The Sword of Damocles: Cold War NRP (Sheets)

[HeySeuss]

<OOC>

Bikini Atoll experiment, Baker test, 24 July 1946.

TL;DR Bullet Points

- Using the provided template, please post your nation's sheet.
- First come, first served on nation bids. In the case of a disapproval, I will give the player a chance to rewrite the sheet with suggested corrections before moving to the next claim.
- So you might want to have a second choice picked.
- All other inquiries need to please go to the OOC thread.
- Once we are under way, I will allow players to pick up a second nation if they like, so long as that nation has little to no relations with their first nation. This is intentionally exclusionary of the more powerful nations as one is enough in those cases.
- Thank you for joining!

Character Sheet (Template Here)

Nation's full name: (Must be a real nation or a viable national liberation movement. For example, you are allowed to play the Viet Minh or another anti-colonial movement. GM's discretion on viable movement, must actually have existed.)
Population: (As of 1950)
Current leadership: (Either the actual leader or a prominent political figure in that nation that is alive in 1950 and could plausibly be in power. By the by, you can take up more than one character, but they can't be bitter political opponents -- you can't play Bastista and Castro at the same time, though you are welcome to play the guerrillas rather than the regime of a given nation. For example, the Viet Minh are up for grabs if being a French pawn isn't your taste)
Government Type:
Military Strength:

(As best as you can research it.)

State of the Union Summary:

(Foreign policy, economic situation, domestic political stability and other issues facing the nation described here.)

[HeySeuss]

Nation's full name: Nation of Israel
Population: 1,370,000
Current leadership: Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Coalition: Mapai• URF• Progressive• S&O• DLN)

Cabinet

Prime Minister | Minister of Defense - David Ben-Gurion - Mapai
Minister of Rationing and Supply | Minister of Agriculture - Dov Yosef - Mapai
Minister of Education and Culture - Zalman Shazar - Mapai
Minister of Foreign Affairs - Moshe Sharett - Mapai
Minister of Trade and Industry | Minister of Finance - Eliezer Kaplan - Mapai
Minister of Internal Affairs | Minister of Health |Minister of Immigration - Haim-Moshe Shapira - United Religious Front
Minister of Justice - Pinchas Rosen - Progressive Party
Minister of Labour and Social Security - Golda Meir - Mapai
Minister of Police - Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit - Sephardim and Oriental Communities
Minister of Religions and War Victims - Yehuda Leib Maimon - United Religious Front
Minister of Transportation - David Remez - Mapai
Minister of Welfare - Yitzhak-Meir Levin - United Religious Front

Government Type: Parliamentary Democracy
Military Strength:

~70,000 active and reserves + trained militia/kibbutznik home defense forces. Israel is heavily mobilized with a conscription system and lots of reservists. The country is dotted with stronghold communities that can, and have done so in 1947-48, fend off attacks by a hostile military. It is strongly defensive, though the Israelis, as a whole, are great admirers of maneuver warfare and have placed particular emphasis on the development of an armored corps and air force. The current Israeli Chief of Staff is Yigael Yadin.

IDF Numbers

IDF Numbers, based on TO&E for the Sinai Campaign.
15 brigades were mobilized during the 1956 war: 11x Infantry 1x Para Brigade 3x Armored Brigades

Infantry Brigade: 3,200 men
* HQ
* 4 Infantry Battalions (800 men)
** 4 infantry companies
** 1 Heavy weapons company:
*** Machine-gun platoon
*** 81mm Mortar platoon
** 1 Heavy Mortar.Battallion: 12x 120mm.mortars
** 1 Anti-tank Battallion: 12 6-pder AT guns
** 1 Artillery.Battallion: 12 155mm.Guns

Armored Brigade: 3.000 men , 45 tanks
* HQ
* 3 Armored Battallions, each:
** 3 Armored Companies: 13 tanks each.
** 1 Mechanized Company: with M3 half-tracks
** 1 Reconnaisance Platoon: 7 jeeps
** 1 Self-Propelled Artillery Battery: 4 M-7 Priest SP Howitzers
* 1 Motorized Battalion
Source: Avalon Hill’s magazine “ The General”

Circa 1956, the Israeli Navy consisted of two destroyers, seven frigates, eight minesweepers, several landing craft, and fourteen torpedo boats. Per wikipedia research.

Circa 1950 (couldn't use 1956 due to changing aircraft types and expansion) the IAF has 13 squadrons, primarily P-51D mustang fighters, DC-3 transports and one of B-17 bombers, though the IAF is obviously very interested in jet aircraft. Per wikipedia research.

