Timeline 31

[mobiyuz]

Jul 8, 2019 22:21:19 GMT stevep said:

   Very good and a good insight into both the position of a constitutional monarchy, although at that date the monarch still had quite a lot of influence, albeit largely behind the screen. Sounds like the future George V will be somewhat more liberal than OTL.

   Its a pity about India as in earlier decades things were less segregated and even as late as the mutiny period a fair number of the Brits in the colony had married local women but racial feeling I think was hardening before that and the bloodbath of the mutiny made it worse.

  If he was all the way across the Pacific in Hong Kong I'm not sure that he would be instructed/able to cross the ocean for a visit to show sympathy, unless that was the way they were coming home which seems unlikely.  At least unless someone's build a canal across the isthmus already, which may have happened.  Raises the question, with the former US so fractured and probably with at least some tensions between the successor states, is a canal in either Panama or Nicaragua on the cards.  OTL an earlier French attempt failed because of inadequate knowledge of how to handle the diseases of the area.  Panama may well still be part of Columbia but it would probably be by this time if not before that someone would be thinking of a construction at one of the two practical sites.  Britain would probably be the most likely pushing for it if the earlier French attempt failed but we could well be in consortium with others as there would be a number of nations, including California, who could benefit from it.

By this point, there had been a successful Anglo-French project in Panama, though the story is a little funny: rather than them supporting a rebellion in Panama to get the rights, here the UK and France agreed to help put down the rebellion in exchange for the rights, and as a consequence Panama is still part of Colombia. And at this time OTL, Prince George actually did go on a tour of India and was disgusted by the level of segregation in Indian society, so that part is also based in reality as much as I could have it.

[stevep]

Jul 8, 2019 22:45:53 GMT mobiyuz said:

Jul 8, 2019 22:21:19 GMT stevep said:

   Very good and a good insight into both the position of a constitutional monarchy, although at that date the monarch still had quite a lot of influence, albeit largely behind the screen. Sounds like the future George V will be somewhat more liberal than OTL.

   Its a pity about India as in earlier decades things were less segregated and even as late as the mutiny period a fair number of the Brits in the colony had married local women but racial feeling I think was hardening before that and the bloodbath of the mutiny made it worse.

  If he was all the way across the Pacific in Hong Kong I'm not sure that he would be instructed/able to cross the ocean for a visit to show sympathy, unless that was the way they were coming home which seems unlikely.  At least unless someone's build a canal across the isthmus already, which may have happened.  Raises the question, with the former US so fractured and probably with at least some tensions between the successor states, is a canal in either Panama or Nicaragua on the cards.  OTL an earlier French attempt failed because of inadequate knowledge of how to handle the diseases of the area.  Panama may well still be part of Columbia but it would probably be by this time if not before that someone would be thinking of a construction at one of the two practical sites.  Britain would probably be the most likely pushing for it if the earlier French attempt failed but we could well be in consortium with others as there would be a number of nations, including California, who could benefit from it.

By this point, there had been a successful Anglo-French project in Panama, though the story is a little funny: rather than them supporting a rebellion in Panama to get the rights, here the UK and France agreed to help put down the rebellion in exchange for the rights, and as a consequence Panama is still part of Colombia. And at this time OTL, Prince George actually did go on a tour of India and was disgusted by the level of segregation in Indian society, so that part is also based in reality as much as I could have it.

  OK many thanks.  In internal politics in Britain he seemed to be somewhat conservative, although probably more with a small c so that's a pleasant surprise.  Hopefully with more socially advanced states like California here that would prompt more reform.

  So an Anglo-French canal, which suggests an earlier detente between the two, ending their enmity of OTL is already in place.  That will have economic, social and military impacts.  Is there anything like the OTL Panama Canal Zone and if not how is defence of the facility handled?  Would the reason for the friendship be a common perceived threat by a 3rd power?

[mobiyuz]

Jul 9, 2019 9:02:49 GMT stevep said:

Jul 8, 2019 22:45:53 GMT mobiyuz said:

By this point, there had been a successful Anglo-French project in Panama, though the story is a little funny: rather than them supporting a rebellion in Panama to get the rights, here the UK and France agreed to help put down the rebellion in exchange for the rights, and as a consequence Panama is still part of Colombia. And at this time OTL, Prince George actually did go on a tour of India and was disgusted by the level of segregation in Indian society, so that part is also based in reality as much as I could have it.

  OK many thanks.  In internal politics in Britain he seemed to be somewhat conservative, although probably more with a small c so that's a pleasant surprise.  Hopefully with more socially advanced states like California here that would prompt more reform.

  So an Anglo-French canal, which suggests an earlier detente between the two, ending their enmity of OTL is already in place.  That will have economic, social and military impacts.  Is there anything like the OTL Panama Canal Zone and if not how is defence of the facility handled?  Would the reason for the friendship be a common perceived threat by a 3rd power?

Well, when I say "joint Anglo-French project", I more mean that the company building the canal was a joint venture between British and French investors that were able to influence the government enough to get them to commit a force to put down the Panamanian rebellion, with the promise that canal tolls would see a return on the investment many times over, not to mention the prestige of having this canal built. Not long before this, the Anglo-French emnity was soothed a bit by a perceived common threat in the form of Germany, especially once Billy 2 came to the throne and began acting all belligerent. It was also just a pretty chill period for them in general, having already split up all of Africa and basically not having any further ambitions on each other's territory allowed them to calm down enough that a multinational project like this would be seen as feasible by investors. As for a canal zone, the land is owned by the company and is considered an Anglo-French condominium, though legally it's still part of Colombia. That said, the two nations have their hooks deep enough into the Colombian government to basically have them nod and smile with whatever they plan to do in the region.

[mobiyuz]

Part 11: Growing Uncertainty (1908-1914)

As California's economy recovered and the city of San Francisco was rebuilt, the mood of the country and the world as a whole seemed to have changed. There was a lingering feeling of doubt about the future, especially as international affairs had begun to grow increasingly tense. In California, meanwhile, President Johnson's political reform efforts proved disappointing to people who had hoped that he would continue the battle for civil rights in California. Indeed, Johnson was somewhat counter to what Waterman had sought to achieve, secretly and informally negotiating a "gentleman's agreement" between California and the Empire of Japan, where California would ease restrictions on trade with Japan in exchange for Japan restricting emigration to California, followed almost immediately thereafter by the Immigration Act of 1908 being brought into effect. Its purpose is made clear by its more commonplace name, the "Chinese Exclusion Act", which outright banned all Chinese immigration to California, followed immediately thereafter by the Californian Alien Land Law of 1908, which banned Japanese immigrants and their descendants from owning property.

