A New Balance, Redux

[Jim Smitty]

The Spanish American War 1873-75

The Spanish American War of 1873-75 started in the aftermath of the Virginius Affair. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish was working to find a peaceful end to this affair with Minister Admiral Don Jose Polo de Bernabe soon after the affair started. As Fish was working to end the crisis, Bernabe push things to the breaking point by insulting Fish and the United States at a meeting between the two of them. This affront was spoken in haste, but once spoken it couldn’t be taken back. It was this meeting that led President Grant to ask congress to declare war against Spain on December 2 1873 two weeks later. After five days of debate Congress passes the declaration of war against the Spanish Empire on December 7 1873 by a vote of 209-74 in the house and 54-15 in the senate. For the first time since 1848, the United States found itself in war with a foreign nation.


For a war even with a second-rate power like Spain which was in a state of civil war the United States was totally unprepared for a war. The once massive armies and navies raised turning the Civil War of not even ten years prior had fade away to next to nothing. It would take time to rebuild an army and navy to fight Spain. This total lack of readiness would lead to the worse defeat the American nation had suffered since Bladensburg in 1814 at the hands of the British during the War of 1812. As the US ready itself for a war, the Spanish who had been fighting rebels in Cuba since 1868 and had bigger fish to fry with the Third Carlist War being fought back at home, decided to force the Americans to peace table and agree to a status quo ante bellum peace treaty by attacking the United States directly.


Brigadier General Anton who had been winning battles against the rebels in Cuba drew up these plans and was given the support of Madrid to launch this attack in effort to bring the United States to the peace table. He selected the port city of New Orleans as his target and with help from the Spanish Navy set sail for it in February 1874 three months after the start of the war. The raiding force cleared the Gulf of Mexico without running into the USN who is putting a lot of effort into building up a force to both defend the Eastern Seaboard and take the war into Cuba and Puerto Rico.


The Spanish ironclad Arapiles with its rifled muzzle loaders that had greater range than the smoothbores at Fort Pike when about destroying the fort and forcing it to surrender on the morning of February 23rd. With the fort designed to defend New Orleans destroyed and in his hands Anton landed his troops and when about marching up to the docks of the city to destroy the port area as he believes it would be used as one of the ports for an invasion of Cuba. They are met by locally recruited militia units, all white units made up men who had been too young to fight in the civil war with weapons that were old and outdated. They broke and ran within minutes of the battle starting with heavy losses. Anton then when about starting to destroy the port of New Orleans. It wasn’t till a counter attack by the 25th Infantry Regiment the following day which forced Anton to retreat and return to Cuba. The damage however was already done as the port area of New Orleans had been destroyed and the city was partly looted by the Spanish. The losses in this raid by Anton had been light for the Spanish. For the US the militia units suffered badly but losses by the 25th Infantry had been light as well even through they pressed on their counterattack hard through the 24th.


Following the raid at New Orleans Anton is a hero in Spain. He is promoted and recalled to Spain and join the ongoing fight in Spain. In the United States as the news spread about the raid against New Orleans spread there was outrage by this attack on the United States. This caused men both in the north and the south to flock to recruiting stations as they flocked to the colors and bring this war with Spain to an end. In the halls of Congress there were questions on how the Spanish were able to reach New Orleans unmolested by the navy along with the neglected states of coastal defense across the nation. It did cause Secretary of the Navy George M. Robeson to resign his post following the defeat. One could hardly hold Robeson to account for the poor state of the navy in early 1874 following years of acute underfunding by Congress, however he fell on his sword for the defeat at New Orleans. He was replaced by Theodore “Thee” Roosevelt Sr. However the attack on New Orleans had a uniting effect on the nation with people from all walks of life coming together to support the war.


After New Orleans there needed to be an answer to the Spanish attack. This didn’t come till May 1st of 1874. This was the date of the Battle of the Florida Straits. At Florida Straits Admiral David Dixon Porter who had been given a fleet command following the cluster that New Orleans was met the Spanish Vice Admiral Manuel de la Pezuela and Lobo-Cabrilla. Lobo-Cabrilla’s force was centered around the ironclad Numancia with supporting wooden warships. Porter was flying his flag from USS Dictator the only ocean going monitor of the USN with supporting wooden warships as well. The battle was a bloody mess but by the end of the day the USN won a victory that had been hard fought. Porter’s squadron had been able to force the Numancia to strike her colors along with two of her wooden escorts. This however as at the cost of the USS Lehigh which had been sunk and the USS Colorado which foundering on her way back to port following the battle. However, this victory by Porter kept Lobo-Cabrilla from repeating Anton’s raid only this time the target had been Gulfport instead of New Orleans.


The victory at Florida Straits was a critically important victory for the United States. Not only was an important moral boosting victory but with Numancia now under the USN Jack instead of the Spanish Jack they had removed the major threat to the United States Navy in the Caribbean. With this victory it had been decided the time was now to make a move against Cuba. On May 19th an army under the command Lt General Philip Sheridan set sail to invade Cuba with Admiral Porter escorting this force. Sheridan’s force was a mix force of regular army units and US Volunteer units that had been raised since the start of the war. He set his sights on the town of Mariel, Cuba and landed there on 25th of May. The town of Mariel was under his control by the end of the day as he started to set up for his plan assault on Havana.


Following Sheridan’s landings at Mariel the Spanish launched a counterattack to force him off their island. This led to the Battle of Mariel being fought from May 29th to June 2nd. Both sides were equipped without dated equipment such as muzzle loading artillery that had been proven to be obsolete three years prior in the Franco-Prussian War. They both however were equipped with trapdoor rifles which were fairly advance for the time through. The key for the American victory however lay in two factors. First was three batteries Gatling Guns that Sheridan had in his army of 65,000 men. The second was the fact the USN had control of the seas following a skirmish between the USN and the Spanish Navy on May 30th in which the USN forced another Spanish steam frigate to strike her colors and forced the remains of the Spanish Cuban Squadron to retire to Havana. Even through the Spanish hard fought they fell back following a counterattack by the men of the 9th Cavalry Regiment (Colored) on the Second of June.


Regrouping from the Spanish attack Sheridan launch his offensive to take Havana on June 7th. The Spanish made their last stand outside of Havana at the town of Bauta on June 9th. In the two day battle at Bauta the Spanish fought hard but their army broke on an assault by Sheridan on the 10th which saw their line crumble. The Spanish retreated to Havana. Some would say it was a rout but given the fact Sheridan had to fight to take Havana, it is the opinion of the author of this overview of the Spanish-American War that it was a retreat by the Spanish no matter how unorderly it was. And it was an unorderly affair with the Spanish leaving behind their artillery and supply dumps behind in their effort to get away from the forces under Sheridan.


