Stonewall Jackson's Way: An Alternate Confederacy Timeline

[Odinson]

Happy anniversary!

 

[cheffisti]

I'd like to announce that today marks the one year anniversary of this timeline! I'd like to thank all the people who have been along for the ride, whether if you have been here from the start or just came here. Here's hoping that this timeline can continue keeping you guys entertained.

Keep up the a GREAT work!

 

[Stalingrad]

I'd like to announce that today marks the one year anniversary of this timeline! I'd like to thank all the people who have been along for the ride, whether if you have been here from the start or just came here. Here's hoping that this timeline can continue keeping you guys entertained.

Just found this TL, I'm just by Breckinridge's presidency and I found a pretty small detail. In that part you mention how CSA bought Chihuahua and other states from the Mexican Empire, but by that point of the war raging the country if I'm not wrong, Chihuahua along other northern states were controlled by Benito Juarez, leading the Republican forces against the conservative monarchists.

So, instead of buying it I guess it would've been an invasion since there was no way Juarez would sell his base of operations and an invasion would've led to the empire collapsing earlier instead of USA sending support, so, I guess it's way too late to retcon, but just to have in mind.

It's a small detail but chose to point it out, nonetheless, quite impressive TL. ^^

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Just found this TL, I'm just by Breckinridge's presidency and I found a pretty small detail. In that part you mention how CSA bought Chihuahua and other states from the Mexican Empire, but by that point of the war raging the country if I'm not wrong, Chihuahua along other northern states were controlled by Benito Juarez, leading the Republican forces against the conservative monarchists.

So, instead of buying it I guess it would've been an invasion since there was no way Juarez would sell his base of operations and an invasion would've led to the empire collapsing earlier instead of USA sending support, so, I guess it's way too late to retcon, but just to have in mind.

It's a small detail but chose to point it out, nonetheless, quite impressive TL. ^^

Thank you for your concern, and it makes me for good that even now that it is a year old, new people are still reading my TL. As for Juarez, unlike OTL, the United States decides not to intervene in the Franco-Mexican War, and Maximillian is able to overwhelm Juarez and his forces. Of course, Maximillian himself gets overthrown not that long later (maybe a spoiler if you haven't read that far).

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Presidency of Oscar Underwood

President Oscar Underwood
​

Even before he had came into office, President Underwood knew his time their was going to be a struggle. In the corresponding Senate races in the 1915 election, the Liberty Party, miraculously perhaps, had managed to only have a net loss of one seat, dividing the Senate evenly between the Democratic and Liberty Party, with each having 17 senators claiming affiliation with their party. In the House, however, the Liberty Party would suffer greater losses, reinforcing Democratic control of the body, whose speaker still remained Underwood's opponent from the election, Claude Kitchin. Kitchin, still somewhat bitter at the loss of what many had considered his election to win, would often times refuse to consider Liberty Party legislation, despite the pleas of Minority Leader William A. Jones of Virginia. To further weaken the Underwood administration, their fragile control over the Senate was lost almost as soon as he took office. Realizing the tenuous situation his party was in, Underwood would only appoint one senator to his cabinet, Charles A. Culberson at State, not wanting to risk losing the tie breaking vote his Vice-President Fletcher maintained. Unfortunately for the Liberty Party, in the subsequent runoff for Culberson's seat, Earle B. Mayfield, the candidate of the Democrats, beat the Liberty Party's Tom Connally by a narrow margin, as Texas had recently approved a direct election of senators law within its state. This defeat would send shockwaves throughout the control, with President Underwood reportedly saying to Verdigris' blind senator, Thomas P. Gore, "You have lost the use of your eyes, and I believe my administration just lost any teeth it previously had."

William Jones and Thomas Gore
​

And thus Underwood had to suffer through a lame duck administration almost immediately after entering the presidency. He was unable to pass any of his agenda that required congressional approval, and he was forced to turn to less political pursuits to occupy his time in the executive mansion. One such endeavor was agricultural experimentation. In a rare moment of bipartisanship, Underwood managed to convince the Congress to allocate some funds into research to improve the quality of agriculture within the Confederacy. Despite some levels of industrialization throughout parts of the nation, agriculture still remained a staple of the land, especially in the Deep South, including Underwood's home state of Alabama. The commission that Underwood created would consist of five men, presided over by Senator Gore. The other four members would be from the House of Representatives, two being Democrat--Asbury Francis Lever of South Carolina and William Robert Smith of Texas--, and the other two being Liberty--John Barton Payne of Virginia and Walter Hines Page of North Carolina. Their research already confirmed what many knew but refused to accept, namely that the Deep South was rapidly draining the quality of their soil by consistently planting cotton, and that said cotton was becoming less and less valuable on the international market every year as new sources of cheaper cotton appeared. Receiving these results, Underwood tried to promote agricultural diversification by providing small government incentives and subsidies to those who grew different crops, particularly edible ones. Ultimately, however, very few of the established white planters would buy in on the scheme, leaving it to the up and coming African-American farmers to take advantage of the program.

Asbury Lever, William Smith, John Payne, and Walter Page
​

The other major initiative of Underwood's first two years in office was a revamping of the Confederacy's navy. Left ignored and unattended since the end of the Spanish-Confederate War, the ships in the navy had become outdated and generally of poor quality. This became an issue when many of the Confederacy's commerce ships began requesting escorts in their shipping of product across the Atlantic to Great Britain, as they had occasionally became the target of German submarines, who sometimes struck out of the desire to deny Britain imports, and sometimes out of plain boredom. Thus, Underwood believed a revamping of the navy was in order to better fit the needs of maritime protection. Realizing the ever-present need to act in a bipartisan manner, he would assign the task to his Secretary of the Navy Ben W. Hooper and the Chair of the House Naval Affairs Committee Josephus Daniels of North Carolina. Although the two men would find each other wholly intolerable, they still managed to achieve some good work and the navy definitely would be improved in the wake of their project. The height of their accomplishment would come during the first ever joint American-Confederate-Mexican naval event, in which ships from all three countries would go on a tour de force throughout the Caribbean.

Ben Hooper and Josephus Daniels
​

Eventually the balance of power would realign once more in the Confederacy, allowing Underwood slightly more leeway. In the 1918 midterms, the Liberty Party would make slight gains in the House, although failing to flip it. They did, however, manage to successfully flip the Senate back into their favor with the victory of former Vice-President M. Hoke Smith over Augustus Bacon, who had managed to return to the Senate by special appointment, if only briefly, following his previous loss of the seat. With Smith inaugurated, along with the victories of Marion Butler and Tom Connally in North Carolina and Texas Senate races over Furnifold McSimmons and Joseph W. Bailey respectively, control of the Senate passed back over to the Liberty Party.

M. Hoke Smith, Tom Connally, and Marion Butler
​

With the Senate back in Liberty Party control, Underwood felt empowered to pursue several projects he had previously shied away from in order to maintain a semblance of cooperation between the executive and legislative branches. The most prominent of these would be bringing order to his nation in relations to frequent spurts of violence caused by racial tensions. Although no champion of civil rights or racial equality by any means, Underwood was well aware of the terrible image his country was getting for all the horrifying atrocities committed against the African-Americans, many of them former slaves in the Deep South. Luckily for Underwood, the man he had placed in charge of the War Department, former Confederate General-in-Chief George H. Thomas Jr., shared his passion on the issue. For Thomas, it was derived from his need of order, a trait he had inherited from his father. It reportedly physically pained him that he could not ride along a country road in the Deep South without the sight of a lynching victim hanging from a tree along the way. Thus, he would organize small contingents of Confederate States troops to guard the towns that the African-Americans had established. The men, who were officially there to enforce the Confederacy's segregation laws, unofficially served as a deterrent to racial violence. Although it failed to completely bring an end to occurrences of a racial violence, especially those occurring the majority white cities that politics left Underwood and Thomas unable to touch or station troops near, the program would help in the areas were it was implemented.

