Whilst events in the Iberian Peninsular grind towards their inevitable conclusion, tensions across the rest of Europe continue to rise. To that end, we must prepare! Although the Treasury, since the end of the Great War, has managed military spending on the basis of having 10 years reasonable notice before a major conflict… we clearly don’t. Although the idea of another war with Germany does not come as a surprise, the pace at which Herr Hitler is driving us to it certainly does. So, no time to waste. 1937 is all about product, production and more production.
By this time, upgrades to our divisions are pretty much done and dusted (although there’s still a lot of reinforcement to do), so our Supreme Leader feels that it’s time to start building up our industrial capabilities. Infrastructure comes first, to be followed by increasing our land and sea defences and naval and air facilities are key locations around the globe:
Editor’s note: I’ve never really gone in for building infrastructure in a serious way before (apart from a few obvious spots), so this is an experiment for me. There’s a lot more below the fold in the image above. Also, on a fluff note, I maxed out on airfields and naval bases in Hong Kong; perhaps this was not realistic, given the size of the island. Oh well, we’ll certainly need them if we’re going to hold onto it.
Around July ’37, we feel that our economy is ready to go up a notch in preparation for war:
This gives us a much needed boost to our industrial and research efficiency, as well as increasing manpower growth and increasing various stockpiles. Manpower levels especially are a real concern (you will have noticed that at the beginning of the year, our manpower couldn’t even properly support the meagre amount of industrial capacity we were investing in reinforcement), so this is much appreciated.
Other priorities for the coming year and into next include,
- Building up our forces in the Middle East and East Africa
- Completely reorganising the Royal Navy, including the integration of our newly commissioned vessels
- Starting major espionage operations against our future enemies
Other countries in Europe are also clearly feeling the need to rattle the sabre. Of course, we are more than happy to share our aviation expertise with our Scandinavian friends:
Payment comes in the form of supplies, while the agreement lasts, and enhanced relationships with Sweden and Finland.
In other news, the sterling efforts of three of our fine citizens have also been rewarded with Nobel Prizes. The International Peace Organisation especially seems like a good idea right now:
The British Empire 