Following his victory at Bauta, Sheridan pressed on Havana and had the city cut off from the rest of Cuba by the 13th of the month. The Battle of Havana was the only case of urban combat in the war. Although nothing like latter urban combat battles in either world war, the Battle of Havana was still a bloody affair. The Spanish forced the Americans to take the city block by block in heavy fighting that left over 6,000 Americans dead and thousands more wounded. The Spanish however suffered even worse as the US used their trump card in the warships of the USN to blast the Spanish out of their strongholds. It did cost them the USS Ajax which was sunk by a Spanish mine and damage to the USS Wabash and USS Piscataqua to mines and shore artillery. However the last bastion of the Spanish in Havana, Santa Clara Battery fell to the Americans on July 2nd.


With Havana in his hands Sheridan reorganized his army along with resting it. He was reinforced with more troops from the United States bring his army which was now called the Army of Cuba up to 125,000 troops. As all eyes were on Cuba, Commodore John Rodgers left San Francisco in an effort to take some of the Spanish colonial processions in the Pacific. Rodgers’ mission in the Pacific was part of the navy’s effort to make up for their earlier failing at New Orleans. Plus people like Roosevelt and Grant were eying trade with China and saw Guam as a stopping point for American ships on their way to China.


In early August Sheridan launched his overland campaign of Cuba. By this point, Sheridan’s Army had reached a strength of 135,000 men. However, his overland campaign of Cuba was marked by logistical challenges and disease than fighting. However, Sheridan’s overland campaign saw the return of some well-known former confederate officers fighting in the USV in this and other campaigns in the war. These included James Longstreet, Nathen Bedford Forrest, and John S Mosby. Other less well known former confederate officers also served in Sheridan’s army, but Longstreet, Forrest, and Mosby were all given command positions within Sheridan’s Army of Cuba during the Overland Campaign and following battles. Sheridan’s Army reached the outskirts of Santiago by mid-September.


At this time the Caribbean Squadron of the Navy sailed to support the Army of Cuba take Santiago. As once Santiago fell Cuba would be in American hands. During this trip they ran into the remains of the Spanish Navy decided to try and escape Santiago to make the trip to San Juan. This led to the Battle of Windward Passage on September 21st. Admiral Porter who was in command of this squadron had three monitors and the USS Numancia under his command. Facing them were the five remaining screw frigates of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron. This battle was a decisive American victory. Two of the Spanish screw frigates were sunk and two others strike their colors and the fifth one scuttled herself instead of allowing it being taken as a prize by the Americans. But with the victory at Windward Passage the USN achieved total control of the Caribbean from the Spanish with the rest of the Spanish Navy being in home waters dealing with problems in Spain.


With the Spanish Navy now out of the equation the naval units under Porter took up positions around Santiago to support Sheridan in his effort to take the last Spanish outpost in Cuba. The Battle of Santiago was nothing like Havana as Sheridan refused to commitment his forces to take the city by force. Instead he oped to lay siege to Santiago and wait for the Spanish to surrender. The Siege of Santiago lasted from September 18th to November 6th when Spanish General Arsenio Martínez Campos came out and surrender his sword to Sheridan.


Following the fall of Santiago, Sheridan who’s army was now over 180,000 strong with over 30,000 Cuban Patriot as part of his army set his sights on the one remaining Spanish outpost in the new world; Puerto Rico. President Grant had decided he wouldn’t make terms with the Spanish till the Spanish had been driven from the new world following the news had reach him that Mariana Islands were now totally under American control. Sheridan and his army left Santiago on November 19th and reached San Juan two days later. The Battle of San Juan was more for the shake of honor than anything the Spanish flag was brought down for the last time at Castillo San Cristobal on the 21st as the stars and strips win up.


With their strings of victories over the Spanish the Americans were now willing to seek peace terms with the Spanish. A team head by Hamilton Fish travelled to Berlin to work with the Spanish via Chancellor Otto von Bismarck who had offered to mediate a peace treaty between the waring nation. Bismarck made this offer back in June, but the US wasn’t ready to take this offer till it had what it wanted. Over the next few weeks the Treaty of Berlin was worked out and signed. Under the terms of the treaty Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Mariana Islands, to the United States. The Spanish Government would pay 100,000 dollars to the each family of the prisoners of the Virginius which had been executed by the Spanish. Spain also granted the United States most favored nation status in lieu of an indemnity as Spain didn’t have the money nor did the US really have a position to enforce it. Finally, Spain formally apologize for the insult that started the war back in 1873. The Treaty of Berlin was signed on February 15 1875 and was later ratified by the US Senate and Spanish Governments in the coming months bring the Spanish-American War to a close.

 

[Jim Smitty]

 

[Jim Smitty]

Sell of the Danish West Indies, 1879


Even before the Spanish-American War the United States had looked to buy the Danish West Indies. A treaty between the US and Demark had been drawn up in 1867 for such a sell. It was even ratified by the Rigsdag, however it wasn’t brought up in the US Senate for ratification. This was part from an ongoing feud between the Senate and then President Andrew Johnson about a range of issues and this treaty was caught up in this feud. It was also in part worried about how prone the islands were to natural disasters. With the impeaching of President Johnson taking up most of the focus of the senate’s time in the year following the treaty being sign it was decided to allow the treaty to lapse.


Following the annexation of Puerto Rico at the end of Spanish-American War the topic came up again as the islands were only 40 miles from a new US territory. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish even sent out feelers to Copenhagen in late 1875. However, events in Cuba and the Election of 1876[1] quickly overtook importance in the United States even through once again the Danish were open to the idea. With the issues in the domestic front taking over the US once again dropped the idea of buying the Danish West Indies.


Following the election of Benjamin Bristow and William Wheeler to the White House the idea was floated soon after the election but it when nowhere as Bristow was more worried about bring the nation together into a single nation again. However, by 1878 President Bristow believed he had the nation united again and ordered his Secretary of State James G Blaine to start work with the Danish to get another treaty in place to buy the Danish Virgin Islands. Bristow who had ran on a reform ticket in the 1876 election believed that by bring the Danish Virgin Islands into the United States he would give freemen another place to go and ease the racial divide in the South outside South Carolina which was the only Republican bastion in the South.


Again, the Danish were open to the idea of selling their West Indies colony. Since the abolishment of slavery in 1848 the colony had been unprofitable and there were no signs of this changing in the near future. They had even offered the islands up at the peace talks that ended the Second Schleswig War in order to keep Northern Schleswig. Only the Prussians and Austrians didn’t want colonies and they refused that offer demanding all of Northern Schleswig. Talks started to find a price that was agreeable and other terms that would have to be worked out to allow a transfer.


Using the 1867 Treaty as the bases for this treaty things came together fairly quickly between Blaine and Danish Minister in Washington DC. The two agreed to a price of 8,000,000 dollars for the Danish Colony. It was a slight increase from the 7.5 million in the 1867 treaty. Other than the price the treaty was almost a carbon copy of the 1867 treaty. Now came the test to get the treaty ratified which had cause the 1867 treaty to lapse. The treaty cleared both houses of the Danish Government to become ratified. The treaty was debated at some length in the US Senate with a number of southern Democratics questioning the wisdom of bring more non-whites into the United States. However, the final vote came to 58-13 which crossed the 2/3 mark needed for ratification on December 2 1878.


