Development Diary XXXI: Débrouillez-Vous - Part 1/4
https://preview.redd.it/on7phjhxf2ff1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=f8dbdca949df976b53975dc2275024d74ca74dab
# Introduction:
Welcome to the Débrouillez-Vous Development Diary! Today, the Africa leads will be discussing the future of TNO Africa, and its planned patch. Some of you may be familiar with Débrouillez-Vous already, but for those of you who are not aware, it is a submod that has been in development, aiming at a rework of Africa to fit modern TNO standards. We have decided to integrate them into the development team, to help serve as the basis for a new and comprehensive Africa patch. Alongside TNO and DV's Africa devs, we have also fully involved the devs of other countries in the making of this new patch, finding as many places as possible for their countries to interact with Africa, and many of the Africa devs, including all of the leads, also serve on teams for countries interacting with Africa.
We aim to provide an intriguing and comprehensive view of Africa in the 1960s, and onward, focusing on how the alternative history that TNO represents will lead to vastly different fates for the African continent compared to that of OTL. Débrouillez-Vous aims to provide a dynamic and changing Africa, in which the superpowers are struggling for dominance from 1962 to the end of the game, and in which Africa can end in hugely different situations. In two separate games of TNO, you might, for instance, see the emergence of region-spanning African superstates, or you may see the colonial powers retaining their dominance over the region, and the African continent swallowed under the darkness of European rule forever.
Débrouillez-Vous is a full update that focuses on providing proxy conflicts for the player to enjoy, and as such, we are focusing on ensuring that every part of this patch's skeleton will seamlessly interface with that of existing powers, so if you are playing any nation that interacts with Africa, you will see your gameplay actively enriched by this patch. This patch is not a vague concept, but something that is actively being worked on as you read this. Africa will receive fully reactive skeleton content that goes up until the game's end in the 70s in this update. So, enjoy reading the rest of this diary, and we hope you will be happy with it.
# British West Africa:
https://preview.redd.it/mup47x6kg2ff1.png?width=1764&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fa130b462680f55fefa5b46e4203af3298cec47
When Britain finally capitulated to the German onslaught, it did so not as an island nation, but as the overlord of the Empire upon which the sun never set. What defeat meant, however, was that the sun would indeed set upon much of the British Empire. The victorious Axis powers carved out major concessions from London; Italy gained dominion over the Mediterranean and Near East, while Japan became the undisputed master of South East Asia. Worst of all of these was the loss of India, Victoria's hard-won 'Crown Jewel,' and the foundation of much of Britain's success and wealth over the past two centuries. Adding further injury, the Dominions, all of whom were distant and independent enough to avoid conquest, refused to follow their mother country into the fascist yoke. For any proud Briton, it was a crushing humiliation; a humiliation that would indelibly shape the thinking of the British elite under the New Order.
Initially, the first collaboration government of William Maxwell Aitken, the Lord Beaverbrook, did not change much for Africa, being too focused on the reconstruction and rebuilding of state authority in Britain proper. His successor as Prime Minister, the Duke of Bedford, a noted reactionary fascist, felt more comfortable turning attention back to the remnants of the Empire. He established a colonial consensus within the BPP; Bedford’s government revoked voting rights from all native Africans, limiting the Legislative Councils to whites, although it disempowered even these segregated bodies in favor of more autocratic
https://preview.redd.it/on7phjhxf2ff1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=f8dbdca949df976b53975dc2275024d74ca74dab
# Introduction:
Welcome to the Débrouillez-Vous Development Diary! Today, the Africa leads will be discussing the future of TNO Africa, and its planned patch. Some of you may be familiar with Débrouillez-Vous already, but for those of you who are not aware, it is a submod that has been in development, aiming at a rework of Africa to fit modern TNO standards. We have decided to integrate them into the development team, to help serve as the basis for a new and comprehensive Africa patch. Alongside TNO and DV's Africa devs, we have also fully involved the devs of other countries in the making of this new patch, finding as many places as possible for their countries to interact with Africa, and many of the Africa devs, including all of the leads, also serve on teams for countries interacting with Africa.
We aim to provide an intriguing and comprehensive view of Africa in the 1960s, and onward, focusing on how the alternative history that TNO represents will lead to vastly different fates for the African continent compared to that of OTL. Débrouillez-Vous aims to provide a dynamic and changing Africa, in which the superpowers are struggling for dominance from 1962 to the end of the game, and in which Africa can end in hugely different situations. In two separate games of TNO, you might, for instance, see the emergence of region-spanning African superstates, or you may see the colonial powers retaining their dominance over the region, and the African continent swallowed under the darkness of European rule forever.
Débrouillez-Vous is a full update that focuses on providing proxy conflicts for the player to enjoy, and as such, we are focusing on ensuring that every part of this patch's skeleton will seamlessly interface with that of existing powers, so if you are playing any nation that interacts with Africa, you will see your gameplay actively enriched by this patch. This patch is not a vague concept, but something that is actively being worked on as you read this. Africa will receive fully reactive skeleton content that goes up until the game's end in the 70s in this update. So, enjoy reading the rest of this diary, and we hope you will be happy with it.
# British West Africa:
https://preview.redd.it/mup47x6kg2ff1.png?width=1764&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fa130b462680f55fefa5b46e4203af3298cec47
When Britain finally capitulated to the German onslaught, it did so not as an island nation, but as the overlord of the Empire upon which the sun never set. What defeat meant, however, was that the sun would indeed set upon much of the British Empire. The victorious Axis powers carved out major concessions from London; Italy gained dominion over the Mediterranean and Near East, while Japan became the undisputed master of South East Asia. Worst of all of these was the loss of India, Victoria's hard-won 'Crown Jewel,' and the foundation of much of Britain's success and wealth over the past two centuries. Adding further injury, the Dominions, all of whom were distant and independent enough to avoid conquest, refused to follow their mother country into the fascist yoke. For any proud Briton, it was a crushing humiliation; a humiliation that would indelibly shape the thinking of the British elite under the New Order.
Initially, the first collaboration government of William Maxwell Aitken, the Lord Beaverbrook, did not change much for Africa, being too focused on the reconstruction and rebuilding of state authority in Britain proper. His successor as Prime Minister, the Duke of Bedford, a noted reactionary fascist, felt more comfortable turning attention back to the remnants of the Empire. He established a colonial consensus within the BPP; Bedford’s government revoked voting rights from all native Africans, limiting the Legislative Councils to whites, although it disempowered even these segregated bodies in favor of more autocratic
governorships. Many of the institutions of British India were grafted onto Africa in an effort to maintain imperial legitimacy - most notably, Edward VIII was crowned as Emperor of Africa under the Bedford government.
The BPP’s party organisation was not exported to Africa; the colonial regimes are strictly non-partisan. Bedford's successors, A. K. Chesterton and Barry Domvile, retained virtually the same colonial policy, backed by an increasingly hawkish and hardline military under the leadership of Gerald Templer and Walter Walker. Both Templer and Walker are experienced colonial enforcers, Templer having suppressed the Mau-Mau in Kenya, and Walker doing the same to the TANU in Tanganyika.