A photograph of Confederate States Army troopers in their encampment near the town of Cleburne, Mississippi, where the majority of the population were former slaves
​

Ultimately, however, President Underwood would be most remembered by history for his accomplishments in the field of diplomacy. His achievements in that sector, working alongside Presidents Hughes and Reyes, would help catapult all three nations into the forefront of the international stage, and ensured that they were recognized as a force to be reckoned with in the coming decades.

Underwood and his cabinet:
President: Oscar Underwood
Vice-President: Duncan U. Fletcher
Secretary of State: Charles A. Culberson
Secretary of the Treasury: Claude A. Swanson
Secretary of War: George H. Thomas Jr.
Secretary of the Navy: Ben W. Hooper
Attorney General: Nathaniel E. Harris
Postmaster General: Milford W. Howard
Secretary of the Interior: James J. Britt

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Whaling War

The catch of a British whaling crew being brought ashore to be processed​

As the Great War waged across Europe, an often forgotten tale of whaling in the Southern Pacific was occurring at the same time. Although often forgotten by history, the so called "Whaling War", nearly brought two more of the world's superpowers against Germany, which had that happened, might have turned the tide of not only the war, but of history. The origins of conflict can be found in the longstanding rivalry of the three dominant colonial powers in the Pacific-the United States, Great Britain, and Germany-over the whale resources of the southern regions of the that ocean. Although the whale population was not extremely scarce, they were far less common than they were in the northern Pacific, especially when the whales migrated. This would lead to competition between the whalers of the three nations to get the whales closest to their bases of operation rather than having to go further north. By 1916, their operations were as follows. The Germans primary base would be in German New Guinea, under the governorship of Albert Hahl. The British, meanwhile, would have the largest operations set up in Australia under Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and in Hawaii under long-time Governor Lorrin Thurston. Finally, there were the Americans in the Philippines under recently appointed Governor General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Demands of the Great War would increase the needs of whaling, especially for Germany. This increased demand would bring the already tension relations between the three nations to a boiling point, and the situation was ready to blow.

Albert Hahl, Alfred Deakin, Lorrin Thurston, and Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
​

Ultimately, the spark of the crisis would come on a brisk and bright summer day. On June 15, 1916, both a German and Australian vessel spotted the same whale in the middle of the Pacific. Soon both ships were in pursuit, and both managed to land harpoons in the creature, followed by gunshots into it. Eventually, the humpback whale ceased to struggle, and it succumbed to blood loss. Now, both ships believed that had the rights to the body, as they both had participated in killing it. Soon, a heated argument lit up, pushed further by the fact that both crews had now spent weeks at sea without success and were longing for home. The pressure was heightened by the fact that members of both crews had loaded weapons on hand, that previous had been used against the whale, but now seemed posed to turn on each other. This continued for several minutes in the hot sun, until the captains of both vessels agreed to meet to settle it. The Australian captain, along with three crewmates, were lowered in a small dingy into the water, and were preparing to start rowing, when the tensions finally exploded. One Australian seaman, reportedly a man in his twenties on his first voyage, would shout out at the Germans at the other side, referring to them as "Krauts" and cursing Kaiser Frederick III and hoping for his defeat in the Great War. What happened next is not fully known. A German account of the story would report that the same foolish young Aussie dropped the rifle he had in hand, causing it to fire and hit his ankle, while the Australian accounts tell of an enraged German aiming and firing at him. Regardless, after the shot was fired, the young man was knocked off his feet by a bullet that had shattered his ankle. Within moments, all peace was gone and both sides were firing. The Australian captain and his crewmates, trapped in the dingy below and having no protection, were among the first to be picked off. Neither side was particularly skilled marksmen, as they were used to firing into the massive body of whales. Eventually, after roughly 10 minutes, the Australians would disengage and pull out, preparing to return to their island, having lost roughly 18 men. The Germans, meanwhile, would claim the whale, and dump the dead bodies of the captain and his crewmates in the dingy into the water before returning to New Guinea with their prize, having suffered only 7 in losses. Little did they know the massive fallout that would come of their actions.

A photograph of the German whaling ship returning to dock in New Guinea after its battle with the Australian
​

As soon as word reached Europe, and later North America, of what had happened, they were outraged. As one of the final acts of his administration, President Lodge ordered Governor-General Roosevelt to start preparing American troops for an invasion of German New Guinea should a similar incident occur with an American whaling vessel. Meanwhile, in Great Britain, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith demanded a formal apology from Kaiser Frederick III, as well as the handing of the whaling ship's crew to be tried as pirates. If these demands were not met, Great Britain would declare war on Germany. The aging Kaiser, well known for his nationalistic pride but also his reasonableness and diplomatic savvy, would be torn of what to do on the issue, especially when three of his close advisers all pulled different ways. His wife, who it should be noted was of British origin, believed that Frederick should try once more to work with the British, as his previous diplomatic endeavors with them had been successful, most notable being keeping them out of the Great War. Pulling the opposite direction was his son and heir apparent, Wilhelm, who believed that his father should flat out refuse Great Britain's demands, lest he seem weak and cowardly on the international stage. Finally, their was his Chief of the General Staff, Paul von Hindenburg, who seemed to ride the fence on the issue. He was quick to point out Germany's continuing success in the war, especially in pointing out how slowly but surely the French were pushed back towards their capital, which would lead one to believe they could afford to take on another foe. But he would also point out the vast military might of the British Empire, and claimed he was uncertain if the offensive could continue if they whole-heartedly entered. Eventually, the ailing Kaiser made his decision. He would formally apologize for the incident, but he would request that Germany be allowed to try the crewmen. This led to a diplomatic push and pull that ultimately concluded with Frederick agreeing to allow the British to try the crewmate who they accused of firing the first shot, but Germany could try the rest of them in their courts. Relieved that a major diplomatic crisis had been averted, Frederick sent out the orders to hand of the crewmate to the Australians, and to try the rest them in New Guinea.

Empress Victoria, Prince Wilhelm, and General Paul von Hindenburg
​

Ultimately, those orders would be the last major decision made by Kaiser Frederick III. A few weeks after they were sent, Frederick would succumb to cancer, allowing Wilhelm to ascend to the throne as Kaiser Wilhelm II. Frederick's wife Victoria would pass away two days after him. Little did the Germans know how lucky they had been. Had Wilhelm risen to throne a few weeks earlier, he might have very well have brought Great Britain and her empire against them in the war, with the impact of that being unimaginably bad for their cause. Luckily for the more aggressive and diplomatic insensitive Wilhelm, by the time he finally was given the reins of power, the largest diplomatic crisis for Germany in the war had passed, and both Great Britain and the United States, along with their allies, were firmly entrenched in the anti-war side. Thus, the Great War drug on with the odds looking increasingly worse for Russia and France in the struggle.

Kaiser Wilhelm II visiting the front lines following his coronation to assess Germany's military situation​

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

As a kid, I had one of those place mats that had Presidents of the United States on them, so I figured I would try creating one for ITTL. Obviously, since I have not figured out all the presidents to the present, I only went as far as I have planned. If I do develop more, I will add them to the mat. Without further ado, here is the final product:

 

[cheffisti]

As a kid, I had one of those place mats that had Presidents of the United States on them, so I figured I would try creating one for ITTL. Obviously, since I have not figured out all the presidents to the present, I only went as far as I have planned. If I do develop more, I will add them to the mat. Without further ado, here is the final product:
View attachment 609826

Interesting to see an Al Smith presidency

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Presidency of Charles E. Hughes

President Charles E. Hughes
​

Charles Evans Hughes had been nominated by the Republicans and elected to the presidency as a compromise candidate tolerable to everyone, if not truly or deeply satisfying anyone with his elevation to office. He made not used aggressive rhetoric on the campaign trail, nor had he vocally announced many of his policy intentions in the model of his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt. Instead, he was merely Charles Evans Hughes, the bright and capable politician who had been lucky enough to be locked away in the halls of the Supreme Court, rendered mute on actively campaigning or speaking his mind on the issues of the day, especially those dividing his party. Coming into office, he hoped to open, if not completely amenable, to the thoughts and opinions of others within the party. In the end, he knew he was likely to merely be a placeholder president, giving both the progressive and conservative wings of the party a breather to calm down and better get along in the selection of a new leader in 1920. With this fact, he was fine, speaking privately in conversation that he would be fully satisfied with his life if he only served one term, then was returned to the Supreme Court by his successor. In the end, however, Hughes was not to be a forgettable president, and with his four years in office, he would radically reshape America as a nation and her position on the continent and the world stage as a whole, thus making him stand beside James K. Polk and James A. Garfield as being one of America's greatest single-term presidents.

