The Humiliation Period (1954 - 2246)

This period is marked by the expansion and increased severity of the Chinese Civil War. At first, the Kuomintang had managed to consolidate power but this era was short and quickly devolved into a swift shift towards warlord states and anarchy as the Kuomintang's power diminished. When the Japanese returned to the Chinese mainland and continued the Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese fought valiantly but in vain. Victories were gained only through massive losses and they were often undone a mere week or two later. After years of conflict and skirmishes, the borders stabilized and remained secure. 1991 marked the end of the Great War, and the arrival of peacekeepers sent to enforce a DMZ alongside peace treaties and other events that came with a war's end.

While large-scale offensives had been rendered unachievable and an unrealistic goal, the Worker's Army continued to fight using guerilla tactics and adapting to technological advances. The Worker's Army was the first group of people to perform Trojan Horse attacks, where a rocket was made to mimic the enemy's rocket and sent towards their bases to wreak havoc. Often suicide missions, these trojan events were effective but lethal.

Tensions rose in 2139, after the Yunnan Autonomous Republic elected a new prime minister, who took dictatorial power for himself. While mostly interested in internal affairs, the dictator aligned his state with the Japanese to threaten the Republic of China (Southern China) with a two-front war, a civil war in one corner and a foreign invasion on the other.

His death in 2187, allowed the Yunnan Parliament to regain power, though this briefly increased tensions, it quickly died down and pressure was eased off of the Southern Chinese State.

Rebirth Period (2246 - 2309)

China's rebirth would come at the decline of the Japanese in both industrial and economic might. For centuries, Japanese Emperors weakened while Chinese puppet monarchs gained increased autonomy and less oversight. By 2246, Northern China beat Japan in nearly every metric, while Japan remains stronger per capita, Northern China had a larger population, military, total economy, and resource availability.

The weakened state of Japan can be seen in Korea, as the state rapidly gained great autonomy at the cost of a massive decline in the Japanese army and navy. The case of Korea would see the Chinese grow more daring. With a recent secret agreement between the South Chinese prime minister, and the North Chinese Monarch, China seems to be destined to reunite once again.

"The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been." - Luo Guanzhong

Tensions Rising (1901-1921)

Over the Nineteenth century, while nations were grasping for their piece of space, tensions were flaring up on earth. These tensions rose despite or maybe because of the vast web of alliances seen in Europe. During this time, Germany lost one of its closest allies when Austria-Hungary collapsed into two separate states. It Collapsed due to Serbia's rigid and surprisingly strong revolution. During this war, Austria-Czechia managed to take all of the Croatia lands that were held by Hungary.

During this, to keep new revolutionary ideologies at bay, countless communists and socialists were slaughtered, including foreign revolutionaries like Vladimir Lenin. Though many slipped past draconian measures in Germany by escaping to the moon using the indentured servitude system. These witch trials and killings would only increase after a Dutch socialist tried to shoot the Kaiser during a speech, one of many failed assassination attempts.

The Great War (1921-1928):

The Great War would start when on April fifth 1921 an old disheartened French soldier travels to Germany and planted a bomb in a pillar close to where the Kaiser would hold his speech. On this faithful day, the young son of Kaiser Wilhelm chose the worst place to lean against and the bomb unleashed its full force onto the kid. This stopped most of the explosion and debris resulting in few others being hurt. However, when the Kaiser after the shock of the recent assassination attempt came to his senses, he saw the splatter of unrecognisable flesh and blood that used to be his child.

Soon after the French soldier was caught trying to flee over the French border, it didn’t take long for an already armed Germany to declare war on France. When Germany attacked Belgium too, Britain, who guaranteed its independence, quickly stepped in.

The allied nations of Britain and France only managed to keep the German army at bay with the massive industrial help and volunteer forces of the United States of America. The American volunteer forces even managed to push German lines back for a short while, but a disgruntled American populace wanted its sons back home. With American support weaning, Germany again managed to push with its brainless mass assaults characteristic of the Great War.

The Murder of the Three Wilhelms (1927):

After six years of war, the Kaiser had continued his hobby of going to plays. This all changed when the Kaiser went to his favourite play and brought his remaining sons with him, something was off. Midway through the play during the nth assassination attempt, a bomb went off under the table. This time, however, the killer was successful and the Kaiser was killed.

The new Kaiser, Kaiser Friedrich, was widely considered to be a weak Kaiser, and when images of the front made it back in droves, the German populace was disheartened and demoralised. Calls for peace were made around the country but the German leadership was relentless, only a year later accepting when the French sued for peace.

