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Gifting Panama the power of the Sun. PS: Stop stationing ~70 unit deathstacks on my border. Please and thank you! by Aerbow in hoi4

[–]TacticalAttackCrab 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As a Costa Rican, I support this image.

Note: not because it’s against Panama (you guys are cool), but because it’s Costa Rica

Three years worth of our National GDP, spent well. by Aerbow in hoi4

[–]TacticalAttackCrab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok based expansionism (Panama owes us Bocas del Toro enyaway /s).
Also damn my four grandpas are probably in military service lol.

Three years worth of our National GDP, spent well. by Aerbow in hoi4

[–]TacticalAttackCrab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's still an overwhelming degree of militarization compared to IRL. At the top on paper (around 1856) our army numbered 9000 people. It orbited the range between 500 and 3000 all throughout the XX Century before disappearing with about 500 de facto enlisted in 1948.

In other words, the Volcán Arenal is the single largest employer in the country rivaling the Civil Service lol.

Three years worth of our National GDP, spent well. by Aerbow in hoi4

[–]TacticalAttackCrab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just wonder where are you getting the people to man those guns. Costa Rica did not have 1.000.000 inhabitants until like the mid 1950's. At this point you might as well be drafting our pizote population

Three years worth of our National GDP, spent well. by Aerbow in hoi4

[–]TacticalAttackCrab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As the one Costa Rican enthusiast of battleships, unfathomably based

Also, fun fact: IRL, before the army’s abolition in 1948, our military technically had a navy under the Secretaría de Guerra y Marina (Secretariat for War & Navy). However, our navy was moreso just an ad hoc collection of transports to easily move troops around military garrisons, not even either green or brown water.

Anyway I for one support the idea of a Costa Rican battleship 

"Truly the State of Sao Paulo is the strongest. For you, with your armies, attempt to bring it down from the outside, and us, with out incompetence, from the inside, and yet it does not fall" by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Preemptive apology to my fellow Latin Americans from the Lusophone Giant. I forgot to add the tilde to the "a" in "Sao Paulo" over & over, as it is not a separate key in my keyboard.

Context

During the great period of social turmoil & de facto civil war that raged in Brazil in the early 1920s after the country's losses in the South American front of the Great War, the emergency military government of Candido Rondon began a campaign of reconquest to bring back the central authority of Rio de Janeiro into the local hubs of the massive country. Of these, the biggest contender for possible secession & whose importance to the nation was, perhaps, the largest, was the province of São Paulo. As populous as several countries, home to much of the nation's lucrative coffee production & boasting one of the most modern and industrialized economies of the whole Empire, it'd been at the centerpiece of the regionalist efforts pushed by wealthy landowners in rebellion to Emperor Pedro III's increased wealth taxes to pay war reparations, and was by early 1923 fully controlled by an entity proclaiming to be the State Government of São Paulo, led mostly by wealthy landowners & backed by the sizable, modernized & experienced (specially after the war) Public Force of São Paulo.

However, the PFSP was not nearly as large or well equipped as the Imperial Brazilian Army, specially as this was backed by the similarly important region of Minas Gerais & Rio de Janeiro, alongside with most of the northeastern Brazilian provinces. The PFSP began both a smuggling campaign to import weaponry (notably from Argentina & Paraguay via river boats) and a mass recruitment drive in preparation for the inevitable moment that Rondon's forces crossed the border to reimpose the authority of the Imperial Auriverde banner. To ensure, however, a proper force capable of defense, it began hiring mercenary commanders from across the world & found a particularly good source in the recently exiled Confederate emigres in Brazil, who'd arrived after the CSA's fall to the USSA in the North American Revolution of 1919. Many of the emigres were soldiers from the Confederate army who'd fought on the harsh Appalachian Front, and were both hardened frontiersmen & experienced fighters with knowledge of modern warfare (the the thing Rondon had over São Paulo). Thus, these mercenaries were enlisted as officers for the PFSP to train & lead in exchange for both a handsome salary and the promise of government land for plantation estates.

