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In this, the fourth installment of The Week That Was (TWTW), we have much to cover, between all the military action and relevant election results. One month into this war, there is no clear winner or loser, and everything is still fair game. Warning: This article is LONG, but does have pictures and headlines to skim. Let’s get started.

Asia
China

Hungary Holds Heilongjiang, Takes Inner Mongolia
The week’s biggest battle was a Phoenix victory, as eHungary fought off two attacks on Hello Kitty from eChina and the eUSA, and protected their critical high iron region. Intense tanking and heavy investment in the battle by Phoenix was able to withstand last-minute EDEN mass attacks, and ended the string of victories the eUSA and EDEN had notched in toppling other major fortresses in Asia. The eHungarians followed the succesfull defense of Hello Kitty with an attempted offensive against the eUSA, taking Inner Mongolia, but were unable to advance further after the eUSA sponsored a “reverse Resistance War (RW)” in which the eUSA fought for the resistance to sever a border with the advancing eHungarians.

Although eHungary’s conquest of Inner Mongolia may have been an intended offensive maneuver, it gives Phoenix better protection of Hello Kitty by creating a bottleneck for EDEN to move towards the iron fortress, and also begins a possible land bridge to get eSerbia from their current location in ePakistan towards Liaoning. eHungary's new administration has listed Liaoning as one of eHungary's national goals for the month, but may concede it to their eSerbian allies who are formidable but lack natural resources; creating a route for eSerbia to Lion King would be a cheaper and less risky alternative to having eSerbia attempt to attack the eUSA-controlled iron region of Karnataka in India.

With a new President, eRussian tanks again have leadership to guide them

Russia Returns and Takes the Offensive
With eRussia’s permabanned president finally impeached, followed quickly by Presidential elections, eRussia now has an active President who can arrange strategy and partake in attacks, retreats, and region swaps for the country. Soon after getting an active president, the eRussians started a series of region swaps with eNorth Korea and have absorbed Kim Jong Il’s homeland. This move gives eRussia a strong foothold in the Korean Peninsula, from which eRussia could attack eSouth Korea to get a border with eChina beyond the 'Liaoning bottleneck.'

The eRussians turned on eChina next, conquering Jillin and being defeated by eChina and EDEN at the last minute in Xinjiang. The victory in Jillin gave eRussia the springboard it needed to stage an assault on the high iron region of Liaoning, which was heavily contested but ultimately was secured by eChina after the dust settled. eRussia commenced a second attack on Xinjiang earlier in Day 779, hoping to bypass the Liaoning bottleneck in Eastern China and possibly also intending to give eSerbia a path to Liaoning, but retreated the fight. In the mean time, China is still in a state of inertia as detailed in my previous article.

South Asia

One week ago…


Today

Serbia Nears India Via Pakistani Land Bridge
After giving first indication of the land swap in last week’s edition of TWTW, eSerbia continued to progress across the bridge, taking Balochistan on Day 776. Balochistan is the proverbial fork in the road for eSerbia’s campaign, as any further movement would signal Phoenix’s intentions; were eSerbia to move on the Northwest Frontier of ePakistan, then eSerbia would likely be moving towards Liaoning; an advance on the Sindh region to the south of Balochistan would indicate eSerbia’s movements towards eUSA-controlled Karnataka.

The reasons for eSerbia’s delay could be logistical, as a land bridge towards Liaoning is incomplete without Phoenix holding Xinjiang, and the political takeover attempt (PTO) in eIndia was defeated, which would make fighting towards Karnataka more difficult. eSerbians have been fighting in Europe recently, so the push towards China or India may be a delay to focus elsewhere, as well. In the upcoming week, we should expect eSerbia to continue their journey and move towards one of the iron-rich regions mentioned previously. Resistance wars in eIran have disconnected the eSerbian land bridge to return valuable resources to eIran, so time may be against eSerbia waiting indefinitely to move, especially if resistance wars on land bridge regions (some started by EDEN for this reason) were to succeed.