Juichi Soyeda and Tadao Kamiya, Japanese lawyers who traveled to California to protest the California Alien Land Law of 1908   

With the rise of such xenophobic actions, President Johnson's popularity declined rapidly, and many who had been enamored with the Waterman years were completely dissatisfied with the Progressive Party under the last two presidents, both of whom had completely halted the momentum of Waterman's reforms (though they themselves had brought in some beneficial reforms). Seeing divisiveness in the Progressive base, many Californians began to seek leadership from the Bear Flag Party once again, which had broken the Progressive majority in the Senate in the election of 1908. Among the BFP caucus, a prominent new voice was that of Leland Stanford II, the son of the former president who had begun advocating a slightly more moderate form of conservatism as the BFP had once called for, willing to offer some concessions to Progressive policies, such as the regulation of larger businesses and ensuring that a social safety net would be continued even with the Progressives out of power. Indeed, the social programs created had proven to be immensely popular and successful, and businesses in California had even seen improved profits and productivity with its workers able to do their jobs more safely and with more motivation for basic salaries.

Leland Stanford II, the new rising star of the Bear Flag Party   

As 1909 wore on, international tensions were starting to reach a greater prominence in the mind of Californians. Europe had been growing increasingly tense over imperial ambitions and rival factions forming to oppose each other. At this time, two main blocs had formed in Europe: The Triple Alliance formed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, and the Triple Entente formed of France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Not only was this a European affair, it would become a global one owing to their massive immigrant diasporas, their colonial empires, and public sympathies. For example, out east Freedonia was sympathetic to the Alliance, while New England and the Confederacy were sympathetic to the Entente, though no formal commitments had been made. California's leadership and society, meanwhile, being so far removed from the conflict, had no loyalty to either faction, but many were more aligned with the Entente given that the British and French were constitutional democracies, and both Germany and Austria-Hungary were largely autocratic governments (this overlooked the Russian autocracy). Even with this, though, California still quite happily, almost eagerly, harbored Irish republicans who sought the independence from Ireland, in a situation where many were sympathetic to the Irish republican cause. This actually caused a diplomatic incident where in 1909, the United Kingdom demanded that several republicans be extradited to the UK, to which President Johnson refused, stating "These men have not caused any trouble and have not broken any laws in our country, and no civilian in our lands is subject to British law. These men will not be returned." In anger, the United Kingdom actually broke off all diplomatic relations with California until 1910, when Prime Minister Asquith resumed normal relations.

Donnell House in Eureka, a hub of Irish republican activity and now the Irish Embassy to California. 

It wasn't helped by the fact that in 1909, European tensions were inflamed by the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia, which threatened to bring Europe to blows, but this was a distant concern for California at a time that there was a rise in conservative leanings in reaction to 18 unbroken years of Progressive presidencies that had gotten disappointing after the first six years, not to mention that it carried a reactionary bent that sought to oppose the brief surge in increased political and social rights for minorities and women, if not rolling them back then at the very least simply seeing the progress halted. It made itself especially known when the California Pacific Railroad was brought to the Supreme Court on anti-trust charges and successfully broken up, which although beneficial in the long run had the immediate effect of disrupting train services around California, causing a lot of anger for a society that was still highly dependent on railroads for transportation around the country.

An anti-CPR monopoly political cartoon from 1908, showing monopoly as the greatest threat to organized labor. 

In the election of 1910, while the Progressives held onto power in the Assembly, the Senate remained in BFP hands and Leland Stanford II won 57% of the national vote, becoming the 10th President of California in the same way that his father had once held the presidency, at the same time that yet another sputtering war between the CSA and Freedonia had broken out over a small skirmish on the borders, which brought increased European attention to North America once again. Stanford, though, was determined to keep California out of the conflict. While the Freedom War had been a victory achieved in just less than a year, the images of the horror and brutality that the war could bring had weakened the public appetite for war, and pacifism was in the mind of both political parties. This mood was similar across most of the nations of North America, to the extent that on 8 May 1910, Californian diplomats met with diplomats from Cascadia-Montana, Texas, and the Plains Federation to sign a mutual defense pact, where if any nation attacked them they would immediately come to each other's aid. This served as an initial start to future reconciliation between the nations of North America, though it was only a start.

The delegates to the signing of the West American Mutual Defense Treaty of 1910.  

Come 1911, world tensions ramped up once again when the Agadir Crisis nearly brought France and Germany to blows, at which point the Freedonian government began to grow ever closer to the Germans while the CSA, having finally abandoned slavery in 1905, attempted to repair their reputation in the eyes of Britain and France. Californian neutrality, meanwhile, was starting to become more difficult in light of a new development that came late that year. Emperor Maximilian II of Mexico had committed suicide without producing an heir, and as such the throne had gone to his bellicose and aggressive nephew who became Maximilian III, who was a thorough Germanophile and intensely proud of his Habsburg descent, immediately seeking closer relations with Germany. This only served to draw the members of the defense treaty closer together, which soon grew to include both the CSA and New England in November 1908. By now, Freedonia was the only nation outside of this treaty, though they had signed what was called the "Treaty of Friendship" with the German Empire in mid-1908.

Emperor Maximilian III, the bellicose cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II. 

Back at home, California was again experiencing social tensions of its own under Stanford II. While the social programs that had started laying the foundations of the welfare state in California proved too popular to overturn through legislation, he had instead begun scaling them back in the name of deregulating the economy to allow for greater growth, stating "The protection of the workers is important, but they cannot be workers if they cannot work for their pay." Secretly, though, these cutbacks had a second purpose. As money was diverted from the social projects, it was put into rearming the military, which after the Freedom War had been cut back further in what seemed an era of lasting peace during the "Pax Britannica". Between 1910 and 1914, the Californian army expanded significantly, going from a skeleton force of just 15,000 soldiers to 60,000, as well as modernizing its equipment and preparing defenses along all borders, such as upgrading the arsenal at the Presidio of San Francisco and creating accurate maps of the frontier with Mexico. Taking a cue from the German Empire, Stanford also authorized the War Department to create a new "Central Planning Office" that would create and study plans for war, initially creating scenarios such as war with Mexico ("War Plan Green"), a second war with Texas ("War Plan Red"), war with the United Kingdom ("War Plan Blue"), and then creating variants upon variants of them depending on who they would be fighting alongside or against. Perhaps the most crucial military reform at this time was the creation of the Joint Military Board, intended to bring the commanders of the Army and the Navy together under a single unified command structure overseen by the President as Commander-in-Chief, bringing all parts of the military into a single unified entity.

Californian soldiers at Fort Abrams outside Phoenix Arizona, where most Californian soldiers were
trained for warfare in the hot desert conditions they would most likely be fighting in, 1910

The lack of social progress did nothing to soothe the country's mood, and indeed the country seemed to be moving backwards. While no longer legally mandated under amendments to the constitution, de facto segregation had begun to rear its ugly head once again as the neighborhoods of the nation's major cities were once again divided along ethnic lines, all while Eureka turned a blind eye to it under the principals of "limited government". The nation was slowly being brought to a boil, and in December 1911 the nation was brought very nearly to the brink of revolution. On the 2nd of December, the railroad workers of the California Pacific Railroad in Sacramento went on strike for better wages, something that was routine by that point, and just as routine were the positioning of hired guards (disparagingly called "Strikebreakers") to protect the company's assets in the even things got violent. It was raining that day, and everyone was growing increasingly agitated as the protesters continued to shout abuse at the guards, until one man slipped and stumbled toward the guards, who took it as a sign of aggression and fired on him, killing him instantly. The crowd's anger boiled over into rage, and they charged the guards, who fired into the crowd blindly and killed 7 people, 2 of them women. The guards were overpowered and the gates forced open while the strikers flooded into the railroad yard and began to indiscriminately destroy everything they could get their hands on, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage and inciting a riot in the city that was only put down when the State Militia was brought in to restore order.

