The Official Game Status Update Thread

[Jamzor the Jaxxor]

I'm too lazy to write my own OP, so here's Flo's:

Most of us play the games, so here we can discuss our playings of them.

Cry, brag, whine, explain, do as you will, but remember, screenshots are nice. Basically, this is where you can show off your empire and tell us how you got there. Do you have a particular goal in mind? Are you going for any achievements? Do you own a horse? Speak of all interesting things!

Later on, you can give us further updates onto what has happened. If you rage quit, what happened to make the situation hopeless?

I'll get started in a little bit!

[Jamzor the Jaxxor]

DEUS VULT
Part of a Crusader Kings II game, Part One


The lands of King Malise, held under the Crowns of Scotland, Norway, and Denmark, in 1248

Taking up the Cross
In the year A.D. 1247, word reached Scone, the seat of Malise, King of Scots, Norwegians, and Danes, that His Holiness Pope Lucius II, had called upon all devout Christians to take up arms against the Mohammedan oppressors of the Holy Land. A wise and pious ruler, King Malise called up vassals up to take the Cross, and a great army was raised. Malise’s ancestors were wise and capable rulers with strategic mindsets. War had gained House Dunkeld much power, especially in the British Isles, but smart marriages and intrigue had brought the crowns of Norway and Denmark into his house’s domains. From Scotland, Iceland, and Malise’s lands in Ireland and northern England were raised 13,500 men, including 2,000 cavalry. From Denmark and Norway were raised 6,800 men, including 980 cavalry.

The Rescue of Zemgale
King Malise himself took charge of the western forces, preparing them for a long campaign abroad. The king’s younger brother Torquil took command of the eastern army of Danes and Norwegians. Camped in the county of Viken, Torquil made plans to set sail immediately for Scotland so that the king's army could be united in one place before departing. However, an urgent plea arrived from Earl Arnvid of Zemgale, a distant kinsman. The Earl’s ragged messenger had travelled all the way from Zemgale, the king’s farthest eastern territory. He brought dire news: Estonian pagans had invaded the county and were investing the Earl’s seat of Bauska. These men were raiders by nature; savages whom knew no honest trade, as far as the king’s men were concerned.

Torquil knew well the duty of his brother the king to his vassals, and he knew also his own duty to his kin. Acting in the king’s name, Torquil turned his army east. Some of the men worried that they would not see the Holy Land at all, and they would not receive the promised absolution of sins if they were to die to an Estonian blade rather than a Mohammedan one. To avoid any potential for mutiny and to disquiet the fears of the men, Torquil had the priests spread the word that any man who fights against heathen aggression in the north will be just as welcome in heaven, should he perish, as those who fight the Mohammedans in the Holy Land.

In due time, the rescuing force arrived on the shores of Zemgale. Within a short time, Torquil’s forward scouts spotted Bauska and its besiegers. The enemy was severely outnumbered by Torquil’s force, and Torquil did not wish to give the invaders any chance to escape. Although weary from the sailing and the marching, the overwhelming numbers, coupled with a rear assault from the castle’s defenders, ensured a swift victory. The enemy was routed and scattered across the countryside, while at least half their number were killed. Earl Arnvid was eternally grateful. Apparently he had been on the verge of surrendering the castle due to a lack of food and plummeting morale. Torquil allowed Arnvid to leave most of his men behind to stave off any further attacks.

The Holy Land



With Arnvid rescued, Torquil finally sailed westward, and arrived in Scotland. The gathering of such a force - over 20,000 men - from so many disparate regions, in addition to the rescue of Zemgale, had delayed the departure of Malise’s host until March 1248. The voyage was long but eventless, and by September the crusading army reached the shores of the Holy Land. King Malise, after consulting his advisers, decided to land near the city of Arsuf, northwest of Jerusalem. The landing was done under cover of darkness, and before the city’s defenders had any time to react, the city was surrounded. By this time, word began to reach Malise’s army that other forces had arrived in the land in response to the Pope’s holy call. Bretons, Saxons, Italians, Germans, Castilians - faithful Christians of all Types who had taken up the Cross.

It was not long before the Mohammedan also presented himself. A heathen army marched under the command of Emir Murad up from Egypt, making its way for Jerusalem. Malise made the bold decision to abandon the siege of Arsuf and head inland without first establishing a base on the coast for his fleet and for resupply. Emir Murad was met near Jerusalem. 20,000 soldiers of Christ against 13,700 Mohammedans. Despite his overall numerical disadvantage, the Emir held the high ground and a larger core of mounted troops.



Skirmishing began immediately while the two armies maneuvered. The left flank, commanded by the king’s brother Torquil, and the right flank, commanded by Earl Arnvid, clashed with the enemy simultaneously. The situation was not favorable for the Christian attacks, for they were forced to slog uphill under missile barrage, all the while fearing a charge by the dreaded Mameluke slave soldiers, as fierce as any Christian knight, if not more so. Torquil and Arnvid, however, were capable commanders and acquitted themselves well on the battlefield, despite their unenviable position. Even so, King Malise worried that the losses from this battle, even if they did emerge victorious, might cripple them for the rest of the campaign.

As if from an answered prayer, behold, reinforcements arrived. Italians, Saxons, and knights of the blessed Holy Orders surged onto the battlefield. Another 10,000 Christian soldiers turned the tide instantly. The enemy began to lose hope and their lines were faltering. King Malise’s leading his troops himself, ordering a charge across the entire battle line. With Malise leading the charge, clad in brilliant armor atop a massive beast of war, the center broke first. The enemy flanks soon followed. The adrenaline of that glorious day was high and many of the actions confusing. It was not until after the enemy had been totally routed that King Malise was found severely injured. Captured enemy soldiers revealed that it was Malik, Wali of Zabargad, who had dealt this blow to the king. No doubt he would be praised for this among the heathens, but the king’s men vowed that they would do everything in their power to ensure Wali Malik would never be said to have killed the king.

Despite his injury, and despite his councilors' insistence that another, such as Malise’s younger brother Maldred (Torquil is the youngest of the three), be put in charge of the campaign while the king recovered, Malise continued to play an active role in command. He sent half his force, under Maldred and Torquil, to take Arsuf while the other half remained to capture Jerusalem. During the sieges, news came that another Mohammedan army, perhaps also commanded by Emir Murad, was defeated by knights of the Teutonic Order in Madaba to the east.

At this point, victory was nearly ensured. The end of the Crusade was sealed with the fall of Arsuf and Jerusalem in August and September 1249, respectively. The peace was made official in April 1250. Hochmeister Svein of the Teutonic Order was granted temporary control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by the Pope, while the weary Scots were simply glad to finally be going home.

