The American Century - AoI 4.0 USA

Tani Coyote

Son of Huehuecoyotl
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May 28, 2007
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Slight modifications to the core AoI files:

-Ethiopia replaced with Mahdists, who rule southern Sudan as well as Ethiopia for a total of four cities. They also start with a good stack of units so can harass local colonial powers for some time.
-All colonial powers can build Australian and Kiwi units if they own the relevant land.
-Coal and Iron added to the Philippines and Cuba. As a perk this will make taking on Spain slightly more challenging.

==Prologue==

Spoiler :
--The Russo-American War--

Prior to the 20th century, America’s involvement in global affairs had been rather uneventful. That had changed in the year 1898, when there were naval skirmishes with Russia over a disagreement involving Moscow demanding tribute from the United States (America having given such to France and Britain in the past as a “gift of friendship”). What was to follow would change the course of American history forever.

America had lost three of its vessels to Russia’s two after a disastrous confrontation between American Cruisers and Russian Battleships just after the 4th of July. The defeat was humiliating, but America had one more trick up its sleeve; all forces were recalled to the coasts and all shipyards were subsidized to not only employ larger labor pools, but have them work around the clock. The goal? Mass production of a powerful Pacific fleet that would shred the Russians as soon as they got too close. The question was… would Russia fall for it?



Amazingly, the plan worked. Russia deployed four battleships and four cruisers outside Seattle, thinking the American fleet vulnerable. While America did indeed only have five naval vessels on the West Coast, the United States also had one other key factor: a large amount of land-based artillery pieces. With the Russian navy now within range, the sheer numbers of American artillery made up for their poor quality by causing extensive damage to the Imperial Russian Navy, and America sank four Russian vessels in the August Offensive. Though Russia was not entirely defeated, the strategy did cause public approval for Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt to skyrocket.



Though it was technically Roosevelt’s oversight, President McKinley ended up taking the fall when Russian soldiers landed near San Diego weeks later. As it turned out, the Seattle blockade was in itself a trap by the Russians to distract America’s naval forces from an amphibious invasion. While a lone American battleship had intercepted some of the vessels, Russian numbers were too large to prevent a landing completely.

Negative publicity abated days later, though, when America slaughtered half the Russian army and captured the remainder in the Battle of Oceanside. The tiny town, settled little over a decade prior to the Russo-American War, became important in American military history, and before long, had become a major American military installation so as to prevent another assault on the southwestern United States.

With the Russian incursion easily eliminated, America sought vengeance for Russia’s intended conquest. 2 Russian Cruisers were sunk off the coast of California, while all naval vessels near Washington State gave chase to the fleeing Russian Navy, resulting in the sinking of another Russian Cruiser and Battleship. The tide had been turned thanks to Roosevelt’s quick thinking, and there was already talk of his ascending to the Vice Presidency in the 1900 election.

October, the Russians sank one Battleship in a hit and run assault, but in turn exposed themselves to an American counterattack, with two Russian cruisers and one Transport sent to the bottom. Russia’s ships were more lightly armored than their American counterparts, and so while the United States had firepower, it could not catch most of the fleeing Imperial Navy. However, Americans breathed a sigh of relief – the Russians were in retreat, when it had originally looked like America might get overwhelmed. The Russian Navy was continuing to shell Midway and causing considerable damage to the infrastructure there, but it was a small loss compared to Russian superiority off the West Coast.

Destroying another Russian Battleship in December, President McKinley promised to have the war ended by Christmas, and brokered a deal with Russia to pay a small monthly indemnity for one and a half years; if Russia decided to break the peace accord, they would thus lose any remaining payments. Ever a savvy politician, however, McKinley had kept the small tribute off the books, making it look like the countries had signed a white peace. The American public was somewhat disgruntled that America had walked away without any indemnities of its own, but they were bolstered with pride at the fact that the American fleet had been enlarged a fair degree by the war, and that many more Russians had perished than Americans. The subsidies to the Western shipyards would continue for at least another year as America sought to protect its West Coast and Pacific colonies from ever again being under threat.

--Overseas Incidents and the German-American War--

America had emerged from its war with another major power relatively unscathed, and had shown that even if it could not claim absolute victory, it was far from being a pushover. For countries overseas, that was not so much the case, as the French and Benelux Pact went to war in 1896, and within seven months, the French had extracted a treaty that gave them legal jurisdiction over all traffic entering the Atlantic from the Congo River, as well as de facto control of the region surrounding Leopoldville. In effect, the French neutered the Belgian Empire, denying them a means to reliably ship their valuable rubber reserves back to Antwerp.

In May 1898, the German Empire, led by an ambitious Kaiser, declared war upon the British Empire, dragging their Austro-Hungarian allies into the affair. The naval rivalry between the two states had erupted into outright war, though the powers were evenly matched enough that others did not take interest.



Germany’s avarice knew no bounds, however, as even while fighting the British Empire (and having lost Togoland and the German Pacific in the process), they still demanded American tribute. The military having been enlarged since the Russo-American War, President McKinley refused to even consider the offer, and was met with war. Subsidies to the eastern shipyards increased as America sought to rapidly build up a fleet to counter any unlikely German advances.

In reality, Germany had been set up by the President. Personal letters with Secretary Roosevelt indicated that “Providence has given us the deniability we have long sought.” McKinley, in reality, was planning to one day establish American supremacy in the Caribbean through the expulsion of the Spanish from Cuba and Puerto Rico, followed by the establishment of puppet regimes in Hispaniola. Knowing the hotblooded Kaiser would almost certainly react with war, McKinley had called the bluff… and was given the excuse he had long needed to build up a fleet for Caribbean operations, all without drawing attention from Spain.

When it became apparent that Secretary Roosevelt’s fiery rhetoric might reflect badly on the War Department and by proxy his Presidency, however, McKinley was presented with another opportunity: Vice President Hobart died of natural causes on November 21st. McKinley quickly maneuvered to have Roosevelt appointed as his Vice President in the Spring of 1900, allowing the two to continue their close relationship but removing Roosevelt from effective power.

On January 1, 1900, the Wartime Emergency Act of 1899 came into effect, granting the federal government extra powers over the economy “pursuant to strategic objectives.” Despite this supposed limitation, McKinley began to make active use of the Act to temporarily take control of production centers across the nation as well as impose rations and require longer hours. It was here that Roosevelt’s energetic personality became more useful than ever, as he stressed the need for Americans to sacrifice to preserve the nation’s economic and military integrity against an aggressive world; if America did not show strength in the face of foes like Russia and Germany, only more foes would begin to make themselves known.

Russia and Germany did not know it at the time, but they had created a monster: Americans of all stripes had increasingly begun to embrace a siege mentality of the world seeking to weaken or outright destroy the United States. With the government and media drumming up an American responsibility to provide security and prosperity to countless neighbors, a fierce sentiment that combined patriotism, a sense of duty, and constant distrust of the wider world emerged. The American mentality increasingly became this: the world could not be trusted to govern itself in a manner beneficial to the United States and the world’s population, so it would fall to America to do it for them. The “White Man’s Burden” that was popular among Western populaces was replaced with the “American’s Burden.”