The Executive Mansion, otherwise known as the Lemon Hill House, residence of American presidents since the American Civil War
​

Once in office, Charles E. Hughes began to look into the reform movements that President Lodge had turned a blind eye to, namely those of women's suffrage and direct election of U.S. senators. In this, he had to walk a careful line. While many progressive Republicans were all for amendments in favor of both those movements, moderates, who would be crucial to Hughes, were more divided and concerned. Many of the luminaries of that faction, including Lodge, Chief Justice Knox, and even his own Secretary of State Elihu Root had mixed, generally negative feelings toward them. Hughes himself, however, held a more understanding view of the movement, perceptive of their plights. Ever the politician, however, he knew that, for the moment, he could not push too hard for them lest he risk collapsing the coalition that the Republican Party had seemingly become. Thus, like he had done on the campaign trail, he gave non-committal responses and frequent dodges to inquires of both persuasions when asked where he stood and what he would do on those two issues. Eventually, the issue concerning the women's suffrage would come to a head when supporters marched in front of the Executive Mansion and demanded a terse and definitive answer from the President. Hughes' response to the leaders of the movement was to allow him space to maneuver and to bide his time, all of which he requested they keep quiet. Although several of them found that response deficient and believed it to be another one of his dodges, they would agree to his requests, seeing very little other options. For the moment, Hughes knew he needed unity within his administration, and he hoped to secure himself before taking any measures that were ambitious and controversial.

A march organized by the women's suffrage movement, which became even more powerful, frequent, and vocal during the Hughes' administration
​

While he left internal questions and measures to brew and support for them to get organized, Hughes decided to pursue policies that were generally popular with the whole of the populace, namely creating new allies in the New World in the name of opposition to getting involved in the Great War. Steps were already being taken to permanently solidify relations with the Confederacy and Mexico in order to create a powerful alliance of America's dominant powers. Adhering to the belief that more nations would make for a stronger alliance, Hughes decided to spearhead an effort to consider other possible candidates. Eventually, the two that topped the United States' list of possible contenders were the Dominion of Canada and the Brazilian Republic. Ultimately, both of these contenders had major drawbacks that turned political support against them and subsequently the public opinion. While Canada had hosted a effective parliamentary democracy within their nation for almost fifty years, they still were technically under the banner of the British Empire, and were held to the whim of London should war break out. Following the incident of the Whaling War, signs seemed to indicate Great Britain would finally enter into the Great War. Although that crisis had been averted, the worries still remained. Furthermore, the leaders within the Canadian Parliament, headed by Prime Minister Robert Borden, did not seem all that interested in the formation of an alliance with America and her allies when it was already part of the British Empire. The prospect of a successful negotiation with Brazil were similarly bleak. Although a republic by name, free and fair elections were certainly not part of the fabric of the nation. President Hermes da Fonseca had been holding office since his election in 1906, which he had first gained through threats of using his military position to overthrow the nation. Since then, many had viewed him as the second coming of Porfirio Díaz, ruling through fear, crackdowns, and fraud-filled elections. Although many viewed Brazil as a nation possibly on the path to ascendancy, the generally more democratic United States, Confederacy, and Mexico remained unwilling to support it. In fact, Mexico had been covertly supporting opposition and resistance movements against Fonseca ever since he took office, although they had had little effect. With it in mind that his dreams of alliance would have to stay as they were, Hughes would call for a major diplomatic summit between the three nations, with the goal of formalizing their alliance.

Robert Borden and Hermes da Fonseca
​

Driven on by the reports of the ever increasing causality counts in the fields of France, as well as the barbarity that many outsiders looking in from North America saw the war devolving into, much support was to be found from the general populace of all three nations when a convention between their three leaders was announced, even more so when rumors indicated it was for the purposes of establishing a league of armed neutrality. Thus, when all six of the delegates to the convention arrived in Philadelphia on November 11, 1918, their reception was one of the largest and most extravagant in the city's history. Representing the United States would be President Hughes and his Secretary of State Elihu Root. For the Confederacy arrived President Oscar Underwood and Secretary of State Charles A. Culberson. Finally, representing Mexico would be President Bernardo Reyes and his Secretary of Foreign Affairs Querido Moheno. As soon as reliable and confidential translators could be procured, the negotiations began. Shortly after the beginning of the summit, a desperate France, who was currently on the knife's edge of losing the war and was facing continued Central Power assaults and the growing possibility of mutiny within its ranks, announced a new policy. Deceived by German espionage efforts, the government under President Poincaré firmly believed that the true purpose of the meeting was to plan out a coup against his government to install a socialist German puppet government instead. Believing whole-heartedly that that was the summit's true intent, he decreed that France would be targeting all vessels from the three nations that where considered a threat. Although the French Chamber of Deputies under Poincaré's rival George Clemenceau overwhelming rejected the plan, Poincaré would still privately order France's naval commanders to carry it out.

A French submarine
​

Despite the ravings of an increasingly desperate and delusional President Poincaré, the meeting between the leaders of the three nations continued. Considering the sheer importance of the alliance it produced, there was very little major wrangling or disagreements at the convention. While occasionally a road block would be hit over a minor issue, for the most part the convention continued to chug forward. Thus, on December 31, 1918, the convention finally produced the results of their labor. The treaty would finally formalize the alliance between the United States, the Confederacy, and Mexico. The three nations pledged to rally to the defense of one should it be attacked, as well as to work together to increase American influence within the global market, particularly Europe. In reference to the still ongoing Great War, all three nations pledged to support each other in neutrality, and that they would cooperate in their efforts to confront France's recent naval policies. Thus was formed the Triple Alliance.

A photograph of the American and Confederate delegations leaving the convention after a hard day's work of negotiations
​

Besides achieving a long-awaited policy goal of the American people, Hughes was able to tack on one more major success to the convention. Ever since Hughes first announced he would consider the possibility of an a constitutional amendment providing for the direct election of senators, Secretary of State Root had been firmly positioned against it, even going so far as to threaten to resign should Hughes continue to push the issue and promote it. While he was well-aware that Congress possessed the votes to get the amendment passed, Hughes had been reluctant to lose his extremely adept secretary of state over the dispute, especially when the country was moving towards a major diplomatic event. Thus, Hughes stalled, and allowed the issue to wait until a more fitting moment. With the summit, Hughes knew the time had arrived. He knew Root would not sacrifice the opportunity to be involved in the creation of America's most important alliance treaty since of the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance of 1778. While they worked, Hughes instructed his surrogates to begin the bill's passage. Moving swiftly, it was approved before the end of the convention. In the aftermath, Hughes was able to appeal to Root's sense of duty to his country to convince him to stay on with the administration. Thus, Hughes achieved his goals without having to let go of his most important cabinet member.

A political cartoon criticizing the indirect election of senators via state legislature
​

As with most things in his presidency, Hughes ran carefully and moderately with his choices for the Supreme Court. In a highly expected move, when the opportunity arose to fill the vacancy caused by his own departure from the court, Hughes would offer it to William H. Taft, the now former Governor of Ohio. Eager to get on the court, Taft eagerly accepted the offer and was approved by the Senate, helping to heal a rift from the Lodge presidency and seeing to it that a generally-liked man was his first appointment. In his next two appointments, Hughes would cater to both wings of the Republican Party, without nominating someone so extreme as to repulse the other. First, the progressives would receive their candidate with the nomination of Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Martin A. Knapp in 1919 to replace the deceased John F. Philips. Next in 1920, Hughes would select Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Willis Van Devanter to appeal to conservatives. In the end, almost everyone was satisfied with Hughes' nominees to the court.

