Spring 1912: A New Heaven And A New Earth

Please help downvote old comments in this thread down to zero or so and upvote comments from the current turn so they don't get lost.

People realize comments can be sorted by how recent they are, right?

Updated.

The League of Nations cares so much about world peace it gets bored when we stop fighting for a turn?

The situation in Southern and Central Europe leads Austria to make this public declaration.

If German moves do not literally violate our treaty, Austria will still feel obliged to respect its terms, which includes not invading Warsaw. As a further concession, we do not consider German support to Italian attack as a violation of the treaty, if the attack does not aim to seize an Austrian home centre. We also do not object to direct German attack against Austrian units if the Austrian unit is stationed in Italian territory (Rom, Nap, Apu, Ven, Pie, Tus) or Tyrolia. We will even not revoke the treaty if Germany attacks Austrian units elsewhere, or helps Italy to attack Trieste or Vienna, if we are informed about the attack (and extent of its support) in advance, which means at least 2 hours before the official end of turn. This is as far as Austria can go. If German moves cross the described lines, Austria will feel entirely justified to renounce the peace treaty with Germany.

I remind all European leaders that I have been very clear about my intention to move against Italy when the treaty with Germany was made, and I got no warning from Germany that an agreement between Germany and Italy exists, or is being prepared. Therefore, I do not feel bound by any agreement between Germany and Italy, and if Germany attacks Austria, it should be interpreted as German betrayal. The concessions I have made in the paragraph above are meant as a gesture of good will, motivated by the fact that Austria does acknowledge that Germany may have interpreted the terms of our mutual agreement differently.

Austria has always observed all treaties we have signed, and never intended to sign two or more agreements whose terms are in conflict, and if this happened by accident, we would abandon all strategical gains that would follow from such situation, in order to minimise the damages to our reputation. We hope that German approach to truth and honour is the same.

A series of flashing lights seen from the moon have been discovered to be Morse code and translated into the following telegram:

Several interrogated eyewitnesses in Berlin report that the huge explosion that the invaders witnessed from a distance was, in fact, the flame of a so-called "rocket" taking the Kajser to safety along with a hand-picked staff. Long the personal project of Herr Prof. Doktor Weltschmerz (Dr.phil, Dr.med, D.Sc, D.Occ Psych, Eng.D, etc.), it was completed at the last moment and sparing no expenses. The last remnants of the German empire are now believed to have relocated to the dark side of the moon, where they will be licking their wounds and plotting revenge.

Unfortunately, as the loss of several mineral-rich German territories made better materials unavailable, the Kajser's men had to once again use up all of Berlin's accumulated truth reserves to be forged into plating for the rocket. This is a disappointment to the occupying troops, who had hoped for an opportunity to loot the city to replace the truth supplies that were expended while on the war path. It also helps explain why the news of the Kajser's escape were not heard earlier. New truth had to be imported from the coffers of the occupying nations and brought to the interrogation chambers to make the eyewitnesses talk of what actually happened. Before, only wild fabrications could be gotten out of them, such as mad ravings about a possible time when all the rulers weren't constantly seeking to stab each other in the back.

Yvain, it's a little difficult to see what's going on in the East side of the map, since it's behind the LW sidebar. Would you mind scaling down the image a little?

As the former Duchy of Venice is now ascending to Great Power status, it is my pleasure to announce it's abolition. We are hereby taking up the title abandoned by the Austrian Emperors and henceforth declare the Holy Roman Empire!

The Duchy of Venice will continue to exist in Venetia, but as a subordinate title. Also, it is worth pointing out that the Duchy of Italy covers the area commonly known as "Rome" and not the entire state.

-Emperor Carinthium

Germany is glad to announce that even though the conflicts of the recent times have led to some unfortunate bloodbaths, this has also been a great time for Science. Under the lead of our brilliant Minister of Internal Security, Herr Prof. Doktor Weltschmerz (Dr.phil, Dr.med, D.Sc, D.Occ Psych, Eng.D, etc.), we conducted a number of experiments in the former French territories, leading to breakthroughs in the field of Occupation Science. As an example, we ran a number of randomized, double-blinded experiments on e.g. the comparative effectiveness of treating regions leniently versus having mass executions on the smallest sign of trouble. The results were crucial in helping figure out the best ways to integrate the country's citizens on a mass scale.

