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alternatehistory.com
1905: The Great Pacific War
Prelude:
Japanese statesman Itō Hirobumi negotiates with the Russians, proposing giving Russia control over Manchuria in exchange for Japanese control of northern Korea. Meanwhile, Japan and Britain had signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902, the British seeking to restrict naval competition by keeping the Russian Pacific seaports of Vladivostok and Port Arthur from their full use. The alliance with the British meant, in part, that if any nation allied itself with Russia during any war with Japan, then Britain would enter the war on Japan's side. Russia could no longer count on receiving help from either Germany or France without there being a danger of the British involvement with the war. With such an alliance, Japan felt free to commence hostilities, if necessary. When war is declared, the Japanese government decides to buy Holland submarines from the United States as a “Neutral” country. Russia, despite the knowledge that it would bring the British in on the Japanese side, enlists German aide and purchases its own U-1 submarines from Germany. This causes the United States to formally enter the war on the Japanese side, and the stage is set for what will become known as the Great Pacific War.
The War
Of immediate concern to the British and the Americans is the safety of their overseas interests in India and the Philippines, and Alaska. The United States sends an expeditionary force of 24,000 combat troops under the command of General Arthur MacArthur to train in Japan for combat against Russian troops in Manchuria. While a joint Japanese-American force defeats Russian troops there, the real victory comes from the Navy during the Battle of Port Arthur, as British and Japanese ships of the Combined Fleet under the command of Robley Douglison Evans and Admiral Togo, respectively, end the siege of the port city. The American half of the "Great Pacific Fleet" en route to Port Arthur in 1905
The Panic of 1907
In the aftermath of victory, it seemed that the United States could rest on its laurels as having been victorious against an ancient European power in the defense of “Our yellow brothers”, as the Japanese were often called, but such was not the case. The first crisis to shake American confidence following the “Easy” victory was the Russian Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the exile of the Czar and the end of Romanov rule. The second was the Panic of 1907, during which the stock market crashed and, despite pledges of aid from J. Pierpont Morgan, failed to recover, leading to a prolonged Depression which would make its mark on the following year’s Presidential elections…
1908
The contentious election of 1908 was seen more as a battle between “The common man” and “Wall Street” rather than as a contest between the two parties. Incumbent President William McKinley, who had enjoyed widespread popularity following the Pacific War, saw his chances for getting re-elected to a third term diminishing as the economy worsened and so left the task of succession to Vice President Taft, whom he had chosen after Theodore Roosevelt resigned from the Vice Presidency to go into law following the end of McKinley’s first term. While Taft struggled to find support from both more conservative Republicans and populists, the Democratic field featured a large number of candidates, including William Jennings Bryan. In the end, however, they chose Governor John Albert Johnson of Minnesota, who would go on to defeat Taft in the general election.
1909-1923: The Depression That Roared
Johnson’s time in office was cut short by his untimely death in 1909. It was then left to his vice president, George Gray, to lead the nation following the period of mourning. Gray’s task was made increasingly difficult on two fronts-the Left, who would support Robert M. Lafollette as a Progressive candidate in the turbulent election of 1912, and the Right, which supported Henry Cabot Lodge. When the Republicans nominated Elihu Root instead, Gray went on to a respectable, if not landslide, second term.
A chief concern for Gray in his second term is the European War of 1914-1918. Gray follows the isolationist sentiment of the day, and the U.S. stays neutral, even as circumstantial evidence emerges suggesting that Germany would back a Mexican invasion of the American southwest and both the Titanic and Lusitania are sunk by German U-boats. The former causes Gray to send troops to the Mexican border under the command of General John J. Pershing, where the engage in sporadic conflict with Mexican rebels in 1917. In the meantime, the American economy continues to lag, and right-wing populism, modeled after the fascism which emerges in Germany and Italy in the early 1920’s, raises as a response to what is seen as a too-moderate Republican Party and a “Socialist” Democratic party. This de facto third-party movement is able to nominate its own candidate, Wayne Wheeler, who, despite his age, makes a formidable challenge to both Democratic nominee Oscar Wilder Underwood and Republican nominee Vice President Hiram Johnson. Johnson would eventually win, and oversee America’s economic recovery in the years to come…
1924-1945: Prosperity and War
President Johnson’s first term sees recovery from the Depression continue. Johnson’s foreign policy becomes increasinlgy isolationist with the mood of the country remaining populist (on both sides) and he does not intervene in the Russian Civil War of the late 1920s except to condemn “Red radicals…Over There”. He does create the Federal Reserve and opposes a tariff act during his second tern in 1930. The “Thrilling Thirties” as they are called, are a prosperous time for the United States and Britain, but not so for much of the rest of Europe, where France becomes divided by civil war and Russia, now ruled by Stalin and his hard-liners, makes inroads into Eastern Europe and makes renewed threats against its old foe Japan by encroaching once again into Manchuria. The election of Al Smith in 1932 signals a change away from America’s previously isolationist stance as America encourages Japan to build up its own military in preparation for a possible Russian attack. In 1936, a major crisis is averted when Spanish neo-Communists fail in their attempt to overthrow the Spanish monarchy with Russian aid, but it soon becomes clear that another major war may be coming. President Smith authorizes a peacetime selective service act and enacts a Lend-Lease Act with both Japan and Britain. In 1939, his worst fears are realized when Russia attacks Alaska. Although the Russians are driven back, the attack signals the beginning of what will become known as the Second Great Pacific War.
The War-1939-1942
At first the war seems to go well for the Russians, who beat back Japanese troops in Manchuria and take the Kuril Islands. An attempted invasion of Germany fails, however, as German troops under the command of Erwin Rommel stall the Russian advance into Prussia. In 1941, the tide begins to turn in the Allies’ favor as British and German troops liberate Poland and Japanese and American forces defeat the Russians in Manchuria. The Tokyo Conference-which is attended by Winston Churchill, Franz Von Papen, the Japanese Emperor, and Vice President Cordell Hull-formally ends the war.
The Postwar Years: The End of Empires
The period between 1942 and 1950 marks the decline of the remaining Great Empires. India becomes independent, as does Indochina from the French, nationalism is on the rise in Africa and the Middle East. The Russians are too concerned with rebuilding their own country to be too involved with postwar European politics and the Eastern European countries they invaded quickly become members of NATO. A similar organization is formed for the Pacific between the United States and Japan. The one major concern is China, where civil war continues between the Nationalists and the Communists.
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This is just an idea I had, for how Japan and America might remain allies in an alternate Twentieth Century, along with some other changes in American history. Merry Christmas!