Associate Justices William Taft, Martin Knapp, and Willis Van Devanter
​

In the end, while he had been from the beginning a compromise candidate with almost no one genuinely excited to see him enter office, Hughes ended his term extremely popular with the American people. Despite this, and loud clamoring within the Republican Party, Hughes still held to his previous idea of serving only one term and then returning to the Supreme Court. Hughes announced to the public he would not be a candidate for re-election in 1920, and the mantle of party leadership would have to pass to someone else. What he did not promise, however, was that he would stay out the nominating process for the Republican Party in 1920, as they would soon find out.

Hughes and his cabinet:
President: Charles E. Hughes
Vice-President: Leonard Wood
Secretary of State: Elihu Root
Secretary of the Treasury: Charles G. Dawes
Secretary of War: William E. Borah
Attorney General: James R. Garfield
Postmaster General: Halvor Steenerson
Secretary of the Navy: Henry A. DuPont
Secretary of the Interior: Gifford Pinchot
Secretary of Agriculture: James Wilson
Secretary of Labor and Commerce: John J. Rogers

 

[Odinson]

Is Culberson's head photoshopped? It doesn't look quite natural. (Nothing wrong if it is, good update btw)

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Is Culberson's head photoshopped? It doesn't look quite natural. (Nothing wrong if it is, good update btw)

Yeah, I found that picture, and it had three out of the four guys I needed. So, I found a good picture of Culberson and photo-shopped it over the body of Henry C. Lodge. Admittedly, I'm no techno wizard and I'm not great at it, but I am still proud of the result.

 

[Odinson]

Yeah, I found that picture, and it had three out of the four guys I needed. So, I found a good picture of Culberson and photo-shopped it over the body of Henry C. Lodge. Admittedly, I'm no techno wizard and I'm not great at it, but I am still proud of the result.

Hey, it works pretty well and its better then anything I've photoshoped. Good on you, dude👍

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Chapter Eighty: La Guerre est Finie, la Fin est Venue

A photograph of the execution of one of the French mutineers, one of the first of what ultimately became an epidemic within the army
​

As the cold winter snows began to blanket the fields of France in December 1918, dissension was in the air among the defenders' ranks. Their commander-in-chief, Robert Nivelle, had failed to deliver on his promises of swiftly driving the Germans and Italians out of France. In fact, while the Italians had been successfully stalemated and even driven back by French forces under General Ferdinand Foch, the Germans had continued to slowly drive the French back closer and closer to their capital of Paris, albeit at a heavy cost of life to both sides. As tensions grew in Paris, and supplies began to fail, so did the morale of the defenders, who were beginning to question the feasibility of victory anymore. Then, the straw that finally broke the back of the camel was dropped. Confident that victory was within sight, especially as Czar Nicholas II sued for peace and pulled out of the war to deal with internal strife, the Germans had massed their troops, as well as those of their ally, Austria-Hungary, at least those who had managed to be shipped over from the Eastern front in time, for one all-out final drive on Paris. Little did they know they could not have a chosen a more opportune time, as as they positioned their troops for combat, French soldiers were mutinying by the hundreds. On January 15, 1919, the German high-command of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Paul von Hindenberg, and Erich Ludendorff gave the go-ahead to the army commanders to advance, led by the Kaiser's own son and his heir-apparent, Crown Prince Wilhelm, commander of Army Group A and the heir-apparent of Austria-Hungary, Crown Prince Karl, who served as commander of Army Group B.

The principal commanders in the Paris Campaign: Nivelle, Wilhelm, and Karl
​

Already struggling with mutineers, Nivelle found his army simply unable, or in some cases unwilling, to confront the sheer mass of troops driving against them. Even worse for the French, by chance--or by the excellent work of espionage and spying according to some--, the point hit hardest first by the assault would be in the place of the greatest concentration of French mutineers. Once that line was shattered, all hope was lost for an effective French defense. Nivelle ordered an orderly withdrawal of his remaining obedient troops to the outskirts of Paris, which he soon found to be untenable. Meanwhile, he completely abandoned the mutineers to their fate, leaving them to try to escape in the face of being killed or captured by the vengeful enemy. With the pressure still remaining hard upon him even after he reached Paris itself, Nivelle faced a fateful decision. Should he fight it out to the last, decimating the last of the French army on the front and leaving the enemy free domain over northern France, or should he pull out, abandoning the capital to the mercy of the enemy and hope for reinforcements from the south? In the end, and with much remorse, Nivelle choose the latter option.

The recently arrived German troops marching through a Parisian street​

In his first lucky break of the campaign, his hope that the enemy would stop once Paris was in their grasp proved true. Once Paris fell, both army groups put an end to their campaigning efforts for the season, giving Nivelle some breathing room and an opportunity to regroup and plan out a reconquest of the capital. In the end, however, it would not be the forces of the Central Powers that denied Nivelle this opportunity, but his own government. To the surprise of almost no one, President Poincaré sacked Nivelle, and placed in command General Foch. To reinforce the disheartened army with a chronic manpower shortage, he would also see to it that troops from the Italian front were also transferred, bringing with them Foch's new second-in-command, General Philippe Pétain.

French forces from the Italian front marching into their new camp in Northern France
​

Once Foch, now commander-in-chief of all of France's armies, arrived on the scene of the demoralized French camp, he began to truly understand how hopeless the situation for France had become. Desertion rates were high, and mutiny even high. Even the recently arrived troops from Italy, who previously had had quite high morale, were beginning to lose cohesion and morale. After conferring with President Poincaré and General Pétain, who had taken direct command of the French army in the field, Foch came to a sobering conclusion. All hope for a decisive French victory were gone. All they could hope was for the army's morale to hold out just long enough for a campaign to retake Paris to ensure that they wouldn't lose it in the inevitable peace conference. Reluctant to accept it at first, Poincaré eventually came to accept the truth. "Thus ends my administration and the republic." he was rumored to have mumbled in response.

Generals Foch and Pétain conferring on strategy
​

Luckily for the efforts of Foch and Pétain towards that goal, Austria-Hungary would give them a gift of, from the perspective of modern historians looking back, immeasurable value. In the halls of Berlin, Vienna, and Rome, victory celebrations rung out, as they assumed that the fall of Paris would soon bring France to the negotiating table. Believing the war to be over, Emperor Franz Ferdinand would invite Karl to return to Vienna to join with the celebrations. Karl, however, would be more skeptical of victory, especially when reports seemed to indicate that the French were re-organizing their forces, making it an inopportune time to remove the commander of half of the forces. Seeing the sense in the argument, but also wanting to see the return of his cousin to celebrate, Ferdinand would come to a compromise. Karl would return to Vienna, and to replace him at the front an experienced military officer would be sent. Ferdinand would ultimately choose a general who had been hanging around in Vienna for roughly the last year. The man was Conrad von Hötzendorf, and the only reason he was in Vienna in the first place was because Paul von Hindenburg had all but forced him to resign after a series of miserable failures on the Eastern front. Now, he was going to be sent to the front lines to command half of the army that was going to face the desperate last charge of the French, who had very little left to lose.

Conrad von Hötzendorf
​

Tired from the recent offensive, saddled with a highly incompetent general, and the facing the temporarily renewed fervor of the French, the odds of the Central Powers holding onto Paris were looking less and less good, even more so when Kaiser Wilhelm began pressing his son to allow some of his soldiers home on furlough in the mistaken belief that the war was over. When the French finally did strike on May 19, the initiative was surely in their hands. Hötzendorf would prove to be the victim of their assaults. Ignoring reports sent to him by General Wilhelm that the French were approaching, he was instead found to be drinking with his staff when the attack began. What followed was a series of haphazard attempts by him to establish a defensive perimeter, all of which were shoddily constructed and rapidly shattered. With attacks coming in on his front, and the left flank collapsing, Wilhelm would order a retreat, cursing Hötzendorf as he did. Ultimately, the forces of the Central Powers would fall back into trenches on the outskirts of Paris. In the course of five months, the tide of the war had shifted rapidly twice, and Paris had fallen out and back into French hands. The Germans, quick to shift the blame, would place it firmly on Hötzendorf, demanding his relief and the reinstatement of Karl. Ferdinand, bamboozled by the recent series of events, would consent, canning Hötzendorf for a second and final time and allowing Karl to return to the field.

