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title: Germany_Early_Annexations
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::: {.toctitle dir="ltr" lang="en"}
## Contents {#mw-toc-heading}

[ ]{.toctogglespan}
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-   [[ 1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Easy Pre-War Annexations
    ]{.toctext}](#Easy_Pre-War_Annexations)
    -   [[ 1.1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Debate on Paradox Forms
        ]{.toctext}](#Debate_on_Paradox_Forms)
        -   [[ 1.1.1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Anti-Annexation Arguments
            ]{.toctext}](#Anti-Annexation_Arguments)
        -   [[ 1.1.2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Pro-Annexation Arguments
            ]{.toctext}](#Pro-Annexation_Arguments)
-   [[ 2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Difficult Pre-War Annexations
    ]{.toctext}](#Difficult_Pre-War_Annexations)
    -   [[ 2.1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Hungary and Czechoslovakia
        ]{.toctext}](#Hungary_and_Czechoslovakia)
    -   [[ 2.2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Poland ]{.toctext}](#Poland)
    -   [[ 2.3 ]{.tocnumber} [ USA ]{.toctext}](#USA)
:::

### [ Easy Pre-War Annexations ]{#Easy_Pre-War_Annexations .mw-headline}

Several nations around Germany can be annexed without provoking a DOW
from the major powers in the [1936
Scenario](/wiki/index.php?title=Germany_Strategy-_1936_Scenario&action=edit&redlink=1 "Germany Strategy- 1936 Scenario (page does not exist)"){.new}
unless you are playing on the highest difficulty/aggression settings.

-   Luxembourg is by far the easiest nation to annex early. It is a
    single national province (no dissent) with relatively high IC (5)
    and virtually no defenses at all. However, annexing Luxembourg does
    open up another province on the French front that must be fortified
    while Poland is conquered. This may or may not be worth it to you.
    Further, the French gain a free +2 interventionism for this because
    they guarantee Luxembourg.
-   Denmark is also easy to annex. Unlike Luxembourg there is no
    additional front line to defend. It is worth relatively the same IC
    as Luxembourg but spread over more provinces. Also Denmark is more
    heavily defended and negotiating straits is more painful than
    invading by land.
-   Switzerland can also be annexed early on for more IC but it opens up
    three provinces on the French front that must be defended. Dissent
    is more of a problem in Switzerland as well and if you dont garrison
    it for too long it could revolt.

#### [ Debate on Paradox Forms ]{#Debate_on_Paradox_Forms .mw-headline}

There is a [Debate on the Paradox
Forums](http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279334){.external
.text rel="nofollow"} about whether or not the IC you gain from these
annexations pays for the cost of acquiring them.

##### [ Anti-Annexation Arguments ]{#Anti-Annexation_Arguments .mw-headline}

-   The dissent gained by DOWing these nations so early is 5.6% assuming
    the player doesnt move a slider that affects DOW dissent. The cost
    of reducing that dissent to 0% is 32 days of committed production
    according to Blue Emu. This diversion of IC is measured in Blue Emu
    by the unit IC-Days where 1 IC Day = the application of 1 IC to a
    project for 1 day. Blue Emu concludes that the diversion of IC for
    this purpose is greater than the potential long-term benefits of
    such an annexation. If you are building factories, the delay from
    reducing dissent is also lost production from incomplete factories.
-   France guarantees the independence of Luxembourg and Switzerland.
    The UK guarantees the independence of Denmark and Switzerland.
    Declaring war on these nations therefore shifts the Interventionism
    slider for these nations, granting them extra capabilities for the
    next three years in the lead-up to the war. It reduces their
    Consumer Goods demand and in effect gives them more disposable ICs
    with which to prepare for the coming war. It also reduces their
    Belligerence DoW threshold (by 41%, from 49 points to 29), reduces
    their DoW Dissent cost (by the same margin, from 5.6% to 3.3%) and
    reduces the costs of their Diplomatic activities.
-   The extra belligerence from the DoW and annexation will compromise
    trade agreements (as will the resulting Relations hit on
    annexation).
-   A risk exists that the extra belligerence, combined with the 2-point
    French slider shift to Interventionism and the free French casus
    belli will result in an early French DoW against Germany, preventing
    them from gaining all of their scripted cores. This would cost
    Germany far more ICs in lost cores than they gained by taking
    Luxembourg. After annexing Luxembourg, the German belligerence will
    already be 16 points. The Anschluss of Austria may well push them
    over the DoW line.
-   Both Luxembourg and Denmark can be annexed almost for free later in
    the game anyway.
-   Without national provinces, the IC return from Denmark and
    Switzerland is lowered.
-   The Luxembourg and Switzerland provinces must be garrisoned against
    France. The cost of producing units to protect these points must be
    taken into account as well.

