Pride of Nations - MP Grand Campaign 1850 - 1920 (with unlimited number of participants)

[andrzej]

"Corriere della Sera", October 1, 1859
News from the Far East

The corps of the Young Guard of Italy, emerging through the hilly jungles soaked from tropical rains to Taipei, discovered that the approaches to the city were defended by a 40,000-strong army under the command of Zeng Gufan. The vanguard of the expeditionary forces was unable to take the field fortifications right away. Obviously, the Chinese command is determined to stubbornly defend the northern part of Formosa.
The Japanese invasion of Korea is progressing successfully. The Mikado army captured the port of Gwangzhou at the southwestern tip of the peninsula. The British landed on Hainan Island.

A bloody victory for Japan in Korea. Sardinia-Piedmont advances on Taipei in force. Hundreds of thousands of troops sit around in Burma, fighting the monsoon more than the enemy.

The Chinese player still manages to joke (and build railways)

Also I forgot to announce a few turns back that Canton - Wuchang - Shanghai are now all connected by rail. You can book a trip, but fair warning: you may be held up by military traffic or Taiping rebels

[andrzej]

The deterioration of relations with Great Britain, the concentration of the Austrian army on the border with Russia, as well as general tension forced my Russia to look for new strong allies. And of course, we happily agreed to Prussia’s proposal to conclude a Defensive Alliance.
Maybe this is not the most convenient ally for me, but at the present time I am glad of this. Now I'm not so worried about my western border.

[andrzej]

The theft of a century or how Spanish doctors stole Mauritania from France.

After the successful colonization of Morocco and the territory of Western Sahara, the Spanish Empire again faced the question of spreading its colonial and cultural influence in the region. Further to the south and southwest lay the lands of Mauritania, long suffering from the ambitions of France. In the capital of this land, Nouakchott, there was even a French fort and garrison, as if unambiguously hinting “this is our territory.” France is one of the leading countries in the world, having recently concluded a defensive alliance with Spain. It seemed that in such conditions it was possible to forget about further advancement in the region. The Queen was ready to accept the inevitable, but the Minister of Health had his own views on this. “France does almost nothing for the inhabitants of this land,” he said, “Why is all this necessary? Why is Spain expanding its zones of influence if not to bring the ideas of Christian humanism and the great Spanish culture to the world? Bringing the light of civilization to the barbarians is not only in words, but in practice." "What are you proposing?" - asked the queen. “It’s very simple, Your Majesty, we will open a hospital in Nouakchott and we will treat people - all people, without distinction of religions or nationalities.” "Adelante, Señor. Dios te ayude!" - answered the queen. So it was decided.

Several months passed and the grateful residents of the province were already chanting "تحيا إسبانيا! تحيا الملكة. الحمد لله!" (Long live Spain! Long live the Queen. Thank God!). The balance of power in the region swung in favor of Spain. A good deed for the benefit of ordinary Western Arabs did not go unnoticed by higher powers. From now on, Spain, and not France, became the main contender for colonization and the spread of civilization in Mauritania. They say that the unfortunate Emperor Napoleon III fell from his chair when he heard this news. In the shortest possible time, traders and diplomats were sent to adjacent regions of Mauritania, and now a Spanish protectorate has already been declared here! And the French garrison of Nouakchott stood for a long time with their mouths open, looking at how the Spanish flag was raised over the fort - “and nothing can be done, because these are all your friends.”

[andrzej]

Corierre della Sera", November 22, 1859
Our war and someone else's war
The confrontation on Formosa is entering a decisive phase. The Sardinian expeditionary force reached Taipei, drove Zeng Gufan's corps away from the city and began a siege. At the same time, the Chinese commander managed to elude pursuit, bypass General de Sonnet and reach Tainan, covered only by a cavalry division and an auxiliary British contingent consisting of a light infantry brigade and an artillery battery. The city's defense plan assumed a coordinated attack by Anglo-Sardinian forces on the Chinese troops, disorganized by the battle and march. However, for unknown reasons, British soldiers did not take part in the battle. The cavalry attack, without the support of infantry and artillery, failed. Well, the Italians are no strangers to such a turn of events: we remember the battle of Treviso, when the soldiers of Duke Fernando did not receive the help promised by the French. In preparation for such a turn of events, the commandant of Tainan gave the order in advance to burn the unfinished junks captured at the shipyards to prevent their recapture by the Chinese. Zeng Gufan entered the city and captured the Sardinian convoys, but the position of his corps remains unenviable: Taipei is unlikely to be able to delay the Sardinian army for long, and Duke Eugene's squadron blocked Tainan from the sea.
The British army transferred reinforcements to Hainan, where a major battle was expected soon. The Royal Navy is deployed off the coast of the island and is ready to support the troops with its powerful cannons.
The light forces of the Sardinian fleet, under the flag of Rear Admiral Gioachino Boyle, intercepted several Chinese merchant ships in the Mediterranean.
But the greatest resonance in Italian society was caused by a war in which we are not formally participating. The Austrian fleet mercilessly bombarded the coast of the Persian Gulf. Defenseless villages burning under heavy artillery fire in themselves cause the ardent indignation of our philanthropic compatriots. But this outrage took on truly epic proportions when it became known that several sailors of Italian origin, natives of Friuli and Trieste, mobilized into the Kaiser's fleet, refused to take part in these crimes and were court-martialed. Perhaps only the terms of peace with Austria, providing for mutual renunciation of hostile actions until the beginning of 1860, saved Vienna from immediate just retribution, but the Foreign Ministry expressed a sharp protest against the actions of the Kaisermarine and demanded the demobilization of Italians from the imperial army and navy

