Fenians, Brits, Mexicans, Canucks and Frenchies....OH, MY! An alternate American Civil War

[Alt History Buff]

October, 1909

Washington

President Roosevelt would be studying some of the latest proposed legislation in Congress with displeasure. His pension system had not gone far enough. Worse, the Unions were complained about repression in the coal mining industry. He would launch an investigation into this. The last thing the Republicans needed was more Union votes going to the Democrats.

His Chief of Staff, Winston Churchill, would knock on his office door and usher in a message.

"Mr. President," Churchill began, noting that the man's accent had changed much in over a decade in America, "President Aguinaldo is here."

The Filipino had arrived the previous day and Roosevelt welcomed him to America. After the expected ceremony, Aguinaldo would be ushered to a local townhome on the Presidential grounds reserved for visiting dignitaries to refresh himself and get a night of sleep.

Aguinaldo would enter the Roosevelt's office and the American would stand to greet him. The two men would sit by the fire (it was a cool Autumn in Washington) and speak of a dozen issues. Aguinaldo would thank Roosevelt for the aid in overthrowing Japan and the American financial contribution to make the Philippines solvent for the first year or two of its existence as an independent nation.

Eventually, a more serious topic would arise.

"Mr. President," Aguinaldo began, "About Mindanao".....

Roosevelt was disappointed to have to tell his new friend that the United States would NOT assist in any way forcibly integrate partially Muslim Mindanao into the Philippines. The Southern Island had nominated its own President via a "great coalition" of both Christian and Muslim peoples which would protect all Mindanaons.

Dayton

The Wright Brothers would beam with pleasure as the first military-order of an airplane would be completed, ready to ship to the United States Army.

Rio de Janeiro

The Brazilian government of the past years had fallen and new coalitions arose. In the end, the Emperor didn't care much. If there was one thing which unified Brazil, it was the outrage over not only the loss of the territories north of the main Amazon River.....but now the loss of even using the artery itself.

Well, technically, Roosevelt only prevented access to the Amazon at River Mouth. If the Brazilians could reach it any other way, they were welcome to do so.

This would, of course, be a disaster as only a few railroads could reach the area at all, much less efficiently. Swiftly, most economic activity along the south bank of the river would collapse. Worse, the loss of easy river access would end the practice of "recruiting" Indians for the rubber plantations. Production dropped terribly as the Indians forced to work the plantations began to flee now that there was a place to flee TO.

Rubber remained a powerful part of the Brazilian economy and the Brazilians were intent on regaining easy access to the product.

Fortunately for the Brazilians, the Amazon River was but one of two avenues of transportation from the Andean Mountain foothills where rubber was grown.

UNFORTUNATELY for the Brazilians, the other was through Peru and Bolivia, both of which were problematic in their own ways. Peru had fallen into civil war and split into 4 nations (at the moment, there could be more or less at any given time) while Bolivia was now dependent upon America for access to the sea.

Brazil was plainly intent on regaining its territories in the north which meant access to the west.

Bitter and resentful, the Brazilians were already planning for the next war.

Orinoco Territory

With a 63% margin, the Territory of Orinoco would vote to seek statehood in the United States. It would be up to Congress to accept or refuse.

 

[Alt History Buff]

November, 1909

New York

Russian immigrant Sergei Lebedev had been serving as a professor of Chemistry in the University of Krakow when the Poles revolted. He was fortunately able to flee with his family and skin intact. However, the horrifying events occurring in Russia would force the Russian to flee from St. Petersburg to the Baltic. The family then sailed on to New York.

Among his many accomplishments was development of what was considered the first synthetic rubber. Unable to speak English for several years, Lebedev would instead seek to support his family through business. He dusted off his old formulae and looked for a partner to produce the product.

Rubber prices were again booming as Southeast Asia producers were down terribly after the previous war. Now Brazil was also largely cut off.

He would offer the product and formulae to Coleman Dupont the Dupont Company for an upfront fee of $10,000 and a percentage of future sales.

London

With heavy heart, Prime Minister Asquith would determined NOT to seat the Pro-Independence Fenian MP's of Ireland. While he legitimately was willing to accept Home Rule of Ireland (a separation of Ireland and Britain under the same crown) but that was no longer good enough for the Irish Catholics.

Asquith was certain that nothing could ever bring the Irish back into the fold...at least willingly. But offering Ireland independence was virtually impossible to accept by the British population. Not only would the Liberals probably lose the next election in a landslide, there may even be a Civil War.

Instead, Asquith was certain that he'd only ensured a longtime insurgency which would sap Britain's strength in perpetuity.

Belgrade

The King of Serbia would sign a series of treaties binding his nation to Germany, Poland, the Ukraine and other Central and Eastern European countries. The King saw this as necessary as Russia's power seemed to be waning.

Fortunately, the King had several daughters of marriage ago and he would marry them off to the heir to Byelorussia, the King of the Ukraine and the second son of the King of Romania.

By 1909, only Bulgaria and Greece remained clients of Russia and even here the fealty did not extend as far as previously expected by the Czarina.

Arabia

Over the course of the past decades, tribes of Arabs would formalize their claims to lands on the Peninsula. Indeed, beyond the historical reasons, there were rumors that oil had been found in numerous places throughout the desert.

Among these were the Emirate of Ha'il in the north, Al'Hasa in the east and Emirate of Riyadh to the south.

 

[Alt History Buff]

 

[Alt History Buff]

December, 1909

Santo Domingo, Hispaniola

The colony of Hispaniola had, in 1908, politely demanded "Home Rule" over local affairs from Spain. Initially, Spain utterly refused....until they recalled that Cuba and Puerto Rico had been refused as well and were now independent Republics.

Alphonso XIII would quietly speak to his Ministers and inquire just how Spain could force the issue. None could reply. The Spanish Navy had proven desperately inadequate in the past war and the nation no longer had France, Italy, Russia, Brazil and Chile allied with them. America or Britain could dispatch a rowboat to blockade the island and there'd be nothing Spain could do about the matter.

Instead, Alphonso XIII would opt to make the best out of the situation and personally sail to Santo Domingo to "oversee the drafting of a new government". Nominally, Hispaniola remained a colony but, in truth, it was defacto independent. Even maintaining control over Hispaniola's foreign relations only mattered so much if Spain could not compel Hispaniola. Great Britain's sovereign was nominally in command of the Dominion of Nova Scotia's foreign policy but not a single regiment would sail from Nova Scotian shores in the past war. So what was that Foreign Policy worth?