The German Alliance’s peace accord with Britain in early January helped convince the American public of a looming German menace, and many Americans proudly took their rations and longer hours for the glory of the nation. This was despite the fact Germany was at war with Russia only a month later.

McKinley would not live to see his focus on the Caribbean realized, however. He was wounded by an assassination attempt during the Summer of 1900 while on the campaign trail. While at first he seemed to recover from an operation to remove the assassin’s bullet, his health soon rapidly deteriorated and Vice President Roosevelt was sworn in as President mere months after having assumed the Vice Presidency.

While already having to run for re-election, the energetic Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest man to ever serve in the position, was not deterred by the challenge.

“We are entering a new century, my countrymen, and I shall make sure it is an American century.”

 
==Chapter I: La Guerra Porfiriana==

Spoiler :
While the former Navy Secretary was naturally quite interested at the prospects of a war in Cuba and the wider Caribbean, the ambitious Roosevelt was all too eager to tap into another American sentiment: the disdain for the Diaz regime of Mexico. Under the dictatorial Porfirio Diaz, the country had experienced incredible stability and economic growth, leading to some to call his reign the “Paz Porfiriana.” However, to accomplish this, Diaz also reigned with an iron fist, rigging elections, assassinating and persecuting opponents, and forcefully dispersing protests. Courtesy of yellow journalism, the Diaz regime’s excesses were greatly exaggerated, prompting many Americans to desire the removal of the Mexican government. Blinded from alternative reports by the growing feeling of responsibility to the world’s other peoples, America was soon on the warpath.

Just a few weeks after McKinley’s death, America declared war on Mexico on August 1, 1900. Porfirio Diaz, upon receiving the news, reassured his people, “There were three great colonial powers: Spain, France, and Britain. We triumphed over the first two, and so we shall triumph over the frail descendants of the third.”



In the span of a week, America had seized Santa Rosalia, cutting La Paz off from the rest of Mexico. United States forces had killed or captured nearly every man in over half a dozen Mexican divisions, while losing almost none of their own.



To the east, artillery fired across the Rio Grande at one of Mexico’s most precious forts that guarded the route to Monterrey. The US Army steamrolled past the fort’s defenses and attacked Monterrey, in total capturing or killing seven Mexican divisions at the loss of one American. Roosevelt’s popularity soared as the United States almost bloodlessly removed Diaz forces from one city after another, with both American and Mexican civilian casualties to a minimum.



Despite not having as much artillery support as the other two campaigns, the fourth week of the war saw a third acquisition – Hermosillo. With the fall of the city and all of northwestern Mexico, Mexico lost its chief supply of oil and over half its timber supplies, putting it in a state of economic dependence that the State Department was eager to see remain in perpetuity. President Roosevelt was not satisfied, however, and stated that all of Mexico’s coal supplies and Baja California would be secured by American troops before peace negotiations could begin.



The Mexican forces were ejected from Baja California without a single American soldier lost two weeks later. Naval forces converged on Guadalajara, the last major city between the US Army and Mexico City itself.

Late August, a small Mexican counterattack was repulsed, their pitiful, poorly-trained Cavalry forces no match for American artillery. With the board clear, the time had come for America to make its own move: the conquest of Guadalajara.



Guadalajara was less of a battle and more of a massacre with how many Mexican soldiers, many of them Conscripts pulled from their homes and handed a weapon, were cut down. The Navy was finally relieved of support duty on the West Coast, and was told in secret to sail southward to the Central American Republics… Roosevelt’s next objective.



As troops bunkered down in the hills outside Mexico City, however, a surprise attack was launched on the Yucatan Peninsula. Roosevelt had always wanted to give the Marine Corps a means to test their skills; now that he was President, he reasoned he’d do just that in the lightly-defended Mexican Caribbean.

While not sufficient in numbers to take Cancun, the Marines did stay in the city long enough to slaughter a Mexican force twice their size, forcing militias to defend the entire city. With naval vessels lobbing shells from afar, the entirety of Yucatan was paralyzed in fear of the United States military. President Roosevelt promised to have all troops back home by Christmas in light of how soft Mexico’s defenses beyond the capital were proving to be.



A second wave of attacks took Cancun in September, the militiamen not posing a threat to the skill and numbers of the Marine Corps.



Just a week later, the small Cancun assault forces had pushed into Central Mexico, flanking the capital. This was great news to the War Department especially, as the assault on the capital had stalled due to the sheer number of troops protecting Diaz’ government.

Despite the Mexican numbers, though, the September Offensive did heavy damage to Mexico City’s defenses. While some American Cavalry divisions were lost, those divisions who survived inflicted horrific casualties on the Porfirian troops.



The October Offensive ended the Mexican Campaign, with 12 Mexican divisions killed, captured, or deserted to 2 American. In the span of eleven weeks, the United States had completely destroyed anything resembling a military in Mexico. It had taken two years and a fair amount of casualties for the United States to defeat Mexico in the First Mexican-American War; the Second had ended in less than an eighth of that time with minimal casualties.

President Porfirio Diaz was soon given a show trial that convicted him of crimes against the Mexican people and abuse of power. To avoid inciting riots, however, he was sentenced to life under house arrest rather than execution. The Paz Porfiriana had come to an end, the man responsible for it destined to spend his remaining years under the constant watch of American soldiers.

Diaz’ companions were not so lucky, as without publicity to protect them, many were subjected to confiscation of their property at best and imprisonment, exile and execution at worst. By the time the United States was electing its own government in November, the Mexican government had already been effectively gutted.

In the first Mexican-American War, the integrity of Mexico’s core had been preserved because many were not comfortable with the idea of incorporating a mostly non-white population into the Union. Now with Mexico once again under American occupation, the issue came up of what to do with the country. This time around, the mantra of the White Man’s Burden colored the thinking of many policymakers, who advocated turning Mexico into a colony of the United States so as to “uplift” its people. Arguments were made that as Mexico had a large amount of European influence in its culture already, the people could be assimilated into US citizens in the span of a few generations. The racist sentiments had approval all the way up to the Presidency, and President Roosevelt signed the one-sided peace accord without qualm, turning most of Mexico (the wealthier northern states, Baja California, and several key port cities were all directly annexed into outright territories) into a gigantic colony.

The new colony of Mexico had the usual imperialist overtones such as trying to promote the imperial power’s language and culture, but was markedly different from most other colonies of the time in its politics: the people of Mexico were granted suffrage and a limited measure of self-government. While the Governor of Mexico was appointed by the US President, and the Mexican Senate’s elections had to be approved by the Governor, the Mexican Assembly was voted for directly by the Mexican people. As one might expect, the Assembly regularly called for independence, and this encouraged the United States government to tread lightly in the affairs of the country (e.g. instead of outright suppression of Spanish, English was simply mandatory learning alongside it).

Mexico was also given a means to present its grievances before the federal government, with the country being granted several Commissioners (all selected by the Mexican House and appointed by the Governor) who could vote on committees in the U.S. Congress, but not on the actual floor. The civilian government, however, would not gain control of the country until January 1, 1904, so as to give a temporary military government the ability to suppress any possible revolts; upon the lack of rebellions, however, Congress moved the date to January 1, 1902. Even with the civilian government’s establishment, however, the United States reserved the right to annual any acts passed by the colonial government; this was used to nullify a successful secession proposal in 1906. President Diaz’ statements of Mexico not being ready for democracy were echoed by the United States government that succeeded him, Washington repeatedly stating that Mexico was not ready for all the democratic benefits of a full state.