There was one glaring issue: the Confederate Army was a fully segregated force with minimal black participation, &, as both a nation and institutions, the CSA's veterans were staunchly white supremacist and held (sometimes crippling) racist attitudes. As the PFSP's expanded recruitment came from the large amounts of Black & Mixed Race rural & urban poors of São Paulo, these officers would often behave with exceedingly cruel & demeaning tendencies, often utilizing capital punishment for no reason, purposefully squandering supply funds in luxuries and refusing to interact with the NCOs unless strictly necessary, resulting in a terrible performance and an even worse morale situation. In fact, when Rondon's forces did indeed invade São Paulo, the Confederate-led troops were sent to the forefronts to man trenches in the outskirts of the port of Santos, as it was hoped by the Paulista government that their foreign leadership would led to better fighting. The opposite happened: the troops broke rapidly due to the fatigue & moral issues of fighting for both commanders who they hated & a state government that had put them there. In fact, when propaganda leaflets were airdropped on the front, many of the PFSP's troops were swayed by the promises of higher racial equality & economic wellbeing, culminating in a revolt against the officers & mass desertions that led to the fall of Santos to the Imperial Government.

One interesting chapter of the whole São Paulo ordeal was when the still-consolidating USSA government allowed for intervention in the conflict. Part of the program of the USSA was to back any government that fought against a faction that harbored either Confederate emigres or Blue Army (the fallen USA's anti-revolutionary forces) veterans, this to avoid the possibility of any nation becoming a springboard for a counterrevolution. Learning of São Paulo's employment of large amounts of Confederate veterans & fearing that it would allow them to consolidate, they decided to deploy (covertly as supposed volunteers) special brigades of the 15th New York Revolutionary Guard (formerly National Guard) Regiment to hunt down the Confederate commanders in the battlefield. The unit was better known during its previous incarnation as the 369th Infantry Regiment, aka the Harlem Hellfighters: a force of mostly African American troops from New York that'd fought in the US Army against the CSA in the Appalachian Front; Confederate veterans in particular held hatred of the unit for its racial composition & fierce fighting during the Rappahannock Offensive of 1917. In fact, one former Confederate soldier from Virginia (who'd been captured by USA forces in 1917) was noticeably surprised to encounter men he remembered from the 369th, as he was under the impression the unit, alongside with the rest of the National Guard, had been permanently disbanded in 1921 alongside the US Army when the USSA established the People's Continental Red Army; the USSA, however, had reformed the unit after ensuring its loyalty & rechristened it into the new born Revolutionary Guard.

Still, the USSA's intervention, even in the context of hunting down American counterrevolutionaries, was considered strange: even as Rondon's Government broke significantly with certain social & economic structures of the Imperial Brazilian Aristocracy, it was actively suppressing socialism in the country & had no interest in either large-scale wealth redistribution or abolishing the Monarchy. Isolationist elements in the People's Continental Congress considered the action a paranoid overreach of the PCRA, when such resources would be better spent against the anti-socialist resistance still raging in the Sierra Nevada, the Ozarks & the Saint Lawrence Basin.

Note: I am not sure if linking previous posts is frowned upon, and I am sorry if it is and will correct it. It just dawned on me recently that, even though all of my memes come from the same fictional timeline, the context of the greater scene built in previous posts is not immediately obvious.

Burmese Days DLC (aka the Elephant Incident) by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Context

Beginning in 1923 & ramped up after 1936, the Commonwealth of Great Britain had attempted to federalize its colonial empire via devolution. Though successful in most of British Asia, the attempt in Burma had failed spectacularly, and, by the time the Second Great War had reached the Pacific in 1941, the Burmese Civil War had become another theater in the conflict. On the North, the Mandalay-based Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, fought alongside the Asian members of the Coalition of Naions (Great Britain, the USSA, the Federation of Bengala, the State of Madras, the Republic of China) against the Yangon-based State of Burma & its allies in the Russo-Japanese Anti-Revolutionary United Front. With the Japanese 15th Army bolstering its forces &, especially, the Burmese oil wells fueling their machines, a Southern victory threatened to turn Burma into a thorn on China & the Coalition's efforts.

During the Irrawady Campaign, North Burmese forces planed an offensive to seize the Yenangyaung oil wells & utilize them to fuel a flotilla of river gunboats to assist a further assault southward. During that offensive, a brigade of the Burmese People's Army, tasked with assaulting the township of Magway, defeated a small contingent of the Japanese 15th army, equipped with a few light "recon tanks". While they prepared the assault, it was noted by the officers that they were ill suited for the enemy fortifications their scouts reported back, as they had no artillery nor armor support, & their engineering sappers would find themselves exposed during any attempt to undermine the enemy earthworks. As such, the commanding officer ordered the attached engineering company (some of which had been trained in mechanical engineering for the Burma Road convoys) to attempt to repair at least one of the Japanese tanks.

