Several days ago, on June 24, Kremlingames released the long-awaited expansion to China: Mao’s Legacy. “The Fallen Eagle” is the latest installment in its series of expansions, this time delving into the political-economic climate of Western Europe and United States between the late 1970s and early 1980s. Playing as the People’s Republic of China, the player can now do more than just follow the historical route. In addition to supporting pro-Chinese in Latin America or jumpstarting the Chinese space program, the player can also upend the post-1945 consensus of the EU/NATO and CMEA/Warsaw Pact alliances. By providing the player more options to intervene in world politics, Kremlingames has offered newfound opportunities to explore the histories of other nations.
A while back, when this DLC was announced, I anticipated that the focus of “The Fallen Eagle” would be fixated on the EU/NATO, presenting the possibility of opposing European Integration in favor of encouraging Euroscepticism in Western Europe. Having played the game twice yesterday, I am actually impressed that there are plenty of paths that I have yet to consider.
The best analogy to describe “The Fallen Eagle” is for me to state that aspects of the DLC falls neatly into the thesis of Spengler’s Prussianism and Socialism, specifically the fifth chapter (“The International”). I thought I should provide my observations thus far below:
- Francoist Spain, rather than turning into another Liberal Capitalist regime aligned with the EU/NATO, can adopt a Socialist Monarchism (Carlism-Leninism).
- Mainland China can forge Eurosceptic alliances with Social-Democrats and Christian Democrats or Fascists and Communists in France and Italy.
- German Reunification can occur on East Germany’s terms, as opposed to the reverse historically. It is similar to two options from Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall and a third from Crisis in the Kremlin.
- Pro-Chinese Turkish parties may be persuaded to turn Turkey into another Socialist nation or help Pan-Turkic challenge the Pan-Arabists. Additional options for Pan-Arabism have also been added in the DLC as well.
- The Soviet Union may reverse its De-Stalinization pivot in favor of restoring the legacy of Stalin, which is an option from Crisis in the Kremlin.
- British voters may reject Margaret Thatcher and the Tories in favor of either an coalition between the Whigs (Liberal Democrats) and Social-Democratic parties without the Labour Party, a coalition between them and Labour, a Labour majority retains power in Britain, or the Labour Party that gets secretly taken over by Trotskyists. “Early Brexit” may occur if going for Labour.
- American voters may reject Ronald Reagan and the Republicans in favor of a second term for Jimmy Carter and/or a Walter Mondale Presidency.
As of this writing, I have yet to the endings for German Reunification, “Early Brexit,” “Socialist European Integration,” and Mondale Presidency. From what I have been able to deduce, the German Reunification ending can only be achieved when the rest of Western Europe as well as the UK have abandoned the EU/NATO. The “Early Brexit” ending requires a Labour majority (which is understandable) and the Mondale Presidency requires Mainland China helping the US confront the Soviets. The “Socialist European Integration” involves Spain, France, and Italy forming a new Latin Monetary Union, which ended as a consequence of the First World War.
Another option that I have yet to explore is the Pan-Turkic route, which I suspect is probably tied to the question of Kurdish independence. One other option that I may be inclined to consider is whether a Third World War might break out in Europe between the EU/NATO and the CMEA/Warsaw Pact. Kremlingames packed the DLC full of secret routes, so I would be surprised if there are other possibilities that I had not yet entertained. They definitely took their time with “Fallen Eagle.”
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