Empire Earth II/Blood and Iron

The last German mission might seem tricky at first. Even though you start with a bunch of territories and a pretty large army scattered all over the map, you're still in a difficult position. The other European nations are just as big, and to make things worse, they also have technological superiority: they start directly at Epoch X, while you start at Epoch IX.

Ultimately, you have to bring down several other nations and unify Germany. You will have to fight - in this order - Denmark, Austria and France. Depending on your choices, you might also have to defeat the German Confederation. Italy might or might not side with you, and if she does you will get a helpful ally (for once).

At the beginning, all other nations will be Neutral toward you, but that will change quite fast. So there again, you have to gather an army during the quiet early game, then burn everything to the ground.

Mission information
🇨🇴
 * Primary Objectives
 * 1) Schleswig-Holstein
 * 2) Subdue Austria
 * 3) Force France to capitulate
 * 4) Unify Germany


 * Secondary Objectives
 * 1) Ally with Italy

🇨🇴
 * Defeat Conditions
 * 1) Keep Otto von Bismarck alive
 * 2) Home territories captured
 * Factions
 * 1) Prussia - Red (Player)
 * 2) France - Blue
 * 3) German Confederation - Purple
 * 4) Austria - Yellow
 * 5) Denmark - Orange
 * 6) Italy - Dark Yellow
 * 7) Neutral Countries - Teal

🇨🇴
 * Epochs Available
 * 1) IX - The Age of Enlightenment
 * 2) X - The Industrial Age

Walkthrough
Your very first aim in this scenario is to catch-up on the technology departement. You start with three temples (in Silesia, Brandenburg and Prussia) and two Universities (in Brandenburg and Prussia). Hire Priests and Citizens to garrison them inside the buildings. The first Technology you should research is rationalism, so you can put one more Citizen/Priest in each building. Next, you should go for Crop Rotation. It is advised to research all available Technologies before reaching Epoch X, but it is ultimately up to you and to the resources you have.

Once Technology is taken care of, make sure you have enough Citizens gathering resources. You will need a lot of Gold and possibly Wood, if possible, have one dozen of Citizens on each of these resources (you will need two Gold nods). Note that you have two Whaling Ships: they gather Food at a very good rate, but they will probably sink soon.

The routine should be well established by now: once your economy is working, start producing units. As many as you can. You will need two big armies soon. Move all your units standing in Prussia, Westphalia and Luxembourg to Brandenbourg. Order a few Citizens to build one Fortress up North (near the border with Hannover) and one down South (near the border with Bavaria and Bohemia). If you have spare resources and Citizens, build one or two Fortresses in the mountain pass between Silesia and Bohemia.

These are the locations where you will be attacked soon. Gather your biggest army in Brandenbourg, near the border with Hannover, and the smallest one near the pass in Silesia. You have about ten minutes to do all this before Denmark and Austria discover your plan and turn hostile.

They both have pretty big armies and technologically superior ones. The best way to get rid of said armies is to stay on the defensive and wipe them out. Denmark will always attack Brandenburg from the Northwest. Austria will usually make two attacks: one on Brandebourg and one on Silesia (through the pass). With the help of your Fortresses, you should be able to destroy all their armies, even though you might end up badly injured too.

Once you have successfully protected your lands, it's time to go on the offensive. Gather all units you have left and move into Bohemia. It is lightly protected and should fall quite fast. Your objective is to destroy Vienna's City Center to force Austria to surrender, but there are a few things you should do before. Firstly, you can take Bohemia for yourself: build a City Center and a Fortress there, and tadam, you get one more Territory. Secondly, burn down all buildings in Venetia. You are going to offer this territory to Italy, and if there are still Austrian buildings left, it is likely the Italian AI will not be able to use it correctly.

When that is done, destroy the City Center in Vienna. Austria will immediatly surrender and offer you Venitia. Go into the diplomacy tab and offer Venitia to Italy and tadam! you get a new ally. Italy is probably the first useful ally you get since Deception. Enjoy it while it lasts. If you have kept producing more units, you should have more than enough troops to take Denmark down now. Gather everything you have, and go straight North. There are two Danish Fortresses in Schleswig, focus on them with your Bombard Cannons (or Siege Guns if you've reached Epoch X) while the rest of your army takes down the Danish infantry. You should have no problem kicking Denmark out of Schleswig and Jutland. If you feel like it, you can even invade Zealand to get rid of the Danish for good.

Now, there's a trick. Once Denmark is yours, you should avoid conquering the Territory. Instead, move all your army to Luxembourg, on the western border. Build two Fortresses near the french Territories (Alsace and Picardy) and a bunch of Outposts. As soon as your take Schelswig-Holstein, France will turn on you. You will also be asked to unify Germany, either by conquering the German Confederation or by offering her Alsace-Lorraine.

France has a huge army (again!), but it is possible to force her to capitulate extremely quickly: most of the time, Napoleon III patrols from Alsace to Picardy. That means there is a good chance he will die pretty quickly when France becomes hostile. If that is the case, France surrenders and gives your Alsace-Lorraine.

If Napoleon III doesn't die immediatly, you might be drawed into a long and tedious war. Hopefully, Italy is fighting on your side and is putting quite a fight. The two of you should be able to defeat France sooner or later. If you spot Napoleon III, rush for him if you can. Otherwise, let Italy handle France in the south, while you destroy Picardy, Paris and move toward Versailles. When France surrenders, you receive Alsace-Lorraine. You are free to offer this new territory to the German Confederation, or to become hostile (use the diplomacy pannel) and conquer Frankfurt and Hannover. Offering Alsace-Lorraine is obviously faster, but beating the German Confederation to pulp shouldn't be nearly as hard as defeating France in the previous mission.

Congratulation for beating the German campaign :)

Tips

 * Invading Zealand is easy if you take care of the Danish navy. You can do so by building a few ships early on, and a couple of Bay Cannons around your Dock.
 * The best way to keep Otto von Bismarck alive is to hide him somewhere far from the battlefield. As your opponents will be using loads of artillery, it is strongly advised to keep him away from the fights.
 * Do not build anything outside of your territories, especially in Hannover, Frankfurt or in the Netherlands. France will take it as an insult and attack you. Same thing if you have troops in France.
 * The German Confederation on the other hand will let your armies cross her Territory. Do not bother making huge circumlocutions for nothing. You can even build roads linking Brandenbourg and Westphalia if needed (that will not offend the French).
 * When you're ready to wage war against France, garrison units inside the Fortresses you built on the border. This will increase the attack of your Fortresses and ensure your units don't die very quickly (which is nifty if Napoléon doesn't get killed right away).