Post-war Britain’s longest-serving Colonial Secretary, and the one who has most defined their new policies, is the Southern Rhodesian aristocrat, Angus Graham, Duke of Montrose. The BPP’s current colonial consensus is only really challenged internally by the Pragmatist faction, who favor granting Home Rule to most colonies and lifting many of the petty racial restrictions. Despite this, the Pragmatists are in no way opposed to the Empire as a concept or to a status quo of de facto white supremacy. The BPP’s status as the "Party of Empire," born in no small part out of opposition to Indian autonomy, makes a true break with colonialism impossible for any of the Collaborationist leaders.
Within the British outposts in West Africa, any tentative liberalisation introduced by the pre-war colonial administrations was rapidly reversed when the BPP regime came to power. The new regime favored indirect rule, racial laws, and the disempowerment of all urban evolues. As these policies began to be implemented, alongside heavy taxes and new economic restrictions designed to make wealth extraction easier, unrest began to increase steadily in British West Africa. The fiercest resistance was in the Gold Coast, leading to a wave of disorganised violence sweeping the colony in 1948, after a veterans' protest in Accra was brutally suppressed. Although Governor Gerald Creasy successfully ended the demonstrations, they led to the Convention People's Party's rise under the leadership of the exiled nationalist, Kwame Nkrumah. A robust nationalist underground soon took shape under the direction of the CPP. When the First Great Uprising erupted in the Home Isles in 1956, this clandestine network gambled everything on a general uprising against the confused and undermanned garrison force. The gamble, miraculously, paid off. With the British Army bogged down at home, the revolutionaries had the momentum to seize Accra and other key positions; a significant portion of the native forces in Ghana defected, sealing the revolution's victory. The Ghanaian underground had already formed clandestine ties to American intelligence, and they immediately requested American support in defending their gains. Once the Americans entered the picture, plans for a joint Anglo-French counterattack were shelved indefinitely. In addition, Ghana found an unlikely ally far closer to the heart of Europe - Sweden. The Swedes entered a relationship with the Ghanaian government, agreeing to provide them with arms, including the planes for their air force, and diplomatic ties developed quickly, to Britain’s disgust.
https://preview.redd.it/w6scbbgmg2ff1.png?width=1834&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6b1b99c568b9aa984b1053d20490e1640d5d02b
The success of the Ghanaian Revolution, the first of its kind in Africa, sent shockwaves across the continent. The aura of European invincibility had been shaken to its core during the Second World War, as Africans watched their overlords succumb to the German juggernaut, but that aura had gradually returned over the years as attempts to break free of colonial rule ended in failure and slaughter from Kenya to Madagascar. Ghana served as a reminder that struggle was not hopeless, and that despite the odds, freedom was in fact possible for those willing to fight. It was for this reason that 1956 would
The BPP’s party organisation was not exported to Africa; the colonial regimes are strictly non-partisan. Bedford's successors, A. K. Chesterton and Barry Domvile, retained virtually the same colonial policy, backed by an increasingly hawkish and hardline military under the leadership of Gerald Templer and Walter Walker. Both Templer and Walker are experienced colonial enforcers, Templer having suppressed the Mau-Mau in Kenya, and Walker doing the same to the TANU in Tanganyika.
Post-war Britain’s longest-serving Colonial Secretary, and the one who has most defined their new policies, is the Southern Rhodesian aristocrat, Angus Graham, Duke of Montrose. The BPP’s current colonial consensus is only really challenged internally by the Pragmatist faction, who favor granting Home Rule to most colonies and lifting many of the petty racial restrictions. Despite this, the Pragmatists are in no way opposed to the Empire as a concept or to a status quo of de facto white supremacy. The BPP’s status as the "Party of Empire," born in no small part out of opposition to Indian autonomy, makes a true break with colonialism impossible for any of the Collaborationist leaders.
Within the British outposts in West Africa, any tentative liberalisation introduced by the pre-war colonial administrations was rapidly reversed when the BPP regime came to power. The new regime favored indirect rule, racial laws, and the disempowerment of all urban evolues. As these policies began to be implemented, alongside heavy taxes and new economic restrictions designed to make wealth extraction easier, unrest began to increase steadily in British West Africa. The fiercest resistance was in the Gold Coast, leading to a wave of disorganised violence sweeping the colony in 1948, after a veterans' protest in Accra was brutally suppressed. Although Governor Gerald Creasy successfully ended the demonstrations, they led to the Convention People's Party's rise under the leadership of the exiled nationalist, Kwame Nkrumah. A robust nationalist underground soon took shape under the direction of the CPP. When the First Great Uprising erupted in the Home Isles in 1956, this clandestine network gambled everything on a general uprising against the confused and undermanned garrison force. The gamble, miraculously, paid off. With the British Army bogged down at home, the revolutionaries had the momentum to seize Accra and other key positions; a significant portion of the native forces in Ghana defected, sealing the revolution's victory. The Ghanaian underground had already formed clandestine ties to American intelligence, and they immediately requested American support in defending their gains. Once the Americans entered the picture, plans for a joint Anglo-French counterattack were shelved indefinitely. In addition, Ghana found an unlikely ally far closer to the heart of Europe - Sweden. The Swedes entered a relationship with the Ghanaian government, agreeing to provide them with arms, including the planes for their air force, and diplomatic ties developed quickly, to Britain’s disgust.
https://preview.redd.it/w6scbbgmg2ff1.png?width=1834&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6b1b99c568b9aa984b1053d20490e1640d5d02b
The success of the Ghanaian Revolution, the first of its kind in Africa, sent shockwaves across the continent. The aura of European invincibility had been shaken to its core during the Second World War, as Africans watched their overlords succumb to the German juggernaut, but that aura had gradually returned over the years as attempts to break free of colonial rule ended in failure and slaughter from Kenya to Madagascar. Ghana served as a reminder that struggle was not hopeless, and that despite the odds, freedom was in fact possible for those willing to fight. It was for this reason that 1956 would
become known as the Year of Africa.
In 1962, when the game's events begin, Britain holds three colonies in West Africa - Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. Gambia remains a largely stable colony, due to its small size, and it is well-placed to weather any storms that might come. It is indirectly ruled outside the capital of Bathurst, and the colonial economy is dominated by the United Africa Company. The same cannot be said for Sierra Leone, which is by far the most dysfunctional part of the British Empire in 1962 - rebels de facto administer much of the colony's interior, and it is well known that Liberia and Ghana are both backing their own factions within the country, Ghana backing the All People’s Congress and Liberia backing the Sierra Leone People’s Party. Nigeria is by far the largest colony that Britain holds in Africa, and it is an extremely wealthy and profitable one - but one that is fundamentally dependent on British-backed traditional elites to extract wealth and run the country, with very little direct presence beyond a few colonial officers. The Second Great Uprising in Britain proper will change all for British West Africa, as the recall of the British Army to the Home Isles will result in rebels successfully capturing Freetown, and the Nigerian colonial administration being forced to cut a deal with the traditional elites for independence, as the Cameroonian UPC invades parts of the colony. Gambia will be Britain's last holdout in West Africa, with the West African Frontier Force retreating there. The fall of Nigeria and Sierra Leone will spell a total reorientation of British colonial policy to focus near-exclusively on East African affairs.
