Dispatches Paid Bakersfield Ca Permit No 66 from Decision Games #27 FALL 2014
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PRESRT STD US POSTAGE DISPATCHES PAID BAKERSFIELD CA PERMIT NO 66 FROM DECISION GAMES #27 FALL 2014 (661) 587-9633 | (661) 587-5031 fax | P.O. Box 21598 | Bakersfield CA 93390 | decisiongames.com SAMPLE FROM MODERN WAR #16 Putin as Warlord By Gilberto Villahermosa Any attempt to restore Russia to the military and political power it had during the Soviet era will require greatly expanded and modernized armed forces. A warlord, responsible for matching his country’s ends, ways and means would be needed to lead and direct those armies. By definition, a warlord is a supreme leader who exercises military and civil control over a large geographic area due to the presence of armed forces loyal to him rather than to any other authority. A warlord normally rises and acts within the framework of a weak central government and is unaccountable to anyone. A warlord, to be successful, has to be a man of vision, daring, strength and charisma. He must use those qualities to bind the nation and his military to him to accomplish his goals. Vladimir Putin is Russia’s warlord. A leader of strategic vision, he’s committed to restoring Russia to the glory of Soviet times. Among other things, he’s succeeded in reestablishing some of the relations severed after the downfall of the USSR in 1991. Today Russia’s military is present – if only in relatively small numbers – in Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova in the west, Armenia and Georgia in the Caucasus, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Central Asia. Further, Moscow is increasing its military cooperation with Egypt, Syria and Yemen in the Middle East. The Russians are also penetrating the Seychelles, Vietnam, and Cuba. Dispatch #27 | DECISION GAMES 1 Visit Our Websites for more info @ StrategyandTacticsMagazine.com | WorldatWarMagazine.com | ModernWarMagazine.com ❖ War of the Austrian Succession Frederick the Great's First Fight by Joseph Miranda VI that upon his death, the rule of his lands (those controlled by the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs) could be passed to a female heir. The declaration was intended to avoid any confl ict caused by the ancient Salic law forbidding ascension of a female to a throne. Without the Sanction, Charles’ passing with only a female heir would touch off claims on his territories, scattered across southern Germany and the Netherlands, by a variety of relations. Charles spent most of his reign courting the acceptance of the Sanction by the other crowned heads of Europe. Most agreed, though often at a price. Charles died on 20 October 1740, to be succeeded by his daughter, Maria Teresa. His death also vacated with its failure, Yeltsin felt compelled the offi ce of Holy Roman Emperor. to act directly. On 29 November he Maria Teresa could not wear the crown ordered the Chechens to disarm. When herself, but she became involved in the military presence in Silesia was they refused, he sent in his military. wrangling to elect the man who would. minimal. The winter of 1741 saw the Holy Roman Empire The focus on the Imperial throne Prussians taking Austrian fortresses Four Phases opened an opportunity for Prussia’s such as Glogau while Maria Teresa The Holy Roman Empire was the name for a collection of kingdoms, principalities, and king, Frederick II, himself newly gathered an army from the far-fl ung free cities theoretically united under an emperor. The concept of the empire originated Yeltsin placed Defense Minister crowned. Frederick’s Prussia was Habsburg realms. Even her Hungarian with the crowning of Charlemagne in 800, then fell into disuse before begin revived in 962, Pavel Grachev in charge of the a poor country and a small one. subjects, normally obstreperous when central Europe and north Italy were united under the German king Otto I. By the late operation. Grachev in turn assigned Surrounded by enemies, it had no when it came to contributing to Medieval era, the empire once again had fallen apart in all but name. the North Caucasus Military geographical depth and had vulnerable wars not directly affecting them, The fi ction nonetheless was maintained. An emperor was voted into offi ce by “Electors,” District (NCMD) as the responsible scraps of territory in western Germany. recognized the common threat. They the rulers of some of the more critical principalities. They usually (but not always) included headquarters element. Russian army To him the rich Habsburg province of declared an insurrection (national Bavaria, Saxony, Brandenburg (later part of Prussia), Bohemia, the Palatinate, and Hanover, regulars, MVD (Interior Ministry) Silesia was a tantalizing prize; seizure mobilization) and called up their plus the independent cities of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier. 1994-95 Battle of Grozny troops, Border Guards and FSK of it would be a threefold boon: money regiments. Other Habsburg lands The emperors had come from one branch or other of the Habsburg family since the mid- (Federal Counterintelligence to support the treasury, a signifi cant also mobilized. Especially valuable fi