The Long March is over and the Communists are holed up in Shaanxi province (not to be confused with Shanxi) and are surely at the limit of their endurance and ragged strength. However, matters are seldom straightforward in such a fragmented nation…
Welcome to the first instalment of The Three Principles, the long awaited AAR written by myself and /u/kaiservonikapoc. With the state of the game improving and numerous modifications further improving the overall experience, I decided to end Between the Seas for the foreseeable future and move on to the project I really wanted to do in the first place.
Modifications used:
- Improved AI Research and Division Tweaks
- Improved Peace Conference AI
- Coloured Buttons
- Accurate flags for Japan and Communist China.
- DzK Better Counters
- More Theatre Icons
- Flavour Names Extended
- [World Press Mod] Shen Bao
- No Man’s Land (Adds HoI3 style impassable provinces.)
During the revolution that toppled the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Sun Yat-Sen intended to implement the Three Principles of the People:
1) Mínzú (Nationalism) China must create a national identity that includes all of the five races and unifies them.
2) Mínquán (Democracy) The people must have the political means to express their wishes and guarantee their rights.
3) Mínshēng (The people’s welfare) This principle seeks to create fair land taxation through the Georgist political philosophy but due to the unfortunate passing of Sun Yat-Sen in 1927, this third principle was never fully defined and remains open to interpretation.
The road to a united China has been a far from straightforward endeavour. There are both threats from within and without that could sweep away the effects of the revolution much like short lived ascension attempt of Emperor Yuan Shikai in 1915 fragmented the entire nation…
Welcome to a Hearts of Iron IV AAR by /u/Tammo-Korsai and /u/KaiserVonIkapoc
Theme tune: https://www.facebook.com/158517831018557/videos/409181869285484/?fref=nf
A threat from within…
The Communist Party of China, recently taken over by Mao Zedong, has regrouped in the mountainous province of Shaanxi (not to be confused with the neibouring warlord province of Shanxi) and is stubbornly resisting the advances of the National Revolutionary Army despite the gruelling slog of the Long March.
With the warlords loosely allied to the KMT and anti-communist in nature, the red blot on China’s map remains the most active threat for the time being.
… a threat from without…
As China has struggled to reunify, Imperial Japan has only grown stronger as its military clique hunger for further conquests after fabricating an incident in 1931. They used their false cassus belli to invade the outer province of Manchuria. With the Republic in no shape to resist, the province was yielded without a fight.
In order to create an air of legitimacy, the last true Chinese Emperor known as Puyi was appointed leader of the Manchukuo puppet state.
Tensions flared up in 1932 when a brief engagement erupted in Shanghai as Japan fabricated another incident to justify further combat by ‘defending’ its extraterritorial concessions in the city.
Since then, Japan has been content to let the Civil War play out and watch its back for the Soviet far eastern presence…
…and a force for change.
The Kuomintang is home to many internal factions, one of which is led by the liberal Sun Fo, son of the highly regarded Sun Yat-Sen. He successfully held the government together during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria by encouraging Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-Shek to withdraw their resignations over the incident in order to maintain stability. This was also partially due to his lack of influence and credibility within the party at the time…
His prime concern is to end the war against the communists in favour of preparing the nation to better resist Japanese encroachments and one day take the fight into Manchuria. For the time being, his objections are being ignored by Chiang…
Not every foreign presence in or around China is unwelcome…
In 1934, the capable capable Alexander von Falkenhausen took over the German military mission to China. With a cadre of some fifty advisers, he is working to reform the NRA into sixty high quality infantry divisions that will be able to face the Japanese not just with new equipment but with the discipline and doctrines needed to win a war.
The man himself is no stranger to the adviser role having worked with the Ottoman Empire in the Great War and was even part of the German contingent during the Boxer Rebellion. To further add to his credentials, he spent 1909-11 touring East Asia with his wife to learn about the region.
Politically, Falkenhausen has become distant from the Nazi party after his brother was murdered during The Night of the Long Knives. The idea of an Austrian corporal running his country also sits uncomfortably in his mind.
Germany has proven to be a trustworthy trade partner since it no longer has an empire and is thus not regarded as having potentially vested interests in the region like the British and French Empires. Over time, the trading has expanded into a modernization program for the National Revolutionary Army.
The lull after the Long March is to be used to improve the condition of the National Revolutionary Army for the final push on Shaanxi province. Part of this need can be met by updating machine tooling and purchasing various models of sub-machine guns from various European arms dealers. In turn, these will be reverse engineered and copied to save money in the long term.



