We are pleased to note that the results have now been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Social Engineering, but an even more gratifying result is that the people in-the-regions-formerly-known-as-France have abandoned their old identity at a record pace. German sausages and beer have now been accepted as the main dish in every home, and the numbers of volunteers flocking to enlist to the defense of their new homeland are truly remarkable. Best of all, there have been generous donations of truthen silverware: even though our truth mines have been working at full gear for many years now, melting down these household implements has helped refill the German truth coffers once again.

"We are truly on das Path to der World Domination now", says our brilliant Minister of Internal Security, Herr Prof. Doktor Weltschmerz (Dr.phil, Dr.med, D.Sc, D.Occ Psych, Eng.D, etc.). "Let us all have das Drink für that, bitte schön!"

England will be sending an expedition north to investigate rumors of Russian battle ships in Norwegian harbors. Lines of communication are unreliable and borders sometimes unclear. The Russian fleet may have mistaken Oslo for Gothenburg. As there has not been any serious damage to English interests we will not rush to war. But should we find any Russians when we arrive, the snows of St. Petersburg will be ash by 1905.

Now I don't understand anything, especially the English moves.

I predict an alliance between England and Turkey while they absorb their former mid-European partners; Austria will be the first to go.

While the British Empire understands the the Treaty of Hler could not last indefinitely we have the following complaints.

A) Germany failed to notify England and Russia of their decision to terminate the treaty, if that is their intention.

B) Germany's move destabilizes Russia, we believe a capable Russia is essential to English security.

C) While the treaty recognizes Sweden as Russia's domain, our Norwegian citizens long for the days of the Union. As such we believe that if Sweden is not to be held by Russia its right and proper place is under English domain beside Norway.

While the treaty does demand that England go to war with Germany there is precedent for peaceful, negotiated withdrawal in Scandinavia. Germany can avert war by returning his fleet to Denmark or by allowing the placement of some currently held German territory under English control.

Yeah, eight units against three. It was never going to go well. Even with perfect information about enemy moves I would still have gone down. :(

OK, thanks Yvain for moderating the game and all the amusing comments after each turn. If somebody deserves karma, it is the moderator, who, in contrast to the players, had no chance of resigning after being fed up.

I have started writing a detailed description of my moves and motivation, to provide a complete account of the Austrian part of the game, but will finish it soonest on Wednesday (latest on Friday, I hope, if akrasia steps in).

Edit: I forgot to thank my opponents, enemies, allies and whatever the other players may have been, for a fair and challenging game.

Thank you for being an awesome host!

#$@!%!#$%!#!@!

As Austria recently pointed out, the last turn should have had Apulia moving to Rome, which means that it bounced with Italy and Italy did not move into Rome. That means Italy is still in Venice, which means it needs to issue a retreat order.

EDIT: Italians can't retreat into Rome. Italy, please send retreat order and revised move orders. Austria, please send revised move orders.

I know this turn is late. I didn't get Italy's orders until several hours after the deadline. Sorry.

Your speculation regarding English acquiescence in the Russian occupation of Norway is interesting. Perhaps even prescient.

However, I think that you are misinterpreting the treaty. German obligations do not require me to lose Scandinavia, St. Pete, and one other SC. Just Norway, Sweden, and a single additional SC. Germany is not required to continue destroying Russia beyond that point. St. Pete is not part of Scandinavia.

However, it remains correct that it may take years for Germany to accomplish this, if it can be done at all.

Prince Kropotkin for the Tsar.

I have expected a separate discussion thread for this, but since there is none, here is my diary. Well, not exactly a diary, since it has been written after the game, but I have tried to put it in a diary format and to avoid hindsight bias as much as I could.

I say either myself or Jack because Jack had the most supply centers and therefore deserves some karma which he could most easily get by posting the thread which the other two winners then comment on, or if you insist that three way tie means three way tie, I'll post the thread and the three winners can all comment and get up-voted. We'll talk about it in the comments.

DIAS draws are unordered.

Burgundy disbands.

Austria-Hungary unilaterally declares cessation of hostilities towards the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and expresses sincere desire to end the war in Europe as soon as possible. We should enjoy at least one year of peace before the world ends.

the new, technologically advanced British ships

Please tell me I get some kind of force multiplier.

I didn't get e-mail notification for this turn or the previous one. Did you stop sending them?