With Christmas at hand through the US Treasury Department didn’t cut the check to Denmark till the following month. Secretary Blaine then handed over the check to the Danish Minister to the US on January 14 1879. With the check being handed over it would be 30 days before took ownership and control of the islands. One February 13, with one of the newest warships in the USN, the USS Puritan in the Charlotte Amalie’s harbor the Danish flag was lowered for the last time and the stars and stripes when up.


[1] In all fairness the 1876 POTUS election and the aftermath of Cuba after it was annexed should get its own update each. However, I’m focusing mostly on foreign affair events prior to the start of WWI.

[2] With the cluster that led to New Orleans the navy got money for more warships. Nothing crazy but the US gets a new ship or two every year now as Congress is more willing to fund the USN, possibly more depending on what is happening.

 

[sloreck]

nice restart

 

[cortz#9]

Did Spain keep the Philippines?

 

[Jim Smitty]

Did Spain keep the Philippines?

Yep. The Spanish kept the Philippines. The US took the Marianas which is close to the Philippines but the US didn't have the projection abilities to take the Philippines.

 

[sloreck]

Somebody will be coming for the PI in the not too distant future. Spain is quite weak, and simply can't hold on to this possession halfway around the world that is a money loser. The question is will it be an internal revolt or revolts, or some other power stepping in. Until 1895-1900 it would have to be a European power as Japan is not yet capable of doing this, after then... IMHO if it is a local rebellion, I doubt you'd see a unified PI like OTL, more likely 2-3 island groups under different governments.

 

[La Rouge Beret]

Great restart Jim & I'm excited to see how this plays out.

Keep up the good working juggling a couple of quality timelines !

 

[terv]

jim can we get a section on the naval buildup mid 1880s or rough orbat of the American fleet before the next war.

 

[Jim Smitty]

jim can we get a section on the naval buildup mid 1880s or rough orbat of the American fleet before the next war.

That isn't in the cards. But you will be seeing something on that front just prior to WWI.

 

[Jim Smitty]

The Island War of 1894-95 Part One

Even through the Island War started in the Caribbean it has its origins in the Southwest Pacific and over the question of who had sovereignty over the Samoa Archipelago. Three nations were all buying for the sovereignty of these islands in the vast Southwest Pacific. The nations that were buying for the control of these islands was the British Empire, the German Empire, and the United States. Both the German Empire and the United States were late comers to the Empire Game. Germany was only united as one nation in 1871 and every great European nation had an empire and the people in Germany wanted their empire. The US only came into the game following its victory in the Spanish American War of 1873-75.


Things were starting to come to a head during the Samoan Crisis between 1887-89. Both the Germans and Americans had a small squadron of warships in Apia Harbor and they were being monitored by the British who had a single warship at Apia. The Samoans themselves were in a state of civil war over who was their king. Both the American and German squadrons had taken part in this civil war firing on villages of the enemies of the side that they supported and it when without saying that the Americans and Germans supported different factions in this civil war. The crisis was partly defused by the 1889 Apia Cyclone.


In a matter of pride, even with the warning signs all pointing to the fact a storm was coming and the with the fact Apia wasn’t a harbor where you could ride out a storm in the captains of these ships refused to take action to save their commands from the danger of being in the harbor that offered no protection when a storm blew in. It was viewed as weakness to leave the harbor by the captains of the ships in both the American and German squadrons. They also refused to allow the merchant ships in the harbor leave. This was a prime case of cutting your nose off to spite your face.


The United States which has been performing a mild buildup of its navy[1] since the end of the Spanish American War as part of the fallout from the Spanish raid at New Orleans sent another small squadron to replace the wrecked squadron to maintain its presence in Samoa. This reinforcement of the American squadron at Samoa happened just after Kaiser Wilhelm the Second came to power in Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm was resented the power the US had in the Caribbean, South America, and its growing power in the Pacific. It was even more upset by the fact the US had brought the Danish West Indies following the Spanish-American War in 1879. With the US having annexed both Cuba and Puerto Rico in the aftermath of its war with Spain it was the only location left the Germans could expand into the Caribbean without a war. The fact the US send a replacement squadron to Apia angered the Kaiser and he was pushed to get more money funneled into the navy and colonial commitments in effort to push back against the Americans.


With the Germans working on building up their navy at the time the crisis passed for the time being. Things came to a head again during the Venezuelan Crisis of 1894. The British had a territorial dispute with the United States of Venezuela as to where the border for British Guiana ended. At the same time Venezuela, had defaulted on loans it owed to Germany. The British saw this as a chance to kill two birds with one stone. The British were worried about the growing power of the Americans since the end of the Spanish-American War. They were still refusing to play a large role in European affairs instead focusing on the Americas and the Pacific but giving Europe the cold shoulder. The Germans were an up and coming power who at this point they favored over the Americans and they figured they would use the Germans to perform their bidding for them. They told the Germans that if they felt the need to collect those debts at the point of a gun that they would receive their support. Kaiser Wilhelm jumped at the chance to knock the Americans down a peg or two and make gains both in the Pacific and Caribbean at their expense.


The Imperial German Navy however was still in a state of building itself up into a navy that was worthy being a great power navy. This was a large change from before unification of Germany where their navies of the different states had largely been a show the flag and coastal defense force. As such they lacked numbers needed to perform every task needed and if not for British support it would had been questionable if they were been able to get their small squadron into the Caribbean to being with. The squadron was based around the one of the newest battleships of the fleet, SMS Brandenburg. Supporting the Brandenburg was SMS Kaiserin Augusta one of the newest protected cruiser of the German Fleet, and they had the unprotected cruisers SMS Bussard, SMS Falke, and SMS Seeadler to round out the squadron. The naval squadron reached the coast of Venezuela in early September 1894.


The deployment of the German Squadron hadn’t gone unnoticed by the United States. Since their high point at the end of the Spanish-American War relations with the Germans have slowly been going downhill. President William McKinley[2] in his first major test in foreign policy ordered the navy to monitor the Germans. The Germans have given their word they weren’t there to colonize Venezuela, but many in the McKinley White House didn’t trust them. One of the loudest voices war Assistant Secretary of Navy Theodore Roosevelt[3] to do something about the Germans. McKinley however, was a veteran of the Civil War and wasn’t about to start a war if he could help it. He ordered the navy to keep tabs on the Germans. To that end the navy send USS Maine and USS New York[4] which was the two newest armored cruisers in the fleet. Along with the Maine and New York the navy send the destroyer tender USS Panther together with two destroyers of the three strong Bainbridge Class of Torpedo Boat Destroyers[5]. The third ship of the class the USS Decatur would had been assigned to the squadron sent to monitor the Germans off Venezuela as well, however she was currently undergoing a refit after a steam pipe exploded during a training patrol a few months earlier causing massive damage to the ship.


