Part 107: Hearts of Iron II: Chapter 5 - The Road to War: Jan - Jul 1937

January 1937 - July 1937: The Road to War

On January 5th, concluding secret negotiations begun at the Dublin Conference, Mazula and Iberia reach an agreement in which the Republic of Mazula joins the League of Democracies as a full member, striking a blow to the Americans who now face the full might of the League in any war with Mazula.


In response, Hoover reaches out to the only possible counterbalance - Germany. Putting aside past enmities and ideological differences, the American Federation enters into an alliance with the HRE.


America and Mazula's client states follow their masters into their respective alliances.


With the American and Mazulan power blocs absorbed, both the HRE and the League now span the entire length of the globe, and a conflict between the two would be a war of truly global scale.


The Mazulans also decide to reorganize their military, creating an armored corps to counter the Americans, the undisputed masters of mobile tank warfare.


A technology trade is arranged with Germany's new ally.


Research into new topics continues, with Werner Heisenberg delving deep into the mysteries of the atom and Rheinmetall given the contract to develop standardized trucks and halftracks for the creation of mobile infantry divisions.




The war in China has turned in the favor of the Yuan, who have collapsed the Nationalist right flank and are now standing outside the Nationalist capital of Guangzhou.


The modernization of the German infantry is almost complete, and orders are given to begin an expansion of the armor corps, the weakest part of the German army.


The Yuan offensive continues unabated, and Guangzhou falls in late March. Spies in China report that massed Yuan infantry are continuing their advance on a wide front against the new Nationalist headquarters in Maoming,


Waldemar turns his attention back to Germany and internal reforms. The nationalization of vital industries continues to increase state control over the production of war materials.


The ever more sickly Ludendorff is retired from his position as Chief of the Army and replaced with Werner von Blomberg.


Finally, the grumbling over the disbanding of the Reichstag among the traditionalist base causes Waldemar to grant amnesty to its former members, who are let out of prison and recalled from exile to form a new advisory council. This new council has no actual power, but are charged with deciding over less important matters of foreign policy. Internal policy, however, remains completely in Waldemar's hands. Only a few of the more radical socialists are not present on this council, as they are found to have met with unfortunate accidents involving a lot of falling in the prison stairs.

On May 1st, the Union of Rome holds elections. The Unionist Party heads meet to elect a new Consul, and the broad masses assemble to vote for their People's Tribune. The two major political blocs are the Old Guard, who wish to preserve the status quo and the predominantly Italian Radicals, who want to increase the power of the central state and the party.


The election is a sweeping victory for the Radicals, who take home both posts. The ruthless demagogue Palmiro Togliatti is chosen as Consul, and the vastly popular Minister of Security Benito Mussolini is elected to the post of People's Tribune.



With Consul and Tribune working together, there is little to stop the radicals from their centralization of the state, and they quickly begin to dismantle the democratic trappings of the Union in favor of new Communist ideas.



Russia completes its expansion of the Odinholm ports in late May, and holds its own elections in June, re-electing the Social Democrats in a landslide.



In late June, news reaches Frankfurt that the new government in Constantinople has ordered a partial mobilization of its forces and increased its troop deployments around the border, a first tentative step on the road to war.


In response, the German army is placed on heightened alert and a number of vital industries are placed under state control to increase production of war materials. Several other nations respond in similar ways, further increasing the tension in Europe.



Funding for intelligence is also increased yet again.


Nationalist China continues to be driven backwards by the ruthless Yuan offensive, better training and material proving useless against the Yuan militia hordes.


With the Yuan army committed in the south and the Nationalists in disarray, Japan sees their chance. Announcing their intent to stabilize the situation in China, Japan declares war on both Yuan and Nationalist China, already readied invasion fleets heading for the chinese coast.


The international response is immediate, with strong condemnations - but little action - from the League. Japan's neighbours Korea, Australasia and the Philippines, wary of being next, mobilize their armies in response.


Busy with his internal reforms, Waldemar passes off the question on what to do with Japan to the advisory council. Should Germany stay out of its situation, express its support for Japan in the hopes of gaining another ally against the League, or condemn Japan for upsetting the balance of power inside the German sphere of influence?


Voting

Option A: Stay out of it


Option B: Support Japan


Option C: Condemn Japan