[Jamzor the Jaxxor]

DEUS VULT
Part of a Crusader Kings II game, Part Two


The disputed Duchy of Lancaster in 1250

Treachery at Home
Malise and his men took the months-long voyage home with glad hearts. They had done their part for the good of all Christendom. They had received full absolution as promised by the Pope. They could sleep easy, knowing that the Holy Land was free from heathen oppression. Many had died along the way, and the men were weary from years of war. They were expecting to come home and return to their farms and their families.

Instead, they returned to find war at their very doorstep. The treacherous King of England, Ealdhun, hoping to take advantage of the king’s absence with many of Scotland’s fighting men and reverse years of Scottish supremacy in northern Europe, had invaded Lancaster, laying siege to the castle at Derby. The Duchy of Lancaster had been in the Dunkeld family since Malise’s ancestor Neil had inherited it from his grandmother Ælfgifu of the House of Hwicce in 1133. The Saxons had tried to retake Lancaster into their realm in the 1190s, but only managed to annex the County of Derby in 1198. The county was later retaken by Duke Matad Ironside, the king’s kinsman, in 1236.

The king knew that his army, weary and depleted from years of fighting abroad, would not be enough to win this new war, at least not easily or decisively. So he turned to the ever-present friend of any man short on men but with plenty of coin: mercenaries. Malise knew of one particular band of mercenaries that could be counted on. The aptly named “Scottish Band,” led by Captain Maldred, had been hired by many Dunkelds in the past and saw service throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England.

First Victories
Malise’s army landed in Galloway and, after a short delay while the king communicated with Captain Maldred, marched to Teviotdale where they met up with the mercenary band. Malise’s scouts believed the Saxon army to be around 12,000 strong, while the Scottish army, with its sellsword reinforcements, numbered 16,500. With this numerical advantage and despite his still-lingering injury which so concerned his advisers, the king ordered an attack. The flanks were under the command of Torquil and Mayor Bo of Naestved, a Dane, while Malise took charge of the center. The flanks were the first to engage in hand-to-hand fighting, as the king relied on his tested tactic. The enemy flanks were pushed hard, and eventually were totally broken. Torquil routed his opposing flank, then Mayor Bo did the same. Free to maneuver around the enemy center, the remaining enemy forces were quickly boxed in on three sides. Within minutes, the entire Saxon army was in retreat.

King Ealdhun fled back into his own territory with his host, with the Scots in pursuit. The countryside of England was decimated by an outbreak of consumption. Some of the king’s councilors speculated that Ealdhun had gone to war in part to shift attention away from the disease-ridden countryside and towards glory won in war. Malise cared little for such things, but there was also fear that the king’s weakened body was vulnerable to consumption. These fears were temporarily forgotten when the enemy was finally caught near Tottenham Castle in Middlesex County. A cornered animal fights fiercely, as did the Saxons at Tottenham. They managed to break the flank of Mayor Bo and endanger the Scottish center. However, a good defense by the dreaded Scottish pikes and a flanking action by Torquil won the day.

Uncertainty in the Crown
The war seemed as if it would soon be over as the shattered remnants of the Saxon host again fled the field. Morale was high, but rumors began to spread concerning the behavior of King Malise. He was throwing fits, it was said, and speaking in tongues. He would spit on and assault those nearby. For long periods of time, while the king was “resting” or “feeling unwell,” the brothers Maldred and Torquil, or other councilors, represented the king in public. Every now and then the king would appear before the men as if perfectly healthy, but then disappear again for days at a time. All manner of priests were brought in, but the king’s strange “illness” continued.

The Saxon army was finally defeated in Cornwall in the parish of St. Germans. The king was wholly unable to participate, but his brothers, generals, and councilors had no trouble defeating the broken, shambling rabble. After the battle, Malise had a moment of clarity and ordered that the army besiege the Saxon court at Wilton in Wiltshire. During the siege, Malise was found to have a fever, a totally new symptom. Hopes were not high that the king would survive. The king’s kin and councilors began bickering over who would succeed him. The king’s son was too young to rule, especially in times of war. Torquil was reminding everyone that he had proved himself a capable commander on more than one occasion. Maldred was quick to reassure Captain Maldred that he and his men would receive their pay when Maldred became king.

Peace
The brief potential succession crisis was put to a stop when Malise miraculously recovered. Soon thereafter, with his court still under siege, the Saxon king sued for peace. The subsequent peace’s terms were as follows: King Ealdhun gave up all claims to Lancaster, while paying a hefty sum to Malise’s royal treasury as retribution for the war. Peace was concluded in December 1251. The men of Scotland, Norway, and Denmark were able to leave the king’s service in time for Christmas. As if to commemorate the end of year of continuous warfare, Torquil had a son by his wife, Princess Inga of Sweden, whom he named Dugald.

[Flo]

very nice I enjoy ck2 AARs quite a lot

[Jamzor the Jaxxor]

Why thank you, my good man.

[Flo]

Been obliterating the world as the mongols in ck2 recently. Will post some pics later. Having tons of fun executing every living thing I capture.

If only I could have more than three concubines

[Seperallis]

Ethiopian Campaign: The Battles of Negele and Arba Minch
part of
The Japanese-Spanish War of Egyptian Liberation

A Victoria 2 Japanese continuation game from Europa Universalis III

>> Click Here for the "European Expedition!" <<
>> Click Here for the "Sino-Japanese War!" (Part 1) <<
>> Click Here for the "Sino-Japanese War!" (Part 2) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 1) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 2) <<


Click for a larger image, because the original is too large to use here on its own.
I wasn't taking screenshots yet, so this is all you get. Sorry.

A Brief Summation of History
Japan first rose to prominence as a great world power late in the 18th century. At the time, Japan had been making some use of western military techonologies to defend against the encroaching empires of the European powers, becoming the most powerful of the East Asian countries with an empire stretching from the Japanese homeland across Southeast Asia towards India. While many regarded the expansive and fairly modern Japanese Navy as a force to be reckoned with, having successfully defended Japanese hegemony over its several SE Asian client states from encroaching European imperialism, Japan itself wasn't considered much of a military threat until its convincing - if not hard-fought - victory in the Russo-Japanese War, cementing its borders in Mongolia and Manchuria against a force many figured to be their better.