With the Republic of Mexico set on the long path to statehood, President Roosevelt’s eyes turned southward…
 
==Chapter II: Walker’s Revenge==

Spoiler :
With Mexico firmly under its thumb, Roosevelt was convinced that the United States’ momentum should continue and that it should press southward. Advisors persuaded the President to hold off on any further aggressive overtures until troops could more readily be ferried into Central America, which was separated from Mexico by a daunting mountain range that would make any effective invasion impossible.



In the mid-1800s, William Walker had become infamous for multiple campaigns in Central America and Mexico, having declared himself President of northwestern Mexico and later Nicaragua. The government was already beginning to subtly encourage the circulation of articles that glorified his actions in the region. Walker had spent a great deal of his overseas adventures fighting for the cause of slavery, but propaganda glossed over this, instead mentioning how he had tried to establish a state in Sonora that would eventually join the Union, and had also worked to spread the English language and American culture all the way southward to Central America. His capture by the British and subsequent execution by the Honduran authorities were painted as martyrdom, and cause to disdain the British Empire (and by proxy, the potential security risk in the form of a non-occupied Canada).



Before America could utilize increasing public support for a campaign in Central America, however, President Roosevelt had to clean house. He started by ending the war with Germany, promising free trade and granting them a “gift” to keep them out of America’s business. This was partially motivated by Germany’s continued interference in the finances of South America; Roosevelt wished to stave off potential German military action by helping pay off the debts of Latin American nations. To strengthen the post-war economy, Roosevelt also signed lucrative trade agreements, greatly cutting tariffs between the two industrial giants. Britain was left anxious at the prospect of a German-American alliance that could very well threaten its naval position, but Roosevelt reassured the British that America had no interest in Europe’s affairs.

With the nation at peace, Roosevelt and Congress authorized huge grants of funding to the Mexican colonies, rebuilding what little damage the war had caused and also paving the way for the regeneration of cities. Tens of thousands of Mexicans found jobs building and maintaining theaters, railroad terminals, harbors, and other structures. With an influx of American tourism and goods, for many Mexicans the quality of life actually started to rise above what it had been even in the best years of Diaz’ rule.

In the last weeks of December 1900, Roosevelt finally was able to secure a bill that created a more structured intelligence agency for use against other powers. The atmosphere of paranoia gave way to the Central Intelligence Agency, a massive expansion of federal power that was to be used to know when and where to strike, and what would defend any possible point of attack. Though justified on the basis of infiltrating British Canada, the CIA’s first missions were actually in the Central American Republics.



The Central American Alliance consisted of 5 nations – Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica – but was dominated by Guatemala and Honduras. There had always been shifting periods of cooperation and hostility between the Central American Republicans, but the sheer speed at which the Americans had overrun Mexico had convinced them to sign a formal multilateral defense alliance. They constructed miles of trenches and other obstacles near the mountain passes from Mexico, cutting off land trade but also the possibility of an American invasion. It thus became a matter of coastal defenses… and given the increasing reports of American naval exercises just outside Central American territorial waters, those defenses were expected to be put to the test.

Roosevelt’s Central American ambitions were not based on decades-old irredentism or blatant imperialism, however. The President had (being a former naval officer) always disliked how long it took for the United States navy to go between coasts, never mind the inherent dangers of sending fleets around South America; besides possible political turmoil (the usual political instability was now tinged with increasing anti-American sentiment after the fall of Mexico) in the region, all it would take was a shift in the Antarctic ice to damage or even destroy millions of dollars of military hardware. Control of Central America would solve both problems: a canal could be built, either through Nicaragua or Panama, which would not only be safely under American control, but more than halve the journey between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Central American independence was not considered as part of this plan… after all, any people could only benefit from United States rule.

March 5, 1901, just a day after his re-inauguration, President Roosevelt gave the order to deliver a declaration of war to the Central American Alliance. He had skilfully inflamed the passions of the locals by repeatedly starting disputes over the Honduras-Mexico border, and this did a great deal to convince the American people of the need to destroy the alliance, the canal notwithstanding.

Guetamala City narrowly avoided capture mere days after war was declared, with a Marine charge significantly weakening its defenses. Support troops were landed outside the city, however, and it became apparent that all of Central America was being overrun by American soldiers.



Roosevelt’s intelligence was more concerned with other issues, however…

While it was typical British fare to violate the northern border, the British had landed a massive force in southern California with enough mobility to seize the entire Southwest. Units were rushed to the area immediately to bolster defenses, and the President asked Britain vacate immediately. Britain declared war in response, their hamfisted attempt at a sneak attack discovered.

America now had the initiative, however, and slaughtered thousands of British soldiers in battles from California to Maine. In total, the British lost 9 Cavalry and 2 Infantry divisions to America’s 1 Cavalry. The United States Navy continued the counteroffensive, sinking 7 British cruisers and several Transports.

While some advisors suggested once more pushing the nation into a wartime economy, President Roosevelt rebuked the idea, stating that America would be more than capable of handling Britain, given the Central American campaign was all but over, and there was still much-needed civilian infrastructure to be built nationwide. Thus, despite war with the world’s foremost power, the United States did not bother militarizing its economy as it had done with the war against Mexico… many Britons ended up taking offense to this for obvious reasons.



That offense took the form of a massive British invasion:



12 British Cavalry landed in California, and a mixed force of 10 Cavalry and Infantry divisions crossed into Washington. The British sank the small Great Lakes flotilla, but the government had been considering scrapping such worthless vessels anyway. To finalize their offensive, the British deployed two Cavalry forces to raid the Midwestern territories, hoping to disrupt communications between the Eastern and Western defense efforts.

Off the Pacific Coast, the US Navy was given orders to sink as many British cruisers as possible. The resulting naval attacks off California sank 3 British Cruisers with 1 American Cruiser lost.

The second Battle of Pendleton saw the British lose 12 Cavalry divisions with no American losses. With no progress made and British casualties in the tens of thousands, the British public increasingly pondered whether the war was worth it. The only reason protests did not become widespread was most of the lives being thrown away were from India and the Pacific colonies.



The two front war soon drew to a conclusion, however, as Guatemala City was taken with few costs to the US Army, but enormous losses to the local population, who had been thoroughly bombarded by battleships off the coast.



Two weeks later, overcoming stiff resistance (composed of 9 military divisions) with 1 Infantry division lost, America seized Tegucigalpa. With Guetamala and Nicaragua both defeated, the remaining three Republics surrendered. All five Central American Republics were allowed to retain their identity (so as to counter propaganda about American intentions to place them under Mexican administration) but were crafted into a semi-autonomous colony much like Mexico.

The Colombians used the instability in Central America to claim land all the way up to San Jose in Costa Rica, but the USA did not recognize this claim. America let the territorial dispute seemingly simmer, allowing a gentleman’s disagreement on the matter with Colombia, but this was mostly to avoid inciting a war with Colombia. While some American troops stayed behind to provide security in the new Central American colonies, most moved northward into British Honduras.
 