Having been evicted by force from Cuba and Puerto Rico, the King was uncertain of his welcome but would be gratified by the warm response from Hispaniola's elites. Like Spain, the new local Corte would be somewhat conservative but was still a significant step forward in political participation and the only territory left in the Americas which held obedience to a European King not of Great Britain.

January, 1910

Dublin

The Undersecretary of Ireland would depart his Gentlemen's club only to be shot down by local Fenians.

They then entered the club and promptly killed as many of the Upper Class patrons as they could reach. In less than 2 minutes 21 men were killed or wounded, many serving in the British government.

This would be but one of the atrocities of January.

Orange Order Protestants would hunt down and beat Catholics in the streets regardless of actual political position. The government would round up suspected Fenians into Dublin Castle....and they would never be seen again. Bombs exploded in Protestant pubs. Catholic churches were burned.

The "Disorder" would spread throughout the island and eventually to Britain itself.

February, 1910

Paris

While the Commune had espoused much of the Marxist rhetoric and theories, the Church remained largely left alone. Over a century ago, the French Revolution had nearly crushed the Catholic Church in France. Later reforms would legalize the Church provided that the French government manage the finances entirely (priests and nuns were on government salary) and Bishops and the like were nominated by France.

But the Church was considered the "opiate of the masses" by the Marxists and their arch-prophet, the Russian-born Jew, Vladimir Lenin and his hundreds of Russian, German and other Marxist allies who busily translated doctrine into a dozen languages and smuggled them across borders hoping to inspire an international workers revolution.

Lenin would continue to press the French Commune to abolish the Church. However, the Commune was already dealing with massive structural changes to the economy and to society. The last thing they needed was a holy war. The Churchmen were allowed to practice their faith....provided they declined to speak against the government. Any priests or nuns which failed to at least give lip service to the Commune were.....fired.....and many arrested or exiled. Presently, most of the French church would agree to remain silent for the sake of their parishioners. The French needed the word of God more now than ever before.

 

[Alt History Buff]

April, 1910

Cairo

Boutros Ghali would be the first Coptic Christian to serve as Prime Minister of Egypt. The Khedive had been sincere in ensuring the Christians and other minorities would be respected under his rule both in Egypt and the Levant. While appointing a Copt to such an august post would prompt some mutterings among the Muslim establishment, it also signaled the Khedive's continued good intentions.

Fez

The King of Morocco had, by 1910, managed to subdue most of the unruly interior tribesmen. The aggression of the French and Italians would unify much of the nation with a common cause. What was more, the Moroccans had spent the past fifty years slowly moving back to Berber as the language of education, government and daily life after a thousand years of Arab domination.

It had been a strategic decision and a controversial one. However, it succeeded in the primary purpose of unifying Morocco in its unique cultural traits. Never again would the Maghreb be an outpost of the Arabs, the Ottoman and certainly not the Europeans. One people united by language. Yes, the faith remained but religion was not the same thing as heritage.

The past 50 years had seen a rebirth of the Berber people, stronger than ever before. From petty pirate states came a strong, wealthy and unified nation which was little frightened of the outside world.

London

Unlike the previous administration, Asquith was willing to grant additional seats in the regional Co-Protectorate Councils to the natives. Large cities and large tribes would each be allocated a seat.

Once again, the Cape Dominion and Boer Republic would be refused seats on these councils akin to the other major African nations (Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Madagascar). The Cape was rejected due to her relationship with Great Britain and the Boer Republic as it had never been forgiven by political Africans for the ejection of native peoples from their territory a generation prior. What was more, even in Great Britain, this intent of the Co-Protectorate was "Africa for the Africans" and the white settlements along the south would simply not facilitate this theory.

British and American diplomats would debate for months before approving the details of the reform. By 1912, over a third of the councils would be reserved for natives (though not necessarily directly voted in the case of the tribes). The actual quantity of natives in the Councils would rapidly increase over the coming years as tribal peoples migrated to the cities and were directly elected.

Hindu Socialist Republic

The most devastating purge of the past decade would commence in 1910 as huge numbers of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other undesirables would be victimized and sent fleeing across the borders by the million. Having been independent for a generation, the other powers of the Subcontinent (Hindu West Bengal, Mysore and Hyderabad, the Sikh Empire, the Muslim states of the west) would meeting in secret in Goa and negotiate an alliance.

Years of fear were being replaced by a dreadful determination to not only aid the desperate people of the HSR but eliminate the threat to the rest of the Subcontinent.

Beijing

Yet another treaty was signed between America and China allowing for additional military cooperation. With Japan unlikely to appreciate America and China's role in the destruction of their Empire, it behooved both giants to cooperate. Trade and technology would flow both ways. America would increase the number of Chinese student visas to the education institutions (to this day in 1910, the anti-Chinese immigration legislation remained on the books and unique in American history).

Borneo and the Lesser Sunda Islands

The next flood of Indian refugees would arrive in the "Anglo-Australia East Indies" of Borneo, Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Borneo remained the focus for Australian authorities for they required a labor force to exploit the island's resources. Tens of thousands of refugees, preferably Christians but, in all reality, Australia didn't care if Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs or other happened to find their way to Borneo.

Even more, large numbers of Chinese and other non-indigenous non-Muslims had been evacuated from the Muslim states of Malaya, Java and Sumatra. Many of the Chinese would go back to their ancestral homelands (which many if not most had never seen) but a good number would also make their way to Borneo and the other islands. Further, Filipinos, now free from Japanese rule, would be enticed south and, within half a decade, would see as many migrants on an annual basis as Indians reach the islands.

Of course, Australia's other domains (Australia itself, Tasmania, the Zealand islands, Hawaii, etc) would continue to ban Asian immigration. But British immigration would renew with fervor and nearly 100,000 Britons and Irish per year would sail to the South Pacific.

Washington

Thought Roosevelt had no particular personal animosity towards Japanese or most other Asians, he did agree to sign the Immigration Act of 1910 after the Act founder, Senator Lodge of Massachusetts, agreed to include legislation banning accepting Marxists, Anarchists (and other political undesirables), the insane, the diseased, etc.

The Senator was very much a leader of the "Nativist" faction of the Republican Party and sought to keep out those he deemed "unworthy". This include most Asians (only students and businessmen were granted visas which did not necessarily offer citizenships). Lodge would also attempt to ban southern Europeans (he had an oddly vicious loathing of Italians) which, as best Roosevelt could tell, was not anti-Catholic but simply a function of his belief in the people's inferiority. Roosevelt, still hoping to regain some Irish and other Catholic support lost in the past decade, would threaten to veto if this was not removed from the Act.

