A New Balance

[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 it Bernabe push things to the breaking point by insulting Fish and the United States. It 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. 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 ever suffered since Bladensburg in 1814 at the hands of the British. 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.


Brigadier General Anton who had been winning battles against the rebels in Cuba decided instead of waiting for the Americans to attack him, he would attack the Americans after being reinforced briefly to make the US exit the war. 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. 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. Anton then when about starting to destroy the port of New Orleans. Only a few hours later through he is counter attack by the 25th Infantry Regiment (Colored) which was being shifted from western duty to the defense of the coast. And had only reached New Orleans hours earlier. This counterattack by the 25th Infantry catches Anton out of position, but Anton is able to rally his men from the shock of the counterattack of the Americans to an retreat orderly to the waiting boats.


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 America they use New Orleans as a rallying cry. There were also questions as to how the Spanish were even able to reach New Orleans and the neglected state of the coastal defenses of the nation. Yet even as these questions were being raised many Republicans and Democratics rally to the flag as New Orleans wouldn’t go unanswered. Men flock to recruiting stations as the nation which had only been half hearting supporting the war had been enraged and come to fully support the war.


Following the Raid of New Orleans, the USN meet the Spanish Navy in the Battle of the Florida Straits on May 1st 1874. The Battle of the Florida Straits to put nicely was a bloody mess on both sides as it was a force of American monitors meeting an Spanish Force who had the ironclad Numancia and a number of wooden warships escorting a raiding force meant to raid Gulfport under General Joaquin Jovellar y Soler. In the Battle of the Straits as it is commonly known the Americans managed to get the Numancia to strike her colors and sink two of the wooden escorts at the cost of the USS Lehigh when she was rammed by one of the wooden escorts with both ships sinking. The Spanish force which had set out to raid retreated back to Cuba.


With the victory in the Florida Straits, the US felt ready for an invasion of Cuba now. They set their sights on the capital of Havana itself. The invasion force left from ports in the US 10 days after the victory in the Florida Straits and set sail for Havana. Leading this force was Major General Philip Sheridan. Sheridan had just under 60,000 men from the regular army and US Volunteers under his command for this invasion. Sheridan landed his army near the town of Mariel, Cuba to the west of Havana in early June.


The first battle in Cuba was the Battle of Caimito on June 10th. The goal of Sheridan in his invasion of Cuba was to capture Havana to use that was a base of operations in Cuba and port of resupply. At Caimito Sheridan’s army met the vanguard of Soler’s Army. Both sides were equipped without dated muzzle loading artillery even through the Franco-Prussian War only three years prior had shown that muzzle loading artillery was outdated. However, Sheridan’s Army had a battery of Gatling Guns under his command. Even through these were the size of artillery pieces and were treated as such they made a major difference at Caimito and allow Sheridan to carry the day.


With the victory at Caimito Sheridan kept moving his army to Havana. The battle of Havana started four days later as Sheridan started to clear out the fort systems around Havana. In this fight, they were supported by different monitors of the navy. It did lead to the sinking of the USS Ajax when she stuck one of the few mines that the Spanish placed in Havana Harbor on the 15th. Santa Clara Battery the last bastion of the Spanish in Havana fell to Sheridan’s Army on the 19th and the city was in Sheridan’s hands. Casualties on both sides had been heavy. However, Soler had to surrender his sword on the 19th as with the Third Carlist War being fought most of the troops in Cuba had been stripped away after it was seen the US wasn’t going to take a status quo ante peace from the colony and the Spanish were holed up in Havana and Santiago.


With Havana in his hands Sheridan rested his army as reinforcements of the mainland started to reach him before he started his overland campaign of Cuba. At the same time the navy launched a mission to seize the island of Guam in the Pacific. Some saw this as the navy trying to make political capital they lost because of New Orleans. Others believed Grant was eying trade with China and wanted an American own island which would allow American ships a stopping point on the journey to China.


In early August Sheridan launched his overland campaign of Cuba. By this point, Sheridan’s Army had reached a strength of 110,000 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. These included James Longstreet, Nathen Bedford Forrest, and John S Mosby. Other less well known officers also served in Sheridan’s army, but Longstreet, Forrest, and Mosby were all given command positions within Sheridan’s Army of Cuba. 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 Spanish Navy as they were trying to reach San Juan so they could escape Santiago and still be an effect force in the Caribbean. This led to the Battle of the Windward Passage on September 21st. At Windward Passage the US Squadron was made up of five monitors and one ironclad against the four-strong wooden ship force that was trying to reach San Juan. The battle was totally one sided with two of the Spanish ships being sunk and another two striking their colors and surrendering to the Americans. With their victory at Windward Passage the US had gained total control of the Caribbean over the Spanish.


Once the navy got into position to support operations around Santiago, Sheridan started his offensive to take the city in early October. By this point the Spanish Army in Santiago was hurt by moral issues and had been without resupply from Spain for some time now. They only put up token resistance against Sheridan and his Army of Cuba before surrendering on October 11th. Missed by the press at the time was Guam was captured by the navy days before the fall of Santiago. However, by the time news reach the west coast the surrender of the Spanish in Santiago was the talk of newspapers.


With Cuba in his hands, Sheridan started prepping his Army which now number 150,000 plus American troops plus a further 30,000 Patriot Cuban troops that had joined his army during his overland campaign, to invade the island of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was the last bastion of the Spanish in the New World and needed to be taken before the Americans would be willing to talk terms with the Spanish. Sheridan launched his invasion of Puerto Rico on November 1st reaching San Juan a week later. The Spanish at San Juan put up a good fight lasting six days before the Spanish flag over the Castillo San Cristobal came down and the stars and stripes when up.


Following the victory at San Juan, the US was willing to talk peace terms with the Spanish now. A team head by Hamilton Fish travelled to Berlin to work with the Spanish and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck who offered mediate a peace treaty. 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 Guam to the United States. The Spanish Government would pay 100,000 dollars to the families 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. This was Bismarck working to find a peace between the two waring powers. Finally, Spain formally apologize for the insult that started the war. The Treaty of Berlin was signed on January 14 1875 and was later ratified by the US Senate and Spanish Governments in the coming months.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Also I'm serious tempted for this to become the national anthem.

 

[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 Jackson 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 US moving on to other issues the treaty was allowed to lapsed without being ratified by the US.


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 that the US dropped the idea again of buying the Danish West Indies for the time to be.


Following the election of Benjamin Bristow and William Wheeler to the White House the idea was floated a few different times. But it wasn’t till 1878 that President Bristow ordered his Secretary of State James G Blaine to start work with the Danish to get another treaty in place. It was at this point Bristow who had ran on a reform ticket decided he was safe enough to make this move. Blaine when about contacting the Danish again about the possibly of buying the Danish West Indies.


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 steel cruisers in the USN, the USS Atlanta[2] 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 decided for my own sanity more than anything else to only cover foreign events and give a brief domestic history background in the nation updates before I get into my more standard updates that start in 1937.

[2] With the cluster that led to New Orleans the navy got money for new warships.

 

[Jim Smitty]

This was meant to be a single update, but as it grew I decided to spited it up as two.

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 Island Group. 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 in early 1875.


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. 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 other side 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 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 the storm hit. 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 failed 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 in 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 in 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. 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. 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 the unprotected cruisers SMS Bussard, SMS Falke, and SMS Seeadler. 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 ACR-8 and USS New York ACR-9[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 AD-1 together with two destroyers of the three strong Bainbridge Class of Torpedo Boat Destroyers[5]. The third ship of the class the USS Decatur TBD-2 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 were 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.


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 BB-1[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 of 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 as the Danish West Indies had come to be known now as a German colony and withdraw all claims to the Samoa Islands. This ended the US efforts to find a peace once the Germans made it clear that was really their position a day later. The Americans refused and walked out of the arbitrate meetings in London on October 19 vowing to never return.


Days later Ambassador Anton Saurma von der Jeltsch visited President McKinley that handed him a note that was an ultimatum. It demanded that they return to the arbitration meetings and agree to the terms the Germans were putting forward. McKinley refused saying those demands was the same as a declaration of war. With the US refusing to return to arbitration 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 were she sunk as well. But unlike the Paul Jones the Bainbridge was caught by a hail of smaller weapons and sunk by the Germans. Before the Germans withdrew their edge in gunnery made itself clear by what happened to the New York. The New York was stuck by at least three 28 cm shells fired by the Brandenburg six 15 cm shells from the Kaiserin Augusta, with countless other hits from lighter weapons from other ships in this battle. The New York was kept afloat by a herculean effort of her crew but she would flounder on the trip to Guantanamo Bay for repairs a day after the battle.


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 BB-2 and three protected cruisers to hunt down the remains of the German squadron under von Tirpitz before. However, giving the time and distances Sampson didn’t find von Tirpitz’s squadron.


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.


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 then 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 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 25,000 troops with some of its old ironclads to escort and reinforce these colonies as well.


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.

 

[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. 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 should Dewey and MacArthur lose in the Pacific.


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 as 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 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 order 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 surrender to the Americans and ending fighting on Samoa. 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.


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 the newest machine gun 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 gain the upper hand. 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. A edge they badly needed.


After two 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.


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 27th. The US had paid a heavy price for having the crappier end of the small arms fight at Simpsonhafen. They suffered 1,392 dead in the two days of fighting to take Simpsonhafen with a further 1,932 wounded. The Germans under von Bernhardi suffered numbers well under MacArthur with 839 dead and 1,208 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 effect the US movements in the area who was moving to take over all German outpost in the area.


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 as foolish. They use slow orders to keep the fleet from sailing to the Caribbean and what they viewed as a suicide mission. 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. 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. They also turned over control of German New Guinea to the United States which effetely pushed Germany out of the Pacific. Further Germany admitted fault at the Battle of Caracas. In return the United States paid Germany 3.5 million dollars for all the infrastructure it had in German New Guinea.


[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.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95

The war between the Chinese and Japanese came about as to 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, notably 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.


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 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.


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 seen 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 were grossly stupid and poor led with their commanders hadn’t been place in these positions because of political connections and not military skill. This led to the Japanese Army even through smaller to run 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 an foe that they couldn’t defeat. 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 became 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.


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 cities of Qingdao[3] and 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 large number of ports to Japanese trade.


[1] I’m fairly sure this happened, but I can’t remember where I read this.

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

[3] OTL Kiautschou Bay Concession

[4] OTL Port Edwards in size

[5] Yes the Japanese wanted Port Arthur more. However, the Russians made it clear they wanted it and overplayed their hand and let the Japanese know that the Russians wouldn’t allow them to annex Port Arthur. So they refocused on Shandong area instead of facing a show down on the subject over it with the Russians.

 

[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 the start of three different wars 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. 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. 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 offered, but also as proof Italy was a great power.


For reasons known only to the Italians[1], instead of striking at Libya which was only a short distance from their nation and defending by the sick man of Europe, they wanted this war in East Africa. The British who were trying to offset French influence in the area supported and even encouraged the Italians to build an empire in East Africa. It allowed the Italians to have their great power status which London understood the Italians wanted but it also allowed the British to cut off Italy from its empire if it got too uppity. In during the 1880s the Italians set up to colonies in East Africa. The first being Eritrea, the second being Italian Somaliland.