==Chapter III: The Third War of Independence==

Spoiler :
Having fought the British in the Revolutionary War and again in 1812, America once more found itself at odds with its former colonial caretaker. With the Central American Republicans defeated, only Britain itself remained to challenge America dominance of the North American continent.



Canada was only nominally under British jurisdiction. The British Empire enjoyed theoretical power to negate Canadian legislation, but like the Empire’s monarch, these powers remained purely ceremonial. Canada operated as a de facto independent state (as was the case with the rest of the Dominions), but nonetheless followed British foreign policy initiatives. Canada paid lip service to the idea of being a British colony, but it was quite clear this was more a matter of pride than anything resembling reality.

Unfortunately, the Dominion of Canada had blindly followed the British in their war on the United States. And just as Indians and Australians had been butchered in the fields of Southern California, the time had come for their own blood payment.

The US Army first effortlessly sliced through the Royal Mounted regiments that had been marauding across the Midwest, bringing peace to the area once again. Then, American forces turned westward, obliterating 6 Canadian divisions. A skirmish into Canada proper resulted in the defeat of 3 more Canadian units. While a large amount of Canadian Infantry looked poised to cross into Michigan, the verdict was clear: the American War was harming Britain a lot more than the USA.

The land campaign having once again inflicted massive losses upon the British, a second wave of naval battles took place, with artillery shredding three British cruisers off California and Battleships destroying two British transport armadas off the eastern seaboard, almost certainly preempting an amphibious invasion.

In April, the Benelux Pact asked for a “donation” from the United States, and was told off immediately. President Roosevelt showed that even while at war with the world’s greatest empire, the country was no longer afraid of overseas enemies.

Roosevelt’s determination proved right when the British boldly attacked Detroit, losing one of their finest Cavalry units as a result of their hubris. Giving a speech to the people of the city a week later, President Roosevelt announced that the government intended to expand at Britain and Canada’s expense. “Our mission has never been more clear. If Britain is our mother country, she has clearly tried to smother us thrice. However, she has also grown old, and as good children, it is our duty to relieve her of the hard labor of governing such a vast empire.”



True to his word, Roosevelt ordered an attack on Honduras mere days after his speech. The US Army strolled in virtually unopposed after the Navy had done its work in reducing the defenses. With the British driven from their tiny Central American possession, the veterans of the Central American Campaign were divided into two forces as they boarded transports: half headed for Jamaica, half for Cancun, where they would continue to travel northward for a Canadian Campaign.

As if to illustrate he had no intention of handing the territory back, Roosevelt immediately had the free nation of Belize crafted out of British Honduras and placed under the administration of the Central American colony. London was outraged, but their protests fell on deaf ears; to Roosevelt, too many Americans had died in the despicable treachery of Britain’s invasion for the USA to leave the war empty-handed.

With there being no attempts at invasion this time around, the War Department concluded that the time was right to finally go on the offensive on the home front as well as in the Caribbean. The Secretaries of War and Navy agreed wholeheartedly on the first target: Vancouver. The city was Canada’s only major seaport on the Pacific, and eliminating it would allow the busy sea route between Alaska and the West Coast to remain secure. It would also remove a somewhat important part of the British communications network, as they sometimes landed Pacific forces in Vancouver before shuttling them off to eastern Canada, where they could then be sent to the various Atlantic positions of the Empire.

The Vancouver offensive was a smashing success. America killed or captured 8 Canadian units while losing one brave Cavalry divisions. The emergence of brilliant officers resulted in Roosevelt reassigning them all to an elite Infantry force that would be tasked with the next objective: Calgary.



The Calgary Offensive saw the American army go against a new weapon: the machine gun. The lackluster performance by the British Maxim was used as propaganda tool to promote the superiority of the American Colt machinegun, which stood as a contrast to the widespread use of Maxim guns around the world. Propaganda glossed over the fact the British machinegunners were simply overwhelmed by artillery fire, and if not for the artillery, the offensive would have been considerably bloodier. That was not the case, however, and America defeated 5 Canadian units at the loss of a Cavalry division.

Having seized cities with incredible industrial potential, Roosevelt was more or less content with his acquisitions in the West, though he intended to take Winnipeg if the British would not see reason. Beyond Jamaica, Roosevelt’s only remaining territorial ambitions were the cities of Toronto and Ottawa; if taken, the Canadian Confederation would be disunited and enormously weakened.

Come May, the lack of any real British retaliation confirmed the government’s suspicions: Britain was now on the defensive. Britain had convinced the Dominions of their war on the basis of American aggression inevitably leading to an occupation of Canada and the Caribbean, stating a preemptive strike was the only option. Said strike, however, had only created a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Imperial soldiers died in numbers several times that of the American and one city after another began to fall.



The island of Jamaica fell in three days, the Kingston garrison’s 7 divisions, several of them conscripts, all readily disposed of. President Roosevelt’s advisors played with the idea of pushing eastward to occupy British Guyana and the rest of the British Caribbean, but the President said he was not interested in a protracted war with the United Kingdom. Giving the order (after Britain had refused to see any envoys) to assault Toronto, Winnipeg, and Ottawa, he hoped for a rapid defeat of the Imperial foe so his real goal – Panama – might be realized before the year was over.

At the same time, US forces descended on Winnipeg, crushing 6 Canadian divisions and seizing a vast chunk of the Canadian countryside for the United States.



The taking of Winnipeg was a strategic boon to the American position. For one, it cut Canada into three parts, as the northern territories and the settlements of Hudson Bay’s only connection to Ontario was major thoroughfares that ran through Winnipeg. While the British would theoretically be able to build a new route that went from Ontario up to Hudson Bay and then went north of American-occupied territory all the way to Yukon, it was estimated that would take at least two years, and would require the Americans not be ready to pick off labor gangs on top of it. For the time being, Canada would remain dependent on American goodwill to remain economically integrated once the war was over.

Another benefit of Winnipeg was it gave a more defensible frontier to America’s Canadian territories. Only the fastest of Canada’s forces could hope to hit Winnipeg in a surprise assault, while America would have a hard time progressing further into the forests towards Thunder Bay. Ultimately, the eastern Winnipeg frontier made for a border that more or less kept each side away from each other.

With the Western front having reached an extent that limited further rapid assaults, the President ordered that the focus shift towards Ontario, Canada’s political and economic center. If seized, the Confederation would never be able to threaten the United States again.

After wiping the floor with two Canadian units that were harassing the northeastern border, a full-scale assault was launched against Ottawa. When it became apparent artillery was not sufficient enough to prevent massive casualties, the President instead ordered that troops remain outside the city. “Unlike our Canadian foes, I do not believe in sending brave men to the abattoir,” the President mentioned in his report to Congress to much applause.



Come June, Ottawa was finally the target of a formal assault, with 9 Canadian and 1 American units lost. Ottawa’s conquest put the capital of the Dominion in America’s hands, while the march of American soldiers to the shores of Hudson Bay meant that eastern and Western Canada were now permanently separated.

With the demise of two more Canadian Mountie divisions to the east of Winnipeg, it became apparent that Britain’s supply of manpower had dried up. Tens of thousands of ablebodied men were either dead, captured or permanently debilitated by the war, and there was mounting pressure in Canada for peace with the United States. While the President did dispatch diplomats to the British, who finally agreed to meet with them, he did not pursue peace just yet; he desired Toronto to ensure that America’s newfound borders would be more defendable.