The President was not worried about how this would reflect upon the new agreements with China. The Emperor's servants, namely his heir and Viceroy, would not take offense. They didn't want foreigners in THEIR country either except for educational reasons.

Plus, the anti-Asia legislation of America and Australia would encourage the smaller Eastern Asian countries to bind themselves more closely politically to China.

 

[Alt History Buff]

November, 1910

Georgetown University

Sun Yat-sen had spent much of his youth participating in rabble-rousing politics in China until it became clear he would soon end up in jail. Fortunately, his elder brother Sun Mei had been a wealthy landowner in Australian Hawaii in the 1890's (one of the few Chinese allowed on the islands due to his status as a trader as well) and arranged for Sun Yat-sen to study at Honolulu College where he learned English and eventually became an honor student.

However, Sun Yat-sen would soon begin to grow too closely to the Mormon missionaries and Sun Mei would order his brother to the American mainland where he would enter Medical School at Georgetown. While Sun would eventually gain his degree in Medicine, he would nevertheless convert to the Mormon Church (albeit the North American mainland version, not the breakaway Hawaiian branch).

For years, Sun would serve on the staff at Georgetown before finally deeming it time to return to China. Sun was two decades removed from his riotous youth and no one would remember his rabblerousing. However, he WAS the rare Chinese with a degree in western medicine and was eagerly welcomed to teach at the University of Shanghai.

What was more, the Doctor would be the first native Mormon Missionary in China and use his position as a platform for his faith.

London

Despite winning the previous election, the Liberal Party was splintering with much of the membership departing for the Labor Party. A minority government already, H.H. Asquith would spend more time fighting internally than getting his social programs passed. The Conservatives and Liberal Unionists combined for nearly half the votes while the Fenians hadn't even been seated. Meanwhile, Asquith was forced to make common cause with Labor Party, the very group sapping Liberal Strength.

The Troubles in Ireland simply escalated by the week. By 1910, the British were forced to maintain nearly 80,000 troops in Ireland while gun-running from France continued apace.

Worse, Britain's relationship with America was slowly fading over arguments regarding governance in Africa and public proclamations of numerous American officials in support of Irish Home Rule....or even outright independence. While this was plainly a sop to the large Irish-American voting population, the fact remained that Britain's alliance with America tended to be "stay out of the other's way" without a great deal of actual cooperation or even necessarily common interest.

Great Britain had numerous potential enemies across the Channel on the European mainland (not to mention the subcontinent and Japan), simply having not another enemy was something of a blessing.

But Asquith was not a "foreign policy" Prime Minister nor was he particularly skilled at Parliamentary management. By 1910, even elements of his own Party were dissatisfied with him. There was talk of replacing him with one of his compatriots with more management talent.

Like most Liberals, there had long been support for Home Rule in Ireland, though this would always prove impractical. Now that the Irish Catholics had turned almost entirely to the outlawed Fenian Party, they had effectively removed themselves from government. The only Irish MP's in Parliament were Unionists allied to the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists.

The nation had moved on from anger at the Conservative-Liberal Unionist coalition for the war. Instead, the slow economic recovery and prospect of severance from Ireland would rapidly move the population against the Liberals. Ever more reliant upon Labor, the Liberals could only wait for the day when a public issue would force a vote the government could not win (splitting the Liberal Party internally or from Labor).

Bizarrely, it was Women's Suffrage which would cause the split. A Private Members' Bill (a Bill introduced by someone not of the Government) was discussed as a solution to the complex issue which would allow for a vote on the subject without threatening the government. However, Asquith had been lukewarm at best on the subject and quietly sabotaged the Bill. Neither Asquith's own Party Leaders nor Labor were happy as they knew damned well that Asquith was against this.

This time, the Cabinet met and voted three to one to present their own government's Bill to the same effect. This was a repudiation of Asquith's position and he knew it. He was offered the option of changing his vote and publicly support the Bill or step down. Asquith refused. He would do neither. He would vote his conscience in a rather radical response which stunned his peers.

The Bill was presented the following week. While Asquith did not publicly oppose the Bill, the entire nation knew he was against it. This was enough for a number of Asquith's Liberal allies to vote against it or abstain. The Bill failed and the government, now dysfunctional, would be compelled to resign.

A new election was called.

France

Alarmed to see over 1,000,000 French citizens flee the country in the past few years (probably less than a 10th that had fled France during the entire Revolutionary/Napoleonic war years), many bearing badly needed skills and often carrying off valuables (the former Emperor had looted several museums, the Crown Jewels and many other treasures as he fled), the French Commune would commence construction on the "French Fence", a guarded series of fortifications encircling the nation. Visas were also refused without direct Commune approval (this had been the status for two years anyway but had done little to actually stop people from leaving).

Like their Revolutionary ancestors of the 1790's, the French Commune would create a repressive dictatorship based upon fear.

Soon, all wages would be capped/subsidized while food distribution would be rationed after a series of poor harvests and the French government's monopoly over trade (and lack of foreign currency to trade).

School teachers would soon be forced to burn old textbooks and accept new ones effectively spouting Marxist rhetoric.

More and more portions of the economy were "privatized". The French stock exchange would effectively cease to exist as such measures were "anti-Marxist".

Eventually, the more Moderate Socialists of the Commune would be marginalized or declared traitors and arrested. Soon, only the Radicals made decisions.

 

[Alt History Buff]

February, 1911

The Levant

Over the past decades, the Levant, a tribute state to Egypt, would see massive and diverse immigration including Egyptians (both Muslim and Christian), Jews, Greeks, Bektashi and Alevi Turks, Armenians, Georgians, Russians, etc, etc.

The Arabs, the original inhabitants of the regions, would find the influx of settlers....unsettling....to say the least. By 1911, the Arabs were no longer in the majority of the Levant. And even the Arabs themselves were divided by race, tribe, religion, etc.

Nearly half the migrants were Christian (of a dizzying degree of denominations) or Jews. The rather spectacular diversity of the Levant would make it easy for the Khedive to retain his supremacy by playing one group against the other. None possessed the power to challenge the others, much less Egypt. Thus, the Khedive was soon seen as the stabilizing force of the region.

