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Tattered Feathers-Vivaar Le France!

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Oct 31, 2003
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The majestic eagle appears beaten. His mighty wings no longer offer the confront & protection they once had. His beak chipped away by constant confrontation, no longer the raiser sharp weapon which had once lead him to the ends of the earth. To the North lies a spindly lion, herself not what she once was. With all the regal splendor to which she lays claim, if her cubs where to be threatened once more, no one is sure if this old lion could once again bear the burden of confrontation & prove she is still mistress to all she sees. So together they huddle attempting to find comfort in their past glories, while the world revolts against them. To the East lies many enemies; a blood thirsty wolf looking to prey on the two at their weakest point, a bear tearing from its own flesh to feed itself, & a serpent waiting to come from the sea to devour the once mighty dragon which had nurtured him.

In 1936, France is a nation of many contradictions. With a navy not large enough to be a maritime power, an army not powerful enough to be a continental power, but unsurpassed glory France looked upon himself as arbiter of Europe. It was a role he could ill afford, & in time it would become more of a burden than anything else.....
 
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"Our nation is besieged on all sides! Hitler has reoccupied the Rhine, Mussolini has conquered Ethiopia, & Japan's military clique has entered China uncontested by the West. Now Spain is in turmoil, & these enemies of France are attempting to once again encircle our great nation. At every turn our 'allies' tie our hands, giving us nothing in return. First they opposed the fulfillment our natural frontier, after so much French blood was spilled, & now they turn a blind eye to the growing threat of extremist! Something must be done to right these terrible wrongs, & if this government will not act it is our duty as citizens to find someone who will! It is time to call upon the memories of our four fathers & assure our place in history!"

The angry young man who stood atop a soap box in Paris shouting these words was half of a growing movement through out France. One which looks with disdain towards the current regime, choosing to recall past days of power & might for France. Ridiculing the government for their weakness & reliance upon foreign 'ingrates' who want nothing but to see France fall victim to German aggression once again. After the formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis in October, the movement gained strength & was able to bring a petition of addressee before the government. Not wishing to incite rebellion, President Lebrun had no choice but to accept their petition & promise to rectify their grievances.
(We went with Cave in to Extremist in Constitutional Policy attacked by opposition.)
 
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After the events of "36 the government had no choice but to intervene in the political arena on a large scale for the first time since their support of Poland over a decade ago. It was decided that the most obvious threat to which France could intervene was that to the South in Spain. Under the advice of Foreign Minister Flandin, the "international" brigade was created.

After the "great victory" over the "corruption & appeasement" of the government, there was an almost hysteric sense of jubilation through out the streets of Paris. The whine flowed freely as men prepared to die in defense of the fatherland yet again. Composed mostly of idealistic youths from the poorer sections of Paris together with the University students these young men went off to combat General Franco in the mountainous areas of Iberia with only basic training from the military establishment at home.
We went with Send materiel & volunteers in Spanish Civil War-Intervention
 
As the Civil War in Spain went on without a clear cut victor, things took a turn for the worse in France. The opposition became more radical, & begun to advocate the return of the Monarchy as the only true safe guard of the Republic & the Nation. The institutions for such a plane had long been dormant deep within the Third Republics Constitution, but there had been no agitation for the monarchy in almost half a century. Their party had been pushed into the back ground long ago, but it now seems the monarchist are coming back in style. In order to safe guard their position the Government begun to attempt to limit the powers of such groups, but this only split the coalition & brought the entire republic under criticism from their own people. Finally the government backed down down & accepted the monarchist where gaining ground. Their own constitution was failing them.
(We went with Backdown from initiative in Law Policy Initiative)
 
1938 was a historic year for the nation of France. In March, the Nationalist finally overwhelmed the republicans, & in the final battle of Madrid over 20,000 Frenchmen where captured or killed. This final defeat sent shockwaves through out France as they suddenly realized they had once again been surrounded on all sides by their enemies.

Quick negotiations with Franco's new regime brought home the prisoners of war, but the defeat left a scare on the French psyche which would last for years. The returning soldiers where greeted as heroes, but their apathy for both the government & the allies who refused to support them was deep. They where now calling openly for the dismissal of the government which had not supported them.

Under such turbulent conditions the coalition had only two choice; steep down & turn the government over to the communist whom where the only party which had been able to retain sizable influence through out the decade, or appease the monarchist & begin negotiations with the Orleanist climate to the throne of France. The former option was sure to destroy the republic, & might involve foreign intervention from the Fascist states which now surrounded nation. The later would surely mean their jobs, but perhaps the republic could be maintained & foreign troops kept off French soil. There was only one choice for the Fatherland, to go before the Bourbon Prince & ask him to form a new government.

In April of 1938, negotiations between the Prince & the Government finally came to an end. Henri comte de Paris would accept the throne of France on the conditions he would be given complete executive control, & have the right to reject any in coming representatives in both the upper houses of the legislative. He would appoint judicial nominees which would then have to be accepted by the legislative, & would have complete control over all foreign affairs.

