Historical Start
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On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the Year of Our Lord 1918 the guns fell silent. The War to End all Wars was over and the only task now was to win the peace. When the French field marshal Ferdinand Foch saw the resulting peace of Versailles he declared, “This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years”. It is now the 1st of January 1936 and Foch’s remark is already looking particularly perceptive.
War rages in Asia, as Japanese troops continue their relentless assault in China. In Europe the Treaty of Versailles is dead and the hope for peace is all but dead. Germany has rearmed, remilitarised the Rhineland and annexed Austria. Already her eyes are turned to the Sudetenland, of which Hitler will say, “It is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe”. The British may be willing to trust Hitler one last time, but after that there will be few alternatives.
Hitler’s promises proved to be worth nothing, and the Munich agreement that had promised peace in our time was torn up within 6 months. The Western Allies steeled themselves for war, while the Soviet Union made a pact with the devil. The German attack on Poland meant war. Chamberlain wanted to “live to see the day when Hitlerism has been destroyed and a liberated Europe has been re-established.” He would be dead before the next year ended -- peace would take longer.
The phoney war was over. Chamberlain had been so confident he had boasted a month earlier that "He [Hitler] had missed the bus”, but he hadn’t. The German Panzer troops were poised on the border of the Low Countries, ready to unleash the Blitzkrieg on an unprepared France. All that would be left would be blood, toil, tears and sweat.
The Battle of France ended in just 6 weeks, and the German armies are triumphant once more. The Battle of Britain was Hitler’s attempt to force Britain out of the war. But Churchill was made of sterner stuff than Chamberlain, Churchill who vowed that “I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us” and would not be cowed. Checked in the West, the lure of the East became irresistible for Hitler and the German Army. Their troops are massed on the Eastern border, and the two great Titans of Europe are about to clash.
In Europe, the German offensive towards Moscow has ground to a halt, and already the Soviet troops have begun a counter-offensive, spearheaded by veteran divisions drawn from the Far East military districts. Yet this is no gamble by Stalin to leave his eastern border undefended. The NKVD spy Richard Sorge has managed to get information to STAVKA that the Japanese are aiming south. Beginning with their attack in 1937, the Japanese have continued to advance into China, and their push into French Indochina steadily soured relations with America. The crippling oil embargo by the US has left the Japanese high command with no choice but war. “December 7, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy” is how FDR will describe it. The Imperial Japanese Navy has just launched an attack that stunned America. Four days later, Germany recklessly declared war on the USA...
The seemingly unstoppable Axis Juggernaut has come shuddering to a halt. The Japanese defeat at Midway handed the US naval superiority in the Pacific, while the surrender of the 6th Army at Stalingrad left an almost fatal wound in the power of the German Army. Meanwhile the deteriorating situation in the Mediterranean has left the Italian government looking shaky. Although Churchill would say later "Before Alamein, we had no victories. After Alamein, we had no defeats." The Axis powers still have powerful armies under their command and they still control vast swaths of territory. Victory remains a long way off.
The Italians have surrendered. The Japanese army is falling back across the Pacific. The German army is retreating in the East and has failed to prevent the Allies landing in the West. “Hell is on us”, is how the Japanese foreign minister put it.
There are eight historical start bookmarks, each starting at a different time in history, and each having its own recommended countries. In contrast to scenarios, the player is free to choose any other country on the map.
The Road to War (1 January 1936)
Recommended countries
The Gathering Storm (1 September 1938)
Recommended countries
Blitzkrieg (1 September 1939)
Recommended countries
Attack on the West (10 May 1940)
This bookmark was added in Semper Fi.
Recommended countries
Barbarossa (22 June 1941)
Recommended countries
Day of Infamy (11 December 1941)
Recommended countries
The Tide has Turned (1 February 1943)
This bookmark is not available with Custom Game Mode.
Recommended countries
Götterdämmerung (20 June 1944)
This bookmark is not available with Custom Game Mode.