Italy also set up a treaty with Ethiopia that turned the African nation in Italian Protectorate as the Italians read the treaty. However, Menelik II didn’t read the treaty that way. Then again he signed the treaty in both Italian and Amharic. Menelik signed both treaties both 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 jack 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 1893, Menelik tore up the treaty he had signed with the Italians in the mid 1880s. Italy started pushing back even harder against Menelik and got 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 July 5th 1894. 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 ask 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 November 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 November 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 artillery pieces.


Mek’ele was the biggest battle fought in Africa of all times at this 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 January 11th 1895. Menelik ceded control of the Tigre’ Region, Ogaden Region, along with Aswi Rasu, Kilbert Rasu, Fantena Rasu, to the Italians. Ethiopia granted Italy most favored nation status. But the most important part of the treaty was the fact the Italians was recognizing the Ethiopians as their own independent nation.


[1] I’m at a lost why the Italians thought the horn of Africa was such a great place for an colonial empire when Libya was so close and damn near totally unpopulated. Anyone care to answer this?

 

[Jim Smitty]

The Treaties of 1898

The two wars in the Pacific, the Island War between the United States and Germany and the Sino Japanese War had upset the balance of power in the Pacific. It also caused the British to become increasingly worried that the balance of power their grandfathers had fought Napoleon for was coming part at the seams as new powers who were hungry and wanting their own empires. Even more since the United States was refusing to take part in the European Affairs. Japan was the Yellow Peril even through they had when to great lengths to modernize their nation and bring it up to European standards and even some culturally of the Europeans were brought to Japan in their efforts to modernize their nation. Then you had the Russians who were looking to expand at the cross of everyone else and had flex their muscles when they forced the Italians to stop their colonial campaign in East Africa.


For Germany their defeat in the Pacific War ended their hopes of a Pacific base Empire. There had been some fairly serious talk about buying the Philippines and their remaining Pacific colonies from the Spanish. With the loss their only colony in the Pacific, which was now American New Guinea and rights to Samoa it left them only with rights to Tonga Group as their only toe hold in the Pacific. The US hadn’t forced the Germans to give up their rights to the Tonga Group because the British also had rights there and didn’t want another headache because of the British. This left in a poor position and they knew it. However, like many they saw the Chinese get curbstompped by the Japanese.


Germany wanted a piece of Chinese pie to maintain some kind of projection ability in the Pacific. Even as efforts were underway to rebuild the Imperial Germany Navy after the massive losses in the Island War, Kaiser Wilhelm casted his eyes on China. So Germany turned to the British for help. This would lead to the Treaty of London (1898). Under the terms of this treaty, the Germans surrender their rights to the Tonga Group to the British. This would allow the British to set up Tonga as a colony soon thereafter. In return for surrendering their rights to Tonga to the British, the Germans would receive British support for a German “Hong Kong” somewhere along the Chinese coast. The location of this German Hong Kong was left blank as Shianshima[1] which the Germans did have their eyes on was now a Japanese City.


For the United States their victory in the Island War had left them asking many questions. Unlike in the Spanish-American War 20 years prior they had soundly defeated a great European Power as Spain had been weak and in a state of civil war. The support the British had given the Germans was unnerving through. This was the time of Pax Britannica after all. The US however, was a different beast than European Empires. Even through it was a late comer to the Empire Game it was only interested in a hand full of islands in the Pacific and maintaining a SOI in the Americas. With its victory in the Island War the only Island group it really wanted to add to its holdings was Hawaii. They didn’t understand why the British wanted to have a more active foreign policy that caused them to have to deal with Europeans. They didn’t want this. They were for good relations but maintaining a most isolationist polices that kept Europe at arm’s length for the most part.


Even through the Venezuelan Debt Crisis which had led to the Island War as Germany had when to collect the debt Venezuela own her, had to be answered. This would lead to the McKinley Corollary[2] to the Monroe Doctrine in 1896. The goal was to make sure that there would never be another event that could lead to another war. He would go on to use this corollary to act in the Dominican Republic which had defaulted on loans to Europe and on the brink of being a failed state. The US occupation of the Dominican Republic was worrying to the British. However, the fact the US was also performing military reforms from lessons the Island War was doubly worrying as they took this as a sign the US was getting ready for a major expansion phase of the US. And with the fact the US had made the switch from being a debtor nation to a creditor nation in 1897, it made the US look even more like a threat to the British in their eyes.


The British and Americans met in 1898 like the British did with the Germans in an effort to find a way to end the duel claims on the Samoan and Hawaiian Island Groups. The American team understood going in that a comprise was most likely going to be needed to get a deal done. Indeed they had been willing to give the part of New Guinea Island they took over from the Germans and divide the Samoan Island Group between itself and the British to be allowed to annex Hawaii. For the British they were hell bent to keep the US was annexing the Sandwich Islands as they knew Hawaii. The last thing they wanted was the US to have another good naval base in the Pacific.


After a few rounds of talks the US team saw that the British wouldn’t give up their rights to Hawaii. This angered the American team, but understood the game that was being played. After a few rounds of talks the two sides did come to an agreement. The British turned over all rights to the Samoan Island Group to the Americans who in return would turn over all rights to the Sandwich Island Group to the British.


The Treaty of Baltimore which outline the changes in the rights to what islands would mark the highpoint between Anglo-American relations for the foreseeable future as the US who had been open to good relations to the British before this shifted into viewing the British as a rival. For the British they achieved their goal of keeping Hawaii out of American hands, but failed to understand they had pushed too hard and the Americans who had been open to friendship were now out for something different.


[1] Qiandao, but in Japanese.

[2] Basically the OTL Roosevelt Corollary.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Chinese Treaty Ports of 1898

In the aftermath of the Sino Japanese War the Qing Empire looked very weak in the eyes of the world. The fact the world had widely believed that the Qing would defeat the Japanese only for the Japanese to wipe the floor with China was shocking. But they also smelled blood in the water. The age of empire building was still in full swing and with China almost everyone was looking to crave a piece off China. The question was who would be the first to move and force the Chinese to sign a treaty handing over control of a port to a foreign nation so they would gain a sphere of influence in China.


The Russians were the first to strike and carve off a piece of China. They had been for generations been looking for a warm water port that didn’t have a natural choke point. Port Arthur was such a port and was within striking distance. Even through it was at the end of some long logistical lines and thousands of kilometers from their industrial heart land, it was what they always wanted and they were going to get it. They wanted and when they learned that the Japanese might take it at the peace conference that would ended the Sino-Japanese War they let it be known that they would object to Japanese ownership of Port Arthur. This is what led the Japanese to shift their aims from the Liaodong Peninsula to the Shandong Peninsula and led to them annexing Shianshima and Ikaiei[1] at the end of their war with China.


With the Japanese having given up on the Liaodong Peninsula and shifting over to the Shandong Peninsula the Russians started to plan for a force hand over or the port. It really was their first step in their long term plan to annex Manchuria and added it to their growing empire. But the need to have a warm water port overrode the need to annex Manchuria at the moment. The Russian Pacific Fleet sailed into Port Arthur which still haven’t recovered from the Sino-Japanese War and at gun point started to move into the place. Had this been 1893, the Chinese would fought back far harder than they did. Yet by the winter of 1897-98 they barely had any fight left in them. The defeat at the hands of the Japanese had been humiliating and spark a deep debate within China about the future course they would take.


By March 1895, Port Arthur as the Russians called it had all but been taken over by the Russians. This sparked a crisis but the Russians threaten war against the Chinese if they didn’t agree to their terms. With the Russians eyeing a lot more than just Port Arthur and knowing this the Chinese agreed. This would lead to the first of many treaties signed in Peking in 1898. Under the terms of the Russian treaty the Russians were given a rent free lease at Port Arthur for the next 25 years. Russia believed at that time it would be able to find a reason to go to war against China before then that wouldn’t cause the British to jump on them. It was why they had when with only a 25 year lease instead of the more standard 99 years leases that were signed at this point in time.


By doing what the Russians did set off a massive land grab rush by almost all the great powers at first. Only the United States at the start of 1898 was oppose to diving China up into different sphere of influence. The US had started working to stop this but this would change as events in Baltimore made it clear that the British wouldn’t support their ideas their positions would change on the subject. Without another major power supporting them, the US knew their ideas would go nowhere. This sparked another debate within the halls of both the White House and Congress as what should the US do.


The British were the second to move. With the defeat of China at the hands of Japanese the British were worried about the defense of Hong Kong which they had annexed in the aftermath of the First Opium War. However they were also worried about the Russians who had just gained their long sought after warm water port, even if it was a leased port. Using their status as most favored nation within the Qing Empire, the British pushed through a treaty that achieved of all their aims. They would gain what would be known as the New Territories[2] for their Crown Colony of Hong Kong. This would be a 99 year lease of these territories, with the opinion to buy these territories in 1997 for a set price of 50,000 pounds adjusted for inflation.


Further north it was able to gain a lease on what would become known as Znifu Bay Concession or as the British called it Port Edwards[3]. This lease had more to do with the Russian lease of Port Arthur than the British wanting to build up the area. They wanted to remind the Russians that they controlled the seas and could shut down their port if they wanted. Unlike the New Territories, the British really had no plans to build up Port Edwards outside what was needed to host a fleet to keep the Russians in check. It was a case of remining the Russians, the British were the top dog. Unlike the New Territories which was a 99 year lease with an opinion to buy, Port Edwards was to be in place so long as the Russians were in control of Port Arthur.


The French also struck at around the same time. The French wanted their own Hong Kong. They were able to force the Chinese into signing over a 99 year lease with the opinion to buy in 1997 of Kouang-Tcheou-Wan[4]. This location of this port was strategically located on the Leizhou Peninsula and ease to defend. The French then placed control of their new port in China under the office of Governor of Indochina.


For the British they were treaty bound to help the Germans achieve a treaty port in China. After some hasty recon work on the part of the Germans, they selected Haizhou Bay to be their concession. Like the terms of other Europeans they gained a 99 year lease with the rights to buy the Haizhou Bay Concession[5] in 1997. The locals did fight the Germans fairly hard for the first few days after the Germans came to claim their concession, but between the newly formed Imperial German Marine Service[6] and the 28 cm shells of the three strong Brandenburg class Battleships the Germans were able to make their claim stick.


Italy also wanted to carve their piece of silver out China. This was more out of the prestige of having a leased port than for trade. With some help from the British they were able to get the Sanmen Bay Concession[7] for a 99 year lease with the opinion to buy outright in 1997. The Italians like the Germans had a major fight on their hands. They had sent two of their three Re Umberto Ironclad Battleships with a regiment of infantry to take control of the Sanmen Bay Concession. It took the Italians heavy use of their 13.5 inch British built guns on their ironclads and five days of heavy fighting to take control of the concession.


Finally there was the United States. At first the US opposed all of these treaty ports and was working on the idea to be able trade with all of China without having to deal with other nations SOIs. The Open Door Note as it was known when it was being drafted, however it would never be sent. As the British were making it clear they wouldn’t back the United States in this idea they allowed it to die on the table. After this a debate raged as what to do next. It became a case if you can’t beat them, join them. This caused the US to be the last great power to claim a treaty port. This came to be known as the Xinghua Bay Concession[8]. Like the Europeans they got a 99 year lease with the opinion to buy in 1997. Further like the Germans and Italians the Americans had some heavy fighting in enforcing their treaty rights to this concession when they landed to take control of it in December 1898. But with heavy naval artillery support and Marines on the ground they took control of their concession in three days.


