In retrospect, I got overextended and overly greedy around 1904-5, trying to grab all of Italy. I wasn’t sure of Turkey’s sincerity, so I decided to try to move as quickly as possible before he could intervene; I wound up facing a Turkish-Italian alliance. After Germany and I lost Tunis, Rome, and Munich, I lost most of my offensive ability and didn’t have too much of an impact on the remaining major event, the Turkish backstab of Russia.
I also waffled too much at the end, mostly due to the fact that both Turkey and Russia were attacking me, and I wasn’t sure which was the more immediate threat. In retrospect, it was obviously Turkey, though there wasn’t really any way for me to win or draw by that point.
For me, the key moment was when I asked you what you felt was a fair division of Italy. While you did hold Rome and Tunis at the time, my units were in a strong position to fight for the area. I was looking for a 2⁄2 split so I could go after Russia, or at least strongly consider doing so, but when your description of a fair offer was a 3⁄1 in your favor with you having the ability to stab me for the Ionian Sea at will I realized that negotiating with you was too risky; if I made legitimate offers it would be clear to you that we’d never reach a deal, and I needed you to think a deal was reachable. My instinctual response was going to be “If I agreed to that, would it be credible?” to point out how absurd it was before I realized why I couldn’t do that.
In terms of the end, to me supporting me into the Mid-Atlantic was accepting the Turkish win, either because it was inevitable or because this was France’s way to survive, and that was accurate; if I was forced into a draw it would have been easy to reduce it to E/R/T by withdrawing from the French front and letting France (and Italy) be safely wiped out.
I was France.
In retrospect, I got overextended and overly greedy around 1904-5, trying to grab all of Italy. I wasn’t sure of Turkey’s sincerity, so I decided to try to move as quickly as possible before he could intervene; I wound up facing a Turkish-Italian alliance. After Germany and I lost Tunis, Rome, and Munich, I lost most of my offensive ability and didn’t have too much of an impact on the remaining major event, the Turkish backstab of Russia.
I also waffled too much at the end, mostly due to the fact that both Turkey and Russia were attacking me, and I wasn’t sure which was the more immediate threat. In retrospect, it was obviously Turkey, though there wasn’t really any way for me to win or draw by that point.
And again, thanks for the analysis, Zvi!
For me, the key moment was when I asked you what you felt was a fair division of Italy. While you did hold Rome and Tunis at the time, my units were in a strong position to fight for the area. I was looking for a 2⁄2 split so I could go after Russia, or at least strongly consider doing so, but when your description of a fair offer was a 3⁄1 in your favor with you having the ability to stab me for the Ionian Sea at will I realized that negotiating with you was too risky; if I made legitimate offers it would be clear to you that we’d never reach a deal, and I needed you to think a deal was reachable. My instinctual response was going to be “If I agreed to that, would it be credible?” to point out how absurd it was before I realized why I couldn’t do that.
In terms of the end, to me supporting me into the Mid-Atlantic was accepting the Turkish win, either because it was inevitable or because this was France’s way to survive, and that was accurate; if I was forced into a draw it would have been easy to reduce it to E/R/T by withdrawing from the French front and letting France (and Italy) be safely wiped out.