The Peace Deal (1927):

When France and Germany came together to draw up peace deals. In the end, it was agreed that the original borders would be kept and in exchange, France was to pay incredibly high war reparations.

The seven-year-long brutal war saw millions of deaths and ended in no border changes at all. This broke much of the continent and extremist ideologies grew in numbers. During this time the third french republic broke down, and Britain had to step in to help France stabilise.

The Great Depression (1931-1936):

During the Post-War Great Depression, Germany saw its markets and economy slump, even with French monetary support. Its economic woes increased after The Fourth French Republic defaulted on its debts and Germany had to lessen its demands. While this was a time of much upheaval, Germany managed to leave the era pretty much unchanged. The 1933 Spartan Uprising was put down with moderate ease and the 1935 Herculean Uprising was put down after a mere 4 months of moderate conflict.

In this time many German businesses collapsed. The German parliament feared a complete breakdown of law and order and sought methods of regaining their grip on their faltering economy. The German Chancellor pushed through a bill allowing for the establishment of a nationalised car manufacturer. This car manufacturer would only be allowed to sell their cars to the German people and had to sell them very cheaply. This car was meant to be a true car for the German people, a true Volkswagen. Though it was an effective propaganda machine, historians wonder how effective it truly was at revitalising the German economy.

Simultaneously, the German parliament pushed through a bill to increase the extent of the autobahn. This long-term infrastructure investment is generally accepted to have helped Germany hasten its recovery alongside that of the whole of Europe.

The Lost War (1941)

The newly invigorated Germany eager for war gains, after the Great Depression, declared war on the Russian puppet of Poland, sighting violence against ethnic Germans for their reason of war, though this was only a weakly veiled excuse at achieving the goals of a late 19th century commonly known as "lebensraum". This war while seeing a lot of hasty conflicts and battles again saw a lot of trench warfare and became a complete and utter bog for both sides.

Only worsening German supply attempts, the landscape was dotted with concentration camps. Many Slavic, Roma, and Jewish people were also sent to the moon to work as slaves in the new colonies.

The Polish Insurrection

Many Polish intellectuals and elites had been plotting behind Russian and German ears for a completely independent Poland. The Wartorn and manpower depleted Germany in the west were looking weaker than ever and was yet again budding heads with England. Meanwhile, in the east, Russia was at its knees end due to proletariate uprising all over the nation. With Russian forces spread thin, it had no way of holding off Polish paramilitaries.

General Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski took command over the unexploited polish garrison and used its revolutionaries as a new Polish army. Meanwhile, Jadwiga Piłsudska led forces to take the few still intact Russian bases. Not knowing what was happening most Russian garrisons simply let these Polish forces in as they carried on their shoulders Russia approved Polish garrison eagle. they took over any available planes, rockets, and tanks in the region.

Continuation of the War

Germany originally took over large swathes of land but when new polish forces, grown out of never before exploited manpower reserves for fear of insurrection, counterattacked and surrounded two large German groups, German fronts fell. Germany was pushed back and had to let go of many of its lands as its depleted army simply couldn’t hold on to its large frontlines. Poland's eastern fronts were set in stone when the Russian Dictatorship signed a treaty with Poland to stop its advance. Alongside this, Poland would help Russia with the Ukrainian Insurrections.

Seeing the new influx of highly patriotic and moralised Polish troops and given the recent Oil and Steel Revolts in the west, Germany sued for peace. New borders were drawn, with Germany losing many of its imperial lands. Germany was given the port city of Danzig as a lease port and the city of Konigsburg was to be given complete independence, though this independence only remained for 5 years.

The Oil and Steel Rebellions

The German worker, tired of years of war and terrible working conditions rose up in the west. These radical workers followed the 61-year-old communist mastermind, Ernst Thälmann. The Workers had hidden munitions and guns under the veil of overrepresented duts. The German state was unable to keep this uprising at bay in the beginning, as most of its men were fighting the newly refreshed polish army. However, The Kaiser terrified of a communist takeover of Germany agreed to terrible peace conditions with the polish state. The new peace deal allowed Germany to relieve the giant encircled pockets of German troops in Poland and Russia. Now with its army free, it was able to crush the uprising in the west.

Background:

After the bloody first Spanish Civil War, for nearly 40 years Spain had been under a military dictatorship under General Francisco Franco. The regime had characterized itself as the defender of Spain and its “traditional values” (Catholic faith, unity, militarism, traditional family, anticommunism, authority, order and law) against all enemies external and internal. After an autarchic period from the end of the war to the mid-’50s, in which the economy hardly grew and internal repression was very intense, the country softened the repression and opened its economy, growing the economy through the development of agriculture, heavy industry and tourism. The economic situation improved from the end of the ’50s until the end of the ’60s, helping the regime validate itself to the general population.

