Sequel de Mayo (Cinco de Mayo, Vol. II)

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theINQUISITOR

KingSweden24 said:
- A Storm in the Orient
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I'm curious to see how this theatre of the war shakes out. I'm assuming that the German colonies out in the Pacific, East Indies, and Philippines are all toast - as pointed out in the update, the French are gonna have total naval superiority in this corner of the world at the outset, and all of these colonies will be fairly easy to isolate and reduce at French leisure. The Germans also have no hope of successfully defending Cambodia, but at least there there's a prospect of a von Lettow-Vorbeck style guerilla campaign holding out for at least a while.

I'm more intrigued about what you're plotting for the Dutch, though. Obviously declaring war on all the Central Powers is suicidal, but it's not out of the question that if Japan tries to jump in to try to yoink Formosa, Hainan, and the Pescadores for themselves, that will draw a Dutch declaration of war in response -solely on the Japanese- which would make relations back in Europe, well, interesting is an understatement I'd say.
 
Pax_Nihil

Pax_Nihil

theINQUISITOR said:
I'm curious to see how this theatre of the war shakes out. I'm assuming that the German colonies out in the Pacific, East Indies, and Philippines are all toast - as pointed out in the update, the French are gonna have total naval superiority in this corner of the world at the outset, and all of these colonies will be fairly easy to isolate and reduce at French leisure. The Germans also have no hope of successfully defending Cambodia, but at least there there's a prospect of a von Lettow-Vorbeck style guerilla campaign holding out for at least a while.

I'm more intrigued about what you're plotting for the Dutch, though. Obviously declaring war on all the Central Powers is suicidal, but it's not out of the question that if Japan tries to jump in to try to yoink Formosa, Hainan, and the Pescadores for themselves, that will draw a Dutch declaration of war in response -solely on the Japanese- which would make relations back in Europe, well, interesting is an understatement I'd say.
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What is your reasoning about the Dutch wanting a war if Japan has ownership of the mentioned islands? They've a better chance of winning if they were to fight Japan before such an outcome but why you think they are interested in fighting at all is what I wanna know >.>
 
JustInThePhilippines

JustInThePhilippines

Pax_Nihil said:
What is your reasoning about the Dutch wanting a war if Japan has ownership of the mentioned islands? They've a better chance of winning if they were to fight Japan before such an outcome but why you think they are interested in fighting at all is what I wanna know >.>
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Isn't the Dutch Pro German?
 

theINQUISITOR

Pax_Nihil said:
What is your reasoning about the Dutch wanting a war if Japan has ownership of the mentioned islands? They've a better chance of winning if they were to fight Japan before such an outcome but why you think they are interested in fighting at all is what I wanna know >.>
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From the 2nd most recent update:
KingSweden24 said:
The Netherlands, for its part, had a different set of incentives. It was generally Germanophilic in European affairs and took pride in its neutrality, but in the matters of the Orient, it was vehemently Francophile. The Koninklijke Marine existed almost exclusively to defend the Dutch East Indies (DEI), and the emergence of two resistance movements - one republican and inspired by the Katipunan and Guomindang, the other politically Islamic, both revolutionary and anti-imperialist - in their crown jewel colony terrified not just the professional and capable administrators in Batavia but the conservative governments in the Binnenhof, the Dutch Parliament. As such, the Dutch quickly came to view France's position in the Orient as the most resistant to "revolutionary pan-Asianism" that was thought to be inspired ideologically by Cantonese intellectuals and financed in an ambitious Japan, a Japan which the Dutch suspected planned to eventually seize Formosa by force, vassalize the Philippines, and then move on the East Indies as a resource colony. The French thus had an important and powerful friend in the neighborhood, and while there was no formal alignment - again, the Dutch valued neutrality in Europe as a matter of longstanding policy - Paris was highly aware that they enjoyed tacit Dutch support in the Orient and planned accordingly, both in political maneuvers and in how they structured their colonial defenses..."
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Dunbar

CDM alt-history POD, Netherlands allies with the Iron Triangle at the outset of the war leading to a double envelopment of the left bank of the Rhine.
 