# French West and Equatorial Africa:
https://preview.redd.it/3bow77fng2ff1.png?width=2000&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad5bd431a740430fe2749d1e6e37a4eb74694ea5
On June 22, 1940, in a railway car nestled in the Compiègne Forest, a delegation of French and German officers affixed their signatures to the armistice that would take France out of the Second World War. This elaborate reversal of the 1918 Armistice, arranged with all of Hitler's vindictive pettiness, was only a foretaste of the New Order that the German Reich was beginning to impose upon Europe. Weeks later, the shell-shocked French government met at the sleepy spa town of Vichy to hand over full constitutional power to a new collaborationist government led by Philippe Pétain. The Third Republic was dead; the French State had been born.
Abrupt as it was, the transition from the Third Republic to the French State was not quite so stark in France's vast colonial empire in Africa as it was in the metropole. It would not be wrong to say that the Révolution Nationale promulgated by the new regime was already well known to the peoples of Guinea, Madagascar, or Moyen-Congo. For most of the eminent colonial administrators and theorists of the time, men like Pierre Boisson, the Governor-General of Equatorial Africa, and Georges Hardy, former director of the École Coloniale, it was clear that, the mission to civilize aside, the elevation of natives into the position of fully-empowered Frenchmen was untenable and inadvisable. Under the new government, moreover, the previously ambivalent attitude toward assimilation morphed into a hostile rejection, where segregation and racism experienced by everyday colonial subjects became increasingly pronounced. For the small number of évolués, those natives lucky enough to have assimilated through Westernization, the dawn of the French State meant that their hard-won citizenship was now all but worthless. Instead, French authorities redoubled their attention on cultivating the traditional native leadership within their colonies: hand-picked chieftains, royal scions, and religious elite.
Of course, not all of the French were so quick to accept defeat and humiliation at German hands. Only a few days before the Armistice on June 18, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle broadcast a plea from London for continued resistance against
In 1962, when the game's events begin, Britain holds three colonies in West Africa - Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. Gambia remains a largely stable colony, due to its small size, and it is well-placed to weather any storms that might come. It is indirectly ruled outside the capital of Bathurst, and the colonial economy is dominated by the United Africa Company. The same cannot be said for Sierra Leone, which is by far the most dysfunctional part of the British Empire in 1962 - rebels de facto administer much of the colony's interior, and it is well known that Liberia and Ghana are both backing their own factions within the country, Ghana backing the All People’s Congress and Liberia backing the Sierra Leone People’s Party. Nigeria is by far the largest colony that Britain holds in Africa, and it is an extremely wealthy and profitable one - but one that is fundamentally dependent on British-backed traditional elites to extract wealth and run the country, with very little direct presence beyond a few colonial officers. The Second Great Uprising in Britain proper will change all for British West Africa, as the recall of the British Army to the Home Isles will result in rebels successfully capturing Freetown, and the Nigerian colonial administration being forced to cut a deal with the traditional elites for independence, as the Cameroonian UPC invades parts of the colony. Gambia will be Britain's last holdout in West Africa, with the West African Frontier Force retreating there. The fall of Nigeria and Sierra Leone will spell a total reorientation of British colonial policy to focus near-exclusively on East African affairs.
# French West and Equatorial Africa:
https://preview.redd.it/3bow77fng2ff1.png?width=2000&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad5bd431a740430fe2749d1e6e37a4eb74694ea5
On June 22, 1940, in a railway car nestled in the Compiègne Forest, a delegation of French and German officers affixed their signatures to the armistice that would take France out of the Second World War. This elaborate reversal of the 1918 Armistice, arranged with all of Hitler's vindictive pettiness, was only a foretaste of the New Order that the German Reich was beginning to impose upon Europe. Weeks later, the shell-shocked French government met at the sleepy spa town of Vichy to hand over full constitutional power to a new collaborationist government led by Philippe Pétain. The Third Republic was dead; the French State had been born.
Abrupt as it was, the transition from the Third Republic to the French State was not quite so stark in France's vast colonial empire in Africa as it was in the metropole. It would not be wrong to say that the Révolution Nationale promulgated by the new regime was already well known to the peoples of Guinea, Madagascar, or Moyen-Congo. For most of the eminent colonial administrators and theorists of the time, men like Pierre Boisson, the Governor-General of Equatorial Africa, and Georges Hardy, former director of the École Coloniale, it was clear that, the mission to civilize aside, the elevation of natives into the position of fully-empowered Frenchmen was untenable and inadvisable. Under the new government, moreover, the previously ambivalent attitude toward assimilation morphed into a hostile rejection, where segregation and racism experienced by everyday colonial subjects became increasingly pronounced. For the small number of évolués, those natives lucky enough to have assimilated through Westernization, the dawn of the French State meant that their hard-won citizenship was now all but worthless. Instead, French authorities redoubled their attention on cultivating the traditional native leadership within their colonies: hand-picked chieftains, royal scions, and religious elite.
Of course, not all of the French were so quick to accept defeat and humiliation at German hands. Only a few days before the Armistice on June 18, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle broadcast a plea from London for continued resistance against
the German occupiers. De Gaulle, a divisional tank commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle for France, had taken leadership of the exiled French forces willing to continue to fight alongside the Allies, albeit with difficulties. Few men, and even fewer officers, were willing to join de Gaulle. For the vast majority of the French officer corps, deserting their commissions to fight with such a rag-tag crew was far from an attractive proposition. To make matters much worse, the attempt by the Royal Navy to scuttle the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir forever tarnished the reputation of the Free French, who were now viewed contemptuously as merely puppets of the traitorous British. From Dakar to Tananarive, colonial officials after officials declared their loyalty to the new government in Vichy, with one exception.
In August 1940, the governor of Chad declared his allegiance to the Free French, setting off a domino effect that saw all of Equatorial Africa, except Gabon, align with de Gaulle. Gabon's governor, at the urging of the small settler elite population, refused to yield, but the Free French were able to throw him out by the end of November and remained protected from Vichy's reinvasion by the British garrison in Nigeria. Despite this dramatic victory, the Free French remained an underdog. Efforts to disseminate propaganda into French West Africa through friendly Nigeria met with mixed success, and officer defections remained few and far between. An attempt to capture Dakar had failed in September of 1940, and the war in Europe continued to go in Germany's favor.