An engraving of the incident, published widely in newspapers that decried
the so-called "Sacramento Massacre".

Riots and strikes by organized labor continued for weeks, empowered by previous administrations that had been sympathetic to their cause, were resistant to having their rights encroached upon by a government that was no longer sympathetic to them. While the years of the Waterman presidency were long over, his legacy still dominated in the nation. And Stanford II had enough sense of mind to recognize this, attempting to bring the nation back to order by denouncing the actions of the strikebreakers and stating that the strikers were in the right, exercising their legal right to assemble and protest for their rights as given to them by the constitution. Exercising a significant level of pragmatism, Stanford II dismissed his Secretary of Labor and replaced him with a new secretary who was more sympathetic to Progressive politics, along with reaffirming that workers in California had a right to assemble and protest. This had the desired effect, and the people were convinced that Stanford II was not opposed to them, although lingering resentment still clearly indicated that he was no ally of labor and was merely tolerating their existence for the sake of stability. The timing of the incident was also less than idea for Stanford II, as the election of 1912 in January saw a massive number of Progressives move into control of the Senate while the BFP clung to a smaller majority in the Assembly.

A Progressive demonstration outside the Capitol, January 1912

While the nation was calming down somewhat, the world was not. European politics since the end of the Napoleonic Wars had been predicated on the idea of a "balance of powers", the idea that no one nation should be come so powerful as to dominate the continent. This had been threatened by things such as the unification of Germany, Anglo-Russian competition in Central Asia, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and overseas colonial ambitions, but through careful diplomacy and negotiation, the balance had mostly held. Now, though, that balance was rapidly falling apart as wars in the Balkans and the polarization of European politics began to throw the world into chaos, and the degree to which Europe influenced the world was threatening to drag it all down with it. Meanwhile, the Pacific was also growing hot as the Empire of Japan sought to expand and project its influence, such as when it invaded and conquered the Philippines from Spain in 1902, then successfully threw Russia out of Manchuria in 1905-1906, all the while forming an alliance with the United Kingdom and thus tying the fate of Asia into European diplomacy as well. This extended toward California as well. The establishment favored the United Kingdom, as did much of its immigrant population originating in Russia, France, or the UK. However, California's not insignificant German diaspora naturally favored Germany, as did the Irish diaspora who were opposed to the United Kingdom, and curiously enough many in the Progressive Party also favored Germany, which despite being a fairly autocratic monarchy had also built up a significant welfare state of their own.

A massive pro-Ireland rally in Fenian Park, Salt Lake City, 1913

With all of these dramas unfolding at home, many people had become increasingly worried about the future. What had once seemed like an era that would lead to a new age of peace was quickly turning into a nightmare of human drama, barreling uncontrollably toward catastrophe. Even those who pointed toward more beneficial developments, such as the development of a reliable flying machine (the "aeroplane") and the completion of San Francisco's reconstruction, did so with an element of trepidation. After all, technology meant to be beneficial had been turned into tools of destruction, and San Francisco could still be destroyed again at any time. Progress was no longer a purely good thing, it was a double-edged sword capable of causing chaos as much as order, suffering as much as benefit, and hatred as much as intolerance. Even in a world becoming closer and more unified, deep chasms ran through everything. Senator Roderick A. Clark (P - Sierra Nevada), the Senate Majority Leader, said in his opening address of Congress after the 1914 election saw the Progressives hold the Senate, "The world has become like a tinder box doused in gasoline, and the leaders of the world's great powers are like children running about with lit matches. At any moment, the whole thing could go up in flames, and we will be plunged into an age of darkness."

A little more than 6 months later, he was proven right with a single gunshot.

[lordroel]

Jul 12, 2019 17:06:36 GMT mobiyuz said:

Part 11: Growing Uncertainty (1908-1914)

As California's economy recovered and the city of San Francisco was rebuilt, the mood of the country and the world as a whole seemed to have changed. There was a lingering feeling of doubt about the future, especially as international affairs had begun to grow increasingly tense. In California, meanwhile, President Johnson's political reform efforts proved disappointing to people who had hoped that he would continue the battle for civil rights in California. Indeed, Johnson was somewhat counter to what Waterman had sought to achieve, secretly and informally negotiating a "gentleman's agreement" between California and the Empire of Japan, where California would ease restrictions on trade with Japan in exchange for Japan restricting emigration to California, followed almost immediately thereafter by the Immigration Act of 1908 being brought into effect. Its purpose is made clear by its more commonplace name, the "Chinese Exclusion Act", which outright banned all Chinese immigration to California, followed immediately thereafter by the Californian Alien Land Law of 1908, which banned Japanese immigrants and their descendants from owning property.

Juichi Soyeda and Tadao Kamiya, Japanese lawyers who traveled to California to protest the California Alien Land Law of 1908   

With the rise of such xenophobic actions, President Johnson's popularity declined rapidly, and many who had been enamored with the Waterman years were completely dissatisfied with the Progressive Party under the last two presidents, both of whom had completely halted the momentum of Waterman's reforms (though they themselves had brought in some beneficial reforms). Seeing divisiveness in the Progressive base, many Californians began to seek leadership from the Bear Flag Party once again, which had broken the Progressive majority in the Senate in the election of 1908. Among the BFP caucus, a prominent new voice was that of Leland Stanford II, the son of the former president who had begun advocating a slightly more moderate form of conservatism as the BFP had once called for, willing to offer some concessions to Progressive policies, such as the regulation of larger businesses and ensuring that a social safety net would be continued even with the Progressives out of power. Indeed, the social programs created had proven to be immensely popular and successful, and businesses in California had even seen improved profits and productivity with its workers able to do their jobs more safely and with more motivation for basic salaries.

Leland Stanford II, the new rising star of the Bear Flag Party   

As 1909 wore on, international tensions were starting to reach a greater prominence in the mind of Californians. Europe had been growing increasingly tense over imperial ambitions and rival factions forming to oppose each other. At this time, two main blocs had formed in Europe: The Triple Alliance formed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, and the Triple Entente formed of France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Not only was this a European affair, it would become a global one owing to their massive immigrant diasporas, their colonial empires, and public sympathies. For example, out east Freedonia was sympathetic to the Alliance, while New England and the Confederacy were sympathetic to the Entente, though no formal commitments had been made. California's leadership and society, meanwhile, being so far removed from the conflict, had no loyalty to either faction, but many were more aligned with the Entente given that the British and French were constitutional democracies, and both Germany and Austria-Hungary were largely autocratic governments (this overlooked the Russian autocracy). Even with this, though, California still quite happily, almost eagerly, harbored Irish republicans who sought the independence from Ireland, in a situation where many were sympathetic to the Irish republican cause. This actually caused a diplomatic incident where in 1909, the United Kingdom demanded that several republicans be extradited to the UK, to which President Johnson refused, stating "These men have not caused any trouble and have not broken any laws in our country, and no civilian in our lands is subject to British law. These men will not be returned." In anger, the United Kingdom actually broke off all diplomatic relations with California until 1910, when Prime Minister Asquith resumed normal relations.