After the American Squadron under the command Commodore Winfield Scott Schley reached a position off Venezuela a few days after the German fleet and expeditionary force reached Venezuela. What started next was best put as a Mexican Standoff. On the night of September 15/16th things turned deadly. Stories differ about what happened on this night but this is the most accepted account of the events of that night. A junior naval officer on the Bussard believed that one of the two American torpedo boat destroyers were making charge against the German fleet. The Bussard open fire with a number of their 10.5 cm guns. This started a cascade effect of ships firing at each other. Firing ceased about 45 minutes after it started. There was minor damage to a number of the ships on both sides. The most important fact about the First Battle of Caracas was the fact 9 Imperial German Sailors died and 11 American Sailors died. There were also a few more wounded on each side.


News was slow getting out to the rest of the world about the First Battle of Caracas. The two sides off Caracas kept up with the standoff after the battle. The US answered by sending one of its first battleships, the USS Texas[6] to reinforce the squadron off Caracas and allow the Maine to retire to Guantanamo Bay for repairs. However, the Germans were engaged by the Battle of Caracas. The crisis over Venezuela reach to highs as the British stepped in and offered to arbitrate the issues between the Americans and Germans. It might had worked and kept things from blowing up into a war, but Kaiser Wilhelm ran his mouth and the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph ran a story that the Kaiser would only accept the US surrender of the American Virgin Islands to Germany as well as the withdraw of all claims to the Samoa Islands for what he was calling an insult to German honor. Even through it wasn’t the Daily Telegraph article that ended efforts to find a peaceful end to the crisis it signaled the beginning of the end of the hunt for a peaceful end. Days later German team in London made it cleared that really was the position of the Germans. Once they did the US team in London walked out of the arbitration meetings with the vow they would not return unless Germany soften their tone by a great deal.


Days later Ambassador Anton Saurma von der Jeltsch visited President McKinley that handed him a note that was an ultimatum. In this ultimatum to the United States Kaiser Wilhelm demanded that the Americans accept the terms as laid out in London a week earlier or else. Even through McKinley wanted to find a peaceful end to the crisis he wouldn’t stand for such a slap in the face as this ultimatum was. He told the German Ambassador that this ultimatum was the same as a declaration of war and the US would not be dictated to like this. With the US refusing the ultimatum the ball was back in the German court. Kaiser Wilhelm declared war on the United States on November 1st with the support of the German government.


This led to the Second Battle of Caracas on the 2nd. The battle started after wireless message reached the Brandenburg in the early morning hours of the second from a hastily set up German wireless station in Georgetown who had been relayed the message from the telegraph station there. It was the Brandenburg who opened fire with its 28 cm guns first after newly prompted Konteradmiral Alfred von Tirptiz gave the order. This was quickly answered when Schley gave the order to return fire. He also ordered his two torpedo boats to charge and torpedo the Germans. Both sides broke contact after the torpedo runs Bainbridge and Paul Jones made their runs. The Brandenburg received three torpedo hits from the Paul Jones and slipped under the waves in a matter of minutes. The Bainbridge made her run at the Seeadler and was able to put enough torpedoes into her where she sunk as well. Both American destroyers were lost in this effort but they had put a sizable dent in the firepower of the German squadron.


Before the Brandenburg slipped under the waves she made it clear that the Germans had the edge in gunnery. The New York was struck by three 28 cm shells and countless small size weapons from other ships. On her return to Guantanamo Bay the New York was decarded that she was a total loss. It was only to the focus the USN had put on seamanship skills over gunnery skills that even allowed the New York to reach Guantanamo Bay in the first place, but she was finished and stuck off the naval vessel registry and sold off for scrap. All the other American warships at the battle were damaged to some degree or other as were a number of German warships.


The day follow the Second Battle of Caracas President McKinley when before a joint session of congress to ask for a counter declaration of war against the German Empire. It was past after only nine hours of debate. In the house it clear by a vote of 307-9. In the Senate it was 59-14. On the same day Rear Admiral Sampson in a squadron built around the only other battleship in the USN the USS Indiana and three protected cruisers to hunt down the remains of the German squadron under von Tirpitz before. However, giving the time and distances Sampson wasn’t able find von Tirpitz’s squadron as he left the Caribbean and headed back home.


For the British this was the last thing they expected to happen. They didn’t expect the Germans to push their demands so hard or Americans to be so unwilling to talk. For the French this was a boom to them. They wanted to see the Germans get knocked down a peg or two and contacted the Americans to allow let them know that they could use French ports of call in this war. The British kept supporting the Germans and started to lightly apply pressure the Americans to come to back to the table. However with on going wars between the Chinese and Japanese and the Italians in a major colonial campaign in Africa the British had their hands full at the given moment.


The next battle in the war was the Battle of Apia. Both America and Germany had replaced their losses from the cyclone of 1889. The Battle of Apia was between the USS Chicago one of the first ships built following the Spanish American War with the USS Dolphin in support. Against them was SMS Irene and SMS Prinzess Wilhelm. Chicago had heavier firepower than both the Irene and Prinzess Wilhelm but better trained gun crews made up for this. In this some odd battle of both sides being in port at the time the battle started saw the Germans carry the day. The Chicago and Dolphin did damage to the German ships, but the crews of the Irene and Prinzess Wilhelm put enough rounds into the Chicago to force her captain to strike her colors. The Dolphin was able put to sea to escape.


Following the Battle of Apia on November 9th the two sides settled into a phony war as one newspaper said in December as nothing was really happening. This was more due to the distances in the war than anything else. Rear Admiral George Dewey only set sail on January 3rd 1895 from the American base in San Diego to retake Apia. He was escorting a force under the command of Bvt. Major General Arthur MacArthur Jr who commanded a force of some 50,000 men. Under Dewey’s own command was basically every naval ship in the Pacific Fleet that could make the journey to the Southwest Pacific leaving behind only a few civil war era monitors to defend the Pacific Coast of the United States. Two weeks prior the Germans had sent Generalmajor Friedrich von Bernhardi to reinforce its Pacific holdings. Under the command of von Bernhardi was the command some 35,000 troops with some of its old ironclads to escort and reinforce these colonies as well. The Germans were holding their more advance units in home waters for the time being.


At the same time the Germans were planning a highly risky invasion of the American Virgin Islands. Kaiser Wilhelm decided he was going to strip the United States of its Caribbean holdings and used the Virgin Islands as his base of operations to move on to Puerto Rico and then Cuba. This was being planned by Generalfeldmarschall Alfred von Waldersee. The US knew something like this and had made the call not to ship more ships to the Pacific as they knew[7] what the Germans were sending and were betting that Dewey’s fleet could handle them.


[1] Nothing massive, just the US ordering a few to a half of dozen new ships every year. Still isn’t anywhere what the US could do if it really if they decided to go full throttle on ship building. The army though hasn’t seen the same kind of funding increase that the navy has.

[2] Benjamin Bristow (R) 1877-1885 (Retired), Winfield Scott Hancock (D) 1885-1887 (Death/Natural), William Ralls Morrison (D) 1887-1889 (Lost re-election in the 1888 campaign), James G Blaine (R) 1889-1893 (Retired do to ill health), William McKinley (R) 1893-????