Meanwhile, in Vichy, the colonies played a key role in the new French State's ideology and strategy. Officially neutral, the regime had time to focus on its immediate needs, namely, rebuilding and paying reparations to Germany with funds acquired through the empire. To compensate for the loss of external trade with the Western powers, France sought to exploit its colonial resources more extensively than ever before. The use of forced labor, procured through the Code de l'indigénat (a constant feature of French colonial rule in Africa), was expanded to meet the labor needs of mines and settler-owned plantations across French Africa. Dissidents, like the unfortunate Sylvanus Olympio of Togo, were rounded up and thrown into dark cells, or else simply executed.
While this served the immediate needs of national recovery, some in the French State looked towards grand designs for Africa. In 1941, laborers sourced from internment camps in the Algerian interior broke ground on the much-discussed Trans-Saharan Railroad. A concept going back decades, the Trans-Saharan Railroad would connect French Algeria to its key cities in West Africa, chiefly Dakar and Abidjan. The costs of such a project in terms of time, manpower, and resources had always put a pause on such dreams, but the French State was eager to prove its capabilities. This railway would provide an overland connection between north and south, while also integrating the Office du Niger, a massive irrigation project covering over 75,000 hectares of land, into the imperial economy. Coerced African laborers, Spanish Republican exiles, prisoners of war, Algerian Jews, and other dissidents were put to work, enduring horrific conditions and high mortality rates.
The German victory in the Second World War was seen by many in the French State as vindication of their collaboration, and, following British integration into the German sphere, this Nazi peace opened Africa to pan-European exploitation. Still, the war had taken its toll on France and its once-globe-spanning empire. Only in Sub-Saharan Africa did the empire remain largely intact, as colonies elsewhere were ceded or seized by other states. What remained was French in name, but also open to large-scale German presence and investment. With peace secured in Europe, the French State, backed by the freed-up manpower of Germany and Britain, turned its attention towards Free French-held Equatorial Africa. By the end of 1945,
In August 1940, the governor of Chad declared his allegiance to the Free French, setting off a domino effect that saw all of Equatorial Africa, except Gabon, align with de Gaulle. Gabon's governor, at the urging of the small settler elite population, refused to yield, but the Free French were able to throw him out by the end of November and remained protected from Vichy's reinvasion by the British garrison in Nigeria. Despite this dramatic victory, the Free French remained an underdog. Efforts to disseminate propaganda into French West Africa through friendly Nigeria met with mixed success, and officer defections remained few and far between. An attempt to capture Dakar had failed in September of 1940, and the war in Europe continued to go in Germany's favor.
Meanwhile, in Vichy, the colonies played a key role in the new French State's ideology and strategy. Officially neutral, the regime had time to focus on its immediate needs, namely, rebuilding and paying reparations to Germany with funds acquired through the empire. To compensate for the loss of external trade with the Western powers, France sought to exploit its colonial resources more extensively than ever before. The use of forced labor, procured through the Code de l'indigénat (a constant feature of French colonial rule in Africa), was expanded to meet the labor needs of mines and settler-owned plantations across French Africa. Dissidents, like the unfortunate Sylvanus Olympio of Togo, were rounded up and thrown into dark cells, or else simply executed.
While this served the immediate needs of national recovery, some in the French State looked towards grand designs for Africa. In 1941, laborers sourced from internment camps in the Algerian interior broke ground on the much-discussed Trans-Saharan Railroad. A concept going back decades, the Trans-Saharan Railroad would connect French Algeria to its key cities in West Africa, chiefly Dakar and Abidjan. The costs of such a project in terms of time, manpower, and resources had always put a pause on such dreams, but the French State was eager to prove its capabilities. This railway would provide an overland connection between north and south, while also integrating the Office du Niger, a massive irrigation project covering over 75,000 hectares of land, into the imperial economy. Coerced African laborers, Spanish Republican exiles, prisoners of war, Algerian Jews, and other dissidents were put to work, enduring horrific conditions and high mortality rates.
The German victory in the Second World War was seen by many in the French State as vindication of their collaboration, and, following British integration into the German sphere, this Nazi peace opened Africa to pan-European exploitation. Still, the war had taken its toll on France and its once-globe-spanning empire. Only in Sub-Saharan Africa did the empire remain largely intact, as colonies elsewhere were ceded or seized by other states. What remained was French in name, but also open to large-scale German presence and investment. With peace secured in Europe, the French State, backed by the freed-up manpower of Germany and Britain, turned its attention towards Free French-held Equatorial Africa. By the end of 1945,
the federation was once again under Paris's control, and the Free French were stateless rebels tied to no territory and no viable means of success against the French State.
The experiences of the war and life under the French State had, however, left an indelible mark on all subjects of the empire. The political consciousness of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, had been awakened. For Equatorial Africa, the interim period of life under Free French rule, although far from utopian, threw the policies of the re-established French State control into stark relief. Dozens of movements across the AEF emerged in the years after the war, many led by former Free French personnel. With military training, Allied equipment, and clandestine support from across the Congo, these groups became the headache of the French Colonial Ministry. The next fire to break out was in Madagascar in 1947, followed by Cameroon and the British Gold Coast, all of which garnered violent responses from the European empires. In Cameroon, Ruben Um Nyobè organized the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), a left-wing, Pan-Africanist resistance movement. Madagascar and the Gold Coast's revolutions failed, but the UPC fought on through the remainder of the 1950s.
France's colonies stagnated during the post-war decade. Évolués were becoming leaders in independence movements across the federation, working alongside urban workers, who had suffered when the French State outlawed all independent trade unions. French colonial policy had always been wary of creating an African proletariat class, and the peasant-venerating ideologues of the Révolution Nationale found common cause with the pragmatic colonial officials in looking to ensure that the vast majority of natives remained engaged in rural occupations. As in AEF, many of those groups were successors of war-era resistance movements connected to the Free French, and the most prominent of these was Léopold Sédar Senghor's Senegalese-based Conseil de la Résistance Socialiste Africaine (CRSA).
Of course, these groups were not at all equipped to move directly to armed struggle; for years, they could do little more than organize like-minded independence seekers. This status quo changed in 1956, the 'Year of Africa.' Following a stunning revolution, the new Ghanaian government secured its independence by seeking American support in exchange for providing vital equipment to various groups across the region. As Ghana established its credentials as a leading beacon of Pan-African liberation, many of the West African movements relocated their leadership to Accra; President Nkrumah was only too happy to host them.