Donnell House in Eureka, a hub of Irish republican activity and now the Irish Embassy to California. 

It wasn't helped by the fact that in 1909, European tensions were inflamed by the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia, which threatened to bring Europe to blows, but this was a distant concern for California at a time that there was a rise in conservative leanings in reaction to 18 unbroken years of Progressive presidencies that had gotten disappointing after the first six years, not to mention that it carried a reactionary bent that sought to oppose the brief surge in increased political and social rights for minorities and women, if not rolling them back then at the very least simply seeing the progress halted. It made itself especially known when the California Pacific Railroad was brought to the Supreme Court on anti-trust charges and successfully broken up, which although beneficial in the long run had the immediate effect of disrupting train services around California, causing a lot of anger for a society that was still highly dependent on railroads for transportation around the country.

An anti-CPR monopoly political cartoon from 1908, showing monopoly as the greatest threat to organized labor. 

In the election of 1910, while the Progressives held onto power in the Assembly, the Senate remained in BFP hands and Leland Stanford II won 57% of the national vote, becoming the 10th President of California in the same way that his father had once held the presidency, at the same time that yet another sputtering war between the CSA and Freedonia had broken out over a small skirmish on the borders, which brought increased European attention to North America once again. Stanford, though, was determined to keep California out of the conflict. While the Freedom War had been a victory achieved in just less than a year, the images of the horror and brutality that the war could bring had weakened the public appetite for war, and pacifism was in the mind of both political parties. This mood was similar across most of the nations of North America, to the extent that on 8 May 1910, Californian diplomats met with diplomats from Cascadia-Montana, Texas, and the Plains Federation to sign a mutual defense pact, where if any nation attacked them they would immediately come to each other's aid. This served as an initial start to future reconciliation between the nations of North America, though it was only a start.

The delegates to the signing of the West American Mutual Defense Treaty of 1910.  

Come 1911, world tensions ramped up once again when the Agadir Crisis nearly brought France and Germany to blows, at which point the Freedonian government began to grow ever closer to the Germans while the CSA, having finally abandoned slavery in 1905, attempted to repair their reputation in the eyes of Britain and France. Californian neutrality, meanwhile, was starting to become more difficult in light of a new development that came late that year. Emperor Maximilian II of Mexico had committed suicide without producing an heir, and as such the throne had gone to his bellicose and aggressive nephew who became Maximilian III, who was a thorough Germanophile and intensely proud of his Habsburg descent, immediately seeking closer relations with Germany. This only served to draw the members of the defense treaty closer together, which soon grew to include both the CSA and New England in November 1908. By now, Freedonia was the only nation outside of this treaty, though they had signed what was called the "Treaty of Friendship" with the German Empire in mid-1908.

Emperor Maximilian III, the bellicose cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II. 

Back at home, California was again experiencing social tensions of its own under Stanford II. While the social programs that had started laying the foundations of the welfare state in California proved too popular to overturn through legislation, he had instead begun scaling them back in the name of deregulating the economy to allow for greater growth, stating "The protection of the workers is important, but they cannot be workers if they cannot work for their pay." Secretly, though, these cutbacks had a second purpose. As money was diverted from the social projects, it was put into rearming the military, which after the Freedom War had been cut back further in what seemed an era of lasting peace during the "Pax Britannica". Between 1910 and 1914, the Californian army expanded significantly, going from a skeleton force of just 15,000 soldiers to 60,000, as well as modernizing its equipment and preparing defenses along all borders, such as upgrading the arsenal at the Presidio of San Francisco and creating accurate maps of the frontier with Mexico. Taking a cue from the German Empire, Stanford also authorized the War Department to create a new "Central Planning Office" that would create and study plans for war, initially creating scenarios such as war with Mexico ("War Plan Green"), a second war with Texas ("War Plan Red"), war with the United Kingdom ("War Plan Blue"), and then creating variants upon variants of them depending on who they would be fighting alongside or against. Perhaps the most crucial military reform at this time was the creation of the Joint Military Board, intended to bring the commanders of the Army and the Navy together under a single unified command structure overseen by the President as Commander-in-Chief, bringing all parts of the military into a single unified entity.

Californian soldiers at Fort Abrams outside Phoenix Arizona, where most Californian soldiers were
trained for warfare in the hot desert conditions they would most likely be fighting in, 1910

The lack of social progress did nothing to soothe the country's mood, and indeed the country seemed to be moving backwards. While no longer legally mandated under amendments to the constitution, de facto segregation had begun to rear its ugly head once again as the neighborhoods of the nation's major cities were once again divided along ethnic lines, all while Eureka turned a blind eye to it under the principals of "limited government". The nation was slowly being brought to a boil, and in December 1911 the nation was brought very nearly to the brink of revolution. On the 2nd of December, the railroad workers of the California Pacific Railroad in Sacramento went on strike for better wages, something that was routine by that point, and just as routine were the positioning of hired guards (disparagingly called "Strikebreakers") to protect the company's assets in the even things got violent. It was raining that day, and everyone was growing increasingly agitated as the protesters continued to shout abuse at the guards, until one man slipped and stumbled toward the guards, who took it as a sign of aggression and fired on him, killing him instantly. The crowd's anger boiled over into rage, and they charged the guards, who fired into the crowd blindly and killed 7 people, 2 of them women. The guards were overpowered and the gates forced open while the strikers flooded into the railroad yard and began to indiscriminately destroy everything they could get their hands on, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage and inciting a riot in the city that was only put down when the State Militia was brought in to restore order.

An engraving of the incident, published widely in newspapers that decried
the so-called "Sacramento Massacre".

Riots and strikes by organized labor continued for weeks, empowered by previous administrations that had been sympathetic to their cause, were resistant to having their rights encroached upon by a government that was no longer sympathetic to them. While the years of the Waterman presidency were long over, his legacy still dominated in the nation. And Stanford II had enough sense of mind to recognize this, attempting to bring the nation back to order by denouncing the actions of the strikebreakers and stating that the strikers were in the right, exercising their legal right to assemble and protest for their rights as given to them by the constitution. Exercising a significant level of pragmatism, Stanford II dismissed his Secretary of Labor and replaced him with a new secretary who was more sympathetic to Progressive politics, along with reaffirming that workers in California had a right to assemble and protest. This had the desired effect, and the people were convinced that Stanford II was not opposed to them, although lingering resentment still clearly indicated that he was no ally of labor and was merely tolerating their existence for the sake of stability. The timing of the incident was also less than idea for Stanford II, as the election of 1912 in January saw a massive number of Progressives move into control of the Senate while the BFP clung to a smaller majority in the Assembly.