A charge of the French infantry during the Second Battle of Paris
​

Despite their crushing and surprising success in the Second Battle of Paris, Poincaré, Foch, and Pétain all realized the ability to make war was effectively over. The French soldiers had given their final bursts of energy during the assaults on Paris, and they had nothing remaining. The same could also be said of their supply situation. The heavy casualties had dampened the mood after the triumph, and despite the efforts of a few radical French politicians from both sides of the spectrum, the nation as a whole conceded that they shouldn't try to push more when they were already precariously close to losing everything. And despite the recent success, the French people were still vehemently opposed to their government and its officials. Even if it had recaptured Paris, it had allowed it to fall in the first place, and during the four month occupation, the bored and vengeful enemy soldiers had been unleashed by their commanders to ravage the city and its populace as they saw fit with little oversight and punishment from high command. Even some of the city's most notable landmarks were not held sacred, as was proven when a German carved the names of several of the leaders and generals of the Central Powers into the Arc de Triomphe. When the government returned to the city, instead of being celebrated by the citizens as liberators, they were instead mocked by a scornful people who demanded peace.

President Poincaré visting the remains of a Parisian building devastated during the Second Battle of Paris
​

Thus, with little ammunition left in the reserve and even fewer soldiers to fire it, President Poincaré, in consultation with the French Chamber of Deputies, sued for peace with the Central Powers to end the Great War. The Central Powers were somewhat shocked by this move, as they were wholly expecting and preparing for a continued French offensive, which they planned to beat back before driving on Paris once more. When presented with the request, Kaiser Wilhelm was personally against it, but his nation too had suffered many hardships, and overwhelming pressure for his advisers and allies convinced him to open negotiations. Despite their recent success in Paris, France was in no position to be dictating terms, and both them as a nation and the Central Powers knew it. Having been continually smashed and pushed back by the enemy, they would consider it lucky not to lose any territory in Europe.

A modern day photograph of Hohenzollern Castle, a symbol of German prestige and site of the negotiations​

Ultimately, the terms came down to as follows. Corsica, which had been taken by the Italians in a brutal campaign, would be transferred over to Italian control. Aside for a sliver a territory east of the Meuse River being transferred over to Germany, no territory on the European continent would be taken from France, but German control over Alsace-Lorraine was solidified and France had to commit to limitations on the size of their army and industrial output. Later, the Germans tried to establish within the treaty a temporary garrison of their soldiers within Paris itself, but the outcry from the French side due to all the atrocities committed against the citizens of that city during the last occupation caused the Germans to back down. Reparations, of course, were piled high on France to be paid to Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. Finally, all of France's colonies in Africa and Asia were transferred over to Germany. In this process, two major controversy arose. First, Great Britain, who saw an opportunity to unify control over Middle Eastern oil, pressured Germany to merely force France to pull out of the region and allow Britain to take over fully. Germany proved reluctant to do that, but unwilling to expand the war right as it was concluding, and it agreed when Britain promised to allow German exploitation of the oil fields as well, if not control of the territory. The other pitfall would be Italy's colonies in Africa. During the war, France had managed to wrest control of them from Italy, and hold onto them until the end. Now, as Germany annexed all of France's African colonial holdings, it swallowed up all of the former Italian ones as well. This would result in loud protests from the Italian delegation, but the Kaiser threatened to pull out his support to Italy's claim to Corsica should they continue to complain. Bitterly, the Italians were silenced, but they would remember the slight. When the talks were completed and the document drawn up, all parties signed the Treaty of Hohenzollern, bringing the Great War to a finish. For the victors, life within their countries would return roughly similar to normal, with the exception of the many hundreds of thousands of young men now absent. In war-torn France, however, the trials were only beginning, as the French people were soon to see.

Kaiser Wilhelm and Emperor Franz speaking with each other about the post-war world​

 

[CountofDooku]

Loving this TL ever so much!

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Loving this TL ever so much!

I figured it was time to expand the world outside of North America a little, and after developing some ideas and doing some research, I think I have a unique scenario. I'm so glad you can enjoy this TL, and I hope to continue working on it for a long time and many more chapters.

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

For anyone who is interested, I have just updated the relevant chapters of this TL to now include all the nominations for the Supreme Court of the U.S. Presidents, and will continue to do so for all future chapters. Hope you'll enjoy!

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Chapter Eighty-One: The Mexican Presidential Election of 1917

A photograph from the beginning of "Carranza's March"
​

With his success of maintaining stability within the new republic, as well as look of important negotiations with the Confederacy and the United States on the horizon, the re-election chances of President Reyes looked certain. With that in mind, however, Reyes had done little to help the plight of Mexico's poor farmers, with his administration slowly straggling Orozco's programs of land redistribution through withdrawing funding and government officials to organize it. To some in Mexico, it seemed that Reyes was more concerned with industrialization and bringing Mexico to be an equal of its northern neighbors in that sector, rather than the more traditional agricultural economic basis. Under the supervision of Vice-President de la Barra, he had even allowed for foreign investors, particularly from the United States and the Confederacy, access to Mexican oil fields. This drew many to attempt to convince, and later draft, Orozco into another presidential bid. Hoping to maintain stability within the country, as well as the traditional two-term limit, however, Orozco would turn down those overtures. Similar efforts to convince others close to Reyes, such as General Alvaro Obregón or Secretary for Foreign Affairs Querido Moheno, fell similarly short. Thus, the opponents of Reyes found themselves with few options to get Reyes out of office, at least that they believed would be successful.

President Bernardo Reyes and Vice-President Francisco León de la Barra at an event announcing their intent to seek a second term together
​

With opposition parties, or even political parties in general, having yet to solidify or truly really form beyond one's support or opposition to the current administration, there was no nominating convention or caucus to select a candidate to run against Reyes. Thus, it came to mostly towards personal initiative and public support, with the opponent of Reyes most strongly having these attributes being Venustiano Carranza, who still believed he was the proper successor to Orozco, even going so far as to send a letter to him inquiring about the point, to which Orozco did not respond. Despite having lost in the previous election, Carranza still did possess a base of loyal followers, if not many men still remaining in government, who believed in him. Consequentially, it came to the surprise of no one that he announced he would pursue a second campaign for the presidency. Even from the beginning, Carranza's campaign was not without pitfalls. Hoping to tap his previous running-mate, Eulalio Gutiérrez, to again run with him, Carranza would be rebuffed in the effort, with Gutiérrez turning down the offer. Many modern historians believe this was caused by Gutiérrez's fear that if he accepted, Reyes would force him out of his current military position. Eventually, Carranza would turn to Ignacio Bonillas, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Mexico's bicameral legislature, as well as a prosperous owner and director of several mines.

Venustiano Carranza and Ignacio Bonillas
​

Ultimately, a third movement would arise. Referring to themselves as the "Restoration Party", they advocated for the return of executive power being centralized in one man for his lifetime. They believed that the man would be govern somewhat similarly to the "philosopher kings" of Plato, and would help to reign in the chaos and breakdown of social orders they saw occurring within Mexico as a nation. Furthermore, they hoped for "loose but clear" class divides to prevent the rapid rise of peasant class leaders preying and playing on the whims of the masses to rise to positions of power and authority, as they believed Zapata had done. Instead, they believed power, especially political and military, but to a degree industrially as well, should be concentrated in the hands of a more refined upper class. Although they never clear stated it, it was assumed by many that one of their goals was to allow for a descendant of the Díaz line to assume that position as permanent president, although their candidates would deny the claim on the campaign trail. Their nominee for the presidency would be Justo Sierra, a government official under Díaz and a prominent intellectual during that regime, as well as a founder of the party. His running-mate would be Francisco Bulnes, another government official and intellectual under the Díaz reign. Unsurprisingly, their message failed to connect with all but a small audience of the upper class.

