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Thanks guys!!! I hope it only gets better as well. I should be coming up with a new post soon as I finally decided on a style. I will just need to come up with the time to do it :p About the pictures, I was going to have even more (division patches and armed force branch flags), but the forum would only allow so many img's, so I narrowed it down to the ships which I determined most important.

Blitzkreig... the pictures you see are mainly just acquired directly from other websites. The maps from HOI that are mine are located on my isp home site. I only have 5 megs of space though. So, after a while, I may be looking into other free options or upgrading my current space--depends on how much it will cost.

Again, thanks guys for the comments. I will try to keep it coming and keep it interesting.
 
Next update by Sunday, August 24th. Thanks for your patience and sorry. Been busy, but anxious to get this post up. Keep a look out for it.
 
Have you fallen victim to that horrible thing called "Real Life?"
 
Morpheus, yep, that's the problem...

Sorry h345, I'm actually working on the post right now, and will be posting the update soon, tonight (I hope) :D
 
CHAPTER 1 – UNREST AT HOME AND ABROAD

The End of an Ancient Empire

ethiopia.JPG

Italian aggression in East Africa

In the mid- to late-1800’s when Europe was carving up and colonizing Africa amongst themselves, increasing their overseas empires, Ethiopia remained the only independent nation, an ancient empire. However, wanting to capture Ethiopia since the 1890’s, Italy would soon take it’s chance. On October 3, 1935 Italy declared war upon Ethiopia under the pretext that Ethiopia was threatening the territory of Italian Somaliland. The League would spend the next few months trying to find out the most effective way barring military means, to bring peace again to the region.

musso2.jpg

Italian troops invade Ethiopia

The initial fighting didn’t take place until early 1936. Italian forces under Marshals Badoglio and Bastico numbered over 250,000 men and could count on numbers of reinforcements. Haile Selassie could only count on 100,000, most of them militia. It seemed his only hope was in the League of Nations.

Field Marshal Bastico invaded northern Ethiopia from Eritrea. FM Badoglio initially commanded the invasion of the south from Italian Somaliland. During the initial campaigning the Italian air forces under Air Marshal Balbo began a general bombardment of the Ethiopian forces. FM Cavallero would arrive during the month of February to command the attacks on Addis Abeba.

After some initial progress in the north and the south by the Italian invaders, they began to bog down. The defenders clung to the favorable high ground tenaciously while the Italian high command sent divisions piecemeal into doomed offensives. The objective was to secure the capital and end the war.

Badoglio relocated his headquarters from Mogadishu to Asmara, letting Cavallero take command of the southern forces. Due to the unsuccessful attacks, Bastico and Badoglio decided to re-evaluate their strategy. First, it was decided to link the northern army group with the southern. Ethiopians still held the key city of Harar. This assault was made from both directions, quickly pushing out the outnumbered and outgunned defenders. Immediately following this victory, Bastico ordered Cavallero to capture Addis Abeba with his newly reinforced units. This time the Italians were better prepared and coordinated.

Addis Abeba fell at midnight on August 4 after a desparate defensive stand that lasted almost a week. The situation for the defenders was worsened by the Italian air units. Although the Ethiopian Army was disorganized and all but destroyed, units remained faithful and would fight on if Selassie but commanded it. However, Emperor Selassie was cut off still within the capital with some of his officials. Italian security units immediately began clearing resistance within the city. Ethiopians were rounded up and "demilitarized." Selassie had no choice, that he could see, but to make a gamble. He fled with a few loyal officers and men, not to the west, but to the east. From a port in Djibouti, Haile Selassie go into exile in London, arriving on the 7th. On the same date, United Kingdom decides to enforce sanctions on Italy to stay in place until they restore Ethiopia. After the emperor fled, all resistance disintegrated. Ethiopia was annexed on the 4th into the new Italian Empire built by Mussolini.

-The American Perspective

The American public has mixed feelings over hostilities in East Africa. On the one hand, agression by any nation can't be tolerated. On the other hand, "Where's Ethiopia?" Approximately 97% of those polled didn't know where it was. Roosevelt wanted to assist in some way, but had his hands tied by peaceful diplomatic treaties such as the Kellogg-Briand pact and had no intention of risking public concern that he was worried more about foreign policy than domestic. After all, the depression wasn't really over yet. So, the United States stayed officially neutral regardless of British requests to assist in the sanctions "enforced" by the League of Nations. Also, it was assumed by most politicians that if the Europeans themselves couldn't settle it, why should they get involved?

Several ships, including two Yorktown class aircraft carriers, are under construction early 1936. Research is allocated throughout the armed forces and industrial sector. But Roosevelt has extra put into the naval arm (his strongsuit, as he was once the secretary of the navy). Progression is coming along during the year as certain technologies are implemented in increased capital ship discipline. Another key advance is a very basic computer system to be implemented immediately. Overall, the military feels the need for more assets, but is hindered by Roosevelt's policy to keep his New Deals and high government spending on the public sector in terms of welfare and other such social programs top priorities. Due to capital ship limitations set forth by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, signed by the major nations of United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Japan, Roosevelt decided to move forward with new battleship designs that would fit in the limits, with the maximum possible yield. The result was the North Carolina-class battleship design.

carolina.jpg

Example of the newly developed North Carolina-class battleships with camouflage paint scheme.