[andrzej]

Prussia decided to intervene in Bavaria. We hope that Austria will stay away.

Perhaps we are starting a new big war in Europe.

[andrzej]

The British take nearly 100,000 casualties on Hainan, for only ~25,000 Chinese losses. A shocking defeat for the British.
Judging by the fact that all 3 battles with Britain had entirely assault losses and no ranged losses, I'm guessing the bad weather meant they couldn't use their superior firepower to defeat the Chinese troops. I'll just pretend that I planned it that way...

The Sardinians slaughter Taipei's garrison in an assault, destroying much of the city in the process.

[andrzej]

The saddest thing is that this disappointing defeat was the reason that the player for Britain left our campaign. Our game is left without its most important player...

[andrzej]

Special edition of Corriere della Sera, December 5, 1859

We are waiting for changes

Honestly, the editors have no idea how to describe the events that have taken place in the world over the past two weeks. Even a simple listing of facts overturns the entire set of habitual ideas of a modern educated European about life and the laws of the universe. Let's start with the most insignificant, mere trifle: the demand of the Sardinian government for the demobilization of Italians in the military service of the Kaiser was suddenly supported by Turkey, which declared the inadmissibility of forcing Balkan Muslims to kill Arabian Muslims. Following this, Russia demanded that Vienna respect the rights of the Slavs. Finally, Prussia declared its intention to protect the rights of all Germans, no matter where they lived. Of course, it was not to be expected that these demands would entail any practical consequences, but a campaign of propaganda and diplomatic pressure exposed the patchwork nature of the Austrian Empire. The fact that the power of the Habsburgs was based only on the suppression of some small peoples of Central Europe by the forces of other, equally unfortunate subjects of Franz Joseph, became all too obvious and any international support for Franz Joseph's policies lost any moral justification.
Prussia soon announced its intention to annex the Bavarian kingdom, and there was not a single government in the world that condemned this decisive step towards the creation of a German national state.
The royal army and navy won many glorious victories. Admiral Boyle's corvettes continued their successful interception of Chinese merchant ships in the Mediterranean. The Sardinian expeditionary force took Taipei by decisive assault, forcing the ten-thousand-strong Chinese garrison to capitulate. Duke Eugene's squadron thwarted Zeng Gufan's attempt to transport convoys to the continent, sending a whole flotilla of fishing longboats to the bottom along with the army wagons loaded on them. The effectiveness of the blockade of Formosa was convincingly confirmed, and the position of the Chinese corps on the island became almost hopeless. At any other time, such a string of successes would have become a sensation, discussed everywhere. But at the end of November 1859, the triumph of General de Sonnet and Admiral Eugene of Savoy was overshadowed by events taking place 300 miles to the south.