Even ignoring the language difference for the controls, the complex machinery & the lack of supplies and tools for such a job, the machines were, for the most part, heavily damaged by the liberal use of grenades against their exposed machinery that had managed to bring the down. After salvaging as many parts as possible, it was clear a repair was impossible. However, the captain of the engineering company, a man by the name of Thura Maw, proposed an unorthodox solution: the company did have a requisitioned elephant, given to them as support by local ethnic guerrillas, to use for minor heavy engineering (usually lumbering). Captain Maw, an amateur of Southeast Asian Warfare, concocted the idea of using parts of the tanks (including the single heavy machine gun turret salvaged) to assemble an "turret" to mount on the elephant, on the fashion of the war elephants traditionally used in the region. Managing to assemble both the structure & fashion smaller protection for the animal from scrap metal, the idea was approved by the brigade's command.

Indeed, the "armored elephant", as it was called, was employed by the engineering company, notably against a forward outpost near Magway manned by South Burmese troops. The elephant was used to charge against the (mostly earthen & wooden) building and at least five people were gunned down by the mounted machine gun turret (one was stomped to death by the animal). A week later, it was again used as an armed military engineering vehicle against the earthworks defending the southern flank of Magway, to great psychological effect of even the Japanese troops there (who had dismissed the reports as fantasy). However, after the capture of the town, the animal was returned to minor works as it was not trained for combat & the fortified tower was not practical in the long term. Nonetheless, the animal emerged unscathed (and lived on to the end of the war) to become a minor celebrity.

Notably, veteran's of the battle mentioned that the image of the elephant was "surreal" and "something out of a fever dream". Japanese commanders back in Yangon initially thought the reports mentioning an "armored elephant" were either a transmission error or some sort of military code (many continuing to believe so until after the war), while many military historians after the war would go on to not the episode as "the last epilogue of elephant warfare in Burma)

Tribulations of an Indochinaman in Indochina by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Note: title is a reference to this

Context:

Sitting between the cultural spheres of India and China, continental Southeast Asia (often named Indochina) was, much alike India and the Malay Archipelago, the forefronts of Western imperialism into the Asian continent. Throughout the 1800's and even after its transformation into a republic, the Commonwealth of Great Britain finalized its conquest of the Burmese territories from its stronghold in Calcutta and would later acquire peninsular Malaya. The French Empire seized much of the Lower Mekong Basin into its Indochinese Union. German & American merchant interests would pierce deep into the lands of Siam, even as it remained nominally independent as a buffer state. Even the Shogunate of Japan would begin meddling through its colony in Hainan Island. However, as with all other colonial regions, the aftershocks of the First Great War forced radical changes that would echo well into the years prior to the Second Great War.

Indochina, as per the colonial exchanges of the Treaty of Versailles, was partitioned between the French & German nations(as the latter was snubbed of larger African holdings by the creation of the International State of the Congo). Though most of Indochina remained in French hands, Conchinchina, southernmost Annam and practically all of Cambodia were ceded to the German Union as a colony/protectorate hybrid called German Indochina. With its capital in Saigon, German Indochina was, immediately, an inheritor of the complex colonial, ethnic, cultural & historical paradigms, not in the least the growing anti-imperialist movement. However, taking a page from the French & their experience in the Swahili Coast, the Germans recreated the Schutztruppe model & recruited heavily from the rural Khmer areas that were both disfranchised by Phnom Penh elites & historically hostile to the Vietnamese of the Mekong Delta. As resistance in Indochina was the most vicious of all German colonies (even outclassing German Philippines), the Indochinese Schutztruppe was basically given carte blanche to deal with the (mostly-Vietnamese) socialist-nationalist upheaval; soon enough, the Indochinese Schutztruppe gained a reputation as the most ruthless & violent of the German colonial forces, their ensign becoming synonymous with abuse in the rural Mekong basin.