A Progressive demonstration outside the Capitol, January 1912

While the nation was calming down somewhat, the world was not. European politics since the end of the Napoleonic Wars had been predicated on the idea of a "balance of powers", the idea that no one nation should be come so powerful as to dominate the continent. This had been threatened by things such as the unification of Germany, Anglo-Russian competition in Central Asia, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and overseas colonial ambitions, but through careful diplomacy and negotiation, the balance had mostly held. Now, though, that balance was rapidly falling apart as wars in the Balkans and the polarization of European politics began to throw the world into chaos, and the degree to which Europe influenced the world was threatening to drag it all down with it. Meanwhile, the Pacific was also growing hot as the Empire of Japan sought to expand and project its influence, such as when it invaded and conquered the Philippines from Spain in 1902, then successfully threw Russia out of Manchuria in 1905-1906, all the while forming an alliance with the United Kingdom and thus tying the fate of Asia into European diplomacy as well. This extended toward California as well. The establishment favored the United Kingdom, as did much of its immigrant population originating in Russia, France, or the UK. However, California's not insignificant German diaspora naturally favored Germany, as did the Irish diaspora who were opposed to the United Kingdom, and curiously enough many in the Progressive Party also favored Germany, which despite being a fairly autocratic monarchy had also built up a significant welfare state of their own.

A massive pro-Ireland rally in Fenian Park, Salt Lake City, 1913

With all of these dramas unfolding at home, many people had become increasingly worried about the future. What had once seemed like an era that would lead to a new age of peace was quickly turning into a nightmare of human drama, barreling uncontrollably toward catastrophe. Even those who pointed toward more beneficial developments, such as the development of a reliable flying machine (the "aeroplane") and the completion of San Francisco's reconstruction, did so with an element of trepidation. After all, technology meant to be beneficial had been turned into tools of destruction, and San Francisco could still be destroyed again at any time. Progress was no longer a purely good thing, it was a double-edged sword capable of causing chaos as much as order, suffering as much as benefit, and hatred as much as intolerance. Even in a world becoming closer and more unified, deep chasms ran through everything. Senator Roderick A. Clark (P - Sierra Nevada), the Senate Majority Leader, said in his opening address of Congress after the 1914 election saw the Progressives hold the Senate, "The world has become like a tinder box doused in gasoline, and the leaders of the world's great powers are like children running about with lit matches. At any moment, the whole thing could go up in flames, and we will be plunged into an age of darkness."

A little more than 6 months later, he was proven right with a single gunshot.

First another good update mobiyuz.

Second California goes to war, ore that i think.

[stevep]

   Its not a good sign that the republic has its own "plastic Paddys"as their sometimes termed, with no understanding of what's actually going on in Ireland.   Also sounds like a level of resentment building up against a conservative reaction to earlier reforms.  Especially with the sort of preference for big business that dominated the US during much of OTL.  I wonder if its going to throw up its own Teddy to challenge the trusts and corruption?

  Sounds like your going to have WWI start pretty much as OTL although you could surprise us.   Not sure what's going to happen in N America but some hints that 'mad' Max is going to trigger something off there and it could end up with Mexico and Freedonia v just about everybody else.  Which could be very messy and bloody.  Hopefully the war in Europe won't be quite as savage and bloody but I fear it will.

[mobiyuz]

19 June 1914
Eureka, Capital District

President Leland Stanford II was troubled. Being the son of a former president naturally meant that you had to live up to or surpass that legacy, especially when that legacy was that of a man who had founded the country he now governed. More than that, he had frantically had to defuse a potential rebellion among the nation's workers. Was he not doing the right thing? He'd been elected on the strength of his policies, that much was for sure, but now that he was 4 and a half years into his term in office, he was starting to doubt himself more and more, a fatal flaw for anyone expected to be a strong, decisive leader. He hadn't been sleeping well lately, maybe only four hours a night, and he'd grown a large set of dark circles under his eyes in the last few years that just never went away.

On that morning, which was another overcast, cool day, President Stanford stood at the window quietly as he watched the people go by. How many of them still trusted him as a president? How many more no longer had faith in him? How many would shoot him given the chance? If a war started, who would trust him to lead it? He took a breath and went back to his desk, opening up the box of papers and starting on the top. Some small appropriations bill for a new cannon at the Presidio. That was easy enough, he signed off on it. The next one was some new bill from Congress about lowering old age pensions. That one he hesitated on. If he signed it, then his base would support it but the people would get angry. If he vetoed it, the party would be angry but the people would be happy. He pushed it off to the side, muttering "Thank God I don't need to be re-elected."

Before he could start on the third paper, the phone on his desk rang in a loud, clattering, obnoxious way that made him jump, like someone had dropped ice down his shirt. He picked it up and spoke first. "Hello, this is President Stanford."

"Mr. President, I have the Secretary of State for you."

"Alright, put him through." Good. Something that wasn't his own nation."

"Mr. President, I've been trying to reach you for hours."

"What's so urgent?"

"A message came in from the British Foreign Office overnight. Apparently the Archduke's been shot."

Even if he'd been lucid enough to piece that together right away, he'd still be confused. "Who's the Archduke?"

"Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary."

"Holy shit..." He was lucid enough to know that wasn't good. That country had been ready to blow for years now. "Is he dead?"

"No, but only by an inch. They got him in the neck, but they somehow managed to stop the bleeding. His wife was killed, though." That made him a bit more sad. He'd had a brief chance to speak with Duchess Sophie during a state visit to London back in 1911, and she'd seemed like a lovely woman. "The point is, the Archduke is half dead and Vienna is pissed, they're saying they intend to declare war on Serbia if they don't meet an ultimatum."

"What does Serbia have to do with it?"

"Apparently the guy who fired the gun was a Serbian nationalist."

Stanford leaned his forehead against his hand. "Goddamn it, that whole continent is infested with nationalists looking to start wars. What has the rest of the world said?"

"Germany's sympathetic to Vienna, Russia's sympathetic to Serbia, the usual bullcrap. More than likely it'll just blow over sooner rather than later."

"No. I don't think it will."

"I'm sorry?"

"I think this could be a lot worse than anyone seems to realize yet. I think that this could cause a war."

"Mr. President, no offence, but I think you need to sleep more. I've heard what your sleep schedule is like, and I'd be having dark thoughts like that, too."

"You know how Europe is. Everyone needs to march to war the moment someone insults someone. This is nearly killing the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, I can't imagine that Vienna will just sit down if they're asked nicely. And Russia's backing Serbia, Germany's backing Austria-Hungary, France's backing Russia...it's a nightmare just waiting to happen."

"Okay, then what do you want to do about it?"