In Equatorial Africa, the Ghanaian Revolution had even more dramatic repercussions. Years of persistent resistance across the region had destabilized the colonial regime, and the AEF, already economically backwards compared to West Africa, was becoming a major financial liability. Instability resulting from the Ghanaian Revolution, a UPC offensive, and outside agitation meant that in 1957, after uprisings across the colonial federation, French authorities opted to withdraw settlers, infrastructure, and garrisons in favor of strengthening their presence in West Africa.
https://preview.redd.it/5aus151zg2ff1.png?width=1192&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c1a6ccb3214c76cc8efadc05c98024db984dd8a
Simultaneously with the French retreat, African-led governments, backed by Free French advisors and supplemented by the Congolese Armed Forces, organized new republics into a union led by Leopoldville's favorite, Barthélemy Boganda. The resulting five states formed a union nominally led by Boganda, the United States of Latin Africa, which counterbalanced African self-government with Free French, Congolese, and American economic penetration, as well as the increasingly centralizing and authoritarian attitudes of Boganda. Confrontations between the states and the center over the USLA's economy, military, and foreign policy favored the states and, slowly, what was supposed to be an
The experiences of the war and life under the French State had, however, left an indelible mark on all subjects of the empire. The political consciousness of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, had been awakened. For Equatorial Africa, the interim period of life under Free French rule, although far from utopian, threw the policies of the re-established French State control into stark relief. Dozens of movements across the AEF emerged in the years after the war, many led by former Free French personnel. With military training, Allied equipment, and clandestine support from across the Congo, these groups became the headache of the French Colonial Ministry. The next fire to break out was in Madagascar in 1947, followed by Cameroon and the British Gold Coast, all of which garnered violent responses from the European empires. In Cameroon, Ruben Um Nyobè organized the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), a left-wing, Pan-Africanist resistance movement. Madagascar and the Gold Coast's revolutions failed, but the UPC fought on through the remainder of the 1950s.
France's colonies stagnated during the post-war decade. Évolués were becoming leaders in independence movements across the federation, working alongside urban workers, who had suffered when the French State outlawed all independent trade unions. French colonial policy had always been wary of creating an African proletariat class, and the peasant-venerating ideologues of the Révolution Nationale found common cause with the pragmatic colonial officials in looking to ensure that the vast majority of natives remained engaged in rural occupations. As in AEF, many of those groups were successors of war-era resistance movements connected to the Free French, and the most prominent of these was Léopold Sédar Senghor's Senegalese-based Conseil de la Résistance Socialiste Africaine (CRSA).
Of course, these groups were not at all equipped to move directly to armed struggle; for years, they could do little more than organize like-minded independence seekers. This status quo changed in 1956, the 'Year of Africa.' Following a stunning revolution, the new Ghanaian government secured its independence by seeking American support in exchange for providing vital equipment to various groups across the region. As Ghana established its credentials as a leading beacon of Pan-African liberation, many of the West African movements relocated their leadership to Accra; President Nkrumah was only too happy to host them.
In Equatorial Africa, the Ghanaian Revolution had even more dramatic repercussions. Years of persistent resistance across the region had destabilized the colonial regime, and the AEF, already economically backwards compared to West Africa, was becoming a major financial liability. Instability resulting from the Ghanaian Revolution, a UPC offensive, and outside agitation meant that in 1957, after uprisings across the colonial federation, French authorities opted to withdraw settlers, infrastructure, and garrisons in favor of strengthening their presence in West Africa.
https://preview.redd.it/5aus151zg2ff1.png?width=1192&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c1a6ccb3214c76cc8efadc05c98024db984dd8a
Simultaneously with the French retreat, African-led governments, backed by Free French advisors and supplemented by the Congolese Armed Forces, organized new republics into a union led by Leopoldville's favorite, Barthélemy Boganda. The resulting five states formed a union nominally led by Boganda, the United States of Latin Africa, which counterbalanced African self-government with Free French, Congolese, and American economic penetration, as well as the increasingly centralizing and authoritarian attitudes of Boganda. Confrontations between the states and the center over the USLA's economy, military, and foreign policy favored the states and, slowly, what was supposed to be an
African superunion found itself a weakened confederation of disparate states.
Matters worsened for the USLA in Cameroon, the most populous federal republic, where the post-French power vacuum allowed the UPC to seize land and equipment to mount a renewed bid for power. Backed by Ghanaian aid, Nyobè's guerrillas prevented federal Cameroon from taking root in the country and instead made the Yaoundé republic dependent on USLA support. With that well of aid increasingly drying up, and the continued weakening of the Bangui-based federation's power, the future of Equatorial African unity appears bleak.
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Matters worsened for the USLA in Cameroon, the most populous federal republic, where the post-French power vacuum allowed the UPC to seize land and equipment to mount a renewed bid for power. Backed by Ghanaian aid, Nyobè's guerrillas prevented federal Cameroon from taking root in the country and instead made the Yaoundé republic dependent on USLA support. With that well of aid increasingly drying up, and the continued weakening of the Bangui-based federation's power, the future of Equatorial African unity appears bleak.
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Development Diary XXXI: Débrouillez-Vous - Part 4/4
# Superpowers:
# United States:
US policy towards Africa, historically, centered on the 'Monrovia System' built around support for Liberia & the Congo. From the end of the Second World War until 1956, the United States' support for these authoritarian and minority-ruled states constituted Washington's leading role in fostering a "free" Africa against European colonialism.
After Ghanaian independence, Accra and Washington attempted to work together, with the former depending on the latter for financial backing, but Nkrumah's demands for reform in the American sphere and his independent posturing pushed the two apart. In addition to fostering a nation-building process in the Congo, after 1956 the US-backed Commonwealth governments of the USLA gained considerable investment and constituted an expansion of the "centrist" bloc of independent African states in which Ghana did not participate.
With the collapse of many of the European states’ colonies, the US loses its status as the guarantor of African independence, as many more states emerge, many of whom are not aligned with the US. In addition, their old sphere in the Congo and the USLA will prove not to be as ironclad as they had thought.
Of the three superpowers, the United States has perhaps the most range in how it approaches Africa. Whereas Germany favors white-led minority rule states and select reactionary African dictatorships, and Japan favors African nationalists, the US can pull from both groups while avoiding both sides' extremes. This isn't to say the US is a champion of liberal democracy in Africa, but is instead the primary soft-power competitor for both of its Cold War rivals.
The United States is fully able to pursue a conservative policy, favoring strong, stable dictatorships and minority rule states at the expense of potentially amicable African partners. In addition, the US’ policy towards the colonial ancien regimes of Britain and France is not always one of full opposition.
In other cases, the US will work directly against white minority projects, working with African-led, democratic-oriented states, anocracies, and dictatorships so long as they uphold American interests.
America's Main Region of Concern in 1962
# Germany:
German policy in Africa is largely shaped by its other, ancillary interests. Broadly, Germany doesn’t prioritize Africa for building ties with African countries, nor even for its resources. However, Germany does care about what Africa means for its other interests; for the politics within Europe, and the geopolitics of the Cold War.
A good example is probably Germany's late 40s-early 50's policy - that is, one of wielding Africa as a way to control France and Britain. France and Britain, burdened by war debts, are driven to attempt to turn their colonial holdings profitable, a process that is immensely disruptive and drives waves of discontent throughout the colonies. Their fragile post-war governments would simply not survive any abandonment of the colonies, nor would the idea be accepted easily within the frame of politics that now govern these countries. Thus, to meet their security needs, France and Britain have to rely on Germany, at least in part. Similarly, Germany will wield its old colonial claims for its political benefit, looming the threat of invoking said past claims. This is not an honest practice; German policy has simply moved past this by the late 40s, but it is an effective way to batter concessions out of its allies and control their actions. Germany will support France & Britain, but it will do so on terms that benefit Germany. This has produced an Africa with, at times, a quite noticeable German presence, especially in areas of strategic importance or near the OFN. But, ultimately, Germany acts in Africa in the service of its European political interests first and foremost.
