December, 1907
Paris
The purge of high-ranking officers in the French Army and Navy would only continue as thousands were relieved of duty and hundreds arrested. Unemployed common soldiers were offered positions in factories now confiscated by the Commune. Union officials would be heavily vetted and laws supporting "workers" were placed on the books but the economic chaos would see rampant unemployment and inflation.
While the French banking system survived the war, it could not survive the Marxist-Socialists. Private deposits were simply taken by the government.....only to naturally see the banks collapse.
Similarly, the Commune would start "nationalizing" large landowners' property to distribute them as state-owned small farms. Unlike other regions of Europe, though, small landowners had long been increasing their holdings from the old feudal plantations. But tens of thousands would receive land (though nominally owned by the state) to farm with limited taxes.
However, annexing land, nationalizing factories and seizing bank deposits was, at best, a one time boon. Eventually, and far sooner than expected, the political benefits of these actions would be offset by the radical drop in taxation received from agriculture, manufacturing and the like. In short order, the Commune would be forced to raise taxes on income and land (usually higher than under the old regime). Reduced grain yields would see the government sprint to subsidize or artificially cap prices (the latter in particular was a dismal failure as capped prices reduced production). Eventually, the government would start determining which crops the farmers must cultivate. For practicality, the Government would order more potato production despite centuries-long antipathy of that particular food staple (the French were attached to their bread despite lower caloric yields per acre for wheat than potatoes).
For the most part, the French economy continued to collapse.
London
Despite the "victory", Great Britain would hardly prove in a victorious mood. For all her expenses of the war, the British had, at best, merely held the line.
At worst, they'd lost Gibraltar and Malta (now confirmed by treaty to Spain and Italy, respectively), gained nothing, seen faith in the Empire by the various Dominions significantly wane and wracked up a huge debt.
Yes, France had been laid low again but the economic collapse there also hurt the British economy as pre-war France had been a significant trading partner.
Worse, Britain's relationship with her "allies" America and Germany had also proven somewhat lackluster. During the war, America offered virtually nothing in Europe and not much more in Asia until a Japanese ship attacked an America vessel. America was concerned with America, nothing else.
Worse, the Balfour Government was also learning of large-scale protests throughout the Anglo-American Co-Protectorate by native tribes, many of which had prospered by the presence of the Protectorate but wanted additional representation in the Regional Councils. To make matters worse, the damned Americans were publicly stating that they SUPPORTED this!
Had Cousin Jonathan not learned from Britain having lost India after allowing "modest" political reform?
Cursing the Americans, Balfour would wonder if McKinley and his ilk were actually happy to potentially lose Africa.
Washington
President McKinley had reached the point he would be happy to give up Africa. The Co-Protectorate was becoming something of a political embarrassment. A large faction of Congress had spent the past years accusing him of Imperialism with the intent of turning Cuba and the rest of the Spanish West Indies into colonies (in truth, the thought HAD crossed his mind but now looked like too much trouble).
McKinley was already struggling with what to do with Guyana and Amazonia. The Orinoco Territory was clamoring for Independence, Autonomy or Statehood, depending on the day. Guyana and Amazonia did not appear likely to develop capacity to govern themselves any time soon. It would remain a sinkhole for American capital.
Similarly, Kamchatka and the Ainu Islands didn't appear overly promising. At least there was a basis for a population here, though, as tens of thousands of Siberians, Russians, Americans, Joseons and even some Chinese would migrate to the islands to work the mines or just seek refuge. The Russians fled the Chinese and the Siberians fled the Russians.
Now, however, America was expected to defend lightly populated territories near three potentially hostile powers, not only a great expense but increasing the likelihood of sparking another war, a war in which America could by definition have little to gain and much to lose.
Like Sakhalin and the Kurils, it had long been assumed that eventually America would hand back Kamchatka to the Russians. Looking at a map, it did not seem likely or possible for American to retain such remote territories proximate to three powerful nations for long. However, the poor relations with Russia prevented McKinley from making a magnanimous offer to return these lands to Russia (and possibly Hokkaido to Japan). The Yellow Press had decried the massacres and thuggery apparently forcing hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people across Russian borders. Non-Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims (mainly in Central Asia), Siberian tribesmen and basically anyone else the regime didn't like were being forced from their homes in vicious Pogroms.
Handing ANYTHING back to these people was unacceptable to the American public.
McKinley, after eight years, was happy to turn over the nation to someone else in 1908.