The deal left the trappings of constitutionalism, but not much more. A revised version of the Rights of Man was added as a preamble, & the Prince agreed to accept the "will of the nation." France had once more given its freedom away to what they hoped would be a benevolent despot, & now all that remained to be seen is weather or not it was the right choice.
(We went with Force it through in Law Policy Initiative)

While France stood on the verge of revolution, Hitler used all the attention looking in that direction to occupy Austria. This was to be only the first in a long line of aggressive actions which where to drive the League Of Nations apart, & finally lay the organization to rest in the abyss
 
Thanks for the support Stroph1, this is my first time playing France. In fact, I could be wrong, but I believe it is my first time playing a democracy (with the exception of the United States). Do they all just keep getting these events which can so easily topple their own form of government? My AAR has just about caught up to my place in the game, & it had always been my objective to get the Monarch back in power, I just did not know it would happen so quickly. America got maybe one of these events (along with a lot of war demonstrations) while France has had one almost every year. So far France has been on par with about what I expected aside from this. They are not really a major nation, but they are about as powerful as Italy or Japan, & now they have an opportunity to expand :D For those who do not know, I was never able to find a thing on their Jean de Bourbon, & a couple of guys & myself came to the conclusion he might very well be fictional (A real Jean Doe, so to speak). The true climate to the throne of France at this time would be Henri comte de Paris or perhaps his father (whose name I never found).
 
All was quite in Europe for the next few months. Henri VI, as he was crowned, had been laying the foundations for a union with Belgium during this period of time. Claiming that without this land France would be vulnerable to another attack by Germany, Henry begun supporting elements within the Belgian government which might be sympathetic to such a union. England was against the "union," as was much the rest of Europe, but then came an even more pressing demand upon the League.

The next move laid forward in Hitler's scheme was an occupation of the Sudetenland. Claiming the land to rightfully belonged to Germany, he began encroaching on the Czech border. This caused a diplomatic crises, & all parties involved where invited to meet at Munich (except the Czechs). At this meeting Henry finally gave the French people what they wanted, a showing of French power.

As negotiations dragged on it became obvious the British where yet again going to free Germany's hands up in exchange for a guarantee it would be Hitler's last hostile move. At this Henry begun pounding his fist against the desk, taunting the English for their cowardice, & bluntly exclaimed "You can bow down to this butcher & his henchmen if you like, but for every move Germany makes in Central Europe, France will make an equally hostile move in the West." After this he stormed out, later exclaiming Chamberlain's guarantee of peace in our time was nothing but a piece of paper.

While England attempted to hold together her alliance with France, Henry begun preparations for Operation Reunion. The plane was to move into Belgium & Luxembourg from the French border, using all available unites, to quickly crush the opposition. The plane went off without much trouble, all the lower Benelux nations where occupied in less than a month, & Leopold had accepted Henry's offer to be the Count of Flanders under French protection. Still there was a hitch, the corps in Africa refused to recognize French authority & begun a guerilla war in the name of "their King." It would be several more months until this rebellion was quelled, & France agreed to give Britain Uganda in exchange for turning a blind eye. Thus France had once again shown he still had teeth, & while Hitler was given the Sudetenland he now knew France was not ignorant to his game.
 
Sitting in his luxurious quarters surrounded by the majesty of Versailles, Henri looked to anticipate Hitler's next move, & contemplated what he would do in retaliation. Spain laid to the South, after the heroic but futile resistance of the international Corps this land held a certain amount of patriotic appeal to the French. The problem laid in linguistics, France's army was not yet large enough to move into Spain & properly hold the Rhine. Through the Alpine Passes there was Italy, but the same problem presented itself with this option. Then there was the Netherlands. The Dutch had been at odds with the French over the later's moves into Belgium, & the British had even seen fit to guarantee their independence. However, with the mood in Manchester as it was Henri could be assured of no intervention, only protest to the move & a request for some sort of compensation to be carved out of the Dutch colonial Empire. This held the added advantage of assuring France would not have to move over the Rhine & that Germany would in case of war, & with it's proximity on the German border the Germans would be forced to run right into the French army if they choose to interfere.

Then in March of 1939, Hitler made his final uncontested move by annexing what was left of Czechoslovakia & creating a puppet regime for the Slovaks. France's immediate response was an attack on the Dutch. Henri seen it as the only sure move, & their colonial empire would assure France of some vitally needed resource for the upcoming confrontation. England's resistance to the move was more strong than anticipated. While the Australians gladly accepted New Guinea, the British demanded Henri relinquish control of the small nation. The King refused, & after the war was over France left the League for good. This prompted the collapse of the League of Nations, because without France the League was little more than a meeting ground for the common wealth nations who seen no reason to keep up the fiasco any longer. The last meeting of the League was in April of that same year, when France officially left for good.

The war with the Dutch went well, their army was rather small, & the Queen was persuaded to take up the title Duchess of Holland with a guarantee of Dutch independence once the Nazi menace had been eliminated. By the end of April, the lines of war where permanently set, & the King of France declared any further move by the Germans to consolidate central Europe would be seen as an act of war on the nation of France. This move infuriated Hitler to no end, & on May 29 of that same year Germany invaded Yugoslavia as a test of French will. The test was met, & France mobilized within the week. The Franco-German war had begun.
 
The game is bugged :eek: It craps out in mid-January, 1940! Why is it every time I try on of these things it crashes or the file is lost :mad: Here I am running a large static line across Northern Germany, & it will not let me into February to save my life :( Perhaps I will try one after the next patch comes out, or maybe the gods just refuse to allow me to have creativity? Sorry to waste you guys time ::walks away with head down::
 
Thats bad to hear. :(

You have the save file? Go to bug forum, maybe you need to send save file so bug can be fixed. This had happened to me once too, if I remember correctly I was also playing France. I loaded older save file and managed to get pass the bug date. If you have older save files try them and play almost same as earlier. :)
 
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