However, keeping the Levant Happy also meant stamping down on Sunni Egyptian supporters of oppressing the Christian Minority (or Jews, Shi'a, etc). Also seeing the Khedive as their protector, the Copts would give almost unqualified support to the regime that actually allowed a Christian the highest of offices.

Hindu Socialist Republic

After years of internal consolidation, the HSR would commence sending agents into neighboring regions to stir up Ethnic, Religious and Class struggle. Soon, all of the subcontinent would fall under the control over the Hindu Socialist Republic.

Chile

After years of civil war, a popular revolution would finally see the overthrow of the military dictatorship. Civilian government had returned and there was even talk of abolishing the Army.

It was not an auspicious action but at least Chile was no longer threatening to collapse into petty fiefdoms like Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru.

Rio de Janeiro

With an influx of labor, particularly Italian (but also including French, Welsh, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Ukrainian and others), Brazil's industries were prospering along with agricultural and mining exports. The nation had swiftly found its footing but societal friction was escalating.

Brazil's nationalism bitterly resented American encroachment to the north (starting two wars) and were made worse by Roosevelt's humiliating "Big Stick" diplomacy which effectively cut off nearly half the remaining land area of Brazil from reasonable control.

Despite opposition, the Emperor prodded his government to act. The railways again were snaking their way northwards to the southern shore of the Amazon, this time carrying river gunboats and other military supplies.

Manaus

After falling in the previous war, the Americans had belatedly made Manaus a military strongpoint......as much as any flat riverside plain could be expected to be a strongpoint. There were no mountains, no natural fortifications to the Riverside town. Still very much a military town, Manaus would also serve as an entrepot for regional commerce, though this remained modest. Timber was the most obvious available commodity but it was not practical to transport softwoods a thousand miles to the sea.

But here and there, commerce occurred.

More importantly, the northern Amazon was viewed by President Roosevelt as vital to the protection of Guyana and Orinoco....which he supposed protected the American West Indies.....which protected Florida????

Even Roosevelt's aides could not fully comprehend Roosevelt's intentions or his rampant jingoism.

 

[Alt History Buff]

March, 1911

London

The 1911 Election would go even worse for the Liberals than they thought possible, dropping them from 38% to 18% of Parliament in a few months. Most of the votes would go to the Labor Party, now up to 20%. The Coalition of Conservatives 39% and Liberal Unionists 15% between them would have a majority with the Irish Parliamentary (Home Rule) gaining 1% and the Fenians 7%. The latter, of course, were not seated.

Of course, this would not resolve any of the practical issues before that vexed the previous administration: Ireland's continued rebellion, the Co-Protectorate demands for ever greater representation, Dominion resistance to any political demands of the Home Islands, the slow economy, female suffrage, the fear of the radical government in France.....

Bonar Law, the new Prime Minister, was a level-headed politician with a pragmatic streak. While his party was a committed foe of Irish Home Rule, he was willing to find some sort of compromise.

The delegation of additional authority to local Africans had already been decided and implemented. There was nothing more to be done by that but he would not encourage further.

Suffragettes....it was best to just avoid the issue.

The economy was already slightly improving and Law was happy to take credit.

France.....god, what was there to do with France?

April, 1911

Washington

With some reservations, Congress would belatedly approve Orinoco's request for statehood. It was a very sensitive issue. Did America REALLY want to permanently settle in South America, permanently surrounded by the petty remnants of Venezuela and the bitter and disillusioned Brazil?

But Roosevelt would correctly point out that these people had, of their own accord, REQUESTED to be made Americans. Did not that entitle them to a measure of respect?

With the reorganization of the region into nine territories, there was even talk that Guyana, the long coastal region, would someday seek statehood. Para may follow, then maybe even Trinidad. All had already long since reached the necessary population levels (though capacity for self-government was questionable).

America was apparently in South America to stay. Nothing could have horrified Brazil more.

May, 1911

Frankfurt

The German Confederation would see the rise of French and Russian political extremism with more than moderate interest.

The alliances with Poland and the other new nations would solidify in the past two years. It was apparent that neither France nor Russia planned on leaving well enough alone. As the new nations struggled to form functional governments, the Russian influence was forcibly ejected across the border as refugees entered via the leaky borders.

June, 1911

Central Asia

The mass slaughter of the Turkic tribes continued. While hundreds of thousand would belatedly cross into Persia and even Afghanistan, most were effectively trapped on the Steppe as the Russian army's modern weapons would massacre the tribal forces. Eventually, civilians would be.....consolidated.....into huge city-sized camps where food, water and shelter were more than lacking. More would die of disease than battle.

 

[Alt History Buff]

 

[Alt History Buff]

November, 1911

Staten Island, New Jersey (seceded from New York years earlier to join New Jersey).

The battle of Malta three years prior had been a terrible defeat for Great Britain. The Italian submersibles had sunk three British ships including the HMS Dreadnought without even being seen. There had, however, been another secret weapon utilized. The new Marconi Radio system had given the Italian Navy adequate preparation time to set up the ambush.

In 1911, the first commercial radio station would be emitted from Staten Island to the first few thousand commercial radios. The number would increase drastically.

Luanda

The African Continental Congress would incorporate for oversight of the regional Councils of the Co-Protectorate in 1911. Over 70% of the Congress would be African-born, roughly 20% North American or British born blacks, 4% white and 6% representatives from the other nations of Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia and Madagascar.

This Congress possessed limited powers but still would regulate laws and audit the Administration of the regional Councils. Power was expected to be gradually ceded to this body over the next decade.

Madrid

Horrified by the situation in France, King Alphonso XIII would welcome as many refugees as could make his borders. Prince Victor of Italy would do the same. Both would gradually improve their relations with Germany and Britain for fear of the French madness corrupting the entire continent again as it had in the 1790's.

Shanghai

Like the port of Dalian up north, Shanghai's shipyards were laboriously upgraded to produce modern vessels with the aid of American and British naval architects. The Emperor's MInisters (including his son, the defacto Regent) would vigorously work to improve their shipbuilding facilities knowing that Japan was no doubt working hard to to the same.

Detroit

Chevrolet would be established in late 1911 as a competitor for the thriving Ford Motor Company. Dozens of companies now produced automobiles but most would not survive their first few years.

France

Yet another purge would take place as the Commune arrested thousands of high-ranking Socialist Party leaders. The Socialist Party would be formally "annexed" by the Marxists and all other Parties abolished.

The Secretary of War, on the other hand, would have other priorities. Like the Revolutionaries of the late 18th century, the counter-revolutionary neighbors were already slowly forming a coalition against France. Something must be done to protect the borders.