##### [ Pro-Annexation Arguments ]{#Pro-Annexation_Arguments .mw-headline}

-   The use of IC-days is potentially misleading. ICs cannot be purely
    measured in terms of use over time, but must also be considered in
    terms of elasticity or flexibility to take into account the savings
    of gearing bonuses. Assume for example you have 20 IC in excess of
    minimum consumer demands. You may be able to allocate that either to
    interceptor construction (roughly 11 IC) or to tactical bomber
    construction (roughly 12 IC), but not both. If you acquire an
    additional 5 IC, however, you can create two long production strings
    of both units and exploit your gearing bonus. Even if you have to
    divert your 20 IC to dissent reduction for 30 days (600 IC-Days),
    you will have made a gain as soon as the 5 IC over time plus the
    gearing bonus factors exceed 600 IC-Days. In the 1936 scenario, the
    gearing bonus gains are huge.
-   The benefits to France or the UK from the violation of their
    Guarantees of Independence may seem to be great when considered from
    the player\'s perspective. However, if the French or the UK AI
    cannot stop your invasion even with +2 interventionism, this may be
    of minimal consequence to you. For example, if France is able to
    build two extra infantry divisions due to the interventionism shift,
    but those two divisions dont make an impact on the battlefield
    because you bring overwhelming force to bear, does it matter that
    they gained two extra divisions in real terms?
-   Even if the extra belligerence and relations hit from the DOW
    translate into a difference of several thousand resources
    accumulated over time through trade, that will not have a long term
    effect on a player who stockpiles 100,000+ of each resource.
-   The IC cost of an early allied DOW must be counterbalanced by the
    gains of an early French/Low Countries annexation. Furthermore, this
    is not a problem on the lower difficulty levels.
-   The free annexations that come later are not really free. They come
    at the cost of lost IC over the non-conquered period.
-   Even without national provinces, the IC from Switzerland and Denmark
    is still substantial.
-   The garrisons devoted to Luxembourg or the Netherlands must be
    evaluated in light of their necessity. It is possible for a good
    player to invade Poland and the Low Countries simultaneously in
    September 1939 and still put another 6-12 divisions of infantry on
    the front because they were going to build those divisions anyway.
    If those divisions were going to be built anyway and they are just
    sitting in Luxembourg or Switzerland waiting to be used against
    France, there is no loss of capability.
-   In the case of Switzerland, the extension of the French front south
    causes the French AI to shift its forces south as well, thus making
    it even easier for the German player to march to Paris as fewer
    French units stand in the way.

### [ Difficult Pre-War Annexations ]{#Difficult_Pre-War_Annexations .mw-headline}

These will significantly take you outside of the realm of history.

#### [ Hungary and Czechoslovakia ]{#Hungary_and_Czechoslovakia .mw-headline}

It is possible to annex Hungary without provoking Allied power's wrath.
Just after the Anschluss of Austria, declare war on Hungary. Conquering
it should be very easy. However, this will make Italy declare war on
you. After annexing Hungary, turn your army south and overrun Italy. It
is not necessary to completely annex Italy. In fact, Italy will
surrender Venice and other provinces when it sees itself completely
losing the battle. If you have taken far too many provinces from Italy,
however, the Allies may declare war on you due to your high
belligerence. A way to avoid this is to slow down on the troops advance
after you have reached the middle of Italian peninsula and accept the
first peace offer from Italy.

