Part 29: Interesting Times

Sorry for the scarcity of updates. I just don't have the time to update as often as I was when first posted the thread.

However, I am starting to cruise the years a bit faster (I think), and I've learned what can be cut to make posts have more actual content. Wars can definitely be more condensed than the first few I posted without somewhat ignoring them like in the 2nd Southwestern War.

Thanks for the compliments!

Chapter 19: Interesting Times



There have been some fears about the American troops that line our border, but there is no need to worry for now. The United States has made it clear that they have only good intentions, and the treaty of military access we signed with them prohibits them from declaring war on us without first canceling the treaty, which essentially means we get a month's notice before we are forcibly evicted from the continent. In the event the Americans wish to do this, a month should be plenty of time to get all the men and alcohol we can to Austin.



Our nation's railroad system is almost entirely up to date and our North American provinces should be completely done upgrading to steel railroad in no time.



Steel breech-loaded artillery is researched and done, and we continue into more military studies. The fact that the Republic lags behind Mexico in military studies is embarrassing and hopefully the situation will be rectified soon.



We've finished our two claims in Mauretania, and we are now beginning to plan for the acquisition of the Argentinian colonies.



Speaking of Argentina, they just signed a military alliance with Mexico (invalid against United Kingdom, interestingly) and joined their war against the USCA. We doubt they will have much to do with that war in reality.

As eager as we are to declare war on Argentina immediately, we must take care of some things first.



General Ellis and two infantry-artillery divisions have been keeping the peace in Madagascar, but he and those men will be needed to fight in Argentina. We are recruiting a Malagasy irregular division with guard brigade attachment to keep watch for rebels at their home while Ellis is gone.



The troops will be ready in a few months, and we doubt any rebellions will spring up between now and then. General Ellis is loaded onto our transports and sets for Santa Cruz.



A new military academy is founded in the Republic, and we get a surge of new generals from it. Our military command is clearly run on a system of nepotism. Of the new generals, only one of the Wharton brothers is worthy of command. We are curious as to how General Ellis's cousin even graduated from the military academy; the man is psychotic and lives in constant fear of Argentinian spies plotting his demise.

(From now on when I say "General Ellis" I mean the one with good stats that I would actually trust my main armies with; same with other generals unless specified. I probably should have modified the general name file, but oh well!)



Mexico has actually started paying attention to the war it started a little while ago.



Our capitalists have started building railroads in Cameroon and Madagascar already. We'd rather they finish improving the railroad in Santa Cruz but as long as they're building something somewhere we're happy.



We are recruiting two Tuareg irregular divisions in Rio de Oro. They will be the forces that seize the Argentinian claim and colony in Africa.



In mid-December of 1883, the population of the Republic of Texas reaches 10 million and the immigration is showing no signs of stopping.



The plans for war with Argentina will have to be delayed. General Ellis is needed back in Madagascar to put down a rebellion; the Malagasy guards division is still almost a month away from being completed.



The revolters are native Catholic labourers, probably Argentinian sympathizers. They will be crushed by our artillery.



The fabric factory in California is completed and immediately staffed to capacity. Immigrants had already arrived and been waiting for it to open, saving us a lot of money that would have gone toward education. The capitalists in Los Angeles will likely start building another factory soon, after observing how fast this one got up and running.



General Ellis actually arrives on the island at the same time that the native guards are ready, so they will stand by and watch as Ellis gives them a lesson in how to deal with dirty Argentina-lovers.



The rebels number slightly more than four thousand and are fairly disorganized, so General Ellis has no trouble routing forces of the mysterious Leader 2.



The Tuareg divisions are ready and deployed to Rio de Oro, and we notice that there has been a large French troop buildup on our colonial border with them.



Eighty-four thousand Frenchmen. We still maintain good relations with France (about +85), so there should be no threat of war between us. We inquire to the French embassy about the troops, but all we get is a vague response about restless Moroccans and troop exercises. Everybody knows Moroccans are very restless, so we accept this answer and decide to let the French do their thing.



Its election time again!



The current demographics of our Republic and how the main parties are polling (Radicals, getting almost 5%, not shown). Conservativism and the Nationalist Party have made gains since the last election. The people are happy about our successful war against Madagascar and how strong our economy has been lately. This one's looking to be another win for the Nationalists, unsurprisingly.