Despite Japan's great strides in military and economic strength, Japan still maintained a largely agrarian and "backwards" society mostly untouched by western influences at the turn of the 19th century, and the vast majority of Japan's advances in technology and science were either imported, or "borrowed" from the western powers and adapted to meet the needs and resources of Japan...though often of an inferior quality to the original. Realizing this could not continue if Japan were to have any hope of continuing to challenge the European powers in the future, Emperor Reigen broadened westernization policies of his great-grandmother Empress Suiko, against his advisors' counsel, instituting mandatory westernization throughout all corners of Japanese society. As part of his, Reigen instituted laws breaking down the class barriers and, most importantly, laid the groundwork for an empire-wide, state-funded education program.

While the rapid westernization did wonders for making Japan a self-sufficient Great Power, the open flow of western ideas and information brought with them dangerous ideas of republican ism and the rights of the common man. By 1840, two massive uprisings to install a western-style government, funded largely by British coin and propaganda, ended in hundreds of thousands of deaths as they were mercilessly suppressed by Imperial forces. Reigen sought to avert future bloodshed by divesting some of the Court's lawmaking power into the country's first legislative body, the Diet. He enacted the country's first elections shortly before the end of his long reign, though the Emperor and his court still held supreme power and authority.

His legacy continued in his successors, however. By 1860, Japan was the leading industrial power in the world by a wide margin, and more than half of all the empire's vast and varied residents could both read and write in Japanese...no mean feat for a multicultural empire spanning more than half the globe, from Africa through to the mid-Pacific, though this would have its own consequences later.


A Prelude to War
Japan had a long history of conflicts during this era of its history, though it had never taken an active part in large-scale warfare outside of Asia, even as it held African colonies at Somalia. For much of the last two hundred years, Japanese foreign policy had been primarily concerned with checking European colonial power in Asia, limiting its spread and diminishing its influence wherever possible. In 1876, this outlook would change, creating a new era of Japanese involvement in global European affairs, for two reasons: the continued march of technological advancement, and the meteoric rise of Chinese military and industrial power.

Japan and China had once been close allies; starting in the mid-16th century, the two countries had seen the power and spread of strange foreign powers from a place called "Europe" into the region, and had concluded an unshakable alliance to defend their interests against these new powers. This alliance lasted more than 250 years, and fostered a great degree of friendship between the two. This peaceful compact had all but eroded by the turn of the 19th century, however, as Chinese ambitions for hegemony of the Asian mainland ran directly counter to Japan's presence in Mongolia, Manchuria, Bangladesh, and its Southeast Asian puppet states.

The end result was dissolution of the alliance and two wars between the two former friends over a span of 15 years. While Japan won both conflicts, it managed to do so by only just barely avoiding disaster, having sorely underestimated the rapid pace at which their newfound rival grew stronger and more westernized, and the revelation shocked the Japanese elite establishment; if Japan remained as complacent as it had grown to become in the last half-century, then it would soon find itself replaced as the unquestioned dominant power of the Far East.

Speaking of technology, though, the march of technology continued onwards, and by the mid-1870's, most of the powerful navies - Japan's included - were making use of metal-armored, steam-powered warships, boasting much farther range and firepower than during the age of sail. This, however, was not of serious concern to the powerful, well-equipped and trained Imperial Japanese Navy. However, recent talk out of Spain hinting at the possibility of using newly-discovered construction and fabrication methods to construct a sort of "canal" through the Sinai, opening a new channel by which the imperialist Europeans might more easily access the Asian seas was of grave concern to the Japanese court.

You see, up until this point, Japanese naval doctrine followed a very basic plan: use the colonial fleets based in Jakarta and Mogadishu to patrol the Indian Ocean & destroy European fleets and transports trying to swing around the south of Africa, while the main fleet spreads out to blockade and bombard enemy ports unmolested. A second route into the Indian Ocean, especially one held by a rival colonial power, would jeopardize this strategy, forcing a split of the colonial fleets and making it more likely an enemy fleet would slip past and harass Japanese ports and shipping.

Something needed done about this, and so something was; Egypt, a neutral nation, longed for returned control of Palestine and the Sinai, and Japan desired friendly ports in the Middle East and Mediterranean. A compact was quickly drawn between the two, and before the ink had even dried upon the paper, Japan prepared itself for war.


The Battle of Negele - The Dawn of Modern Warfare
As far the war itself, the end result was more or less a foregone conclusion.

Spain had seen itself embroiled in a long and costly war with France in the last couple years, that had drained both its manpower and its finances, which had gone in favor of Japan's plans to end the war quickly. Before the compact between Japan and Egypt was even signed, the Imperial Fleet had been transferring ships and troops into the Red Sea, making use of friendly ports to stage the upcoming assault; what resulted was a swift occupation of Spanish Palestine and the Sinai, as the poorly supplied and undermanned local Spanish fortresses fell within days of the initial landings, and an easy sweep by Japanese forces through Spanish-occupied South Vietnam and South Africa.

With the first month of the war ending in resounding success for the Japanese military, and no Spanish troops reported nearby, the colonial army in Somalia was issued the order to press north and occupy Spanish-held Djibouti and Aden, before pressing the attack into a hostile Yemen, which Egyptian troops had invaded months earlier. General Ugaki Kageaki, commander of the Colonial Africa Army, took 1st Africa Corps with 27 thousand men north from Somalia into the Arabian Peninsula, leaving 2nd Africa Corps and 15 thousand men behind in Mogadishu under the command of Dewa Rokuro to assault Spanish holdings in southern Sudan.

Then, months later, came word of the Spanish Army's advance on Somalia.

Apparently unwilling and unable to force the Japanese blockade around the south of Africa, the Spanish armies had landed in Libya and marched through the deserts of northern Sudan before being discovered weeks from 2^nd Africa Corps' position besieging the fortress at Kapoeta. Being completely out in the open, Rokuro ordered a withdraw deep into Japanese colonial territory, towards defensible, friendly positions in the rugged terrain north of Negele. There, being the only troops in the area with no hope relief and reinforcements more than a month away, he ordered his troops dig in, and waited, accidentally heralding the future of modern warfare.

Now, throughout history, defenders had always had some form of advantage in rough terrain, especially under a competent commander. They could pick the best places to fight, sure, and other such tactical inventions, but never before had the simple spade played such a pivotal role in the outcome of a battle. Knowing that the enemy would have to come meet them on the field of battle before they could safely assault Negele itself, Rokuro ordered his troops to construct an earthwork embankment along the ridgeline. He then ordered that, instead of each solder digging his own shallow hole into which he could cover himself against enemy artillery, Rokuro ordered an entire line be dug, into which his solders could kneel and fire over the constructed embankment without risk of exposing themselves over the ridge.

The crude beginnings of trench warfare were born.