[1] Weihaiwei, but it’s the new Japanese name.

[2] ITL the New Territories cover more land than OTL New Territories. Start just south of Bao’an to the hills just north of Shezhen, to just north of a Yantian. It also includes that small island that is a few miles to the east of the OTL New Territories.

[3] Ok this includes Taozi and Znifu Bays and the city of Yanti. They wanted Weihaiwei but that’s Japanese held now. Its land border goes about 10 miles inland from starting at Zhangdao to the end of Taozi Bay. It includes all those small islands right off the coast as well.

[4] OTL here.

[5] Start at Guanhe River and go north to Lanshan. This includes the Qinshan Island and Kaishan Island which are not that far from the coast. It includes the city of Lianyungang. It covers about ~600 km squared total territorial size wise, but don’t quote me on that as my math sucks.

[6] Ok to be the Seebataillon sounds like a standard infantry unit attached to the navy. So in the aftermath of the Island War Germany forms a proper Marine Corp.

[7] Ok you start at Yuanyu Islet and work your way north till you hit this little POS town of Jieqixiang. This is about flush for the most part but in some areas you go a few kilometers inland. It comes with all those little islands that are around it.

[8] Ok you start at this little POS town of Lingchuanzhen and go north till you hit Haikouzhen. This includes that mess of islands in this part of China. It doesn’t include the city of Putian. But it pushes close to the city limits of Putian.

 

[Doragon]

One small problem, I'm no good with maps and couldn't do one to save my life. I pulled most of this information off the Google World Map. I can give you round about locations on these concessions, but for a map no, I can't do that one.

Port Arthur and the French ones are per-OTL.

The New Territories have pushed the border a bit farther north than OTL. It includes the city of Shezhen ITL.

Port Edwards the other British leased territory is on Shandong Peninsula near the town of Yanti in the Shandong Province.

The German concession is near the town of Lianyungang in the Jiangsu province.

The Italians its south of Ningbo in the Zhejiang province.

For the Americans its around about the towns of Putian and Fuzhou in the Fujian Province.

Hope that helps.

Hope this helps. Rough location of the processions.

 

[Jim Smitty]

The Boxer War 1899-1902

China had been humiliated in the eyes of the world when it lost to the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. Then it was humiliated again when it was forced into signing over small pieces of its vast coastline to various foreign powers who wanted to make vast amounts of money through China with some having ideas to colonize China. By the time the United States had signed the last of the concession treaty China was deeply humiliated as it couldn’t stand up to anyone who tried to slice off a piece of China. Had Austria Hungary or any other minor European Empires tried to force China into signing a concession port it was questionable if they could had resisted and said no.


Besides slowly being carved up by Western Nations and Japan there was the long standing grudge of Christian missionaries who were trying to turn the masses in China to become Christians. Xenophobically was also running at high levels as China was trying to keep up with the rapidly changing world. Even the Qing Government was in turn oil as the liberals wanted to reform China and conservatives who didn’t want to reform China. Even through the conservatives won the debate with Empress Dowager Cixi becoming their leader there was still a debate about how to handle the foreign powers that were slowly carving China up.


Enter the Boxers. They believed that through diet, training, and prayer, they could perform feats that were impossible otherwise. The Boxers were attractive to the many unemployed male youths in China. As their numbers grew so do did the belief that an army from heaven would come to help remove the foreigners from China and make China for Chinese again. Its kin in North America, the Ghost Dance, had already been defeated by the Americans in the wind down of their wars with Native Americans. Yet this fact didn’t stop Chinese males from joining the boxers in large numbers.


The Qing Government under Empress Dowager did nothing to stop the Boxers. Indeed some within the court of Empress Dowager supported the Boxers. Because of this fact, the Qing Government didn’t try to keep the Boxers in check and allow them to do what they wanted. This turned into attacks on Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries throughout the Chinese nations during the winter of 1898/99. This in turn caused the Western Governments to protest to the Qing Government to do something about the Boxers. As the Qing refused to step in the Boxers grew bolder. In the spring of 1899, the Boxers attacked and killed French diplomatic Jean-Claude Besnard. Even through Besnard was only a junior diplomat in the service of the French Foreign Office, he still held diplomatic immunity and was on his way to meet a member of the Qing Government counterpart in an effort to reel in the Boxers. However, what the Boxers did to Besnard was unspeakable. The newspapers at the time refuse to print a now well known photo of the corpse, well better put the remains of the corpse of Besnard as it was too graphic to be publish.


As news of the death of a junior diplomat having died in a brutal manner at the hands of the Boxers a crisis formed between the Qing Government and the Third French Republic. At first it looked like the death of this junior diplomat might finally force the Qing to do something about the Boxers. However, before this crisis could be ended peacefully, the Boxers started to causing trouble in the International Legations within Peking. The story as to what happened on May 29 1899 is not that clear and many different accounts of what happened on this day are present. How it ended with a Japanese, a German, and two American diplomats or soldiers who were assigned to the International Legations dead with more wounded and with many boxers having been killed or wounded.


This would mark the start of the Siege of the International Legations. It also sparked international outrage over this event. This would lead to an international summit being held in London starting on June 9th. At this summit there was members from the foreign offices from many of the great and regional powers[1]. The British had taken the lead in this summit but it was clear that there was international outrage at the events and actions of the Boxers in China.


For the Chinese however, their team at this summit was led by the wrong person. He was pro-Boxers and anti-foreign. When he made is opening statements on the 10th he made it clear he blame everyone but the Chinese for the problems that were happening and what led to this summit. He famous said at the end of his speech, “Take away your missionaries, take away your opium, give up your goals to colonize China then a peace could be reached.”[2] It when without saying that no one responded well to that speech or the closing remarks. The Chinese team was after this speech refused entry into these meetings and the remaining nations when about debating what should be done over China.


As the debate when over what to do what China in London, things in China were spinning out of control. Western concession and Japanese held towns were being attacked by Boxers and in select cases Qing Imperial Troops. The International Legations in Peking was under siege by both Boxers and pro-Boxer units within the Qing Imperial Army. Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians were being attacked at will by Boxers. Even at this, the eleven hour a peaceful end could had been found. Yet instead of a peaceful ending, Empress Dowager came out in support of the Boxers and anti-foreign populism that was sweeping China at the time.


The event that changed everything was the Seymour Expedition. The British wanted to relieve the International Legations to keep them from falling to the Boxers. With a force of just over 2,000 sailors and marines with a small units of multinationals attached to Vice Admiral Seymour’s command he started out to Peking and the International Legations. Boxers and Qing Empire tore up the rail line from Tientsin to Peking which removed the possibly of a rapid transport to Peking. Yet not knowing this Seymour decided to travelled via rail to Peking. Believing this was still a problem between the civilians and not the Chinese government, Seymour decided to leave behind his limited heavy artillery and take only light mountain artillery on his campaign with the belief that this mountain artillery would be enough for his campaign.



On June 14th Seymour Expedition reach a station about half way between Tientsin and Langfang. The train that Seymour was using had to stop because the tracks had been destroyed by local Boxers. The engineers quickly got to work repairing the damage track but the Boxers encircled Seymour’s force as this was happening. In this running battle the Boxers who were only armed with swords and spears used human wave tactics to attack the Western Force. It was a bloody mess. Many officers noted that a single rifle shot wasn’t enough to take down a Boxer from what we know that happened at this battle. Four or more shots were generally reported as needed to stop a Boxer. Only machine guns could stop a Boxer cold.


After the track was repaired the trained moved on and the troops under Seymour left behind a waste land of bodies. The tracks at the changing station at the town of Langfang was also destroyed on the 15th. Like the day before engineers attached to Seymour’s command when about fixing the tracks. Only instead of being encircled by Boxers who were armed with only swords and spears they were encircled by both Boxers and troops of Dong Fuxiang, the Kansu Braves. Even through the Braves wore traditional uniforms they were armed with Mauser rifles and Krupp artillery. Between the Braves and Boxers, Seymour was outnumber by about a factor of 11 to 1.


The Massacre of Langfang started after Dong Fuxiang opened fire with his artillery. Seymour couldn’t performed counter battery tactics as he only had light mountain guns that had no hope of reaching the Krupp artillery being used by the Braves. With this artillery support the Boxers and Braves with seeming no regard for live and death charged the troops of Seymour. The Boxers and Braves almost totally destroyed Seymour’s command. Of the force that Seymour had started off with only 48 souls made it back alive to Tientsin by the 19th. Many down to only a hand full of rounds in their rifles and pistols by the time they made it back to allied lines. As to the losses suffer by the Boxers and the Braves, no hard counter by sources that could be trusted were ever made. However, modern estimated put Boxer and Brave losses at the equal if not great than ill fated Seymour Expedition.


Days later the Massacre of the International Legations happened. Like at the Massacre of Langfang, the Boxers received the support of the Imperial Qing Army. Even through there were in the Imperial Court who tried to hold back Imperial Qing Army heavy support, they failed and they made use of the newly brought Krupp artillery from the year before and used this heavy artillery to help breech the Tarter Wall on June 23rd. When the Tarter Wall was breached the Boxers and Imperial Qing Army stormed into the International Legations. There were no known survivors.


[1] In no order, the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, and China were at this summit.

[2] A modified version quote from an OTL Qing Official.

 

[Jim Smitty]

In London the news of the Massacre of Langfang was met with shock and disbelief. Making matters worse was the rumors of the Massacre of the International Legations had started to filler through to different European holdings in China. With this information still filleting in the nations in London would issue a joint statement that was known as the London Declaration on July 13th. The London Declaration was unprecedented as eleven nations[1] all with different goals and in some cases open rivalries spoke with one voice.


The London Declaration amounted to an ultimatum to the Qing Empire. It demanded that Qing destroy the Boxers and any captured Boxers were to be handed over to the member nations of the London Declaration. Qing Troops who took part in either the massacres of Langfang and the International Legations were to be drummed out of the service and their generals handed over to them. Family members of both the International Legations and Langfang Massacres were to given 1,000 taels of silver for the death of each family member. Each nation who lost diplomatic personal would be given an indemnity of 25,000 taels of silver. Further the Qing Government would pay to rebuild the International Legations and enlarge it so that a “company” of security troops from each nation could be housed there as well. Finally the Qing Government was to give complete safety of Chinese Christians and all foreign missionaries from further attacks. The Qing were given two weeks to answer the London Declaration.


As the world waited to see what the Qing would do next, the eleven nations that signed on to the London Declaration all started to sharpen their swords for the possibly of war. There were so talks within London how to command this vast multi-national force should the Qing force them into war. This was honestly a tricky question as the Americans objected to a British or German commanding their troops. The Germans objected to either an American or French commander. So on and so for. Finally a compromise was reached. It was agreed that three different commands would be formed and both commanders would work together to defeat the Qing and Boxers. Generalfeldmarschall Alfred von Waldersee would lead Army Group A. This force would be made up of German, Austro-Hungarian, British, Italian, Dutch, and Belgian troops. Army Group B would be led by newly promoted General de division Joseph Gallieni. Army Group B would be made up of French, American, Japanese, and Swedish troops. The Russians formed their Army Group under the command of General Nikolai Linevich.