Late June, the British counterattack on Ottawa was a disaster, with the entire British force wiped out against the power of America’s machine guns. With the British Empire being distracted by one defeat after another, the German Empire declared war on France, now fighting a two-front war with the French and Russians.

The assault on Toronto began with the destruction of its 3 City Guard divisions with the loss of one US Infantry. City Guards being some of the most elite and well-supplied of soldiers, this was a huge achievement for the campaign. Forces moved on to wipe out 2 Machinegunners with no losses, cutting down the most capable of the Canadian defenses. Cavalry charges were called in once the hardiest defenses were gone, crushing 7 Canadian Infantry and capturing the city.

After wiping out several straggler divisions around Canada, the United States government decided it was time for peace so as to consolidate its new possessions. Canada had been split into four regions by geography and infrastructure, and it would need to remain in America’s good graces for some time if it wished to have anything resembling a coherent nation. The Canadian and British delegates were summoned to Washington, D.C. to discuss peace, with all the Commonwealth in attendance.



Roosevelt, as always, did not beat around the bush, but was straight to the point: Britain and its Empire would suffer greatly for their aggression. Britain would be forced to acknowledge the transfer of Jamaica and Belize to the United States, while Canada would not only cede all occupied territory, but eliminate tariffs on American goods. Noting a vocal, if weak, secession movement in the province, Quebec was to be granted independence from Canada. Quebec, like Canada, would be granted Dominion status within the British Empire. The purpose of the secession, of course, was to weaken the integrity of the Canadian Confederation more, while also intensifying the resentment between the Anglophone and Francophone communities in Canada. To weaken Canada even further, all Canadians in the occupied zones were given an option: they could embrace U.S. citizenship (and in turn, forsake their Canadian) and remain, or they could remain Canadian citizens, but they would have to leave for Free Canada within two years. Given the prospect of leaving well-established towns for those that were either rural or predominantly Francophone, many Canadians chose the first option, just as Mexican citizens had during the first Mexican-American War.

With peace declared, celebrations broke out at America having avoided the humiliating stalemate of the War of 1812, and the immense foreign assistance of the Revolutionary War. America had, for the first time in its history, defeated Britain clearly and decisively without any help from other powers. Canada was shattered: its most productive cities were in American hands, its best universities would now produce skilled labor for the United States, and its army was in tatters. America was by far the dominant power of North America.

Before the ink on the peace accords had even dried, the government was hard at work reconsolidating the new Canadian territories. Provincial borders were to be preserved, and each of the provinces granted statehood within five years. As the Canadian population was predominantly English-speaking, white, and Protestant, the American public was very warm to the idea of welcoming them into the Union, feeling that Canada was a sibling that had been kept apart by an overbearing British mother.

Ever the ambitious sort, however, Roosevelt would not rest just yet. Sending out coded telegraph messages across the nation, he instructed his fleets and his soldiers to prepare for another war, this time with Colombia.
 
==Chapter IV: The Colombian War==

Spoiler :
In August, the German Alliance made peace with Russia, with Russia not losing any territory, but Germany assumed a suzerain status over Austria-Hungary, gaining effective control over the eastern portions of Hungary for “defense purposes” after having reclaimed them from Russian occupation. With the Russian front closed, the German forces could all turn westward to hopefully reclaim Strasbourg from the French.



October 13, 1901, the United States declared war on Colombia in support of the Panamanians, who were struggling to break free of the Colombian government. Venezuela and Ecuador, close allies of Colombia, retaliated by declaring war on America. However, their words could do little to prevent the slaughter that ensued on the isthmus, with the bulk of Panama City’s defenses gutted and a large invasion force soon landing outside the city gates. Protected by the hills and armed with the finest American hardware, the government was confident it could hold out against any counterattacks before it took the isthmus.



November saw the fall of Panama. While Colombian guerillas took up positions in the nearby mountains, troops were soon bunkered down and ready to face any troops coming from South America. A crude canal had been built by the Colombian government through Panama, which was readily exploited; Roosevelt arranged for huge quantities of funding to be sent to the city to enlarge and better equip the Canal. America now had the huge naval boon it had always wanted; the Atlantic and Pacific fleets could now freely intermingle, paving the way for American dominance of Latin America’s coastline.

When the Colombian Alliance refused a peace treaty, Roosevelt gave the order to take Caracas and Ciudad Bolivar. There was no point, after all, in letting the fleet’s immense power go to waste. Land artillery were ferried in from further north to assist in the push towards Ciudad Bolivar.

December, the Colombian government’s incompetence was reflected when they sent four units across the isthmus on an overland journey to the Central American colonies; they were torn to pieces by offshore bombardment and picked off by the local forces.

During the holidays, just two months after hostilities had broken out, the Colombians approached America for a peace treaty, seeing where the wind was blowing. Roosevelt rejected the treaty, however. Though his goal of Panama was satisfied, he reasoned that with so many troops and hardware deployed in the area, the United States may as well exploit the situation and seize more territory, in particular the valuable diamond deposits in Colombia.



The Colombians responded with a second incursion, smaller than the first. The three divisions sent were all picked off with minimal difficulty.
A week later, Ciudad Bolivar was captured, only having had three divisions to protect it. Marines were dispatched to take Caracas.



January concluded with the fall of Caracas (a battle that claimed the lives of thousands of Venezuelans but practically no Americans), putting all of Venezuela under American occupation. The US government sent an envoy to the Colombian and Ecuadorian governments.



The Treaty of Panama ended the three-month long Colombian War. Venezuela was briefly annexed, only to be reconstructed as the Orinoco Republic, with lands ceded by Colombia. This was to circumvent the Venezuelan constitution – if there was no Venezuela, there was no constitution to worry about. The Orinoco Constitution was modeled on that of the United States barring a political system that was more favorable to proportional representation (the US having concluded that Presidential republics with PR were more susceptible to dictatorship and thus would be easier to control), and provided for the legal intervention of the United States in the affairs of the region.

Colombia’s wounds continued to grow when Panama was severed from it in addition to the northern third of its territory. Panama became a colonial republic much like the other Central American states, placed on the path towards statehood. The area around the Panama Canal, meanwhile, became federal property.

As a final blow to the Alliance, there was a massive indemnity of 600 million dollars, half to be paid immediately and half to be paid over the next two years. Unsurprisingly, Ecuador’s economy soon collapsed, allowing Colombia to coerce them into accepting a treaty that formally unified the two countries on the basis of defense and economic cooperation.
 
==Chapter V: War On All Fronts==

Spoiler :


The World’s Fair was hosted at San Francisco in 1902, America making full use of its military, economic and diplomatic prominence to begin a program of civilian projects. Silent Film Theaters were popping up in most major cities, while federal grants to Central America were incredibly high. Roosevelt’s extensive spending was aided by the passage of the Income Tax Amendment to the US Constitution, which eliminated any opposition from the Courts on the matter of income taxes. With this massive influx of tax revenue, the Federal Government was able to continually invest in infrastructure projects in the colonial territories, turning Mexico and Central America gradually into economic powerhouses.