The beleaguered Spanish troops, expecting an honourable fight in the open, were taken by surprise by a sudden onslaught of guns and cannons from the ridge, and fell back to regroup. Under cover of their own big guns now, the cavalry-heavy Spanish army attempted to break the Japanese positions, charging the ridge again and again from multiple points, but the African regulars, defending home and empire, held firm, giving no weakness or opening to the attackers as they could move quickly and with relative safety to any point on the trench to repulse the Spanish advance. By the time the day was done, Spanish corpses littered the valley and hillside. The Somali, Kenyan, and Ethiopian casualties among the 2^nd Africa Corps totaled no more than 1,800; their enemy suffered more than ten times worse, with more than 24,000 Spanish dead and dying strewn across the field of battle, as well as several hundred artillery abandoned in the Spanish retreat.

The war only lasted a few weeks after that crushing victory. The 3^rd Home Guards Corps, which had landed in Mogadishu and was only now a few days from the site of the battle with orders to reinforce, were surprised at the Africans' not only holding the line, but that they had won the day. Making a snap decision to abandon the reinforcement order, the extra 30 thousand men circled around the Spanish forces unnoticed. After trapping 36,000 Spanish reinforcements at Arba Minch, Japanese forces fully routed the invading armies. It was only a matter of time before the Spanish army was surrounded, defeated, and surrendered in Kapoeta.

Unable to endure more embarrassment and losses or men, Spain agreed to Japanese demands a week after its losses in the field at Negele and Arba Minch, surrendering all its middle eastern holdings to Egypt.

[Seperallis]

European Expedition: The Battle of Kirikkale
part of
The Franco-Japanese War for New South Wales

A Victoria 2 Japanese continuation game from Europa Universalis III

>> Click Here for the "Ethiopian Campaign!" <<
>> Click Here for the "Sino-Japanese War!" (Part 1) <<
>> Click Here for the "Sino-Japanese War!" (Part 2) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 1) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 2) <<


Click for a larger image, because the original is too large to use here on its own.
I wasn't taking screenshots yet, so this is all you get. Sorry.

A Brief Respite
Even though Japan has just concluded a peace, there would be no rest for the troops.

With the war against Spain over so quickly, Japanese military attentions immediately turned towards the French presence in the east as the next threat to eliminate. While the vast majority of French colonial holdings were in the Americas, including vast swaths of the North American west, France still held territory in Vietnam, Siam, and Australia; given Japanese fears of an alliance between France and China, Japanese military leaders urged the imperial court to remove France's military presence in the region by swiftly declaring war on the European power, which was still busy with a war against Great Britain. Of particular interest was France's garrison and fleet stationed in Sydney, which would provide an annoyance in Japan's rear, should a war with China come to pass.

The war was not without its opponents, especially in the now Liberal-controlled Diet, who argued that a war with France was wholly unnecessary; Japan and France did not enjoy good relations, it was true, but there was no proof of a Sino-French alliance in the making, and France had long acceded dominance of Asia to Japan decades earlier when Japan annexed Queensland. What purpose was there to waste honorable Japanese lives and resources on an inconsequential enemy?

Though the Liberals had the power in the legislature, conservative elements still had a firm grip on power in the Imperial Court. With his generals on his right, and war-profiteering advisors on his left, the Emperor signed the declaration approving a buildup of forces to sweep French military presence from Asia.


Early War, & the Trouble with Turkey
With forces in position, a formal declaration of war was sent to Paris; by the time anyone in Paris would receive the information, however, Japanese navies had already stormed French colonial beaches in Asia and bombarded French-controlled ports. In Australia, a swift attack by Australian Colonial Corps easily swept aside French resistance, and Sydney capitulated to Japanese occupiers just a couple weeks after the start of the conflict. Indeed, with Japanese fleets blocking reinforcement from Europe and France busy contending with a war at home, all French colonies in Asia were occupied within three months.

Japan was now prepared to sit and wait for the course of time and uncontested occupation force the French ambassadors to the negotiating table...until the Ottomans happened.

Several decades back, Japan had offered protection and alliance to the flagging Ottoman state, which had seen itself slowly and systematically torn apart by a zealous Spain insistent on purging Islam from Europe and the Mediterranean. Now, however, this move to block Spanish ambitions in the Middle East was haunting the Japanese war effort; after joining the war to assist Japan, Turkish armies were defeated at home by an Austrian-Bohemian-Italian coalition in defense of France, with Papal armies now running rampant through the mountainous countryside. With Japan in firm control of the Asian war and the Coalition with unquestioned gains in Anatolia, the French saw the war as a stalemate - or indeed, that the war was going rather well for them - and refused to negotiate any other peace than to see Japan humiliated.

Something needed done about the Ottoman-induced stalemate.

Japanese military command initially took several weeks to draw up a potential invasion of French colonial holdings in the Americas, using the country's unparalleled navy and expansive Pacific naval infrastructure to strike where the enemy was weakest. However, such a strategy would unnecessarily drag out the war, with some estimates putting the time to victory at upwards of four years under the best scenario, well beyond the easy one-year campaign originally expected. A second, much more daring plan was conceived and received wide support: Japan would create its first "Expeditionary Army" and use its naval superiority to land them in Europe.

For the first time in history, Japanese warships would see action in European waters.

The Japanese armada was massive: more than 100 warships, sailing ships, steam ships, mean ships of the line and lean frigates, a massive display of the last 80+ years of Japanese naval power and history setting forth from the allied port of Sofala for European waters, escorting another 40 transports carrying the entirety of the newly-organized Expeditionary Army, over 100 thousand men strong. Soon after setting off, while passing by Cape Town, the Grand Fleet encountered an Austrian transport fleet headed for the Indian Ocean, which was swiftly destroyed with no losses. Truly, an impressive force.

That said, the fleet did have two major problems, that would nearly jeopardize the entire mission.

First, the fleet had to move at the speed of the slowest ship, and with such a massive force and many of the ships being old sailing designs from the turn of the century, the pace was very quite slow. To lessen this problem, the order was given for the newer, faster steam ships to break off on their own and sail ahead of the larger, slower sailing ships. This certainly sped up the rate at which the Japanese would reach Europe, but it only exacerbated the second problem.

With so many transports carrying so many men, the fleet could not risk moving through hostile waters while enemy fleets still roamed free, highlighted when a small French raiding fleet near Gibraltar managed to avoid the escorting warships and dash between the transports, blocking half the ships of the advance fleet from continuing on and nearly inflicting a disaster as they attempted to inflict as much damage as possible. While driven off with no losses by the escorts, the damage was done, as the order was given by the fleet admiral that the Japanese transports must dock in Gibraltar until the accompanying warships could clear the Mediterranean of the harassing enemy ships.


