Union and Liberty: An American TL
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Part One Hundred Twenty-Six: Wrapping Up the American Front
Update time! I'll get a map of the fronts up in the next couple days.
Part One Hundred Twenty-Six: Wrapping Up the American Front
Reaching the Golden Gate:
Through 1909 and 1910, the United States' advance into California steadily rolled on as the two armies skirmished in the sparsely populated Californian frontiers. The rugged terrain of northern Espejo that separated the First Western Army from the Salt Lake basin proved a difficult crossing point, and the local Mormon settlers were reluctant to help the American forces. Given the legacy of Mormon persecution that led the religion's exodus from the United States 70 years prior, it is understandable that the Mormons of Espejo would be worried of an American occupation. Because of this, the First Western Army did not reach Vanguardia on Zion Lake until September of 1909.
After the occupation of Vanguardia, the area around the Great Salt Lake and Zion Lake at last started to become restless and call for independence from Califonria. OUtside of the thin area captured by the American forces, Mormon uprisings broke out in the town of Brigham in the far north and Youngstown in the far south of Espejo. From Vanguardia, the First Western Army continued sothwest into the Sevier River basin. The army reached as far as the Escalante Desert before having to turn back to replenish supplies after reaching the abandoned Fort Juniper[1].
With much of the state of Espejo occupied by the First Western Army, the Second Western Army launched another offensive into northwestern California in the early months of 1910. The army was bolstered by the transferrence of much of the First Western Army west during the months prior, and the offensive went much better than in the beginning of the war. Trinidad on the northern coast fell in February of 1910, and the Second Western Army crossed the ridge into the Sacramento Valley shortly after. The Pacific Squadron harrassed the bays and small towns north of San Francisco, while the army advanced south in the interior. The Battle of Santa Teresa thirty miles north of Sacramento[2] was the only major battle of the Second Western Army's campaign. The American force of 15,500 won out against the Californio army of 12,000, and entered Sacramento on June 5, 1910. A month later, with assistance from a blockade of the Golden Gate, the American army captured the city of Yerba Buena. Accounts by American soldiers reveal much of the city was still destroyed after the great 1906 earthquake. General Randolph Lee set up command in the Presidio on the northern edge of the peninsula. A meeting between Lee and Admiral Henry Mayo, commander of the Pacific Squadron, in the Presidio is the source of a famous photograph from the American participation in the war. While the economic center of California had been taken, the capital of Monterey was still out of reach as the Second Western Army and Pacific Squadron now coordinated a final coastal offensive.
A Fortuitous Town:
While the American invasion of California kicked up, the Great Lakes campaign continued to crawl at a slow pace. The American naval presence in the Great Lakes stifled much of the waterborne trade along the northern shores of the lakes, but the transcontinental railroad still carried numerous goods across British North America. The icy winter climate also stymied movement into the Dominion of Canada during the winter months. The blockade of Nipigon on Lake Superior, the westernmost port on the route of the Laurentine transcontinental railway, ended after a fierce storm blew in in February 1910 as the four United states corvettes had to make a hasty retreat into the open water to avoid getting stuck in the ice as it built up on Nipigon Bay.
While there was brief action at Nipigon as well as at Thunder Bay in Canada and Sault Sainte Marie in Michigan, most of the fighting on the Canadian front remained around the more densely populated areas in southern and eastern Canada. As the winter thawed into the spring of 1910, the Union advanced from both Detroit and Buffalo into soutern Ontario. Moving around the southern side of Lake St. Clair, the American forces took Glencoe in May and captured Port Huron in June. From the east, the Americans encountered more resistance, but kept their slow advance. Hamilton, Ontario fell in August. Rather than turning north toward Toronto, the eastern army continued west and joined with the western army at London. From London, the combined army marched north and met a British defensive encampment in the hills south of Waterloo on October 19, 1910. The Battle of Waterloo was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the American theater of the war. Ten thousand Americans and over seventeen thousand total men died in the battle, and it ended in a significant American defeat. Having failed to even capture the town, the American army retreated back to London to secure its position for the coming winter. No later offensive toward Toronto would be made for the remainder of the war.