Back in China as the Westerns and Japanese sharpened their swords the Westerns who were already in China tried to deliver the London Declaration. This task was easier said than done. Xenophobically had reach fever pitch in Northern China. It’s unknown even if Empress Dowager would have received the two efforts to give her the London Declaration’s message could she had agreed to it without facing a massive uprising throughout Northern China. However, she never got the terms of the London Declaration as both massager teams were never heard from again after they started to Peking, and its widely believed that they died at the hands of the Boxers or other anti-foreign troops in China.


Things in China however were far more complicated than most people in the world really understood. Even through the Qing Government of Empress Dowager was the leader of all China many had enough of a political base large enough to deal with foreigners and speak for whole regions of China. However, many within the member nations of the London Declaration understood this fact. This led to work being done in Southern China and the Central Parts of China to keep them out the circle of violence that was going on in Northern China. With this groundwork the allied nations were able to focus on Northern China solely instead of having to fight all of China at once.


Once the two week deadline had passed for the Qing Government to answer the demands of the London Declaration the eleven governments of the Qing Government moved to force these demands on the Qing Government. One by one each nation in the alliance decaled states of war or took other legal steps that allowed them to send their troops into combat. The reason none of alliance members formally declared war on the Qing Empire was because it would have lay waste to the ground work in Southern and Central China that had sideline the Boxers and anti-foreign protest in this part of China. Even through it lacked a formal declaration of war, it was a war.


The Russians were one of the first to strike. They launched an invasion of Manchuria, Tuva, and Mongolia. Over 150,000 troops entered these areas, with vast majority taking part in Manchuria. The Chinese in Manchuria, Tuva, and Mongolia couldn’t possibly defend these territories against such massive numbers. The Imperial Qing Army had only just started the rebuilding of its army after it was destroyed in the Sino-Japanese War and the bulk of this reequipped force was in the Peking-Tientsin Area. The Boxers in this part of China were also fairly thin, most of the opposition to the Russian were Manchu Bannerman.


In this fight the Manchu Bannerman fought to the death as did the small number of Boxers that fought against the Russian invasion of Manchuria. Even in Russian reports from the field reports about the Bannerman and Boxers fighting to the death and large numbers of in the limited battles fought in Manchuria. The Russians also killed large numbers of people who they believed were Boxers who had tried to hide in plain sight. This happen more often than not after their railways were attacked after they had advanced through the area already. The Russians were also looting Manchuria, Tuva, and Mongolia like it was going to be outlawed tomorrow as they advanced south. Of note was no prisoners were taken by the Russians in this campaign.


Further South things were trickier as the different armies had to reach Tientsin. Making matters worse was the fact each army was using ammo that only they could use which created a logistical nightmare in the port itself. It was why this campaign didn’t start till the spring of 1900. There was fighting between the allied forces and the Boxers supported by anti-foreign Qing troops around Tientsin or as the allies moved forward to enlarge their hold on the city. Fighting between allied troops and the Chinese was often bloody at this stage and no quarter was asked for or given. Chinese civilians who were even suspected of being pro-Boxer or anti-foreign within Tientsin were killed after a 15 minute trial that ended in these Chinese hanging only minutes later after these flying trials were held. Sometimes these Chinese were brought before these flying trials for simply looking at allied troops in the wrong way.


Yet on April 30th both von Waldersee and Gallieni fired up their armies and started the campaign to Peking. Even through ten members of the eleven nation alliance were taking part in this campaign the major lifters were the Americans, British, French, and Japanese. The other nations had send only a battalion size units into China. This was mostly so they could set at the peace table and get their piece of China. However all told the allied nations had 90,000 troops in Tientsin by the time this campaign started.


Fighting was brutal as like in winter of Tientsin, no quarter was asked for or given between the Boxers/anti-foreign Qing Troops and the allies. Unlike the ill-fated Seymour Expedition the allies in 1900 brought their heavy artillery with them. Fighting slowed both army groups to a snails pace. They didn’t reach the outskirts of Langfang till May 20th. The Battle of Langfang started the next day. Fighting in Langfang was brutal as Boxers, anti-foreign Qing Troops, and the allies duked it out. It wasn’t till the 26th that the allies had encircled Langfang. Instead of digging the Boxers and anti-foreign Qing troops out in brutal hand to hand city fighting, both von Waldersee and Gallieni decided to simply lay siege to Langfang and level it with their artillery. It wasn’t till July 18th that allied troops entered Langfang. The once medium size city had been reduced to rubble. There were just over 5,000 total people left alive by the 18th of June. Of this number 509 men were executed for the belief they were Boxers.


It wasn’t till August 3rd that the two armies fired up their offensives again and start the final drive to Peking. Like the drive to Langfang, the drive to Peking was brutally fought with the Chinese fighting to the death. With the anti-foreign Qing troops and Boxers had spent too much in their efforts at Langfang and trying to break that siege. Plus they were running out of ammo for their artillery at this point, well European made ammo. Locally made ammo had nasty habits of blowing up in the gun itself instead after it was fired. That said they fought for everything they had as they knew if they surrender would be death.


On the 15th of August did allied troops reach Peking. Like at Langfang the troops of the allies moved to encircle Peking and lay siege to it. On the 16th the 1st Battalion 10th Cavalry under the command of Major John “Blackjack” Pershing captured Empress Dowager and most of her royal court as they were trying to leave the city to escape the fate of Langfang. The Empress Dowager was captured wearing the plain clothes of a famer. Even through the guard of the Empress fought to the death, she surrendered along with her royal court who was travelling with her. She was soon taken back to Tientsin than placed on HMS Barfleur to be held as a prisoner.


Even through Empress Dowager and most of her royal court had been captured it didn’t end the war. The Boxers and anti-foreign Qing troops knew that the allies wouldn’t show them any mercy. By the 18th the noose had been placed around Peking and the allies kicked the stool out from under the city. The siege would last till January 9th 1901. The death toll from the Siege of Peking has never been firmly set, but current estimates put the death toll as low as a quarter million and a high as a half of million. This isn’t counting the executions that followed.


Following the fall of Peking occupation duty started as the diplomatic when to work trying to find a way to end this bloody mess. However, just because Peking had fallen to the allies didn’t mean that the dying stopped. Peking was a broken city by the time allied troops entered it. The civilians badly needed food from the fact the siege had wiped out the food supplies in the city. Plus with the broken infrastructure of the city mean that civilians kept dying at something of an alarming rate. Even more so since the allies hadn’t been ready to deal with this kind of mess.


Hunger and poor infrastructure weren’t the only challenges facing the Chinese in Peking following the fall. Executions for anyone believed to be a Boxer was common place, like in Tientsin those executed sometimes had simply looked at the allied troops in the wrong manner. Rape was also fairly common in the first few days after the siege ended. Women started to kill themselves just to keep from being raped. It was a bloody mess. Looting was also wide spread with even senior officers taking part in it.


Finding an end to the Chinese mess as it was wasn’t an easy task. Everyone had their own goals in China and finding a compromise wasn’t an easy task. It wasn’t till February 9th 1902 that the Boxer Protocols were signed. All of the concession treaties that had been signed in 1898 were moved from leased territories to fully owned territories by the nation that had signed the lease. Further concessions were made in Canton, Shanghai, and Tientsin to all eleven nations. These ranged in size from 30 hectares to 250 hectares[2]. These were totally owned concessions by the alliance members. In some cases, the sizes of the concessions were enlarged.


However, Russia waved their rights to concessions at Canton and Shanghai. Russia waved these rights to annex Tuva and Manchuria. There was too much objection to Russia also taking Mongolia even through no one had the power projection to tell Russia they couldn’t take it. Even through it wasn’t annexed Mongolia would stay under Russian occupation for years to come. Germany expanded its former concession into a full on colony by annexing all of Lianyungang[3]. However to gain this, they have to waive their rights to a concession in Canton. To maintain the peace the British didn’t go for further annexations out China as Hong Kong was in Southern China which had been fairly peaceful when put up against the mess that was Northern China. They really didn’t want their northern holdings but that was more to check the Russians and really had no plans to hold it after the Russians were dealt with. Japan also waved its rights to a concessions in Shanghai and Canton for further territorial growth. This expanded their cities that they controlled on the Shandong Peninsula by a sizable bit[4]. Yet the Japanese felt like they got screwed in terms of territory for waving their rights to concessions in two important trade cities within China. [5]


Territorial gains wasn’t the only thing covered under the Boxer Protocols. The Chinese would have to pay would become known as the Boxer Indemnity. The Boxer Indemnity was set at 800 million taels[6] of fine silver to be paid out over the next 50 years to 11 nation alliance. This indemnity would also see a 3.5% interest rate attached to it. It was divided between the elven member alliance that somewhat reflected the amount of support each nation gave to ending the threat from the Boxers. Further each family member of those who died in the Massacre of the International Legations would be given their own personal indemnity from the Chinese set at 1,500 taels of fine silver to be payable over the next ten years.


Empress Dowager who had come to be the face of the anti-foreign movement in China was forced to abdicate from all leadership positions within China. She was then exiled to Saint Helena, the same island that housed Napoleon following his force exile from France. The Guangzu Emperor was allow to remain in power however that was at the Western Nations and Japan forcing him to sign the Boxer Protocols.


There were a host of other clauses under the Boxer Protocols that were designed to weaken China or make sure that another Boxer War would happen. It did that, but the signing of the Boxer Protocols is generally viewed as the start of the long and often violent warlord period in Chinese history[7]


[1] UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden

[2] Depends on the city and who gets the concession. Most are between 30 and 50 ha.

[3] The prefecture-level city, its just under 7,500 square km in size.

[4] The Japanese expanded their hold of Weihaiwei from just the town and port areas to the prefecture-level city of Weihai which is just under 5,500 square km in size. There hold around Tsingtao expanded as well, but not as much at Weihaiwei. They got the Chengyang District and the rest of the Laoshan District. That’s give or take about 1,000 square km worth of dirt.

[5] Japan felt it got screwed here badly but it still made the deal as they got more land under their direct control by making this deal.

[6] Math isn’t by strong suit so I’m not breaking this down.

[7] I’m not covering China in this phase, as it totally confusing OTL, the butterflies are such that it would be something that would drive me up the wall.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Italian Occupation of Libya 1903

As the bulk of the world was focusing on China, the Italians were focusing on something closer to home. Following the signing of their Sanmen Bay Concession in 1898 the Italians decided to start working on carving off a piece or three of the Ottoman Empire. Even through the Ottoman Empire was the sick man of Europe, they had showed marked improvements in the Greek-Turkish War of 1897[1]. However, that had been a totally land base war. The Ottoman Navy however had been left behind and had a largely badly outdated naval force. Other than a pair of modern cruisers the Ottoman Navy had been by passed by advancements in design and technology. Even the few ships they did had were of questionable value and if they could even put to sea for more than a day or two.


For the Italians they also suffered from their own issues. Even through, they were better off than the Ottomans the Italian economy was still not that strong and one reasons they had only commissioned a proper modern steel battleship in 1901. Which was about a decade after even the United States one of the late comers to the naval game had fielded their first modern battleships. Even Japan had modern battleships before the Italians, through those were built in British yards. Even with these issues the Italian Navy was far more modern and ready for war than the Ottoman Navy was in the early 1900s.


