Just something I have been thinking of for awhile. Except for the few tinkered events, all historical events occur as they did. Of course, its not entirely detailed to the finest point, but I think its a good overall picture of what goes on.
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PART ONE
Colonel Edward House ducked his head as he left the railroad car. He observed his Trenton surroundings, breathing a breath of fresh air - the train car, though first class, had still been stuffy.
He stood at the platform for a precious moment, eying the crowd and looking for his transportation. He had been told that he was going to be able to ride in a new automobile, and he had liked the idea; he had always been fascinated by these new machines.
The date was late in 1911. House had traveled far from his native Texas to New Jersey, but the cause was good: his ambitions led him here, for he was to speak with governor Woodrow Wilson, convince him to seek the presidential nomination, and have him elected to national office; in the process, he would achieve his own power behind the throne.
The automobile finally arrived, chugging slowly down the busy street. Lifting his bag, he walked to the street side and nodded as the driver opened the door. What an interesting ride this would be!
The automobile accelerated as it pulled into the street. The road was busy with traffic - both other automobiles and horse-drawn carts.
As they neared the Capitol, however, an automobile from the other side of the road veered uncontrollably in front of Houses vehicle. The driver attempted to avoid the collision, but in the process flipped his own car. House suffered major injuries and died on site, before medical personnel could reach him.
The death of this man would have serious ramifications in history. Woodrow Wilson, unaware of his political possibilities, or perhaps unable to launch a successful campaign without House, would be unable to seize more than a trickle of support in the coming primaries. Instead, Speaker of the House Champ Clark wins the ticket in a landslide in Baltimore in July 1912. His running mate is John Burke, governor of North Dakota.
Champ Clark was a major leader in the Democrat party. During the Taft administration, he successfully united the Democrats to oppose much of Tafts reform - he especially despised the notion of dollar diplomacy. His idea for international policies is more streamlined; he decided on a more passive approach to international politics, though he would keep a (limited) presence on the world stage. Of course, American influence in the western hemisphere would remain, much as it has since Teddy. His foreign policy would be dictated by William Jennings Bryan, his de facto Secretary of State, should he win the election.
He believed that, up to this time, the government had been mishandling its power concerning the economy. He believed in the idea that political and economic freedom needed to be obtained from the trusts, and would plan legislation accordingly. Finally, he also believed in social changes, most notably an amendment for Prohibition.
His victory in the election is guaranteed. Theodore Roosevelt, back from big game hunting in Africa, is furious at President Tafts handling of the Gifford Pinchot debacle; also, Taft assaulted the trust US Steel, further enraging the former president, who considered Taft a traitor to his policies. Swashbuckling his way into the Republican party, Teddy declared that it would be him running for president. The Old Guard was not amused at the return of the Rough Rider, and immediately the Republican Party renominated Taft. Roosevelt and his cronies stormed out of the convention to join the minuscule Progressive Party. Theyd form the Bull Moose party, destined to live for only 2 years.
Champ Clark won the election handily. He won 435 electoral votes, far surpassing Teddys 88. The splitting of the Republican party had given Clark the presidency on a golden platter.
James Beauchamp Clark was inaugurated as the 28th president of the United States on March 3rd, 1913.
Champ Clark immediately began a host of new policies concerning the economy and society. He pressed for stricter Anti-Trust reform, leading to the Clayton Anti-Trust Act; he proposed tariff adjustment, leading to the Underwood Tariff, which dropped tariff rates by almost 50%; and he pushed for an amendment to the Constitution for Prohibition. However, he was against a reform of the banking system outlined in the Federal Reserve Act, stating that it created too flexible a system for private bankers.
The civil war in Mexico drew American attention, especially as Bryan supported intervention against General Huerta, but Clark did not authorize strong military force against Mexico; rather, he simply stood for American economic and political investments in the nation, sending several US Warships to oversee evacuations and other duties. After the Tampico Affair, it is rumored that Clark apparently privately called Admiral Henry T. Mayo, responsible for the incident, a bungling fool. There would be no invasion of Mexico; there would be peace.
However, in July 1914, European affairs caught the attention of the president. The Great War between all the powers of Europe was declared, and Clark announced the United States to be completely neutral in this conflict. As the deadlock on the Western Front slowly disclosed itself, both Britain and Germany sought ways to outmaneuver the other. Britain initiated a naval blockade of German ports from the North Sea, while German wolfpacks hunted down British shipping across the Atlantic.
Both sides treated neutral American shipping without respect; Britain routinely commandeered American merchant vessels and stole the cargo, while German U-Boats ravaged trading ships.
Clark would have none of this. He and Bryan wrote messages to both nations, expressing their anger over these atrocities. Germany immediately apologized and disengaged from unrestricted submarine warfare; they agreed to sheath their weapon because they feared American intervention on the side of the Allies. The British, however, ignored American claims; the Allies could not hold out forever, and the British needed to starve the Germans out of the war.
William Randolph Hearst was flamboyantly outspoken over this issue. He routinely printed headlines bombastically defining the British as pirates and thieves, stealing American cargo and robbing American businesses. In fact, this statement was not far from the truth.