Austria protests! The order was Vie-Bud, not Vie-Boh.

Spring movement orders are due 1700 GMT on Thursday, 20 January.

Fall?

Paparazzi managed to take a rare photograph of the Grand Vizier and Emperor resting in between an afternoon frolic and tea party during which plush animals were pushed around a map of Europe to better plan their domination of the continent.

Stp retreats to nwy

Silesia retreats to Prussia.

Also, the set of orders I submitted (just rechecked) had the fleet in Sweden moving to Bal, that doesn't seem to have happened?

Hm, I was going to let Kropotkin live (but still put the rest of the royal family to death), letting him try out his ideas in a Siberian commune. I guess I should have ordered that beforehand. (Also, it isn't called Istanbul yet.)

To promote better understanding of history, Austrian government has decided to declassify the documents describing the preparation of invasion to Italy (code name Operation Odoacer). The analysis of the situation can be accessed here.

The file compares several reasonable Italian and German strategies and it was used to select between seven variants of play. I have taken into account only the number of supply centres controlled after the last turn and have practically assigned the same probability to all possible Italian moves. Of course, any comments or criticisms of the strategy are welcome.

From here on, Germany guarantees the Holy Roman Empire's safety, conditional on the Holy Roman Empire assisting the German/English alliance against France. Presuming that the Holy Roman Empire assists the GE Alliance in the taking of Marseilles, Germany will consider any hostile actions against the Holy Roman Empire as declarations of war against Germany and will retaliate accordingly. As a further repayment for their help, the Holy Roman Empire will also be allowed to claim Marseilles as its own.

These guarantees will last until France has been eradicated from the whole continent of Europe, after which further agreements may be negotiated.

The following treaty is made between Germany and Austria:

Facing the possible invasion from the East, the leaders of the German Reich and Austrio-Hungarian Empire recognise that the sacred fates of the German nation, as well as the Hungarian nation and other nations of the Dual Monarchy, are at stake. To protect the rightful interests of both countries, this treaty of friendship and cooperation is signed:

1. Austria-Hungary and Germany will not attack each other, nor help other countries in offensive against either Austria-Hungary or Germany. The signatories are not prevented to give support to third country units in defensive operations of any kind.
2. Austria recognises that the territories of the Congress Poland, which under present Russian administration are officially called Privislinskiy Krai, and for the international diplomatic community may be better known as the province of Warsaw, belong to the German sphere of influence. Therefore, Austria will not invade the territory without German consent, and if Germany decides to take the province, Austria will provide all reasonable help.
3. This treaty is valid until fall 1907.

Signed by

Kaiser von Österreich

Deutscher Kaiser

it should be confirmed by Germany, of course

The Holy Roman Empire is outraged that the League of Nations would try to warn anybody? We declare war on them!

First, the Turkish fleet in the Black Sea received orders to support an attack on landlocked Ukraine, puzzling more than one frustrated ship captain.

This is what I get for writing orders while sleep-deprived! But at least Russia didn't try to take back Sev.

came together to prepare a series of easy-to-understand pictorial guides on how to differentiate Scandinavian countries based on their food, ...

I am surprised they didn't mention lutefisk. And ammonium chloride.

For some reason I don't seem to be getting any emails- could people PM me anything they've sent lately?

Darn, I missed Spring 1902, and now the post is getting overwritten. Here's what I suggested in our other game thread:

Is there any way we can update the map without erasing what is here? That's what the other game is doing, and the problem is that there is no way for viewers to see the history; furthermore, the witty summaries by the GMs are getting destroyed. I missed Spring 1902's update in the other post, and I'm already confused. Even worse, when the players write their end-of-game summaries about what happened, readers won't have any record to refer to, which partially defeats the purpose of rationalist diplomacy in the first place. Here are my ideas:

• Make one post per year, and have all the moves and maps for that year

• Host the seasons somewhere else and link to them from here (or keep updating the LW post, and keep an archive somewhere else).

• Put it on the wiki, or at least keep a record of the seasons on the wiki. Then we have no problems making a bunch of pages.

• Something clever someone else thinks of

The other game of diplomacy is seeking another player for Italy, since the first person signed up appears to have dropped out. If you want to play, please respond in that thread to let others know that the slot is taken; please have your orders in Wednesday, 2200 GMT, to nojustnoperson@gmail.com.

