The Final Years of Peace, and the First Months of Weltkrieg

Wars in America, Wars in France, Wars in Russia and Wars in the Balkans yet Poland remains at peace. Can this continue indefinitely as a new Weltkrieg rages all around Poland?

Combat in the Balkans continues to rage. The Serbian salient across the Danube comes under relentless assault

War breaks out in India as the British remnants try to reunify the subcontinent under their flag

La Plata's attempts to fill the vacuum left by the USA in South America has hit a surprising roadblock in Bolivia. How long the Bolivians can hold out is up for debate, but surely its not indefinite as the Bolivians, although brave, are outnumbered nearly 4:1

THe US exists in Stalemate too as Columbus becomes a front-line city.

In the Balkans the tide turns in favour of the Austrians as the Serbs fall back to the southern bank of the Danube

The war in the Balkans ties down Austrian resources, and therefore it's continuation is well worth some of our outdated aircraft which we intend to give to the Serbs. The skies are the one place Austrian forces truly dominate this war, but out aid, although strategically insignificant, might give Serbia a tactical advantage in some areas

The Serbs of course accept. We can only hope it proves of use

Our Zubr Bombers on their way to the front. For the few Austrians they came into contact with, they proved to be a deadly suprise

It proves to be of little use as Austrian troops finally cross the Danube days later. Serbia's resistance finally seems to be broken

The cost of this is catastrophically high for the Austrians, topping a million overall. Serb Casualties are half that but still significant

Only a couple of weeks after the Danube is crossed Belgrade is on the brink of being cut off. The war is in its dying stages.

Within a month of the crossing the war in Serbia is over. The Austrians are victorious on the battlefield...

...but it is a pyrrhic victory at best. Serbia fought bravely, but they couldn't match Austria's manpower and Industrial might. The military occupation in Belgrade forces the Serbs to fight their former allies, although the Serbian army has been totally disbanded making this a meaningless gesture

Montenegro falls within days, there small army unable to put up any serious resistance to the victorious Austrians

The final casualty count puts Austrian casualties alone at one million. But at last the war is over, and the Austrian Empire has been reforged.

Montenegro is directly annexed into the Empire, unlike Serbia which was given some autonomy

With the war at an end the Polish army is sent to the Austrian border. Rumours are abound that Galicia is the next target of Austria's ambitions. Any attempt across this mountainous frontier though would surely resemble the killing fields of the danube, and its uncertain if Austria's national consciousness will allow another massacre for some form of imperial glory

The Tatra mountains as shown here posed a very strong defensive line for the dug in Poles. The Poles could also rely on a larger population and industry to supply their war effort, along with a Germany that wouldn't take kindly to a war breaking out on its South Eastern borders.

A map of Austria's conquests. It should be noted that the puppet regime in Serbia was largely left to its own devices, free of Austrian control...

...which lead to the founding of the Belgrade pact within weeks of the end of the war. Austria raged at the announcement but could do little with a population totally against going to war again so soon

Poland seeks to join but is rebuffed. Neutrality seems the way, at least for now

The Ententes reconquests in India continue, this time the Syndicalists feeling the wrath of the Raj

In the light of the ending of conflict in the Balkans, limited conscription is announced in Poland. Widely a popular policy, at present largely only the unemployed are required to serve. Nonetheless Polands manpower pool has been increased almost tenfold

US federal forces begin to manouvre for an assault on Atlanta. Taking the Peach State would like break the back of Long's regime

US troops advancing through the countryside on their way to Atlanta. With winter upon them, it was expected that any major offensive would have to come in the summer

However Polish codebreakers a world away have made an immensely worrying discovery in broken chatter between Paris and the French embassy in Poland

It seems that 'Operation Delescluze', long thought to be the Syndicalist plans to invade the exiled French Government in North Africa, is actually a plan for a direct invasion of Germany. Based upon the frequency and contents of the messages being cracked it seems the plan is weeks away from being activated.

Although calm on the surface, the Polish General staff and Executive Branch were in near constant debate about what their response to war should be. The General staff were in favour of joining the war on Germany's side in exchange for a return of lost Polish territory. The Executive Branch supported remaining neutral in any global war. Neither side proved successful in the debates which were kept almost entirely out of the public eye.

Around two weeks after the discovery of the messages they are, horrifyingly, proven correct. War has again come to Europe

The war promises to be more destructive than any yet seen in human history as the Germans and the French prepare to hurl themselves across the Moselle in an attempt to reclaim their lost territories or to crush syndicalism respectively.