Dalek Ix

theINQUISITOR said:
I'm curious to see how this theatre of the war shakes out. I'm assuming that the German colonies out in the Pacific, East Indies, and Philippines are all toast - as pointed out in the update, the French are gonna have total naval superiority in this corner of the world at the outset, and all of these colonies will be fairly easy to isolate and reduce at French leisure. The Germans also have no hope of successfully defending Cambodia, but at least there there's a prospect of a von Lettow-Vorbeck style guerilla campaign holding out for at least a while.
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Maximilian von Spee (and Karl von Müller on the Emden) might have a few things to say about that.
 

Slings_Arrows

Dunbar said:
If I'm in charge of France I'm gladly trading the Asian empire for primacy on the continent. Then again, if I'm in charge I'm not starting the war at all.
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Too bad that the people effectively in charge of France are a coterie of reactionary generals and feckless emperor advised by his extremely conservative Catholic grandmother.
That's not a recipe for good decisions.
 
Belka DNW

Belka DNW

Slings_Arrows said:
Too bad that the people effectively in charge of France are a coterie of reactionary generals and feckless emperor advised by his extremely conservative Catholic grandmother.
That's not a recipe for good decisions.
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I wonder how they'll scapegoat their way through the end of the war.
 

boredviewer1234

You joke, but that's likely Frances plan, either in the more optimistic sense of feeling superior to Germans or after the beginning of the war feel it's their best chance to win akin to the CSA before Industrial might determines the outcome. Sure they may literally require clogging the enemies guns with blood but it's the only chance they have.

You know, one odd comparison you could make is France position is of the East of WW1 OTL while Austria is the West, by that one of Frances best hopes is focus on offensive to both aid their ally but also in the hopes of dragging in Neutral parties, akin to how Russia's performance helped bring in Italy and Romania to the entente while Germany tries to crack Austria the weak link in the alliance.

At least that is one possible delusional hope I can see arising, surely Russia/Britain ect won't let Germany gain to large a position and if they see blood in the water would be tempted to join.
 

Curtain Jerker

ElfNoble said:
No don’t you see their superior Elan will carry the day (In to machine gun nests)
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Dunbar said:
A nation of engineers and philosophers can't hope to stand against France's martial spirit.
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What's going to be worse than this French idiocy is the mentality that all sides early on will have that trenches are only something the craven and cowardly Americans/Confederates needed to fight and true civilized men of valor like us French/Germans/Austrians/Italians/Belgians won't need to debase ourselves by fighting in the mud like those degenerates on the other side of the Atlantic had to. The amount of men on all sides that will die before everyone agrees that living in trenches is better than dying in open fields is going to be a staggering number.
 

5000 Cows

Curtain Jerker said:
What's going to be worse than this French idiocy is the mentality that all sides early on will have that trenches are only something the craven and cowardly Americans/Confederates needed to fight and true civilized men of valor like us French/Germans/Austrians/Italians/Belgians won't need to debase ourselves by fighting in the mud like those degenerates on the other side of the Atlantic had to. The amount of men on all sides that will die before everyone agrees that living in trenches is better than dying in open fields is going to be a staggering number.
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I think to a degree this is true, but it's also been explicitly stated (at least from the German doctrine point of view) that lessons were learned from the much more bloody altBoxer War and the abortive Norwegian Independence War where dogged defenders had a great advantage over attackers with dug in fortifications
 
Belka DNW

Belka DNW

5000 Cows said:
I think to a degree this is true, but it's also been explicitly stated (at least from the German doctrine point of view) that lessons were learned from the much more bloody altBoxer War and the abortive Norwegian Independence War where dogged defenders had a great advantage over attackers with dug in fortifications
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This will likely sped up the development of counter tactics such as infantry infiltration used by the Germans OTL. BTW Kings, how's the european development of armored vehicles? I guess Gunther Burstyn is finally going to get attetion since this A-H is more industrially developded.
 
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