Sweden enters the Crimean War

The man who was sitting on the Mexican throne had tried to win the Spanish throne nearly 20 years earlier. He had supporters in France and Spain. It was why he was chosen by Napoleon III. Below a picture of him.

Infante_Carlos,_Count_of_Montemolin.jpg
 
It appeared that things in Mexico in 1871 had reached a stalemate. The Mexican Imperial Government continued to retain control of most of the country and all of the large seaports. The Loyalty of the Imperial Army appeared to be rock solid. The Emperor also had more than 4,000 foreign volunteers that were dependable.
Benito Juarez, the last elected President of Mexico also still had his supporters. He had received support from the Freemont and Lincoln Administrations but when some of his supporters began conducting raids into US territory to get arms , money and conscript people it resulted in the Grant Administration cooling to the idea of continuing to support the Mexican Republicans.
General Jackson had left the army and General Phil Sheridan was now commander of US forces in the entire Mexican territory department. Lt General WT Sherman was now Commander of the US Army, replacing General Lee, who had retired from the Army.
General Longstreet had taken up the Post of Commander of US forces in the West.
 
The US was also looking at Hawaii. US citizens had been immigrating to the islands for some time now and the new Grant Administration appeared to be finally taking more steps toward getting involved in that island kingdom. The US already had territory in the Pacific-Guam and the other islands in the Marianas Islands, Wake Island and Midway island.
The US was rapidly becoming a world power. What was unlooked at was the fact that the US had also claimed the Jima Islands nearly 17 years earlier. The US had a small outpost on the island chain. It had not been a problem then but not Japan was modernizing and it could be a source of trouble.
 

RegNorth

Banned
The US was also looking at Hawaii. US citizens had been immigrating to the islands for some time now and the new Grant Administration appeared to be finally taking more steps toward getting involved in that island kingdom. The US already had territory in the Pacific-Guam and the other islands in the Marianas Islands, Wake Island and Midway island.
The US was rapidly becoming a world power. What was unlooked at was the fact that the US had also claimed the Jima Islands nearly 17 years earlier. The US had a small outpost on the island chain. It had not been a problem then but not Japan was modernizing and it could be a source of trouble.

correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the AM outpost as in the Bonin Islands and on Marcus, and was essentially private ventures based On ' Terra Nullius", settled by American Whaling and Guano hunting firms.

Not a good practise in Samurai country
icon10.gif
 

RegNorth

Banned
I sense the advent of an large European war not too far away...

ATM Italy and Prussia seem to be "blocfree" but I think France might seek not only Russias friendship, but Prussias too - Prussia might still have enough influence to prevent Bavarias sucess (or at least delay it)


For Sweden it becomes a question of " what is the gain in Finland?"
the Finns had a continuous autonomy movement.
Its rather like the United States Taking Newfoundland in 1949, Does Canada in 1993 just breath a sigh of relief??
icon10.gif

BTW, do you still want Newfland?
 
According to some sources there was a European settlement on the Islands in1796. Nost of this was do to whaling and other shipss. In 1853 Commodore Mathew Perry stopped at the Islands and bought property on it. He also raised the American flag and claimed the land for the US. In this time line the US continued to maintain contact with the islands and the US Navy established a base in the island. Thus Japan was not able to re-exert claim to the islands.

Far East-Pacific-1938d1.PNG
 
Napoleon III was not in a good mood. It seemed like every move that he had be making had been checked by some other power. The Americans had forced him to leave Mexico.The Italian had crushed the House of Savoy and had latter managed to grab the Tunisian coast. The German Empire had come into being and he had found that his advisers were against a war when Austria threaten to join in on the side of Germany and both Russia and Prussia refused to help. Both Austria and the German Empire were grabbing land in Africa. In addition the Austrians had grabbed a sizable chunk of the Middle East. Now it appeared that the Americans were grabbing land in the pacific.
 

RegNorth

Banned
Napoleon III was not in a good mood. It seemed like every move that he had be making had been checked by some other power. The Americans had forced him to leave Mexico.The Italian had crushed the House of Savoy and had latter managed to grab the Tunisian coast. The German Empire had come into being and he had found that his advisers were against a war when Austria threaten to join in on the side of Germany and both Russia and Prussia refused to help. Both Austria and the German Empire were grabbing land in Africa. In addition the Austrians had grabbed a sizable chunk of the Middle East. Now it appeared that the Americans were grabbing land in the pacific.

Also calls new thread
 
Sweden had been paying attention to what was going on in the rest of Europe but its primary interest was Finland. The Kingdom of Finland was tied to Sweden only by the fact that its King was a member of the Swedish Royal family. Sweden also helped with the defense of Finland as it still considered the Russians as a great threat. Alexander II had done what he could to insure that there was no trouble with it.
The Swedish government was glad that there had been no major conflict in central or northern Europe since the ending of the Crimean War. It was especially glad that the creation of the Empire of Germany had not resulted in a war between France and the new German state.
Still it was not concern that the new German state was ruled by A Roman Catholic. Sweden's relations with the Kingdom of Prussia had been cool but it appeared that after the visit by Otto Bismarck a thaw was taking place.
Sweden however believed that its future was tied to the Austrians and the British as Russia was always considered a threat. Frances attempt to gain warm relations with Russia caused the Swedes to look at the French as an unreliable ally.
 
Top