Several engineers within the French army responsible for the new fleet of trucks (produced in France, of course, without overly many of the crude personal automobiles now clogging up Europe's roads) to support the Army would request an audience for they had something to show him.

Throughout the last war, the trenches, machine guns and the like would prevent either side from a significant breakthrough. The engineers had thought about this and realized that the men needed better protection, armor against bullets. The would take several examples of a heavy truck and adapt it (with four engines) into a machine-gun covered armored tortoise.

They pointed out that, if France had a few dozen of these, would not the trenches prove less of an impediment to global Marxism?

The Secretary of War agreed and ordered them to improve the design and orders several dozen for experimental purposes.

He would then be approached by a scientist recently graduated from University. A chemist, the man had been ordered to design a tool against counterrevolutionary insurgents. He would provide a formulae for a gas which notoriously caused tearing up to the point that a man was helpless. The Chemist had taken the liberty of speaking to the manager of a local munitions factory and inquired of the gas could be affixed to a mortar or cannon shell.

Washington

Theodore Roosevelt would pass a new "National Parks Act" Amendment which would set aside a massive portion of the Amazon for national parkland and Indian reservations. Given that Roosevelt wanted to defend the Amazon from Brazil, this was a bit confusing for some.

But Roosevelt had seen the region and realized that the land defended itself. It was almost impossible to march through that god-awful forest even WITHOUT any form of resistance. Perhaps the best way to protect the border.....was to intentionally keep the region unsettled and unbroken.

After that, one only needed control over the Amazon River itself to ensure its dominance.

 

[Alt History Buff]

March, 1912

Chicago

The Republican Convention would go relatively smoothly. Roosevelt was largely unchallenged by serious candidates despite some Party resistance to elements of his 3 years of office including aggressive trust-busting (particularly rail, steel and oil), higher regulation of food standards, government & military pensions, etc. Roosevelt was publicly popular. That was all the Republicans needed to maintain unity. Few people liked to argue to victory.

Baltimore

The Democratic Convention would be more problematic as House Minority Leader Champ Clark of Missouri would duel with New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson. The Convention was soon deadlocked as neither had enough support to gain the majority of delegates. Tammany Hall would nearly throw its support to one or the other but was repudiated.

Eventually, the deadlock was broken when Judson Harmon, governor of Ohio, would be chosen as a compromise candidate.

It was a poor show of unity.

In the meantime, the radicals of the Party were starting to defect to Eugene V. Debs' Socialist Party. Many Democrats were pleased with this given that the Socialists were being tarred by the insanity ongoing in France and the Hindu Socialist Republic.

July, 1912

Boston

Harriet Quimby would become the first female to gain a pilot's license. She became quite the celebrity locally.

Beijing

The Chinese Nationalist Party was born in Beijing in 1912. While overtly supportive of the Emperor, political reform remained stagnant. The NP would endorse much of the Mandarin's foreign and economic policies but could not stomach the near absolutism still rampant among the Imperial Bureaucracy despite repeated attempts to improve efficiency and reduce corruption.

Not a Revolutionary organizations.....not yet, anyway.....but certainly agitators. The organization would soon rapidly gain thousands of supporters among the business and intellectual classes.

London

Amateur Archeologist Charles Dawson would present his "Piltdown Man" as the Missing Link between ape and man. It would be 40 years before it was proven to be a hoax.

Egypt, the Levant and Mesopotamia

The "ancient world" would see huge interest among the Paleontologists. Digs would become the new standard throughout the region. The Khedive, in particularly, was eager to show off his country's culture to the world.

Central Asia

Over the course of the past years, an estimated 2,000,000 Turkic (almost entirely Muslim) had been wiped out and nearly a million more forced into neighboring regions.

In a particularly savage irony, many sought sanctuary in Xinxiang, the same region which only decades before had seen their Turkic peoples native to the region nearly wiped out by the Chinese.

The Chinese would, once again, brutally force the tribesmen out and even add tens of thousands of their own Muslim minorities as well, this time back into the teeth of the Russian Army.

 

[Alt History Buff]

November, 1912

Washington

By nearly a two to one margin in the electoral college, Roosevelt would win the 1912 election. He was greatly aided by the 4% of mostly Democratic votes which were sapped by the Socialists.

Worse, the Southern Democrats, already irritated by lack of attention to their requirements, would see a depressed turnout which cost several Congressional positions.

With the victory, Roosevelt was even less beholden to the Republican power structure and happily relieved several of his Cabinet Secretaries that had originally been approved via Party agreement. Now, the President had no inclination to put up with any hindrances.

Among his new Cabinet members was the new Secretary of Territorial Affairs, his old friend Winston Churchill. Now past his mid-thirties, the English-born soldier had served as Roosevelt's major domo for almost a decade and a half. Roosevelt thought the man was more than ready for a Cabinet position. Flexible in thought, Roosevelt was certain Churchill's energy would prove a boon to the nation. However, having never served in Congress or other elected office, the nomination received a great deal of resistance in Congress. Fortunately, Roosevelt managed to gain enough support (by one vote) to put Churchill in the position.

In the meantime, the main trustbuster in the legal department, William Jennings Bryan, would be promoted to Attorney General. The man's politics would be somewhat controversial given his often radical political stances but Roosevelt trusted him. What was more, the President would put him in charge of the Administration's answer to the proposed 17th Amendment: direct election of Senators.

Roosevelt had come around to the idea while Bryan was a passionate advocate. He would work with Congress to arrange the requisite support as well as prepare the states for ratification.

It would also be Bryan who would bring Eugene Debs into direct contact with President Roosevelt. Here Debs' latest crusade was against the meatpacking industry. Roosevelt would be horrified by what he found and publicly denounced the unsafe conditions and sanitation of the industry. Bryan was ordered to enact a public investigation and ensure the entire country was aware of the matter. Soon, the Clean Foods Act of 1913 would be passed, greatly expanding upon prior legislation and creating a bureaucracy capable of actually administering it.

Bryan would also lead the Justice Department in cracking down on the Coaling Companies which had been mistreating workers. Debs was surprised but pleased. His Socialist Party had done poorly in the last election and was painted with the brush of French Radicalism and dismissed as European extremists.

In the meantime, the multiple-year investigation of the disappearance of Mohandas Gandhi. The prime suspect was a Georgian labor boss Gandhi had been investigating for corruption but no real evidence had been found and the investigation closed. The drama made for excellent Yellow Journalism and also spurred several unions to review their own internal procedures for auditing Union locals.