Not having learned their lesson after seeing Britain’s humiliation, France decided to try its own luck with the USA in March. The French were not really able to project power against the Americas, but the President did warn units to be on guard against French Guiana. The French couldn’t have chosen a worse time to declare war on the USA: the new South Carolina class battleships had just entered production.

The Franco-American War was not really much of an active conflict, and the American public didn’t even pay it much mind. In fact, when the war declaration was first made, it didn’t even make front page news on a lot of newspapers. Hoping for some sort of victory, however, President Roosevelt ordered the Hawaiian and Panamanian fleets to embark towards Indochina and Guiana, respectively. He hoped to shell the French territories to pieces, as well as remove the French from America once and for all.



Americans’ pioneering of genetics research would prove enormously valuable, but it did have a drawback: it was increasingly used to justify discrimination against various segments of the population and even to justify forced sterilization.



Meanwhile, Roosevelt decided the time had come to execute a secret treaty he had inked with Spain. The Spanish had long controlled Cuba, but in recent decades, it had become more problematic, with no less than three armed conflicts between the locals and the state. The Spanish government, encouraged by American non-interference, had brutally suppressed most rebels prior to the turn of the century, making martyrs of rebel leaders such as Calixto Garcia. The core of the rebellion, however, had survived and bunkered down (some theorized, with American weapons covertly supplied while the federal government was supposedly too busy fighting other powers), on the northeastern quarter of the island. President Roosevelt, “deeply troubled” by the continued bloodshed, offered to bring peace to the island by crushing the resistance, showing the great skill and speed at which American troops could move. In exchange, America would be given special concessions in Cuba and especially in the rebel stronghold of Nuevitas, including but not limited to using it as a military base and coaling station. The Spanish government, understanding the conflict wouldn’t abate without foreign intervention for or against them at this point, yielded.

A massive naval confrontation between 10 French Cruisers and 4 Destroyers on one side and 6 American Battleships and 8 Destroyers on the other became one of the largest in the war. The Battle of Midway on May 2nd lasted into the morning of the next day, the Sun rising over a scene of carnage. The result of the battle had been all American vessels staying afloat, albeit some with damage, whereas the French had lost all but 4 of their fleet. While reinforcements were coming from Indochina, the French Navy had been humbled, and with more American ships sailing westward, it was apparent that the Pacific belonged to the USA.



The American economy roared even as battles raged in the Pacific, with America taking its place as one of the foremost cotton-producing nations, while its passenger ships rivalled those of the European powers in luxury, speed, size, and price. All the while, the American film industry became the world’s most dominant and widespread, centered on Hollywood and Chicago.

Cuba and the Caribbean, once meant to be the primary objective of the USA, had become secondary due to French interference. However, Roosevelt knew the US Army and Navy were more than up to the task of continuing to expand the country’s influence in the Sea even while the French proved a nuisance in the Pacific.



Armed with chlorine gas, as well as the support of one of the world’s strongest fleets, the US military destroyed the rebellion in six days. The US Army slaughtered no less than 27 Cuban divisions. With death tolls in the tens of thousands on the Cuban side and only two hundred on the American, the Cuban resistance lost its steam. America would thereafter maintain a military presence in Cuba, and the Spanish government was reported by agents to be noticeably nervous after seeing how ruthlessly and rapidly the US had dealt with what they couldn’t defeat for thirty years.

The second battle of Midway on June 23rd was an enormous victory for the USA, with all remaining French vessels sunk for a total of seven. France had been beaten in the Pacific, at least for the time being, and the Navy retreated to its base on Midway for repairs.

Mid-July, the French and Germans finally ceased hostilities. Germany was humiliated, having to cede Cameroon, half of German East Africa and German Southwest Africa, Alsace-Lorraine, and finally they had to accept the independence of Hungary, a puppet republic set up by the French around Budapest.



Not having learned their lesson the first time, the Russians declared war upon being refused tribute in September. The Pacific fleet was ordered to ignore France and head for Russia; the President also began putting together plans for an invasion of the Russian coastline…



The fall of Cayenne marked the end of the French presence in South America. The military debated following up the victory with an invasion of West Africa… but Roosevelt stated he wanted to keep all Atlantic forces close to the Caribbean for “strategic reasons,” meaning invasions of Cuba and Hispaniola. He also desired to end the war with France so that the full might of the American army could be deployed against the Russian Far East. It was expected any counterattack would be enormously powerful, and so every single man that could be spared would be thrown against the Russian Pacific. America would not be content to just have peace with Russia this time around.

When it became apparent the Russian Navy would be a nuisance, President Roosevelt made use of a last resort: an anti-Russian Alliance. Though Japan and the USA were both rivals, both stood to gain from a weaker Russia in Asia. The President hoped that the Japanese and Russian forces would soften each other up prior to a landing by American forces. To further distract the Russian forces, he convinced the German Alliance, humiliated by France, to join its war against Russia. That Roosevelt left the French out of his list of targets sent a message to Paris: America did not want to prolong the war, and so had avoided committing to war with France. Joined by the Balkan Alliance, Scandinavian Alliance, and Ottoman Empire, America had successfully pulled Russia into a war on all its borders.



The Battle of the Bahamas ended the Franco-American War, with three French vessels sunk. It accompanied an earlier victory that saw four of France’s divisions killed in the trenches near Nuevitas.



Its attempted invasion of American territory foiled, the USA and France made peace. In a war that began over tribute, it was America who ended up as the recipient of such, demanding a moderate indemnity from France while also formally annexing French Guiana as part of the Treaty of Paris. In a separate meeting, the French would be convinced to join the anti-Russian Alliance after President Roosevelt mentioned how much territory would likely be shifting into German hands.

With his alliance constructed and fleets making their way westward, President Roosevelt was confident that at the end of the day, the Russian Empire would have disintegrated.
 
==Chapter VI: The Chill of War==

Spoiler :


Analysts were able to document how the Russian Empire had been in gradual decline. It had once been the second-strongest nation thanks to its vast manpower reserves and virtual impossibility to conquer, combined with a large supply of resources that remained untapped solely because of the incompetence of its government. However, based on economic performance, military size, and other factors, Russia was 25% weaker than it had been in 1895. It was postulated that Russia had exhausted itself with its war against Germany and Austria; it may have taken portions of Hungary, but it had clearly done so at an enormous cost to its Army. The Kriegsmarine in all likelihood had also taken its toll on the Russian Imperial fleet, leaving Russia’s western coastal territories extremely vulnerable. And now, courtesy of “that damned cowboy” President Roosevelt, Russia had all the strongest militaries in Europe pushing against its western flank.

December 10th, a lone Cruiser was able to withstand the attacks of two Russian battleships and one Russian cruiser, sinking all three before going to the bottom itself. Some of the sailors were rescued by the nearby fleet, but most perished in the cold waters. President Roosevelt posthumously awarded all sailors above the ship for their bravery and skill. The President stated, in fact, that the battle was crucial in ensuring an American victory, for it left many Russian warships scattered (and thus, easy for the organized US navy to pick off) after the failed hit and run.

The American counterattack destroyed 2 Russian Battleships and 2 Russian cruisers on December 15th. While some Russian ships had been seen heading southward, it was decided the Japanese would have to deal with those.