"Send a telegram to the other treaty signatories and I'll assemble the cabinet."

"And once you do, sir, try and at least get a nap in. Take a spoonful of morphine if you have to."

"I'm not going to start on that shit. I get used to that, I get hooked, and that's my life down the toilet. I've seen the photos of people who get caught on that stuff, not for me."

"Just something, Leland. Anything to get your head on right."

"Fine. I'll call the cabinet to a meeting later and discuss our response."

"Very well, sir. I'll talk to you later."

"Goodbye for now." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. This was bad.

[lordroel]

Jul 14, 2019 9:40:36 GMT mobiyuz said:

19 June 1914
Eureka, Capital District

President Leland Stanford II was troubled. Being the son of a former president naturally meant that you had to live up to or surpass that legacy, especially when that legacy was that of a man who had founded the country he now governed. More than that, he had frantically had to defuse a potential rebellion among the nation's workers. Was he not doing the right thing? He'd been elected on the strength of his policies, that much was for sure, but now that he was 4 and a half years into his term in office, he was starting to doubt himself more and more, a fatal flaw for anyone expected to be a strong, decisive leader. He hadn't been sleeping well lately, maybe only four hours a night, and he'd grown a large set of dark circles under his eyes in the last few years that just never went away.

On that morning, which was another overcast, cool day, President Stanford stood at the window quietly as he watched the people go by. How many of them still trusted him as a president? How many more no longer had faith in him? How many would shoot him given the chance? If a war started, who would trust him to lead it? He took a breath and went back to his desk, opening up the box of papers and starting on the top. Some small appropriations bill for a new cannon at the Presidio. That was easy enough, he signed off on it. The next one was some new bill from Congress about lowering old age pensions. That one he hesitated on. If he signed it, then his base would support it but the people would get angry. If he vetoed it, the party would be angry but the people would be happy. He pushed it off to the side, muttering "Thank God I don't need to be re-elected."

Before he could start on the third paper, the phone on his desk rang in a loud, clattering, obnoxious way that made him jump, like someone had dropped ice down his shirt. He picked it up and spoke first. "Hello, this is President Stanford."

"Mr. President, I have the Secretary of State for you."

"Alright, put him through." Good. Something that wasn't his own nation."

"Mr. President, I've been trying to reach you for hours."

"What's so urgent?"

"A message came in from the British Foreign Office overnight. Apparently the Archduke's been shot."

Even if he'd been lucid enough to piece that together right away, he'd still be confused. "Who's the Archduke?"

"Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary."

"Holy shit..." He was lucid enough to know that wasn't good. That country had been ready to blow for years now. "Is he dead?"

"No, but only by an inch. They got him in the neck, but they somehow managed to stop the bleeding. His wife was killed, though." That made him a bit more sad. He'd had a brief chance to speak with Duchess Sophie during a state visit to London back in 1911, and she'd seemed like a lovely woman. "The point is, the Archduke is half dead and Vienna is pissed, they're saying they intend to declare war on Serbia if they don't meet an ultimatum."

"What does Serbia have to do with it?"

"Apparently the guy who fired the gun was a Serbian nationalist."

Stanford leaned his forehead against his hand. "Goddamn it, that whole continent is infested with nationalists looking to start wars. What has the rest of the world said?"

"Germany's sympathetic to Vienna, Russia's sympathetic to Serbia, the usual bullcrap. More than likely it'll just blow over sooner rather than later."

"No. I don't think it will."

"I'm sorry?"

"I think this could be a lot worse than anyone seems to realize yet. I think that this could cause a war."

"Mr. President, no offence, but I think you need to sleep more. I've heard what your sleep schedule is like, and I'd be having dark thoughts like that, too."

"You know how Europe is. Everyone needs to march to war the moment someone insults someone. This is nearly killing the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, I can't imagine that Vienna will just sit down if they're asked nicely. And Russia's backing Serbia, Germany's backing Austria-Hungary, France's backing Russia...it's a nightmare just waiting to happen."

"Okay, then what do you want to do about it?"

"Send a telegram to the other treaty signatories and I'll assemble the cabinet."

"And once you do, sir, try and at least get a nap in. Take a spoonful of morphine if you have to."

"I'm not going to start on that shit. I get used to that, I get hooked, and that's my life down the toilet. I've seen the photos of people who get caught on that stuff, not for me."

"Just something, Leland. Anything to get your head on right."

"Fine. I'll call the cabinet to a meeting later and discuss our response."

"Very well, sir. I'll talk to you later."

"Goodbye for now." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. This was bad.

So the Archduke is alive in this universe but barley, i wonder if he is able to prevent his Uncle to go to war against Serbia.

[stevep]

Jul 14, 2019 9:54:40 GMT lordroel said:

Jul 14, 2019 9:40:36 GMT mobiyuz said:

19 June 1914
Eureka, Capital District

President Leland Stanford II was troubled. Being the son of a former president naturally meant that you had to live up to or surpass that legacy, especially when that legacy was that of a man who had founded the country he now governed. More than that, he had frantically had to defuse a potential rebellion among the nation's workers. Was he not doing the right thing? He'd been elected on the strength of his policies, that much was for sure, but now that he was 4 and a half years into his term in office, he was starting to doubt himself more and more, a fatal flaw for anyone expected to be a strong, decisive leader. He hadn't been sleeping well lately, maybe only four hours a night, and he'd grown a large set of dark circles under his eyes in the last few years that just never went away.

On that morning, which was another overcast, cool day, President Stanford stood at the window quietly as he watched the people go by. How many of them still trusted him as a president? How many more no longer had faith in him? How many would shoot him given the chance? If a war started, who would trust him to lead it? He took a breath and went back to his desk, opening up the box of papers and starting on the top. Some small appropriations bill for a new cannon at the Presidio. That was easy enough, he signed off on it. The next one was some new bill from Congress about lowering old age pensions. That one he hesitated on. If he signed it, then his base would support it but the people would get angry. If he vetoed it, the party would be angry but the people would be happy. He pushed it off to the side, muttering "Thank God I don't need to be re-elected."

Before he could start on the third paper, the phone on his desk rang in a loud, clattering, obnoxious way that made him jump, like someone had dropped ice down his shirt. He picked it up and spoke first. "Hello, this is President Stanford."

"Mr. President, I have the Secretary of State for you."

"Alright, put him through." Good. Something that wasn't his own nation."

"Mr. President, I've been trying to reach you for hours."

"What's so urgent?"

"A message came in from the British Foreign Office overnight. Apparently the Archduke's been shot."

Even if he'd been lucid enough to piece that together right away, he'd still be confused. "Who's the Archduke?"

"Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary."

"Holy shit..." He was lucid enough to know that wasn't good. That country had been ready to blow for years now. "Is he dead?"

"No, but only by an inch. They got him in the neck, but they somehow managed to stop the bleeding. His wife was killed, though." That made him a bit more sad. He'd had a brief chance to speak with Duchess Sophie during a state visit to London back in 1911, and she'd seemed like a lovely woman. "The point is, the Archduke is half dead and Vienna is pissed, they're saying they intend to declare war on Serbia if they don't meet an ultimatum."

