Diplogame HOTW XII Ragnarok - Story Thread

[Diplo Mongolia]

Have this leaked to the French "Intelligence" Agency. Seems they should do their homework better....

[Diplo France]

Originally posted by Diplo Mongolia
Have this leaked to the French "Intelligence" Agency. Seems they should do their homework better....

What this does not show is that I need to spend nearly every EP I have to try and balance some of the top spenders. I had next to nothing left for Ottomans.

I tend to trust my agencies when they indicate a civ responsible. Especially if that civ invaded me recently.


Perhaps the Mongols wish to point to a nation that framed the Ottomans?

[Diplo France]

Originally posted by Diplo Ottoman
France has been posting their usual duplicitous lies. Ottoman have never under my control used sabotage, and going by units I saw when I took over from the sub, it is very unlikely he did so either, there were no units in a position where it could happen, no spies present or being built etc. THe whole war was a farce. It was an excuse to destroy me, even though they would not have overseas possessions at all if I did not supply them with an initial 4 galleons and then for my help they build privateers and use against me. I have not interest in their deals, and will never play another game against them again. I only made peace not to destroy game for others. At no stage did I agree on neutrality.

I'm supposed to take your word for this? And yes our nations had good realtions in early times, we still remember this. Ottmans did not remember this when they attacked us. Yes, that is right you attacked us with farcical justification and took two of our cities. Don't act suprised that France seeing another looming attack from you decided to respond.


I explicitly stated that your neutrality for nex 60 turns was part of the deal. Is the Ottoman goverment changing its position? We are confused, we thought they wanted to focus on development, they wanted to rebuild their civ? They can say what they like, but their nation is far from destroyed. It has an entire continent, all it needs are workers, peace and time and it can once again become among the richest civs on Terra. If you do not agree to neutrality you will have to build up an army at a time when it is economoic suicide to do so, France guarantees your security as part of the deal. If you drop that we will continue to look at the Ottoman empire with distrust, if you keep to the treaty we shall let bygones be bygones and consider selling Edirne in the future.

Also this was not a trade, this was a war. And you lost, badly. We took 1 city, we got 2 back that you took during the previous war, how in the world is this excessive?



OOC: Never play against me again? Why are you making this personal, imagine the response I would have gotten if I had said the same thing when you attacked my civ out of the bulit the second I was gone. Let me remind you that I always upheld any deals we made. It was your actions that irevocably damaged our relations. Alliances are not game long, at one point in my early history Holland was threatening invasion. After that we where close allies, after that relations cooled. At one point I was an enemy of America now we have civil relations. This is what history is like, and this is what civ is like.

And in conclusion there are civs that are worse of than Ottomans, some have been so for most of the game, and they keep playing. Ottomans are in fact in a much much better position than Nols had when she took over Russia, and they are in a much better position than Mali is.

[Diplo Inca]

“socalled Inca/France help walked away, apparently not willing to throw a few suicide attacks against machine guns. The socalled compensation from the Inca never arrived. But that is typical of their talk, always more than their deals”

Yes Inca will not suicide its armies for a foreign nation, we said we will help and we did by taking over a good German city, that last one as you mentioned already had a good defense, so we preferred to wait for Incan Tanks for support, but you made the decision to attack before we could attack it. So Ottoman blame yourself for being hastily.

Typical of their talks

what do you mean?

Let’s not forget that the ottomans have been so much colder towards us during the last centuries. You cancelled deals with us when it suited you, closed borders for our troops to pass etc. Before pointing fingers look at yourself. We were friends once, had a joint religion which you dropped for another. Holland become your friend, and has been for the last couple of millenniums. We may even have helped to defend you in your current war, but you never asked. Inca was ready to organize an international force to defend ottoman citizens and reassure no genocide in your lands.

Last but not least, yes we will not buy that crappy border ottoman city. Yes you offered it but for a high price, it would have done no good to have a city so close to a well known conflict zone.

Inca is currently supporting the ottomans with 4 health and 2 happy resources free of charge!

[OzzyKP]

(OOC - Getting caught up with my posts)

Troubled Times

The free speech reforms and the inclusion of representatives for the people in the Electoral College under Andrew Jackson were welcomed by the people but ended up actually helping to destabilize the nation.

