Burning down the house, Part II

MrP

Banned
I liked Thande's use of songs and phrases so much I've resolved to steal it. Or pay homage, if you prefer Lucas to Herbert. ;)

Anyway, I was looking at the Wiki for the battle of Santiago de Cuba, and the following leapt out at me.

On April 30, Cervera set sail from Cape Verde, and panic gripped the U.S. populace, who did not know what his ships might do—attack the largely undefended East Coast while the fleet sailed about in a vain effort to engage him, prey upon American shipping, or perhaps sail up the Potomac and set fire to Washington, D.C.

Cervera managed to evade the U.S. fleet for several weeks, confounding his American counterparts and managing to re-coal in the process. Meanwhile Villaamil, who was in disagreement with both the Spanish Government's shaky war direction and Cervera's rather passive strategy, advocated trying to offset the superiority of the American forces by scattering the fleet and taking the initiative through quick and dispersed daring actions; he even volunteered to lead an audacious diversionary attack to New York with his destroyers, but his proposals were not accepted.

I'm no great expert on the SpAmWar, so I'd appreciate opinions on the plausibility of Cervera taking the example of the British in the War of 1812 and burning the White House. Cheers in advance! :)
 

MrP

Banned
I've heard that theroy before, and it still sounds utterly rediculous....

Y'see, this is why I'm asking about its feasibility, old man. I don't know what the naval defences of Washington were, nor the land forces dedicated to the protection of the area. If Washington's defence was good, then it's a ridiculous idea, yes. If it was bad, however, then it'd be a viable option. Political impact rather than practical, I'd think, of course.
 
I wonder if DC even had defences post-ACW......
It depends if the President is at home at the time..........
Also, Please continue calling me Old Man, I love it!!!:D:D
 

Thande

Donor
the SpAmWar,

:D:D:D

Makes it sound like the U.S. was bombarding Cuba with supposedly cut-price mobile phones and iPods :rolleyes:

I don't think the Spanish had the capability to mount an actual landing like we did in 1812, but some sort of hit-and-run raid or bombardment might be possible - I don't think Washington was very well defended in the 1890s.
 

MrP

Banned
US Coastal Defences were incredibly weak during this period, see: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...oZ4H&sig=JpvjMDOADZx_mlLH5N1Zq0kp30k#PPA11,M1

The real key to a Spanish victory at Santiago is some aggression on the part of the Spanish.

I'm not so much after a Santiago victory here, just a blackened White House . . . again. ;)

That does look rather good for a Spanish attack, I must say! Cheers, old man! :)

:D:D:D

Makes it sound like the U.S. was bombarding Cuba with supposedly cut-price mobile phones and iPods :rolleyes:

I don't think the Spanish had the capability to mount an actual landing like we did in 1812, but some sort of hit-and-run raid or bombardment might be possible - I don't think Washington was very well defended in the 1890s.

Not my coinage; 67th came up with it in the Conroy thread - but i liked it too much not to use it henceforth. :D
 

MrP

Banned
Right, this looks pretty feasible so far, even with the OTL Spanish fleet, given that the coastal defences are as poor as the 67th's link suggests.Anybody know what land forces - regular infantry, militia, cavalry, artillery - was in the D.C/Maryland area? Can the Spanish land a few hundred men, march through town and burn the White House, giving the US government red (and smoke-blackened) faces?
 
One thing to remember, though: If the Spanish do that, you will probably see somthing like the UK/Canadian reaction when the US burned the Parlimant Building in York(incidentaly, the event that led in part to the UK decision to burn the WH in 1814) in reverse, the US is going to be really out for blood now, and the fervor whipped up by Hearst and other "Yellow Journalists" will be tenfold as opposed to OTL..
The US will, once it finds a way to destory the Spanish fleet(which wont be too hard, but might be delayed a few years as opposed to OTL, but all the US needs to do is get Congeress to open their pursestrings(which will be easy in ATL, seeing as the building up the street will have been burned)and expand the fleet.
Once that happens, you will see wholesale destruction of Spanish citys allong the coast IMO; or,we could be really stupid and land a collum on the beach and try to march overland to Madrid:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Either way, after the Spannies burn the WH(again:rolleyes:, god, that poor building:( )the US is going to want to open a big-ass can of whoopass on them, and I think we just might do it.....
 

MrP

Banned
One thing to remember, though: If the Spanish do that, you will probably see somthing like the UK/Canadian reaction when the US burned the Parlimant Building in York(incidentaly, the event that led in part to the UK decision to burn the WH in 1814) in reverse, the US is going to be really out for blood now, and the fervor whipped up by Hearst and other "Yellow Journalists" will be tenfold as opposed to OTL..
The US will, once it finds a way to destory the Spanish fleet(which wont be too hard, but might be delayed a few years as opposed to OTL, but all the US needs to do is get Congeress to open their pursestrings(which will be easy in ATL, seeing as the building up the street will have been burned)and expand the fleet.
Once that happens, you will see wholesale destruction of Spanish citys allong the coast IMO; or,we could be really stupid and land a collum on the beach and try to march overland to Madrid:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Either way, after the Spannies burn the WH(again:rolleyes:, god, that poor building:( )the US is going to want to open a big-ass can of whoopass on them, and I think we just might do it.....

Surely the US wouldn't burn down Spanish coastal cities on purpose? That's a bit uncivilised! I think you're right that win or lose the initial SpAmWar, Congress will throw more money at the Navy than it'll know what to do with. Militarism galore, too, no doubt!
 
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