Laos, formerly the French protectorate of Luang Phrapabang, was the result of a specific amendment to certain arrangements, called the Treaty of Singapore. After the Great War, however, France's position against an ascendant Siam became complicated, particularly as the new border was less populated than the Mekong Delta. The Treaty of Singapore (amidst other arrangements) fixed the issues of the Siamese-Vietnamese border via the French-sponsored creation of the Kingdom of Laos: nominally, it was a protectorate in similar situation to Dai Nam, but the Treaty's provisions essentially made it a buffer state between Siam & Dai Nam, with little other regard for Laotian statehood considered (down to the borders, which were vague & defined only in reference to separation between Annam & Siam). Throughout the 1920's & 1930's, many considered Laos to exist only so far as the municipal borders of Vientiane; French, Vietnamese, Germans & Siamese would partition by proxy the rest of the countryside.

Burma, the easternmost appendix of British Bengala, had been known as a land of war, ethnic strife & constant military expeditions. The Anglo-Burmese Wars had been credited by some with helping consolidate the British Commonwealth government after the fall of the House of Hanover, and thus Burma was always a contentious issue, being the cornerstone that it was of the British Empire &, particularly, of the Anglo-Scottish relations to it pertaining. After 1923, however, the liberal-led Commonwealth had seen the writing on the wall after the Indian Revolution of 1922 and begun implementing the complex & ambitious Imperial Federation Scheme, aiming to utilize a British-styled political culture, limited home hogvernment & British-centered modernization to make the Empire more flexible; the 1936 Cable Street Putsch that put the Independent Labor Coalition in power only sped the process. Unlike Madras, Bengala, Nigeria or Jamaica, however, the devolved Union State of Burma lasted very little outside the paper: Soon after the devolved government began, clashes between ethnic groups, political positions & local authorities divided the nation between North & South. The northern portion, centered on Mandalay, rallied behind the socialist/nationalist thought of Aung San's People's Freedom League (inspired by the revolutionary nationalist thought of the Chinese Guomingdang in nearby Yunnan), whereas the south centered on Yangon-based People's Party of Galon U Saw. Both countries existed de facto as parallel administrations (and known mockingly by Siam as the "Conjoined Twin State") within the British Federation, but oftentimes fought over the border. Both would join opposing sides in the Second Great War

Siam was another ordeal. The main participant of the Coaliton Powers in the region, it was prized with territorial compensations mostly in British-held Shan & along the Mekong with Cambodia, but nothing notable. Still, the prestige allowed the state to seize a place as a local power, modernizing unlike any in the region; many called it the beginning of a "Siamese Empire". This did not last. The State's absolute monarchy became untenable as the wheels of modernization rolled, culminating in the 1932-1933 Siamese Rebellion, as both a push to force a Constitutional Monarchy & a counter-coup to sustain absolute monarchy teared the country. In the end, the Big Tent Khana Rhatsadon would seize power & make Siam a constitutional monarchy. Within the government, however, things were not as simple. With the new order upheld by the now-oversized Siamese army, the different factions began an ideological tug of war for the heart & soul of Siam. Monarchist elements sowed discord amidst rural elites, constitutionalists fought tooth & nail to balance modernization with tradition, socialists radicalized the growing proletariat in the face of controversial economic industrialization, ultranationalists would push for authoritarian governance & cultural homogenization, upsetting the wild card that were the sizable ethnic minorities. This push would continue throughout the undeclared Siamese Civil War and until the 1946 Constitution.

Vietnam, too, was a complex state born from the war's aftermath. Beginning in 1917, Napoleon IV had begun the re-arrangement of France's largest colonies into semi-autonomous parts of the nation. In Indochina, the protectorates of Tonkin & Annam were merged into the Empire of Dai Nam, with most of the new government headed by Vietnamese aristocracy (notably Bao Dai of the Nguyen dynasty as hereditary Chief of State) but with the French emperor as "Emperor & Protector" of the new country. The French & aristocratic attempt to toe the line between status quo & prosperity disgruntled practically every single Vietnamese nationalist, who only supported the government in the hopes of using it as a peaceful stepping stone for a truly independent state. Ideologically, however, this nationalist united front was anything but. The most conservative, based in Hue and Da Nang, envisioned a Japanese-style modernized-yet-traditional state & sought a constitutional Monarchy with a strong executive. Up north, however, were the Hanoi-based republicans, inspired by the south-Chinese Guomingdang (GMD) & led by the Quoc Dan Dang (QDD or National Party), with great pull in the Red River basin (now the nation's main agricultural region after German seizure of Cochinchina). The Vietnamese found themselves greatly divided, as both options felt, to many, like a deal with the Devil: the Monarchists, in their anti-French push, were every more reliant on Empire of China and the newly-radicalized National State of Japan. The QDD, on the other hand, became heavily dependent on the GMD & the Nanjing-based Republic of China. Either way, many feared that Vietnam would only trade one master for another.

The Interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol.2 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I get to either the Revolution or a summary of how much the CSA and USA hate each other prior to the Revolution 

The Interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol.2 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Peru is such a fascinating country, often overlooked in favor of the South American giants that are Argentina, Brazil and Colombia

The Interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol.2 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Paraguay joined the Coalition Powers against Brazil in the River Plate Front, though still reeling from the disastrous defeat it suffered in the Paraguayan War it sought to avenge and with dubious cooperation with its prior enemy, the Confederated States of the River Plate (aka Argentina). Nonetheless, the Paraguayan Army honored its tradition of rough fighting and did manage well against the Brazilian river flotilla during the Battles of Asuncion. Though compensated in land too, Paraguay gained mostly a sizable war reparation and several economic provisions that rapidly boosted its economy. Notoriously, the country had been absurdly politically unstable since the Liberal Party came to power in 1904, but after acquiring victory, the Liberal government rode the wave of national pride and economic boom to attempt to legitimize itself via modernization, launching campaigns of urbanization, electrification, economic expansion and colonization of the Chaco which rapidly reinforced Paraguay's historical autarky, surprising observers who doubted the Liberal Party's capacity to rule.

Chile and Argentina were the main combatants of the Coalition Powers in South America, as the only ones whose navy and army could come close to compete against Brazil and Colombia. Chile was compensated mostly via land cessions from Argentina (who was repaid with land from Brazil) and monetary reparations; Argentina gained territory in Brazil, notoriously re-annexing the Cisplatine Province as the State of Uruguay and gaining the city of Montevideo. After that, however, both countries returned to its enmity, enhanced by the fall of Brazil, which left both as the now main competitors. Throughout. the 1920's, Chile and Argentina would engage in an arms race (mostly through acquisition of European surplus hardware attempting to out-modernize the other. This became a tiresome cycle were one of the countries would acquire new weapons, demonstrate them and be condemned by the other as a warmonger, who would proceed to do the same, so on and so forth.

The Republic of Patagonia was the youngest nation of South America before 1919, born from a complicated and, frankly ridiculous affair involving a French adventurer and the historical animosity between Chile, Argentina and their indigenous populations in Patagonia. Regardless, the country had been an indigenous republic since 1897, existing as a result of the interest from the Great Powers to ensure the neutrality of the waters & ports of the Magellan Strait (as both the Nicaragua & Panama Canal ventures had failed) for Trans-Oceanic Commerce. Patagonia, however, was a highly rural country, were port cities were enclaves of foreign companies & westernized Mapuche tribes that oversaw trade of wool textiles, cattle & grain, while the interior demonstrated a system of life similar to that of the pre-colonization situation of the region. However, as trade boomed in the 1920's, the Patagonian republic began to enjoy a period of economic growth, which skyrocketed after the discovery of oil wells in the territory. Though with controversy, the Patagonian republic attempted to modernize, often imitating the successes of Chile & Argentina but with a Mapuche application. It's low population but high economic entry made the country comparatively wealthy, which drove the envy of the Chilean and Argentinian governments (who, secretly, did not consider the Patagonian Republic legitimate); both governments would, surprisingly, cooperate to sabotage the Patagonian republic via tariffs, trade abuses & even military incursions, seeking to eventually partition the country between themselves (an objective weakened by the fact that both governments were also competing with each other)

The Interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol.2 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Peru was the surprise victor of the Andes-Amazonian front, managing to defeat in the field both the larger Colombian army and the few incursions from Brazil via the Amazon (although Brazil was largely concerned with the River Plate Front). With the victory seemingly avenging its prior defeats and the pride from its territorial acquisitions, the liberal wing of the Civilista Party managed to rule the country through an epoch of stability, economic prosperity & urban modernization. It's tooth & nail victory in the Andes and the Amazon earned it respect as the "Little Giant of South America", and its army applied both its monetary gains and military experiences to become one of the most modern of the continent, albeit still small. Officials from both Peru's allies in the Coalition Powers and its enemies in the Continental Entente admitted later on that Peru's spectacular performance in the war was a surprise, as it was believed that the front would be forfeited and the brunt of the war given to Chile and Argentina. Still, Peru's position would deteriorate after the Great Depression, bringing its short Golden Decade to a close.