Now with no government pressure to stop them, the growing abolition movement became bolder in their attacks on the ancient American institution of slavery. Many eastern cities outlawed slavery, but the western cities held onto it staunchly - sometimes violently if necessary. Debates about trade and tariffs also became more and more heated.

The territorial expansion under James Polk didn't help either. The influx of new people in California (the American name for the Ottoman lands) changed the demographics of America greatly and added further fuel to the smoldering debate in the country. The issue of whether California would or wouldn't allow slavery was a contentious issue leading to much debate and even the occasional skirmish in the new territory. It was then this powder keg received a massive spark.

The Election of Lincoln

Politics had changed due to the reforms Jackson brought to America. Instead of a small cadre of elites and leaders competing for the throne, the process was opened up and regular folks were able to seek the highest office in the land. Even so, the nation was still far from a democracy and it seemed likely that Commander Polk's Vice-Commander, Stephen Douglas, would succeed him.

Stephen Douglas, to woo Electors and the people went out to give a series of speeches across the nation. In one such trip to Chicago he was confronted by Abraham Lincoln, a young lawyer from south of Chicago and an outspoken slavery opponent.

Lincoln asked many tough questions to Douglas about slavery, democracy, and where the country was headed. Douglas, exerting more patience than most cabinet members would, stood on the platform for hours debating with the young Lincoln. Douglas was sure he would show up this ambitious lawyer and boost his standing with the people. In a way he was right, in the end Douglas defeated Lincoln in the debate, or so it seemed at the time.

Word spread from town to town that Abraham Lincoln challenged the Vice-Commander face-to-face in a debate on slavery and other important issues. His debate was fierce and inspiring, yet moderate. Lincoln continued to follow Douglas to each of his scheduled speeches and debate him every chance he got. The anti-slavery movement quick coalesced around Lincoln and gave him all their support.

Lincoln became wildly popular in the eastern states, and reviled in the west. The representatives of the people nominated him for Commander-in-Chief. The debate in the Electoral College was heated. Lincoln had the clear majority among the people, as the eastern states were more populated than the west.

The nobles in the electoral college were decidedly mixed. Some saw in Lincoln an inspiring leader who can finally modernize the nation. Compared to many in the anti-slavery movement he was a moderate, so many thought that he could calm the abolitionists and prevent further violence. Some saw in him a person who posed a great risk of destroying the nation. Slavery was a very touchy subject in the nation and Lincoln strongly pledged to stop the spread of it into the new territories of California.

Narrowly, Lincoln carried the vote. A non-noble man born in a log cabin was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America. His election in November sent ripples through the nation.

Leaders in the state of Jackson held a convention and declared on December 20 "that the Union now subsisting between Jackson and other states under the name of the 'United States of America' is hereby dissolved"

[OzzyKP]

[OOC - These events occurred during Session 13 May 10th/11th)

Formation of the Confederate States of America

What had been bubbling up for a long time finally exploded through the nation. Other western states soon joined Jackson in seceding from the Union. Georgia (named for George Washington and containing the city of Atlanta), Tennessee (containing the city of Nashville), Louisiana (containing the city of New Orleans) all joined with Jackson in breaking away from the United States of America, forming instead the Confederate States of America.

The government of the CSA was similar to the USA, but repealed all tariffs, adopting instead a policy of free trade. The largely agricultural western states benefited from free trade and financed themselves mostly from sale of incense and dye. They also further democratized their country, and instead of a Senate, they called their Electoral College the House of Representatives. They had little political power beyond electing the President (the CSA name for the Commander-in-Chief), but unlike the USA, the CSA Electoral College (called the House of Representatives, again) was elected by the people directly. Their members served two year terms in office. They elected Jefferson Davis as the first President of the CSA. Renowned general, Robert E. Lee was put in charge of the CSA army.

The first challenge for the newly formed country was one of trade. Their greatest asset was their natural resources, but they had no ports from which to ship their resources to foreign markets. They bordered the Mali and Carpathians however and sent envoys to speak to each government. The prospect of having to ask for help from the very people the CSA kept enslaved was a daunting task.