Furthermore, Clark was troubled by the bias of American businesses towards the Allies. The JP Morgan syndicate loaned over $2 billion to Great Britain alone, prompting Clark to contact Morgan about this behavior, though of course Morgan did not treat this formality with any apprehension. When Clark discovered a plot to load 5000 crates of small arms onto the passenger liner Lousitania, Clark immediately removed any contraband from the vessel and scolding those who wished to smuggle the goods to Britain. This action greatly pleased the German government, who promptly informed their U-Boat captains to spare the passenger ship.
From 1915-1917 the British continued this act of piracy. Their actions were defended, however, by American Ambassador Page, the US Minister to Britain. He was staunchly pro-Allies; he would even go as far as ignoring presidential orders criticizing Britain. Nevertheless, Clark was outraged when he discovered this behavior in 1916, and immediately had him removed from the position. There would be no games with Britain in this war.
Still, Clark believed it was necessary to remain out of the war, and his 1916 presidential campaign platform recognized this. The Republicans nominated Charles Evans Hughs as their candidate, who spoke about entering the war on the side of the Allies. Still, the public disregarded this idea almost completely, instead rallying to Clark for a second term.
The height of British atrocities was reached in the end of 1916, after the election had concluded. The British admiralty confirmed that they were redefining contraband to include almost all possible trade goods; also, they stated that any vessel, regardless of allegiance, will be searched and seized if thought appropriate (of course, an illegal notion).
The British made good on their proposal, seizing more American shipping than ever. An outraged Clark immediately contacted the British government in January 1917: disregard that statement, and let American shipping flow normally, or the American navy will be deployed to protect these merchants.
With the addition of the 1st Russian Revolution a month later, the British had little option but to annul this action. The only way Germany could be defeated, especially if Russia was knocked out of the war, was through starvation, and the French were on the verge of collapse as well, with Germany hardly stopping to breathe; yet, the British could not risk war with America.
The Germans, seizing the momentum of the British quandary, prepared peace talks with the Russians. If action on the Eastern Front ended, then German forces in the west could overrun the dwindling French reserves and storm Paris.
Unfortunately for the Allies, in the aftermath of the 2nd Russian Revolution, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, ending the conflict in the east. Germany prepared a final push into France, hoping to seize Paris and end the war. Britain, having previously given American shipping some freedom, now had their hands tied behind their backs. France desperately called out to Britain for aide - the Germans were coming, and France could not hold out much longer.
As such, in December 1917, the British informed Clark that American merchants were no longer given freedom of the seas. Germany must be starved into submission; Britain had rolled the dice, hoping for a successful conclusion to the war.
The truth is, German food supplies were running short. However, through control of the radio systems and other communications, the German government kept the civilian sector informed that all was well; the German people had higher morale than ever. The British needed to impose some sort of poverty on Germany in order to end this war.
Hearst received a copy of this note, and it became widely publicized. Calling the British privateers and bandits, the American people joined the cry: War against Britain!
With a heavy heart, Clark ordered American ships to protect the merchant marine. He did not wish for war, but he understood that he needed to protect American lives and property. Britain had routinely disregarded American authority and had instead tried to force her own will upon them; the United States must act.
In 1918 the first American military vessels set out to escort those merchant vessels. The British were in more of a quandary then ever: what is to be done now? Do we still attempt to seize American shipping? Or can we not dare risk a war to do so?
Germany telegraphed the United States in February 1918 to offer any assistance necessary to protect American vessels. Clark politely refused the offer, insisting that no formal agreement existed between the two nations.
Luckily (or unluckily!) for Britain, they need not worry about a solution to the American problem. In March 1918, reinforced with more than 1 million soldiers from the east, the Germans struck:
The British 5th Army was the first to be attacked, and the whole unit was decimated by the attack, forced back after only 2 days of battle. This offensive convinced the Allies that it was necessary to assign one general as commander-in-chief of Allied forces in the West, and French Marshall Foch was assigned this role. Desperate to hold back the German assault, he reinforced the breach with the last French reserves remaining. The line was held, and the German attack ended.
But this is just what the Germans wanted. Lundendorff ordered German forces in a new attack, targeting Allied position further inland. The attack struck home, sending French forces reeling behind the Marne. The British mobilized their reserves to move south to defend Paris.
The Germans took advantage again; along the Channel German forces struck. The British were in complete disarray; they called upon French assistance, but Foch lamented that there were no French reserves, of any reasonable strength, left. The Germans took increasingly heavy casualties, but the German High Command realized that victory was within their grasp, and the offensive continued.
Troyes was targeted next, and breakthroughs along both the eastern and western defenses overwhelmed the French; the French 6th Army retreating from the city on 17 July. The entire sector was collapsing, and Foch informed the British that he estimated that Paris could hold out for, at most, one month. (The Allies were clearly missing the 2 million American soldiers that were arriving at this time).
The end came quickly. German morale skyrocketed, even with the huge casualties they had taken. The Germans had lost almost 600,000 men, but the Allies had lost even more: nearly 1 million men were casualties by this time, and there were few replacements for those men. The Germans swarmed Allied positions, first through Flanders, then along the Marne. Paris fell on July 30, 4 years since the beginning of the war.
Or was that taken as a given?
I would think an entire shift in the ruling philosophy would have to occur. It took plenty of lessons from China, which also had little impetus for actual colonization. 