Malaysia Swaps and Regains Sabah

eIndonesia conquered Sarawak, a high wood region, and launched an attack against eMalaysia’s Q5 hospital region of Peninsular Malaysia shortly after the TWTW was published last week. Shortly before the battle of Peninsula Malaysia closed, eMalaysia region swapped Sabah to the ePhilippines to guarantee that the country could survive if Peninsula Malaysia was conquered; it was not, and eMalaysia regained Sabah earlier today. Likewise, Sarawak was also returned to eMalasia less than a week after eIndonesia took the region, and the war games have resumed for Sol, oblivious to the mayhem in the rest of the world. Whether eIndonesia initiates another attack while the war rages in the rest of Asia and throughout Europe is unclear.

Fiercely Contested Political Elections

India's Tumultuous Election
Election Day in eIndia featured an unusual pair of candidates, as a three-time Congressman in Ashwamedh was paired against ex.akrado (currently located in Heilongjiang… hmmm), at the time a Level 6 citizen with no achievements and an in-game rank of Private. This unlikely candidate with lofty political goals and backing by the MAFIA PTO group was heavily contending and winning the election for much of the day before several prominent EDEN figures, including Josh Frost, urged citizens to move to eIndia, obtain citizenship, and vote for Ashwamedh. Were ex.akrado to win, the possibility would have existed that the eUSA’s position in Karnataka would be challenged, either by the new president or by an arranged region swap with eSerbia.

Thailand
The second major election outcome in the region this week was in eThailand. The newly elected ina_indonesia has a name and friends list which shows her allegiances to eIndonesia, and
she won by a mere 5 votes over her opponent, the Sol-friendly Thingol, who has requested that citizens file a ticket to investigate the election. ina_Indonesia included conquering Sarawak, eMalaysia as one of her goals, but it may be possible to see eThailand region swap Southern Thailand to eIndonesia, which would give the Phoenix power a second chance at India.

Asia Minor

Asia Minor as of Day 781; eGreece= light blue, eTurkey= red, eIsrael=grey (eSerbia in dark blue, along their land bridge)

Early in the week, eTurkey was enjoying the advantages given it by an eBulgarian block on eGreece, and scored a string of victories against both eGreece and eIsrael. During that time, eTurkey conquered the Aegean Islands and Crete, and fought a spirited campaign against the eGreek fortress of Central Greece. EDEN was forced to divert its forces from other theaters to keep Phoenix from conquering eGreece’s Q5 fortresses and one of the few EDEN-controlled iron regions. Meanwhile in eIsrael, eTurkey won four straight campaigns in Haifa, Nazareth North District, Tel Aviv Center District, and eIsrael’s hospital region of Jerusalem.

The back half of the week has seen eGreece regain initiative and retake its regions which were taken by the Phoenix member. The EDEN ally has attacked eTurkish-held Israeli regions, and has conquered Tel Aviv and Haifa. eGreece’s attack on Jerusalem, if successful, would drive a wedge between eTurkey and eIsrael, and halt eTurkey’s ability to gain the initiative in the region; in the mean time, eGreece has the two-region border benefit with eTurkey, in which it can keep launching attacks to keep initiative in the fight. Because of the eSerbian land bridge, eTurkey has no border with an adversary apart from eGreece if eGreece conquers Jerusalem, so its greatest utility to Phoenix is to keep eGreece fighting and unable to fully support other battles for EDEN.

South America

eBrazil and eAustralia (I know, not in South America) have remained quiet and did not start any new battles this week. The main notable event in the region this week is that the GROM organization which PTOed ePeru won the Presidential election by a slim margin over a domestic organization and the Holy See, a possible multis-backed PTO group exposed by Myles Robinson’s fine reporting. ePoland will continue to benefit from the friendly government in ePeru and receive cheap resources to fuel its campaigns in Europe. PTOs are never positives and are an undesired blemish on eRepublik, but seem to be unavoidable and commonly used by both Phoenix and EDEN. That being said, I look forward to seeing ePeru ruled by its own government.