The Mali flatly denied any requests for aid or cooperation until their people were released from bondage. A condition the Confederates simply couldn’t accept. Next they met with Carpathia, America’s eternal enemy. The Confederates hated the dirty vampires, but had no choice. Like the Mali, the Carpathians were upset their people were kept as slaves in the Confederate states, but their desire for revenge on the United States was too strong to let a little thing like slavery get in their way. They agreed to allow the CSA ship good through Carpathian lands and secretly provided them with arms. The Carpathians offered strategic advice as well, but after Carpathia’s two embarrassing defeats to America, President Davis and General Lee figured they were better off on their own in that regard. They were also able to continue selling incense to the Inca from Atlanta. While the Inca readily bought incense, they didn’t provide any other help or assistance to their cause.

Now that they had money and arms, their next task was to build an army...

Lincoln Organizes

While the CSA was organizing itself, new Commander-in-Chief Abraham Lincoln was establishing his own administration in the USA. With a war on and the nation divided Lincoln wanted as little division in the remaining states as possible so appointed members to his cabinet from various factions in his anti-slavery supporters and even named a political opponent his Vice-Commander.

Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet (session 13 May 10th/11th):

Vice-President – Andrew Johnson
Secretary of State – William H. Seward
Secretary of War – Edwin M. Stanton
Secretary of the Treasury – Salmon P. Chase

Lincoln ended the debate over what to do about the Confederate rebellion. There was, in his mind, only one option: reunite the nation through whatever means necessary. In a speech to his top advisors, he said:

A house divided against it cannot stand. I believe this government
cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect
the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do
expect it will cease to be divided. It will
become all one thing or all the other.

He set about strengthening the army and crafting a plan for defeating the Confederacy. Former Secretary of War, Winfield Scott, was still the general of the army and together with the current Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, they began to talk strategy. Scott pushed for, what he called the Anaconda Plan to cut off the Confederacy from trade. It seemed like the most effective strategy because if the CSA couldn’t sell their incense and dye they’d be finished. Destroy “King Incense” and you destroy the rebellion.

Politically though, the plan wasn’t feasible. With Carpathia’s help, the Union would need to blockade Carpathia’s north and west shores. It’d be a large job for the Union’s limited navy, and one that would undoubtedly give Carpathia a reason to enter the war on the side of the CSA. Commander Lincoln nixed the idea and instead decided to just crush the rebellion militarily. The Union was far larger, wealthier, and more productive than the Confederacy. Eventually they would be worn down.

Lincoln set about many more preparations in advance of the war to come. He told Stanton, "If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe."

The Civil War Begins

A Union fort located just west of Jackson (along the Carpathian border) was the site of the first battle of the Civil War. The fort, Fort Sumter, was located deep in Confederate territory and blocked an important trading route between the CSA and Carpathia. President Davis ordered an assault on the fort. The battle was short and there were no casualties on either side, but the CSA succeeded in taking the fort. It was the first shot in the Civil War.

Lincoln immediately ordered an assault on the Confederate capitol of Jackson. The march by Union troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell on the Confederate forces was halted in the First Battle of Bull Run whereupon they were forced back to Washington, D.C., by Confederate troops under the command of Generals Joseph E. Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard. It was in this battle that Confederate General Thomas Jackson received the nickname of "Stonewall" because he stood like a stone wall against Union troops.



Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside took command of the Union Army of the Potomac (named after the river connecting Washington and New York in the east) and the war began in earnest. Upon the strong urging of Commander Lincoln to begin offensive operations, Burnside attacked Jackson in the spring. Although Burnside’s army reached the gates of Jackson City, Confederate General Joseph Johnston halted his advance at the Battle of Seven Pines, then General Robert E. Lee and top subordinates James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson defeated Burnside in the Seven Days Battles and forced his retreat. The Eastern Jackson Campaign, which included the Second Battle of Bull Run, ended in yet another victory for the South. Burnside resisted Commander-in-Chief Lincoln’s orders to send reinforcements to John Pope's Union Army, which made it easier for Lee's Confederates to defeat twice the number of combined enemy troops.