The Battle of Kirikkale
Not all ships, obeyed. The group of transports carrying the 1^st Home Guards Corps had made it through the combat unscathed, having managed to completely avoid and steam through the straits before the incoming French ships had blocked the passage; General Uehara Gentaro ignored continuous orders to port in neutral Spanish harbors, stating bluntly, "I will not besmirch the honor of myself or my men by sailing half way around the world only to cower on the doorstep of my enemy," and urged the captains of his convoy to continue onwards.

Continue they did and, by a divine miracle, manage to avoid the veritable minefield of enemy raiding fleets looking for their very ships to port in Izmit, in Spanish-occupied Turkey. No other transports made it past Gibraltar, but lack of reinforcements and only 24,000 men to the Papal army's 38,000 did not stop the General from ordering his men march eastward and begin the liberation of Ottoman lands. After sweeping along the coast to liberate Zonguldak and Karabuk without resistance, the 1^st Home Guards Corps swung south to free Ankara, before a planned march to relieve the remnants of the Turkish army in Adana.

Things rarely go as planned in war. As much as the Spanish despised the French coalition, they equally hated the Japanese who they allowed access through their lands, and so Spain brokered a deal with Bohemia to allow their armies access across the Bosporus in the hope that the two sides would wipe each other out. Warned of the incoming enemy army of more than four times his number by the fleet in harbor as Izmit, General Uehara Gentaro, having freshly liberated Ankara from Papal hands and still with no word from the fleet stuck at Gibraltar retreated across the Kizilirmak to dig into defensive positions south of the city of Kirikkale, destroying the bridges as he went to stall for time.

Twelve days later, the Bohemian colors were finally sighted marching towards the opposite shore; Gentaro's men opened fire with a barrage of guns and artillery as the Czech men attempted to ford the river, repulsing them back towards the opposite bank. The Bohemians attempted to bring their own big guns forward to attack, but the jagged, rocky hilsides and narrow roads presented a small front for assault, and made it difficult to maneuver their sizable army in such tight quarters. Day after day, night after night, the Czechs attempted to use their superior numbers to force a crossing at Kirikkale, but time and again the veteran Japanese guards threw them back, the general himself reportedly taking up arms on the front line to encourage them in their inspired defense, constantly reminding them of the reinforcements that would surely be on their way any day now.

Days dragged into weeks. By the end of the second week, Gintaro had lost just 8,000 men, compared with nearly 30,000 Bohemian killed or wounded, but he couldn't afford to keep with this stalemate. Even though he had inflicted heavy casualties, the Bohemian troops could be resupplied, where the Japanese weren't; furthermore, the Bohemian troops had the luxury of reserves and were able to rotate their troops in and out on the relatively small front line, whereas the smaller Japanese force were growing weary, having to keep constant vigilance with no one to relieve them. What's more, with news of the fall of Adana and the now-free Papal forces marching north towards them, morale was wavering, as the troops began to fear this would be their final battle.

A couple days later, however, saw the ridges north of the Bohemian position crowded with 55,000 Japanese troops from the 4^th and 6^th Home Guards Corps pouring cannon and gun fire into the exposed Bohemian flank, decimating the Czech lines and, after half a day's battle, sending the Bohemian army on a shattered retreat south towards Konya. Unbeknownst to Gentaro, who was without contact with the fleet for the length of the battle, the Japanese Grand Fleet, after a week of hunting enemy raiding ships, had finally either sunk or driven the vast majority of enemy ships back into port, where the heavy warships blockaded and bombarded them while the transports raced across the Mediterranean towards their objective of saving the last scraps of the Turkish Army.

The battle, while costly, had prevented the sizable Bohemian army from overrunning the few vestiges of free Ottoman holdings that remained. Bohemian losses were catastrophic: out of a force of 98,000 men, only 21,000 lived through the retreat to Konya. Japanese losses totaled roughly 15,000 men, with Gentaro's own stalwart defenders losing 14,200 of that number. With the Bohemian army routed at Kirikkale and surrendered at Konya, and the Papal forces intercepted and destroyed at Keyseri, the French agreed to Japanese demands, surrendering their holdings in New South Wales and returning all Vietnamese lands to Vietnam.

News papers called the campaign a "resounding success."

What of General Uehara Gentaro, who disobeyed orders to rush to the defense of the Ottomans? There wasn't much the court could do to punish him, with papers back home declaring him a "hero of the modern age," whose peerless leadership and stalwart defense won the day for Imperial Japanese forces at Kirikkale and saved the fortunes and honor of the Turks, and the pinnacle of Japanese exceptionalism. The Imperial Court had little choice but to cede to public opinion and morale, and in a grand ceremony Uehara Gentaro was given the mostly ceremonial rank of "Gensui" (Gensui-Rikugun-Taishō), or "Field Marshal."

His peers had little time to mull over the injustice. With Suez now in friendly hands, and France driven from Asia, the time to reign-in Japan's arch-nemesis was at hand. The pieces were in place, and experience had taught valuable lessons to the Japanese military establishment. With newly developed tactics and powerful weaponry in the form of the newly-invented "machine gun," the next gambit in Japan's four-year-long plan to reclaim unquestioned dominance of Asia was ready to be played.

War in China was now at hand.


A bonus! Imperial Japan circa 1878-1879

[Seperallis]

Modern Warfare: The Rush to Beijing & the Shanghai Disaster
Part One of
]The Great Sino-Japanese War for East Asian Hegemony

A Victoria 2 Japanese continuation game from Europa Universalis III

>> Click Here for the "Ethiopian Campaign!" <<
>> Click Here for the "European Expedition!" <<
>> Click Here for the "Sino-Japanese War!" (Part 2) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 1) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 2) <<


Click for a larger image, because the original is too large to use here on its own.
I failed to take screenshots despite knowing I would post this. Sorry.
Depicted above is the situation of the war at the time of the Japanese invasion of Shanghai.

Interbellum
Despite convincing victories in previous wars, and coming out of war with France relatively unscathed, the Japanese military establishment was under no illusions as to the dangers facing their country should they see a war with a fully modernized China. Even before French advisors were planted within the Qing imperial court, Japanese forces were barely capable of holding themselves against the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Chinese armies. Now, with western industrial know-how spreading like wildfire across the recently modernized continental power, the Japanese establishment knew it was only a matter of years before the sleeping dragon in the land where the sun sets would awaken from the drumming of industrial machinery.

"Within a decade," newly-minted War Minister and Field Marshal Uehara Gentaro is credited as saying (though the sentiment existed for years before him), "China shall become more than a mighty equal, and my sons and daughters shall be made to pay their war-debts should we fail to strike forth now and defend the future of our nation."

