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Hellkeeper, 01/09/2010, 15:10
Victoria - AAR : The Civil War (End)
In March, the complete anihilation of the Western front is achieved, the US thus suffering its worst defeat ever, the frontline completely broken, the majority of the country being open to conquest. However, riots everywhere and the insane pressure applied in Virginia prevent us from launching a huge occupation operation. Moreover, a newly-elected anti-military government cripples our war effort by preventing us from extending conscription further.
Except for a few units, all the armies of the western front are sent east. The Second Regular Army is sent straight to Manassas while the NG and the IInd and IIIrd Conscript armies are sent to Cleveland in order to shorten the frontline and divert forces from Maryland.
On March 8th 1863, the last two divisions we were ever able to recruit are deployed in Fredericksburg and sent to Manassas. Lee's extraordinary performance at containing the overwhelming Maryland Army is decisive for the later course of the war.
Dauterive arrives from the west on March 16th and joins the bloodbath in Cleveland. Jackson is still fighting rebels in Missouri, along with a handful of depleted Union units. On April 2nd 1863, one year after the Conscription Act was passed, the US Army, though completely disorganized still manages to put up a fight.
The battle of Cleveland is of course a success, our forces being largely superior. As the Norfolk farrison establishes control over the area, Dauterive takes all the available units on a chase to Pittsburgh, leaving only the Norfolk garrison behind him to secure Cleveland
On April 18th 1863, The battle of Manassas is still going on. Despite the destruction of many US divisions, the US seems willing to throw everything it has in this battle, as if it had infinite manpower. Lee's incredible resistance proves very costly. Divisions have been pulled back from as far as Missouri, and several units have already vanished in the fires of war.
On April 24th, The bloodshed in Manassas comes to an end with the retreat of the remaining Confederate troops to Staunton and Fredericksburg. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and the entire Army of Virginia have ceased to exist, and the remains of the IInd Regular Army and of the fresh troops of March amount to only a few hundred shellshocked, wounded men. Though the western front has come to a close, the eastern front is falling appart, leaving the gate to Richmond wide open.
As the collapse of the Eastern front sucks US divisions from the northern border, Lee, now without a command, is sent to assist Dauterive's Army of the West in taking Buffalo. US troops starts pouring into Norfolk, threatening Richmond and the CS capitol. The more or less valid IInd Regular Army, replenished with new men, marches towards them, while the Volunteer Regiment of Kentucky and a couple of disorganized units are sent to Manassas, in a desperate effort to isolate more US troops and stop the decomposition of the Confederate Army in Virginia.
Lee marches into Buffalo, looking grim. Though he has six divisions and Billings only four, his army consists mainly of exhausted veterans from the Lake campaign and not one division has its ranks complete.
On the other side of the front, the Norfolk battle is a victory, but new US forces gathered in Manassas refuse to leave Confederate ground. Both the retreating US troops and the victorious IInd Regular Army also arrive and join the second battle of Manassas, where the disorganised US troops are finally overwhelmed.
On August 7th 1863, the CSA seems to have the upper hand.
However, riots just behind the frontline prevent any offensive from the Confederacy. On August 5th, a large offensive lead by US general Meade threatens to isolate Lee and Dauterive's Army of the West.
They immediately retreat to save their supply lines and support the Norfolk garrison. In Manassas, the routed US forces are retreating to Washington, chased by the IInd Regular Army, while the second half of the army stands in Manassas to reestablish Confederate control. Sudden reinforcements in Washington, and the fear of an early counter-attack cutting back the Second Regular army, lead to the cancellation of the assault.
In Pittsburgh, the battle has turned into a ludicrous slaughter. As Lee calls for more and more units from the central front and from the west, Meade's battalion starts to plummet and fall appart. On September 7th, Jackson abandons Buffalo and joins the battle. Two days latter, Missouri officially joins the Confederacy.
The Battle of Pittsburgh continues, under general supervision of Twigs on the Confederate side and Meade on the Union's. Most of the US forces being pinned down there, the US having neglected the defense of Frederick in Maryland, an attack is immediately planned.
After the destruction of most of their forces, including Meade's own division, the survivors of Pittsburgh retreat. The victorious forces of the Confederacy launch a huge assault on the heavily fortified province of Wheeling, hoping to conquer the second half of West Virginia and its mountains.
The battle ends with a costly victory, but Pittsburgh being defenceless, the US army jumps on this opportunity to take back control over one of its industrial centers. While the IInd Conscript Army occupies Wheeling, all the armies of the western front move back. In the west, Jackson still kills rebels and tries to prevent the remaining US western forces from regaining ground. These tiny remains of an army are still without orders from their government since October 23rd, 1862.
Despite our efforts, Pittsburgh falls into the hands of the Union. We make a hasty retreat to Cleveland, both to heal our wounds and to prevent any further advance. However, the 1864 elections in the United States saw McClellan elected as President of the United States. The new president made a peace offer to the Confederate Military Command.
The US ambassador met General Lee, general Dauterive and general Johnson in Cleveland, where he proposed what was presented as an "honorable peace", basically a return to the 1861 borders with Missouri and Kentucky under Confederate control. The CSA government demanded all border states and, unsurprisingly, the United States would not submit. The war went on.
The US uses the momentum of its success to attack the army in Wheeling. This is a stupid decision because this province is heavily defended, easily defendable, and because it forces the Union army to leave Pittsburgh wide open. We jump on this opportunity to take it back. Seing this, US invaders make a hasty retreat to Pittsburgh, where they overwhelm the small Confederate attacking force but are soon joined by the vast Army of the West.
More divisions from the east attack us in Pittsburgh, and we are forced to retreat to the secure province of Wheeling. There, the eastern theater as a whole comes to a stop. What follows is a long and pointless series of ambushes and skirmishes, but the real battle now takes place in the west, where Jackson is still gaining provinces, crushing revolts and containing the shreds of the US Army.
The theocracy of Deseret, under Confederate control, decided to officially join the Confederacy on May 25th.
Finally, on September 12th 1864, on the brink of disintegration, the United States recognizes its defeat and the legitimity of the CS claims on the western territories.
It was now time for the Confederacy to acknowledge its bankrupcy, start healing its wounds and prepare its administration for its glorious destiny. After the European intervention in Mexico, the Confederate Army liberates Mexico and includes it in the CS sphere of influence, but the United States, to counter this, also agrees to a military alliance with thos nation.
At the end of 1869, after the expiration of the peace treaty, the Union foolishly calls for another war against the Confederacy, with mexican support. Though Mexico never did as much as moving troops into Texas, the United States found its army crushed and almost its entire territory occupied by Confederate troops. The whole country being occupied, save for a bessieged New England, the new peace treaty was much harsher: West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and most of Mishigan were annexed to the Confederacy, definitely splitting the US territory, the Confederate Army dwarfing its ennemy.
A long period of peace was now to follow in North America. After the purchase of Cuba, Jamaica and other islands in the Caribbean from the United Kingdom and Spain, the Confederacy, now rapidly extending its industry, invaded and annexed Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and, in the end, every country in Central America between Mexico and Columbia. We then decided to build the Panama channel, bought Belize from the UK and increased the size of our army. We set up a great and efficient public health service and implemented strong safety measures at work. We thus managed to regain our status as one of the most important powers on Earth.
The final situation is 1936.