A powerful British army under the command of the Duke of Cambridge, 140 thousand soldiers with 500 guns and supported by the main forces of the Royal Navy, attacked the imperial army of China, led by Xu Yoren (170 thousand people and 300 guns) on the island of Hainan. The British were not embarrassed by the numerical superiority of the enemy; they relied on overwhelming superiority in firepower, long-range artillery and high-speed rifles of the latest design. However, the battle did not go at all as the Duke of Cambridge expected. Due to navigational errors, bad weather and the insufficient capacity of the bay planned for landing, British units, which should have gone ashore and immediately entered into battle, often landed several miles from the main forces and were then forced to make a multi-hour march along the soggy sands. and after that, try unsuccessfully to find your command, ammunition and equipment in the confusion of battle and randomly shuffled regiments.
Tropical rain reduced visibility to zero and the advantage of British weapons ceased to be a decisive factor: the battle turned into a series of hand-to-hand battles with hordes of Chinese suddenly jumping out of the jungle and the shroud of rain. At the same time, Xu Yoren, who concentrated his entire army before the battle, had the opportunity to plan each of these attacks, and each time the Duke of Cambridge had to first find out which of his generals was commanding the troops in the attacked areas and only then think about maneuvers to repel the attack. By the evening of the first day, it became obvious that a favorable outcome of the battle for the British could not be expected in such conditions. Some units began a spontaneous retreat to the strait separating Hainan from the mainland: simply because the storm in the strait was not raging so strongly and the fleet could at least somehow cover the units that had lost their combat capability. The British army was so weakened that the commander had no choice but to order a general retreat to the west and evacuation from the island to the mainland. Xu Yoren brilliantly organized the pursuit and the British retreat essentially turned into a beating of lagging battalions, batteries, and individual groups of soldiers exhausted from fatigue. The multitude of wounded men, guns, convoys and army equipment proved impossible to load onto the landing longboats quickly enough, so they ended up the prey of the triumphant Chinese. The total losses of the English army amounted to almost one hundred thousand people, including almost the entire guard. The flower of the British aristocracy died: these days there was not a single secular family left in London in which they did not wear mourning clothes and did not rewrite their wills due to radical changes in the composition of the heirs.
The British Prime Minister resigned. This dry phrase can in no way adequately describe the absurd scandal that occurred in the House of Commons and led to the fall of the cabinet of Lord Disraeli. But in order to reliably convey the madness that has gripped London, you need to go a little crazy yourself, and the editors of Corriere della Sera, although they are ready to make many sacrifices in order to satisfy the curiosity of their readers, still value their sanity, in including because it is necessary for the continuation of journalistic work. So just take our word for it: the government in London has fallen and the fall has been deafeningly loud.

Who will replace Lord Disraeli is still unknown, but whoever takes over the main office at Westminster, one thing is clear: the world is on the verge of huge changes.

[andrzej]

Thank God, the crisis with the absence of a player for Great Britain did not last long - our player for Portugal agreed to take control of the British Empire.

By the way, this player just recently joined our campaign for minor Portugal and now he is a player for the world leader - Great Britain. So newcomers, forced to lead small minor countries, always have a chance to lead the Great Power left without a player.

Unfortunately, we are once again left without a Portugal player. But such an interesting country, quite strong, strategically conveniently located (there is only one neighbor, Spain), and has many colonies.

[Pocus]

How the game is holding overall? Are you constantly making events to keep it on rails?

[andrzej]

How the game is holding overall? Are you constantly making events to keep it on rails?

No, I write handwritten events extremely rarely - only when I can’t do without them and when the absolute majority of our participants vote for them.
And still we have participants who are unhappy with the fact that we create events ourselves - they believe that this violates the rules of the game and there is a risk of fraud.

[andrzej]

The severe defeat of the British troops by the Chinese army in Hainan had very dramatic consequences for our campaign - the player for Britain, in a fit of rage, accused me personally of correcting the files (and apparently even the engine) of the PON game and eventually left our campaign.

Despite all the absurdity and offensiveness of such accusations, I was interested in the reasons for such a heavy loss for the British. I received backup files from our host Dmitry and conducted a number of test runs of this move and this is what I found out:


- Firstly, it immediately became clear that Hainan is not an island, although it is depicted as such on the map, it has land connections with mainland China. Apparently the player for Britain did not know this and did not expect that the Chinese army would enter the region so freely.

- Secondly, before the battle the British troops were divided by the player into 6 squads (!!), some of them quite small. This is a direct path to the destruction of these

-Another British detachment of two formations was landing from ships on the shore at the time of the battle. This is absolutely terrible - these soldiers will definitely die in battle

- The quality of British troops is very poor and there are many inexperienced recruits. The characteristics of Commander Cambridge and other commanders are extremely weak, especially in defense.

-It is very strange that the main strong detachment of Cambridge itself did not have fortifications - this, of course, would not have changed the result much, but still it would have been very stupid not to place it in the trenches.

View of the Chinese army before the battle



The terrible position of British troops before the battle:


- I conducted two tests of the move with the deployment of troops like the British player and their result was similar to our move
- I changed the composition and formation of the British troops - the results were better, but also always led to the defeat of the British.
- The best solution for the British in my tests turned out to be this option: take a passive position, abandon heavy siege weapons) and immediately march in one large detachment (with a 35% command penalty) towards French Vietnam. I managed to reach the neighboring region without a fight or losses, which means the British would have a chance to get to Vietnam without a fight.