With the bulk of the world being focused on China in the Boxer War the Italians gave token support to the anti-Boxer clause and started to focus on the Ottoman holdings in North Africa. These being Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. This was all that remained of the once vast Ottoman North African Empire with the rest of it being under British or French control by the turn of the century. Italy wanted to add these Ottoman provinces to their growing empire. The Italian want to add these Ottoman provinces were made even worse after a rumor was floated in 1902 that the French would occupy Tripolitania. Italy was not about to allow another French theft to happen of a colony they wanted.


In Constantinople the Ottomans didn’t want another war. The Balkan States were jumpy enough as it was. Then there was always Russia who was always looking for another reason to cut the Ottomans down and get a chance to take control of the straits even after they got their warm water port at Port Arthur. So instead of allowing things to spin out of control and things reach the point of war they decided to cut off the dead provinces that they knew they couldn’t properly defend anyways. They reached out to Rome and looked for a peaceful end to keep this from sparking a war.


This would lead to the Constantinople Agreement between the Italians and Ottomans. Under the agreement, Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica would officially still be owned by the Ottomans. However, the Italians would take over responsibility of these provinces with the local rulers only playing a token respect to Constantinople. The agreement was largely based off of what the British had done in Egypt back in 1881. Once this agreement was reach Italy was more than happy to take it and let it go at that. She had already proven that she was a great power back in 1894-95 when she defeated the Ethiopians. There was no need to put the Italian Economy under further strain with another war.


On August 1st the Italian Battleship Ammiraglio di Saint Bon entered Tripoli harbor with a small squadron. She along with some of the elite units of the Royal Italian Army took part in the exchange of power in Tripoli where the Ottoman flag came down for the last time just after noon that day with the Italian flag going up.


[1] That war still happens and for most part follows a largely OTL course just different status and what not.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Treaty of Madrid 1906

The Ottomans weren’t the only weak nation within Europe in the early 20th century that held an empire from centuries ago. Spain had a host of domestic issues. Further after ending of the Nine Years War[1] in the Philippines with them fighting the Katipunan they were on the brink of bankruptcy in 1904. It was the main reason Spain didn’t even give token support to anti-Boxer alliance as they were more worried about holding on to the Philippines as the Katipunan really made them work for it. Yet they “won” that war but it ended by more mutual exhaustion of both sides. Spain was in need on money or risked defaulting on the loans they used to hold on the Philippines.


Even through Germany had gain a colony in China through the Boxer Protocols they weren’t in a position to try and take over any of the Spanish Pacific holdings. Their navy had only just recovered from their defeat in the Island War and they were having to build up a navy that could defend against the Russian and French fleets as well as to project into the colonies. Even through Kaiser Wilhelm wanted Germany’s place in the sun but he knew better than to make an offer for a rebellious colony. It was also questionable if the Spanish would had been willing to part with the whole of the Philippines.


For the United States they had been watching events in the Philippines with some interest. They weren’t all that interested in the Philippines as they saw it as a massive investment that would take years if not decades before it would pay out. They however, were more interested in the rest of the Mariana Island Chain and the Caroline Island Groups held as part of the Spanish East Indies. The US was still sore about the British screwing them out Hawaii or as it was known in 1904 the Colony of the Sandwich Islands. These island groups through not offering the location or as many economic edges that the Sandwich Island offered these islands still offered a good power projection position as well of being economic buyable with a far cheaper investment than the Philippines would be. Furthermore it would make the defense of Guam which had been an American territory since 1875 easier to some degree.


President Joseph Blackburn[2] decided to reach out to the Spanish about possibly these two island groups being brought for a reasonable price in late 1905. The Spanish were surprised by the fact the Americans were reaching out to them and to buy these island chains instead of the Philippines. Relations had improved since the Spanish-American War, but it was still surprising. Yet Spain needed money and for these almost useless colonies which they couldn’t defend Spain had no issues selling them for the right price. After a few rounds of talks a deal was stuck in early 1906. For a sum of 2 million dollars and a further 1.5 million in debt forgiveness by the US on Spanish Loans the US would take ownership of the Mariana and Caroline Island Groups.


Spain quickly ratified the treaty as it wanted the money. In the US Senate it saw a major debate take place about it. Like the debate about the Danish Virgin Islands in 1879 the major part of the debate centered on adding more non-whites to the nation. This was somewhat odd given the fact Senator Brooker T Washington from South Carolina[3] was African in his ethnic background. The Treaty of Madrid passed the senate by a single vote on May 18th 1906. Three months after the treaty was ratified the exchange of ownership of the islands took place.


[1] A major uprising by the Filipinos against the Spanish. It was a nasty war that left a lot of people on both sides dead and bad feelings.

[2] He is in his second term after the Dems retook the White House in 1900.

[3] Yeah things are a little different in South Carolina ITL. It’s a majority ruled African-American state ITL and still ruled by Republicans. It’s a Republican bastion in the otherwise solid south. Washington was elected to the Class Two SC Senate seat in 1900 after years of doing different jobs in SC. Yes the southern whites aren’t happy about this, but they are in a damn in they do and damn if they don’t place over SC.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Russo-Japanese War of 1906-07

The origins of the Russo-Japanese War date back to the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. The Japanese wanted to expand in a northern direction as the southern route was blocked by vast European empires. They had planned to annex Port Arthur as it was then known on the Liaodong Peninsula as part of their war goals but on learning that the Russians wouldn’t stand and possibly go to war over the matter they shifted their goals to the Shandong Peninsula which still offered roads to further expansion at a later date. Then during the Boxer War the Russians invaded Manchuria to link up with their concession at Port Arthur. The Japanese weren’t happy by this as they had wanted at least a piece of Manchuria for themselves. However, they weren’t able to force anything in London as the Boxer Protocols were being drawn up.


In 1903 Japan received a boost in the form of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The British had been less than happy at the fact the Russians had been allowed to annex Manchuria. Everyone really hadn’t been crazy about the idea and tried to force Russia to give up Manchuria but Russia refused to back down over the matter. For the British the Japanese seemed to be the lesser of the three evils in the Pacific at the time. The United States had started the Anglo-American Naval Races in 1902. The British had a long-standing grudge against Russians who was the only nation that could really challenge the British. Then there were the Japanese. Sure, they were yellow bastards, but British goals didn’t clash with the Japanese goals. As such they could form an alliance with the Japanese and let it serve as a warning to both the Americans and Russians.


Even at this point the Japanese didn’t want to go to war with the Russians. They tried to get the Russians to admit that Korea was the Japanese playground and allow the Russians to gain favorable trade deals with the Japanese. The Russians however refused to play ball with the Japanese. Even through, they were still eating the meal that Manchuria was they refuse to give the Japanese the sphere of influence it sought in Korea. The Russian Empire was only to expand, or that was the idea in St. Petersburg anyways. Instead they sought to create a buffer area between Japanese back Koreans and their newest province in Manchuria.


What finally pushed Japan to decide war was the only course was when the Russians gained timber and mining concessions in Northern Korea in early 1906. They knew there was a risk that this could go badly but with the belief that the British would save them from having to fight in a two front war against the Russians and French and further if things when bad from getting destroyed by the Russians they decided to go to war. This was risky as the Russians had just finished the Trans-Siberian Railway in early 1905 which meant that they could more easily resupply their troops in the far east than ever before. Yet they knew from intelligence work that rail line was a single line of track that made transport tricky. Also the fact with it was deepened on two ferries Lake Baikal meant that the railway would be out of service during winter months.


Japan launch an attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur on July 6 1906. This was only hours after it had declared war against Russia. Because of the time zone differences between Moscow and where the war would be fought the Russians and the tricky part of giving the Russians the declaration of war didn’t mean they got it till after the war started. Admiral Togo who was the commander of the Combined Fleet sought to disable or otherwise remove from the board the Russian Pacific Fleet based out of Port Arthur. It was well known in Japanese circles if they lost control of the sea they were doomed. At the time the Russian Navy was the third largest navy in the world with eight battleships, nine armored cruisers, and a host of lesser ships at Port Arthur. This force had to be dealt with.


On the opening night of the war Admiral Togo commander of the Combined Fleet of Japan order a massive torpedo boat assault against the Russian Pacific Fleet. The Japanese ran into a patrolling group of Russian destroyers, however, with the Russians not knowing that a war had just started fell back to base to report in instead of fighting. With the belief that surprise was now gone the Japanese when to flank speed to charge in. The Russians were confused but were still following their orders not to start a fight. Just around 3 am local time the first shots of the war were fired when the Japanese started to launch their torpedoes against the Russian fleet. Torpedo nets put an end to many of the Japanese torpedoes that night. However some did get past the nets to hit their targets. They managed to sink two of the Russian battleships and damage a third. The two sunk was the Russian Built Potemkin and the American built Retvizan. One needs to note even through the Russian Empire was the largest the world has yet seen and one of the richest they couldn’t afford to build all their own ships for their navy. As such they turned to foreign yards to help fill the short fall in naval ships to command its vast coastline with fleets that couldn’t support each other. Even though they feel short of the goals set out by Admiral Togo they did manage to get the numbers a little more even as the blockade of the port started.


Hours later the land invasion of Manchuria began. At the time the Russians had some 150,000 troops in their newest provinces. However this was throughout the province and not all along the border with Korea which was still its own nation at the moment. Even for the army the goal was on taking control of Port Arthur on the Liaodong Peninsula. First they had to get their through. Within hours of the war started they open fired on Russian positions on the Yalu as they tried to cross it. For the Russians a state of confusion was in their chain of command. The Russian Army nor the Russian Navy were on good terms with each other as they fought for resources in the state budget. The navy knew a war was on but only a few within the Russian Army knew this.


Japanese Krupp made artillery caused hell on the Russian infantry around the town of Juvenaly[1]. Juvenaly was the focus point of the Japanese efforts to cross the Yalu. The Russian General who commanded this section of the front had no idea war was coming and hadn’t taken steps needed to defend his sector of the Yalu from a Japanese assault from Korea as he believed he would have enough warning time to issue ammo and perform other things needed to defend the front. Instead of facing an army that was ready for war the Japanese found the border troops with limited ammo and no clue what was happening. The Japanese cross the Yalu which for the Russians was their hold line against the Japanese in any possible war, under only light fire which was poorly aimed. The Russians tried to rally but between unarmed or troops with only limited ammo it made things hard to put up an organized resistance. General Nikolai Kashtalinsky who had only been the chief of staff assumed the command of the 1st Manchurian Corp which had been guarding this selection of the front around noon following the death of his commander who had tried trying to rally his men from the front order a retreat.


The Battle of Juvenaly showcased the fact the Japanese weren’t pushovers. It also show that the Russians had been totally caught off guard by the Japanese. At Juvenaly some 2,000 Russians were taken prisoners along with 47 pieces of artillery and vast stores of supplies that had been built up by the Russians to hold the Yalu being captured by the Japanese. It was a major shock to the Japanese they had captured so much equipment and artillery at Juvenaly. However, their victory was far from putting them in a position they needed to be. They kept pressing forward to cut off the Liaodong Peninsula from the rest of Manchuria.


Following Juvenaly there were a number of minor battles that ended in Japanese victories as they pushed to cut off the peninsula from the rest of Manchuria. The next major battle was the Battle of Motien Pass. Motien Pass commanded the last land link to Port Arthur to the rest of Manchuria. Take that pass and the Japanese would have achieved their goal of cutting off the Liaodong Peninsula. The Russian Navy even knew this and sortie to get out to open sea and break out the blockade the Japanese had on Port Arthur.