As the 50s proceed, and European Colonial policy
# Superpowers:
# United States:
US policy towards Africa, historically, centered on the 'Monrovia System' built around support for Liberia & the Congo. From the end of the Second World War until 1956, the United States' support for these authoritarian and minority-ruled states constituted Washington's leading role in fostering a "free" Africa against European colonialism.
After Ghanaian independence, Accra and Washington attempted to work together, with the former depending on the latter for financial backing, but Nkrumah's demands for reform in the American sphere and his independent posturing pushed the two apart. In addition to fostering a nation-building process in the Congo, after 1956 the US-backed Commonwealth governments of the USLA gained considerable investment and constituted an expansion of the "centrist" bloc of independent African states in which Ghana did not participate.
With the collapse of many of the European states’ colonies, the US loses its status as the guarantor of African independence, as many more states emerge, many of whom are not aligned with the US. In addition, their old sphere in the Congo and the USLA will prove not to be as ironclad as they had thought.
Of the three superpowers, the United States has perhaps the most range in how it approaches Africa. Whereas Germany favors white-led minority rule states and select reactionary African dictatorships, and Japan favors African nationalists, the US can pull from both groups while avoiding both sides' extremes. This isn't to say the US is a champion of liberal democracy in Africa, but is instead the primary soft-power competitor for both of its Cold War rivals.
The United States is fully able to pursue a conservative policy, favoring strong, stable dictatorships and minority rule states at the expense of potentially amicable African partners. In addition, the US’ policy towards the colonial ancien regimes of Britain and France is not always one of full opposition.
In other cases, the US will work directly against white minority projects, working with African-led, democratic-oriented states, anocracies, and dictatorships so long as they uphold American interests.
America's Main Region of Concern in 1962
# Germany:
German policy in Africa is largely shaped by its other, ancillary interests. Broadly, Germany doesn’t prioritize Africa for building ties with African countries, nor even for its resources. However, Germany does care about what Africa means for its other interests; for the politics within Europe, and the geopolitics of the Cold War.
A good example is probably Germany's late 40s-early 50's policy - that is, one of wielding Africa as a way to control France and Britain. France and Britain, burdened by war debts, are driven to attempt to turn their colonial holdings profitable, a process that is immensely disruptive and drives waves of discontent throughout the colonies. Their fragile post-war governments would simply not survive any abandonment of the colonies, nor would the idea be accepted easily within the frame of politics that now govern these countries. Thus, to meet their security needs, France and Britain have to rely on Germany, at least in part. Similarly, Germany will wield its old colonial claims for its political benefit, looming the threat of invoking said past claims. This is not an honest practice; German policy has simply moved past this by the late 40s, but it is an effective way to batter concessions out of its allies and control their actions. Germany will support France & Britain, but it will do so on terms that benefit Germany. This has produced an Africa with, at times, a quite noticeable German presence, especially in areas of strategic importance or near the OFN. But, ultimately, Germany acts in Africa in the service of its European political interests first and foremost.
As the 50s proceed, and European Colonial policy
enters a sustained (and in 1962 largely unresolved) crisis, Germany will largely be of the mind that this is directly the fault of US interests in Africa. This isn't true, but it's also explicitly what the US is trying to do. This will drive an increasingly confrontational policy in early content, where Germany will challenge the US with two not-entirely-African projects in mind. For one, Germany wants to buckle US projects in Africa - for instance, the Congo, a product of US nation-building. For two, Germany wants to define the terms of US foreign policy in Africa - it wants to alienate the US from South Africa & Iberia by driving the US to policies and actions that antagonize them. Essentially, Germany is betting on being the bigger chud, and will try to create conditions that force the US to make choices that split its Foreign Policy down the middle.
As the 1960s proceed, European powers will be forced to address the institutional deficiencies of their old-style colonial policies, as they grapple with the continent-wide crisis. This is not an even process, and may not be in any sense progressive, but colonial policy will change in the 60s. While Britain & France are engaging with (or losing) their reformed colonial interests, Germany will begin to reach out towards more stable partners, especially South Africa, and develop its Africa policy through a looser bloc of minoritarian projects. Germany may not control this bloc, but it doesn't need to, as geopolitical realities will bind them together. That said, Germany will never abandon French and British colonialism; it will instead seek to synthesize the two avenues wherever possible, and develop cooperative relationships between all states with an interest in maintaining minority rule.
In addition, it's perfectly possible that in later content, Germany and the US could find themselves cooperating in several regions of Africa - and this will have consequences. A natural US-German détente could reasonably grow from their converging policies in Africa.
Germany's Main Region of Concern in 1962
# Japan:
In 1962, Japan is by far the least involved power in African affairs. The region with the most proximity to Japan and its sphere is East Africa, but the British have proven adept at securing it for the Einheitspakt, and thus Japan will heavily benefit from the Second Great Uprising. Over the course of the game, Japan will grow far more involved in Africa, taking advantage of the cracks appearing in both America and Germany’s African hegemonies. The first major move Japan will make in Africa will be to sponsor the fledgling republic of Tanganyika, giving them extensive aid in exchange for their adopting an anti-communist posture and opening up to Japanese business.
As far as business goes, it is central to Japan’s relations with Africa, as its main driving interest is distinctly economical - it seeks market expansion to release steam within the CPS's economy through Africa, and, to a lesser degree, to diversify its resource economy.
However, there are certainly links to the wider, global Cold War as regards Japan’s policy towards Africa, it isn’t just an economic affair, as they will use it as a way to keep conflicts out of Asia - any conflict with the American or German sphere in Africa is one not occurring within Japan's backyard.
Japan does not actively seek African states for entry into the CPS, but will instead seek to build a loose bloc of associated states which are economically available to Japan and amenable to Japan's diplomatic hegemony. In particular, Tanganyika’s sphere is central to this effort, but other spheres will also play a key role - and those spheres may well find themselves at odds with each other in the future, creating another challenge for Japan to deal with.
Japanese rhetoric in Africa will vary depending on the target, creating a highly inconsistent reputation politically. In some states, Japan will simply
As the 1960s proceed, European powers will be forced to address the institutional deficiencies of their old-style colonial policies, as they grapple with the continent-wide crisis. This is not an even process, and may not be in any sense progressive, but colonial policy will change in the 60s. While Britain & France are engaging with (or losing) their reformed colonial interests, Germany will begin to reach out towards more stable partners, especially South Africa, and develop its Africa policy through a looser bloc of minoritarian projects. Germany may not control this bloc, but it doesn't need to, as geopolitical realities will bind them together. That said, Germany will never abandon French and British colonialism; it will instead seek to synthesize the two avenues wherever possible, and develop cooperative relationships between all states with an interest in maintaining minority rule.