#### [ Poland ]{#Poland .mw-headline}

The negative effect of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is that it gives the
USSR eastern Poland as well as the Baltic states for free. Aside from
making it harder to attack the USSR later, it also denies some resources
to Germany. However, simply refusing to sign the pact will net you quite
a bit of dissent, which is not something that Germany should be dealing
with at that time. To avoid the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact completely,
annex Poland before 23 August 1939. This can be accomplished by
declaring war on Poland earlier than was done historically. For example,
you may want to declare in 1 August 1939 and you will have 22 days to
annex Poland to avoid the pact. The problem with this is that the Soviet
Union will be very hostile to you. Depending on the aggressiveness level
that the game is set at, you may only have from months to weeks before
the USSR declares war on Germany.

Another way to keep Poland out of Soviet hands is to liberate Poland
immediately after annexing it. Poland will be an enclave while Germany
keeps the eastern Polish provinces.

#### [ USA ]{#USA .mw-headline}

Attacking the USA in the early game is one of the easiest things any
nation can do, and is widely considered a gamey exploit. Every major and
medium sized nation can accomplish an annexation of the USA in the early
game.

In the 1936 scenario the United States start with a small amount of
outdated Divisions spread all over the country. So, lets get started.
Germany starts with 3 tank units. Start to influence Portugal in order
to use the Cap Verde Islands (does **not** work with the Azores, too far
away) after they join the Axis. Build 6 transports (or less) and at
least 10x2 German cavalry units (Cavalry IV, Speed 7). Do not build
tanks, but you should build some Engineers and maybe some Armored Cars
to pimp your tanks and cavalry. Remove all short and medium ranged ships
from the Kriegsmarine (everything below 2500km).

Start to influence Poland, UK and France (this will give you additional
time to deal with the European theater later on) and trade your supplies
for Rare Materials, Oil and, very important, Money. Voila, less money
for the other big nations to influence the smaller countries. Try to get
an alliance with Poland (eastern border is now safe till 1940, SU might
attack, try to influence them) and always try to have a positive
relationship with the others.

If the cavalry is ready move them together with the tanks, 3x3 Infantry
and additional forces (leave some at the French border and a few at the
SE border, just to be sure) to the Cap Verde Islands west of Africa.
Declare war on Venezuela. Invade with 3 Infantry, Venezuela is using a
single outdated Infantry unit. Move in the tanks or 2 cavalry units to
speed up things. Recreate Venezuela after the annexation to get rid of
the Belligerence. Move all waiting units from the Cap Verdes to
Maracaibo).

Sent all ships/subs from Germany to Maracaibo. Create a fleet with all
medium and long range naval units you own (all ships above 2000km range.
Declare war on the United States. Invade Miami with 3 Infantry units.
Voila, first step. Start shipping all other units to Miami (leave 3
infantry units behind). Go immediately north and west occupying ALL
coast provinces (use Blitzkrieg/extra supply). 6 units cavalry north, 6
west, cut the US in two pieces going straight north with the 3 tanks.
Follow with the slow infantry. Secure Houston with 2 infantry units. Use
the rest of your cavalry to go wild in the Center of the US. Conquer
everything, focus on the key provinces. There is almost no resistance,
deal with Rebells by using Infantry or the extra Cavalry.

Meanwhile invade Panama with the 3 units left behind in Maracaibo (Note:
the fleet will take the long way around South America). The trap is
closed, now only a few ports are left on the US west coast. Gather 6
units in Phoenix (the whole East is hopefully yours already), 4 in Salt
Lake City and the tanks on the northern boarder. No GO WEST and crush
everything in your way.

US will make several times peace offers, always decline, we do not
negotiate with weak enemies. After conquering the whole land between
East and West coast you can do whatever you want. Release the three new
countries California, Texas and Confederate States. Or keep everything.
Annex the US with Sue for peace (forget Alaska or the small Pacific
Islands, no need to advance so far). NOTE: Another invasion path could
be annexing Dominican Republic. This way you can use a navy base which
is closer to the US mailand for gathering the troops for the invasion.
This allows to land norther in the States than from Maraicabo navy base.
:::