Edit: We've got the last player- thanks Alexandros!

the unusual nature of a springtime betrayal

Edi Birsan prefers springtime betrayal.

Ils ne passeront pas! With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each man must fight to the last. You can always take one with you. Better the gun than the Hun!

Congratulations to Germany on a successful campaign, and I hope you don't begrudge me for using you as an example. But since this is supposed to be a form of rationality training, would anyone (player or otherwise) care to speculate on what bias might have prevented Germany from maximizing its gains this turn?

I'm thinking of a specific named bias, and unless the Kaiser is doing something very clever I can't understand, there was a move available to him that was better than the one he took (if he does have something very clever in mind, I certainly hope he'll keep it to himself rather than reveal it now just because I'm bothering him about it).

EDIT: Disregard this, I've heard ample reasonable explanations for Germany's actions.

Death to the perfidious Saxons! Treaties have been broken, trusts betrayed. The international community will not stand for this outrage!

Incidentally, it's Andreassen, with an 'e'. :)

$20 to SIAI or Village Reach if a country other than Turkey or Austria drops out and lets me play.

Upon thought, I'd like to request the title Duke of Venice. This game is very ahistorical to begin with anyway, so I may as well choose titles for the hell of it.

Quick note: since the diplomacy map is actually ~1912 instead of ~1900, I'm going to place my Turkey after the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, and so I will play Grand Vizier Vanaturk, in charge of Parliament and speaking for the powerless Sultan Mehmed V.

Because, who wouldn't want to play secular liberals when they've got the chance?

The sun rises on the year 1901 AD. Since time immemorial, the European people have lived a nomadic life. Now, your people have vested absolute power in you, trusting you can build a civilization to stand the test of time!

Sorry I know this is wrong. But I simply had to up vote this for the Civilization reference :)

So, should we have a thread where we recount lessons and experiences? Should it be in Discussion or the main site? And should I post it, or should Jack?

England agrees to a draw.

It looks to me as though Turkey and Austria have a stalemate line running south of St Petersburg, which will keep England from the two centers it needs for victory. I don't think England can credibly commit to not taking those two centers if either of the eastern partners betrays the other. Consequently a DIAS or continued partnership is the optimal strategy for Austria and Turkey, and England cannot force a victory.

Austrian fall orders are specified in this subcomment.

lyo retreats to spa

Note that the fleet in the Norwegian Sea did not participate in the attack on Norway because it was listed in the orders as A nwg instead of F nwg, and all players previously agreed I should be strict with mistakes.

Not that it matters but... when did this happen? You fixed mis-written orders in the past and I don't believe I ever agreed to anything.

In any case, the mis-communication was due to saboteurs loyal to King George.

Movement orders for the Fall 1911 turn are due 1800 GMT on Friday, 4/2/2011

Turkey and Austria... can we make this faster than that? I don't see why the game can't end tonight (or the next 12 hours if some of your are in a different hemisphere). England won't oppose the invasion of Berlin...

I don't have Turkey's build orders yet, so I am giving them a 24 hour grace period. If they don't have them in by the time I get home tomorrow, they waive the builds. Sorry for not being able to post the new turn tonight.

F tun retreats to naf

Because of the possibility of England and Turkey doing exactly that, I am asking them to email me their retreat orders instead of posting them publicly for the other to see.

That is impossible, as England cannot retreat to the province it was attacked from. Tun retreats to Ion.

Can we bump the deadline back to 1800 GMT? I get home at about 1650 GMT and would like to be able to go over things and send in my orders after that, rather than the night before.

(i.e. I plan to send them in late like last time but would feel better with a sanction :P )

I am still waiting for Austria's orders.

Turkish negotiations with the Western Alliance, in which the Ottomans would betray their Austrian allies in exchange for recognition of their dominance over Eastern Europe, proved an elaborate ruse as Turkey's plan to trick Austria itself proved a trick perpetrated on the English and Germans. But in fact, it appears the Westerners knew this all along, and in fact conned Turkey into thinking it was conning them into thinking it was conning Austria; the Germans did not even make the moves they told Turkey to support. It seemed the only on at all taken in by the ruse was The Emperor of Austria-Hungary, who mentioned in correspondence with the General Secretary that he had privately started doubting, and worried that the fake betrayal could become a betrayal in truth.

This still isn't the truth.

