@SCENARIO
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@title=Lebensraum 1939
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^^The European Theatre of World War II 
^^September 1939- December 1945 
^
^
^Special Notes:
^Attacking Minor Nations' cities could
^have grave diplomatic reprocussions.
^Government switching is disabled.
^Negotiations are permitted.
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......................Historical Background......................
It is the fall of 1939.  The continent of Europe has,
for the most part, been calm since the conclusion of
the First World War. Germany, having utterly 
disregarded the Versailles restrictions on military 
development and munitions production, began to 
rearm itself in 1933 shortly after the public's turn 
toward fascism and the rise of Adolf Hitler and his
so-called National Socialists. 
%
The past years have seen England  and France 
attempting to appease this ravenous German 
nationalism by allowing her to annex neighboring
territories; first came the Rhineland, then the 
Anchluss with Austria, the Sudetenland, and then 
the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Neville 
Chamberlain's inability to curtail Hitler's thirst for
expansion has led the furher to assume he can 
turn against Poland without incident.
%
The French sit behind their Maginot Line with the
hopes that they will not have to fight the Germans
in another bloody repeat of WWI. Thought their
army is sizeable, they have fallen behind in tactics
and weapons development and without a change
in leadership, are in no position to strike deep 
into Germany. The Soviet Union, fresh from the 
Stalinist purges of the officer corps are likewise 
in a poor military situation.  Though they have 
managed to buy some security with the Molotov
-Ribbentrop pact, it surely will not be long before
the Nazi's engage in a conflict with their sworn 
Bolshevik enemies.
%
The Italian fascist movement has been less able
to capture the imagination of their people, they
do not have the fanatical public support of their
German counterparts.  Italy does however have
military ambitions in this war, as she looks to take
control of the Mediterranean Sea. The British 
hold a firm grasp on Eygpt and the Suez, and 
are also in position to harrass Italian shipping 
from their airfields at Malta. Italy also sees 
opportuinities across the Adriatic in Albania and
Greece. They are not in for an easy fight.
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Will the nations of Europe be able to ally with 
one another long enough to bring down the
ever-growing fascist evil which is increasingly 
engulfing millions of defenseless peoples?
Many nations' armies are ill-equiped to repel
an onslaught by the German Wermacht. Will
France and England come to their aid and 
strike at the German aggressors as promised
in recent years, or will they back down and 
become apathetic to the rape of Europe?
If fascism is somehow easily defeated on the
continent, are the western democracies any 
more at ease with Iosef Stalin as their new 
neighbor? Could the Soviet Union replace 
Nazi Germany as the protagonist in this war?   
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