Europe

Central Europe
Spain Attacks Remaining French Regions
eSpain’s armed forces have pushed further across eFrance in the past week, despite more mutual protection pacts (MPPs) enabling 10 states to support eFrance. The eUSA, who previously remained detached from the conflict although obvious allies of eSpain, committed its military to the front and enabled eSpain to conquer eFrance’s remaining fortress of North Calais. North Calais was followed the next day by the conquest of Picardy, whose Q2 hospital was the last hospital left in eFrance; now, Corsica and Burgundy are the only remaining regions, and eSpain could only attack Corsica by first attacking eItaly’s Sardinia region. Both regions came under attack on Day 781, but are defending well amidst other major battles being fought elsewhere.

eSpain’s humiliation of eFrance and payback for the summer invasions of eSpain and much of North America is almost complete, and this newspaper hopes that peace in the conflict will soon be reached. eFrance has shown admirable determination and will hopefully now accept a peace proposal. For EDEN, the sooner eSpain is able to settle this conflict, the sooner eSpain’s powerful and well-funded military could deploy to other fronts which would benefit from the Fuerzas Armadas Españolas joining them.

Poland Reduces Germany to One Region
The ePolish continue to ride their baby boom and attacking initiative against eGermany, conquering several small eGerman regions earlier this week; despite their advantages, ePoland was denied twice by eGermany-- with Phoenix backing-- in its attacks on Bavaria, but succeeded earlier in Day 779. Rheinland-Palatinate fell the same day, leaving Saarland are the sole eGerman region; it is highly likely that you may be reading this article while a battle rages in Saarland. ePoland should try to eliminate the eGermans quickly so that eGermany’s MPPs could be erased, and as with eSpain, be able to send its large military to another EDEN front.

Graphical depiction of EDEN’s progress in Europe, and eSpain and ePoland’s region swapping

Spain and Poland Perform Region Swaps, Surround France and Germany
On the heels of their respective successes, eSpain and ePoland swapped regions so that ePoland has a foothold in France and blocks any chance of a counterattack against eSpain from the eFrench island region of Corsica. ePoland’s joint occupation of eFrance also makes suppression of any resistance wars easier, as it will now be two and not just one EDEN power occupying eFrench territories. Moreover, eSpain now holds a few German regions which border the eNetherlands, as does ePoland, and may show where the EDEN member intends to strike in the days ahead.

Smaller Regional Events
Early in the week, the eNetherlands declared war on ePoland and attempted a double whammy (a simultaneous attack and resistance war on one region) against ePolish-held North Rhine Westphalia; when the attack failed, ePoland attacked eDutch Wallonia and conquered the region. As the eSpanish does not have an active war against the eDutch, it is possible that ePoland would lead the attack on the small Phoenix-friendly state.

eSweden and the eUK have traded blows in Denmark, as eSweden conquered the revolving door region of Nordjylland and positioned itself within striking distance of the eUK (discussed below).


EDEN Threatens United Kingdom, UK Launches Preemptive Strikes
A wave of EDEN propaganda flooded the eUK media on Days 778 and 779, threatening invasion from all sides. With the eUSA, eSpain, eNorway, and eSweden all bordering the eUK, with ePoland nearby, the eUK launched preemptive initiative-blocking strikes on three of the immediate EDEN bordering countries. With attacks on Midtjylland, Vestandlet, Wallonia, and Lower Normandy, eSweden, eNorway, and eSpain would not be able to try an invasion on the eUK mainland. Whether the eUK loses initiative here is not a question; their loss of initiative is inevitable, and when the eUK loses initiative on these fronts, Britain could come under fire.

