Peshawar Lancers Redux: Latin America

The Fall had seen a series of power grabs in Latin America. Mexico seemed to have turned its attention to trying to grab territory back from the United States. The US had suffered quite a bit from first the American Civil War and then the Hammer blow of the Fall. The Fall had put a lot of stress on things. To that was added corruption and internal struggles.
Mexico had also used The Fall to seize Cuba from Spain. It had gotten away with it because the Spanish Government was too busy trying to ensure the survival of the Spanish people.
However, the government of Nueva Granada had not at all liked the Mexicans action. As a result it offered to help Spain recover the Island and oust the upstart Mexicans from it. They did request some Spanish troops and Warships but it would supply the bulk of the forces under the command of its brilliant general General Carlos De Vega. General De Vega had conquered Venezuela and Equator.
With 5 warships and 20,000 troops he set sail for Cuba. He would be joined by 3 Spanish warships plus 2,500 Spanish troops.
General De Vega's landing on Cuba was a total surprise and he was greeted by the Cuban people as a liberator from the heavy handed Mexicans. Vega's men were all experienced combat veterans and were well d behaved. His men caught the Mexicans by surprise and destroyed them.
 
General De Vega was given the title Marquis of Havana by the Spanish Monarch for his service to the Spanish throne. He was also acting to destroy a threat to Nueva Granada. Mexico was regarded as someone whose plans needed to be thwarted.
 
Nueva Granada had been busy absorbing the new territories that it had gained and it had also begun to attempt produce its own weapons.
The Central American Republic had seen a growth in its economy as a result of its dealing with Hawaii. The construction of the rail line had seen the movement of goods from one coast to another. There had also been more improvement in communication.
 
One would have thought that the Combination of The Fall and the aggression by Nueva Granada would have caused nations such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile to hesitate at renewing the War of the Pacific but no. Bolivia wanted to regain its outlet to the sea and Chile and Peru went to war. The end result was Nueva Granada decided that now was an excellent time to take another bite of Peru. General De Vega lead the 3rd Army on an invasion of Peru. The goal was not to swallow all of Peru but just some territory that was felt critical to its Northern Neighbors economic plans.
 
The Empire of Brazil and the Kingdom of Hawaii exchanged ambassadors. The Brazilian Emperor found that he had found a country in the Kingdom of Hawaii that could help him achieve the goals that he had set to modernize his country. He also needed an ally that he could trust. Brazil had begun to send assistance to Portugal and at the same time he had also moved to assume control of Portugal's colonies in Africa until a better decision could be made. Brazil faced challenges from Argentina and Nueva Granada. His country's military had defeated the Argentinean invasion of the southern Province of the country which had quite a few Spanish speakers.
 
Brazil was attempting to discourage renewed fighting in South America. thus it had to keep an eye on South America while at the same time it tried to help Portugal. It had also taken responsibility for Portugal's African colonies to prevent violence there and maintain order. As such the Brazilians found themselves allied with the Hawaiians and the British Empire. The British were still strained as a result of the Fall and the relocating to India. India lacked the industrial base that the empire had had in the British Isles and even though 9 years had past progress was slow.
 
Hawaii assisted Brazil with its efforts to build a dependable industry capable of producing goods for the people of Brazil and for the Brazilian Military.
 
Commander David Kalakaua of the Royal Hawaiian Navy arrived in Brazil to discuss his proposals for some warship designs. The Hawaiian had entered the Navy because of his interest in the Navy and warship design. He had attended the Naval academy and had risen from Ensign to Commander. Most of his post had been in the office of Naval design. He had appealed to the King to be allowed to go with the delegation to Brazil.
 
Commander Kalakaua met with the Imperial Brazilian Naval Designing team and discussed his design for a class od fast gunboats. The vessels would be easy to build and would pack a punch. They were for coastal defense and would buy time for Brazil to build bigger more powerful warships.
 
The Royal Hawaiian Marines arrived in the Falkland Islands as part of an agreement between the British and Hawaiian governments. Britain was still stretched thin and it had asked the Hawaiians to send forces to the island to deter aggression by Argentina.
Sailing through the Straits of Magellan had been an Hawaiian Warship and a troop transport bearing two companies of Royal Hawaiian Marines plus a battery of coastal defense guns with the Marines to man them. Bret Colonel Sean Gleason was commanding the 200 plus Marines. They were equipped with both regular and special winter clothing. Captain Michael Fleming of the Royal Marines was attached.
 
Sean Gleason had been given a Bret promotion to Colonel before he left Hawaii. He had joined the Royal Hawaiian Marines in 1868 when as an 18 year old he had come to Hawaii. He had joined a growing corp and had impressed his superiors becoming an NCO in 1869 and going to Officer candidate school in 1870. As a second Lieutenant he had command a detachment of Marines that had gone to Alaska and latter Vancouver to evacuate people. He had maintained order and had been praised by Canadian authorities. He had commanded a Marine Company that had landed in Guam. He had latter traveled to Southern Alaska to evacuate more people and had volunteered to lead a group in Canada to rescue people cut off in a train. He had also been in the Central American Republic protecting a group of Army engineers and latter training some Central American troops. Officially he was a Marine Captain but he was on the promotion list to the rank of Major. He still had a trace of an Irish accent but he had a nack for picking up languages having learned Spanish, Polynesian, the Language of the people of Guam and the Marianas Islands. He also knew some Portuguese
 
Colonel Gleason's arrival in the Falkland Islands was a warm one. the British Governor had been worried that Argentina might try something as a result of the Fall. The British Lieutenant William Smythe commanded a detachment of just 12 men. In addition he had at least another 60 militia but that was not much of a force. The Colonel had nearly 450 Hawaiian Marines under his command. The first priority was to install the 2 coastal defense guns which were 9.2 Inch Monsters. They could do serious damage to any Argentine vessel. The two Hawaiian vessels wouls remail for a week to complete the transfer of supplies. A Brazilian Cruiser was to pay a visit. The Colonel got his men to work building fortifications and improving a new barracks.
 
The Colonel had the two 9.2 inch guns set and he also had machine guns for all of the companies as well as a new mortar.A new underwater telegraph line had bee laided which would allow communication with Hawaii and possibly Brazil and South Africa.. There was suppose to be a battalion of British Engineers coming next year to do some work on defenses of the Islands. They would also be building a landing facility for a new airship.
 
It had seemed that Brazilian Business was benefiting from deals with Hawaiian Companies. A lot of problems were being solved due to the knowledge gained from deals and partnerships. an Hawaiian-Brazilian partnership had resulted in the building of a plant in Brazil to manufacture Locomotives and rail cars.
 
The Empire of Brazil convinced its northern neighbor not to restart the war with Peru. The Brazilians were attempting to stop all of these conflicts by using diplomacy For now it appeared that reasoning had prevented more conflict but it also appeared that Chile and Argentina were also building up stockpiles of munitions.
 
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