For two and a half years, the lessons of past wars were used to prepare for the grim, inevitable conflict on the Asian mainland, but this time Japan would make use of the great equalizer of modern war: the machine gun. Already used to great effect in the Franco-Japanese War, adoption of this new engine of death quickly became a priority for the Imperial Japanese Army. New tactics of warfare were drawn up from past experiences and this new technology, while the contiental armies were expanded their orders of battle updated to accomodate the new tactics. National stockpiles were stored for the coming isolation and new, modern steel warships laid down in anticipation of the need to both blockade the expansive Chinese coast and prevent reinforcement from France. Training of reserve forces - levies drawn from the poor labor and farming classes - to bolster the regular forces began in earnest in the Fall of 1880, while regular troops were moved into position in Mongolia & Manchuria, all under the "official" guise of "restructuring the Army's command structure."

Most importantly, Uehara Gentaro used insights gained from his time in Turkey and his observations of the effectiveness of emerging war technologies to institute the doctrine of defensive warfare, to veritably "bleed the Qing armies white" as a means of overcoming the vast numerical superiority of the Chinese; never before had such a brutal ideology been used in warfare on such a large scale, which flew in the face of traditional war strategy heavily influenced by the "conquer swiftly" mentality eschewed by Sun Tzu & the "Art of War," and drew many skeptics from amongst Japan's military elite, many of whom believed a swift victory could be achieved through a simple push to Beijing & a few startegic victories on the field.

But this was modern war, a war of calcuated, callous disregard for human life, and Field Marshal Uehara's plan was approved - with great reservation - by the Emperor. War was formally declared in the twilight hours of Januray 1st, 1881, and Japanese soldiers crossed from the hills of Manchuria across the Chinese border even as New Years' celebrations were just commencing in Europe.


The Rush to Beijing
The battle plan was simple: sweep the Gansu region to consolidate the long Mongolian front line, use a skeleton army to move through Japan's Shan State puppet into Yunnan and tie down reinforcements from heading East and North, and swiftly hammer through China's northern defenses to take the Qing capital of Beijing and force an early surrender before the war necessitated General Uehara's plan of attrition.

The plan initially saw great success as the massed forces of Army Manchuria, along with freshly-imported reserves from the Japanese homeland and totaling more than 800,000 men, punched through one desperately-organized Chinese defensive line after another; within a week, the fighting could be heard from the Qing palace, and two weeks later the Qing court was forced to hastily flee & set up a provisional government further south as shattered defenses saw Japanese forces easily capture the virtually undefended seat of Chinese power. The vital port of Tianjin, home of most of the Chinese fleet - which was currently hemmed-in by the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) blockade - was soon to follow, Chinese forces there surrendering to the beseiging forces mere hours before reinforcements from the south could relieve them.

Far in the southeast, the Army of Indo-China (drawn from the various "Indo-China Corps" stationed in Bengladesh and Indonesia) succeeded in using early numerical superiority & repelled early Chinese advances into the allied Shan States to occupy most of Yunnan province, forcing Chinese reinforcement to the south as initially planned. Further victories were seen on the high seas, as the IJN coaxed out and obliterated the Chinese fleet off the coast of Jeju, Korea, the first and last significant naval action of the war.

Few plans survive warfare, however; in the western region of Gansu, after intial successes, the Chinese defenders under command of General Zhou Ma proved particularly difficult to dislodge, frequently threatening to counterattack both exposed portions of the line and weak Tibetan allies despite numerical disadvantage. While eventually forced to retreat his army from northern Gansu to take defensive positions at Lanzhou, Zhou Ma's delaying actions sucked the momentum from the Japanese advance in the west, forcing warfare into a slow slog. Furthermore, the Japanese diversionary threat in Yunnan failed to draw as much interest as hoped as Chinese forces rushed to stabilize the northern border; the mighty Manchurian advance was forced to stop and consolidate the line in the north of the Zhongyuan, the central Chinese plains, when a sizable relief force from the south defeated the thinly-stretched Japanese forces on the far edge of the Japanese battle line and threatened to move east into Hebei province and outflank the main army.

Most damning of all, however, was the Qing government's adamant refusal to accept Japanese terms to peace, despite their current losses. Japanese leadership was either uninformed or willfully ignorant of the deep-rooted revanchist thought had taken hold of an entire generation in Qing China, having grown into adulthood with decades of repeated humiliation at the hands of Japanese imperialist aggression. Even though Qing autocrats felt a swift surrender to Japanese demands best for the long-term health of the nation, to do so would surely invite massive popular uprisings and the possible downfall of the entire Qing dynasty.

Two months into the war, with unconsolidated battle lines in the north and momentum lost to the battlecries of "remember national humiliation!" ringing from the Chinese counterattack, Japanese advances ceased, and Field Marshal General Uehara's doctrine of "bleeding the Chinese white" was soon adopted.

The Yellow River would soon run red with the blood of men.


The "Great Zhongyuan Crawl"
The successful Chinese counterattack at Datong near the Japanese Mongolian border threatened to open a hole in the Japanese battle line, but the threat faded as Manchurian reserves were rushed into the gap and put a stop to the Chinese counterpush. However, Japanese forces could not budge the fortified defenses around Baoding, and while Japanese forces repelled Chinese assaults on Tianjin and captured Cangshou further south, the advance halted in the banks of the Majia River, with Chinese guns and men dug into the opposing bank. From that point on, Uehara's defensive doctrine took root along the entire northern front; what was once a mobile war clamped down into a defensive slog for the next 8 months as battle lines were dug and machinegun positions brought to the front to counter the massing Chinese army, which already looked to outnumber Japanese regulars and reserves, with no sign of the growth slowing.

What followed became known as the "Zhongyuan Crawl," a slow advance by Japanese forces through the Central Plains, the heartland of Chinese civilization. Field Marshal Uehara, reviled among his peers for being an "annoying blowhard," was nevertheless a cunning tactician and strategist. He ordered his generals willfully present certain key sections of their lines as having obvious weakness; so encouraged, the Chinese armies would mass and throw themselves against the Japanese lines, which would feint a retreat into a pre-set trap of heavy machinegun crossfire as reserves plugged the hole, adding their guns to the salient-smashing slaughter. Repeated on a wide front, Chinese casualties were counted in the tens of thousands per day, with every dead Japanese man taking 10, 15, 20 Chinese to the grave with him; entire week-long battles saw bodies fall into veritable bunkers of flesh over which attaching troops had to climb to assault positions. Their assaults thrown into shattered, whole Chinese armies were decimated, regiments slaughtered to the man as the Imperial Japanese juggernaut, with Uehara Gentaro at its helm, held true to doctrine and ground forward through the bodies, following the retreating Chinese until faced once more with fresh opposition, and then repeating the process.