Justo Sierra and Franciso Bulnes
​

With the candidacies announced and campaigning begun, Carranza realized he would have to do something monumental to even stand a chance at victory. He was hesitant, however, to make a mistake like the "True Test of Our Democracy" speech from his previous campaign, which he believed had sunk his previous effort at the presidency. While the prospect of the Restoration Party campaign excited his camp, as they would almost certainly take almost exclusively from Reyes' base of support, Carranza was still uncertain how much of a difference they would make. Ultimately, the major effort Carranza decided to settle on was a direct appeal to the people, with what became known as "Carranza's March". Starting at the outskirts of Mexico City, he would lead a small party of companions of a variety of occupations in a march throughout the country, giving speech and hosting events along the way. He hoped that this would soon be joined by other supporters of his campaign until they reached to the numbers of the thousands. Unfortunately for Carranza, he did not count on the desire of the farmers to be more interested in tending to their fields and families then joining a weeks long political event. Thus, while the single-day rallies and events he did attract people, few actually joined his march, and most went home after his campaign event ended. What he intended to be in the thousands never breached more than three hundred. Humiliated, Carranza would cut short the debacle, and return to normal campaigning partially through the season.

Carranza hard at work in office trying to make up for lost ground in the closing weeks of the campaign
​

In the end, the results that almost everyone had foresaw from the beginning came true, and Reyes would decisively trounce both Carranza and Sierra. Despite the campaign of the Restoration Party siphoning off votes, Reyes still managed to improve on his results from the last election. Furthermore, the control of his allies in the Senate was further solidified, with one notable newly elected member being Alvaro Obregón, who many believed was positioning himself for a run for the presidency following the end of Reyes' second term. Despite their crushing defeat, the opponents of Reyes and his government also managed to gain some insight from the election. Twice they had been defeated in their efforts to defeat Reyes without a formal political organization, so the leadership of Reyes' opposition assumed that the formation of a party would be their best step moving forward in getting both Reyes and his influence out of power. Subsequently, many closed door meetings were held, and the formation of a political party was hammered out: the Labor and Liberty Party.

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Chapter Eighty-Two: The U.S. Presidential Election of 1920

A photograph from the 1920 Republican National Convention
​

Despite the general success and popularity of his presidency, President Charles E. Hughes declined to seek a second term in office. His interest, as he stated publicly several times in the lead-up to the Republican National Convention, was to return home and retire, with the only thing he claimed that could possibly coax him out of it being a nomination to the Supreme Court. Thus, after the rejection of several overtures to change his mind, ambitious members of the Republican Party decided in was open season for who would win the presidential nomination, and they flooded the convention field. Among the more progressive candidates were Kansas Senator Charles Curtis, Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette (who had returned to the Republican Party to support the candidacy of Lodge in 1912), California Representative Hiram W. Johnson, and Secretary of War William E. Borah. Meanwhile, the more conservative leaning candidates included Ohio Representative Warren G. Harding, Minnesota Representative Harold Knutson, former Secretary of State and current Indiana Senator James E. Watson, Illinois Governor Frank O. Lowden, and Massachusetts Senator Calvin Coolidge. Unfortunately for the convention, this wide range of candidates made it hard for a single one to gain enough momentum or delegates to even clinch the nomination. This problem was further spread by a significant number of delegates being "undecided", which essentially meant they hoped for a deadlocked convention to convince Hughes to run. Finally, many of the candidates were quite polarizing to those who were not their supporters, with La Follette, Borah, and Watson all being prime examples of this.

The Field of Candidates: Curtis, La Follette, Johnson, Borah, Harding, Knutson, Watson, Lowden, and Coolidge​

With the start of the convention's balloting, Watson took the lead on the first few, securing a plurality of the votes, but never being able to breach more than 20%, far short of the number necessary for victory. What followed was over two dozen more ballots which saw campaigns surge and sink. After failing to advance much farther than 25% of the delegate count on the first six ballots, Watson saw his base of support start to dissolve and flee to other candidates. The eighth ballot marked a surge for Borah, but it only managed to hold until the tenth. Following his collapse, Lowden led for a three, then Curtis for four. By the eighteenth, it seemed like the delegates had receded to their original or favorite son candidate, and the Hughes supporters still refused to cast their support behind someone, holding out hope for their leader to enter the race, or at least announce his endorsement. Eventually, a growing movement on the convention floor proved enough to shock Hughes out of his silence. With no definitive or long lasting leading candidate emerging, the advantage had passed from whomever had had the most to start with now whomever could convince the most to swing. And increasingly, that man proved to be the charismatic, if cretinous, Warren G. Harding. When news of his surging delegate count reached Hughes, he is said to have blurted out, "That adulterous dolt?! The Republican Party seriously intends to nominate the man who tried to tear it apart in 1912?!" When it became clear that Harding was not just a passing fad, Hughes decided it was necessary to take immediate action to prevent his nomination.

Warren G. Harding with much cheated on wife Florence at the convention
​

Acting with the urgency born of imminent disaster, Hughes' surrogates--New York Senator Henry L. Stimson and Governor of the Philippines Territory Theodore Roosevelt Jr.--moved rapidly to canvass the other candidates to see what policy promises he could get from them, and which he would want to be his successor. After speaking with the subordinates of several candidates, including Lowden's, Johnson's, and Knutson's, Hughes decided he would throw his support behind Calvin Coolidge. From Coolidge, Hughes received promises to promote and expand if possible the Triple Alliance, as well to support and pursue a women's suffrage amendment (a position Coolidge already held) and to continue several other of Hughes' goals. Although it was neither asked for nor promised, it was always well-understood between the two groups that Coolidge would appoint Hughes to the next vacancy to occur within the Supreme Court. Satisfied, Hughes publicly endorsed Coolidge, which almost immediately transferred all the non-committed delegates to his column. Alongside his own, Coolidge still did not have enough, but seeing the winds of the convention stir, dozens of supporters for other conservative candidates, most notably Harding, deserted their man to nominate Coolidge, which they successfully did on the twenty-ninth ballot. Exhausted from the convention, but still wanting their mark to be made on the ticket, the progressives, who had proved to have had a weaker base of support than the conservatives, decided to work against the favorite candidate for the vice-presidency, Lowden. Instead, they threw their support behind another conservative, New York Senator James W. Wadsworth Jr., who they hoped would return the favor by supporting some progressive policies. Unwilling to struggle anymore, conservatives dumped Lowden on the third ballot, and almost unanimously selected Wadsworth. As consolation, Coolidge promised Lowden a prominent position within his cabinet.

Calvin Coolidge and James Wadsworth Jr.
​

The Democrats were only slightly better off in terms of party unity then the Republicans in their convention. Among the candidates were Delaware Senator and 1916 nominee Willard Saulsbury Jr., New York Representative Al Smith, Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall, Illinois Senator J. Hamilton Lewis, and of course former New York Senator William R. Hearst. Despite having been defeated in three elections to maintain and then regain his seat in the Senate--first in 1916 to Hamilton Fish II, then in 1917 he lost to Wadsworth to fill the vacancy caused by Elihu Root's nomination to be Secretary of State, and a defeated a third time in 1918 by Henry L. Stimson to fill the seat caused by the death of Fish--Hearst stilled remained popular and supported within both the state and national Democratic Party, and even after defeat they only seemed to increase. Entering into the convention, Hearst was the clear front-runner, and with his faction of the party on the rise as shown by William Jay Gaynor selection to be House Speaker, there was nothing the Old Guard Democratic party bosses could do as they had done in the prior three elections. With his opposition divided, Hearst clinched the nomination on the third ballot, finally achieving his goal of being nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party. In a nod to the party bosses, who still held some power within the party, Indiana Senator Samuel M. Ralston was nominated to be Hearst's running-mate. Thus, Hearst, empowered by the full backing of the Democratic Party, set out on the campaign trail to break the stranglehold the weakened Republican Party held on the presidency.

