Gran Columbia
Population: 41m
Military: 290,000 Regulars. 350,000 Draftees. 2,200,000 Reserves.
The military is composed of a core of professional volunteer soldiers suplemented by conscripts from a 2 year draft, likewise it has numerous personal it can mobilize in times of war. The combat value of the conscripts however is debatable as their equipment and moral is often lacking. The regulars are well trained and equipped by foreign nations (Discount post ww1 german drill masters mostly.)
-90,000 Paratroopers: Getting dropped in the middle of nowhere to crawl through miles of jungle and climb a few mountains to assault a well fortified garrison. Paracaidista do all that and more. There is something about jumping out of a plane that gives men brass balls and a sense of camaraderie allowing for superior moral and cohesion. The vast and empty lands of Columbia are a guerilla fighter's paradise and so the central government has become fan of paratroopers: Cheap to equip compared to costly mechanized units and much quicker to deploy around in provinces with low intrastructures. Paracaidistis are the national heroes of Gran Columbia and the elite unit people wish to join.
-128,000 Mountaineers: More or less professional soldiers, these are experienced locals from all over the Andes, used by local conflicts and guerillas to fight in mountainous terrains. About a third of them are professionally trained and equipped but the rest being only tenacious self thought hunters are still very deadly for would be enemies.
-20,000 Republican Guards: The best equiped troops, under the command of the president himself, they include most motorized troops of the nation and all of its tanks.
-72 M2A3 Tanks (US Built)
-12,000 Machineguns (US Licensed designs)
-1,800,000 Small Arms (Mix of Licensed US designs and surplus ww1 British stock)
-200 Artillery pieces (British Licensed design)
-125 Mountain Guns (Austrian Design)
-100 Infantry Guns (French Licensed design)
-Battleship Columbia (British Built, pre dreadnought)
-Battleship Venezuela (US Built)
-Battleship Ecuador (US Built)
-Battleship Bolivar (US Design)
-1 Heavy Cruiser
-1 Battle Cruiser
-6 Light Cruisers
-21 Destroyers
-5 Submarines
-20 Torpedo Boats
-5 Minelayers
-272 Coastal Guns
-64 Fighters (US Built)
-52 Medium Bombers
-24 Transport Planes
Ideology: Authoritarian Democrat
History:
Gran Columbia survived the test of time, not disintegrating and in fact triumphing over many of its enemies, making the dream of Bolivar a reality by making Peru and Bolivia (forcefully) join its union. The part where Columbia is the equivalent of the US in the south has yet to materialize however as the country lives in the shadow of its big brother in the north, its presidents (who alarmingly always have the same family names) praising and damning the US as is convenient for them. The new president is the young Juan José Simon de la Santísima Trinidad de Bolívar y Palacios, Simon Bolivar as he is called recalling to the greatness of his ancestor the Libertador, and he intends to give his nation the place it deserves as the sole Great Power the south of the Equator.
Technology:
-1900 to 1938: There are great inequalities around Gran Columbia in wealth and access to commodities and infrastructures. While the Great coastal cities house convenience the likes of America, there are many small villages that have never seen a car or electricity. Columbia used to be dependent from other countries for all its armament but it has slowly began to industrialize, spending great deals of resources to have the ability to produce many war commodities nationally, although it is still somewhat dependent of foreign innovations.