Emboldened by Second Bull Run, the Confederacy made its first invasion of the East, when General Lee led 45,000 men of the Army of Northern Louisiana across the Appalachian Mountains into Maryland to attack Baltimore. Lee hoped that if Baltimore could fall to the Confederacy, they would finally have an active port, and also unite Atlanta with the rest of the West. Lincoln then restored Pope's troops to Burnside. Burnside and Lee fought at the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, one of the bloodiest single days in United States military history. Lee's army, checked at last, returned to Louisiana before Burnside could destroy it. Antietam is considered a Union victory because it halted Lee's invasion of the East and provided an opportunity for Lincoln to announce his Emancipation Proclamation.

[OzzyKP]

Emancipation Proclamation

In an effort to boost popular support for the war by giving it a moral purpose Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation. It stated that the slaves from states currently in rebellion would be freed. The proclamation did not free any slaves of Union states who still practiced slavery (Ozzydelphia & Baltimore), or any western state (or part of a state) already under Union control. It first directly affected only those slaves that had already escaped to the Union side, but as the Union armies conquered the Confederacy, thousands of slaves were freed each day.

. . . all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State,
the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States,
shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; . . .

It had a political and strategic effect. It proclaimed the intention of the Union government to free the slaves – and thus earn moral legitimacy for the war beyond simply holding the country together – and it encouraged Confederate slaves to flee the West and join up with special Mali and Carpathian units in the Union army. This cost the Confederacy some much needed manpower.

The War Drags On

The following year, the cautious Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was soon defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg when over twelve thousand Union soldiers were killed or wounded during repeated futile frontal assaults against Marye's Heights. After the battle, Burnside was replaced by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker. Hooker, too, proved unable to defeat Lee's army; despite outnumbering the Confederates by more than two to one, he was humiliated in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May. He was replaced by Maj. Gen. George Meade during Lee's second invasion of the East, in June. Meade defeated Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 to July 3), the bloodiest battle of the war, which proved to be the war's turning point. Lee's army suffered 28,000 casualties (versus Meade's 23,000). However, Lincoln was angry that Meade failed to intercept Lee's retreat, and after Meade's cautious and inconclusive Fall campaign, Lincoln decided to look for new leadership, saying that “If General Meade isn't going to use his army, I'd like to borrow it for a time.”

He recruited General Ulysses S. Grant for the post, a general who had much success in the north and who had previously succeeded in capturing the West’s greatest industrial city, Nashville. Into Grant’s hands Lincoln put the final fate of the war. Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, and put Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in command of most of the southern armies. Grant understood the concept of total war and believed, along with Lincoln and Sherman, that only the utter defeat of Confederate forces and their economic base would bring an end to the war. This was total war not in terms of killing civilians but rather in terms of destroying homes, farms and railroad tracks. Grant devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the entire Confederacy from multiple directions

Gettysburg Address

Four months after the bloody Battle of Gettysburg Commander-in-Chief Lincoln made a speech at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg. While short and seemingly unimpressive to all those gathered that day, the speech was reprinted in newspapers throughout the land and would be remembered as Lincoln’s most famous and profound words as American leader. Indeed these words would be remembered as one of the most famous speeches in American history:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The End of the War

Lee's army, thinned by desertion and casualties, was now much smaller than Grant's. Union forces won a decisive victory at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1 the following year, forcing Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Jackson. The Confederate capital fell to the Union XXV Corps, composed of black ethnically Mali troops. The remaining Confederate units fled south and after a defeat at Sayler's Creek, it became clear to Robert E. Lee that continued fighting against the United States was both tactically and logistically impossible.



Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Louisiana on April 9, at Appomattox Court House. In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of folding the Confederacy back into the Union with dignity and peace, Lee was permitted to keep his officer's saber and his horse, Traveller. Johnston surrendered his troops to Sherman on April 26, outside of Atlanta, becoming the last Confederate general in the field to stand down.

The Aftermath: Reuniting the Country

With the Confederate army destroyed, Commander Lincoln set about healing the deep wounds the war had caused. He called a Constitutional Convention and his cabinet met with the Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and other important dignitaries and elites from both halves of the nation. It was then that Lincoln proposed the most dramatic change in US history. The United States of America, now fully united, was to be a full representative democracy.

