Belgium Start-Up

[The Rock Doctor]

If I respond to them, it'll be in "in play" and not during set-up.

[snip]

Supposedly, it will be impregnable, and the port will allows craploads of allied (read:  British) troops and gear to be landed to save the day.

Ok, so I have continental commitments now. Fun times.

Conceptually, the Royal Navy is Belgium's coastal defence battery.

This needs to be enshrined in a sig somewhere. Or at least in some office in Portsmouth.

[The Rock Doctor]

You'd given me the impression somewhere that a quasi-historical relationship existed.  We can sort if and how that's true via PM, if you'd like.

[Darman]

B)  Liberia develops as historical, and Belgium takes it by force (bad debts?) in some unexpectedly glorious military campaign.

(Bolded for emphasis.) 

The Belgians HAD glorious colonial military campaigns?  Since when?  then again, I guess if we are re-writing history...

[The Rock Doctor]

I'm throwing it out as a non-historical solution to a non-historical situation.

Given the likely state of the Liberian military c.1890, one imagines the "glorious military campaign" amounted to a requistioned passenger liner sailing inot Monrovia and unloading a battalion of reservists.

[The Rock Doctor]

Edited in some details to the "NAVY" post.

[The Rock Doctor]

*Cries because there is no Belgian encyclopedia*

[Tanthalas]

But there is  ;) if ya dont like the names let me know what to change em to (or if you want more boards)

*Cries because there is no Belgian encyclopedia*

[The Rock Doctor]

Can I get additional sub-boards for:

-Government
-Congo Free State
---Force Publique
---Marine de Force Publique

...and then I can begin populating the thing.

I'll attempt to finalize the start-up and post a sim report on the weekend.

[Tanthalas]

Done.

[The Rock Doctor]

You're a good man, Mr. Tanthalas.  Never let them tell you otherwise.

[Tanthalas]

shhhhh you'll ruin all my hard work convincing people im a horible evil person... oh wait uhm I think I just did that...

You're a good man, Mr. Tanthalas.  Never let them tell you otherwise.

[The Rock Doctor]

So I've decided that Liberia suffered a version of the historical Venezuela Crisis of 1902-03, except in the 1890s.  It generated a lot of debts and got into trouble for it.

Unfortunately for them, Leopold II was acting predatory, and started buying out debts owed to other governments and private entities; after a while, he was by far the largest holder of Liberian debt, and demanded repayment.  When the Liberians refused/defaulted, Leopold had the fledgling Belgian navy blockade Monrovia. 

After a while, in early 1898, Liberia tried to fit out a blockade-runner; it got into a scrap with a Belgian aviso and the Belgians declared war.  A transport hauled a battalion of troops down to Monrovia and that was about it; the Liberians were forced to become a Belgian protectorate and accepted the imposition of Leopold as monarch.

Y'all didn't (at the time) care too much, because you guys had been mostly bought out by Leopold, and some of you probably thought it was better that Belgium invade than (Pick one of:  Krauts/Frogs/Rosbifs/Dagos).  Plus there was that little spat between Iberia and the USA on people's minds.

Two years later, as the sim starts, we'll see if international disinterest continues...

[KWorld]

The US is the most likely country to develop interest: historical ties matter, and while the US isn't, generally, overly interested in matters African (with the rise of Jim Crow and all), should reports reach US ears of issues similar to the Force Publique behavior in Congo..... Mr. Hearst et al might well find it interesting.

[The Rock Doctor]

Per the above - I tacked on another S2 at Antwerp and a S1 and D1 at Niuewport, so the naval infrastructure's a little high.  You'll see this in the encyclopedia only - I'm not going to edit the posts above given that the additional costs still leave me way under budget.

The US is the most likely country to develop interest: historical ties matter, and while the US isn't, generally, overly interested in matters African (with the rise of Jim Crow and all), should reports reach US ears of issues similar to the Force Publique behavior in Congo..... Mr. Hearst et al might well find it interesting.

That's fair.  I might complain/moan/lie in-character, of course.