The war may be coming to an end, but the conflict continues…

With a final twist of the knife, Germany betrays its long-standing ally. German fleets move in to occupy Sweden, defended for so long by the battle-hardened British Expeditionary Force. Worse still, A German fleet has occupied Edinburgh – the first occupation of the British homeland in over 200 years. In the east, Warsaw also falls to a German division operating out of Prussia, denying Austria another strategic centre that it can ill-afford to lose. In newly annexed Spain, the German army was sufficiently dug-in and well defended that they would weather the naval bombardment from British forces, maintaining their hold on the region.

England is just as happy to forget old allegiances, with the aforementioned naval invasion of Spain by its fleet occupying the Atlantic. While ultimately a failure, a British force was able to make landing in Belgium, liberating the long-time allies of the English. Anticipating the German invasion into Sweden, the fleet stationed there made a hasty retreat into Norway, hoping to hold on to at least one Scandinavian holding.

Fast running out of supplies, the Austrian army made futile efforts to halt the Ottoman war machine. The army in Budapest attempted another assault to reclaim Trieste, but this was met by a much larger Ottoman force that forced them into surrendering. An army in Bohemia was unsuccessful in moving into Tyrolia, although by fighting a vanguard action it successfully stopped a neighbouring German army from pushing further east. The one success story was that the defenders in Vienna grimly held on to their capital and prevented total Ottoman domination – it seems the Kaiser has managed to retain his title, if in name only.

By taking Bohemia from Austria, the Ottoman domination of eastern Europe is now complete. Few would have guessed six short years ago that they would occupy the second ancient seat of the Roman Empire, completing the conquest started by Mehmed II 450 years ago. With an empire that spans over 3.5 million square kilometers, the Sultan has delivered a conquest that rivals that of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates from centuries past.

Now that this bloody war is over, the face of Europe is changed forever. The French Republic is no more, consumed by internal conflict. Italy has fallen in one last great, bloody battle, and the Romanov’s have let their country fall to British rule. The German Empire now stretches from Warsaw to Seville, and will likely prove to become an economic and military powerhouse in the coming decades. Austria, at times the dominant military force in the region, has been reduced to the status of city-state within the walls of Vienna. The clear victor however is the Ottoman Empire, who have slowly but steadily marched their way across the continent, swatting aside all opposition. This correspondent hopes that such a terrible conflict will not cast its shadow across Europe again.