Part 67: 1910-1914 - Rapid Expansions.

I realise I must have missed why Rome is no longer a great power – Scandinavia must have won a major war I missed – they have expanded south, taking land from Italian Rome.



Looking at the list, I also notice Peru on there.



They have expanded into Breton Columbia, and as I look at them, declare war on them again.



We see our first Armoured regiment complete, and we begin to see cores forming on our older holdings.







We improve our administration. More worrying is the formation of a Fascist party in Scandinavia.



Soon after, we see the first commercial automobile.



We form an alliance with the Golden Horde. This means we surround over half of Arabia.







We get our Casus Belli.



Before we go to war, we keep the population happy by introducing the non-secret voting that 17% of the population want. While this may not sound great, its better than the gerrymandering that has been going on until now.
We look to our allies, and realise that Rome may not be joining us, as they have something of a communist revolution going on.



We declare warm and our thousands of troops are ready to spill into Arab lands. The Communists will no know what hit them!



Lancaster, our ally for decades, betrays us, The Golden Horde and Rome join us however, while Portugal and Kiev join Arabia.



We advance into Arabia, and our politicians do something good for once, making it easier for us to mobilize.



We research into these constant revolutions, and our new battleship fleet is mobbed by Arabian ships – they are mainly commerce raiders and smaller ships, but there are more of them.



The Horde and Kiev clash over the steppes.







We get the first plea for peace from the Arabs, so far we have not seen any major battles, and are advancing at a pace, the new tanks leading the way.



The power of the new battleships is proven – the Dongu, Ghana, Snake, Well and Adulterous. make their mark shown. We lose the five transports that were with them, but these five ships destroy over eighty enemy ships. They are forced to return to Tunis for repairs and rearmament, but their job is done for this war.



These stunning victories allow the people to become nostalgic for a previous time where Ghana's armies swept all before her.







We annihilate one the the Arabian armies that had advanced into Roman territory.




This allows us to add a wargoal, for the Sinai and all the lands around there.



This causes our infamy to shoot up, as we still have time, and Arabia has proven herself not to be a worrying enemy, I decide to take this peace.



While this may not be the earth shattering war people wanted, I think the slow and safe way is the best. Three provinces remain to claim. I also add another state to Ghana.



No sooner is the land in our hands than we order the construction of a grand Canal in Suez, this will make it much quicker for our ships tro travel around Ghana, and ships coming from Asia can be taxed.



We also order the fleet expanded by five cruisers – we have many more naval bases now, so we can support a larger modern fleet.



Our army returns to their positions, and we hear that Scandinavia has declared war on us, our so-called allies desert us as they are much closer to the big man in Europe. We begin to urge the people to prepare for a long, hard war.



Soon, most of Europe is aligned against us.



As we size each other up across the straits of Gibraltar, we introduce a secret police force to try and keep the rebels down.



The Scandinavians land a well lead force into Madagascar, and defeat our forces there.







Scandinavia gets involved in a second Great War, and we may have some breathing space.



We shall introduce aeroplanes, and another election keeps the Left in power. Our own Fascist party, known as Hydra after the many headed snake, gets only 4% of the vote.







We invade Madagascar with fresh troops, the Battleships and our first cruiser protecting the crossing. Our navy is going from strength to strength.



Suffragettes are taken more seriously now, as we know we may well need to call on them to keep the economy going if we mobilize.



The Fascists begin to gain traction however. Sometimes I wonder which side these scientists are on.



Seeing this, the communists get their act together.








We see some minor rebellions, and the troops in Madagascar dance around each other, but then our fleet scores another big victory against a French force.



Then the Scandinavians spit their forces, and we crush one of them.



The back and forth between state and rebels continues, and our now larger force attacks the Scandinavian force, once again we are defeated. The norsemen are better troops.







The age old problem resurfaces, we are trapped in Africa, while our enemies can attack us, we don't have the transports to go on the offensive, so I do not see how we can win this war. We take their containment treaty.



Its not like losing half our army leaves us defenceless. We still have 154 brigades, and the loss of taxes is trivial. On the other hand, our infamy now drops at twice the rate.



Time to focus on infrastructure – like better railroads.



We also discover x-rays, which means people live longer to have more children.







We shall host the next Olympics.



We also complete our research into not being rational about things. Mad scientists across the nation rejoice!



We also begin to communicate better with telephones – now a man may just call his lover, rather than try and slip a note past her husband.



We reform some alliances as our infamy drops.



Ghana may be being policed by the outside world, but she has only a little way to go to achieve her dreams.