[3] How can I do a TL in this time frame and not have TR in it?

[4] Because of the mild naval build up that has been going on since 1876, these two ships are sisters ITL and have the lay out the OTL USS New York ACR-2. Only two ships in the class through.

[5] These are basically an American answer to the Japanese Kotaka.

[6] Basically think something like the British Centurion Class (1890) Battleships but with American weapons.

[7] An American Naval Intelligence Officer left behind in Germany and making trips to the Netherlands as needed.

 

[cortz#9]

Those sneaky Brits! This can't end well for Germany.

 

[Admiral Halsey]

So any real differences so far is this just copy paste basically?

 

[Jim Smitty]

So any real differences so far is this just copy paste basically?

There are grammer fixes, and some minor changes. In the war with Spain the US took all of the Marianas instead of just Guam as in the first version. Yet there are going to be bigger changes coming on how the map looks. By the time WWI starts ITL the map will be different but not radically different than Mk I. I really just need clean up and explain a few things I never touched on, such as the formation of the Imperial Federation ITL. Major changes are coming.

 

[Deckhand]

There are grammer fixes, and some minor changes. In the war with Spain the US took all of the Marianas instead of just Guam as in the first version. Yet there are going to be bigger changes coming on how the map looks. By the time WWI starts ITL the map will be different but not radically different than Mk I. I really just need clean up and explain a few things I never touched on, such as the formation of the Imperial Federation ITL. Major changes are coming.

I wonder how many troops the US have had to keep in Cuba to make them "happy" with this annexation. I believe Spain at their height had around 240,000. That is going to make any German intervention pretty grim.

 

[Craig]

I wonder how many troops the US have had to keep in Cuba to make them "happy" with this annexation. I believe Spain at their height had around 240,000. That is going to make any German intervention pretty grim.

This may depend on whether Cuba is treated as a co-equal US State or as the vassal of a distant Empire. Much of the American success story was that the States were admitted as co-equal to the original 13 and that those States retained significant sovereignty. For example, criminal acts are almost always charged against that State's Criminal Code.

The 17th Amendment allowing for the direct vote of US Senators did not happen until 1912/1913. That and the later changes brought by the New Deal removed much of both the de-jure and de-facto authority from the States and accelerated the centralization of political power.

Centralized political power is THE single most common characteristic of nations which become authoritarian/totalitarian.

 

[Grimbald]

Assuming eventual American victory, what does the German Empire have that the US wants? Clear title to Samoa? What else?

 

[Jim Smitty]

The Island War of 1894-95, Part Two


Over the course of December and January there was a low in the fighting. The only fighting at this time was merchant raiding by both Germany and the United States in the Atlantic. Even through most expected this surprise war that came out of nowhere to take place mostly in the Pacific, neither had the ships in place to perform merchant raiding in the Pacific. However, both sides were taking this low in the fighting to plan for the future. For the US this was a twofold mission. First they were planning for a defense of the Eastern Seaboard and their Caribbean territories. They knew there was a chance that Germany might tried to perform an invasion of the US or more likely their Caribbean territories. It was why Admiral Dewey wasn’t expecting reinforcements from the much larger Atlantic Fleet to take on the Germans in the Pacific.


The second plan the US was working on in December 1894 was the invasion of German Togoland. Even through the US had no interest in holding any territory on the Dark Continent it was viewed as something they could possibly take and use a bargaining chip at peace talks when those were held in the future. Lt General William Shafter who was the senior army officer and the de facto chief of staff was looking at the possibly of this African Campaign seriously viewed this plan as a plan of last resort. It was believed that Germany would come to the table if they were defeated in the Pacific. However, in the event Germany refused to come to the table after such a defeat this was viewed as the next step in the war. It was also viewed as a way to regain a status quo peace should Dewey and MacArthur lose in the Pacific.


Germany for its part was working on its own plans as well. The problem was there where two schools of thought in Germany and neither were view as possible by the majority of the General Staff. The first was invasion of the American Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Once in their hands they would use it as a springboard for an invasion of Cuba. Once that and the matters had been decided in the Pacific had been decided in Germany’s favor they would seek peace terms with the US. The other school of thought was invasion of the Eastern Seaboard that ran from New York City to Boston. Then march on Washington DC and force the US to agree to its terms with their capital in their hands. Yet outside the Kaiser no one viewed these plans as achievable. The USN Atlantic Fleet simply had more ships than Germany and were operating far closer to their ports. Yet because the Kaiser wanted it they slowly worked on the plans and hoped for victory in the Pacific in the meantime.


Admiral Dewey and his fleet was the first in the race to reinforce the SW Pacific even though they left two weeks after the German fleet had left Wilhelmshaven. Instead of heading for Apia, Dewey and his fleet head had headed to Pago Pago after recoiling in Hawaii. The soldiers and Marines who landed at Pago Pago on February 9th only met light resistance and that was from local pro-German groups who had been armed with cast offs or captured American weapons. With Pago Pago in his hands, Dewey when about recoiling his ships again and turning the harbor into his base of operations in the region.


Dewey and his fleet wasn’t at Pago Pago long through. Leaving behind the USS Boston and USS McCulloch a cutter that had been in the service of the US Revenue Cutter Service before the war Dewey made his way to Apia. This would lead to the Battle of the Apolima Strait on February 16th. Dewey’s seven strong fleet caught the SMS Irene as she was returning from Simpsonhafen. At the time Dewey was screening the ships that were being used by MacArthur’s troops to take Apia itself from the small German Garrison that held the harbor. The Irene was in a poor positioned as she was badly outnumbered, outgunned by all of Dewey’s ships had eight inch guns where the Irene largest guns were 15 cm. Worse yet three of the seven ships in Dewey’s fleet were quicker than the Irene. The Irene’s captain did what any captain would have done. She did hard over on the rudder and when to flank speed to try and out run the Americans. Only with the USS Olympia [1], USS Baltimore, and USS Raleigh all closing the gap at an alarming speed the four ships opened fire. The Irene was having to fight three ships at once where three ships were all firing on her. As she was being racked from the more powerful eight inch shells of the Americans her gunners were proving that they were just as good as they had been back in November, but they couldn’t fight their ways out of this one. With his ship listing and taking on water the captain of the Irene ordered his crew to abandon ship and scuttle her.


Fighting in Apia itself was over fairly quickly. The German garrison was a platoon size unit with German officers and NCOs and locals filling out the ranks. Being outgunned and outnumbered they put up a defense that was more for the shake of honor than anything else. After fighting for about ten minutes the commander surrendered to the Americans and with his surrender fighting on Samoa came to an end. The US suffered some 17 dead and 78 wounded in taking Apia along with minor damage to all three cruisers of the Olympia class. For Germany they had suffered 45 dead, with another 387 sailors and soldiers taken prisoner in fighting over Samoa.