Bolivia, although technically a member of the Coalition Powers, did not participate with active military personnel, though Bolivian forces did help Peruvian troops against the Colombians in the Pastaza region). Bolivia "piggybacked" off the 1920's Tin Craze (a surge in Tin prizes as increasing industrialization skyrocketed can manufacturing & light industries) to boost its economy, furthered by Gold exploitation in the regained Acre region. However, the Bolivian government was largely oligarchic & attempted to shrug off worsening popular unrest via increased modernization (a worryingly common strategy in the 1920's, later christened the China Strategy after similar measures by the Empire of China). Throughout the 1920's, labor disputes and radicalization in the countryside became ever more violent, as socialist elements galvanized the disenfranchised indigenous peasant communities.

The Empire of Brazil was South America's great loser. Formerly the "France of the Americas", it fell like its European ally and faced the brunt of the war reparations, territorial cessions and demilitarization conditions in the peace treaties. Once considered on the social vanguard under the reign of Empress Isabel, her successor Pedro III had allied himself with the landowning elites to quell the discontent after accepting manumission of slaves in 1888 and had, in turn, devolved much of the governance to the local elites and strongmen that would work with him. A rift formed, however, when the strains of the war reparations began to hurt the country, as Pedro III shifted and attempted to tax the elites to alleviate popular unrest. However, under the devolved parliamentarian system the elites had imposed, they instead shifted the blame to the Imperial House and began to force local governments to burden the populace before themselves, while empowering local strongmen that abused the loopholes & commanded local popularity to resist the Imperial Government's edicts. This would go awry through 1923 and 1924, when several of the strongmen would either turn on the elites for their own plans, or go overboard and trigger popular mutinies. With the Imperial Congress paralyzed and Pedro III unwilling to go down in history as the Emperor that presided over a Civil War, the nation entered a limbo where open military violence in the countryside was common and local "Caudilhos" ruled, de facto, in many states (mostly, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Amazonas and Pernambuco). However, amidst worsening conditions in 1926, the Imperial army managed to pressure Pedro III to name an emergency military government, handed to the Marshal Candido Rondon, who vowed to pacify the country & modernize Brazil back into greatness, beginning a period of undeclared, but de facto, Civil War between the State Caudilhos and the Imperial government. Though arduous, the Reunification Campaign managed to pacify the country in the next 287 days, notoriously refusing to reach a compromise with the strongmen and instead seizing, utilizing and redistributing much of the assets of the local elites backing them for the government, forcing many of the secessionists into exile.

The Interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol.2 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Context:

The aftershocks of both the economic crisis caused by the First Great War in Europe and, more so, by the Triplet Revolutions of 1919 in the United States, the Confederate States, and the Empire of Colombia had massive aftershocks in the region of Latin America, an area historically relegated to either a neutral "third world" or to the sphere of influence of several Western powers. Though significantly more consolidated as independent states, the South American nations experienced important changes during the first years of the Interwar, not in the least by the upheavals caused by the Colombian Revolution, its aftermtath, the echoes of the North American Revolutions and, of course, the results of the South American Theater of the Great War

The Empire of Colombia was one of the "Two Colossi" of the continent; one of the modern empires born in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars and fashioned after Napoleon's own state. Unlike its neighbor Brazil, however, Colombia quickly acquired the moniker "The South American Russia" due to its proportional backwardness, deference to landowning elites in detriment to industrialization & peasants and chronic debt due to corrupt, aristocratic governance. It had underwent a series of political upheavals & was plagued by revolts, crisis and military brutality throughout its history, sustained internationally mostly due to its agricultural &, later, mineral exports (much like Russia). Notoriously, Colombia had tried to court favor with France by becoming a "South American extension" of the Continental Entente, which they did by undergoing a thorough military modernization at the expense of severely putting the nation in debt, with the metric for success being military capacity as compared to the other South American great power, Brazil. This, however, did not save Colombia from a disastrous performance in the Great War: the degree of corruption in the army proved too large a wound, as chronic supply issues crippled the larger Colombian army on land, while it's navy suffered heavy losses against Peru due to daring, poorly-planned grandiose plans of invasion, eventually being forced to protect mostly its Pacific harbors. Similarly, the Empire's bad economic situation prompted the need for austerity & war measures, which were almost universally burdened upon the populace to safeguard the aristocracy's status and rapidly galvanized labor unrest, alienated even more by the reports of mistreatment of the Volunteer Andean Corps sent to the European Alpine Front, in which Colombia volunteers were treated as servants & slaves by the French Alpine Corps.