The world could only watch in shock as neverbefore seen single-day, single-battle casualty numbers soon eclipsed entire past wars: 100,000 dead & wounded at Kunming, 120,000 killed & captured at Datong, a further 150,000 lost at Wuding...for weeks, months, the bodies mounted, left for carrion and scavengers on the field of battle, too numerous to burn or bury as the war machine slowly, carefully clawed its way across the Central Plains. Death counts reached their bloodiest peak in May with nearly a million Chinese men and boys left as worm food in the fields, to say nothing of the caputred and wounded

Such is modern war.


The Battle of Shanghai
By July, General Uehara's plan to literally bleed China to death seemed to be working: Army Mongolia had pushed Chinese forces beyond Tianshui to Pingliang & Qingyang, while Army Manchuria had driven Qing forces to Henan province, but stalled in Shandong and Shanxi due to logistical issues and an over-stretched & overexhausted front line.

To exacerbate problems, the "Yun'an Linkup," whereby the two armies would meet and form one cohesive line of battle had not yet happened, a consequence of General Zhou Ma's continued and stubborn resistance in the west; furthermore, while losses to the Chinese side were devastating in the previous months, Japanese losses hadn't been anything to shake a stick at either, losing roughly 500,000 since the opening of hostilities, mostly in the west and during the opening months of war. Even if they were all untrained levies hastily drawn forth to the front lines, China still had a seemingly endless and replacable supply of men, a luxury Japan simply didn't have; the longer the war dragged on and the more casualties Japanese armies suffered, the more the war would, in due time, swing in favor of China.

A new strategy was needed to break the new stalemate and renew momentum in favor of Japan. Several options were considered by Japanese war command, the most popular of which included sending a fourth full army into the east or south of China, whereby opening a fourth front of battle. War Ministry advisors supported the plan, but Field Marshal Uehara himself remained skeptical, unwilling to throw his Home Guards Army into the conflict, which had so far been held in reserve in case support was needed along the current front, and leave himself with very few contingencies should anything go wrong on any other front. In the end, a compromise was had: after scouting the coast of China for a suirable invasion points, Uehara ordered the deployment of the 5th and 6th Home Guards Corps to assault Shanghai, whereby drawing resistance away from the other armies in the hopes of creating a breakthrough in the north.

Japanese landing parties arrived in Shanghai in late July with little resistance, and word of Japanese arrival had the desired effect: several divisions in Shandong retreated to defend against the new feinted "front," giving several Manchurian divisions the room they needed to make pushes on Weifang & Jinan; the two Home Guards Corps were easily capable of handling those divisions, and so the order was given to dig in and remain. The next day, however, saw the Japanese invasion force blindsided by a freshly-organized Chinese relief force from the south; with no time to scramble to the boats, the heavily outnumbered Japanese sought to use their tactical advantage to win the day...but the Chinese had grown wise to the tricks of the past and attacked along the entire front. Heavy bombardment and Chinese reinforcements several days later did much to weaken the Japanese position on the peninsula, and despite inflicting heavy casualties, the future of the battle remained uncertain.

Yet, in a critical blunder, just when it was safe to call a general retreat to the boats during a lull in the fighting, Japanese transports were sent to retrieve reserve reinforcements from the homeland. No one yet knows why the order for reinforcement was given, instead of the order to retreat. Possibly Japanese honor and sense of superiority prevented an admission of defeat, that maybe the plan wasn't as well thought out as believed. Whatever the reason, Japanese reinforcements arrived in Shanghai just before the defenders' positions were overrun, prolinging and eventually turning the tide of battle into a Japanese victory.

The cost was heavy. While the Japanese had inflicted 132,000 casualties, 109,000 Japanese lay dead and wounded on the battlefield, out of the total 144,000 to take part. The Japanese position was, ultimately, untennable in the face of Chinese forces possibly being reinforced in a matter of days, and a general retreat back to the boats was given.

109,000 men to die a futile death for an outcome that could have been achieved with less than half that number. 109,000 men to go to the slaughter for literally no good reason. None.

While considered a strategic success (in that it forced a withdraw of some Chinese forces in Shandong) and a tactical one (by forcing a retreat of the Chinese army sent to retake Shanghai), the Shanghai offensive is considered to be Japan's, and General Uehara's, most critical blunder of the war. Japan could not afford more "victories" of this kind, and the blunder to not only keep troops in Shanghai, but to reinforce them and create even more unnecessary death for an already dubious plan would have long-reaching effects in Japan's ability to reinforce its wavering front lines.

The victory at Shanghai could very well cause Japan to lose the war.

[Seperallis]

Modern Warfare: The Battle of Daming
Part Two of
The Great Sino-Japanese War

A Victoria 2 Japanese continuation game from Europa Universalis III

>> Click Here for the "Ethiopian Campaign!" <<
>> Click Here for the "European Expedition!" <<
>> Click Here for the "Sino-Japanese War!" (Part 1) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 1) <<
>> Click Here for "For Liberty!" (Part 2) <<



Click for a larger image, because the original is too large to use here on its own.
Depicted above are the news headlines following the end of the war.

The Yun'an Linkup
Following the Japanese gaff at Shanghai, the empire's military command seemed determined to avenge the losses and restore some of the tarnished honor lost during the ill-fated expedition. As previously stated, for all its faults, the Shanghai Offensive did at least fulfill its goal of diverting resources away from the front in the north; what seemed at one time as if the Japanese war machine was running out of steam was now all but a distant memory, as Japanese regiments battered back the beleaguered Chinese defenders again and again, making easy headway across the Majia River, and eventually encircling and forcing the defenders at Baoding to surrender.

Once again, the war was mobile, save one location...but that would soon change.

Since the outset of the war, General Ma Zhao made expert use of his numerical superiority to tie down Army Mongolia in the Gansu region out west, and though superior Japanese artillery slowly drove him on an eastward retreat, the casualties caused had given the attackers pause. Furthermore, the Chinese commander saw from the outset the danger posed if Army Mongolia and Army Manchuria were to link up, and even in retreat, he was always sure to move in such a way as to threaten, oppose, and deny any chance of the two Japanese forces of closing the long Chinese salient and consolidating their line; to allow the linkup would be to negate part of the Chinese Army's sizable advantage in manpower.