While Lincoln reinforced the idea that secession was illegal and would never be allowed, he suggested that all corners of the nation would benefit from increased autonomy and self-rule. He proposed a system of federalism whereby certain functions of government would be left to the states and others would be reserved for the national/federal government. Through lengthy discussions it was decided that the federal government be organized into three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

The executive branch would combine the Confederate President and Union Commander-in-Chief, now called the “President” who would serve both roles. He would be elected from the people, with the Electoral College simply a surrogate for the people’s will. Presidents would not serve for life, but would serve four years and then face another election.

The legislative branch would also combine elements from the Confederacy and the Union. The Senate, the historic name for the Union’s Electoral College, would be put in place as the “Upper House” in a bicameral legislature. The Confederacy’s Electoral College, the House of Representatives, would serve as the “Lower House”. As in the Confederate Constitution, Representatives would serve two year terms and be elected by the people directly. Senators would serve 6 year terms but also would be elected from the people directly.

The assembled politicians and leaders devised a system of checks & balances that would keep each branch of the government from dominating the others. Inspired by the democratic revolution in France and some early, private writings of Thomas Jefferson the prophet and Commander James Madison, this new government would, for the first time in American history, be a truly representative government.

The Western states would have to endure the complete eradication of slavery and emancipation, but in exchange the assembled constitutional convention called for a severe relaxing of tariffs in the country to appease the economic interests of the West by instituting free trade and a fully free market. Together with the new system of democratic representation and the free speech protections put forth years ago by Andrew Jackson, the United States of America were finally a free, united, and liberal democracy.

[Diplo France]

TO:The Dutch Republic
FROM: Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic

I know relations have been stressed between our fair republics in the last century or so. Several moves on our part and some actions on yours have created tensions where there really should be none. I wish to set this right. We wish to improve relations with you and several other nations on Terra. We shall do so in a honest and public manner.

That is why we present the following concessions. We open our borders to Dutch Confucian missionaries; several of our cities, mostly those with one religion spread there naturally without any organized religion do not have a Confucian presence thus far.


Our recent closure of markets to Dutch the Dutch corporation Mining Inc. has been one of the sources of sour feelings Hollanders may hold towards France. I wish to address this grievance. I tried to get a full open market agreement, but the national assembly would not allow this. But none the less this is a big step up, and if Holland wishes, as we do, to improve relations, only a transitional state on the path to fully open markets and a renewed sense of trust. We open the markets of the old world cities of: Chartres, Grenoble, Paris We also open up the markets of several of our colonies in the following lands New Holland, Madagascar, Spice Islands (Port-au-prince). We also open the markets of any city in New France that has less than 14 population.

Additionally we shall demilitarize our border with your nation to a great extent, we shall reduce troop numbers in both our border cities by 10 units. We hope this will go some way towards establishing good neighborly relations and perhaps partially restoring any damaged trust. I will in a series of moves of public diplomacy address several nations, but we thought it fitting to begin with Holland.

Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic

[OzzyKP]

(OOC - this post covers session 14, on May 17th/18th)


The Assassination of President Lincoln

Despite all of Lincoln’s efforts to bring the country together there were many disaffected westerners who refused to accept the outcome of the war and the elimination of slavery. One such man was John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor at the time and native of New Orleans. His fame as an actor allowed him to get close to the President during a performance of ”Our American Cousin” at Ford's Theatre.

Booth shot the president in the back of the head. Lincoln slumped over in his rocking chair, unconscious. Booth attempted to vault over the rail and down to the stage. His riding spur caught on the Treasury flag decorating the box, and instead of gracefully leaping to the stage, Booth came down full-face to the audience, landing awkwardly on his left foot, breaking his left fibula just above the ankle. He raised himself up and, holding a knife over his head, yelled, "Sic semper tyrannis, meaning "Thus always to tyrants." Booth then escaped from Washington, but was later caught up with fleeing southwest to New Orleans. He was later tried and executed.

By 7:22 in the morning, President Lincoln was dead.

