History Characters / HeartsOfIron

* BalkanizeMe: While not a spectacular case compared to others, Spain can see Catalonia, Galicia and Euskadi (the Basque Country) split away from Spain. [[note]] The latter of these was the only releasable from Spain in vanilla games prior to IV. [[/note]] Much like other balkanizeable countries, these can be immediately released at the start of the game, however there is a game rule option called "11th of November." Which makes the Iberian Peninsula look like how the Iberian Peninsula appeared in VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis IV. This also includes, amusingly enough, the Islands of Sardinia and Sicily, Italian core states in the base game, be core states of the Crown of Aragon.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: While nominally represented as either Democratic or Communist in-game, Republican Spain is in fact represented by at least four ideologically different factions, two of which representing two radically different schools of communism, with a Democratic and and Anarchist faction working very loosely with the others and in loose pairs of Stalinists and Democratic republicans, and Anarchists and anti-Stalinist Communists, all of whom have irreconcilable differences that will boil over within a year. This is actually [[EnforcedTrope enforced]] in-game via missions making nominally allied factions within the Republican side split off and declare war on both the Nationalists and the other Republican faction, and unlike the Nationalists who can potentially avoid their civil war, there is no way to avoid the Republican civil war.

* OmnicidalNeutral: Anarchist Spain will try to TakeOverTheWorld fighting all countries regardless of ideology or factions (notably, the anarchists cannot join any faction or form one).

->'''Alternate Names:''' Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia (Monarchist), Mapuche State (Mapuche Uprising), Vanguard Chile (Fascist)

* JustLikeRobinHood: Lampião, the leader of a coalition of rebellious bandit groups called the Cangaço living in the undeveloped Amazon backwoods and causing trouble for the central government, is more or less portrayed as a rural bandit folk hero by the game. You can even have him choose to overthrow a hypothetical Marxist government and run the country as a communal socialist bandit leader. It's even lampshaded with the "Merrie Band" Achievement, which requires you to own the Nottingham province in England with Lampião as the country's leader

* PaperTiger: While the US has a massive industrial might and large potential to take over the world...early on it's rather weak. While it's large navy protects it from naval invasions (thus preventing Germany, Italy, and Japan from rushing it early on), should it find itself fighting a land war within the first few years in the game, that's a different story. This can be averted, however, if the player diverts from the historic path.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Not the country itself, but rather, it's unique tank tech, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Semple_tank Bob Semple "Tank"]]. The tank is met with ridicule by everyone else...but it's also ''incredibly'' fast, meaning you can easily create encirclements for much more power, something quite useful for a player seeking to be a HypercompetentSidekick to the Allies.
* ScienceHero: Is one of three nations that can get six research slots, and on historical, the Commonwealth start as part of a research treaty - said treaty grants every signatory bonuses to tech the others have researched, meaning it is perfectly viable for New Zealand to research a tech ahead of time so that others can benefit. A particularly noteworthy example is New Zealand rushing the third Submarine tech through a focus bonus - said sub is generally considered more than enough to guarantee naval superiority if you have enough of them.

* ShockingDefeatLegacy: Can inflict one to Argentina and Brazil, the much bigger neighbour nations. Declaring war on them and conquering the neighbouring province in less than a year triggers an event where a white peace plus the conquered province is offered to Uruguay to avoid further humiliation. If Brazil and Argentina don't offer the province they receive heavy debuffs. Of course, Uruguay can decline the offer and keep the war going [[{{ExaggeratedTrope}} to completey annex their enemy]].
* TakeAThirdOption: Uruguay's strongest parties, the socialdemocratic Colorado and the centrist Blanco, have been rivals for quite some time. You can choose which of those parties wins the elections in 1938...or you could go with the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Acción Revisionesta del Uruguay]].

->'''Alternate Names:''' Brazilian Socialist Republic (Communist), Integralist Brazil (Fascist), Empire of Portugal and Brazil (Monarchist)

[[folder:Ethiopian Empire]]

->'''Alternate Names:''' Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia (Monarchist), The Mapuche Republic (Mapuche Uprising), Vanguard Chile (Fascist)

* TheCapitalOfBrazilIsBuenosAires: Averted, with some signs of ShownTheirWork. Brazil's early 20th-century capital is accurately shown as Rio de Janiero, and you can take a focus to build the country's modern capital of Brasília as a means to centralize the government away from the coastline but not too deep in the jungle[[note]]though it should be noted that historically Brasília was constructed and founded in ''1960'', far outside the game's timespan, meaning taking the focus is still technically ahistorical[[/note]].

* TheEmpire: Argentina has a the potential to become even more of a [[SpaceFillingEmpire nightmarish South American superpower]] than Brazil, since both its Communist and Fascist paths allow for the ability to ''core conquered South American states'' while Brazil doesn't.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Downplayed. The Fascist branch of the focus tree portrays UsefulNotes/GetulioVargas as being complacent towards allowing an Integralist takeover of Brazil when he was a much more complex and politically centrist figure in real life (despite being an authoritarian himself), but it also demonstrates that the Integralists know he's not really loyal to their cause and gives them the option to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness replace him with someone else after he's helped them get into power]].

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Downplayed. The Fascist branch of the focus tree portrays UsefulNotes/GetulioVargas as being complacent towards allowing an Integralist takeover of Brazil when he was a much more complex and politically centrist in real life (despite being an authoritarian himself), but it also demonstrates that the Integralists know he's not really loyal to their cause and gives them the option to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness replace him with someone else after he's helped them get into power]].