State of the Union Summary:

Internal politics can be interesting to watch, as Israeli domestic politics is a clash of outlooks owing to the way the country was founded, with many different demographics held in one country, and that's just among the Jews there. Despite an often highly educated populace that is spirited in debate, Israel has a strong coalition government that is primarily labour Zionist and Ashkenazi (Yiddish speaking - central European) Jewish. In foreign policy, Israel is aligned with the French, for the moment, but has considerable support within the United States as well primarily from within the American Jewish community, though this has not come to full fruition yet. In negotiations with West Germany for reparations and cold towards the United Kingdom, particularly as long as Clement Attlee is the PM, and moreso if Lord Ernest Bevin carries on as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, as the Israelis reserve a special loathing for him that is one notch above that of Adolf Hitler and company, particularly after the Exodus affair and the Portsmouth Treaty (the Irgun, one of the guerrilla armies of post-WWII Mandatory Palestine, for example, wanted to assassinate him.) Israel is economically weak and is currently trying to turn a refugee population into an economy through the establishment of agricultural communities known as kibbutzim and other means. While Israel was victorious in the 1948 war against six other nations (some more powerful than others -- Egypt and Jordan were the most formidable) Jerusalem is held by the Jordanians per the truce, and Israel occupies a precarious position militarily.

[Byrd Man]

Nation's full name: United States of America

Population: 150,697,361 per the 1950 Census

Current leadership:

Harry S Truman - President
Alben Barkley - Vice President
Dean Acheson - Secretary of State
George C. Marshall - Secretary of Defense
General Omar Bradley - Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Douglas MacArthur - Supreme Commander Allied Powers, Japan
Walter Bedell Smith - Director of Central Intelligence

Government Type: Federal, presidential constitutional republic

Military Strength:

As of 1950

Army
593,167
Navy
380,739
Air Force
411,277
Marines
74,279

Total
1,459,462

Occupation Forces

West Berlin/West Germany: 80,000
Austria: 9,500
Trieste: 4,800
Japan and Japanese Islands: 50,000


State of the Union Summary:

Five years removed from the end of World War II, The United States now stands as the dominant superpower in the western world. The culture, economic philosophy, and of course the Truman Doctrine and its vow to stop Communist expansion around the globe has placed the US as the main foe to the Soviet Union. American military and economic might in the form of the occupation of western Germany and the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe have been two of the biggest foreign policy efforts of the Truman administration. George Kennan's policy of communist containment has spurred Truman and his administration to be tough on Communist aggression abroad. On the domestic front, a growing movement by Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy has placed the fear of Communist infiltration in the government in the minds of many US citizens. Another growing movement is the Civil Rights movement throughout the southern states. Black voters in the south seek to break free of the Jim Crow laws that have led to their disenfranchisement while the Democratic Party fights with its image as the part of liberal america while many Southern Democrats fight tooth and nail to prevent blacks from getting the vote.

[Rare]

Nation's full name:

Estados Unidos do Brasil (United States of Brazil).

Population:

56,739,000 Brazilians.

Current leadership:

Gaspar Dutra - President of United States of Brazil.
Nereu Ramos - Vice President of United States of Brazil.

Government Type:

(República presidencial) Presidential Republic.

Military Strength:

327,000 Active Service Men and 2,000,000 Reservists.

State of the Union Summary:

With Brazil being the first South American country to join the Allies in World War II, they grew in power as their annual Gross National Product (GNP) growth rate was among the highest in the world averaging. That was in part of the debts that the countries were in and the damages that most countries had to rebuild due to Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, political and economic liberalism were reintroduced in Brazil. Getúlio Dorneles Vargas was overthrown, democratic rule was reestablished, and the foreign-exchange reserves accumulated during the war made possible a reduction of trade restrictions. However, trade liberalization was short-lived. The overvalued foreign-exchange rate, established in 1945. This, combined with persistent inflation and a repressed demand, meant sharp increases in imports and a sluggish performance of exports, which soon led again to a balance of payments crisis.

[FuzzyFly]

Nation's full name: Japan

Population: 83,199,637

Current leadership:

Emperor Hirohito
Prime Minister of Japan: Shigeru Yoshida
Military Governor: Douglas MacArthur

Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy

Military Strength: 0 armed forces

Roughly 400,000 occupational troops

State of the Union Summary:
The nation of Japan is still reeling from the second world war. Dealing with a new government and its occupation which means having several treaties and pacts forced upon it one being the "Peace Clause" which restricted Japan from having any military forces of its own. In 1949 the occupation started ramping down and gradually giving power back to the Japanese government. The government also is having to deal with economic issues pertaining to the occupation. With the holdings of Japan being restricted to the main island Japan is mostly an isolated state right now trying to recover from the war on all fronts and mend political connections.

[Theodorable]

Nation's full name: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Population: 182,321,000.
Current leadership: Joseph Stalin, General secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Government Type: Single Rule Authoritarian State.
Military Strength:

Army: 2,500,000 men (per: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Armed_Forces)
Air Force: 2,750 aircraft (per: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Air_Forces)
Navy: 82 submarines
100 - 150 surface vessels; no carriers or aviation support vessels.
Occupational
* Eastern Germany: 70,000, 2,800 vehicles (per: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_Soviet_Forces_in_Germany)
* Poland: 275,000 (per: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Group_of_Forces)
* Hungary: 25,000 (per: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Group_of_Forces)

State of the Union Summary: The second of two premier superpowers following the devastation of the Nazi war machine, the Soviet Union seeks to establish a Communist world front. Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union has garnered support in North Korea, as well as marginal political power in Eastern Europe, and the Chinese Civil War, where although supporting the Kuomingtang, has now turned a political eye to Mao Zedong and his Communists. The Soviet Union eyes the West however, supplanting Eastern European nations with Communist elections and ruling the now divided Germany by guiding Eastern Germany as a pseudo-communist nation.