It is more likely that eSpain and ePoland will look to rollup eUK regions in the Low Countries, before moving on the natural eUK regions, in order to take advantage of fighting those battles without activating the eUK’s MPPs. To keep the eUK from retreating after ePoland attacked Lower Normandy, former eSpanish President, Durruti, started a resistance war there. Consequently, the ePolish victory there puts ePoland on the border of the eUK, and could signal an imminent invasion of the eUK from multiple fronts. The eUSA and much of EDEN would enjoy conquering the former Atlantis member and facilitator of the North American invasion from months ago. Campaigns against the eUK could siphon soldiers from other theaters of the war, and either Phoenix or EDEN may try to use eUK animosity to get the enemy to waste damage while achieving objectives elsewhere.

Southern Europe

Romania Regains its Regions, Threatens Bulgaria's Survival
While eHungary was fighting for its iron life in Hello Kitty, eRomania fought and retook its regions which fell to eHungary in the previous week. eRomania quickly sought to solidify its gains by building new hospitals and defense systems in Transilvania and Crisana, and conquered eBulgarian Vidin. As eBulgaria was reduced to its fortress of Sofia, eSerbia launched a counterattack and took the eRomanian-controlled Varna region. Eserbian control of much of eBulgaria is to keep the region out of eRomanian hands, but was started when ePakistan built its land bridge over a week ago. Since the eSerbian attack on Varna in Day 776, eSerbia and eHungary have alternated blocking attacks on eRomania, which have proven to be very successful in stifling any eRomanian mobilizations elsewhere given the Phoenix threat to the EDEN country. As mentioned previously, eHungarian political goals have changed and made conquest of eRomania less of a priority; however, for Phoenix, continuing to bog eRomania down does their alliance a tactical service in keeping an EDEN member's hands tied. eCroatia, meanwhile, has remained silent since conquering eSlovenia.

Shortly after publishing this article, eRomania attacked the eBulgarian fortress and last remaining region of Sofia. The move could be serving as a diversion for EDEN, to draw Phoenix fire away from other fronts, although an eRomanian victory would erase one of the primary Phoenix blockers in the region; to mitigate against the loss of eBulgaria, eSerbia started a resistance war in Plodiv, so that eBulgaria can still exist (albeit, without its MPPs). It will be interesting to see how EDEN's military responds to this front, as their response will reflect the alliance's attitude on the value of wiping a primarily Phoenix blocker state off the map.

Recap
The amount of different battles has increased from last week-- an impressive achievement considering how the world exploded in conflict a week ago-- but most of the ‘major’ fighting has declined, as the majority of battles have been fought between lopsided odds. This style of fighting seems to favor EDEN, who has demonstrated the ability to fight a complex war with coordinated objectives and selectivity in picking favorable battle theaters (see Germany, France, possibly UK).

The larger battlefields which will ultimately define the state of the war, however, are still very evenly divided, if not leaning in Phoenix's favor. When eHungary, Phoenix’s obvious driving force, is able to concentrate its focus effectively, the parity between Phoenix and EDEN is much more apparent; it is in conflicts such as Europe which demonstrate what could happen if eHungary were too distracted or had too many fronts to cover. In contrast, the battle in China demonstrates what is possible when Phoenix can concentrate its forces. The combined force of eHungary and eRussia has been able to dictate the battle there since the Battle of Heilongjiang ended, and eSerbia’s potential to fully enter Asia in the next week adds a further shot of momentum for Phoenix. If eRussia were to win a battle in Liaoning or Xinjiang, that would be a significant victory with the potential to spur a major offensive. In this context, EDEN's successful defense would only preserve the status quo, and the alliance would need initiative relinquished and blocking campaigns on eRussia and eHungary elsewhere to make any headway in China.

In a week with much taking place, the sole memorable event was the Battle of Heilongjiang. However, the stage is now set for the European theater to become more simplified if EDEN succeeds in conquering eFrance and eGermany, and can hold the occupied regions effectively. In doing so, the main European fronts will likely be the eUK and eRomania, and may make next week’s “The Week That Was” much simpler for me to compile 😃. If you have not subscribed, I hope that you consider sticking around.

God Bless America,

Lt. Scheisskopf

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