In addition, it's perfectly possible that in later content, Germany and the US could find themselves cooperating in several regions of Africa - and this will have consequences. A natural US-German détente could reasonably grow from their converging policies in Africa.
Germany's Main Region of Concern in 1962
# Japan:
In 1962, Japan is by far the least involved power in African affairs. The region with the most proximity to Japan and its sphere is East Africa, but the British have proven adept at securing it for the Einheitspakt, and thus Japan will heavily benefit from the Second Great Uprising. Over the course of the game, Japan will grow far more involved in Africa, taking advantage of the cracks appearing in both America and Germany’s African hegemonies. The first major move Japan will make in Africa will be to sponsor the fledgling republic of Tanganyika, giving them extensive aid in exchange for their adopting an anti-communist posture and opening up to Japanese business.
As far as business goes, it is central to Japan’s relations with Africa, as its main driving interest is distinctly economical - it seeks market expansion to release steam within the CPS's economy through Africa, and, to a lesser degree, to diversify its resource economy.
However, there are certainly links to the wider, global Cold War as regards Japan’s policy towards Africa, it isn’t just an economic affair, as they will use it as a way to keep conflicts out of Asia - any conflict with the American or German sphere in Africa is one not occurring within Japan's backyard.
Japan does not actively seek African states for entry into the CPS, but will instead seek to build a loose bloc of associated states which are economically available to Japan and amenable to Japan's diplomatic hegemony. In particular, Tanganyika’s sphere is central to this effort, but other spheres will also play a key role - and those spheres may well find themselves at odds with each other in the future, creating another challenge for Japan to deal with.
Japanese rhetoric in Africa will vary depending on the target, creating a highly inconsistent reputation politically. In some states, Japan will simply
position itself as a 'post-colonial' partner, offering a simple quid pro quo of investment for resources. In other states, it will attempt to wield and take advantage of anti-colonial sentiment and language, in particular as regards opposition to the white-minority regimes in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Japan’s presence in Africa will heavily shift the ideological nature of aligned states, with parties that engage with Japan often finding themselves having to shift their political presentation to fit within 'comfortable' politics in Japan. Japan will not directly work with explicit Marxist, and even non-Marxists will generally be incentivized (or pressured) to adjust how they present their regimes.
In addition, the wider CPS will certainly participate in African affairs as well - in particular, Japan’s ally, Azad Hind, which will serve as a major backer for Japan’s sphere in Africa and do a lot of the actual legwork when it comes to organising and arming pro-Japanese groupings, alongside having much more willingness to put boots on the ground than Japan proper does. As such, the fall of Azad Hind, should it happen, will have a reaction far away from Asia.
https://preview.redd.it/k6k5sordk2ff1.png?width=1999&format=png&auto=webp&s=6db59a39b1c57f30b38e8f5809ec67baa0d53903
# Conflicts & Proxies:
The West African Independence Wars:
https://preview.redd.it/khbumjrxj2ff1.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=759f13874a85d4f1446a57a6f8a6e1cf4acb7e09
The crisis that fomented in Equatorial Africa now finally visits French West Africa, springboarded by the aftershocks of the UPC's sudden lightning victory in its rebellion. The weakness of the colonial state will be laid bare by these initial sparks of fury, and within weeks dissidents will go from rural backwaters and broken strikers to presenting a direct and clear threat in many of the most important corridors of French West Africa.
For Germany, there is no expectation of preserving the whole mass - instead the goal is to refocus. Preserve control of regions for exactly as it takes to tear all of the infrastructure out of them. Empty depots, take or dispose of machines, strip wires, burn buildings. Denial is the name of the game, and Germany and France both are in it to win.
Naval access is a concern, however, and Germany must spend opportunities in the hope of expanding its access to gain more opportunities. The system is a balance of risk and reward, where the act of moving units, or infrastructure, or losing nodes, takes time as it physically traverses the map.
Move your units from node to node, gradually conceding ground as you have looted it bare - transferring units and infrastructure takes time, and is a meaningful consideration with the mechanic. The more you loot, the greater the benefits to Germany and France, boosting not simply their economy but possibly pushing France into a more reliant position towards Germany, or the exact opposite, should the wealth of West Africa be left for its rebels.
West African Cold War:
https://preview.redd.it/ugeapc10k2ff1.png?width=1445&format=png&auto=webp&s=bf90c0df229d020feefa8fb44de9b54f81b5353c
The West African Cold War isn't a proxy, but instead a regional mechanical conflict that occurs between Ghana and France chiefly, although it will frequently involve other parties and will nigh always be on other grounds than a direct confrontation.
Beginning early in a crisis within the Mali Federation, the Cold War will continue across Dahomey's splintering political condition, or through France's attempt to retake control of a key corridor of the Trans-Saharan Railroad in Niger's Western Expedition, or in unrest in the Upper Volta, or the growing tension between Ghana and Togo over the British Togolands.
Over the course of the crisis, the status of each party will be tracked and visible to the player through their ideas. Although Ghana and France (through the Ivory Coast) are the key actors, they aren't the only ones, and other powers are capable of taking their own initiative in the
Japan’s presence in Africa will heavily shift the ideological nature of aligned states, with parties that engage with Japan often finding themselves having to shift their political presentation to fit within 'comfortable' politics in Japan. Japan will not directly work with explicit Marxist, and even non-Marxists will generally be incentivized (or pressured) to adjust how they present their regimes.
In addition, the wider CPS will certainly participate in African affairs as well - in particular, Japan’s ally, Azad Hind, which will serve as a major backer for Japan’s sphere in Africa and do a lot of the actual legwork when it comes to organising and arming pro-Japanese groupings, alongside having much more willingness to put boots on the ground than Japan proper does. As such, the fall of Azad Hind, should it happen, will have a reaction far away from Asia.
https://preview.redd.it/k6k5sordk2ff1.png?width=1999&format=png&auto=webp&s=6db59a39b1c57f30b38e8f5809ec67baa0d53903
# Conflicts & Proxies:
The West African Independence Wars:
https://preview.redd.it/khbumjrxj2ff1.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=759f13874a85d4f1446a57a6f8a6e1cf4acb7e09
The crisis that fomented in Equatorial Africa now finally visits French West Africa, springboarded by the aftershocks of the UPC's sudden lightning victory in its rebellion. The weakness of the colonial state will be laid bare by these initial sparks of fury, and within weeks dissidents will go from rural backwaters and broken strikers to presenting a direct and clear threat in many of the most important corridors of French West Africa.
For Germany, there is no expectation of preserving the whole mass - instead the goal is to refocus. Preserve control of regions for exactly as it takes to tear all of the infrastructure out of them. Empty depots, take or dispose of machines, strip wires, burn buildings. Denial is the name of the game, and Germany and France both are in it to win.
Naval access is a concern, however, and Germany must spend opportunities in the hope of expanding its access to gain more opportunities. The system is a balance of risk and reward, where the act of moving units, or infrastructure, or losing nodes, takes time as it physically traverses the map.