With Apia in his hands Dewey took a few days to perform repairs to the Olympia class cruisers before he made his way to Simpsonhafen. Dewey knew that the German fleet had set sail for the SW Pacific two weeks prior him leaving San Diego. He wanted to catch that fleet before it reached Simpsonhafen and had the chance to recoal and recover from this journey. He lost the race when he reached Simpsonhafen on March the 23rd, three days after the Germans did under Konteradmiral Otto von Diederichs and his five ship fleet had reached the port.


Konteradmiral von Diederichs fleet was made up of the two Kaiser class ironclads, the SMS Oldenburg, and a pair of aviso. Germany simply didn’t have more modern ships to send to the Southwest Pacific and sent these older ironclads. With Dewey having missed his shot at an open battle instead started to blockade Simpsonhafen as the ships carrying MacArthur’s troops moved into a position to land on New Pomerania.


MacArthur oped for a double envelopment landing system land troops in both Open Bay and Wide Bay[2] on the 24th. His foe von Bernhardi knew that a landing in his rear was likely. So he ordered his troops to start digging in. His force was armed with some of the most advance equipment that Germany had to offer at the moment. The two big items were the Gewehr 1888 rifle and the Maxim Machine Gun both of which were better to what the American troops had to use in the Simpsonhafen campaign. The US Army was using Gatling Guns a design that dated from the Civil War and the Marines using a newer machine gun in the form of the M1894 Colt-Browning Machine Gun[3]. The rifles used by both the army and marines through fell let short of what the Mauser could do.


The Battle of Simpsonhafen started on March 25th. The Americans fighting on New Pomerania came to quickly understand that the Germans simply had better guns then they did. The only trump card they had to play was their five 1.65 inch Hotchkiss Guns. This light artillery help the US to start to gain the upper hand in the battle. The Germans had their own artillery, a battery of Krupp FK 73s. The Hotchkiss Guns used by the US were lighter and able to move better in the rough terrain of New Pomerania. This gave the Americans the edge in artillery on land. An edge they badly needed.


After three days of brutal fighting, Dewey and the Navy seeing that MacArthur was taking a beating, decided to charge into the battle instead of simply blockading the Germans. This caught the Germans under von Diederichs by surprise. Most of the crews had dismounted to fight as naval infantry units to help hold the line against MacArthur’s larger force. This meant they couldn’t leave the docks where they were tied up to. The gun crews of the ships were still there and started to return fire, but being unable to move made them a sitting target. However, in von Diederichs defense if von Bernhardi and his force would had been overran he would been dead anyways as he understood he wasn’t about to get away from Dewey’s fleet. One by one the ships of the fleet of von Diederichs was disabled and knocked out of the fight and scuttled in port.


With von Diederichs fleet knocked out, Dewey opened fire on von Bernhardi’s force. The heavy firepower brought things to a speedy end. Von Bernhardi would surrender his force just before sundown on the 28th. The US had paid a heavy price for having the crappier end of the small arms fight at Simpsonhafen. They suffered 2,592 dead in the two days of fighting to take Simpsonhafen with a further 4,317 wounded. The Germans under von Bernhardi suffered numbers well under MacArthur with 1,293 dead and 1,908 wounded in the two days of fighting to hold the port.


The only other ship the Germans had in the area the SMS Prinzess Wilhelm had been patrolling near Bougainville Island at this time only to return to Simpsonhafen on April 1st to recoal only to find part of Dewey’s fleet there. Not wanting to fight she left the area and was able to get away. She docked at Port Moresby and was able to take on more coal and then try to affect the US movements in the area who was moving to take over all German outpost in the area. Only she was interned by the British after spending 72 hours in port and still not done with resuppling the ship.


After learning of the defeat at Simpsonhafen Kaiser Wilhelm became upset and ordered an invasion of the US Caribbean that day. However, his general staff both in the army and navy viewed this operation as a suicide mission. They use slow orders to keep the fleet from sailing to the Caribbean and destroying key naval and army units needed to defend Germany with. A few days after learning of the defeat of Simpsonhafen, Wilhelm calmed down and agree to see reason and cancelled the planned invasion of the American Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. He then ordered peace feelers to be send out to the United States.


The US was more than willing to start peace talks and agreed to a cease fire on April 30th. Peace talks started at The Hague six weeks later. Negotiations were hard fought but with the US being clear winner of the war put them in the driver seat. The Germans under the terms of the Treaty of The Hague surrendered all rights to Samoan Island Group. Germany also lost German New Guinea[4], Nauru, the Marshall Islands, and the German North Solomon Island Protectorate[5] which were taken by the United States in the Treaty of the Hague. This effectively drove Germany out of the Pacific, with the German Empire only retaining the rights to the Tonga Archipelago. The US could had taken the rights of the Tonga Archipelago but the British also had the rights to the Tonga Archipelago. It was viewed as not worth the headache to strip Germany of these rights. Germany further admitted fault for the Battle of Caracas. In return the United States agreed to pay Germany 4.5 million dollars for all the infrastructure in the territories it was taking control over. The US wasn’t annexing any of these lands at the moment as they wanted to use some of them as a barging chip with the British in the outstanding duel claims they had across the Pacific with the British. Once those claims were dealt with they would annex the remaining lands.


For Germany the Island War was nothing short of a disaster. They had all but been pushed out of the Pacific by this war. It was a humiliation to be defeated and further it derailed plans that had been starting to come together just before the start of the war. Spain was effectively broke in 1894 and had been looking to sell the Philippines which was in revolt at the time with its few remaining island colonies in the Pacific. Only Germany had been willing to talk turkey. However, in the after of the Island War these plans were shelfed. Yet the most important thing that came out of this war was the fact Kaiser Wilhelm II had been humbled and showed that bull strong reactions in International Politics don’t work.


[1] More or less OTL, but it was a class run of three.

[2] I’m using Google Maps, and I shit you not that is their name.

[3] With butterflies the M1895 came into service about a year earlier.

[4] Ok a little clearing up here. At this point in history German New Guinea didn’t cover all of German held Pacific Outpost at this point that didn’t happen till after the turn of the century OTL. I don’t see that changing ITL either. So German New Guinea under the terms of this treaty is German held New Guinea, New Britain, New Island, and other islands that are part of OTL Papua New Guinea that are to the east and north of those three main islands along with islands that are near these islands.

[5] These are made up of Bougainville, Choiseul Island, Santa Isabel Island, the Shortland Islands, and Ontong Java Atoll.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95

The war between the Chinese and Japanese started over Korea. Japan which had only in the past few decades had come out 200 plus years of national seclusion, had come to had some European taste, a notable one was that for an empire. They viewed making their own empire along western lines as the best way to keep from becoming a western vessel state or outright colony like other once great empires were becoming in Southeast Asia. However, for the Japanese their nation was lacking in natural resources needed to build a modern industrial state. Outside of coal everything had to be imported in to turn the once hermit kingdom into a modern power. Many within the Japanese Government viewed Korea as a dagger pointing right at the heart of their nation that had be brought under their control if they were to prosper.