William Hearst and Samuel Ralston
​

With nomination in hand, Hearst quickly hit the campaign trail. At every opportunity he would deliver speeches, which tended to be more pro-Hearst than pro-Democrat, unsurprising considering his mixed relationship with the party in the past. Occasionally, Hearst's excursions and flash temper would get him in trouble on the campaign trail, most notably when a Republican plant at one of his campaign events was able to get him started on an anti-pope rant when he shared the stage with devout Catholic Representative Al Smith. Despite the occasional blunder, however, Hearst's rhetoric did resonate with many. Coolidge, on the other hand, campaigned in a much more toned down manner, planning out large and well-organized events with pre-planned speeches. Despite doing much fewer events than Hearst, Coolidge's message generally hit closer to home with the audience. This led one reporter to make the following comparison, "Hearst is the shotgun, and Coolidge is the rifle. It remains to be seen who the American public will choose to hunt fowl with."

Hearst delivering an impromptu speech and Coolidge preparing to address the crowd​

One major event would shake the nation, as well as the campaigns, on July 4, 1920. On that day, House Speaker William J. Gaynor was preparing to board a train to return to New York City to campaign when out jumped an assailant yelling in French and armed with a revolver. Before anyone could respond, or even move, the assassin fired off three bullets into Gaynor's chest before dashing off. In one of photography's most celebrated shots, a man with a camera was able to capture a photo of Gaynor moments after being shot, being held up by two men as he succumbs to the wounds. He would die later that night. The assassin would be Henri Beylie, a former accountant from France who blamed America for France's defeat in the Great War, a decided to turn to violence to avenge his nation. He had considered both President Hughes and Secretary of State Root as targets before settling on Gaynor, as he would be the easiest to approach. He would be arrested and later executed on December 16, despite French demands that the United States return him to be tried in a French court, as he was a French citizen. Immediately following the assassination, security measures would be heightened. This marked the first time since Abraham Lincoln that a major public figure had been successfully assassinated, and it would also mark a return to presidential bodyguards. Despite some bitter memories of the involvement of the Black Guard in the Battle of Philadelphia, Congress, now under Speaker Arthur G. Dewalt, approved the creation of new bodyguards for a senior government officials. Meanwhile, Hearst tried to make hay with the assassination of a close friend and political ally. He accused the man of being a secret Republican operative acting on Coolidge's orders, and other similarly extreme claims. Unsurprisingly, the public rejected these, and some were even repulsed that Hearst was willing to exploit the issue for gain, as opposed to Coolidge, who had started wearing black armbands to all campaign events.

The famous photograph depicting Gaynor moments after the bullets hit
​

In the end, despite his massive name recognition and the significant political machine he had grew, Hearst would be stomped by Coolidge. Coolidge would manage to secure 315 electoral votes, as opposed to Hearst's 54. Coolidge would win Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, South Dakota, North Dakota, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Ohio, Iowa, Connecticut, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, Washington, New Jersey, and Indiana. Hearst managed to hold Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, Delaware, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Oregon. The landslide Republican victory in the presidential race would also ripple out towards other ones as well. Control of the House was returned to the Republicans by large margins, and their lead in the Senate would grow, wiping away the Democratic gains of the past decade in a single election. Almost across the board, the blame was placed at the feet of Hearst. In terms of states won in the electoral college, he had not gained a single one, but he had lost six. With the worries of the Democratic bosses vindicated, Hearst's dream of becoming the new leader of the Democratic Party were forever shattered, as well as his political machine. Among the men to lose their seat in the congressional elections was John A. Dix, who was Hearst's other close ally in the House besides the now dead Gaynor. Despised by the Democrats and even some of his former allies such as Al Smith, Hearst would find himself cast off into the political wilderness, forced to blaze a new path forward if he ever wanted to engage in politics again.

 

[TheRockofChickamauga]

Chapter Eighty-Three: The French Fallout

Parisian citizens mingling around the wreckage of a building in their once proud city
​

As the guns of the Great War grew silent, the echoes still remained. Subjected to total war perhaps for the first time in living memory, the citizens of France were left flabbergasted. France had been defeated before, and there were even those who remembered the fall of Paris to the forces of the North German Confederation in the Franco-Prussian War, but never before had it been so devastating. During the Franco-Prussian War, large portions of the city hadn't been laid to waste, nor had there been street to street fighting or atrocities committed against civilians on such a massive scale as had occurred in the Great War. The people of France had been wholly unprepared for the experience, and were now woefully unequipped to deal with the results. Thousands were left without homes, and of that number significant portions lacked even sufficient quantities of food to survive. Starved parents were forced to send their children to join the masses of war orphans who were signed up for a program to be attempt to find foster parents in less war-torn countries, such as Great Britain, or the members of the Triple Alliance. Unfortunately, this trend completely overwhelmed an already overstretched system, causing it to essentially collapse as the government agency did not have enough room to house all the children, forcing them to reject anyone but orphans. Even after the non-orphans were removed, the rate of adoption proved to be a trickle, with the French government's predictions of the generosity of foreigners proving to be vast overestimations.

A group of French orphans preparing to board a vessel bound for the United Kingdom
​

Feeding into the chaos was the upcoming French presidential election. Although the president was selected by the combined vote of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the voices of the French people and newspapers often played a major role in persuading the members of the body who to select. At the start of the election, three main candidates announced their intent to be considered. The first was Prime Minister George Clemenceau, whose main backing came from the socialists within the bodies, as well as the liberals who were pushed into that direction as the remaining candidates were considered more towards the right. The second was Chairman of the Democratic Republican Party Charles Jonnart, who was seen as the establishment candidate of the political right of the Republic. An unexciting figure, the lack of any true involvement in the war and the distance between himself and the highly unpopular President Poincaré played into his support. For the few remaining politicians loyal to Poincaré, there was Former Minister of War and général de brigade Adolphe Messimy, who still maintained a decent reputation with the people despite his professed loyalty to Poincaré. A fourth man was to enter the field, however. Commander-in-chief of all of France's armies, the liberator of Paris, and one of the few military men still beloved by the people, Ferdinand Foch originally intended to sit out the election and make no public comment on who he preferred. Two of his more ambitious subordinates, Marshals Philippe Pétain and Louis Franchet d'Espèrey (who had served as the commander of the Italian theater after the departure of Foch and Pétain), hoped to persuade him otherwise. Both men urged their commander to attempt to make known he wanted to be a candidate. Foch would prove to be hesitant at first, but the more they persisted, the more set of the presidency he became. Eventually, he announced his candidacy to the people, and demanded to be considered by the legislative bodies. Eager to have a popular figure to rally around, many supporters of Jonnart and Messimy flocked to Foch, with the press on the political right soon beginning to trumpet his candidacy.

The Candidates: Clemenceau, Jonnart, Messimy, and Foch
​

With what they lacked in time to campaign as compared to other worldwide elections, the French press easily made up for in the sheer volume of propaganda. The French press would prove not to be the only ones skilled in that field. Holding true to the principles of the Monroe Doctorine, the members of the Triple Alliance withheld from attempting to influence the election of their preferred candidate, but the countries of Europe showed no such regard. Hoping for a return to stability without having to run the risk of French militarization or too far left leanings, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy all backed Jonnart in the election, seeing him as a weak and perhaps manipulatable figure. Meanwhile, hoping to return balance to the nation by rebuilding France and her armies, Great Britain and Russia backed Messimy, saving his otherwise sinking candidacy. Despite the foreign propaganda, the two most popular candidates with the French people remained Clemenceau and Foch, who focused their campaigning on different sectors. Clemenceau promised a restoration of the industrial heart of France, with intent of providing everyone a job to provide for their family. Foch, meanwhile, pledged to restore France's honor and glory, as well as to overturn the Treaty of Hohenzollern. Foch frequently made appearances in his uniform with all his medals with other veterans, while Clemenceau usually had workers to populate the backdrop of his speeches.