Mexico settles with the Central Americans, carving out a chunk of the USCA that seperates capital in Guatemala with the rest of the nation. The USCA has always been somewhat unstable, and now we anticipate greeting newly independent Central American countries in the future.



Military Statistics is completed, and we begin studying Military Logistics.



General Ellis and his men have returned to Santa Cruz, and they are beginning to assemble on the border, awaiting our declaration of war against the Argentinians. It will come soon.



Our trading post in Matam is completed, enabling us to claim the territory of Senegal for the Republic. The Argentinian claim in Nouakchott is what keeps us from claiming the province between Rio deo Oro and Senegal, and we believe it is time to fix that.



We issue a declaration of colonial war on Argentina. This limits fighting to colonial possessions. For us, that is our African possessions. For them, it is Rooktown, Nouakchott, and the area immediately above Santa Cruz, since Argentina has yet to grant that area statehood. Colonial war also does not involve the allies of either nation, keeping us out of a war with Mexico that we do not yet feel ready to fight.



General Ellis's men pour across the Argentinian border to confront the small garrison in Trelew, and the Taureg infantry in begin toward the mission in Nouakchott.



The mission is seized without incident, and Mauretania is claimed as sovereign territory of the Republic, linking together our northwest African possessions. The Taureg are then loaded onto our transports and are heading toward the waters off of Rooktown.



The Argentinian garrison is outnumbered 24-to-1 and is quickly destroyed.



The United Kingdom is done letting Sokoto run around their possessions and are on track to win that war handily within 6 months.



The Argentinian garrison retreated to Viedma (from here on known as North Viedma, since there is another Viedma only two or three provinces southwest of it!), and Ellis sets out to engage them after taking Trelew. When informed that there are in fact no men left in that division, that they were all killed while retreating, Ellis does not care; he is sure to find somebody he could shoot his gun at.



Rooktown falls to the Taureg divisions without incident.



Argentina is assembling an actual army near North Viedma, with a full Argentinian division digging-in to Ellis's west and a 7000 man division coming from the north to reinforce them. Ellis is told to wait in Viedma until both armies are in Choele Choel to the west, then he can strike.

The irregulars in Rooktown are loaded back onto the transports and are heading to Argentina, where they can reinforce Ellis's men if needed.



The capitalists in Los Angeles announce that they have begun construction on an artillery factory just as General Ellis is given the orders to move west. Home produced artillery will cheapen the costs of creating artillery brigades and it sells well on the market, but it requires materials that are not cheap.



Before General Ellis reaches the Argentinian Army in Choele Choel, we receive an envoy from Buenos Aires asking for peace and offering all of Argentina's colonial territories. They've realized they cannot win the war. We happily accept the offer, for this is as much as we can take in a colonial war.



Our holdings in South America now compose the entire southern half of Argentina, and we've gained Rooktown in Africa.



Our victory and other recent events pushes the Republic to twelfth in international rankings.



The United Kingdom ends their war in Sokoto, annexing the native nation. Sokoto fought bravely, but few nations could possibly match Britain's might.



Charles Goodnight returns to office for a third term on the shoulders of what could be the greatest political campaign seen yet in the Republic. While the Socialists and Democrats sat in Austin and El Rosario and Honolulu and debated, the Nationalists saddled up and won a great victory for Sam Houston's legacy.

Victory celebrations are cut short.



Claiming that Texas has encroached on African land that France says is rightfully theirs and that the Republic must be punished for their grievous actions in South America, France declares war on Texas. Not colonial war, but all out War.



Their faithful ally Italy decides to join them. In a move that scares the Republic silly, France mobilizes their reserves. They don't actually intend on an invasion of our homeland, do they?



More than one hundred thousand French troops and a handful of Italian divisions are swarming toward our colonies in Africa.

France has mobilized everything. We can mobilize 28 divisions currently, but we are reluctant to cripple our economy for what is likely a meager number of troops against the French army.

In all likelihood, Texan Africa is forfeit, and we must let France take it while the attrition whittles down their ridiculous armies. But no smelly Europeans are going to take our homeland. Not on the Nationalists' watch.