Velkommen tilbage to Dannes Danish corner and the country where one of its leaders looks like Santa Claus while another one is literally named Christmas. Its time for another Danish bashing Dev Diary, where well look at what kind of alt-history shenanigans Denmark can do to avoid their world-breaking record for fastest capitulation. Will they be able to withstand German Panzer divisions? Will they be able to ally with the Germans? Will they be able to avenge their humiliating defeat of 1864? Will anyone finally make sense of the Danish language? Of all these questions, I have the least hope for the last one

Before we get started, you might want to read up on the Historical Dev Diary if you havent done so, and keep in mind that all of this is still a work in progress - things might and will change before release.

Lets start off with looking at a bunch of art assets that I either forgot last time around, or that werent finished back then. Here you can see Denmarks standard infantry at the very top, together with the Danish Brigade and the Resistance militia divisions. And down in the left corner, you can see the literally brand new militia unit - based on Denmarks WW1 uniforms. Fun fact: the faces of the Danish soldiers are in fact modeled after a real-life Danish officer who fought in WW2.


And here are 2 airplanes unique for Denmark - and definitely alt-history since these designs never left the design phase:



[h3]Aligning with Your Overlord[/h3]
Denmark (in)famously capitulated two hours after the German invasion, and if you capitulate to an invading enemy the Occupation Branch becomes available and youll be able to gather foreign support to eventually topple your evil overlord and become free once more. Thats all historical and nice and all - but what if you could join forces with your overlord and go on a conquering rampage through the Nordics? Wouldnt that just be swell? Well, if that sounds interesting I got just the thing for you, chap!



Why not take advantage of being a puppet and use your overlord for your own gains? By completing the Focuses Align with Overlord and Contribute to the War Effort you unlock Denmarks Military Branch again and you can conquer the rest of the Nordic countries youre not in a faction with. Sometimes it just feels good being bad! This doesnt preclude you from backstabbing your overlord though; you can still pursue your independence by building up a resistance movement, declaring your independence, and waging war against your former masters. Or, if you against all odds have had your fill of war, blood, and steel (I doubt it though), you can work on becoming independent through peaceful means.



[h3]Rearming Denmark[/h3]
But what if you really dont wanna become a puppet of a bigger, stronger neighbor? Well, theres something for that too. If you want to withstand the onslaught of the Wehrmacht, you better rearm and seek out allies in the Rearmament Branch.



Historically, there were forces within Denmark that wanted to rearm and strengthen the defenses - Christmas Mller, the leader of the Conservative Party, being a notable example. Thorvald Stauning, the Prime Minister of Denmark, even tried to seek an alliance with the rest of the Nordic nations, but those plans fell through. He then tried to initiate cooperation with the UK, where he under no uncertain terms was informed that they could not guarantee Denmarks safety and wouldnt make any commitment to military support. This cemented Danish pacifism and neutrality even further. But you dont have to suffer the same fate

Lets start off with the sub-branch that is shared with the Historical Path:



This branch is all about building up and improving your industries and production. Youll add 1 level of infrastructure in all of mainland Denmark, before having to choose what kind of regulations you want to impose on your industries - if any at all.




The astute among you will have figured out that there is no pure communist path for Denmark - but that will not be an issue if you want to overthrow the king and let the peoples revolution sweep across the nation! You simply have to use the election system implemented for Denmark ;) But they do have a Focus only they can take, namely Introduce the Five Year Plan



And if you dont wanna go commie, you can have a Limited Social Mobilization to face any German looming threats



Now, lets get to the meat and bones of the Rearmament Branch. One thing thats prudent to do is to prepare every facet of society for the coming war, which you can do through the various Preparation Focuses before being able to do a Full Social Mobilization



Preparations are all fine and dandy, but it might still be a bit challenging to hold back German Panzers all on your own. As luck would have it - you dont have to do it all by yourself. Completing the Focus Seek Protection will open up two distinct possibilities for you; seeking out a Guarantor of sorts, or joining a Faction. Both of these sub-branch's effects will vary slightly depending on the choices you make. But lets break them down individually, shall we?

Signing a Non-Aggression pact might seem like a silly focus to do, and not at all worthwhile - but there are benefits to be reaped eventually. Completing the Sign a Non-Aggression Pact will open up the decision Seek a Guarantor, where you can choose between different countries to approach. Mind you, they will all have different ramifications for the following focuses!


Then with Negotiate a Trade Deal you get a couple of Subsidies for various equipment targeting the Non-aggression signator country - plus a Licensing Agreement with them



With Enter a Research and Partnership Program you start to truly see the effects of your previous choice of country to sign a pact with:





And the last focus of this sub-branch, Territory for Protection (which is precisely what it sounds like), is where the true effects of your choice of signatory country comes into play; which piece of your nation are you willing to part with in order to get a guarantee from a major power?






But there are other ways of getting friends if you dont feel like parting with a single territory of your realm. All you have to do is seek Strength in Numbers, which will remove your National Spirit Declaration of Neutrality - which also means that you no longer will have the option of instantly becoming anyones puppet in case of an invasion. Completing this focus will give you a Decision to choose what nation you want to form an alliance with; do you want to join an existing one, or maybe start a brand new one? You also open up the Joint Focus Tree if you want to have deeper cooperation with your Nordic neighbors. But as with Sign a Non-Aggression Pact, the choice of ally will have ramifications for the following focuses.







Yeeeeeaaaaah, thats one BIG tooltip, isnt it? Im afraid its necessary in order to show the different outcomes of each choice you can make; I would rather have a well-informed player than remove crucial information.