French troops marching towards the front line at the start of the war. The French had made many great militayr advances since the weltkrieg, and no-one was entirely sure how these would pan out in combat.

Germany would be able to call upon massive amounts of men, including Imperial troops as seen here, for the war in Europe. However the German military establishment was drunk on the victories of the past half century and many feared it to be in a state of complacency at the start of the wr

However Germany would have a crisis on its own doorstep in the very first days of the war as Poles all over Germany, but especially in the east, refused the call to serve and openly started calling for reunification with Poland. Strikes were commonplace in Poznan, Breslau and Bydgoszcz

And soon enough the strikes turned militant. Almost as if by miracle, old Polish army stores found their way into the arms of the protesters. Warsaw denied all connections, but the reality was that a possibily contagious strike had crippled eastern Germany and the situation could escalate at the drop of a hat. Eastern Germany seemed destiend for an ethnic conflict.

That was until the Polish Government in Warsaw offered an innovative solution. Poland would occupy the more troublesome territories and offer Germany free access across them, along with generous war loans "for the duration". The offer was a bold move, it could easily have been taken as an act of war by the Germans for which Poland would have no response but acquiescence

Members of the Polish General Staff rush towards the foreign office to recieve the German reply. Emergency plans for war with Germany, newly revised due to Poland's increased military, were being dusted off and prepared to be issued to the soliders in the field.

Miraculously, the Germans agree to the plan and a somewhat suprised Polish Government now has to integrate a massive amount of land and industry into its economy and administration, although this is seen as a happy problem to have. Poland at last has reclaimed those western lands that were lost in the partitions, including a path to the sea

There were significant concerns that the agreement might spark post-war controversy, but for now Poles revelled in the delight of reunification

A French attempt to retake Alsace-Lorraine is cut off on the west bank of the Rhine. It seems the first major success of the war would be a German one

A massive port expansion is ordered in Gydina to accomodate both a navy and a large merchant fleet

Thousands have died in the first few days from the fighting in Europe. This does not include the casualties from the ongoing battles being raged across the Franco-German border

Bolivian forces continue to hold, but the La Platan army has exploded in size due to the war with Brazil

German troops now surge towards Amsterdam in order to shore up their border with the Syndicalists

German light infantry escorting Dutch troops into custody. The war here was far less industrialised than on the French border, with far more tactical and strategic manoeuvring by both sides.

As predicted Austrian troops mass on our border as our own forces ensure the Germans keep to our agreement.

The horizon off the coast of Gdyina is lit by a naval skirmish of unkwown size. The war has seemingly come to Polish shores

In response the first Polish ships are authorized. An outdated design, they will purely be to display some kind of representation in the Baltic

As the first keels are laid down, news comes that the exiled British regime seeks a return to its home isles

The war officially started over naval skirmishes in the Irish sea although tensions had never really calmed after the old regimes evacuation. The cold waters of the Atlantic would prove the worlds largest battlefield as Briton would turn on Briton in a war that was, in effect, a British civil war

The first phase of the war have massive German casualties, well over 10 times what the French face on the same front.

Even worse for the Germans, the Soviet Union has entered the war, tying down Germanies much needed Mitteleuropa allies. At this point, Poland again seriously considers joining the war in order to put down the Russians on a more permanent basis

A German tank on the streets of Nanzig. Germany's industry allowed them to build up a significant stockpile of armoured vehicles but a stagnant military staff found themselves unable to use them effectively, often frittering them away by insisting they stay with the infantry or by throwing them into urban meatgrinders where they were made far less effective

In the east there was much happier news as their Miteeleuropa allies made rapid gains into Soviet Russia, brushing aside the token forces watching the border.

Fighting during the April thaws, Mitteleuropa troops found themselves battling the weather far more than they did the Soviets.

Whilst conflict raged in India with the dominion with the upper hand, by far the most curious war raging at present was the Japanese-Hawaian war, were over 10,000 Japanese troops had died without a single Haiwaian troop falling in return. Most military and political theorists now believe, with good reason, that military conflict across the pacific is impossible.

In the east there was much happier news as their Miteeleuropa allies made rapid gains into Soviet Russia, brushing aside the token forces watching the border. By mid april Germans were pushing on St. Petersburg and a path to Moscow seemed apparent.