The Battle of Motien Pass happened before the Battle of Yellow Sea. The Japanese couldn’t committed their whole army to Motien Pass as they were having to fight the Russians across the whole of Southern Manchuria. The Russians had the 2nd Manchurian Corp and the remains of the 1st Manchurian Corp which by this point had been fairly chewed up by the Japanese. The Russians roughly outnumbered the Japanese by a factor of two to one at Motien Pass. Even the Japanese would admit that the Russians had better artillery than their own. Yet the Japanese had better sprit in their soldiers than the Russians could possibly hope for.


A frontal assault started the battle by the Japanese on September 8th. The Russians were able to throw the Japanese back to their starting blocks. General Nogi decided to try and flank the Russians instead of defeating them head on. For reasons unknown to just about everyone the Russians decided to get up on Motien Pass. The Japanese caught the Russians in their flank as they were moving to fallback. It was a bloody mess that ended up killing both general officers who were leading the two different sides at Motien Pass. Yet the Japanese had better officers and were able to force the Russians to fall back and take the pass.


The Battle of the Yellow Sea started on September 9th. The Japanese had seven battleships to the Russian six. The Japanese fleet had the newly commissioned IJN Aki[2]. She was the half-sister to the Satsuma the first Japanese battleship that was being built in the Japanese Home Islands. The difference besides the yards was the fact the Aki had a steam turbine system power system instead of the vertical triple-expansion engines that were common in naval designs at the moment. This gave the Aki a top speed of 20.5 knots, three knots faster than the fastest Russian Battleships at this battle.


Togo who had moved his flag to the Aki when it joined the Combined Fleet moved to block the Russian breakout efforts. It was a battle that was the second battle between steel battleships, with the first being Second Caracas. But Second Caracas was a single battleship on single battleship battle with Yellow Sea being the first steel battleship battle in squadron strength. Togo had divided his strength and had both elements fall back as they had laid minefields for this plan of his. Togo knew that the next battleship to be commissioned wouldn’t be ready till 1909 at the earliest unless another order with the British was made so he couldn’t afford to lose any.


For the Russians they didn’t understand why the Japanese were falling back. But they decided to chase the slower older battleships of the Japanese Fleet thinking they could take a bit out of the Japanese. They did just what Togo had thought they would and chase the Japanese battleships into a minefield. The Russian Battleship Poltava struck two mines and quickly sunk. Moments later protected cruiser Pallada suck another mine as they were chasing the Japanese. Admiral Vitgeft figured out that something was wrong and order his fleet to fall back. At this point Togo order section element to double back and go to flank speed. The trap had been sprung and it was time to take a bite out the Russian fleet. Before the Russian fleet got out of the minefield through the battleship Sevastopol stuck another mine. It wasn’t enough to sink her, yet it did cause her captain to strike her colors as she had lost power and was a drift in a minefield, or at least the out limits of it. He didn’t want to risk his crew being killed for nothing.


Having thin out the Russian numbers some had been the goal of Togo in this trap laid for the Russians. He took them on as he tried to cross the T of the Russian fleet as it was trying to fall back now. They were also engaging at ranges that only a few years before would had been unheard of. It also showed that the Japanese took their gunnery drills seriously and the Russians hadn’t as the Japanese were getting far more hits in this battle. Even more so as the T was cross just after three that afternoon. About an hour later the second element from the Japanese fleet rejoined the battle and started to blast the Russians.


The Battle of the Yellow Sea was a shock to the world. It was a major Japanese victory over the Russians. Togo broke action at night fall. By that point two of his own battleships were damaged, one badly. However three Russian battleships had been sunk, two more had stuck their colors and had been taken as prizes by the Japanese. The final Russian battleship managed to limp back into Port Arthur but badly damaged. The Japanese had also managed to captured two armored cruisers and a protected cruiser with sinking four more cruisers during the course of the battle. Two Russian admirals were dead, another five were taken as prisoners. It was a clearly impressive victory.


[1] OTL Dandong. The Russians renamed the town for Juvenaly of Alaska (1761-1796)

[2] Basically a semi-dreadnought type of battleship. Built as a test build for HMS Hercules, the ITL dreadnought. Built on something of a quid pro quo deal between the British and Japanese.

 

[Jim Smitty]

With the victories at Motien Pass and Yellow Sea the Japanese surprised the world. However, these victories weren’t war winners. The Russians still had a power army defending Port Arthur and over 100,000 troops outside Port Arthur in Manchuria and growing. The importance of Port Arthur through had when down some as the sole battleship left there, the Pobeda was so badly damaged it was written off by the navy after reaching its moorings as a total loss. Yet they still had nine cruiser remaining at Port Arthur with four of them being armored cruisers. But the Russian Pacific Fleet wasn’t the threat it had been before Yellow Sea.


The bigger effect of these two victories weren’t on the battlefield, but that of international finance. Japan was a nation with limited national resources even through it was radially industrizing. The gold reserves of the Japanese were far below many European nations and with the belief that the Russians would win this war had kept international banks from lending money to Japan. With the victories at Motien Pass and Yellow Sea through the view that Russia would outright win the war faded from view. Some banks and governments started to lend the Japanese money at affordable rates. This in turn gave the Japanese a needed boost in paying for this war.


On the night of October 19/20 1906 the nature of the Russo-Japanese War almost radically changed. Following the defeat of the Russian Pacific Fleet at Yellow Sea Tsar Nicholas II ordered the Baltic Fleet to sail to Vladivostok to form the Second Pacific Fleet. This move brought every battleship, cruiser, and number of auxiliary ships of the Baltic Fleet into play in what was to be one of the longest journeys ever made at war by steel warships only matched by the German efforts to reinforce the SW Pacific in the Island War.


The Second Pacific Fleet had a defeatist mindset and rumors ran wild of Japanese torpedo boats and battleship operating out of the British Isles in the North Sea. On the night the Russian look outs spotted what they believed to be a Japanese Battleship even through there was no Japanese Battleship with thousands of kilometers of their current location. The ship they spotted was the SS Haverford, an American flag passenger ship on the Boston-Hamburg run. She was carrying 819 souls on her as she was making her way to Hamburg. Yet at night the Russians believed her to be a Japanese battleship and open fire.


For the Russians the North Sea Incident almost led to war with the United States. The Haverford was severely damaged by Russian Naval Gunfire and barely made it to Edinburgh. Of the passengers and crew of the Haverford 201 of them died in the incident before the Russians ended their fire, 29 more would die before they reach Edinburgh. There were also reports of the Russians attacking other Russian ships in their own convoy. The American nation was outraged over the incident. Even the British were shocked by this incident as it happened so close to their own nation.


President Blackburn ordered the Atlantic Fleet to ready itself to sail to meet the Russian Fleet across the Atlantic. He also ready the nation for war against Russia over the incident. Russia, seeing it was in a world of hurt if the US entered the war took a face saving way out of the incident offered to them by their French allies. The Russian Fleet docked in Portugal and the officers who caused the incident were unloaded and the Russians gave their word that they wouldn’t fire again without making sure it was a Japanese flag vessel. Yet the North Sea Incident would poison American-Russian relations for decades to come.


Back in Manchuria the Japanese were focused on ending the Siege of Port Arthur. They wanted to free up the bulk of their army which was laying siege to Port Arthur so they could turn and face the Russian forces elsewhere in Manchuria. This would be a long battle unlike the quick campaign it had been against the Chinese in the 1894-95 war. This battle would see a number of new technologies, tactics and ideas tested in it. The Russians once they had settle into their trenches gave a better account of themselves than they had been in the open which forced the Japanese to really work for it.


Over the course of four months the Japanese advance the front at in a painful offensive. Casualties were high on both sides as the Japanese inched forward. The battle changed when the Japanese took Hill 203, known as it was 203 meters tall. It was a bloody battle but Hill 203 gave the owner a clear look at the harbor where the remaining ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet were currently dock. Hill 203 fell to the Japanese on December 17th. With Hill 203 in their hands the Japanese was able to bring up their Krupp made siege artillery and started to blast the Russian Fleet that was in the harbor at the time. One by one the huge 11 inch shells found their mark and when by destroying the Russian Pacific Fleet in the harbor.


As the Japanese when about blasting the Russian Pacific Fleet the most serious effort to break the siege of Port Arthur happened. The Battle of Anshan started on the 18th of December when the 1st Siberian Corp meet the Fourth Japanese Army. Even through the two units had different size names they were roughly the same size in the number of men. The 1st Siberian Corp was led by one of the better generals of the Russian Army at this point and had an able aid de camp in Colonel Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. Over the course of the three day running battle at Anshan both sides gave as good as it got. The Russians only fell back after they had used every shell in their limbers for their artillery.


Back at Port Arthur by the 21st the First Pacific Fleet effetely was destroyed as the last cruiser slipped under the waves in port. The reason for holding Port Arthur now gone as there was no Russian Navy left to base there, the question of surrender came up. The Russians in this council of war rejected the idea of surrender at the moment. The Japanese kept up with their indirect assaults on the lines using tunneling and large amounts of explosives to blast holes in the Russian lines and forcing the Russians back. The topic was brought up again on the 24th and again on the 29th. Finally on the 31st the Russian commander surrendered his army to the Japanese. As the Japanese entered Port Arthur they were shocked by the vast stores of food and ammo they had just captured as the Russians could held out for months longer.


With Port Arthur in their hands, the Japanese were able to turn north and face the massing Russian Army which was building up in force. By this point the whole of the Japanese Army was in Manchuria. They had nothing left to bring into play at this point. The Russians have been reinforcing Manchuria and now had over 350,000 men in the province which out numbered the Japanese by just under 100,000 men. They also had more artillery in play than the Japanese. Yet for the Russians they had decided to hold up at Mukden for the winter after the failure of at Anshan. Yet the Japanese knew that the Second Pacific Fleet was on its way. They had to push the Russians deeper into Manchuria so they could hold a good position at the peace table as they knew they couldn’t outright defeat the Russians, yet they could still win if they got tired of this war.


The Battle of Mukden started on January 15th 1907. The Russians did have an idea that this was coming but were still not ready for a fight. Their senior commanders were too busy fighting each other over the next course of action they would take instead of readying their forces for an assault from the Japanese. The Japanese assault did knock some sense in them and they when about making sure they put up a fight. However, because of their infighting the Japanese managed to make some gains and take prisoners. The Japanese through had taken the initiative in the battle and were hell bend to keep it.


By the 19th the Japanese had started to break through the right flank of the Russian lines. To counter this the Russians shift one of their armies on the left flank to support the right. Only the 1st Manchurian Army got screwed up with the 4th Manchurian Army which was in the center as it made its moved. This broke up units and forced a major reorganization on the fly, something the Russians just couldn’t do. The Japanese smelling blood in the water ordered their Fourth Army which was on the left to turn the flank. The commander of the Fourth Army found a seem between the 2nd and 4th Manchurian Armies and cut the two off from each other. The Russian commander after learning of this ordered a counterattack to try and reconnect with the 2nd Manchurian. It was a bloody battle but the Japanese did fall back from their positions for 2nd Manchurian to escape.


Following their close brush with a major defeat the Russians decided to fall back. It was a humiliating defeat for the Russians. The lost at Mukden the Russians were effetely pushed out of Southern Manchuria. For the Japanese it was a major victory but far from the victory they were seeking. They had already overextending their logistical lines and couldn’t offer chase to the Russians. More importantly they hadn’t destroyed the Russian Armies in Manchuria. They came close with the 2nd Manchurian but it was able to escape. All eyes turned to the sea as the battle on land was all but over now.