During this time of openness, the calls for women’s equality and democracy started to gain traction across the younger population, and the separatist aims of Euskadi and Catalonia reignited. Although not mainstream during the period of economic growth, this period ended, and the economy took a turn for the worse at the end of the ’60s. Discontent with the regime grew, seemingly unable to stop inflation, rising prices and lowering wages. Furthermore, the government's unwillingness to invest in space exploration and colonization disappointed the nationalists, who saw how the country was falling behind. The relative comfort of the emergent urban middle class eroded with increasing speed each year.

Political opposition to the regime, organized with the help of exiled republican politicians was led by the illegal Spanish Communist Party (PCE) and was channelled in student associations in universities and newly formed worker unions. Although these were largely non-violent, several terrorist groups also opposed the government, such as Basque separatist ETA and communist GRAPO.

The leading years

In 1969, Franco named Juan Carlos, the grandson of Alfonso XIII, the last king of Spain, as his successor, while he promoted hardliner Luis Carrero Blanco to Prime Minister, hoping to reverse the worsening situation. Instead, the hardliner government was only able to escalate the situation with mass detentions and executions of opposition members, both pacific and violent. Mass demonstrations only grew in number, while the Army grew more and more uncomfortable with the situation. ETA killed Carrero Blanco in a terrorist attack in December of 1973. Carlos Arias Navarro, who was seen as a conciliating figure between the different factions of the regime, was named Prime Minister in January 1973.

Franco’s health would worsen over the following two years, while calls for the end of the dictatorship grew stronger and stronger. He died in November 1975, while Morocco occupied Western Sahara. Juan Carlos was crowned immediately afterwards. He renewed the government to a more reformist hybrid one, which was too much for the Army and too little for the democrats. Due to the strong opposition by the army and hardliner politicians, few plans were made for a democratic transition, instead only marginal advances were made: censorship and repression were relaxed, but no political parties were legalized. This was seen as a clear sign that the dictatorship planned to stay after the death of Franco. During this period political violence continued to escalate, with the creation of several terrorist organizations supporting the regime.

Discontent grew stronger. In 1976, pressured, Juan Carlos dismissed Arias Navarro, and named aperturist Adolfo Suárez prime minister, Which promised a more democratic approach. This move proved popular with the opposition, but was the final straw for the hardliners. During a democratic demonstration, several civil guards disobeyed their orders and applied lethal force. When the government tried to trial them, several hardliners came to their defence, and forced the judges to retire all charges. During 1977 the government would lose their control over the army and the police, until in June 1977 several generals launched a coup after Su´arez announced democratic elections for the end of the year.

Arturo Espinosa Yuste took the position of Prime Minister. Suárez was forced to go into exile, while king Juan Carlos was kept away from the government, but not removed from his position.

This was the breaking point for the democrats. Massive anti-coup demonstrations were met with counter-demonstrations and extreme repression. The UN condemned the coup and called for the celebration of democratic elections. On September 19th 1977, the PCE held a meeting in Córdoba in which Juan Antonio Nieto Pe˜na, leader of the local chapter, called for an open insurrection. With the support of local GRAPO members, he led a massive demonstration that managed to put on the run the civil guard garrison that tried to repress it. The demonstrators proceeded to assault the civil guard barracks in the city, and with the help of some supporters that were serving the obligatory military service, they took the nearby Cerro Muriano small military base.

In panic and furious, Espinosa Yuste secretly ordered the evacuation of all loyal forces from Córdoba. The rumours about the order took the city like wildfire. Many tried to flee the city in fear of what the government might do. That same night their worst fear was confirmed: at 1:55 AM, Spanish Aviation indiscriminately bombed the city.

Start of the war and first phase

Espinosa Yuste hoped that the bombing would serve as a demonstration of force by the regime to instil fear in the population. Instead, the opposite happened. Fighting broke out in many cities across Spain. France, the US and the UK immediately broke diplomatic relations with Spain, while even traditional allies of Spain like Italy, Russia and Germany condemned the bombing. The loyal forces to the government were demoralized, and were taken by storm by the rebelling population.

By the end of the month, the government had lost their control over northern and western Andalusia, Extremadura, western New Castille, the Canaries, Euskadi, Catalonia and Valencia. Only quick PR moves prevented more regions from rebelling. The rebels seized the weapons and equipment from the fleeing or rebelling local military forces. In Seville, the leaders of the democratic parties joined and proclaimed the 3rd Spanish Republic with a new constitution, seconded by most of the rebelling regions. In northern and western Catalonia instead, the local separatist leaders proclaimed an independent Catalan state, while ETA leaders proclaimed a communist, independent Euskadi.