Sikh Empire

The Hindu Socialist Republic would dispatch over 80,000 troops across the border of the Sikh Empire in 1912. A mix of Sikh, Muslim and Hindus, the Sikh Empire was viewed as an easy target for the HSR to defeat in battle and "liberate" the local Hindus....and put the Muslims and Sikh's in their place.

However, the HSR would severely underestimate the Sikh military capacity as the Empire had been allied with Baluchistan and the other western subcontinent powers and was able to gain significant modern weaponry. This allowed the Sikh Empire to push the HSR back across the borders within months.

HSR agent provocateurs would nevertheless encourage many native Hindus to revolt against the Sikhs. This was largely put down but would severely weaken the Empire.

 

[Alt History Buff]

July, 1913

Paris

Having grown to like the idea of a chemical weapon crippling huge portions of an enemy line, the French Defense Ministry would investigate other potential chemicals to kill soldiers en masse.

What was more, the degenerate Spanish Monarchy was facing considerable domestic discontent. The Marxists would quietly offer money and support to their oppressed "Spanish Kin". Unlike Germany and Italy, which possessed stronger and more competent governments, the Spanish support for Marxists would rapidly expand.

Moscow

Czarina Anna would spend several days that summer witnessing the newly reorganized Russian Army on maneuver. Though not trained in the military arts, Anna was smarter than many of her generals and swiftly realized the improvement that she witnessed. In the prior war, Russian Regiments were unruly, cumbersome units and there had been horrific coordination among larger armies.

The Russian General Staff was reorganized, a priority put on supply and medical planning, new emphasis put on modern tactics (oddly, it was the French who had been making some strides in this) and massing munitions and other military necessities at the front. New factories would be established to produce arms in large numbers so the nation need not be dependent upon foreigners for aid.

Rio de Janeiro

After the dismal performance of the Brazilian Army and Navy in the past conflict, the Emperor demanded to know how the Americans may be pushed back into the Caribbean. The acceptance of Orinoco as a state effectively ensured the United States intended to permanently remain in South America. Already Venezuela and Chile (partially) had been dismembered by the Americans, either directly or indirectly. Peru and Ecuador had fallen apart largely on their own.....not that America had done anything help.

Was it no likely that America intended the same for Brazil?

The Emperor imagined every state of Brazil "liberated" by Americans and forged into helpless, petty nations under American control.

Unfortunately, most of the problems of the previous war had not been overcome. There were few roads or railroads into the Amazon Basin as the large number of river tributaries would demand expansive (and expensive) bridges to be built by the dozen. As the Amazon had few exploitable natural resources (gold had been discovered here or there but not in adequate quantities to sustain a population) and the soil was poor for agriculture, the verdant basis of the world's mightiest river largely remained the kingdom of animals and the odd tribe.

As America had shut off Brazilian traffic through the river mouth, this eliminated nearly 95% of the already poor economic opportunities of the region. Brazilians along the river system were flowing OUT, not IN.

Even the rubber plantations were struggling as the admittedly heinous practice of forced Indian labor was slowly ending due to large-scale escapes, a heavy death toll, reduced access to the already waning Indian population of the basin and the added expenses of transport would hamper the still profitable rubber industry deep in the interior along the Andes mountain slopes (though there were some fears that these new synthetic rubbers being introduced in America and Britain would someday supercede natural rubber).

Still, doing nothing was unacceptable. A plan to regain the Amazon and at least push the Americans back to the Guyana Plateau was necessary.

The Generals shrugged and stated that proximity was Brazil's greatest weapon....that and determination. The Americans saw the Amazon as a place on the map. Brazil saw it as intrinsically tied to their nation, culture and history.

Thus, a battle plan was drawn up for raising large numbers of volunteers on short notice (augmented by key experienced professionals like artillerymen, etc), supplies stored in advance locations and, effectively, throw more numbers than the Americans were ever likely to able to match (or want to).

It was BRAZIL's destiny to reign supreme over South America, not the United States. Giving up this principle was to end any semblance of hope for Brazil becoming a world power.

 

[Alt History Buff]

October, 1913

Portsmouth

The HMS Queen Elizabeth would launch in October, 1913. It would be the first Oil-fired warship in the world. The British had already been at the forefront of naval design for years and this would ensure the Royal Navy remained as such.


November, 1913

Dublin

Edward Carson had never been an extreme Orangeist akin to the Radicals but would soon realize that the potential for future Home Rule.....was still in existence despite the current government. Parliament was obviously fatigued with the "Irish Question" after centuries of resistance. He began to realize that the British government could not be trusted long term to keep Ireland attached to Britain.

In November, he would create the Irish Volunteers and begin importing large numbers of weapons into Ireland. The Fenians were doing the same. It would only even the balance.

Detroit

Henry Ford's moving assembly line would revolutionize automotive production, reducing construction time by over 80%. The quantity of automobiles on the road exploded over the following years as prices were driven down to levels even common people could afford.

Two months later, Ford would announce a $5.00 wage, revolutionary for the time.

December, 1913

Belfast

The HMHS Britannic would be launched out of Belfast. It would be a remarkable vessel. Her sister ship Titanic had launched the previous year.

February, 1914

Baltimore Shipyard

Secretary of the Navy Winston Churchill would personally inspect two new ships preparing for launch out of Baltimore. The new fast Cruisers were being built in Brooklyn while the new Heavy Battleships were produced in Norfolk. But the more important vessels in Churchill's mind were the new torpedo boats, submersibles and fast destroyers produced in Baltimore (as well as San Diego and Seattle). Churchill was convinced that the torpedo would make most capital ships obsolete.

For the price of one battleship, he could build a small fleet of these torpedo-laden lighter ships. He imagined a lumbering battleship facing a dozen vessels with torpedoes approaching from all angles. Good luck.

However, Mahan continued to preach that the battleship was not done. Instead, he proposed a mixed fleet. Heavy ships with big guns were protected from destroyers by fast cruisers with medium guns which were protected by destroyers from submersibles with new depth charges.

If anything, the six decade long naval arms race was getting even more complex.

New Jersey

"Tess of the Storm Century" starring the first true movie starlet, Mary Pickford, would be released to great acclaim. The "girl with the curls" would play opposite a sadistic local aristocrat portrayed by Benito Mussolini.