New Years’ 1903 brought fantastic news from both home and abroad.



In Panama, American engineering had managed to complete a paved road that connected North and South America. It was possible for Americans and their allies to travel from Vancouver to Caracas without ever having left a road. The labor had just begun, however; soon laborers were being tasked with building a railway to connect Central America to Colombia. The strategic value of the new Trans-American Highway was naturally enormous: forces could easily deploy anywhere in the US sphere of influence without the need for naval transportation, which had been the method of transferring troops between Central America and Orinoco previously.



Overseas, despite Russia’s incredible defenses, the Ottomans had finally had their second Constantinople, managing to seize control of Georgia and Armenia. The Russian garrison at Baku bunkered down for one hell of a fight, confident that reinforcements would not be able to assist them any time soon.

April, the Pacific fleet reported that all Russian vessels had been scuttled in port. The President gave the order to keep the Russians pinned under fire until ground troops arrived; Russia would never again be allowed to maintain a Pacific presence.



On the Atlantic coastline, generous subsidies and a strong economy had paid off, with almost the entire eastern seaboard able to have advance warning of incoming attacks.

Late April, the Ottomans retook Georgia, having lost the region to Russia for two weeks. It was apparent that the Russian military’s resolve was faltering, and analysts reported that Russia’s overall standing had fallen by 8% in just the first few months of the war. This was despite having occupied northern Sweden.

With the world’s attention on Russia, President Roosevelt and Congress quietly authorized a war against the Dominicans and Haitians, on the basis of “protecting their financial systems.” A surgical strike by the Marine Corps eliminated Port-au-Prince’s most skilled defenders, but the actual battle would wait until later on.

Late May, the Marine Corps launched a full-scale assault on Port-Au-Prince, retiring no less than seven Haitian divisions from the battlefield. The massive force that had landed in the hills between the Haitian and Dominican capitals was now free to take its own turn at tearing the Haitian defense apart.



6 more Haitian divisions were defeated in battle, and the capital of Haiti was occupied. Within a few days, 60% of the entire island of Hispaniola had been seized by the American forces advancing on Santo Domingo.

The Battle of Santo Domingo, just thirteen days after Port-Au-Prince, resulted in the annihilation of 10 Dominican divisions. All of Hispaniola was now under American rule. In only little over a month, the United States had launched a successful amphibious invasion with minimal casualties. Now as the remaining occupier of any major Caribbean islands, the Spanish were increasingly anxious… and for good reason, as the War Department was already drawing up plans to attack Spain as soon as treaty obligations to them had expired. In the meantime, the Haitians and Dominicans found their nations reconstructed into the colony of Hispaniola.

June 5th, American soldiers landed outside Vladivostok. The time had come for the colonizers to become the colonized.
 
==Chapter VII: The Chill of War Part II==
Spoiler :

The First Battle of Vladivostok, from June 15th to 20th, saw the destruction of the Russian Maxim defenses as well as several auxiliary troops. However, the USA lacked the manpower to press onward.

Prior to the second battle from August 5th to 12th, the soldiers found their spirits lifted by news from the Western Front: the Scandinavian Alliance had ejected Russia from Sweden, while Austria-Hungary had seized Warsaw. With the Ottomans still controlling Tbilisi, it was rapidly apparent that the Imperial Army was crumbling.



The second battle came with the demise of 3 Russian Infantry units and 3 Conscripts.

The fall of Vladivostok absolutely destroyed the morale of the Russian public, as the city was one of its most important seaports and symbolic to many of Russia’s completed march to the Pacific. Many clamored for a campaign to retake the city, but any troops that could be spared would be few, as the country was at war on all sides. Germans attacked from the west, Turks and Balkan forces from the south, Scandinavians and British from the north, and now, the United States and Japan were pressing in on the east. The bulk of Russia’s Cossack forces, once the pride of its Army for their speed and skill, were either dead or on strictly defensive duties. Russia would not be counterattacking any time soon.

Shortly after the stunning American victory in Russia, the President met with the Spanish Foreign Minister and discussed topics. With a country that was suffering financial woes, the Spanish Minister pondered if America would be open to an alliance against the Russians… for a small fee, of course. President Roosevelt stated that there was no need for further alliances against the Russians… he also stated that the trade agreement the two countries had made a year and a half ago was no longer was lucrative, and so would be cancelled. The Spanish Minister naturally protested, but was sent on his way by the President.

Shortly upon arriving back in the United States a week later, the President gave the message for all naval vessels around Cuba and Puerto Rico to approach the shoreline. The time had come to make the Caribbean’s riches America’s.



August 20th, the Battle of Santiago rang out in the wake of America’s declaration of war. Spain lost 9 divisions in the span of nine hours, and the US Army overran the eastern half of Cuba.



Puerto Rico fell in even less time, the seven divisions guarding San Juan being easy prey to the USMC. With Spanish ships across the ocean and the rest of the Spanish Caribbean occupied, Havana stood alone in the face of an advancing American horde.

President Roosevelt, anticipating a Spanish attack from the Philippines, ordered naval vessels to move southward now that it was apparent Russia’s naval reserves had been exhausted.

September, news arrived that the Germans had broken through the Russian lines and pushed all the way to Minsk. President Roosevelt’s alliance was working splendidly – the global balance of power remained intact, and Russia was finally paying the price for its continued harassment of the United States.



Spain soon suffered the loss of Cuba, with more than 7 Spanish divisions being defeated. Two of the United States’ proud Corps were formed in the aftermath of the Cuban Campaign, and despite how short it had been, Cuba became one of Roosevelt’s crowning achievements for the low loss of life and enormous amount of wealth and troop experience gained.

With the US Navy sailing towards Iberia and the Philippines to head off any Spanish counteroffensives, Roosevelt was pleased to be informed that all American troops sent across the Pacific had finally disembarked at Vladivostok. With tens of thousands of US Troops running around the Russian Far East, it was apparent to the Russian people that they were never going to get their lost territory back from the Americans. Not content to stop at just Russia proper, however, the US government gave the order for soldiers to move into Russian Manchuria; America’s time for a sphere of influence in China had come.



It wasn’t costumes that sent Americans into a scare around October, but the fact the Germans and Austrians deserted the alliance. While many citizens felt betrayed the world over, it didn’t make much of a difference – Russian had exhausted its resources and was still at war on several fronts. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk granted the German Empire ownership of more of the Baltic Coast and a large sphere of influence in and around Belarus, while Austria-Hungary was given de facto rule over Poland.

October 13th, the US Army assaulted Mukden. With a fair amount of artillery having been brought across the Pacific, the Russian Maxims were not as much of an obstacle once they’d been thoroughly pounded by field guns. The 2 Russian Maxims were torn apart as if they were made of paper when the American Army Corps pressed forward, while 3 bands of young conscripts were either cut down in droves or surrendered outright. The fight fell to the elite City Guard, who didn’t stand much of a chance against America’s own elite Cavalry divisions. Eventually the poor Cossacks who had been sent to the east on the basis of “reclaiming Vladivostok for the glory of the motherland” found themselves cut down as they mounted a pitiful defense.



With the American flag raised above Mukden’s government facilities, troops were dispatched southwards to rain fire on Port Arthur. Driving the Russians from their last major Pacific port would be a huge victory, and more or less eliminate them as a threat in the Pacific.



