evwalt
Posts: 644
Joined: 11/14/2007 Status: offline
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Early May, 1792 (ie. Pre-game) The Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway lie on the edge of a great precipice. Europe has exploded into open war with the removal of the French King. The armies of Austria and Prussia are on the march. How is a small power to survive? I intend for this AAR to follow in the footsteps in of some others, with sections on Diplomacy, Military and Economic issues. Only Diplomacy will be addressed in this first entry. Diplomatic Situation Being a small power requires Denmark to talk with everyone to insure her survival. Her biggest threat at the beginning of the game is England, whose fleet can easily overwhelm mine if it doesn’t have to worry about other powers. To a lesser extent, Russia threatens Denmark, but perhaps not as greatly as one might think. The Russian Baltic Fleet only consists of 32 ships, while the Danish fleet consists of 40 better-trained, better-led ships. Extensive wargaming shows that the Russian fleet has only about a 20-30% chance of overwhelming the Danish navy. If the Russian navy cannot gain control of the sea, I believe that her army is much less of a threat. Prussia and France could possibly become threats in the future, but the fact they are currently at war with each other limits any moves in the near term. Most other countries are no threat at this time. Expansion is the number one problem of Denmark: they have few places to expand. Sweden is an obvious choice, but only after a build-up of Danish forces (whose mobile army numbers only 40,000 in May 1792!). Sweden would also bring a possible conflict with England. The obvious answer is to co-op England into invading the country with me. First, it would secure new territories for Denmark. Second, the alliance required between England and Denmark for a proper invasion would help safeguard Denmark from other English expansion plans in the near future. Third, the English would, by far, provide the majority of invasion forces. To that end, I contacted England about a joint invasion of Sweden, offering to limit my expansion to Malmo, Karlskrona and Gottenburg. This would provide England with much more territory, but also give her the headache of dealing with the Russians in Finland. I have also contacted the Russians and French about their plans for the future. Russia is very noncommittal at this time, providing no details outside of expressing interest in Poland and Sweden. France was more touchy and immediately wanted to know what was in it for him. I pointed out that if Denmark and England declared war on Sweden and it turned to him for assistance, France WOULD be forced to declare war on both countries. From my last correspondence, I believe France has no interest in adding to his list of enemies, so I think he will back down from a confrontation.
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