Last but not least, you can invite the other Nordic countries into your faction. But see, the Scandinavian nations werent too keen on joining any alliances at this point in time, so what do you do if or when they turn you down? Well, I suppose they would still need protection, whether or not they realize that themselves. And I suppose it would be best if a fellow Nordic brethren did the protecting. And I suppose you, who understand and see the severity of the situation, would be in the best position to offer said protection. And I suppose you have been rearming Denmark for a reason, so you might just as well put that brand-new grand army to use - to protect the Nordic peoples of course.


But what if you want to take a more proactive approach instead of letting the Germans come to you? Well, you can always-

[h3]Let the King Assume Power[/h3]
Now, historically King Christian X didnt meddle too much in politics - not after the Eastern Crisis, when a Civil War almost broke out in Denmark - even though he had the authority and power to do so. He actually served for quite some time in the army before becoming King, and as such he often wore uniform and maintained his identity as an officer. But even so, he cant just overthrow the government and grab power for himself willy-nilly. You gotta work for it, where the first step is to Unify the Right and start to gather the right-wing parties in a form of coalition. The first few focuses in your effort to give Christian X full authority of the government will be all about strengthening the support for the Non-aligned party and undermining the Democratic parties, but also to gaining the support of the officer corps and strengthening them too. But while doing so, youll also boost the Fascist party - so be mindful not to let them become too powerful!



Having come to power, Christian X can promote unity with For Konge og Fdreland, where youll get access to the Chief of Navy and begrudgingly bad-ass-looking crown prince of Denmark.


And just heres a non-game related picture of the future bad-ass-looking King of Denmark, Frederik IX covered in tattoos. Who knew royalties were even allowed to get inked?


Youll also be able to realign the industries and economy to better serve national interests with Align the Industries to National Interests and Economic Mobilization and making sure that Denmark isnt a technological backwater by expanding Copenhapens University and gaining one more Research slot.



While you can take a more proactive foreign political stance, you can still choose to join forces with the Allies, imperial Germany, or any of the Nordic nations and access parts of the Rearmament Branch. This would preclude a more offensive approach though - but the choice is there.

If you choose to take the offensive to your enemies and turn your gaze toward a Europe in turmoil you have first to secure your Northern Flank with Scandinavian Security. Youll have to decide if you want to create your own faction, or if you wanna solo it completely.


After that, the Nordics are your oyster! You can try to influence countries around the Baltic Sea and eventually offer them proper protection in the form of subjugation - there is after all something to be said about the pen being mightier than the sword.



Or you can try to reclaim old Danish territory. Norway was after all united with Denmark for literally hundreds of years, and Sweden really should know its place under Danish rule - just like in the good old Kalmar Union days. On your way to conquering the Scandinavian countries, youll be helped by a nifty National Spirit;


But, if you manage to convince one of these nations to accept your protection and become a puppet, the focuses will offer other benefits;



And with Sweden under your control you can exploit their immense mineral wealth, and even offer resource rights to a nation for guarantees:



And lastly, we have the end focuses for Denmark - all based on different time periods in Danish history. You can either take on the Germans with Avenging 1864 - to make sure that they never threaten the Danish heartlands ever again. Or, you can pick up the Danish ambitions of establishing a Baltic Sea empire, the Dominium Maric Baltici; Danish expansions into the Baltics go back to medieval times and they fought the Swedes over dominance in the region.

Lastly, you can turn your gaze even further back in time, to when Denmark first emerged as a unified country, and try to re-establish the Danelagen, or the Danelaw. This will allow you to re-form the old Viking realm of the North Sea Empire.


But this last focus is only available to the fascists. Oh, I suppose we have to talk about-

[h3]The Fascist Options[/h3]
Having overthrown the government and installed a new one, you might not want to empower the monarchy any further, but take Denmark in a different direction. Well, then youll have to have the Fascists March on the Capital to show how discontent they are with the lack of influence they have in the new regime. And after reaching the capital you have to make a choice; do you wanna go alone about conquering the world, or do you wanna team up with your fellow Fascists down south, just across the borders; the German Reich?


If you simply Seize Power for yourself, a civil war will ensue, but after that, you can put Denmark First and create a faction of your own - but this will of course remove your National Spirit Declaration of Neutrality.



On the other hand, if you want a big, strong neighbor helping out in your expansions you can always turn to the Germans and Ask for Support. You can then deepen your cooperation with the focus Dano-German Military Cooperation.



But the countrys been through quite a bit at this point - not one, but two coups! - so youll have to Rally the Nation before moving on.


But after that is done you can wreak havoc as you see fit. The Fascist path largely shares the same expansionist focuses that the Monarchist path does, so you know all about that part already. But what the Fascists can do is Institute Corporatism


Youll also get the opportunity to Prioritize Svrnet or Prioritize Hren



And if things are going really badly for you and you find yourself being pushed back on all fronts and losing ground, you can declare Total Krig - Total War


I think thats about it for alt-historical Denmark. I hope youve enjoyed reading these Dev Diaries and found at least one of the branches intriguing - I have had a blast working on Denmark! I think their history with the occupation was really interesting, and trying to incorporate that somehow was a lot of fun. Their failed attempts to join or create an alliance were also really useful. Their rich history ranging from the Viking era to their different forms of empire throughout the ages gave a lot of inspiration to where to take their alt-history paths too. Hopefully, you can take this small nation and restore it to empirehood once again (Ive heard that those pesky Swedes have been bad-mouthing the Danes - so go and teach them a lesson in humility)!

And with that,
Jeg m lbe, p gensyn!