Regarding the election of 1936, Roosevelt carries immense popularity coming into the year due to his social programs. During 1935 and 1936, the easing of the depression causes the public to give him the credit. However, his policies also bend towards foreign involvement. Alf Landon, the Republican candidate, displays his idea of isolationism with renewed vigor using the slogan "America First". He also puts down the New Deals as unconstitutional and favors other public programs to build the economy. The public seems to approve his campaign as his ratings continue to rise throughout 1936.

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     Franklin Roosevelt, 1936

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     Alf Landon, 1936
 
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I am preparing to do another update, but my game ctd's before I can even load my game. I will be trying to figure it out, then I shall make another post. Planning on having one ready by the weekend. Cross your fingers :D
 
I tried this for the purposes of working through the research tree, choosing not to oil embargo, not to lend lease etc etc etc. The only thing I did was use all my DI for sharing my research with Britain. Didn't even charge them for it. Unlike Lunar's exploits of a nice happy Germany, nobody ever came knocking. I guess nice guys who have 3000 miles of water between them and their enemies live longer than nice guys surrounded by them.
 
Woohoo!! I'm back. :D

I'm able to play without any more issues. I have updated my Hearts of Iron. Those who look at this post, or rather, read it from before might want to look through it again. I had to start over with the same game, but because I had to start over, the story will be slightly different. Thank you all for your support. Everything is caught up with a new post coming soon. Stay tuned...
 
Provoking the Dragon

Japan and China never had a close relationship other than geographically. It was Korea however that was the greatest problem to Japanese and vice versa. History of bad relations between these two nations date back hundreds of years. Ending that tradition, from 1905 the Japanese were firmly planted on Korean soil.

Manchuria, in northern China, though part of the Chinese nation officially, was caught between the influences of Japan and Russia. Both of these nations had interests in the strategic assets and geographic location of this parcel of land.

During the Great War, Japan captured German-held ports in China. These they held onto after the war. By 1930, their influence extended into Manchuria where they controlled the railways. In 1931, Japan took advantage of a poor broken China and entered Manchuria. After solidifying their gains and setting up a puppet government in Manchuria, Japan left the League of Nations in 1933.

1933Japan.JPG

Japan and China up to December 31, 1935

On March 6 1936 Japan declared war on China without waiting for an “incident” (i.e. excuse). The Japanese marshals Hata, Muto, and Terauchi made rapid progress into northeastern China. Soon, the Japanese would invade by sea starting with Shanghai. By the end of 1936, they controlled much of the coastline. The capital, Nanking, fell late August. The victorious Japanese troops went through the city and caused havoc everywhere. Many Chinese citizens and troops were mistreated and killed. It turned into a terrible massacre. The American press took to the story and it went throughout the United States. This event caused concern to many Americans. However, it was somewhat short-lived and certainly not enough to push America to war.

JapaneseExpansion1936.JPG

Japanese gains by January 1, 1937

-The American Perspecitve

The Americans as a whole aren’t concerned with events in east Asia. However, the government officials are worried about interests especially with the Philippines so close to the Japanese home islands. Roosevelt and his administration attempted to diplomatically resolve the issue to avoid military conflict.

Research in various programs is progressing. The Army put in a proposal to Boeing to design a 4-engine heavy bomber. Plans were drawn up early 1936. The first basic model was created July, 1936. Then engineers went to work with these designs to come up with a working prototype. The very first of what became known as the B-17 was tested for the first time May, 1937. Chief of Army Air Force Oscar Westover determined to upgrade to the new designs as soon as possible beginning with the 2nd Heavy Bombardment Group.

swooze.jpg

A B-17D preparing for flight

After an aggressive campaign against Roosevelt on a bid for the presidency, Landon won! It was totally unexpected. The polls heavily favored Roosevelt right up to the night of the election. It was definitely a surprise, leading many to question the vote count. There were allegations regarding voting fraud. In the end, it was deemed official by the Congress and Supreme Court. He had won on the issues of isolationism/pacifism and laissez-faire economics. He would stick to them. During his inauguration speech, he mentioned keeping America free from taking losses defending foreign soil. He also said that government wouldn’t get involved in inefficient projects. The government would be down-sized and a true capitalist economy would be attempted. His argument was that this would be the best way to end the depression.

Alfstand.jpg

President Alf Landon reviews troops, 1937
 
I think that's just the fog of war ;)
 
How did Japan manage to declare war before '37?
 
To answer your question Vincent Julian, I really don't know why. I have the settings on the highest with Core 0.62 and I assumed it was because of that. Usually they wait until the bridge incident in 37. But I supposed that with harder AI they were more aggressive. Who knows...? But they've been very aggressive in China. I played up to January, 38 and they have doubled their progress since January, 37. Even for an isolationist US it's worrisome. ;)