West Germany?Just curiousity, can anyone come up with a country that moved its capital for anything close to this reason?
West Germany?Just curiousity, can anyone come up with a country that moved its capital for anything close to this reason?
Me too.This war will devastate most of the DC Metropolitan area and I'm looking forward to it.
I know this is unlikely to happen, but Chile's government is giving me very fascistic vibes right now. Even compared to the Confederacy (who mind you, aren't being very calm right now), Chilean politics seems particularly deranged. I hate to see what they are going to do against the US and Argentines."...Chile's political crisis of rotating Presidents opened up the system for a continuing breakdown of relations between the Liberals and Conservatives, who had otherwise for decades been willing to pass power back and forth between themselves. The 1911 elections thus became a grand debate about not only the future of the country but the vitality of the future President himself and, in a series of events now familiar to effectively every country in the nascent Bloc Sud, a contest to see who could demonize the United States and Argentina more for domestic consumption in order to better position their faction for control.
Chile, however, seemed to have a more paranoid streak to its anti-yanquismo than perhaps any other of its sister states, thanks to the memories of the brief war of 1885. The Pacific American Trust, an investment company established to handle the Chilean indemnity for sunk shipping, had never closed and now owned close to a quarter of Chile's nitrate trade, flush with eager American and British investors that had left the Chilean elite and populace alike deeply embittered, and it was slowly spreading its tentacles into the burgeoning copper mining business as well. While tax revenues from the two dominant industries had made Chile modern it was still a deeply unequal country that operated under a perpetual siege mentality, convinced that Peru wanted to snap back its nitrate fields and Argentina was salivating over the Tierra del Fuego, and that "el Patco" was behind it the curtain pulling the strings to make it all happen.
It did not help matters that President William Randolph Hearst had gotten his career started with a brief stint at the Pacific American offices in San Francisco as an investment clerk. To Hearst, that short job arranged for him by his Senator father had merely been a soft landing after an aimless university career that had inspired an interest in both the family mining business and the world of investments and trading, little more than a footnote in his long and colorful biography; to Chile, it was evidence that el Patco was controlling Hearst's ambitious and oft-aggressive foreign policy moves in the Americas, particularly his administration's alliance with Argentina and dogged attempts to purchase the Galapagos Archipelago, and that the despised firm was the American government's vehicle for one day taking over the whole of Chile. The rhetoric in Chilean politics thus grew darker and darker as the early 1910s recession badly effected its revenues and Pacific American officials on site grew more demanding for returns, and a future war between the Bloc Sud and the United States became seen in Santiago as a way to seize el Patco and drive El Yanqui from Chilean shores forever in a glorious celebration of nationalism that would make good the "mutilated victory" of 1885 where they had been forced to make concessions despite battling the United States to an effective draw on the high seas..." [1]
- Bound for Bloodshed: The Road to the Great American War
[1] Told y'all this would be important in the future!
Deranged is a good word for it. And little do they know the Haber process is right around the corner to end the only reason anybody cares about them!I know this is unlikely to happen, but Chile's government is giving me very fascistic vibes right now. Even compared to the Confederacy (who mind you, aren't being very calm right now), Chilean politics seems particularly deranged. I hate to see what they are going to do against the US and Argentines.
There is an interesting POD here: IOTL, Le Chatelier got really close to synthesizing ammonia. It's possible that future war efforts could give France this valuable technology instead.Deranged is a good word for it. And little do they know the Haber process is right around the corner to end the only reason anybody cares about them!
Ooooh do you have any more details on that? Could indeed be an interesting twist to have France invent that first…There is an interesting POD here: IOTL, Le Chatelier got really close to synthesizing ammonia. It's possible that future war efforts could give France this valuable technology instead.
I agree! That area was super remote of course so it’s not like a lot of people lived out that way (and even today, neither Arg nor Chile have really exploited the considerable resources of the region all that much)Here's hoping Argentina gets the lands south of the Deseado River back - only because it looks so weird that it is Chilean territory ITTL.
Given Le Chatelier's work, he may have already succeeded (iOTL, the experiment was in 1901.)There is an interesting POD here: IOTL, Le Chatelier got really close to synthesizing ammonia. It's possible that future war efforts could give France this valuable technology instead.
There might be some awkward retconning to come, then!Given Le Chatelier's work, he may have already succeeded (iOTL, the experiment was in 1901.)
There's certainly precedence there for elites who realize that their big advantage is gone to go crazy. In Venice (because I must tie all things back to Venice ) we have records of the Doge and his advisors reacting very very poorly to the news that Colombus discovered a whole new world because they knew that the old trade routes didn't matter as much anymore.There might be some awkward retconning to come, then!
EDIT: though like any proper retcon it would dovetail well with the established narrative. Increasing ability to synthesize nitrates in Europe could suggest why Chile’s political class has become so “deranged” out of panic of the golden goose dying
Indeed! It would fit in within the overall mien of the Bloc Sud being motivated largely by a feeling that the good times of the late 19th are ending, too (doubly so in Chile where the Canal is about to render Valparaiso irrelevant)There's certainly precedence there for elites who realize that their big advantage is gone to go crazy. In Venice (because I must tie all things back to Venice ) we have records of the Doge and his advisors reacting very very poorly to the news that Colombus discovered a whole new world because they knew that the old trade routes didn't matter as much anymore.
The whole land division issue will depend on how the war goes, the most likely in my opinion is American victory in North America and Allied victory in Latin America (more specifically in South America).Here's hoping Argentina gets the lands south of the Deseado River back - only because it looks so weird that it is Chilean territory ITTL.
TFW when Chile ends at ChiloeThe whole land division issue will depend on how the war goes, the most likely in my opinion is American victory in North America and Allied victory in Latin America (more specifically in South America).
View attachment 753202
the purple area is what they both want
I already feel the pain of seeing the map of the allied victory in south america. I hope the map of north america is not at that levelTFW when Chile ends at Chiloe
Thanks! Much appreciated!Indeed! It would fit in within the overall mien of the Bloc Sud being motivated largely by a feeling that the good times of the late 19th are ending, too (doubly so in Chile where the Canal is about to render Valparaiso irrelevant)
(Speaking of Venice, I enjoyed todays chapter btw)
partly considering that mexico and brazil are doing well. But for the confederates and chile yes.Indeed! It would fit in within the overall mien of the Bloc Sud being motivated largely by a feeling that the good times of the late 19th are ending, too (doubly so in Chile where the Canal is about to render Valparaiso irrelevant)
Brazil is doing the best of them all, and Mexico is doing pretty well. But these are all conservative societies (two of them are explicitly Catholic monarchies!) seeing their position slowly erode as the 800 lb bald eagle in the room spreads it’s wings over the hemisphere and those damn Alemistas in Argentina show an alternate path to oligarchic, top-down societiespartly considering that mexico and brazil are doing well. But for the confederates and chile yes.
or are mexico and brazil doing badly?