World politics grew interesting days before Halloween, with the Tibetans declaring war on the British Empire. With hypernationalist monks having taken over the Tibetan regime, they rallied the Tibetan people with promises of restoring the Tibetan Empire’s territories in both India and China.

The British took Sakhalin on November 2nd, having deployed thousands of Cavalry to the island which quickly overwhelmed the Russian military with their sheer numbers. The fall of Sakhalin to the British disappointed President Roosevelt, but he was at least content at the fair amount of units the Empire had lost in the process.



Intercepting a Spanish fleet of 8 Cruisers, the US Navy earned thunderous applause from the American people for having saved Boston from a “nefarious invasion,” at least according to the press. The Spanish had no amphibious assault forces with them.

Port Arthur turned out to be heavily-defended even after artillery had slammed it with countless rounds of ammunition, taking the lives of an American Infantry division. Russian losses were far higher, however: 12 divisions were lost in total, over half of them Maxim machinegunners.

With Port Arthur’s capture, the Russian Navy was considered more or less eliminated. While the Russian Empire retained four sizable coastal towns, they could not compare to Vladivostok or Port Arthur in their economic potential.

The military’s top brass were divided on what they advised the President to do. The Army generally favored a push towards Chita Oblast and eventually press America’s occupation zone to the shores of Lake Baikal, providing for adequate buffer between Russian forces and Manchuria (while also cutting the Navy out of the action, by coincidence). The Navy favored a push up the Pacific Coast to completely neuter the Russian ability to exploit the Pacific, thus securing the region in perpetuity (while also cutting the Army out of the action, by coincidence). President Roosevelt deliberated…
 
==Chapter VII: The Chill of War Part III==

Spoiler :


The Treaty of Madrid was signed on November 28th, 1903, ending the Spanish-American War. American vessels no longer hammered Guam, but ships remained in the vicinity of the Philippines and a large fleet was still bound towards Europe and Africa; Roosevelt desired a US naval presence on the opposite ends of both the Atlantic and Pacific. Spain agreed to pay a small indemnity, while also ceding Cuba and Puerto Rico to the United States. Cuba and Puerto Rico were soon granted semi-autonomous status, as had become the norm for most conquered territories.

Britain’s own Treaty of London followed days later on December 1st, ending Anglo-Russian hostilities and ceding the southern half of Sakhalin to Britain in perpetuity. Russia no longer had Britain’s naval power to worry about, but its small fleet of ships (only 2 Torpedo Boats remained in service, presumed to be in the Caspian) was still outmatched against the Balkan, Scandinavian, Ottoman, Japanese, and American forces.



Just in time for Christmas, the North American Railway was completed. It was now possible to go from Panama all the way to Canada without going off the railroad network. As a propaganda move, however, the railroad was called the “Trans-American” due to connecting Orinoco with the vast American empire. While the railway did extend down to Ecuador, that was the limit of the “Trans-American” nature of it.

The Ottoman Empire ended its conflict with Russia with the Treaty of Constantinople on January 12th, 1904. The Treaty recognized the Ottoman acquisition of Georgia, Armenia, Chechnya, Ossetia, and south Dagestan, while also providing for some Turkish economic privileges in Azerbaijan (in exchange for lack of Ottoman interference in overland transit between the area and the rest of Russia). Russians now breathed a sigh of relief, as the last major enemy on their western flank had been eliminated. French forces could still attack Russia, but came in far less numbers than the Germans, Austrians, or Turks could manage. The war seemed to finally be winding down.




The Japanese having come dangerously close to taking Chabarovsk, President Roosevelt dispatched the USMC to seize the city. With a natural buffer against the north, the President next ordered the Army to garrison Manchuria for a few extra weeks (so as to repair and replace damaged equipment as well as heal any injured) before pressing out on a long campaign towards Lake Baikal. America was due to remain in the war for at least six more months, and the President wanted to be sure the USA could take as much as possible; a large army would begin the slow journey overland to the city of Chita, while the Navy and Marine Corps would work together to take over the Russian coastline with an assault on Nicolajevsk.

February brought news of a successful French-led offensive against Odessa. The Russian Black Sea fleet ceased to exist with the fall of the city.

Russia tried to stop the advance of the Chita Campaign with a single Infantry division, but they were easily defeated. The real hindrance came from the Japanese, who blocked the only roadways into Russian territory, thus slowing the American ability to deploy artillery. As a consolation, however, the Dutch declared war on Russia on February 18th, escalating the Western Front once more. The Brazilians also declared war on February 20th. The global consensus was that Russia was a villainous empire that needed to be stripped of its power.

Unless of course, one was Italian. Seeing the chance to reclaim Corsica and Savoy, the Italians declared war on France on March 1st. Britain was soon persuaded by the French to join their side, declaring war on Italy in the hopes of expanding their East African holdings. With the war in Italy, many feared that France’s newfound gain in Astrakhan (a local rebellion having succeeded with French support) might be compromised.



Tearing through five Russian divisions, Nicolajevsk was captured with minimal American casualties thanks to cooperation between the Army and Navy. As the northernmost major settlement along the Russian Pacific Railway, it was decided that no further campaigns would be made against Russia along the Pacific Ocean; the cities were too poor and undeveloped to be worth the effort. Military planners did exploit a loophole, however; they merely could not occupy the cities. Roosevelt’s orders said nothing about torching them with naval bombardment.



Disposing of 4 Russian divisions, the US Army occupied Chita, and the American occupation zone stretched all the way inland to Lake Baikal. As the roads rapidly deteriorated in quality beyond the city, the Army was likewise halted advancing any further West. As laborers were recruited from Alaska to help develop the new Russian territories, the US Army’s campaign was declared concluded, with all units now tasked with defending the new frontier and holding out until a peace accord could be signed.

While scouts reported an incoming Russian Cossack force, the American military was not worried: Chita was easily one of the most defensible cities in the world, with rough terrain consisting of forests, mountains and hills on both sides. It had been hell for the US Army to reach Chita from the east, and would be even harder for Russia to reach it from the West. Chita Oblast was a natural frontier, and it was only natural many soldiers felt the President made the right choice declaring it the westernmost extent of American conquests.



June 1st, hostilities with Russia finally drew to a close. The Russian Empire was forced into near-bankruptcy, all tax money it had on hand granted to the USA and 3% of its revenues promised to the US government for 20 months.



The Treaty of Vladivostok, inked on May 27th and effective on June 1st, was enormous in the harm it did Russia.

Besides the financial indemnities, Russia was forced to cede the area around Vladivostok to the United States. Its concessions in Manchuria and eastern Mongolia were turned over to the USA, a move that was ceremonially approved by the Chinese delegates who attended as observers. As a final blow, the Russians had to grant all the areas under American occupation semi-autonomous status. In theory, the area stretching from Lake Baikal to the Commonwealth of Vladivostok was under Russian sovereignity, but in practice, the USA exercised de facto control of the region.



Based on economic and military statistics, the Russian Empire had lost about 55% of its power in the span of a decade. Analysts confidently predicted that Russia could now be safely removed from the list of major threats to the United States.

But the removal of one power as a threat opened the way for another to make itself one…
 
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