Even with their close brush in North Sea Incident the Russian Second Pacific Fleet had done little to impressive the people following it. It was forced to take on coal at sea as the rules of war were such that no nation could allow it for more than 24 hours and it took longer to coal these ships. The British learned on their tailing and radio intelligence teams the Russians that the Germans were supporting the Russians in an effort to change the balance of power in Europe. This alarmed the British who were also worried about the expanding German naval programs.[1]


The fact the Russians hadn’t put into port during their trip from St. Petersburg meant their ships needed minor refits in some cases major ones. Ships have the current time weren’t designed for such long trips without port calls. This was a major factor with the Russian drive to reach Vladivostok before battling the Japanese. Moral was also a major issue within the Russian Second Pacific Fleet as the men hadn’t been allowed a port call to blow off steam. Worse off they knew the Japanese were waiting for them. For the Japanese they had a good idea where the Russians were at all times because of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. The British were passing on intelligence to the Japanese who wanted to see the Russians get knocked down a peg or two.


Togo had a chance to rest his own crews and refit his ships so they would be in peak fighting shape for the Russians. Looking at the map he knew the Russians would have to cross through either the Korean or Tsushima Straits to get to Vladivostok. He wanted to stop them before that happened and decided they would try to run the Tsushima Straits as it gave them more room to work with. On April 30th the Russian Fleet was spotted by Japanese scouts. The battle everyone was waiting for was now at hand.


What happened next at Tsushima proved to the world the Japanese were every bit as good as any other European Power. The heart of the Second Russian Pacific Fleet which was eight battleships and four coastal defense ships had been removed from the board. Three battleships and one coastal defense ship were taken as prizes by the Japanese. Another seven cruisers and four auxiliaries were also taken as prizes of wars by the Japanese, including the cruiser that was carrying the fleet payroll. Three other cruisers and another auxiliary had been sunk in the battle. The rest of the fleet managed to get to different ports in reach to be interned for the rest of the war.


It wasn’t even Tsushima that finally pushed Tsar Nicholas II to push for a cease fire and peace treaty with Japan. It was the fact revolutions were breaking out in more important parts of the empire. Nicholas II took the offer of Dona Isabel of Brazil[2] to broker a peace between the two waring nations. This would lead to the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro which was signed in September 1907. The Japanese gained the what amounted to all of the Liaodong Peninsula[3] and Southern Sakhalin[4] in terms of territorial gains. The rest of Manchuria was turned into a Buffer State between Japan and Russia. The Kingdom of Manchuria would be ruled by Guangxu Emperor[5] the deposed leader of the Qing Empire. Both nations got favorable trade deals from the newly created Kingdom of Manchuria. However, this fell far short of what Japan wanted out of the Treaty of Rio. Yet the Russians escape a major defeat even through they lost their warm water port and Manchuria. They had managed to keep about half of Sakhalin and kept from having to pay a war indemnity to Japan. With treaty in hand the Russians when about crushing the revolts breaking out through its empire.


[1] Germany wants a navy after its defeat in the Island War. However its scaled back from OTL levels but still fairly large. About 3/5 of what it was OTL would be a good idea how much money is going into their navy.

[2] Yeah the Empire of Brazil is still around.

[3] It’s the Dalin Sub-province City in size

[4] Its split on the 51st parallel north.

[5] Yeah China is already falling apart, but he escaped death but been living overseas since 1904.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Japanese Annexation of Korea 1911

Korea had been at the root cause of two wars for Japan. Granted Japan won both of those wars and made fairly sizable territorial gains in both. For many in Japan those gains didn’t feel like enough. In their war with China they had to change their planned locations for enclaves to keep from going to war with Russia. Then in the war with Russia they had an unbroken string of victories against a much stronger foe, yet they walked away with only a small amount of what they had wanted in that war. Then there was a question of what to do with Korea.


During the war with Russia, the Koreans had been forced to sign the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1907. This treaty turned Korea into a Japanese protectorate. It also reduced the Korean military from 20 regiments to one. There were some within Japan who believed this was enough. They were already working to turn in their Chinese enclaves, Formosa, and Southern Karafuto into Home Japanese Territories. They viewed adding all of Korea as a waste of resources needed for their Japanification of these newly gained territories. Yet others wanted Japan to expand even further than it already had and viewed Korea as the next logical step in growth of the Empire. They view it as a stepping stone to taking the bastard state as they viewed the Kingdom of Manchuria. It was also viewed as a way to make sure that Korea wouldn’t break free from Japanese orbit down the road.


Korea made things worse for itself. They didn’t want to be under Japanese rule. They made repeated efforts to get the rest of the world to take note of what Japan was doing in Korea. This was at international summits being held on various matters and the Japanese didn’t take kindly to these efforts. This led to Japan forcing the Koreans to sign the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1908. It stripped Korea of their rights to act on domestic issues as they saw fit. It further when to make every member of the Korean government a Japanese national. It also created the office of Japanese Resident-General of Korea. The Korean Army such as it was firmly placed under Japanese control with many officers in it being replaced by Japanese officers. Finally, it forced Emperor Gwangmu to abdicate in favor of his son.


The 1908 treaty gave Japan massive amount of control within Korea yet on paper Korea was still its own nation. Yet there were some who believed still they should go for full annexation. Others believed this when far enough. The debate came down to the Genro, the founding fathers of Japan. After much debate between the Genros it was finally decided to annex Korea into the growing Japanese Empire. This led to the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1911. It was a short treaty and right to the point. The Japanese forced the Korean Emperor to sign the treaty. The Korean flag was lowered for the final time in Seoul on November 4 1911. The Japanese flag when up moments later.

 

[Jim Smitty]

Second Mexican American War 1911-13

The Mexican Revolution started shortly after President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States was sworn in as the next president of the United States in 1909. Mexico finally reached its breaking point with long time President Porfirio Diaz who had ruled Mexico almost nonstop from 1876. Yet in the later years of the Diaz Regime he had to use the army to break the ever growing numbers of strikes in Mexico. These strikes were in protest of the near slave wages they were being paid by the foreigners who own these factories. The sad part of it was these wages were higher than ranch hands were being paid at the massive ranches that were also foreign owned. That was assuming if they were paid with real money not company credit which was only good at company stores.


For Mexico the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was two events in May 1909. First was President Diaz stated he planned to run again for the highest office in Mexico. Second was the Mapimi Mine Strike. Like earlier strikes Diaz brought in the Federal Army of Mexico to get the people who were striking back to work. The army did the same thing it did in the 1906 and 1907 strikes and broke the strike. However, what was different this time than in 06 and 07 was the fact members of Mexican Liberal Party which was a well-organized if small anti-Diaz group was somehow able to get photos of the Federal Army breaking the strike with rifle fire and other brutal tactics. The MLP was soon started to run the story of Mapimi non-stop in their illegal newspaper.


As the news and true scope of Mapimi was found out the Mexicans had finally had enough Diaz’s Mexico had brought them nothing but slavery for them and allowed the rich to get richer. Revolts against Diaz broke out in Northern and Southern Mexico. The Mexican Federal Army had been kept small by Diaz who himself was an ex-military man and understood the threat of a large and well kept army could pose to him. As such he kept the army small. Now faced with massive revolts all over the nation it couldn’t cope. By the summer of 1910 Diaz had been forced into exile in Spain.


With Diaz having been removed from the equation the problem of what next came to the forefront. To put it bluntly no one had a good answer to this question. It what led to more violence by the fall of 1910. President Roosevelt who brought the Republican Party back after the lacking it 1900 kept a weather eye on Mexico. The man was a believer in the idea of speak softly yet carry a big stick. He had ran on partly a promise to increase the size of the navy to even larger levels than what started the Anglo-American Naval Arms race. Yet as Mexico when to hell in a hand bag he started pushing for new funding bills for the army as the possibly of war through small was there.


For the US the moment that change things was the a cluster of a mistake that just spun out of control. The new Mexican leader was President Bernardo Reyes, a former general under Diaz. Reyes had already started to move to nationalize foreign held companies who refused recognize him as the new president. This didn’t sit well with many as they didn’t know if Reyes could stay in power or not at the moment. US Ambassador William Howard Taft who was a friend of President Roosevelt’s decided to back a coup of different groups who opposed Reyes and place into power someone who would be more friendly to the United States.


What happened next is known as the Eight Long Days in Mexico. A battle broke out between troops loyal to Reyes and rebels that Taft was supporting. It was back in fore for the first few days. Yet on the fifth day of the battle, Taft who was visiting leaders of the coup to see what they needed to make this work. On his way back to the embassy he was mistaken for someone else and killed by troops loyal to Reyes. This set off a massive battle of egos between Reyes and Roosevelt over the death of Taft. The coup that Taft had started would fail but his death created such fiction between the US and Mexico that it quickly spun out of control. It got to the point by May 18, that neither side could back down without losing face.


It was on the 18th of May that Reyes sent a simple demand to Roosevelt. It stated that the US had to stay out Mexico’s domestic affairs. Roosevelt answered by going to congress the next day and asking for a declaration of war against Mexico. As congress debated the request by President Roosevelt he when about mobilizing the armed forces for this war. The federal reserves and National Guard systems created in the aftermath of the Island War were mobilized for the first time in their history. Leaves were cancelled. Troops from across the nation were moved from their barracks to the Mexican border. The Navy started to move ships to be in position to blockade Mexico. On the 25th of May Congress passed the vote 79-11 in the Senate and 367-34[1]. The Second Mexican-American War was on.


[1] Cuba became a state a few years prior.

 

[Jim Smitty]

For the US Army this war was too soon. They had only just started an expansion program that was to take it from 45 regiments to 65 regiments over the next ten years. New equipment that had been designed and adopted for official use since the end of the Island War that ended 17 years prior still hadn’t fully replaced the older equipment. In the area of small arms it wasn’t that bad, but artillery was still fairly badly outdated and the newly formed 1st Field Artillery Regiment was the only artillery unit within the army that was anywhere close to having all the artillery assigned to it in its TO&E. Further they still had to garrison the East Coast, its Pacific territories and have forces for an offensive into Canada in case the British decided to act.


Then there was the National Guard and Federal Reserve units. They were even worse off than the Regular Army in terms of just about of everything. Their equipment was in some cases dating back to the Spanish-American War or even the Civil War. The major difference from the Island War was the organization set up. Created in the aftermath of the Island War, both the National Guard and Federal Reserve were far more ready to fight than what had happened in the Island War. There the US had send basically the whole army into the Southwest Pacific with only a token force in the US. Even with the organization improvements it would still be months before these troops were ready for combat.


Luckily for the United States their navy was in far better shape. Following the start of the Anglo-American Naval Arms Race, the USN had grown to a fleet of four new Hercules Battleships[1], 19 pre-Hercules Battleships, one battlecruiser, 26 Armored Cruisers, and a large numbers of smaller ships. Further they had a number of older ships in the Naval Reserve to support the active duty fleet. Even through they had to leave forces elsewhere the Navy was effetely able to shut down the major ports in Mexico within days of the war starting. The smaller ports along the vast Mexican coastline would take longer to shutdown but with the fairly massive build up bills passed it was only a matter of time before they do were shutdown by the USN.


