By Pete Merritt
London - Saturday 1 June 2013

Background

The long and bloody history of the Balkans is like any other hotly-contested region of the world, where various groups or states have ‘interests’ which unfortunately (for the general population) overlap…

The original hotch-potch of petty feudal states evolved after the fragmentation of the old Roman Empire, and continued a precarious existence on the edge of Europe’s two enormous medieval power-blocks, namely the Holy Roman and Byzantine Empires. Up until the mid-15th century all the states were ‘clients’ of one or the other to some extent, even if their levels of national pride and independence would have been more suited to a Chinese Emperor! Much of this continued independence owed less to their fighting ability than the ‘cost benefit’ to the other powers to defeat them.

All this changed quite rapidly with the arrival of the Ottoman Turks…

Following rapidly in the political shockwave of the fall of Constantinople in 1453, a relatively young and vigorous Ottoman Empire conducted several campaigns which at times threatened the borders of central Europe itself. In the process, of course, the Balkan states were wiped from the political map – often faster than necessary, given their propensity to ‘back the wrong horses’! The romantic Victorians would have us believe that virtually all progress now stopped for the next 400-odd years under the ‘dead hand of the [Muslim] Turk’. However, whilst it is true that there were occasional rebellions (bloodily crushed, when the Turks could get around to it), at least the Ottomans stopped the interminable ‘border wars’ in these rich provinces, and many Balkan subjects could and did achieve training, fame and fortune serving the Sultan. But by the early 19th century a new political force, ‘nationalism’, was on the rise among small (and not-so-small) states everywhere – and it coincided with the decline of the very Ottoman power which held the precarious balance of peace/terror throughout the eastern Mediterranean…

Beginning with Greece in the 1820’s, throughout the next 90 years, gradually a combination of Turkish political, economic and military exhaustion, combined with local national fanaticism (not to say bloody-mindedness) to wrest chunks of territory from the Ottoman Empire. But none of this would have happened, however, without the various ‘Great Powers’ in the wings, either bullying, cajoling or encouraging the different parties for their own ends. The only problem was, no-one noticed that their newly-independent ‘clients’ were becoming difficult to control until the ‘July Crisis’ of 1914, when it was far too late….

The Game

This lack of control (from outside or within), competing historical and national demands, plus the usual ‘god is on our side’ nonsense, led to the two-and-a-half* Balkan Wars in 1912-13 – and makes ideal fodder for an unruly bunch of wargamers.

So, there will be a number of large, national teams (for the main states) eager to expand their territory, with players split into roughly three 'factions' of the government.

Their jobs will be to make 'policy' about the war such as

•   where to go,
•   the level of mobilization (=debt, popular expectation) and
•   the appointment of NPC commanders, balancing their 'profile' of political and military skills.

The teams will also be in almost constant negotiation with their 'allies', making, breaking and re-negotiating deals as situations (and opportunities) develop.

But do remember that any apparent battlefield success is only good for temporary popular glory - for real long-term gain all such achievements must be ratified at the peace conference(s), only taking effect when 'rubber-stamped' by the Great Powers. The latter will be represented by a small 'Great Powers Club' team seeking to both control and - at the same time - gain an 'edge' over their fellow Great Powers by the trading of influence (or enormous guns and ships), ideally without starting a World War!

* The half is the ‘middle one’, (re)started by a new revolutionary Turkish government while the others were still arguing about the peace conditions of the first war! Unfortunately, the Turks had not quite replaced the means to actually prosecute the war, and simply gave the squabbling neighbours their only common enemy one last time….?

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