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The Great War of 1914 to 1918 was called the First World War, for it was fought on every continent and every ocean, and eventually sucking in nations controlling about 90% of the world's population. It began as primarily a European war. Its prime movers, in Berlin and Paris and London and Vienna and Moscow, lived within 30 degrees of longitude of each other, were mostly related by birth and on personal speaking terms prior to the war. Probably less than 20 men, European aristocrats all, were involved in the initial decisions that lit the fuse. And yet, from there the conflict spread, through minor powers like Serbia and Italy, through overseas allies like Japan and Nejd, through client states like the Ottoman Empire and Siam, through colonies like Australia and South Africa, and finally through independent powers initially disinterested like the U.S.A. and Brazil.
[spoiler=the costs of the war]The best estimates give the number of war dead at around 20 million, including about 11 million soldiers and 9 million civilians. Another 20 million were wounded, many of them permanently maimed, crippled, or blinded. The three countries with the heaviest casualties were Germany, France, and Russia, which each lost something over 4 million people dead and over 2 million permanently disabled.
The casualty figures are just the tip of the iceberg, however. The entire world's economy was devastated. The century of almost steady increases in standard of living that had defined the century from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 to the start of the Great War in 1914 came to an abrupt end. The world entered a phase where poverty grew worse for a sustained period for the first time in a century. After the war there was a short but brutal depression for half a decade. It was followed by somewhat of a recovery, especially in countries like the U.S.A. and Japan which had not been seriously damaged in the war. That recovery was short-lived and yielded soon to the so-called Great Depression, not as deep but much longer than the first.
The Spanish Flu had its genesis in the war. Its origins are still debated, but the first large-scale outbreaks took place among American soldiers in Belgium. After the war they and their allies brought the flu home. Hospitals depleted by supply and personnel shortages struggled to keep up, and governments crippled by war debt were not much help. Before all was said and done 50 million more had died, far more than in the war itself.
The losers of the war suffered complete collapse. Partly as a result of internal economic collapse, and partly as a result of measures imposed by the victorious Allies, their empires basically ceased to be. The Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were comletely dismantled. They were replaced by republican governments occupying a tiny fraction of their former domains. Germany fared slightly better. It too was stripped of its empire, but allowed to retain most of its core, so percentage-wise it wasn't dismembered as drastically as the others. Instead, however, it was economically dismembered and forced into ruinous reparations payments.
Not just the losing countries, but the winning countries underwent upheavals. Russia disintegrated even before the end of the war, and after 4 years of brutal civil war was transformed into a communist dictatorship. China also collapsed, and although the War was not the primary cause, it contributed. Between the losses of the war and the economic devastation that followed, many countries were destabilized to some degree or other. Altogether more than 100 revolts, revolutions, and civil wars both large and small can be traced to either mainly or partially have roots in WWI.[/spoiler]
November SCOREBOARD
No Sign-Ups Required
In this Challenge, you will juggle multiple tasks. On the one hand, you will play the scenario "1914 Proper", which was written by DoomYoshi five years ago to simulate on the Europe1914 map, as accurately as possible, the system of alliances entangling the major European Powers at the beginning of the Great War. This scenario features Quads teams. You cannot join with a pre-set team. You use the Scenario engine to reserve a spot and get put with whoever is randomly chosen for you. Like all scenarios, 1914 Proper involves no risk of points, so even high-rankers can play without fear. I played it a lot when it first came out, and I think it does a really good job of using the map to illustrate the strategic problems of the time.
While playing the scenario games, you must also play the game on the various war Fronts in order to score. The game choice is wide open on those -- the only mandatory settings are Sequential, 24-hour turns, and a 20-round limit. Everything else is optional, so play them foggy, sunny, trenchy, flat, nuclear, whatever suits your style. Including terminators, 1v1s, team games, polys, anything.
The scoring system tries something new and different. Master Key tokens are earned on the scenario. They are absolutely key! Master Key tokens do not actually contribute to your score, but they limit your score on other maps. Your score on any map CANNOT EXCEED the number of master keys you have! In other words, you must win at least one game on the scenario map for every win you have on the subsidiary fronts.
Medal Requirement
You must collect at least 7 different tokens including at least one Master Key. In other words, at least one Master Key and at least six other tokens. So you can afford to ignore a maximum of one map.
Settings - Master Key
Maps: 1914 Proper scenario which is on the Europe 1914 map
All Settings: as given by the scenario
Wins on this map do NOT contribute to your score, but they limit your score from other maps! You cannot have a score on any map which is higher than your score on the Scenario map!
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Master Key
Settings - Western Front
Maps: Trench Warfare
Play Order: Sequential
Round Limit: 20 round limit mandatory
Round Length: 24 Hours
Map, Play Order, Round Limit, and Round Length are the only mandatory settings. ALL other settings optional INCLUDING game type.
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Western Front
Settings - Eastern Front
Maps: Soviet Union
Play Order: Sequential
Round Limit: 20 round limit mandatory
Round Length: 24 Hours
Map, Play Order, Round Limit, and Round Length are the only mandatory settings. ALL other settings optional INCLUDING game type.
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Eastern Front
Settings - Balkan Front
Maps: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Play Order: Sequential
Round Limit: 20 round limit mandatory
Round Length: 24 Hours
Map, Play Order, Round Limit, and Round Length are the only mandatory settings. ALL other settings optional INCLUDING game type.
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Balkan Front
Settings - Dardanelles Front
Maps: WWI - Gallipoli
Play Order: Sequential
Round Limit: 20 round limit mandatory
Round Length: 24 Hours
Map, Play Order, Round Limit, and Round Length are the only mandatory settings. ALL other settings optional INCLUDING game type.
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Dardanelles Front
Settings - Mesopotamian Front
Maps: WWI - Ottoman
Play Order: Sequential
Round Limit: 20 round limit mandatory
Round Length: 24 Hours
Map, Play Order, Round Limit, and Round Length are the only mandatory settings. ALL other settings optional INCLUDING game type.
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Mesopotamian Front
Settings - African Front
Maps: Dark Continent
Play Order: Sequential
Round Limit: 20 round limit mandatory
Round Length: 24 Hours
Map, Play Order, Round Limit, and Round Length are the only mandatory settings. ALL other settings optional INCLUDING game type.
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - African Front
Settings - Oceanic Front
Maps: High Seas
Play Order: Sequential
Round Limit: 20 round limit mandatory
Round Length: 24 Hours
Map, Play Order, Round Limit, and Round Length are the only mandatory settings. ALL other settings optional INCLUDING game type.
Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Oceanic Front
Notes
- Games must start between CC Time: 2020-11-04 00:09:00 and CC Time: 2020-11-30 23:59:59 to be considered for the challenge.
- Wins will count until CC Time: 2020-12-31 23:59:59
- Any issues will be solved by Dukasaur and groovysmurf, and our word is final.