Aftermath

Vice President Andrew Johnson took over for Lincoln after his assassination. His term didn’t last long however. He quickly earned the ire of the legislature. Eager to assert their newfound Constitutional authority the Congress impeached Johnson for many wrongdoings, in their opinion, while he was in office. The Senate however fell one vote short of removing Johnson from office. The whole affair ended up with Johnson too unpopular to run for re-election.

While still muddy, the new democracy was starting to align itself into various camps politically. Soon political parties were born. Lincoln’s supporters, including General Grant soon coalesced into a party calling themselves Republicans. Lincoln’s opponents (and many in the West) and those few who supported Johnson became the Democratic Party.

The very first fully democratic election was held the next year. The Republicans nominated the popular General Ulysses S. Grant and the Democrats nominated the governor of New York, Grover Cleveland.

Election of 1700

In some ways the election was a referendum on the war, but mostly the public was interested in moving on and putting food on the table. Economics played a large role. With much of the world in the midst of an industrial revolution, many Americans were keenly aware of how far behind they were in productivity and wanted to catch up. Other matters of corruption and personality were also on voter’s minds.

Ulysses S. Grant was fairly popular (at least in the East) due to his success finishing off the Civil War. But many were concerned he lacked the proper experience and temperament to be President. Despite running for the same party as Abraham Lincoln, most voters were looking for a humble, moral civil servant instead of a career soldier. Americans were sick of war. Concerns about corruption and his drinking habit tarnished his personal reputation as well.

Grover Cleveland however entered the fray with a near flawless record of fighting corruption and standing on his principles in good times and bad. He embodied the best of the Liberal tradition and supported free markets, low taxes, and keeping the government out of the lives of regular people. Many voters assumed such an approach would help industry flourish and the economy to recover from the war. Even with his spotless record as New York governor, Republicans attempted to bring his character into question. Grover Cleveland was a bachelor, and rumors began to circulate that he fathered an illegitimate child out of wedlock.

The derisive phrase "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?" rose as an unofficial campaign slogan for those who opposed him. When confronted with the emerging scandal, Cleveland's instructions to his campaign staff were: "Tell the truth." Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1790 to Maria Crofts Halpin, the woman who claimed he fathered her child named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Halpin was involved with several men at the time, including Cleveland's friend and law partner, Oscar Folsom, for whom the child was named. Cleveland did not know which man was the father, and is believed to have assumed responsibility because he was the only bachelor among them.

Cleveland’s honesty and straightforward handling of the matter built up his support instead of costing him support, and helped him win the election.

Grover Cleveland’s cabinet (session 14 May 17th/18th):

Vice-President – Adlai E. Stevenson
Secretary of State – Woodrow Wilson
Secretary of War – Horace Greeley
Secretary of the Treasury – William Jennings Bryan

Cleveland’s Presidency – A Golden Age

Grover Cleveland immediately set to work. He slashed already low tariffs and began many profitable trade deals with foreign nations. He also with his Secretary of State Woodrow Wilson negotiated a highly beneficial trade arrangement with Mongolian industry. American scientists recently completed many important physics theorems and at Cleveland’s behest taught the most advanced and cutting edge principles of physics available to Mongol scientists. In exchange Mongolian engineers and corporations shared with America the secrets of industry that had long evaded American businesses. The wonder of the assembly line and mass production was introduced to America.

The introduction of the assembly line and Cleveland’s hands off Laissez-faire approach to economics produced a golden age in the United States of America. Factories sprung up all across the nation and then huge coal plants to power them. America’s productivity rose dramatically during the Cleveland years. So did the amount of invention and ingenuity in the nation. America still lagged behind most countries on Terra in terms of science and technology, but during the Cleveland golden age they did much to catch up.

In 1720 during a particularly bad drought in Los Angeles, the Congress appropriated money to purchase seed grain for farmers there. Cleveland vetoed the expenditure. In his veto message, he espoused a theory of limited government:

I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution; and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadily resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the Government, the Government should not support the people.