The Soviet meaning of military doctrine was much different from U.S. military usage of the term. Soviet Minister of Defence Marshal Grechko defined it as 'a system of views on the nature of war and methods of waging it, and on the preparation of the country and army for war, officially adopted in a given state and its armed forces.' Soviet theorists emphasised both the political and 'military-technical' sides of military doctrine, while from the Soviet point of view, Westerners ignored the political side. However the political side of Soviet military doctrine, Western commentators Harriet F Scott and William Scott said, 'best explained Soviet moves in the international arena'

[So Boerd]

Nation's full name: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland

Population: 50,127,000

Current leadership:
~The Right Honorable Sir WINSTON F'ING CHURCHILL

Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy/Parliamentary Democracy

Military Strength:
~696,400 total service personnel
~330,000 in the British Army
~7 Fleet Carriers
~10 intermediate carriers
~Good air force
~Top-notch submarines.

FLASHPOINTS:
~3,100 men in West Berlin, including three infantry brigades and one armored squad.
~55,000 men in West Germany
~19,000 men in Cyprus
~2,000 men in the Suez Canal Zone

State of the Union Summary:

The British Empire is in tatters after the loss of the Crown Jewel, India. Decolonization is becoming more and more inevitable as pressure mounts. The Second World War has put her in deep debt to many nations. Increasing social spending is causing defence cuts and the Royal Navy continues to shrink. Still, all hope is not gone. Britain is a distant third, but still third. With the Suez crisis still a dream in the mind of Nasser, Britain still plays a major role in global politics. With the special relationship, it is possible that Britain may rise ascendant as a phoenix on American coat tails to greater heights once more and assume its rightful station as a superpower again

[Jannah]

Work in progress

Nation's full name: German Democratic Republic
Population: Approx. 18 million
Current leadership: Wilhelm Pieck
Government Type: Socialist, Marxist-Leninist republic
Military Strength:
(As best as you can research it.)

State of the Union Summary:
(Foreign policy, economic situation, domestic political stability and other issues facing the nation described here.)

[Apollo26]

Nation's full name: Czechoslovakia
Population: 8,896,133
Current leadership: Klement Gottwald
Government Type: Communist, Komunistická strana Československa, KSČ
Military Strength:
Ground Forces: 150,000 Infantry
Supported by škoda trucks and jeeps, Artillery
Tanks
505 in service
Air Defense
23 batteries
Air Force
200 Aircraft

State of the Union Summary:
Czechoslovakia is still rebuilding from the damage caused by the Nazi occupation and WWII while still adjusting to the new communist government. The political situation in Czechoslovakia is stable due to the expulsion ( read execution) of rival political parties, now there is only one ruling party in Czechoslovakia, the KŠC. Following WWII the Czechoslovak military still sits on a good number of Soviet and Nazi German military hardware, but their ground forces still are smaller then most of the nations around them.

[CowboyCommando]

Nation's full name: Federal Republic of Germany
Population:49.842,624

Current Leadership:
-President: Theodor Heuss(Figure head)
-Chancellor: Konrad Adenauer
Goverment Type: Democratic Republic
Military Strength:
Ground Forces: As of 1950 the BGS, along with all the foreign troops consisted of Germany's defence. It wasn't until 1955 the Bundeswhr came into play.
AIr Forces: Non-existant as of this time. And even later on up to the 90's it mostly consisted of Tornado's and kitted up Phantoms.

Overall Assesment: Germany's military is nearly non-existant after WW2. And the government alone is reeling to stabilize its economy let alone put together a sufficient fighting force for defense. However out of necessity and foreign help the BGS currently guards the East German border. If it came to war the best use for the BGS would mostly likely be a scouting role, especially due to their knowledge of terrain. The best bet would be to retreat to fortified positions, blow up the major bridges and roads, and wait for the Americans(and other allies) to paradrop in. Which in the later 60's-80's the Bundeswehr planned and implemented for exactly this.(More research is indeed needed for specific numbers and armaments)

State of Union: FRG finds itself in a precarious position. War hasn't been kind to the Germany indeed, regardless of the effort, ingenuity, and will of steel forged by countless men and women. The second world war has left their economy devastated once again. All is not lost however even in the face of Berlin being surrounded by the DDR. The new republic has come together in the face of hard times their new capital Bonn a star of hope. Duty, and loyalty still has its place in the Bundestag, and despite the countless debates, comprises, and arguments the country still forges along for a better future. Deals are to be made, comprises to be broken, and preparation for the war that looms over the nations head. For truly Damocles would sympathize, let alone conventional threats, the world of spies, espionage, and intrigue darts at the edges of eyesight.