England feels really bad about this :-/

Are there any games where I just get to be nice to everyone? Betrayal makes my tummy hurt.

Although a four-player draw is probably considered a failure by Diplomacy enthusiasts, I am surprised that nobody has yet initiated a discussion about this option.

forces moved an entire nine inches east ... further into Western territory

Looks like a contradiction.

I am missing Germany and England's orders :(

Could we have longer turn deadlines for a while, after this one has been processed? Christmas and all that.

I am awaiting Austria's build order.

GERMANY may build TWO units, plus one more if it disbands A Venice instead of retreating

...except that I'd need three free home centers for that, and Munich is currently occupied?

I'm screwed anyway, and the idea of checking on my rival's moves is not appealing. Resigning.

The second map reports the actions of the previously turn, not the positions for the new turn as it usually does.

I received an order from Italy to support the German advance from Burgundy to Spain. Seeing as the Italians probably meant the German advance from Burgundy to Gascony and I wasn't able to contact Carinthium to confirm, I changed the order on my own initiative.

If you would like me to not do this sort of thing in the future, let me know.

I have noticed that the icons for armies on the map are not all identical, and the same hold for fleets. Does it have some reason?

Austria hereby declares that the move to Apulia was motivated by our desire to protect the rights of the Albanian and Greek minorities in the province. It certainly is not a hostile action against the Holy Roman Empire, even if our enemies will certainly try to interpret it as such. Austria expresses strong wish of maintaining peace with Germany, according to our Treaty of friendship and cooperation, which we signed before we have known about the German guarantees.

In the interests of mutual security, I propose a DMZ with Austria in the Adriatic, Ionian, and Tyrolia.

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the site? It seems to take an inordinately long time to load something from google, presumably the search bar. I also can't access my email at the moment.

F MAO retreats NAO.

Also, I won't consider Italy in breach of our treaty if his army retreats to PIE.

Early in the morn tomorrow, I go on vacation; inshallah, I will return on the 8th. I intend to check my email at least twice a day while on vacation, so I expect no slowdown in issuing orders, but I may be somewhat slower when it comes to returning emails.

Haven't been contacted by Austria yet. Is something going on?

The Turkish move to Serbia has caused upheaval in Austrian society. The Hungarian nobility is speaking about second battle of Mohács. In Prague a large public manifestation has expressed support to the throne of Habsburg; the crowd was lead by a fresh conscript Josef Švejk, who frenetically shouted "let's go to Belgrade!" and "long live the Kaiser". Gavrilo Princip was released from prison. The government in Vienna is now waiting for reaction of the international community in a desperate hope of defending the encircled monarchy.

Due to various information recieved from spies, we have reason to believe the security of Tunis is under threat. Therefore, Venice hereby is issuing a guarentee of the country's political security- anybody who invades will be at war with Italy.

Due to various information recieved from spies, we have reason to believe the security of Tunis is under threat. Therefore, Venice hereby is issuing a guarentee of the political security of Tunisia- anybody who invades will be at war with Italy.

There seems to be consensus that Germany's move to Munich was well founded, and I think I agree. But what of England's attempt on Brest? It seems to me that A WAL-PIC or A WAL-BEL would have been better moves, especially when you take into account that I had specifically assured England that I would defend Brest. Of course I might have been bluffing, but why take a chance when Belgium and Norway were practically guaranteed gains? Also note that having an army in Belgium is more useful than having a navy there, while having an army in Picardie threatens no less than two French centers and could not have been defended against.

The following treaty is announced to the whole world at the 1901 World Fair held in Vienna:

1. Both Austria and Germany declare that any third country attack onto either Vienna or Munich is considered an act of war against both signatories.

2. Such a war will be waged by both Austria and Germany together until the attacking armies leave the territories of these nations.

3. The treaty is valid indefinitely. Either Austria or Germany can withdraw from the contract, but they have to announce it one turn in advance.

The following has been agreed by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in the eyes of the international community:

Turkey and Austria will not take any action against each other during all of 1901, and both sides recognize that Serbia belongs to Austria and Bulgaria to Turkey. Turkey will not invade Greece and Austria will not invade Rumania, nor will they help any other country invade either Greece or Rumania.

Although I won't be doing a lot of role playing here, I think I would prefer to adopt the role of Prince Kropotkin - a real person with the fictitious office of diplomatic adviser to the Tsar. Since I have been giving Phil Goetz a difficult time about group selection, it seems only appropriate to honor the author of Mutual Aid in this way.

