Hoi 4 Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - Oct 1946: King of the Ashes

The world is covered by a cloud of dust, slowly settling on the rubble of Europe and Asia. There is silence, other than the moans of the 80 million wounded in the war and the countless scarred forever by what they have seen. 85 million have died in the 2 years the war raged, that is over 100 thousand deaths a day straight for over 700 days.

59 million of those deaths were soldiers, airmen, or sailors:

Russia: 20 million
China: 8 million
UBP: 8 million
US: 4 million
Hungary: 4 million
Prussia: 3 million
Britain: 3 million
Eretna: 2.5 million
Sweden: 2 million
Teutonic Order: 1 million
Castille: 1 million
Others: 2 million total

Over 26 million were civilian deaths. Of the civilian casualties, many were killed by UBP soldiers due to their lack of regulation and anger at being attacked first. Many more were due to bombing cities (nuclear and conventional) and collateral damage. The majority was due to famine:

Russia: 12 million
China: 7 million
Hungary: 4 million
Eretna: 1.5 million
Castille: 600 thousand
Sweden: 550 thousand
UBP: 500 thousand
Prussia: 300 thousand
US: 145 thousand
Britain: 100 thousand
Others: 150 thousand total

Nuclear bombs together caused the deaths of around 900 thousand, counting those killed by radiation.

The demographics of the world are forever changed in those two years, but the World War was not the only conflict that inflicted heavy damage. Looking at the past 5 years, 18.6 million were killed in the Anglo-Covenant war, bringing the total deaths from war to over 100 million since the beginning of the 1940s. Now, no country is left that can contest the US's might and power. The US is truly the King of the Ashes.

It was shoddy diplomacy and politics that caused such horrific events to unfold, says President Forster. He is convinced that there is a way to prevent this, and he and others are ready to present their ideas to the world at Rome. The Chinese president is among the leaders of the world now converging on Rome. October 30th is the date set for the Rome Peace Conference. Here, the Anglo Alliance hopes to set a plan in motion that will secure world peace for the future. While each country might have its own agenda, President Forster hopes they can all agree at least to do what is necessary to prevent a very dark future.

Forster's first proposal is called the Right of Destiny. He proclaims the people of the world should have the right to set their own destiny, and those whose culture differs greatly from that of their country can be given independence under a new flag. The largest empires, Hungary, Prussia, Russia, China, and Eretna, will have some states lost in order to form new countries for those persecuted under the Stali governments. He also says that colonial powers should prepare for independence of those people they still rule overseas; the world is changing, and soon colonialism will be a thing of the past.

The majority of the nations' leaders present agree to the proposal, and the Right of Destiny Act is passed.

His second proposal, which comes from his trusted adviser and friend Governor Sancronis, is for the formation of the United Nations Organization, or UNO. This will be an international organization that will solve many disputes and issues throughout the world, headed by the US and Britain, but inclusive of every nation on earth that wishes to enter it. With this, the US hopes to avoid future wars of any kind through diplomacy and compromise.

This, too, is mostly agreed upon by the represented nations. The UNO is formed, and at its Secretary General is named: former general TBC of the US.

The rest of the conference determines what will be done with the defeated of the war. Russia will be governed under a new democracy set up by the US, headed by President Victor Grigori. China's president agrees to stepping down without resistance and allowing the US to facilitate a free election in the country. Eretna, whose entire government was in shambles before their fall, is under US control while a new democratic one is formed. The Castillian president remains in hiding, so his country will have an election, facilitated once again by the US, to determine who will lead them. The same happen more or less to the other fallen nations, except for Korea, whose president surrendered with a guarantee of remaining in power, as long as he and his government transition to democracy in the next 12 months.

The only countries to take any large amount of land are Genoa, which now governs over a large part of North Italy; the UBP, who have taken several culturally Baltic states from Russia; the Teutonic Order, which took some disputed provinces from Castille, Britain, which took much of Castille's and Prussia's old colonial territory; Haiti, taking a lot of Castille's and Prussia's colonial territories; and the US, which took control of a small part of Castillian Africa.

Dozens of countries declare independence or are granted control in the chaos that follows the end of the war and the declaration of Right of Destiny.

Europe:

Hungary
Hungary's Italian possessions, part of the country for hundreds of years, breaks away and forms Sicily, with a unique mix of Hungary and Italian culture.

The Slavic peoples of the Adriatic Coast come together and form the Slavic Union.

Macedonia is formed in Southern Hungary.

The Bulgar people reform Bulgaria, with support from the Anglo Alliance.

Yedisan is liberated, as is Volhynia, taking a few provinces from Russia as well. It has been a long time since either nation was independent.

Silesia is formed from Poland's southern state and parts of northern Hungary.

Prussia
Styria und Tyrol breaks free from Prussia and forms a republic, and Prussia's north Italy states are annexed by Genoa. Talks of Italian unification begin between the nation states of Italy.

Iberia
Several contested borders are corrected between the Teutonic Order and Castille, and Andalusia is formed for the Muslim minorities in northern Iberia.

Eretna
The Greeks people are united in the new formed country of Epirus, while the much persecuted Armenians are given independence in the Caucasus.

Africa:

Prussia's and Castille's colonial holdings are split between British, Haitian, and the US to control.

Russia:

Sami-Finland is given independence in the west, while several different nations break free in Central Asia.

Burgustan encompasses the southern part of Russian Central Asia, while Caspia resides on the Caspian sea, and the Siberian-Central Asian Federation takes up the rest.

Georgia is liberated, although they are now confined only to the Caucasus.

Manchuria is made independent, taking mostly provinces from Russia and a few from China.

Middle East:

Castille's Middle Eastern colonial possessions have all been given some independence. Palestine-Jerusalem, Shammar, Jazira, and Arabastan are made autonomous regions under US control.

China:

Southeast Asia is the only area with border changes, except for the slight changes with Manchuria in the north. Khmer, Cambodia, Phuang, Sukhothai, and Burma are given autonomy under US control. A few of the local countries are given land lost long ago in exchange for friendlier relations and trade agreements.

Oceania:

Castille's possessions in Australian are split between Britain and Haiti, while New Zealand is completely owned by Britain now. Castille's territories in Indonesia are also split between the two.