George Clemenceau saluting the French people after leaving his work for the day
​

Two weeks before the legislature was scheduled to meet to elect a president, a major stir would send shockwaves throughout France. In the aftermath of the Great War, it was not uncommon for veterans to visit the shooting ranges which they had practiced at during the training before the conflict and to fire off some shots from their wartime rifle to release some pent up anger from their general situation. The immense unpopularity of President Poincaré, especially with veterans, made it so no one was very concerned when a young man with darty eyes brought a photograph of the man clipped out of a newspaper and attached it to the target at the shooting range before discharging a few shots into it. Little did anyone know at the time that the young man was anarchist Émile Cottin, and he was practicing for the real thing. Two weeks before the election, Cottin would line the president up in his rifle sights and fire two shoots into his head, killing him instantly. After committing the deed, he would escape Paris and attempt to flee to Germany, from which he planned to book a ride to Mexico. Unfortunately for his plan, he was caught at the border, and when identified, the Germans would hand over custody of the young man to the French, who executed him. In the wake of Poincaré's death, Clemenceau ascended to the presidency, as he was serving as Prime Minister and thus was next in the line of succession. Immediately, all three of the other campaigns called foul and accused him of having organized the whole plot, which Clemenceau firmly denied. French police efforts to dig through Cottin's paper would ultimately disprove any connection between the two men, as Cottin wrote that in his diary that Clemenceau was his second target should Poincaré prove to difficult. These revelations, however, would come after the fact, and in the moment, it certainly looked very bad for the Clemenceau campaign.

President and Assassin; Poincaré and Cottin
​

When the day came for the legislature to gather and decide on the next president of the French republic, the nation, and the world, watched intently and nervously. Little did anyone at the time know the results of the election would come to shape not only the future of France, but the future of the European continent and even the world as a whole for the next century.

Veterans of the Great War gathered outside the French legislature building with the arms and war-torn flag to show their support for Foch's candidacy​

 

[Nelson Mikeson]

Chapter Fifty-Two: The Battle for Philadelphia

An photo depicting one of Custer's "overnight soldiers"
​

With Custer refusing to give up his seat, the nation descended into panic. This was unprecedented in U.S. history, and people were unsure about what exactly to do. Could McKinley, who was not technically president of the United States yet, order in the U.S. military to attack the man who was still technically their Commander-in-Chief? The problem would be solved when Chief Justice Harlan swore McKinley into office in a ceremony held in Harrisburg. Harlan would then preside over a quick Supreme Court case that unanimously invalidated Custer's presidency, thus allowing McKinley to deploy U.S. Army force against him.

Chief Justice John M. Harlan
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Custer took full advantage of the time when the country was panicking, however. He had managed to bring together a small army of men consisting of the Black Guard, who were his elite men who he placed under the command of his brother, Tom Custer. He then drafted a large number of Philadelphia's male population into his army, forming two brigades of men, who became known known as Custer's "overnight soldiers" due to the way they had been rapidly raised. Many of these men were uniformed in fancy or outlandish uniforms at Custer's specification. These men he placed under the command of two of his cronies from his army days, his brother-in-law James Calhoun and Myles Moylan, who was Calhoun's brother-in-law. With these men, Custer imposed martial law over Philadelphia, effectively making the District of Franklin, as the territory that contained the U.S. capital was known, a kingdom which Custer ruled.

Tom Custer, James Calhoun, and Myles Moylan
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It was at this moment that Custer's desire to conquer the Philippines backfired on him in a major way. For the planned conquest, he had organized a corps of infantry under U.S. General-in-Chief Wesley Merritt, as well as a division of cavalry under the U.S. second-highest ranked officer Major General James H. Wilson. Commanding the four divisions of infantry were four of U.S. Army's best soldiers. Commanding the 1st Division was Major General Henry Lawton, the 2nd Division was under Major General Arthur MacArthur Jr., the 3rd under Major General Frederick Funston, and the 4th under Major General John J. Pershing, who had formerly been a Brigadier General and Merritt's chief-of-staff, but had been handpicked by Custer and Merritt for promotion and division command. Altogether, these forces were known as the Army of Franklin, due to the District of Franklin, their main goal. Despite knowing the odds against him, Custer continued to persevere, even when McKinley, Harlan, and Merritt agreed to send him one final offering of amnesty if he agreed to step down, which he refused, calling it "the deal of a defeated coward". With this final offer rejected, McKinley gave Merritt the go ahead to retake Philadelphia with his Army of Franklin.

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Wesley Merritt, James Wilson, Henry Lawton, Arthur MacArthur, Frederick Funston, and John Pershing
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Merritt began his action by having Wilson capture all the outskirts of the District of Franklin, while not directly attacking Philadelphia itself. He was planning on completely encircling the town before moving in to ensure Custer could not escape. With Wilson and and his brigade commanders, Brigadier Generals Leonard Wood, Frank Baldwin, and Samuel S. Sumner, reporting that Philadelphia was completely encircled, Merritt planned the final attack to begin. Lawton, MacArthur, and Funston were all to march into Philadelphia and begin attacking, applying strong pressure all along Custer's lines. When the spot under most strain was found, Pershing and his division would break through the line, and capture Custer. With this plan set, Merritt ordered his division commanders to begin the attack.

Leonard Wood, Frank Baldwin, and Samuel Sumner
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With the attacks beginning, Custer would send his men forward. As soon as two forces meet, however, it became abundantly clear that Custer's weak-spirited, poorly trained men who were severely outnumbered were no match for trained U.S. Army soldiers. Bulges and cracks soon began to form all over Custer's line, and these rapidly turned into breaks when Pershing's division was committed. Within a half hour of the battle starting, U.S. soldiers were streaming towards the Executive Mansion. Custer had only one reserve to try and stem the tide, the Black Guard under his brother, who he threw against Pershing's advancing men. With this desperate attack, Pershing's men were halted, albeit briefly. Within a matter of minutes, the shock of the charge of the Black Guards had dissipated, and the tough U.S. Army soldiers were grinding through them. When Tom Custer was shot down, the Black Guards routed, and nothing stood in the way of the U.S. troops from capturing Custer. Seeing his world fall apart around him, Custer would ride out to his men and try to rally them, trying to have one more final last stand. Custer was able to rally no more than a dozen Black Guards to side, and all these men were rapidly killed, with Custer going down firing two revolvers with a bullet to the skull. Thus ended Custer's rebellion, but retribution was not done yet.

Some soldiers of the 10th U.S. Cavalry finding the mortally wounded Tom Custer on the front of the Executive Mansion's lawn.​

When the U.S. Army soldiers finally reached the Executive Mansion, they found a defiant Elizabeth Custer, who was completely unaware if her husband was still alive or not. Angered by the rebellion, the U.S. soldiers would take it out on Elizabeth, who they stripped naked before shooting her twice with mortal effect and throwing her into a ditch to die. General Merritt himself would oversee the lowering of the flag over the Executive Mansion, which had been Custer's battle pennant from the wars. In the aftermath of the rebellion, both Calhoun and Moylan were tried for treason, found guilty, and executed. The Black Guard was not reformed either, as McKinley viewed them as a symbol of Custer, similar to the Old Guard with Napoleon, thus ending a tradition that had begun with President Pendleton. Custer's two remaining brothers, Nevin and Boston, would promptly board a ship bound for the United Kingdom to try and escape the constant threats they received. The ship would ultimately disappear somewhere in the Atlantic, never being heard from again. Interestingly, one of the soldiers that would storm of across the lawn of the Executive Mansion would be Jack London, who would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his service before eventually making a name for himself as a writer, authoring such works as Call of the Wild, "To Build A Fire", and most famously Storming Custer's Lawn, in which he described his services in the Battle of Philadelphia. Another man of note present at the battle would be John Philip Sousa, who would lead Army of Franklin's band, but would later pick up a rifle and join in the fighting.

Jack London and John Philip Sousa​

I don't want to get specifically into current politics, but this chapter has predicted the future IOTL.