Confirming that France and Italy have indeed agreed such.

France and Italy have agreed that Piedmont (pie) shall be a demilitarised zone. Whoever breaks this agreement shall know much opprobrium from the international community!

(Italy to ratify before the agreement becomes valid.)

Confirming my participation.

I prefer email, rolf (dot) andreassen (at) gmail (dot) com.

I am waiting on Rolf. As soon as I get his confirmation, I will begin.

I'm very curious to see how this plays out. Keep me posted! I would prefer to be notified on thezvi at gmail.

I'm also available as an alternate, should another be necessary.

I confirm my presence.

Either use the LW private message, or email me to koroptew@seznam.cz . However I would prefer the mode of communication being decided before the game starts and then consistently used by all players.

Confirming I'm here. Prefer email- I'll use carinthium2@gmail.com.

I see it.

Less Wrong PM is preferred but isn't ideal for rapid back and forth. So my email/gchat, jack.noble AT gmail.com is acceptable also. Skype chat, if anyone else uses it, is Jcknbl and would be really convenient for me.

Thanks for doing this.

ETA: I'd like to remove this info once the game gets started, so players should store it elsewhere.

Post acknowledged. I prefer LessWrong PM, but if I am the only one in this category, I will provide an email address to the participants.

I have seen this post and am willing to participate. (Thanks for doing this, by the way!)

I prefer email at vaniver@gmail.com .

If you want to make it high-stakes, we could have the victory reward be a post on the main site by the victor, so the reward is ten times higher- ~20-100 karma points would only make a big difference for myself and Carinthium, but ~200-1000 karma would make a big difference for everyone playing. It should also contain a write-up so we're not diluting the value of the main site- but a karma point from 7 people plus spectators is on the scale of making an insightful joking comment, which doesn't seem any more significant than bragging rights.

The only concern there is what to do with shared victory- posting 2 posts to the main site on the same topic right after one another already starts to feel like spam, and I shuddder at the thought of 3 or 4, but it seems doable.

Speaking of write-ups, I strongly recommend that everyone keep a diary of game-related thoughts. Half of the fun of public games like this is the After-Action Report, and since we're interested in rationality and biases recording your impressions, predictions, and motivations seems like a really good idea.

Post seen. Please use xuenay@gmail.com , and thanks for doing this. :)

For the good and wellbeing of the peoples of Scandinavia the leaders of Russia, Germany and England met this month, at a secret retreat on the Isle of Hlér to negotiate a regional peace agreement for all of Scandinavia. These three great powers agreed to the following.

1. Domains

1a. Sweden and St. Petersburg are hereby the domain of Russia.

1b. Denmark is hereby the domain of Germany.

1c. Norway is hereby the domain of England.

2. Demilitarization

2a. No armies are permitted in Sweden, Norway, Finland or St. Petersburg

2ai. Exceptions: Russia may build armies in St. Petersburg if a) there is no more convenient build location, b) he submits written notification to England prior to the build.

2b. The Barents Sea, Skagerrak and the Baltic Sea are hereby declared demilitarized zones.

3. Enforcement

3a. Should one signatory nation attack the Scandinavian domain of another nation (clause 1) or violate a DMZ (clause 2), the violator's or invader's rights to any territory in Scandinavia is hereby forfeit."

3b. The third nation is obligated to attack the invader and support the invaded until such time as the aggressor nation loses all claims in Scandinavia and is deprived of one supply center in addition to her Scandinavian domain.

4. Withdrawal

4a. Any nation, may void the agreement by providing written notification to the other two signatories. One year following notification the agreement is void.

The peoples of Scandinavia rejoice; there will be peace in our time!

Note: This is actually the Fall season, not Winter. Winter is the build season.

If any new players need help with evaluating first turn (or later moves), feel free to PM or email me, my confidentiality assured.

For those playing to win (and you should be playing to win), I recommend looking at the common openings, especially for your country. http://www.diplom.org/Online/Openings/

Oh well, I was kinda expecting this. Not that I really could have done anything about it.

From this moment onwards, it will be Germany's main priority to do everything it can to take England down with it. We do not expect to survive, but at least we can make an attempt to ensure that betraying us will be as unprofitable as possible.