Foreign Policy During the Great War

Also during Cleveland’s presidency, the eastern world began what would later prove to be the deadliest war in human history to that point. France and Mongolia invaded the Ottomans, America’s old friend and land partner. Many bills were passed through Congress condemning Mongolia for their unprovoked invasion. For France however there was more sympathy as they had been invaded by the Ottomans not too long before and suffered greatly. It seemed just to many that France sought revenge for the previous war. Congress was divided, should they support their friend, the Ottomans, and help repel the Mongol invasion or should they support their friend, the French, to regain their lost territory?

Cleveland was unimpressed by either side’s arguments. He was a staunch advocate of a non-interventionist foreign policy. The war simply did not involve the United States and unless one of the warring parties attacked the United States it wouldn’t involve them. Instead he focused on calming the drive to war by those in Congress, telling the Francophiles that France was achieving impressive victories in the new world and thus they had little to fear that France would regain their colonies. He also told the Turkophiles that the Ottomans had a very powerful ally in Holland who would not allow them to eradicated or crippled by Mongolia. His efforts calmed the hawks and ensured America focus on her own economic development and not squander resources on a costly, non-essential war.

The war however would last far longer than Cleveland’s time in office.

[Diplo Inca]

The Incans agreed to sell and then canceled? I would encourage the Incas to stick to the deal and sell that city, there is no good reason to have it there, no valuable resource, no excellent city spot its only purpose could be a military base to strike at targets in NH.

No deal was ever signed with the Ottomans. Yes they asked once if we would agree to such a thing. We replied that we have no cities in NH. And our colonies on the southern island are not for sale. They are there to reasure that that island stays stable and does not fall into disarray as NH.

Inca just recetly took over a barb city in the northen parts of NH for strategic reasons. We see it as a good base from where we can spread our communistic believes to the island of NH.

[Diplo France]

Originally posted by Diplo Inca


No deal was ever signed with the Ottomans. Yes they asked once if we would agree to such a thing. We replied that we have no cities in NH. And our colonies on the southern island are not for sale. They are there to reasure that that island stays stable and does not fall into disarray as NH.

Inca just recetly took over a barb city in the northen parts of NH for strategic reasons. We see it as a good base from where we can spread our communistic believes to the island of NH.

First off both New Holland and New France are continents. Even the much much smaller island of Madagascar is sometimes considered a continent. The Dutch arctic continent is also just half the siz
e of New Holland but has always been considered a continents.

Originally posted by Diplo Inca
They are there to reasure that that island stays stable and does not fall into disarray as NH.

I'm sorry but anyone who knows the history of Terra knows this is not true. You took the land as part of an invasion remember?

On a unrelated matter, France is most concerned by the military build up of the Incan Emprie on the continent of New France. We assure you that neither we or Russia (as far as I know) are building up our forces on the continent.

Could you please explain why you are such massive expansions to the local military presence nessecary?
The Incan army has now surpassed Holland's in size and seems to be growing at a incredible rate.

Originally posted by Diplo Inca
Inca just recetly took over a barb city in the northen parts of NH for strategic reasons. We see it as a good base from where we can spread our communistic believes to the island of NH.

The three nations that hold land on the island (Holland, France, Ottomans), with the possible exception of the Ottoman empire are unlikely to adopt commiunism.

Have you not cosidered selling your colony to the Ottomans? In any case we have no problem with imperialism at the expense of uncivilised peoples as long as there is no hypocrisy involved.

The only way to spread "Communist" ideals from the city would be by using force to take land from the three remaining nations with cities on the continent of New Holland.


In conclusion we are happy to hear that the Incas have violated no treaties.

[Diplo Inca]

Could you please explain why you are such massive expansions to the local military presence necessary?

Annual military training maneuvers!

[Diplo France]

Originally posted by Diplo Inca


Annual military training maneuvers!

How many years does a supposedly "annunal" training maneover last?


In any case we hope the stronger nations are not considering attacking weak France, since as always we are commited to fighiting any defensive war as a total war and would not be fighting any war with you to save what we can (since we couldn't) but we would be fighiting it to hurt the agressor as badly as we possibly can.


Some might say that this is because our leaderss ar heartless and won't be able to lead France much longer.

[Diplo Inca]

Haha weak France you say dear SIR, we notice that your nation is ranked as the world second, this doesn’t look weak to us. And yes it has been know for many years just how paranoid the French are.