"What does Serbia have to do with it?"

"Apparently the guy who fired the gun was a Serbian nationalist."

Stanford leaned his forehead against his hand. "Goddamn it, that whole continent is infested with nationalists looking to start wars. What has the rest of the world said?"

"Germany's sympathetic to Vienna, Russia's sympathetic to Serbia, the usual bullcrap. More than likely it'll just blow over sooner rather than later."

"No. I don't think it will."

"I'm sorry?"

"I think this could be a lot worse than anyone seems to realize yet. I think that this could cause a war."

"Mr. President, no offence, but I think you need to sleep more. I've heard what your sleep schedule is like, and I'd be having dark thoughts like that, too."

"You know how Europe is. Everyone needs to march to war the moment someone insults someone. This is nearly killing the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, I can't imagine that Vienna will just sit down if they're asked nicely. And Russia's backing Serbia, Germany's backing Austria-Hungary, France's backing Russia...it's a nightmare just waiting to happen."

"Okay, then what do you want to do about it?"

"Send a telegram to the other treaty signatories and I'll assemble the cabinet."

"And once you do, sir, try and at least get a nap in. Take a spoonful of morphine if you have to."

"I'm not going to start on that shit. I get used to that, I get hooked, and that's my life down the toilet. I've seen the photos of people who get caught on that stuff, not for me."

"Just something, Leland. Anything to get your head on right."

"Fine. I'll call the cabinet to a meeting later and discuss our response."

"Very well, sir. I'll talk to you later."

"Goodbye for now." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. This was bad.

So the Archduke is alive in this universe but barley, i wonder if he is able to prevent his Uncle to go to war against Serbia.

  If he survives in competent form and given how much he loved his wife, marrying her despite the opposition of his father, he may well not want to.  Later on he might be willing to consider a separate peace and be in a stronger position to do so

  Actually according to most sources if Austria had declared war immediately and plowed straight into Serbia it would probably have been OK as initially there was a strong wave of sympathy for Austria.  However by waiting until the initial feelings had cooled and by their extreme demands to Serbia and the latter's acceptance of most of them it made a lot of people think again and also enabled Russia to come in in support of Serbia against an invasion. 

  I'm not sure that the British FO would be contacting assorted nations around the world and informing them about the assassination.  Probably more likely it would be reported by Reuters and also not be too highly rated as an issue of great importance in N America, at least unless its a lot more internationalist than the OTL US was at that time.

  Sounds like Stanford is going through a rough time and feeling the pressure of office.  Unfortunately for him I suspect that with the [almost certain] war coming its only going to get worse.  Personally I would say that a political leader without self doubts would be an extremely dangerous person for everybody.  Although too many uncertainties are definitely a problem as well.

[lordroel]

Jul 14, 2019 15:00:46 GMT stevep said:

  Sounds like Stanford is going through a rough time and feeling the pressure of office.  Unfortunately for him I suspect that with the [almost certain] war coming its only going to get worse.  Personally I would say that a political leader without self doubts would be an extremely dangerous person for everybody.  Although too many uncertainties are definitely a problem as well.

Well at least he is smart, for now to stay away from morphine.

[mobiyuz]

I promise that this isn't dead yet, there has just been a metric fuckton of things going wrong all of a sudden in my life. I do intend to come back to this in the near future, but things need to settle down for me a bit first.

[lordroel]

Aug 11, 2019 11:55:53 GMT mobiyuz said:

I promise that this isn't dead yet, there has just been a metric fuckton of things going wrong all of a sudden in my life. I do intend to come back to this in the near future, but things need to settle down for me a bit first.

Nice to hear from you mobiyuz, take your time.

[stevep]

Aug 11, 2019 11:59:45 GMT lordroel said:

Aug 11, 2019 11:55:53 GMT mobiyuz said:

I promise that this isn't dead yet, there has just been a metric fuckton of things going wrong all of a sudden in my life. I do intend to come back to this in the near future, but things need to settle down for me a bit first.

Nice to hear from you mobiyuz , take your time.

  Agreed.  Take your time and get the important things sorted out 1st.  Your personal life always comes before a story so we're happy waiting until things are sorted out there.

[mobiyuz]

I'm back, baby! Let's get this ball rolling again!

---

Part 12: The Great War (1914-1919)

On 18 June 1914, an assassination attempt was made on Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by a Serbian terrorist group. In a fit of fury, the government of the Dual Monarchy was prepared to declare war on Serbia, but the still-living Archduke stayed the government's hand and instead insisted that an ultimatum be sent demanding that Serbia acquiesce to several demands from Vienna. However, despite being a voice for moderation, the Archduke was still in poor health, lingering from his wounds and still not making any kind of recovery. In the flurry of diplomatic exchanges and demands, German Emperor Wilhelm II gave support to Austria-Hungary, while Russia declared its protection of Serbia, and France declared its support for its ally Russia. When Franz Ferdinand died of a blood infection stemming from his wounds on 6 July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian establishment, unshackled by its voice of restraint, went forward with mobilization on 9 July 1914, followed by a declaration of war against Serbia on 20 July. Days later, Russia began mobilization against Austria-Hungary, Germany mobilized against Russia, and France mobilized against Germany. All at once a series of alliances and defensive pacts had collapsed into a continent-spanning war, the likes of which hadn't been seen since the days of Napoleon I.

The series of alliances and treaties that helped bring the war into being. 

This was mostly a distant concern for California, however. California maintained diplomatic relations with both sides of the war, even as it began to develop further with the entry of nations such as Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire on the Allied side, and the United Kingdom finally entering the fray on the Entente side. Californian and North American trade began to suffer as a consequence, given that a large amount of trade in North America was oriented toward shipping their products to Europe, although California did fare better than most of the other nations given that an equally large amount of their trade depended on shipping to East Asia, which had leveled out fairly quickly after the Empire of Japan entered the war and seized German ports and colonies in the Pacific. What had not leveled out, though, was an ongoing civil war in China following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, putting a large dent in California’s foreign markets.

Californian nurses volunteering with the International Red Cross. Many civilians volunteered
to help humanitarian causes prior to the outbreak of war in North America.

Despite declaring its neutrality at the outset, California did have some internal disagreement over which side to support. As has been discussed prior, the established political factions in California mostly supported the Entente led by Britain, but large segments of its population supported the Allies led by Germany. Most concerning, though, was the Mexican Empire to the south, whose ruler Maximilian III rather loudly supported Germany and Austria-Hungary. As early as September 1914, the Californian Armed Forces had begun making plans for a possible invasion by Mexico, and messages were sent to the members of the mutual defense treaty reassuring each other that they would still come to each other’s aid.

Hundreds of soldiers are mobilized to defend the southern territories, fearing war with the Mexican Empire, 1914.