In 1894, the Kingdom of Joseon as Korea was then known was more or less a puppet of the Qing Empire. Even through the Qing Empire as China was then known then had suffered embarrassing defeats at the hands of Westerns for decades now. However, many within the Qing Court viewed themselves as the strongest Empire in Asia. They have even embarked on a series of reforms to transform their nation into something that could stand up to the western nations and reserve the tied that had started with the First Opium War in which western powers had enforced their will on the Chinese people. Their goal was to finally to make Western Nations to so respect to the Chinese people.


The only problem was the Chinese of the Qing Court were hopeless corrupted. Public corruption was nothing new, and indeed all states suffered from it to some degree. However, the scale of the corruption within the Qing Court was mind blowing. Officers of all ranks of the Beiyang Army and Navy regularly embezzled funds which had caused the Beiyang Navy to stop buying newer warships from overseas shipyards as they simply didn’t have the money to buy more ships with the scale of this embezzlement. In 1891 they stopped buying ammo for both the army and navy as those funds were moved to renovate the Summer Palace in Peking. In one even more surprising case the captain of the flagship of the Beiyang fleet, the Dingyuan, pawned one of the 12 inch guns of his ship[1]. On top of the massive opium use within the Beiyang military system and political rivalry of the other military systems within the Qing Empire meant the Chinese were truthy fall weaker than they looked on paper. Put together with the fact they hadn’t sent officers to Europe and the Americas to study modern military tactics was asking basically the same as asking someone to put a match to a piece of paper that had been soak in kerosene only no one really under stood this at the time.


Even through tensions between China and Japan were running high in the summer of 1894, they hadn’t reached the point of open war. Things came to a head through when the Kingdom of Joseon suffered a peasant rebellion[2] and requested help from the Qing Empire. The Qing then sent help without informing the Japanese which broke a number of agreements and treaties the two had with each other. This in turn caused the Japanese to send its own troops into Korea. Even through the Qing forces were already leaving Korea as they hadn’t been needed to put town this peasant rebellion, the Japanese used this window to empower a pro-Japanese Korean faction and allow them to take control of the Kingdom of Joseon. The Qing viewed this as an act of war against them and declared war on the Japanese on July 25th 1894. At the time many who were looking at this war as the then ongoing Italo-Ethiopian War was viewed as just another colonial campaign came to study this war. Many believed that the Chinese would soundly defeat the Japanese.


Fighting had taking place between the Chinese and Japanese even before the official Chinese declaration of war against the Japanese. Because of the poor state of the roads in Manchuria and Korea the easiest way to move troops was via the Yellow Sea. Even through war hadn’t been declared yet, things were reaching the breaking point between the two Asian nations. Not wanting to be seen as backing down and not ready to risk their most advance fleet in the Beiyang, the Chinese rented a British flag transport to reinforce their troops at Asan. The Chinese ran into Japanese cruiser squadron and the first signs of Chinese incompetent showed themselves at this battle. In the action that followed the Chinese munity on the British transport when the British crew decided to follow international law and return to China. The transport was sunk in turn by the Japanese. The Japanese also captured both of the gunboats that the Chinese were using to escort the transport.


This caused a diplomatic incident between the British and Japanese. The Chinese who believed they could crush the Japanese when to war siting this action as their reason for war. However, a British court later ruled that the Japanese had followed the rules of international law when dealing with a ship that had mutinied. Even through the Japanese had refused to save the Chinese who had abandon ship caused a black eye in the view of the world. This started a comedy of errors by the Chinese in this war.


Through what could only be called gross incompetent, the Chinese Army at Pyongyang was encircled by the Japanese. This was the second army to surrender to the Japanese since the start of the war, with the smaller army at Asan had already surrender. Even through the Japanese outnumbered the Chinese at Pyongyang, they suffered a faction of the casualties. The Japanese in turn wasn’t ready for the flood of Chinese prisoners. Even after the 3,000 dead Chinese there was 13,000 prisoners who walked into prison camps when they surrender September 3rd.


With their position coming part in Korea the Chinese started trying to reverse the course of the war. They wanted to hold the Japanese south of the Yalu River to keep them out of China itself. When the earlier half measures not being enough they committed the bulk of the Beiyang Fleet to guard a convoy of a new army to enter Korea and shore up the failing positions there. The Japanese fleet under Ito Sukeyuki was able to trap the Chinese who had orders not to travel before the Yalu River between the Yalu and their naval base at Port Arthur. With the Japanese ships being quicker than the Chinese the Chinese wasn’t able to out run the Japanese.


With the Chinese being trapped they tried to fight their way out. Only when they started trying to fire their guns did they learn that their ammo was either the wrong size of ammo or their power was filled with cement. The lack of crew training also a major effective in the battle itself as the Chinese guns fired at a far reduced rate of what could they. They also open fired at a range far to great range that furtherly caused them to use their limited ammo supply for no effect. It also seem the Chinese had no idea how to save guard their fleet from the actions of the Japanese which was taking their edges they were taking in the course for the battle. The Battle of the Yalu River was a decisive Japanese Victory. They forced the armored cruiser Jingyuan, protected cruiser Zhiyuan, and cruiser Jiyuan along with nine merchant ships to strike their colors. They also sunk the armored cruiser Laiyuan, protected cruiser Jingyuen, and Heien a coastal defense ship.


With the victories at Yalu River and Pyongyang by the end of October the Japanese Army enter Manchuria. Like in Korea the Chinese lead by commanders who were grossly negligence in their commands and should have never been anywhere near their commands. They were in these commands because of their political skills instead of their abilities to lead troops into battle. This led to the Japanese Army even through smaller to running circles around the Chinese in Manchuria. It also led to the surrender of Port Arthur to the Japanese on November 15th. A French Army officer who was attached to the Japanese army later said that if commanded by a proper command the forts that had defended Port Arthur would had held for years instead of the single day it fell in.


The Japanese started to run into a foe that they couldn’t defeat however falling the fall Port Arthur. This was international finance. Following the start of The Island War two major sources of funding in Germany and the United States dried up. Even the British sources dried up to some degree. This caused the Japanese to enter winter quarters instead of staying on the offensive following their victory at Port Arthur as they couldn’t afford to stay on the offensive and pay for everything that was needed to be paid for in a war. They started prepping for an offensive in the spring.


With the defeat of the Germans in the Pacific War the British approved a major loan at low rates to the Japanese as they started looking for a nation that could possibly be used as a counter weight to the Americans in the Pacific. This allowed the Japanese to restart their offensive earlier than they planned. On April 5th the Japanese started their offensive which they had slated to start in May. This was the Shandong Campaign. And with the new funding the Japanese who were still trying to force China to agree them push harder than they had in Manchuria.


The Battle of Wiehaiwei started three days later. Wiehaiwei was where the remaining units of the Beiyang Fleet were hold up and the Japanese needed to remove these units to the threat to their navy and merchant marine so they could invade Formosa which had become the goal of the Japanese in this war. Even through the Chinese had been given this pause in fighting before the start of the Shandong Campaign, they had failed to use it. Many officers were still more worried about how they were doing than how their nation was going to perform in the war. Opium smoking was becoming a major problem with some units as they viewed fighting the Japanese as death sentence. Without the officers trying to maintain discipline the problem grew into an epidemic at Wiehaiwei.