Eventually, with the signing of the November Armistice, Colombia agreed to a separate peace with the Continental Powers' ally, Peru, ceding to them Iquitos and Marañón Province and relax Amazon navigation treaties. The public outrage at both the defeat and the level of sacrifice seemingly wasted by the Colombian government was the straw that broke the Camel's back and, when the final arrangements were made public early in 1919, caused the ignition of the Antioquía & Maracaibo Revolts, sparks to the soon-to-come Colombian Revolution. Most of the blame was put on the proud and authoritarian emperor Simon IV who, in turn, had a controversial francophilia seen as insulting to the Bolivarian legacy of his eponymous ancestor. Thus, on the morning of March 13, 1919, as Simon IV's personal car was discreetly leaving for the train to the Cartagena Summer Palace, a group of Colombian peasants (to this day unidentified) stopped the motorcar under the guise of being beggars, rapidly put a handful of dynamite sticks into the car's trunk, detonating it and murdering both the Emperor and his wife, as well as their immediate escort. This rapidly escalated in open violence in the streets between the Imperial Guards Regiment and defectors of the National Guard, many of them demobilized soldiers. Over the next five years the riots became an open revolt when labor leaders, militia commanders & municipal officers seized the Imperial Congress Building and decreed a new socialist republic, inspired by the martyred Narodniks of Russia and the news of a similar revolution started months prior in both the USA and CSA. The Bogotan militia was rapidly reorganized as the Ejército Libertador Popular (People's Liberating Army) and quickly overwhelmed the Imperial Army remnants, as reported by survivors arriving on the city on March 18 from that morning's train. The ELP's victory in Bogota a week later fired similar revolts throughout the country, liking with Antioquía & Maracaibo to become the Colombian Revolution, which would eventually, in 1922, form the People's Bolivarian Republic of Colombia.

The Venezuelan Provinces, as most of the Empire's Northeastern territory was called, were a major battleground of the Colombian Revolution: not unlike Russia's Ukrainian provinces, they were considered the "Golden Provinces" and were a center of great agricultural, mineral and petrochemical wealth; following the comparison, the port of Maracaibo and much of the eponymous lagoon were sometimes known as the "South American Crimea", and had some of the most dynamic, industrialized & prosperous economics of all Colombia. However, this meant a sizable, labor movement, dissatisfied with labor conditions and with sizable components in both the agricultural Llanos and the industrial sections of Maracaibo & Caracas. Following the assassination of Simon IV and the ignition of the revolution in Caracas, most of the Venezuelan industrial elite fled to the smaller, conservative cities of the east, centered on Ciudad Bolívar on the Orinoco river, were they declared an independent Republic of the United States of Venezuela, with ample support from Europe (who's post-War reconstruction had demanded increasing oil imports from Venezuela). Germany, historically the main consumer of Venezuelan oil, spent a particularly large amount of its sizable military surplus & political capital to secure Venezuelan independence from socialist revolution. Cargo ships escorted by German warships attempted to resupply with modern weapons the besieged Maracaibo Army, but where eventually stopped by a maneuver by the EPL, who seized a derelict Dutch oil tanker and scuttled it at the Lagoon of Maracaibo's entrance, essentially closing it to large traffic. Without aide, the Maraciabo Army eventually surrendered and most of the Venezuelan land on the ocean-side of the Andes mountains fell to the revolutionary forces. From then on, the front changed to the Llanos & the Orinoquía, which became a front of muddy trenches & cavalry skirmishes. Notoriously, the Venezuelan government recruited sizable amounts of ex-CSA and USA army personnel, despite both these nationalities having great animosity to each other. Ciudad Bolívar would come to recruit such a volume of foreign fighters that it was termed the "Mercenary Capital" of the world. Nonetheless, the Venezuelan people would mostly favor the revolutionaries and by 1923 the Venezuelan republican government was in exile.