Move your units from node to node, gradually conceding ground as you have looted it bare - transferring units and infrastructure takes time, and is a meaningful consideration with the mechanic. The more you loot, the greater the benefits to Germany and France, boosting not simply their economy but possibly pushing France into a more reliant position towards Germany, or the exact opposite, should the wealth of West Africa be left for its rebels.
West African Cold War:
https://preview.redd.it/ugeapc10k2ff1.png?width=1445&format=png&auto=webp&s=bf90c0df229d020feefa8fb44de9b54f81b5353c
The West African Cold War isn't a proxy, but instead a regional mechanical conflict that occurs between Ghana and France chiefly, although it will frequently involve other parties and will nigh always be on other grounds than a direct confrontation.
Beginning early in a crisis within the Mali Federation, the Cold War will continue across Dahomey's splintering political condition, or through France's attempt to retake control of a key corridor of the Trans-Saharan Railroad in Niger's Western Expedition, or in unrest in the Upper Volta, or the growing tension between Ghana and Togo over the British Togolands.
Over the course of the crisis, the status of each party will be tracked and visible to the player through their ideas. Although Ghana and France (through the Ivory Coast) are the key actors, they aren't the only ones, and other powers are capable of taking their own initiative in the
conflict.
https://preview.redd.it/924p6r1vj2ff1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc1d961ba12021d17e5c05b5365f602982ddcc81
Congo Crisis:
The Congo's experience of the 60s is one of tumultuous instability, as reform, reaction, secession and revolution will grip its every corner. The centerpiece of this experience, and a centerpiece of wider African geopolitics is found in the Congo crisis, begun by Katanga's secession but growing immensely more complicated and involved by the second.
The United States will attempt to control the terms, leadership and direction of its Model Republic, guiding the Congo between negotiation and obliteration. As Congolese politics splinter under the brunt of the crisis, it is for the United States to both take advantage of and work to reconcile its fragile condition. The United States will have to navigate the changing conditions of the crisis, negotiating with some parties and obliterating others. Each choice carries political weight in the Congo, the ramifications of which will continue to be felt well after the crisis.
Germany's interests will transition from a distant flight of opportunity to an avenging opportunity to punish the United States, as it will seek to entrench Katanga's secessionist project, defining it by terms to Germany's benefit. The involvement and sympathies of Iberian and South Africa will complicate the geopolitics, giving Germany the opportunity to drive a wedge between them and the United States - driving each closer to a German orbit.
The Congo Crisis is designed for variable outcomes, and is centered in large part around the ability for the player to negotiate on amicable terms. The player doesn't simply have a wealth of choices, their ability to fail to achieve these choices is deliberate and systemic, and opportunities to recoup one's losses are almost always available. The mechanic evolves over the course of the crisis, as the conditions in the Congo continue to worsen. In later portions of the crisis the once distant interests of the United States and Germany become more and more intimate, as the saber rattling begins to be taken more and more seriously.
The feelings of the World War have not passed, and a genuine animosity exists to be freely tapped into to justify or aid their goals should either power find it convenient. There will be time to pay the piper.
Finally, enjoy two full leader and continental maps, of Africa in 1962, and of one possible instance of Africa’s situation in 1964 respectively.
https://preview.redd.it/ww3k54moj2ff1.png?width=1999&format=png&auto=webp&s=c294afb10a23b54de6f92eb2142ad7270a22325f
https://preview.redd.it/jvnp0ubrj2ff1.png?width=1999&format=png&auto=webp&s=10c0f6442761c8afdabe38fef6160b892f578b36
# Conclusion:
This dev diary is by no means the only teaser you will receive for this update - in particular, you will be hearing more about the many planned proxies we have in the future. Of course, some things will remain secret until the update, and we hope to see you exploring it then for those secrets. We hope that you enjoyed this diary, and that you will be looking forward to future teasers and updates. Feel free to ask any questions you wish in the comment section or in the Discord's ask-a-dev channel, and the Africa devs will happily answer them. Good luck, and remember Article 15.
https://preview.redd.it/htodaz9sj2ff1.png?width=410&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c08eb5bc1949d9dd131dcc04fd83537ee18877c
https://redd.it/1m982wu
@tnomod
https://preview.redd.it/924p6r1vj2ff1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc1d961ba12021d17e5c05b5365f602982ddcc81
Congo Crisis:
The Congo's experience of the 60s is one of tumultuous instability, as reform, reaction, secession and revolution will grip its every corner. The centerpiece of this experience, and a centerpiece of wider African geopolitics is found in the Congo crisis, begun by Katanga's secession but growing immensely more complicated and involved by the second.
The United States will attempt to control the terms, leadership and direction of its Model Republic, guiding the Congo between negotiation and obliteration. As Congolese politics splinter under the brunt of the crisis, it is for the United States to both take advantage of and work to reconcile its fragile condition. The United States will have to navigate the changing conditions of the crisis, negotiating with some parties and obliterating others. Each choice carries political weight in the Congo, the ramifications of which will continue to be felt well after the crisis.
Germany's interests will transition from a distant flight of opportunity to an avenging opportunity to punish the United States, as it will seek to entrench Katanga's secessionist project, defining it by terms to Germany's benefit. The involvement and sympathies of Iberian and South Africa will complicate the geopolitics, giving Germany the opportunity to drive a wedge between them and the United States - driving each closer to a German orbit.
The Congo Crisis is designed for variable outcomes, and is centered in large part around the ability for the player to negotiate on amicable terms. The player doesn't simply have a wealth of choices, their ability to fail to achieve these choices is deliberate and systemic, and opportunities to recoup one's losses are almost always available. The mechanic evolves over the course of the crisis, as the conditions in the Congo continue to worsen. In later portions of the crisis the once distant interests of the United States and Germany become more and more intimate, as the saber rattling begins to be taken more and more seriously.
The feelings of the World War have not passed, and a genuine animosity exists to be freely tapped into to justify or aid their goals should either power find it convenient. There will be time to pay the piper.
Finally, enjoy two full leader and continental maps, of Africa in 1962, and of one possible instance of Africa’s situation in 1964 respectively.
https://preview.redd.it/ww3k54moj2ff1.png?width=1999&format=png&auto=webp&s=c294afb10a23b54de6f92eb2142ad7270a22325f
https://preview.redd.it/jvnp0ubrj2ff1.png?width=1999&format=png&auto=webp&s=10c0f6442761c8afdabe38fef6160b892f578b36
# Conclusion:
This dev diary is by no means the only teaser you will receive for this update - in particular, you will be hearing more about the many planned proxies we have in the future. Of course, some things will remain secret until the update, and we hope to see you exploring it then for those secrets. We hope that you enjoyed this diary, and that you will be looking forward to future teasers and updates. Feel free to ask any questions you wish in the comment section or in the Discord's ask-a-dev channel, and the Africa devs will happily answer them. Good luck, and remember Article 15.
https://preview.redd.it/htodaz9sj2ff1.png?width=410&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c08eb5bc1949d9dd131dcc04fd83537ee18877c
https://redd.it/1m982wu
@tnomod