Please do not speak of defensive wars, your recent record shows the exact opposite.

since as always we are commited to fighiting any defensive war as a [otal war and would not be fighting any war with you to save what we can (since we couldn't) but we would be fighiting it to hurt the agressor as badly as we possibly can.

Threats won’t do you any good, what you say may be considered a threat in Incan Lands. And yes Inca annual military trainings take many months. Also Inca has discovered recently some alarming news. As hard as the French are working to fool many nations that they are peaceful and friendly, the reality is much much darker.

We have evidence and if need be we will show it to the whole world.

Well there is no need, much letters have been received from other parties to underline their French distrust.

To those nations Inca says we will answer their letters soon enough.

[Diplo France]

Originally posted by Diplo Inca
Haha weak France you say dear SIR, we notice that your nation is ranked as the world second, this doesn’t look weak to us.

What is this rank you speak of? And if we knew what you are refering to we would point out that we are just a few points above Holland. And this is only due to the Mali tehnically being our vassal, without this we would be ranked not only behind Holland but Mongolia as well.

In any case your nations is several hundred points above Holland so yes we should seem very weak to you, if we don't we advise you take another look at the situation.

Originally posted by Diplo Inca
And yes it has been know for many years just how paranoid the French are.

Has our paranoia ever let us down? We live in a dangerus world, a place where actions are allowed if you are one nation but not if you are another. Rather hypocritical actually.

Originally posted by Diplo Inca

Please do not speak of defensive wars, your recent record shows the exact opposite.

All our wars except the last have been cases when Franch land was stolen. And the last war was not started by us, you dissmis so casually the destroyed towns that dot the French countryside. You also dissmis the unprovoked agression of the Ottoman empire during the previous war.

Originally posted by Diplo Inca

Threats won’t do you any good, what you say may be considered a threat in Incan Lands.

We are threatening no one, let us carifly this now, before our words are twisted. We do not intend to attack any nation in the following years. People try to paint us as wolves, but tell us don't wolves have teeht, why is our power ranked even below American military might, and is about half of the Incan military build up? The Incan empire has very, very sharp teeth for a sheep.

Again we are making no accusations, we simply enquire why you are building up militarily at such a breath taking pace. We are most disturbed you deny this, since we fear that your goal is nothing less than conquest. If you had admited to building up for defensive purposes we would have in fact been relived (it is only logical that theIncas need it since they are by far the richest, most cultured and most advanced nation on Terra and have been such since the dawn of time).

We just said, that if we are attacked, we shall not be very reasonable. If it is unavoidable that we go down, we would pull whomever would have pushed us there too.

Originally posted by Diplo Inca

And yes Inca annual military trainings take many months.

Sir do not take us for fools, months do not equal decades.

Originally posted by Diplo Inca

And yes Inca annual military trainings take many months. Also Inca has discovered recently some alarming news. As hard as the French are working to fool many nations that they are peaceful and friendly, the reality is much much darker.

Regardless of what people think of our motives. And yes they probably doubt them since we have been subject to the most coordinated and efficient smear campaign in history. No one ever questioned the Ottomans, Americans, Carpathians, Mongolians, Incas when they did much much worse things in their distant past, we are being blamed for things we did not do. It would not suprise us that people might go as far as forging documents out of pure spite. Let us assure you that if this happens and that the world should move to find a final solution to the "French Question" we will not be willing subjects to the genocide but will take up arms, knowing that we are doomed, just in hopes of causing as much pain and death as we can upon those who would spread hate.


We are just dissapointed that the world is not bothered in the least by these strong anti-gallician bigotry that has already translated to "racial hygene" laws in several backwater provinces of a number of nations.
We fear these may soon become enforced by central goverments, after that those of French blood will be "moved east".

Originally posted by Diplo Inca
Well there is no need, much letters have been received from other parties to underline their French distrust.

To those nations Inca says we will answer their letters soon enough.

Even if we where as sinister as the anti-gallican extremists would paint us. Surely the world can see reason? Surley anyone can, by just looking at the power graphs see that we are not a threat.


Again France is defenseless against a global drive to exterminate our people. We are second in rank only due to a error in diplomatic formularies.