The Invasion of Britain: A Retrospective
Desertfalcon
TLDR version: It took Americans and EDEN three weeks to realize the British Invasion wasn't necessary and now both sides can focus on more important things.
A couple of days ago it was announced that EDEN would be pulling out of the U.K. and that the war would be considered a draw. This came after the British managed to hold onto London by a sizable margin. To me it was amazing how far the attitude of Americans changed during this war, at first everyone was begging to attack so we could "eff up the U.K." , then a couple weeks later after winning a couple regions, we want out. Now I completely understand the rational for pulling out as it was costing us a great deal of gold, however there are a things I want to say before this war becomes just another memory.
The war with the U.K. was mostly a revenge war as most ex-Atlantis nations had a bone to pick with the U.K. for going over to the "evil" side. We knew going in that the U.K. had no significant borders or high resources other than grain, but EDEN decided to invade anyway. This is why the JCS was opposed to the invasion from the get go, and in Josh Frost's latest article he questioned why we even invaded without the support of the JCS. Now even though the JCS of staff and several people knew beforehand the war would be pointless the pressure for Jewitt to invade the U.K. was unbelievable. Between the constant shouting of politicians back home to get revenge on the U.K. and from our allies asking the U.S. to join the siege and help start a real invasion it's no wonder Jewitt eventually caved to the pressure, even without seeking reelection. Really it was pressure from the public and EDEN high command that led to this war. The economy could of been another factor as well.
I won't go too much into the history of the battles but too make a long story short the U.K. won the vast majority of the battles. The only reason the U.K. lost most of their regions was due to the fact that they retreated quite a few regions in an attempt to reduce the amount of fronts EDEN could open against them. Following a stagnation in the offensive and the huge loss in the battle of London, it became clear that a divided EDEN wouldn't be able to beat a unified PHX (which was pretty much the same lesson we learned during Operation French Toast). After this it didn't take long for a peace treaty to be signed and the war declared a draw.
Even though the war was officially called a draw it can be argued that the U.K. was the winner. During the Siege of Britain, EDEN spent a large amount of gold to keep the U.K. blocked and once the real invasion began EDEN had to keep forking over the gold to attack the regions it would later retreat. It's hard to tell which side spent more on tanking but in the end the U.K. was able to force EDEN to burn quite a bit of gold. Also seeing as the U.K. managed to hold onto all of their original regions except for Northern Ireland, that can also be considered a victory for the British. Still the British did lose their Belgian regions and the Irish might not relinquish control of Northern Ireland anytime so calling it a draw seems about right.
Anyways these are just my useless ramblings, take what you will out of them but I just thought I'd get an article out on the subject since its been awhile since I'd last written and this was a pretty hot topic.
Edit: Thank god I copied this two seconds before I published this because erep wanted to eat my article again. I really need to get a better word processor then notepad on this comp.
Comments
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Sweet I love these articles
Win and loose are subjective - even more so in this game. I found it to be a most glorious war!
I think it was a draw too and for the same reasons that you mentioned. I thought the war would've been well...better planned. I can see why Jewitt pressed the button, I would've caved in that position as well. But still without the support of the JCS or anything it doesn't make any sense. Thank god EDEN HQ got restructured because we weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Next pointless war: Mexico.
desertfalcon, at least you re honest and sincere in your analysis. The politicians are still trying to sell and spin the 'victory' over the spineless Brits. Josh Frost is guilty of that too (well, he is a politician).
Viva eUSA! Good luck in the next battle. I am more interested to see where eUSA will go after this..
I just hope that the eUK remembers that we pulled out in a few months. We don't need no babby calls.
system - i think you didn't pull out. you couldn't get in. Strategically, it was a win for eUK. It was a draw for Phoenix (as they gained a few territories and lost a few). Overall, it was a lost of eUSA and EDEN. Let's not kid ourselves. the closing of the MPP (which was started from the whole eUK invasion itself) is not a gain..it is just going back to what it was before the invasion itself.
maybe Singapore, Tyrone?
It was fun. London's burning with boredom now!!!!!
@Jane West, you're wrong, we're just getting started. We still get to liberate the Balkans and Western Europe. That will take a loooong time, and after that, who knows. But we learnt something a long time a go that you've only just grasped. "How many times will history repeat itself before the world learns that revenge never works"-
Woodrew Wilson, The Treaty of Versailles, Paris, 1919
@ Sheldor the Conqueror
an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind
-Mahatma Gandhi
.... well by god im blind as a bat
@ Sheldor the Conqueror -
"How many times will history repeat itself before the world learns that revenge never works"- Woodrew Wilson
I have to admit there aren't a lot of examples that come to mind. The one that did was Rome's involvement in the Punic Wars. (Remember Carthag's Hannibal and his elephants?) Rome ended the long struggle for control over the Mediterranean by destroying Carthage and razing it to the ground. So much so that Tacitus remarked, "You have made a desert and called it peace." What came of this revenge attack? Rome dominated the Mediterranean for more than six hundred years and rebuilt Carthage as a pearl of that sea.