Wiehaiwei fell in 5 days. Admiral Ding Ruchang committed suicide instead of surrender to the Japanese. Even through, he ordered the Beiyang Fleet to scuttle itself before he killed himself that order never reached the ships in the harbor. The Japanese was able to capture two battleships and a number of lesser vessels. With the Beiyang Fleet destroyed or captured the Qing Empire finally agreed to ask for terms.


Only the Japanese were ready yet. They used legal tricks to stall the Chinese peace delegation as they launched their invasion of the invasion of Pescadores Islands. The islands fell fairly quickly and by April 30th they were under their control. With those islands under their control, the Japanese finally started peace talks.


The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on May 9th. Under the terms of the treaty the Chinese recognized the full and total independence of Korea. All forms tribute and performance ceremonies that Korea once paid to China was ended. China ceded in perpetuity and full sovereignty of the Pescadores Island Group, Formosa, the city of Wiehaiwei[4][5]. China would further pay Japan 255 million kuping taels worth of silver. China granted Japan most favored nation status and open a five different of ports to Japanese trade.


[1] I’m fairly sure this happened OTL, but I can’t remember where I read this. So why not happen ITL?

[2] Basically the OTL Donghak Peasant Rebellion, but ITL its called something else.

[3] This area is defind as OTL Huancui District, Rongcehng, Shandong, and Wendeng District.

[4] Russia overplayed their hand and let it become known if the Japanese took any part of the Liaodong Peninsula it was war. Instead they switched their focus to the Shandong Peninsula. The Russians didn’t object to this, neither did the British. So its theirs now.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Italo-Ethiopian War of 1894-95

Italy like the United States and Germany who would go to war later in the year in a year that saw three different wars start was a late comer to the empire game. The Italians had only united their nation in 1861, and had only gained their capital nine years later in a lightly fought battle with the pope and the troops of the Papal States. Yet instead of a new day on the Italian Peninsula there were many problems left over from the unification of their nation which was causing a flood of people to leave Italy for the United States and elsewhere in the search of a better life. Rome was looking for something to unite the people, make it clear Italy was a great power, and take the people’s mind of the piss poor state of their nation and economy. Many in Rome viewed a colonial war as such an event that could keep Italians from flooring out of their nation for the greener pastures the United States and elsewhere offered, but also as proof Italy was a great power to their peers in the world.


Like so many things in Italian history Rome did not take the ease road for colonial gains. Instead of striking at the sickman of Europe in the Ottoman Empire which controlled Libya which was only a few hours sailing from Italian shores the Italians decided to have this short victorious colonial war in the Horn of Africa. Even through the Italians already had colonial outpost in the Horn of Africa this added to the logistical challenges in any war. Yet they had enjoyed British support in their efforts to build a colonial empire in the Horn of Africa and many in Rome believed it was time to double down in the region following the slight it had been given by the Ethiopians.


Italy had signed a treaty with the Ethiopians that in their view turned Ethiopia into an Italian Protectorate. The Ethiopians however disagreed with the Italian view on this treaty that had been signed five years prior. The problem was Menelik who was the emperor of Ethiopia had signed this treaty in both Italian and Amharic, however he could only read Amharic. In a moment like George Washington found himself in that started the French and Indian War or Seven Years War depending on where you lived, Menelik basically all but started a war because he signed a treaty in a language he didn’t understand. The only two nations that refused to play by the treaty as the Italians understood it was the Ottomans who were claiming that it was their territory and Russia. Russia didn’t want to see an Orthodox nation being placed under the boot of the Catholic Church.


Tensions between Rome and Addis Ababa worsen with every passing month. Italy started building up forces in Eritrea to crush the unruly Menelik and to gain total control of Eritrea. Finally in the summer of 1894, Menelik tore up the treaty he had signed with the Italians in the late-1880s. Italy started pushing back even harder against Menelik and was getting ready for war. At the same time the Italians decided to remove General Oreste Baratieri from his position in Eritrea before any war started. Baratieri was a political hack who may have been good at unrulily mob control, but the leaders in Rome were smart enough to understand that Ethiopia wasn’t an unrulily mob and was beyond Baratieri’s skills. They sent Antonio Baldissera who through had been born and trained in the Austrian Army before becoming an Italian National in the after 1866, and was a far more skill general.


Baldissera started the war on August 5th 1894 with the blessing of Rome. The Ethiopians knew this was coming and had mobilized a large force of over 200,000 men to face against the 21,000 men under the command of Baldissera. The only problem was the Ethiopian force wasn’t totally armed with firearms. Only just about half the force that Menelik brought together was armed with firearms of one kind or other. The rest was armed with spears or other blunt edge weapons. Menelik knew his best chance was to stop Italy was through force of numbers and support from Russia. Once the Italians had crossed into Ethiopia Menelik sent a team to St. Petersburg and asking for the support from their Orthodox brothers.


Over next few months there were only minor battles between Baldissera and Menelik who were feeling each other out. Menelik was still looking for a way out that was peaceful and allow him to maintain control of his nation. Yet a chance in early December gave Baldissera a chance to badly cripple Menelik and his army. This led to the Battle of Mek’ele. Where both sides brought almost their whole armies into play at this one battle, leading to the largest battle in Africa at the time when Mek’ele happened on December 4th.


At Mek’ele Baldissera had two columns that were able to perform a fairly well timed pincer movement against Menelik’s force. Over the next seven hours the two sides when at it. Menelik who came forward to see how the battle was going on saw to his horror the massive death and order his army to withdraw south. Baldissera’s own force was simply too exhausted to give chase and needed to regroup as well. Baldissera suffered just over 2,000 total casualties at Mek’ele. Whereas Menelik suffered just over 20,000 total casualties and loss of 19 critical artillery pieces which was just over 3/4s of his total artillery force. The main cause of the casualties on the Ethiopian side of the battle had been the number of machine guns used by the Italians in the battle.


Mek’ele was the biggest battle fought in Africa of all times by this point in time by total number of troops at the battle. Even against the battles in the Island War and Sino-Japanese War, Mek’ele was bigger than anything in either of those wars. The death toll also took many by surprise. For Rome it gave them pause in wondering if taking all of Ethiopia was worth the trouble as Menelik still hadn’t come to sue for terms. The Russians also started to put pressure on the Italians to end this war or they would enter the war and end it for them as news reached them in December.


The Italians played a strong front but it was decided to end the war as international finances were being strained by the fact three different wars were being fought in the winter of 1894-95. And the Italians knew their finances could bite them in the ass. This would lead to the Treaty of Asmara that was signed on March 11th 1895. Menelik ceded control of the Tigray and Ogaden Region of Ethiopia along with minor border adjustments along the Ethiopian-Italian Eritrea[1]. Ethiopia granted Italy most favored nation status along other economic perks that were clearly in favor of the Italians. The most important part of the treaty through was the fact the Italians was recognizing the Ethiopians as their own independent nation.


[1] Map coming up shortly.