The first good news from the western front came in as well, as Amsterdam fell to the Germans. This split the Dutch in two making a defence of Rotterdam and The Hauge untenable, meaning that the German and Wallonian divisions there could soon be sent to the French Front. This was ignoring the major political victory of knocking out one of the Syndicalist nations

War breaks out in South America between La Plata and Brazil, forming a satillite conflict of the wider war between Syndicalism and the "old" ideologies of the world

US forces force their war across the Appalachians. Once this range is crossed, the Eastern Seaboard will surely fall to the Federal Government and in doing so bringing an end to the war

May 3rd 1942, and Poland celebrates constitution day as a united people for the first time in centuries. A large military parade of 5 new infantry divisions is held in Warsaw to celebrate, but the majority of the Polish Army is on the Carpathian border where the Austrian army has amassed a significant force.

Federal Forces surge across the Appalachians, and now sit on the city limits of Baltimore and Washington DC.

The Russian Civil War has seen a massive change in fortunes as White forces, previously on deaths door, no need only hold on a few weeks more until the Germans can crush the Soviet regime

Mitteleuropa troops continue to make rapid gains on the eastern front with Vitebsk and Smolensk falling in quick succession. Only slight resistance is found on this front with the few fully equipped and prepared divisions fighting the whites in the Urals.

Ruthenian troops watch an artillery bombardment on Soviet Positions near Smolensk. The better

Casualties mount heavily on both sides. French troops clash with the Germans all along the Western front. French forces are at present on the offensive and are taking appropriately higher casualties

For their troubles, for the hundreds of thousands dead, the Syndicalists have taken a small foothold over the Meuse. The Second Weltkreig is starting to look a lot like the first

US Federal forces in the North liberate much of the Northeastern seaboard including the great metropolis of New York City from Longs regime

In the south US troops cut off Florida. The AUS are taking a true beating from the Colorado government

With a massive disparity in casualties, the only thing left for the Federal Government to do is to win. The war is now in its most terminal stage

In Europe All soviet attempts at resistance have utterly failed as Mittleuropa troops descend upon Moscow

In the heat of the August summer sun Mitteleuropas troops face a nearly unopposed march into the vast heartlands of Russia. Ruthenian troops, as seen here, often used obsolescent armour designs that proved ruthlessly effective against the poorly armed Soviets

Back in Poland Beachgoers in Gdynia are treated the sight of the ORP Polska heading to sea for the first time.

The ship was effectively only armed for anti-smuggling and fishery protection (if Poland had many fisheries), but it was sufficient to show the flag in the Baltic and to mark out Poland's territorial boundaries

Washington is retaken by the US federal government. The war is soon to be over, with only a few AUS holdouts in towns like Charleston left to be mopped up.

US troops pushing through Virginia listen to reports of the US liberation of D.C. In the eyes of many Americans the war was over, but to the men on the front lines the war continued just as deadly as it ever was.

The AUS in recent months has performed abysmally against Mccarthurs professional forces. Long's Minutemen couldn't withstand the well organised US army once it had reformed in the US midwest and Rocky Mountains

In Europe the Weltkrieg had surpassed one million casualties and showed no signs of slowing down. Flanders-Wallonia and the Batavian Commune, the respectively German and Syndicalist supported states in the low countries had taken casualties well out of proportion to their population

The momentum globally though lies with Mitteleuropa as German troops head for Moscow. With the Soviets out of the war dozens of divisions will be available for relocation to Europe and the vast resources of the Russian steppe will be open to feed Germany's war machine.

This news was viewed favourably amongst those in Poland who craved neutrality. With a syndicalist Russia gone, and a Tsarist Russia indebted to Mitteleuropa, the chances of a revanchist Russia threatening Poland would evaporate and Poland's eastern frontier would be secure removing the need for German protection

The opening months of the Weltkrieg ended with German troops pushing on Moscow, symbolising the end of the war on the eastern front

But in the west the stalemate continued as French and German armies clashed across the border, killing thousands and maiming countless more. The war resembles the killing fields of 1914-1919 even more everyday.

But in Poland life continues as always. Many Poles read the news of the war avidly, whilst many more avidly read the reviews and advertisements of the new Gdyina resorts. Poland remains out of its former occupiers wars whilst it grows richer everyday. With Russia losing a war with Germany whilst fighting a civil war Poland's threats are rapidly decreasing. Will Poland's future finally be secure?