Paris

With all manufacturing effectively nationalized, the French Commune would order unemployed Urban workers into the factory floor. Dismayed by the poor wages, several dozen attempted to strike. Within the hour, Secret Police arrived and the twelve men would never be heard from again beyond a vague statement of "treason".

No further strikes were to be held.

Production would, in fact, increase over the course of the past several years and the coming ones but actual productivity and quality stayed stubbornly low.

 

[Alt History Buff]

May, 1914

St. Lawrence

The RMS Empress of Ireland would be struck by a commercial ship in May, list so badly that even the lifeboats could not be deployed and over a thousand lives were lost.

The competing White Star Line would brag about the safety record of their new Titanic and Britannic.

Sarajevo

The young Serbian-Bosnian Gavrilo Princip would enter the Bosnian Military Academy after his brother managed to get him a position. The Princip's were Serbs but remained quite loyal to the Kingdom of Bosnia and worked well with the Bosniaks.....once the oppressive laws allowing Bosnian landlords to take a third of their tenant's incomes were reformed.

Though Serbia and Bosnia had experienced tensions over the past years, these had been skillfully downplayed by diplomats. The chaos and insanity of the previous war was too recent in memory to want any of this to touch the Balkans.

Central Asia

As the Steppe was "cleared" of Turkic tribesmen, the Czarina's ministers would offer large land grants to Russian settlers with the intention of permanently occupying the region.

Large numbers began pouring into lands once ruled by Kazaks, Uzbeks,, etc.....and commence large-scale cotton farming, etc.

Washington

Roosevelt would sign the National Forests Act, intended to reclaim many of the denuded forests of the country and regulate future woodcutting.

He would also make modifications to various consumer safety Acts while setting aside a number of offshore islands for bird preservation.

The Buffalo had been reintroduced to three national parts and the herds were back into the thousands.

On the whole, some of the more Conservative Republicans were irritated by the sheer scale of his reforms but few of Roosevelt's directives were actively blocked. Mostly, this tended to occur when some major Corporation was hit by the Justice Department. Already, the Secretary of the Interior had been ordered to prevent any single oil company from gaining more than 10% of the Orinoco deposits....lest an Anti-Trust suit be born.

In the meantime, Guyana, Trinidad, Bolivar and Para were starting to discuss a request for statehood. Native born "Americans" still remained a minority....though this was rapidly changing. Most of there regions under Venezuela and Brazil had been VERY lightly populated and recent migrants were nearly in the majority.

But several of these regions remained immensely poor relative to the American mainland.

For nearly 5 years, the President had reformed and reformed. Many of these were generally popular, others not.

 

[Alt History Buff]

July, 1914

Baluchistan, Sind, Gujarat, the Sikh Empire

With the Sikh Empire facing aggression from the HSR, the slow gears of war would bring into focus the regional allies. While there was no shortage of border conflicts and religious rivalries here, any of these nations could look at the regional map and realize exactly who they should fear. It was only a matter of time until the HSR turned their attention further west.

The HSR was already preparing for another strike at the Sikh Empire. Only poor preparation and execution had prevented a victory.

The alliance would prepare for war as one thing was clear: if one fell, they all would.

However, it would be in the west that the HSR would have its first major success.

West Bengal

West (Hindu) and East (Muslim) Bengal had long been united relatively peacefully under one ruler. Split at independence into two halves, Bengal, once the wealthiest region of the British Raj, was wracked in Civil War and split into two nations. Millions of Bengalis would die of direct warfare or forced expulsion from their homes. The incident would make West Bengal's population easy prey for the Hindu Socialist Republics Agents Provocateurs.

A rebellion against the government would see chaos develop and the HSR would dispatch troops across the border, easily taking Kolkata.

The HSR would wait only a few months to consolidate before looking for additional expansion.

Lyon

The first of the Model III armored vehicles (often called "Tanks") would delivered to a military facility. While the decadent German capitalist swine were building private automobiles for their bourgeois ruling classes, the French were preparing for the next war.

And there WOULD be a next war. And soon.

But this would not be about petty nationalism or minor border disputes. The French Commune would soon spread the length of the world.

It was already spreading south.

Madrid

Spanish Marxists found fertile recruiting ground in the dysfunctional and conservative Kingdom of Spain. The modest reforms of the past fifty years had accomplished little to improve the lives of the Spanish peasant. Political representation remained limited and indirect at best. The gentry, the church and the army remained in command of Spain.

This, with Spanish resistance to Unionism, would encourage workers to rebel in the cities where the unprepared Spanish Army proved less than capable of quickly repressing....especially when the Commune started providing "advisors" and weapons.

 

[Alt History Buff]

October, 1914

Beijing

Over the past decades, the Mandarin Government under Dowager-Empress Cixi had quietly reformed nearly all facets of life in China. The bloated, inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy had seen numerous reforms and purges. The education system had vastly expanded for peasants while universities were funded with an emphasis on subsidizing vital modern skills (as opposed to calligraphy and philosophy).

Railroads expanded omnidirectionally, bridges were built, dams were constructed to prevent the semi-regular (and devastating) floods of the major rivers, shipyards modernized, telephone service inaugurated......

But political reform remained slow. With the Crown Prince now effectively ruling China, he would continue her policies.

To his view, the Mandarin had been generous to peasants. Taxes were lowered. Avenues for land acquisition eased. The old commercial guilds were largely abolished and ambitious Chinese able to enter any field they desired.

The worst abuses of remote territorial governors were brought to heel.

So why was there so much disharmony?

Did the foreigners really have THAT much of an effect on China's people with their spouting of "Democracy"?

Japan had nominal democracy but the nation remained, in fact, as autocratic as ever. The military merely replaced the Shoguns of the past.

No, China would not follow THAT route. The Middle Kingdom was the richest and most important nation on Earth....and had been for 2000 years. Let the rest of the world learn from THEM.

Dublin, Belfast, Cork

Bombs exploded in Protestant pubs.

Mobs of Orangists attacked seized suspected Fenian militants and hanged them from lampposts.

Men and women simply....disappeared into the night. Whole families vanished.

The British Army, dispatched to prevent a Fenian uprisings, would spend almost as much time repressing Orangists as Fenians.

Even the Conservative/Liberal Unionist Coalition was getting sick of the Orangists. Ireland was becoming a bleeding ulcer.

 

[Alt History Buff]

December, 1914

Kyoto

The Japanese Army had largely taken the reins of government and instilled a cult-like worship of the Emperor. More importantly, they prevented the Navy from exerting any significant influence upon the nation.