Again the US was the Mexican Armed Forces. Their army had been kept small for years by Diaz and their leaders were all buying for political power in Mexico City. Their army was also largely outdated in equipment and lack heavy artillery. It had been design to keep whoever was in Mexico City in power and the rest of the nation in line. Their navy was even in worse shape being a large collection of old ships that were behind on their maintain or have sent their years as school ships and not in any shape to fight a naval war.


The first troops to both boots on Mexican soil wasn’t the army but the Marines and Sailors at Veracruz on June 9th. The army was still getting troops to the Mexican border at this time, but navy decided to take Veracruz to use it as a port to help maintain their blockade of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Further Veracruz was the gateway to Mexico City. For the Mexicans they weren’t ready for this. Their army was too small and only had a battalion of troops in the area. Making thing worse for the Mexicans was the fact they were sending the bulk of their army north to fight in northern Mexico against the coming overland invasion.


First Marines and the different blue jacket battalions really didn’t run into any organized resistance on the docks as they pulled their long boats up. Once the docks were under their control they started move inland. It was once they started moving inland did they encounter Mexican resistance. It was a mix of Mexican regulars and hastily thrown together militia units. The major problem for the militia was the fact they were armed with whatever weapons were laying around and in a number of cases reported after the battle by the Marines and sailors were finding dead Mexicans with rifles and different ammo that was meant for different rifles. Somewhere also found using outdated black powder trap-door rifles.


The hardest fighting of the battle was around the Naval Academy in which the cadets and small staff had formed a make shift unit on the third. They were fairly well armed and motived to defend their naval academy from the invading Americans. Like elsewhere in Veracruz fighting at the naval academy became hand to hand and like the rest of the battle gave the Americans its first taste of urban combat. Yet the academy fell to the Americans on the fourth. The rest of Veracruz would fall by the end of the fifth. The cost was on the heavy side with three destroyers being sunk, only one of those was at the hands of the Mexicans. The other two ran into each other during the bombardment of Mexican positions.


The overland invasion didn’t start till July 15th. It was a three prong attack that spread across northern Mexico and spread the army thin. It was divided into three corps. I Corp was led by Major General John Pershing, the youngest general in the army at the time. He was based out Texas tasked with taking the city of Monterrey. II Corp was based out of the El Paso-New Mexico area and led by Major General George Dodd. They were tasked with taking Chihuahua. Then there was III Corp based out of Arizona and California. III Corp was led by Major General Leonard Wood also one of the youngest generals in the army. He and III Corp was given the task of taking Hermosillo and Baja.


On the 18th the Mexicans made their effort to retake Veracruz. They had yanked forces that had been slated to defend the northern states of their nation to retake Veracruz. This turned into a major blood bath for both sides. The Mexicans had the numbers on their side but the Americans had massive amounts of naval artillery to bring into play as Veracruz had become a major port of the USN in their blockade of Mexico. Even through the Mexicans had numbers most of these were partly trained militia units that were poorly equipped through not always poorly led. Yet the two day running battle was a proving test for both sides as they learned that numbers through nice they couldn’t top machine guns and massive amounts of artillery. What was really notable about Second Veracruz was the use of heavier than aircraft by the navy for recon. Efforts were made to use the aircraft for artillery spotting as well however the radios prove to be too heavy for the two aircraft at Veracruz to take off with.


Following Second Veracruz, the next major battle was Monterrey. Even through the Federal Mexican Army hadn’t sent all of the reinforcements it had wanted to north, they had enough to make Monterrey a bloodbath as well. It reached the point by the end of the third day, that Pershing had used all the artillery shells he had. This was because production pre-war had been small and the use of artillery in war had been far under projected. Yet by the end of the third day Monterrey was mostly cut off from the rest of Mexico with sizable parts of under Pershing’s control. Following that he was able to use his infantry to finish the job but just at higher causality rates than before. The last pockets in Monterrey fell to Pershing by the 5th of August. With it his corp had to regroup and resupply after the bloody 10 day battle.


The fact Pershing had ran out of shells for his artillery was a shock to some. Others through who had served in the Boxer War weren’t surprised. There had been a debate on going on how many shells each gun needed in reserve in peacetime before the war. Some had pushed for smaller numbers as they believed with the improvements in artillery that the smaller numbers of shells on hand would be off set by the improved abilities of the new shells and the guns that fire them. They had won the argument. Yet Monterrey had proven them wrong. It set the army scrambling to build up ordnance plants to get more shells made and in the hands of the troops that needed them.


[1] ITL Dreadnoughts

 

[Jim Smitty]

Following the end of the Battle of Monterrey the army had to hold off from further major offensives. It was dangerously low on artillery shells of all types. A crash program had to be started to make up for the use and even training needs as the army was growing. However, this pause gave the Mexicans a needed chance to recover as well. Something they needed badly. Between the overland push in the north and the American holding at Veracruz they were stretched to the limits and starting to break. Something that US intelligence such as it was failing to see.


On September 2nd III Corp fired up their drive again. But this was a drive to finish off the remains of the Federal Mexican Army that had been caught up in Baja Peninsula. The reason for this offensive was because at the moment it was viewed as the army wouldn’t start another offensive till Spring 1912. Only by then would they had caught up on shell production and the newly raised units would be ready. Yet there was about 1,000 regular Mexican troops in Baja without artillery and only a limited number of machine guns. General Wood was sure his troops could take them with little problems and allow him to free up the troops assigned to the Baja sector to the rest of Mexico. Sure enough the Mexicans who had fallen back to La Paz quickly surrender once Wood’s troops showed up. They had hoped to make a retreat back across the Gulf of California to rejoin the rest of the Mexican Army, however with a cruiser and destroyer force covering La Paz there they had been stuck there and were running low on supplies.


In the meantime the Mexicans were trying anything to get more weapons into their nation. At this time Mexico had only a limited industrial base to work with and an even smaller domestic arms industry. They couldn’t hope to meet demand with solely domestic production. Even production of ammo was proving to be tricky as they had been cut off from nitrate shipments from Chile by the American blockade. They were trying to use urine and dung to make up for this but it really wasn’t working out as well as they hoped. They had limited choices as the blockade was starting to firm up and runners get through. On the land border was British Honduras and Guatemala. The US had made it clear to the Guatemalans they allowed blockade runners through their nation they would occupy Guatemala. That was enough for Guatemalans to stay out of this mess. Sure some arms and other stuff when north over their border with Mexico but it was in such small amounts that it wasn’t enough to draw the US boot around their neck.


Then there was British Honduras. Unlike the Guatemalans the British couldn’t be bullied into closing off their border with Mexico. It was also in the British interest to make their investments in Mexico weren’t destroy and make sure the US didn’t annex too much of Mexico. They were already putting pressure on the US to end the war through soft power means, but Roosevelt wasn’t willing to budge. The British and to a lesser degree the Germans sold the Mexicans 20 to 30 year old cast offs for silver and other hard money forms. What the Mexicans got wasn’t anywhere close enough to make up for what they had lost but it was better than nothing at all.


During the winter of 1911-12 both sides really only performed small unit action battles as they were unable to perform major actions for different reasons. Then the Spring Offensive started on April 9th. The US Army finally got it’s shell production up enough to finally launch another offensive. Only the thing was they had IV Corp at Veracruz to support the navy there. All four corps advanced forward in a general offensive. The Mexican Army which had only just started to catch its breath quickly started to crumble again. Using lessons from the year before the army was advancing quickly. They were also using trucks in an effort to move their troops forward and advance even quicker. Each corp also at least 15 aircraft being used in recon roles as they advanced forward.


At Navoja, Delicias, Salitilo, and Cordoba in the first weeks of the offensive started major battles formed around these cities. In each battle the Mexican Army was either crushed or badly mauled by the American Army. Some of this was caused by generals allowing other generals to get caught in bad positions and not going to their aid as it would remove the other general from their political path. It was honestly stupid as if they had worked together they could at least made the Americans work harder for it. Instead the political landscape in Mexico was helping them lose the war quicker.


With the overland invasion had to pause to regroup and allow their supply lines to catch back up by the end of May. With for IV Corp they had reached the city limits of Mexico City at the same time. Like the overland invasion force they had to allow their supply lines to catch back up with them. Either way everyone under the Battle for Mexico City was likely to be the final major battle of the war. All eyes were on Mexico City because of this.


On June 30th the Battle of Mexico City started. The Mexicans had basically pulled their forces from all over the nation to try and defend the city from the American invasion. They only left light screening forces in the north putting money on trading time for space at this point. They had to hold Mexico City. The US encircled the city by July 6th. This started the second phase of the battle and the deadliest phase. Brutal street by street fighting took place throughout Mexico City. On August 14th the fight had reached Chapultepec Castle. It was the final holdout of the Mexicans in the city. Fighting lasted for the rest of the day before the Mexican Flag was hauled down and the stars and stripes when up.


With the fall of Mexico City and the Mexican Army more or less being totally destroyed made the US was clear victor of the war. Only there was one problem there was no one to sign a peace treaty with. Reyes had already resigned and simply disappear and there were three people had claimed to be the rightful Mexican President following Reyes leaving Mexico City before it was encircled by the Americans. One had died in the fighting in Mexico City. Another was somewhere in Southern Mexico, the other was a prisoner of the US Army. So as the US when about looking for someone to sign a peace treaty with the US when about setting up occupation duty in Mexico.


As it became clear that the Mexicans weren’t going to willing sign a peace treaty with the US, the US decided to put its own person in office. They took Alvaro Obregon who had been captured in early June and brought him to Mexico City in November 1912 and said he was President. They forced Obregon to sign the Second Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The terms of the treaty were forced on Obregon were harsh. The US annexed Baja Peninsula which was the only piece of territory from the start of the war the Roosevelt White House was in agreement on annexing. After much debate Roosevelt and his team at the White House decided to push for the annexation of Sonora and Chihuahua[1]. Yet they weren’t finished breaking off pieces of Mexico through.


They broke off the states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas and formed the Republic of the Rio Grande. The Republic of the Rio Grande had come about as the US moved through these Mexican states they found that the locals didn’t want to be Americans but they also didn’t want to be Mexicans anymore. For the Americans this was somewhat surprising but they were willing to weaken their southern neighbor even more and create a new client state as they weren’t wanting to annex them either.


Besides the land the US annexed outright or land they turned into the new republic, the Second Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo placed many other terms on her as well. They admitted that they killed Ambassador Taft which had sparked the war in the first place and apology for the fact they had. This treaty also gave the US favorable trade deals with the Mexicans along with making sure if American land or assists were nationalized which was the reason behind Taft supported the fail coup the American owners would be given triple the value of what is nationalized.


The treaty wasn’t ratified by the US Senate till January 7th 1913. The Obregon government also had ratified the treaty by this point and the war officially ended. For Mexico through they had a whole mess of new problems and their Revolution started again and became a deadly affair that would only end in 1919 when Victoriano Huerta won over the other challengers to lead Mexico. He wouldn’t recognition the Second Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as legal and would claim the lands the US annexed and the Republic of the Rio Grande as Mexican Territories under foreign occupation. For the Republic of the Rio Grande through it generally stepped out on to the world stages following 1913 as many nations gave legal recognition that it was its own state.


[1] OTL 1910 Mexican Census put the population of these two at 671,090. So I see the US being find annexing these areas.