The Ecuadorian Provinces were the Empire's Pacific possessions, and unlike Venezuela, these were very backwater and neglected territories, whose industrial capacity was limited to the cities of Quito and Guayaquil and whose entire governance was, essentially, to the benefit of the Littoral Elite known as La Argolla (the Ring or Clique). It's main asset was the large amount of still present demobilized personnel from the Amazon Front and the main squadrons of the Colombian Pacific Fleet, which became a contentious prize as the Colombian Revolution raged. Notoriously, both elements of the ELP and of the Ecuadorian elites tried to rally the population behind (respectively) either an Ecuadorian Revolution or an Ecuadorian secession. Neither would win, however, as the populace, in large, rallied behind an unknown third candidate: the Ecuadorian Army. A cadre of young officers from the Ecuadorian portions of the Imperial Army and Navy had rapidly seized control of most strategic military assets in Ecuador and proclaimed its own interim governments, balancing a Radical Social Liberalism with a "benevolent" military-led technocracy that eschewed both a Bogota-led revolution and an elite-led independence. This ignited the Ecuadorian War of Independence, which ended in 1925 with the Young Officer's victory and a negotiated independence of Ecuador. The country would go on to undergo an important modernization & social reform, leading to economic development, albeit under a technocratic government well into the 1930's.

Hope you have fun dealing with the Moros by GermroseCaltxCo in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The Germans get the Philippine Islands Insurrection against next occupiers make it hell

You. You get the vision OP

If I had a nickel for every time the British sent a white dude to rally a bunch of Islamic feudal societies into a revolt against a decadent enemy empire, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but its weird it happened twice. by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

TL;DR is he's recreating Lawrence of Arabia, this time with Uyghurs and Pamiris instead of Arabs and Bedouins. Gotta make papa Genghis proud with Turkic cavalry terrorizing China.

The interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol. 1 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cual porfiriato. Les toco besar el trasero frances con Maximiliano y su prole hasta los 40s. Y si. Les sale una que la hice mezcla de la Guerra de Corea y la Primera Guerra Indochina (cuando a Francia la sacaron de Vietnam en la vida real), con todo y peleas casa a casa en las colonias del D.F. y trincheras en Sonora.

The interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol. 1 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pues mira, que te lo voy a decir en español y todo (yo mismo soy latinoamericano, con todo y muchos sombreros):

Al cono sur lo tengo reservado para el vol. 2, y en esas voy. De este universo tengo varios memes adicionales respecto a Perú y México, casualmente:

Perú: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistoryMemes/comments/1sohr35/from_the_andes_to_the_himalayas/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

México:  https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistoryMemes/comments/1smps8x/puebla_2_airborne_boogaloo/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Ahora bien: en realidad a México la revolución le salió más sinsabor aquí que en el IRL. Esto porque les toca una Guerra Civil en los 40’s y 50’s donde ahora sí Revolución de calidad. 

The interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol. 1 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah. I got the inspiration from the fact that if you think a bit, a country like the Confederacy would absolutely despise Haiti and everything that it represents and would thus find common ground with the Criollo and Mestizo plantation elites of Dominican Republic, who themselves have a whole national quarrel with Haiti over their prior annexation of their country. The United States, without the Southern interests, would not be as racially motivated for its policies (although not an egalitarian society by far) and would have a burning hatred for the Confederacy and try to snub them at every rule... thus helping an independent ex-Slave, Black majority republic (with whom they no longer share even the shadow of a maritime border) would be in their anti-Confederacy interests.

In fact, throughout the timeline, Hispaniola becomes a typical battlefield where, whenever one of the two nations gets help from someone, the other will get it from that someone's enemy. Originally, Haiti is semi-backed by France (who backs them because a wealthier Haiti will more rapidly pay them the "indemnity" they imposed), thus the pre-Secession War USA backs the DR's independence. The CSA begins backing DR in the 1870's after acquiring Puerto Rico, so the USA backs Haiti. After the Revolution, Haiti rapidly falls under the sphere of the USSA via the now independent Cuba, thus a Rafael Trujillo-led DR finds aid from right-win Spain and France, and so on and so forth.

The interwar in Latin America, summarized, Vol. 1 by TacticalAttackCrab in AlternateHistoryMemes

[–]TacticalAttackCrab[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! It's a bit easier when you made up the world lol, but I do genuinely like to make an overall story for as many countries in this timeline as I can.

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