However, six months of a constant, if slow, forced retreat eastward had limited Ma Zhao's options within the closing vice of the two Japanese armies, while presenting his enemy with much more room to maneuver and a hole in the line near Tianshui to exploit. Stuck in the low ground near Pingliang, he and had long since sent for reinforcements to come bolster the defense on his southern flank lest he face enemies on three sides, but the reinforcements were too slow in coming: Japanese forces had noticed the hole and filled it, cutting off Ma Zhao's southern flank, pushing as far east as Baoji and occupying the primary route for Chinese reinforcement; with Chinese forces nearly encircled, Japanese elements from the north and west attacked the Chinese line in an attempt to break the north-east flank at Qingyang and force and encirclement of Ma Zhao's main army.

Qingyang held long enough for the main body of the Chinese army in the west to retreat along the last remaining road, southwest to Xi'an, before surrendering. Though heavy casualties had been inflicted and the route for the long-awaited Yun'an linkup finally lay uncontested, the victory seemed bittersweet, as the great and impetuous Ma Zhao, nemesis of Army Mongolia, once again escaped with his army intact.

Intact yes, but in a poor way in terms of both morale, men, and equipment. Ma Zhao's Army, though greatly reduced from half a year of fighting and retreating, still posed a significant threat as the largest and most experienced element of the Chinese army, and the failure to capture or destroy it came as a serious setback to Imperial plans to sweep through the rest of the Zhongyuan.

As it was, the order was given to remain cautious; though the Chinese army was greatly depleted in terms of equipment and well-trained men - now relying primarily upon conscripted and hastily-trained reserves - they still held a vast manpower advantage, and the several thousand field guns of Ma Zhao's artillery. Though the linkup at Yun'an and the push south along the Yellow River's basin did much to shorten the Japanese lines, months of fighting had taken their own toll upon the Japanese army, who was relying more and more upon its reserves to bridge the manpower gap especially since losing nearly 10% of its fighting capability at Shanghai.

The Japanese army was slowly approaching the point at which it simply could no longer maintain such a long front of battle.

Even so, Chinese resistance remained relatively light, as the two flanks of each army advanced together, closing up the long Chinese salient; enemy lines, lacking men and supplies, either fled en masse or simply crumbled under the weight of the once-again-mobile Japanese war machine, as it occupied the 100 miles between Yun'an and the river in the space of a month. With advances further east, it seemed the war would once again be over soon.

...and then, disaster again, as Japan loses an entire army corps to that cursed menace of the west.


The Battles of Daming
Ma Zhao, now fully supplied and given control of what more artillery the Chinese could spare, struck a reserve corps behind the main Japanese lines that had just finished clearing a pocket of Chinese resistance around the village of Daming. Unnoticed by Japanese command, who were too focused on the attack to notice the blunder, a hole had developed in the line just north of the Yellow River at Weihui. Not one to let a golden opportunity pass, Ma Zhao took his 350,000 men through the gap unnoticed by the enemy, catching the reserve corps unawares, and completely obliterating it, killing or capturing all 18,000 men.

The Scourge very well could have posed to threaten the entire Japanese war effort and turn the tide of the war...except that Gensui Uehara Gentaro had finally relinquished to pressure from his staff and, along with a fresh batch of men and reserves from Korea under the command of General Kageaki Itagaki, sent the entire Home Guards Army to the Chinese mainland to help shore up the front.

Having landed in Tianjin, General Kageaki and his contingent was on the way to the front when the sounds of battle could be heard near Daming, nearly 20 miles behind where the front should have been. Diverting his army to the source, he came across and promptly encircled the enemy army of nearly double his own size before Ma Zhao could react; forced to attempt a breakout, Ma Zhao directed his fire to an apparently weak reserve unit, leading with a heavy bombardment with his vastly superior artillery advantage before charging into the inexperienced reserve unit...but it was a ruse, as the enemy unit melted away behind the machineguns of the 6th Home Guards Corp.

The enemy was not fortified. It was not dug in. It was not prepared to be surrounded on all sides by machineguns, and what resulted was a more than 90% casualty rate as, caught in a crossfire yet refusing surrender, Ma Zhao repeatedly attempted a breakout before finally succeeding after several weeks...but losing more than 300,000 men to the Japanese 30,000.



With the most massive and deadliest battle the world had ever seen, the largest, most experienced and best-equipped contingent of the Chinese army was decimated; though still holding numerical superiority on paper, the Chinese lacked well-trained troops and equipment, and could never mount another threatening attack in the north.


Aftermath
Ma Zhao himself was killed in battle at Daming. China continued to hold onto the war effort for many months, though all attacks on the northern front had been abandoned; it was all they could do to send men to the front and hopefully stop the ever-encroaching Japanese lines as they crossed the expansive Zhongyuan.

The southern front in Yunnan was a different matter. Over the course of the war, the lines had remained fairly static after early Japanese advances, running from Zhaotong in the north to Wenshan in the south. While the balance of power in the south remained firmly with the Chinese, Japanese general and commander of the Indo-China forces Yoshimichi Akiyama's maneuvers both confounded and constantly foiled Chinese assault plans for many months as he simply remained too unpredictable to plan against. Eventually, however, an attack was decided upon, and though the Japanese forces initially held the line, casualties and overwhelming Chinese numbers forced the retreat in the center 20 miles back to Kunming, before fresh reinforcements from the homeland and Taiwan arrived in Vietnam in September and attacked the Chinese flank; the resulting fighting caused a complete collapse of the Chinese southern line by December.



Faced with complete military disaster, the Qing court, now hiding in Guangzhou in the south, was eventually pressured into unconditional surrender at the end of January, after almost 13 months of war. Japan had finally won undisputed hegemony over East Asia, as China was forced to unconditionally accept the forfeiture of Gansu Province, the forced reduction of its military, and pay hefty reparations to Japan.

But what was the cost? In China alone, the death toll was estimated in the tens of millions, many of China's young men dead on the battlefield with countless more claimed by disease and starvation. The war had not been kind to Japan either, draining the country of both its treasury and its able-bodied young men...and for what, some notion of honor? The power and fortunes of the rich? The Court? The Emperor? A little piece of land and some money? Honor?

Those seem like hardly justifiable reasons for the deaths of nearly 38 million people. With growing socialist, anti-war sentiment among the people and around the world, one can only hope that this time, at least, peace will last. Surely the ruling class will be sated now with their spoils.

One can hope, but when those men write peace accords forcing the punishment of the victims and never see themselves put to harm, war can only ever return.


Bonus Content!


Sadly, the hero of the Etheopian Campaign died a couple years after this war. He will be sorely missed.



This was quick. I won't bore you with how quick and easy it was.



A snapshot of the Japanese Empire, ca. 12 July, 1886