Heyo! @whowh @K.Rokossovski @Karl von Krass you all know what this is about from the thread Fiction. The rest of you... do what you like.
The Titanic War- 1914~1918
The Titanic War was the result of intense military, economic and ideological rivalry between the great powers of the Westland. The deterioration of relations began in 1903, with the disastrous War of the Noran Recreation. The Pegronian Union developed unprecedented hate for the Norans, and the Westland was shocked by the Creation of the Red Union in 1904, mirroring the Noran Union. Its ideology was unacceptable by the Armstris and Pegronians, and both nations interests were threatened by its creation. Both had hoped to grab swathes of land in the destabilisation following the War of the Noran Recreation, but instead were slapped in the face with the creation of a great power.
Relations continued to go south in the next years. The URI won an astounding victory in the War of 1904, giving it absolute control over the surrounding region. The Nation also became communist like the Red Union, and allied itself with the Red Union. A naval arms race began between the Armstris Empire and Red Union, which made a naval conflict virtually inevitable. In 1910, the slow annexation of the Blacklands by the Armstris saw Lesotho join the Noran/Inamortan Alliance. Beeth and Anglia, while both puppets of the Armstris, had populations extremely anti-Armstris, the same applied to Azernia.
The West Pact or Entente Pact, formed between Mesra, Pegronian Union, Dora and the Armstris Empire was very fractured. By 1912, both Dora and Mesra had virtually left the pact, and the Pegronians and Armstris only remained allies due to a common enemy. In 1913, Dora virtually dismantled its armed forces, making its entry into a war impossible. Meanwhile the URI created the West League, a formal and strong alliance between its puppets, itself, the Red Union and Lesotho.
The final straw that sparked the Titanic War began with the Blacklands Uprisings. Beeth, Anglia, Azernia all revolted against the Armstris. This was a great insult to the nation, Fu Hong having said centuries before that “Our flawless Empire does these nations a great favour by not fully occupying them and wiping out their populace.” Anglia, Beeth and Azernia were all fully occupied, and somewhat following Fu Hong’s words, the Azernian Genocide began. Following these events, Lesotho and the URI ordered partial mobilisation, encouraged by the Red Union. The tensions became unbearable, and hell broke loose when the Inamortans entered some military assets into Azernia to “save the populace from extermination.”
This action was due to bolstering Inamortan confidence, and was meant to start a war. The Red Union assured them that it would join in any war, and the Inamortans saw their chance upon Dora’s demilitarization. So the act was simply an excuse to spark a war and not be blamed, so as to stop international intervention. The resulting war was unprecedented in the carnage it caused and destabilised the world.
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“First Line” trench, filled with Inamortan men. |
The Armstris Empire declared war upon the URI February 3rd, the Red Union on the 5th and all of the URI’s puppets on the 6th, Lesotho on the 8th. The Red Union declared war on the Armstris Empire on the 5th and the Pegronian Union on the 6th. The Titanic War had begun, and it would become one of the greatest conflicts of the 20th century.
Technology of war in 1914
The planning and conduct of war in 1914 were crucially influenced by the invention of new weapons and the improvement of existing types since the past wars. The chief developments of the intervening period had been the Self-Propelled Artillery and the Rapid Fire Rocket Artillery, as well as the Devastators. The Red Union was the inventor of the RF Rocket Artillery, but it had infant versions only, for example the H.3. Meanwhile the Armstris Empire possessed the greatest Devastator Fleet, 300 Emperor Class Devastators. The Armstris were also the only nation to produce SP Artillery, a new kind of mechanized artillery that “rained death upon tanks”. These technologies would be prime factors in the outcome of the war.
The Initial Stages of the War
Initial strategies
The Ember Plan
The Ember Plan was the initial Inamortan plan for a lightning victory over the Armstris First Colonies. General Richton Ember oversaw the planning in the months leading up to the war. The attack was to compromise of 25 infantry divisions (250,000 men), 10 armoured divisions (3,000 tanks and armoured cars), 500 Artillery pieces and 800 planes. The Inamortan forces would sweep south and wipe out the weak Armstris Garrison in Free Azernia, and then dismantle her ownership of Occupied Azernia. The Plan’s failure would not matter, since if the offensive was stopped or pushed back, the Inamortans were not in danger due to the buffer space provided by their puppets the Eastern Alliance and Tropia.
However, the war came sooner than expected and only 12 infantry divisions were available. The Inamortan generals panicked, not wanting to fight advanced Armstris equipment that would arrive to reinforce the enemy soon, and so launched a badly coordinated offensive all the same. The result was disastrous. 7 infantry divisions were cut off and encircled, 5 others were decimated. It was a major Armstris victory in the first few months of the war. Despite this, the Armstris could not seize the initiative. Not enough resources or manpower was available, and so they settled in for defence.
The Strategy of the Pegronian Front
When war broke out, the Pegronians were increasingly nervous. Their naval prowess was completely unhinged, and their air force was inferior. Their only condolence was the fact that they were an island, therefore harder to attack. In fact, the Pegronian Union was caught completely off guard. It had actually began considering leaving the Western Pact, and somehow missed the hints of war. Luckily for the Pegronians, the Norans did not know this.
Nora had had its heart torn out by the Pegronian Union many times before in history. Therefore, the Red Union had an irrational fear of the Pegronians. In reality, a quick Noran assault would have decimated the Union. But due to overestimation, the Pegronians managed to pull together. Each side on the front had different strategies:
The Pegronian Plan One
Plan One outlined an invasion of the Red Union. However, it was different to the other Pegronian invasions. Instead of attempting to punch through a wide eastern front with Nora, it would focus on poorly defended Wintonia. Over 130 divisions were to land there, with the Union putting all its hopes on this offensive. The date was set for 1915 April 22nd, and the Pegronian high command believed the URI would be neutralised by then, securing his invasion force’s western/southern flank.
The Red Union Red Fortress
Whilst Pegronia planned an offensive, the Norans were focused on the defensive. Red Fortress had begun with the Iron City in 1909, and was now a formidable line of Fortress Cities and defensive positions along the coast. The navy was also ordered to be vigilant and remain in port. However, Wintonia was ignored just as the Pegronians hoped, and it housed virtually no Red Union troops or defensive structures, except the weak Wintonia Republic National Guard, a small force of 35,000 ill-equipped men. The coast near Norso was also significantly reinforced, but there some plans were laid for an offensive.
“I do not love the sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior. I love only that which they defend.”
“If you win, you need not explain!”
“What difference does it make if destruction is wrought under the name of dictators or in the name of democracy?”
War is Peace
Slavery is Freedom
Weakness is Strength
530,000~600,000 men, 1,500~2,200 vehicles and tanks, 1,300~1,435 ships, 8,000 planes, and some other minor losses.Whilst the losses of 1914 were in the Pact’s favour by a wide margin, the League’s numerical supremacy and industrial power evened the field. Today, 1914 is known as the “quiet year”, the least destructive year of the war. 1915 would see far fiercer combat, with both sides realising there could be no peace, only absolute victory. It would also bring the “Death Campaign