fteenth century, and from its Austrian branch since the mid-sixteenth century. The Austrian By Christopher Miskimon increase in population, and substantial were light troops from the Balkan Habsburgs controlled not only the imperial territories of Austria, Bohemia, and the Palatine, Agency) units were all assigned Maria Teresa (1717-1780, ruled 1740-1780). to a hastily assembled force. That expansion of Prussian territory. frontier, both mounted and on foot, but the non-imperial regions of Hungary, the Austrian Netherlands, and various north Italian was the Russians’ fi rst misstep. His father, Frederick William, had who were expert raiders and against states such as Milan. Note: The article is illustrated with A Chechen and former Soviet Air years the Kremlin leaders were too Those then running the NCMD signed the Pragmatic Sanction, but whom Frederick had no defense. Salic law forbade a woman being empress. When Maria Teresa came to the throne in scenes from the Battle of Grozny. Force general, Dzhokhar Dudayev, busy consolidating their position lacked combat command experi- he War of the Austrian half-dozen princes. The war would he also had left behind a well-trained The Habsburg army, under the 1740, she could be (via the Pragmatic Sanction) Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, became their independence domestically to take further action. ence, and they weren’t prepared to Succession was a series of result in minor border changes army. Counting on Habsburg weakness command of Marshal Adam Neipperg, Bohemia, and Croatia, Duchess of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, Countess of Tyrol, and ruler Background movement’s leader, and the region In late 1994, President Boris Yeltsin handle the infl ux of troops. Further, The Russians developed an inva- was to be sealed and Grozny sur- T wars with multiple origins. and a tenuous peace amounting and distraction, Frederick ordered his was on the move by early spring. Its of a handful of other lands under various titles, but she could not be empress. She pushed for declared “autonomy” in October decided the situation had to change. they weren’t versed in conducting sion plan in which multiple columns rounded on the north, east and France and England clashed over to no more than a breathing space army to march as 1740 drew to a close. advance into Silesia caught Frederick her husband, Francis, to become Holy Roman Emperor. There were other claimants, among s the Soviet Union fell apart 1991, even before the Soviet Union The catalyst was a failed attempt by joint operations involving different would fi rst surround Chechnya and west. The route south was left open colonial aspirations and control of in Europe’s dynastic wars. The impulsive decision would embroil off guard. Faced with the prospect them Charles Albert of Bavaria and Augustus of Saxony (both married to Habsburgs), and in the early 1990s, various formally dissolved that December. ethnic Russians inside Chechnya service branches. Even so, planning then converge on its capital Grozny. to allow Chechen forces to fl ee. the Low Countries. In central Europe, Prussia in a quarter-century of war. of his line of communications Philip V of Spain, inheritor of claims from another branch of the Habsburg clan. A national groups within its A month later the Russians sent to seize power. While the Moscow moved ahead despite the noticeable That plan was divided into four parts. The Second Phase was to be the Prussia’s new king, Frederick II, Pragmatic Sanction being cut, he stood and fought. There was no imperial army. An emperor would mobilize contingents from various lands borders declared independence. troops to reestablish Moscow’s control, government denied involvement, their shortfalls, as well as others in overall In its fi rst phase, planned to last reduction of Grozny. The Russians known to later generations as “Great,” First Silesian War The ensuing Battle of Mollwitz (10 he ruled, recruit mercenaries, and call on contributions of men or money, or both, from The Chechens were one such group. without success. In the next several support for the coup was obvious and, troop training and equipment. three days, the Chechen border would send strong armored columns coveted the rich Austrian province The root cause of the war was the April 1741) was a back and forth the other imperial territories. Together these forces were called the Reichsarmee of Silesia. Layered on these primary Pragmatic Sanction, a 1713 declaration The Prussian advance initially affair. At its opening, the Austrian (imperial army). ◆ confl icts were the ambitions of a by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles met little resistance as the Habsburg cavalry defeated the Prussian horse, 38 MODERN WAR 14 | NOV–DEC 2014 MODERN WAR 14 | NOV–DEC 2014 39 6 S&T 289 | NOV–DEC 2014 S&T 289 | NOV–DEC 2014 7 #14 | US CARRIER BATTLEGROUPS #289 | WAR OF THE AusTRIAN succEssION ISSUE MONTH FEATURE ARTICLES ISSUE MONTH FEATURE ARTICLES 14 NOV 2014 Carrier Battlegroup: a US Navy carrier task force operating against the Soviet fleet 289 NOV 2014 War of the Austrian Succession: the 1740-48 conflict that made Prussia into in the North Atlantic in the 1980’s.