The army managed to regroup and by early-mid October open fighting had begun on all fronts. It was especially intense in Madrid, as the southern parts of the city had fallen to the rebels, but not the north. The republicans, as no more regions seconded their rebellion, attempted to take Aragon and eastern New Castille to connect their main areas. By Christmas 1977 they defeated the loyal garrisons in most of Aragón and Navarre, but were largely unsuccessful in New Castille.

Despite calls from the UN to avoid intervention by individual countries, trying instead to get a solution agreed by all members, France and the UK started to support the republicans, while Germany and Russia had militarist governments. In march 1978 they attempted to retake the Valencia region, going from Murcia towards Valencia. However, only the southern parts of the city fell, leaving the north in republican hands. Fighting was also intense in southern Andalusia, as the rich southern coast had not fell to either side completely. The loyal forces tried to retake Toledo the following month to isolate the rebels in southern Madrid, but couldn’t do it. Despite not taking the city, they managed to take enough key points to weaken southern Madrid. The republicans tried instead to give a blow to the forces of the dictatorship by invading Old Castile, but they only managed to get a foothold in the Avila province.

Second phase “Dirty war” and End

The frontlines changed very little in the following months. Instead, the two sides, unable to push into the territory of the other, resorted to bombings and guerilla warfare. In Valencia, Malaga and Madrid the destruction reached levels unseen in the previous. Trying to force a surrender, both sides bombed each other with increasing force. Horrified, the intervening nations and the UN agreed and forced a ceasefire, but it was only made effective in Madrid and it only lasted 3 days before any negotiations broke down. In October, republican forces threatened to destroy the water reservoirs in northern Old Castile if the dictatorship didn’t surrender, but they declined. They didn’t follow through, but the basque rebels planted a bomb in one of the reservoirs, destroying the damn and flooding several cities downstream. The UN forced a second ceasefire immediately, which was surprisingly held to by all parties involved. All sides agreed to not damage more water reservoirs, but negotiations broke down again before any other agreement was made.

In January 1979 the war ended abruptly. The dictatorship launched another attack over Toledo to isolate Madrid. The republican forces intercepted the convoys in the southwest of the Guadalajara province, and rebel aviation bombed the zone. The rebel forces advanced over the loyal forces that retreated behind the Zorita nuclear plant. This nuclear plant sat less than 70 km from Madrid and at less than 15 kilometres from several water reservoirs. It was undermanned since the beginning of the war, and now it was between the two opposing forces. In the middle of the night, a loyalist bomber tried to hit the rebel position, but due to human error, the bomb hit the plant. The reactor went critical and exploded, liberating tons of radioactive materials to the surrounding areas. Both sides collaborated in the evacuation of the zone, but proper cleanup wasn’t made. The catastrophe put in danger the water supply of all of the Tagus valley, including that of Lisbon. Portugal pleaded for a UN intervention, which was immediately accepted. UN troops deployed all over the country to stop the fighting. After the incident, both sides were unwilling to fight for the foreseeable future.

Paris accords and aftermath

Both sides agreed to a ceasefire immediately and finally negotiated some kind of peace deal. The country would be divided, at least temporarily, in the current occupation zones. The republican-controlled zone and the loyal zone would be made into two different countries, and the zones that the separatists controlled would become independent, as new nations. This left everyone unsatisfied, as no side got what they wanted. The Republic was a country divided in two and had failed to win the war; the Military Dictatorship had lost control of very important zones for its economy and had failed to preserve the unity of Spain; the Basque government failed to take everything that they considered basque, as southern Euskadi was in the hands of the dictatorship; and the Catalan government didn’t control southern Catalonia, Valencia or all of the Balearics.

The UN prevented territorial exchanges between the basques, Catalans and republicans, so the conflict didn’t reignite. The accords also forced both sides to accept occupation zones in some territories. Oliven¸ca was left to Portugal, Catalonia had to cede the Aran Valley to France, a German occupation zone was set up in Menorca, and the British occupied the heavily contested Andalusian coast. A demilitarized zone was established along the frontiers of all new states, maintained by the UN. Lastly, in a very unpopular move, the Canaries were made independent. On the islands, not much fighting had occurred, though they still had to resort to UN aid. The islands were still mostly loyal to the Republic but that mattered little in the eventual peace deal.

This left the cities of Madrid, Valencia, Málaga and Barcelona divided by the DMZ zone, and Toledo, Alava, Pamplona and Teruel dangerously close to it. With no resolution and no clear winner, the war could reignite in the future.