Never say 'Never', Woody. 😉
@Exalted
" Rome ended the long struggle for control over the Mediterranean by destroying Carthage and razing it to the ground"
You forgot the part where they salted the earth 🙂
also I do consider it a "win" for EDEN (I know, I'm crazy), as we did a lot of infrastructural damage (most actually done by the UK retreating regions, I know), and in the eyes of Phoenix, Britain is a traitor for signing that peace agreement!
Maybe they'll seek revenge next! 😃
*fills a glass of vodka*
Here's to the most ehated ecountry in the eWorld!
I'm 100% certain that the invasion could've been successful if it wasn't for strategic mistakes that UK took advantage of, such as Canada attacking Scotland before Norway and doing unspeakable idiocy of leaving London as last region and then attacking it without making proper diversions. By proper diversions I mean attacking some important region(s), like North of Brazil (which we could if we didn't attack it too soon earlier and lost Polish MPP in Peru). Also during London battle Romania and Spain were having a training war, that's ridiculous
Pros: increased citizen activity, economy blossomed, got some sort of revenge although it's nothing in compare to wiping them off the map
Cons: lot of gold spent, we lost MPPs against UK
excellent article, I agree with all the main points
tl;dr version 2: Dish was right.
That's the advantage of being completely useless 🙂
We can safely say we won - we WILL get NI back, your Belgian PTO failed, and you spent WAY more gold than us, just think of the Norway-Canada-Sweden war declarations and region swapping, the Spain-Poland swapping, and the constant blocks which we didn't need to tank against as we had 18 allies to your 5. Finally an un-biased American 😃
Phoenix propaganda.
Nice as always.
Always gives another perspectives 🙂
Very good unbiased article by an eUS citizen.
Voted, already subbed (and will maintain it that way).
I have to somewhat disagree with the "revenge" theory.
1) eUK propaganda basically DEMANDED an invasion for weeks. How many times did Dishmcds and GLaDOS chant, "push the button"?
2) There is evidence that the EDEN high command wanted the eUS to attack the eUK as a distraction for EDEN efforts in western Europe and elsewhere. I can't climb in Jewitt's head and tell you what he was thinking. The truth is, the war was tremendously popular in the eUS. The EDEN high command might've been the straw that broke the camel's back.
3) When the cat-calls from the eUK weren't enough to provoke a response, the eUK began to actually attack the eUS. Am I the only one who remembers that? I believe that for a time, the eUK actually occupied a state or two which were retreated so the eUS could regain initiative. Should we have ignored the eUK's attacks? For how long?
4) I can't say whether the result of the war was a "victory" for the US or the UK. The US spent a lot of gold, but many US citizens and soldiers used the opportunity to "rank up". Not a few became generals and field marshalls during this war. The UK lost all of its' infrastructure outside of London. It is still unclear when/if the eUK gets Northern Ireland back.
5) I think it is clear, however, that the conflict was a win for Phoenix and a loss for EDEN. After being coaxed into this war, the US found itself largely left alone in the final battles, London and East of England. The results were catastrophic. In the meantime, Serbia acquired the high-iron region of Liangjong from China. If they hold this region, Serbia becomes a much more serious player on the world stage, and a great danger to EDEN.
"TLDR version: It took Americans and EDEN three weeks to realize the British Invasion wasn't necessary"
I disagree. All I cared about, as an average eAmerican citizen, was going in and razing the Q5 hospital they sold us out to PEACE for. So long as we destroyed their ill-gotten gains from turning traitor on us, and we essentially "smacked them on the hand", I'm satisfied as far as revenge goes. Then we could evac and not waste any more gold on that cesspool, which I guess is what happened.
Sure, it wasn't a tangible victory that gained us anything, but I'd like to think such repercussions will make nations think twice about messing with us, much less backstabbing us.
I don't like this portrayal of wishwashyness, that Americans wanted revenge, and then like a lightswitch, we suddenly wanted out of that war. I think I explained my perspective above, which is probably shared by many.
"I disagree. All I cared about, as an average eAmerican citizen, was going in and razing the Q5 hospital they sold us out to PEACE for"
Sounds like revenge to me and is it really necessary to burn gold by the thousands in order to get revenge by destroying a 200-300G hospital? Whether you agree with it or not the American public had a major change in their stance on the war, at first we all wanted to go in and conquer the U.K. and make their capital wales, and now the majority of Americans favor pulling out and declaring it a draw.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/the-synergy-poll-214616/1" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/th[..]616/1
"A couple of days ago it was announced that EDEN would be pulling out of the U.K." I lol'd.
"You didn't kill me, therefore I won" said the guy lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
Good article ..EDEN wasted a huge amount of money to close the MPPs that UK activated against it 🙂
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