Here is my conclusion: With such quality, quantity of troops and such weak commanders, landing on the enemy’s main territory is suicide. The British would need to attack China overland either from British Burma, or first concentrate a large army in French Vietnam and only from there advance overland to Hong Kong!

[andrzej]

At my suggestion, it was decided to offer the management of ownerless Portugal to a player for Brazil. This is so logical and beautiful! And the player happily agreed.
Now we have the revival of the Great Portuguese Empire of the 16th-18th centuries!!!

[andrzej]

Mandalay falls to Chinese troops after a bloody assault

Japan seizes Seoul, and rebuffs a half-hearted Chinese attack.

[andrzej]

Corrierre della Sera, 03/01/1860

Squadron of Prince Eugene intercepted and completely destroyed Chinese ships, attempting to break through the Taiwan bloсade. 24 war junks were sunk or burned. There were no losses in Sardinian ships, all damage could be repaired by crews. Glory to our brave and skilled sailors!
Huge Chinese Army invaded to Burma and captured the Mandalay fortress, preventing 2 colonial brigades and some garrison units to surrender. Definitely, this war is a black page in the British Colonial Corps history.
Japan captured the Seoul and pushed back counter-attack of Korean Army. All the southern coast of Korea is under Coalition control now.

Second battle near Formosa


A pair of pyric Chinese victories at sea



Japan seizes Seoul. The small garrison at Pusan was wiped out a few days later.


Meanwhile, Chinese troops pursue the British down the Irrawaddy River. The garrison at Prome is destroyed, but the main British force escapes to Rangoon.

[andrzej]

The United States and France had long been fighting for colonies in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, and in January 1860, the United States declared a protectorate over Aden. And then the International Crisis occurred about the dispute over the colonies of Aden between the United States and France.





France took a risky play on the dangerous Partial Mobilization card and won. The entire Aden colony. all American structures in it and 1476 Prestige points went to her

[andrzej]

Such a heavy defeat for the United States in the Crisis led to a political scandal in Washington, the government resigned and left the game.

But fortunately, a new player for the USA was immediately found (or rather, one of our old players returned).

[andrzej]

Against the backdrop of the big war in China, it is completely unnoticeable that several small (for now) other wars have begun.

In November 1859, Prussia attacked AI Bavaria, an ally of Austria. Then Prussia's AI ally Hesse-Kessel also declared war on Bavaria. Bavaria's ally, the player of the Austrian Empire, has not yet responded to this in any way.


In early January 1860, Persia declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Since Prussia is an ally of Osman, on the next turn she herself declared war on aggressive Persia. But the funny thing is that Prussia and Persia are controlled by the same player - that is, he declared war on himself! Miracles of diplomacy and roleplay!!!

[andrzej]

In parallel to all this, an Economic Crisis broke out in my Russian Empire. Inflation jumped to 22%, a lot of private capital was lost, 100 Prestige points were lost, National Morale dropped by 3 points and the loyalty of the population throughout the empire decreased by 18%. The next turn, the Economic Crisis spread throughout the world - many countries received 5% inflation and lost 100 Prestige points.

[andrzej]

"Corriere della Sera",
February 16, 1860

Naval battles and political battles

A series of major naval battles off Taiwan ended in complete victory for the coalition. The forces of the British, Spanish, Japanese and Sardinian fleets, alternately replacing each other, thwarted a large-scale operation of the Chinese command to break the blockade of the island. The Celestial Empire has lost a total of up to 100 war junks over the past month. The firepower and range of modern naval artillery proved to be the decisive factor in this epic confrontation. The only black spot was the losses suffered by the Spanish light forces. Admiral Ribalcava won a complete victory in the battle with the Chinese vanguard, but used up all the ammunition and was forced to order the dispersal and withdrawal of the Spanish squadron when the main forces of Admiral Pen Yulin appeared on the horizon. The ruthless Wacos - pirates who terrorize the entire coast of Southeast Asia - rushed into pursuit and the fate of the sailors from the ships they overtook was unenviable. However, these atrocities could not change the outcome of the campaign: the main forces of the Chinese fleet were defeated, the vanguard and transport convoy were completely destroyed, and the expeditionary forces of General de Sonnet received reinforcements. We are proud to note the fact that the Sardinian squadron turned out to be the only coalition unit that managed to go into battle twice, win both times, and not lose a single ship, fully completing the combat missions of preventing the blockade from being broken and ensuring the safety of the military convoy!