On 4 November 1914, a small Californian tramp steamer, the SS Napa, entered the zone around the United Kingdom that Germany had declared an “exclusion zone” subject to the laws of unrestricted warfare. While sailing south of Ireland, the German submarine U-35 attempted to torpedo the ship, but only succeeded in damaging its prow without sinking it. The Napa limped into its destination of Liverpool later that day, but the world reacted very strongly to the attempted sinking, with North America threatening to join the war by declaring the attack on the Napa as an act of war. Germany instead countered that the Napa had entered the exclusion zone knowingly, and was thus subject to the attack. Resentfully, the defense league withdrew its threat of war, but preparations for a possible war began as California continued to expand the size of its army.

SS Napa, the ship involved in the diplomatic incident.

The incident did convince Germany of the danger of having North America involved in the conflict, especially as Freedonian ships were left almost entirely alone by German U-boats. Seeking an opportunity, the German Foreign Office sent a coded telegram to the Empire of Mexico, stating that if Mexico would support Germany in the war and help the Allied war effort, they would support their re-annexation of large parts of southern California and Texas. As expected, Maximilian III enthusiastically accepted, and immediately ordered his army’s mobilization. And owing to his impulsiveness, he immediately launched a surprise attack on 28 May 1915, at a time when his army hadn’t been fully and properly mobilized. The Mexican forces charged north into the Texan state of Rio Grande and the Californian territory of Sonora Norte, catching their defenses off guard. Within days, the treaty kicked into effect and the nations of North America went to war. Initially a conflict limited to pushing back Mexico’s invasion, Freedonia caught the Entente off-guard and declared its full support for Germany, invading New England, the CSA, Canada, and the Plains Federation. World War I had come to North America.

Californian soldiers desperately mount a defensive against the Mexican surprise attack.

The very earliest days of the war favored Mexico purely by numbers, but as May turned to June, the balance quickly swung to the Entente. California’s army did use conscription, but the core of its service was made up of professional soldiers who were highly trained, and California’s rich natural resources made supplying and feeding its soldiers much easier, especially taking into account the better infrastructure that California could use to mobilize and move its soldiers around when compared to Mexico, which had to move across the sparsely populated and underdeveloped northern deserts of its territory. When combined with nations such as Cascadia-Montana, Texas, the CSA, and the Plains Federation, they managed to halt the Mexican invasion and push them back to the borders, where they elected to once again make use of the “Turtling Strategy” pioneered by General Wilkerson and force Mexico to grind itself out on a war of attrition.

Warfare in southern Sonora Norte, ca. 1915

At home, meanwhile, there was an understandable level of chaos over the sudden attack, and there was a very real threat that Mexico might overrun California entirely. It was more than political chaos, however. Southern California, and for that matter many areas of California, had a large number of Hispanic citizens who had both immigrated from Mexico and who had simply been there since the region had been annexed by either the United States or California. Public outrage over Mexico’s invasion led many to begin suspecting that anyone who spoke Spanish or looked Mexican was a spy for the enemy. Draconian laws that disproportionately affected Spanish-speakers were soon passed limiting freedom of press, speech, and assembly, culminating in the territories of Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, and Sonora Norte being declared to be under martial law from 1916 to 1919.

The aftermath of a skirmish between military police and anti-martial law protestors, Tijuana, BCN, 1917

Over the course of the war, the national mood began to grow more and more exhausted across all of the powers involved, with the Allied Powers on the back foot and desperately trying to pull out a win while the Entente was desperately trying to cling to every advantage they had. And it just kept getting worse. In late 1915, Italy finally answered the call to their German alliance with a promise of French and British colonies, opening up a new front of slaughter in southern Europe. That same year, a disastrous campaign for the Dardanelles failed on the Entente side. And then in 1916, an even more monumental event. Having been denied citizenship, subjected to all forms of oppression, and conscripted as forced labor for the war effort, the Afro-Confederate population of the CSA rose in rebellion, inspired by the works of Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln. Spurred into rebellion, the CSA’s advance toward Washington collapsed entirely as the country devolved into civil war, leaving the Entente in North America scrambling to cover this as well as the Freedonian advance.

The bloody and grueling fighting between Black partisans and Confederate Army soldiers in Atlanta, Georgia, 1917

By 1917, the war was slowly becoming more desperate on all sides. An indecisive naval battle off the coast of Norway left the British and Germans struggling to try and gain domination in the North Sea, and Japan had begun sending their navy to assist the British in operations in the Middle East. In North America the Red Rebellion in the CSA saw both Afro-Confederates and Anglo-Confederates exacting horrible retribution against each other, committing atrocities too terrible to mention here. But in California, the war was starting to move to their advantage when the Battle of Hermosillo destroyed the last major Mexican forces standing in their path, allowing California to advance further into Mexico alongside the Texan forces. All the while, pro-Republican forces rose in rebellion across the Empire, effectively collapsing Mexico’s ability to make war. And yet, by 1918 the war showed no signs of slowing, even as the Germans forced a humiliating peace onto the Russian Empire (now collapsed into the Republic of Russia) and rushed its forces to bolster itself in the west, stalemating the minimal progress the Entente had been able to make. More worrying, however, was the new and unexpected rise of the communist forces in Russia, threatening to overtake the government.

Californian and Texan soldiers on the offensive against Mexico, mid-1918

By late 1918, the situation still looked hopeless, but then the calculus began to change. Faced with massive mutinies across the front lines, France’s offensives rapidly collapsed as the Germans captured a downed British airship with a rough copy of the planned 1919 offensive, which called for tactics the Germans described as “blitzkrieg”. Using the mutinies, Germany pulled out the Turtling Offensive for themselves and put every last ounce of strength they had left, even as the army forced Kaiser Wilhelm II to abdicate in favor of his more compliant son Wilhelm III. As the last April Offensive began in Europe, Emperor Maximilian III of Mexico was assassinated by a radical anarchist, collapsing the government and forcing them to sign an armistice just before the Second Mexican Empire collapsed entirely. Austria-Hungary followed not long after, imploding into an infinite number of civil wars, while Turkey soon collapsed when the Greeks pushed all the way to Constantinople, and the Italian army collapsed en masse. Finally, on 19 May 1919, Freedonia’s government collapsed as the western states broke away, and a Germany that had just barely held against the April Offensive sued for peace. All at once, it was over.

The war was over. 50,000,000 people lay dead across the trenches of Europe, the Sonoran Desert, the Ohio Valley, the Eastern Front, the Middle East, and East Asia. Yet even now, battles raged on. The Turks were struggling desperately to repel the Greeks, the Russian Civil War between the Red Army and the loose “White Army” coalition raged onward, and China too had exploded into a civil war that Japan was now all too happy to take advantage of. Nations had risen, fallen, been born, ceased to exist, and changed utterly and thoroughly within the space of just 6 years.

But for many, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that peace was here.

[lordroel]

Oct 13, 2019 10:31:53 GMT mobiyuz said:

I'm back, baby! Let's get this ball rolling again!

---

Part 12: The Great War (1914-1919)

Nice to see it rolling again mobiyuz .