For the first one, I meant Mexico.
And, I JUST THWARTED SOUTHRON EXPANSION ON NORTHERN MEXICO! YAY!
For the first one, I meant Mexico.
And, I JUST THWARTED SOUTHRON EXPANSION ON NORTHERN MEXICO! YAY!
Patience. It took Glen about six months to put the names I'd given into the TL. It'll happen in due course.
Another couple of good updates.
I like the take on the Malthusian 'Manifesto'. It's got some bits that twenty first century social liberals heartily approve of; yet there's other bits that are horrifying. It helps to drive home the fact that the PoD was a long time ago, and the world of the DSA in 1934 is radically different.
I hope EdT and Meadow can hold the line in the ICEwing war.
The DSA looks somewhat safer: as long as Roosevelt remains in power to the North, then that flank is secure. To the South, at the very least, the Northern Mexicans will need assistance, and the canal zone will need protected from Mexico to the North, and their allies to south. This might limit the manpower they can send off to Portugal, India and the UK.
Glen
Moderator
It is believed that anti-Malthusian activist Maggie May Thatcher was the first to propose a holiday honoring mothers, but it was Pennsylvanian Roseanne Dell who would 'give birth' to official holiday. Roseanne was part of the wealthy Dell family, founders of DFP Oil, the largest American oil company, and placed her family's financial and political connections behind the effort to make Mother's Day a reality. Very close to her own mother, she began holding memorials in her honor on her birthdate, May 8th. By 1930, many US states had recognized the holiday and it had been avidly picked up in the provinces of the Dominion. In 1933, President Martin Roosevelt proclaimed May 8th a national holiday honoring mothers, as would the Dominion of Southern America's Prime Minister Robert Perkins in the same year. Seen as a strong counter to Malthusianism, Imperial Prime Minister Edward Thomas declared that Mother's Day would be celebrated on May 8th throughout the British Empire, Maggie May Thatcher by his side, and with the first empire-wide celebration of the holiday being May 8th, 1935 - a small light of love in the darkest days of the Population War.
First of all, great couple of updates in general; my lack of commentary is largely one due to tacit approval combined with general business.
Secondly, not only did this latest update come as a nice aside for moms everywhere, but also a neat tribute to the late Mr. Perkins as well. Good stuff!
Secondly, not only did this latest update come as a nice aside for moms everywhere, but also a neat tribute to the late Mr. Perkins as well. Good stuff!
Glen
Moderator
Thank you, thank you, and thank you!
I totally get what you mean about the quiet front when things are going well in the reading and busy, but always remember I do appreciate the shout outs so I know you're there!
Glen
Moderator
With northern Mexico and the Moskito in rebellion against the Malthusian federal government of Mexico, control of the canals of the United States of Mexico was interesting. The main canal at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec the Federales held, whereas the Moskitos and allies in the Mexican states of Nicaragua and Costa Rica held with assistance from Dominion forces. With the smallest canal in the state of Panama cut off from the rest of Mexico, it fell upon the federal government's Malthusian allies in New Granada to move into Panama to help secure this canal for the central Mexican government.
Glen
Moderator
The bellicose tone of the Malthusian forces made the United States concerned. While America had not participated as a nation in any foreign wars, the nation had a strong military tradition in the small but effect Legion as well as the Navy and Marines. However, President Martin Roosevelt based off his and his brother's experiences as volunteers in the Global War knew that there might be a need to rapidly expand America's manpower, however America had never had anything like conscription as many of the world powers had, and so the Call system was born.
The Call was a voluntary system unlike conventional conscription methods. The first step was asking able bodied men to participate every weekend in voluntary basic training and physical fitness regimens in programs set up across the nation. The next part would be activated only in the event of development of hostilities. Should there be a need for a rapid increase in military forces beyond what spontaneous volunteering was able to meet, the government would send out the Call to Arms to those able bodied men, letting them know they were needed. While under no legal obligation to heed the Call, there was a strong moral imperative to heed the call once made. The Call would continue to go out to men until enough accepted. What would happen should the Call ever be utterly exhausted without meeting the need of military manpower was an open ended question.
The Call was a voluntary system unlike conventional conscription methods. The first step was asking able bodied men to participate every weekend in voluntary basic training and physical fitness regimens in programs set up across the nation. The next part would be activated only in the event of development of hostilities. Should there be a need for a rapid increase in military forces beyond what spontaneous volunteering was able to meet, the government would send out the Call to Arms to those able bodied men, letting them know they were needed. While under no legal obligation to heed the Call, there was a strong moral imperative to heed the call once made. The Call would continue to go out to men until enough accepted. What would happen should the Call ever be utterly exhausted without meeting the need of military manpower was an open ended question.
In the sense that there's a rather large cadre of trained and semi-trained men who have indicated at least some willingness to serve. If congress will provide the green, there's an easy expansion route without spending precious political capital on conscription.
Also, it might be that a President can order an army leavened with Called men to do tasks that a conscript army could not, certainly not without much negotiation on the Hill. I'm wondering about DSA-verse neutrality patrols and the like. We could also see Yankee volunteers heading for Southron garrisons, much like OTLs "Canadians" with funny accents.
Depending on Iceland, the DSA could be routing convoys up the US coast. Could cause fun and games if French and Spanish subs are prowling off New England and the Maritimes (great band).
This reminds me a bit of a direct version of some of the make-work programs of the New Deal, building up national parks and such, that had the side effect of training several million men in group outdoor physical work, which kinda prepared many for soldier work when Dec 7 1941 rolled around.
Glen
Moderator
That's the plan, Geordie my man!
Yes, there might be some such....
Lots of that happened during the Global War, and the Roosevelt Regiment has already started (bit politically awkward, that, a volunteer group named in part after a sitting president, but Marty doesn't mind one bit...).
Ah yes, Iceland...
Oh yea? We might have to here them...
Glen
Moderator
Yes, good parallel, though here it is a direct preparation - no beating around the bush.
Glen
Moderator
The Malthusian Nations sought to starve out the British Isles by prowling the trade routes to the heart of the British Empire. The failure of Black Friday to cripple Britain meant that a full on blockade couldn't be done.
The United States of America historically had been a major exporter of foodstuff to the Brtitish Isles (as well as the Dominion) and President Martin Roosevelt and the American people refused to allow the Malthusian Forces to ban them from their right as a free nation to continue their peaceful trade. Congress approved US Naval forces to provide protection to US merchantmen traversing the Atlantic.
Glen
Moderator
The bureaucracy of Chuen China had worked for several years to incorporate Malthusian measures into the rule of the Chuen Empire, fearing a reprise of the terrible famines that had struck the nation in the years prior to the Population War. Ironically, a similar but less draconian Malthusianism had sprung up in Chuen's rival to the south, the United States of China. At the onset of the Population War, Chuen China was ruled by a bureaucrat led regency and it was the Regency that targeted the Qing Manchuria for attention first, along with its ally Joseon Dynasty in Korea, seeing the resources of the less populous region to the Northeast as being a reasonable start to acquiring resource security for the Empire. However, when the United States of China refused to ratify the Malthusian Manifesto and broke from the Malthusian International Congress, the Chuen saw the opportunity to once again strike out against their southern rival and seek to acquire its agricultural areas, thus pulling all the Chinas into the Population War.