Ironically, the devotion of the Emperor and intention to unify all segments of society would be eerily similar to Russia.

Seoul, Joseon Kingdom

For the past few years, the Joseon Kingdom had sought to rapidly advance after centuries of the "Hermit Kingdom". The Joseon King would....begrudgingly....open up the nation to foreign trade.

The last thing the Joseon Kingdom needed was to fall even further behind the Japanese, American, Russians and Chinese.

Beijing

Popular revolts would appear almost out of nowhere (from the government perspective). The Army was called in to restore order....then revolts popped up elsewhere.

The Chinese Government, flush with confidence after the victory in the preceding war, would find themselves overwhelmed by the crisis. Ever city now spawned "civic associations" and the like to promote democracy....or Marxism (on occasion)....or anarchy....or this, that or the other thing.

Madrid

The insurgency in Spain would, by the end of 1914, grow into a full-blown Civil War. Monarchists, Republicans, Marxists and assorted other factions would commence fighting, often with shifting alliances.

The Marxists would prove the most effective early on due to French support and "advisors". Within months, King Alphonso would seek support wherever he could and found it with the Prince Victor of Italy. Large amounts of supply began flowing into Spain to aid the Monarchists.

Washington

While the mid-term elections had not gone....poorly....for Roosevelt's party, he was hardly pleased to see the opposition gain six Senate seats and eleven Congressional seats. As the Republicans had a substantial majority prior to the election, this wasn't crippling....but hardly helped. What was more, the Conservative faction of the Party were considering his Progressive reforms as having gone too far already.

But Roosevelt was not to be deterred. He would continue ahead, blocking off large swathes of land for posterity in National Parks, expanding Consumer Safety and the like. Still, Roosevelt wished he had a partner in Congress worthy of the name.

Moscow

Czarina Anna would witness the Christmas Parade in Moscow. It was barely freezing, uncommonly warm for this time of year. Her eldest son, Ivan, was now 22 (born in the first year of her marriage to Michael of Bulgaria) and ready to assume some responsibility. Having been forbidden to join the Russian Air Corps (the death rate in those infernal contraptions were simply too high), the Czarevitch instead put in command of reviewing readiness of Russian troops in the West. He would report that the soldiers were well trained and well armed.

The supply situation was still a question when or if (let's face it, it was always going to be "when") war were to erupt in the west. Yes, the Russian Empire had GREATLY expanded rail transport to the western cities like St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Donetsk, Rostov, Kursk etc, vital for fighting in the modern age. Large quantities of various weapons and war-making materials had been consolidated. A fleet of modern trucks for supply requirements had also been ordered by the army from the Ford Motor Company Assembly plants in Tula and Novgorod.

When (not IF) Russia renewed her claim to the ungrateful breakaway nations of the west (Finland, Poland, White Russia, Little Russia, the Baltic petty states), the Czarina would NOT be so easily defeated.

What was more, the virtual extermination of the Turkic tribes of the Steppe would ensure no threat from THAT area again as it had in the previous war....and Russian semi-deliberate near abandonment of further Siberia. Russia was NOT ready to challenge China from such a distance....and certainly not prepared to fight on two fronts.

Russian focus was on the west, not the east.

For now.

 

[Alt History Buff]

 

[Alt History Buff]

March, 1915

Atlanta

Once again, the Southern Democrats had been largely marginalized over the past election in favor of the "Progressive" Democrats. Since 1912, many Democrats were wondering why they bothered with the Party at all. What was the benefit of their fealty?

The Democrats didn't even WIN! To abandon most of your beliefs in favor of a Party which couldn't even WIN seemed pointless.

If the Democrats weren't even going to listen or care about southern affairs, then perhaps it was time to put an end to this entire matter and form their own party. The 1916 election would be coming up fast.

Washington

With the loss of so many seats in Congress, President Roosevelt would dig in, pointing out to his Republican comrades that allowing the anti-Catholic faction of the Party to dictate an agenda would be counterproductive at best, suicidal at worst.

For the most part, the Conservative faction of the Party would be easily enough marginalized. When a Senator or House Committee Chair objected to something, it could normally be traced to alignment with a given interest or corporation, not a repudiation of Roosevelt's agenda as a whole. It was rare that a large coalition in Congress opposed him over a single agenda item. Thus, Roosevelt got his wish more often than not.

Still, the New Yorker was getting tired of the constant fighting. Over six years in this office was a lot for any man, even one with the energy of Roosevelt. He was casting about for a successor but could not find one worth the name. Taft had been a loyal Republican soldier but was happy on the Supreme Court as was Charles Evans Hughes. Churchill was, of course, foreign born and not eligible for the Presidency.

Honestly, if there was one ideal candidate, it was Attorney General William Jennings Bryan. Unfortunately, the man's politics was often too Radical for even Roosevelt. There was no way the man could win the Republican nomination. In truth, Roosevelt as much kept Bryan as Attorney General partially to keep him from crossing the aisle and joining the Democrats. Roosevelt did the same thing for his two former opponents, Eugene Debs and Judson Harmon. Both were given committee positions IN the Roosevelt administration over issues such as Food Safety, Union-busting allegations, etc.

Something about keeping your friends close and enemies closer.

Roosevelt would cast about some more only to be repeatedly disappoint. Henry Cabot Lodge was, if not anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant (though oddly very supportive of Freedman's rights). Roosevelt could not stand the idea of THAT man running for the Presidency.

Who else was left?

Guernica

King Alphonso was forced to flee Madrid the previous year as the "Spanish Liberation Army" would nearly surround the city. Fortunately, thousands of Italian "volunteers" armed with modern weapons which were liberally dispersed among the Monarchists would allow the siege to be broken and the Marxists of the SLA forced back to the west and south of the country.

As the Basque country was along the supply lines of the French army aiding the Spanish Marxist rebels, a priority was put on securing the region. However, the Basques, having seen tens of thousands of their French Basque king fleeing France over the past years, did not prove fertile ground for Marxist recruitment and stubbornly opposed the SLA (not necessarily a function of their loyalty to King Alphonso).

For the first time, aircraft were put to military use in the Spanish Civil War. Largely used as spotters until this point, French planes, nominally with "Spanish" pilots, would scout for enemy formations.

However, in a departure, a flight of eight planes would drop hundreds of grenades and other explosives upon the garrison town of Guernica, killing dozens and burning much of the town to the ground.