Japanese troops continue their offensive in Korea, and British troops are fighting heavy defensive battles in the jungles of Burma. The Sardinian expeditionary force had amassed enough strength to advance and finally destroy the Chinese corps in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, in the United States of America, albeit less bloody, but equally fierce political battles were in full swing. The consequences of the global economic crisis were superimposed on the failure of American diplomacy in the Yemen incident, which led to the resignation of George Buchanan from the presidency. The American administration, until the elections are held, will be headed by a vice president, and the prospects for the elections themselves look very ambiguous: our American correspondents report a split in the Democratic Party into northern and southern factions. We may be witnessing a surprise victory for the radical abolitionist Republicans. However, such a victory for progressive forces could become Pyrrhic and cause a split in American society, since Republican support in the southern states is minimal.

[andrzej]

I haven’t covered the progress of our campaign for a long time, but it’s actively underway.

China's heavy, bloody war with a coalition of countries led by Britain continues.

My Russia is waging a difficult war against the AI ​​of Afghanistan. To my shame, at the beginning of the war, due to arrogance, I concentrated too few troops on the border and the Afghan AI Mujahideen, led by a strong military leader - the emir, were able to defeat them and capture and devastate Russian Turkestan.
And only by collecting almost the entire Russian army and quickly transferring it by rail through friendly Persia, I was able to drive out the Afghans. And now I am preparing for the assault on their capital, Kabul. But the cunning AI pulled almost all the remaining troops there and dug in - and the assault on this fortress in the mountains will be very bloody for me...

A few turns ago, a new war began - Italy, Prussia, Türkiye and Portugal simultaneously attacked Austria. And of course, such powerful forces began the defeat of the Austrian army.
And what I feared happened - the already very weakly active player for Austria quit the game.
At such a difficult but interesting moment for a serious player, our player for the USA decided to lead the Austrian Empire. This greatly helped the continuation of our campaign, but we were left without a player for the USA...

We invite new players to join our company.

[andrzej]

We have found a player for the USA but we are still inviting new players.

Interesting free countries:
- Belgium, Portugal, Persia, Egypt, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Switzerland, Siam, Ethiopia, Mexico, Colombia, Chile.

[andrzej]

[andrzej]

The new Kaiser of Austria immediately began peace negotiations with the coalition of aggressors.

Here is the text of the peace treaty.

" Munich Peace Treaty

The Kaiser of Austria Franz Joseph I
The King of Prussia Wilhelm I
The Queen of Spain Isabella II
The King of Portugal Pedro V
The Sultan of Ottoman’s Empire Abdulmecid I
The King of Italy Vittorio Emanuel II

Eager to avoid the major war in the middle of Europe and reached an agreement on the following:
This treaty will stop the war between Austria, from one side and Prussia, Spain, Ottoman’s Empire, Portugal and Italy, from the other side.
Austria obligates to satisfy the next conditions:
2.1 Region Friuly will be cede to Italy. Austria will stop any unfriendly actions against Italy in the African Horn area.
2.2 Region Erzgebirge will be cede to Prussia
2.3 Austria will stop any colonial penetration in the Persian Gulf area, recognize the Spanish control in the Trucial, will respect interests of Spain in the Persian Gulf and pay 180 state funds immediately and 620 state funds as reparations until the April, 1862.
2.4 Austria will pay to Ottoman’s Empire 1500 state funds as reparations until the April, 1862.
2.5 Austria will pay to Portugal 700 state funds as reparations until the April, 1862.
3. Participants of this treaty obligates not to declare war to each other during 5 years since the moment of agreement, i.e. until the April, 1866, except the situations than their allies with formal Defensive Treaty were attacked by any of participants. Any violation of the obligations, provided by the Art. 2 of this Treaty, would cancel this regulation.
4. This Treaty written in English and delivered to all parties. English text is considering as original and authentic. The Treaty is not secret and will be published at the main newspapers of the World.

Munich

«29» March 1861"

[andrzej]

Against the background of all the troubles of Austria, there was also an International Crisis between Britain and Austria.



Austria gets around 90% of the 2600 prestige prize but GB is recognized as rightful owner of Dubai.
The war between Britain and Austria also began.

[andrzej]

Unfortunately we are losing a player for Great Britain again...
It turned out to be too difficult for the current ruler of the "Foggy Albion" to manage both the economy and wage war with China.
None of our current players want to change their small country to the British Empire either.

Therefore, we are forced to look for a new player for a country that has been a world leader throughout the game and will certainly win our campaign. Incredible but these are the realities of MP games