebels...

As fun as communist Estonia would've been, it's encouraging to see the path clear towards final victory against the monarchist bloc.

 

[stnylan]

Wow, breaking into Iberia and breaking the Communists both at the same time.

But they had better win the peace, or the Reds will be back with vengeance on their lips and retribution in their hearts.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Not surprised that the communists fell relatively easily.

Peace will certainly be welcome after such a long war. I imagine we're about to see Germany significantly weakened after this.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Nice work clearing out the Communist rebellion quickly, I was worried that it would hurt the war effort for a second. Now, Estonia can focus on their offensive against the Compact. I imagine the world will become a very interesting place after the monarchists fall and Estonia carves out a new democratic world order out of their ashes.

 

[RedTemplar]

Communist Estonia would definitely have been interesting.. But in the aftermath of the war, I'm sure we will see Communism and/or Fascism take root in at least one or two of the losing nations.