Deo Vindice

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I. What This Is

If you're like me—and I know I am—you've wanted to play some of the revolt nations in HoI3:FTM right from a scenario's start. Since I'm something of a War Between the States buff with frequent stretches of free time, I created this scenario for everyone who's ever wanted to live and die in Dixie in HoI3:FTM.

It's that simple and unambitious, but hopefully can save you, the downloading public, some grunt work if you're interested in playing an extant, long-standing Confederacy in the "Road to War" scenario.

II. What This Pre-Supposes

In September 1862, the Confederate States of America win the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam for the Southern-impaired) and their independence after their victory triggers the British and French Empires' intervention into the War Between the States. European intervention is made politically possible in part because, in the absence of a Northern victory, the Emancipation Proclamation never leaves President Lincoln's desk drawer.

Peace is negotiated and borders are drawn, with major rivers (like fences, they make for good neighbors) as the main guide. Disputed areas are awarded to the side with the most brogans on a particular piece of ground. Thus, Missouri remains in the Union while Kentucky (then host to Braxton Bragg's army) is awarded to the Confederacy. Virginia refuses to be partitioned and retains all its antebellum lands, thereby maintaining the Ohio River as an acceptable boundary between the formerly warring nations (and as a result, the proposed Union state of West Virginia never comes to be).

The Union accepts the Confederate Territory of Arizona at the boundaries established in August 1861 in exchange for the Confederacy's renouncing all other claims on western lands. Confederate Arizona becomes a state in early 1912, with its capital at Phoenix.

The Indian Territory, home to the "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole), retains a large degree of internal autonomy while still electing representatives to the Confederate Congress and coordinating its foreign policy with Richmond's. While not officially Confederate states, the "Civilized Tribes" nations are nonetheless something very close to it.

The United States finds the taste of defeat bitter, but learns to coexist with its new sovereign neighbor to the South. Within a short time, the U.S. gets on with the things it strove for in the antebellum period: settling the West and becoming a great power.

History records 1880 as one of the most pivotal years in Confederate history. With the collapse of the cotton economy, the CSA finally bows to international pressure and ends slavery. While equality for blacks is at least a century away, they are then at least free. The year also marks the beginnings of mass industrialization throughout the South, a development that secures the Confederacy's place as a true world power.

In 1898 "yellow journalism" and the destruction of the warship CSS Arkansas in Havana Harbor draw the CSA into war with Spain. A swift Southern victory follows, and in its aftermath the C.S. are awarded Puerto Rico and install a puppet government in Cuba. Similarly (and opportunistically), the U.S. successfully presses its claims on Guam and the Philippines.

The Confederacy's confidence remains high until it joins the Allied side in the Great War at Great Britain's behest. Despite its best efforts, the war remains a bloody stalemate until the very end when the United States finally enters the conflict decisively. The CSA are among the victors, but have nothing to show for it other than a debt of honor fulfilled, paid with thousands of dead.

In 1936, the U.S. and C.S. still aren't pals, but have learned to get along and stay out of each other's way: the C.S. are let alone in Mexico and the Caribbean, while the U.S. pursues its interests in the Pacific and elsewhere. Thus, history pretty much follows its regional course for both nations, right through to the Great Depression and the start of the scenario. The Confederacy remains close to the British—a step shy of being an actual Commonwealth nation—but too deep in isolation and Depression to be a player on the world stage, of the sort that could immediately aid Britain in the event of war in Europe.

(Sure, there are good arguments why this all couldn't/wouldn't have happened, and I'm not dismissing any of them. However, there're already great mods out there which simulate ongoing hostility between a defeated Union and a victorious Confederacy. My mod is simply an alternative for those who want to play out a different possibility.)

III. So What's So Great About This Mod, Huh?

You mean besides saving you months of research, scripting, and graphic design? Well, other than that, I got nothin'.

Mod Information

Paradox Forum location Deo Vindice thread
Current version 3.5
Last update July 2, 2013
Compatibility HoI3 Their Finest Hour v4.02
Mod team CSABadass
AAR archives http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?576446-The-Confederate-States-of-America-in-WWII&highlight=deo+vindice

Features

Feature Description
Graphics & Sound Yes—new CSA graphics & pics
AI Yes—incoporates Peterhoi3's AI mod
Technology No
Map Renamed & redrawn for alt-history provinces
Events Yes
New Units Elite CSA Zouave units
Game Mechanics No