Along the Saint Lawrence, the Canadian army made their only notables incursion into American territory. After the failure of the Quebec campaign, the American army had fallen back to Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain just on the American side of the border. In a daring winter assault in December 1909, the Canadian army attacked Fort Montgomery and captured it. The Americans fell back further south to Plattsburgh, while the British secured the fort and the surrounding area. After a failed attempt to recapture the fort in the summer of 1910, the British advanced on Plattsburgh, New York. In early 1911, in one of the last offensives on the Canadian front, the American army launched a grand offensive across the entire front after routing a British attack on Plattsburgh. The United States recaptured Fort Montgomery in March of 1911, and at last achieved a breakthrough across the Saint Lawrence at Ogdensburg in April. A naval assault on the capital of Kingston and a blockade of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence capped off the campaign, and ended much of the fighting on the Canadian front.
However, there was still some action in the Atlantic between the United States and Great Britain. Further blockades were instituted against British Honduras, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas throughout 1910 and 1911. The town of Freeport on Grand Bahama was seized by three American naval vessels in June of 1910, and a battle off the coast of Key West marked the end of an attempt by the Royal Navy to harrass Aemrican trade leaving the Gulf of Mexico. Further north, however, comes a more interesting story. During the last months of the war, the United States sent several hundred Irish soldiers, known as the Dubliner Regiment, were sent to land just west of Halifax in Saint Margaret's Bay. The next day the regiment assisted pro-independence groups in Halifax to incite a riot among the Acadians, a large majority of whom originated from the Irish diaspora. After the navy shelled the British ships in the harbor, the Dubliner Regiment "liberated" the city of Halifax from the British, ending in the storming of Fort George[3] with the Acadian independence militia.
[1]Fort Juniper is Cedar City. After the ironworks closed in the fort, it was abandoned in TTL with no direct connection from there to the California coast.
[2]Santa Teresa is approximately at the location of OTL Yuba City.
[3] Fort George is now Citadel Hill in Halifax. In TTL it is symbolic as a site of internment for many Irish Acadians.
Part One Hundred Twenty-Six: Wrapping Up the American Front
Reaching the Golden Gate:
Through 1909 and 1910, the United States' advance into California steadily rolled on as the two armies skirmished in the sparsely populated Californian frontiers. The rugged terrain of northern Espejo that separated the First Western Army from the Salt Lake basin proved a difficult crossing point, and the local Mormon settlers were reluctant to help the American forces. Given the legacy of Mormon persecution that led the religion's exodus from the United States 70 years prior, it is understandable that the Mormons of Espejo would be worried of an American occupation. Because of this, the First Western Army did not reach Vanguardia on Zion Lake until September of 1909.
After the occupation of Vanguardia, the area around the Great Salt Lake and Zion Lake at last started to become restless and call for independence from Califonria. OUtside of the thin area captured by the American forces, Mormon uprisings broke out in the town of Brigham in the far north and Youngstown in the far south of Espejo. From Vanguardia, the First Western Army continued sothwest into the Sevier River basin. The army reached as far as the Escalante Desert before having to turn back to replenish supplies after reaching the abandoned Fort Juniper[1].
With much of the state of Espejo occupied by the First Western Army, the Second Western Army launched another offensive into northwestern California in the early months of 1910. The army was bolstered by the transferrence of much of the First Western Army west during the months prior, and the offensive went much better than in the beginning of the war. Trinidad on the northern coast fell in February of 1910, and the Second Western Army crossed the ridge into the Sacramento Valley shortly after. The Pacific Squadron harrassed the bays and small towns north of San Francisco, while the army advanced south in the interior. The Battle of Santa Teresa thirty miles north of Sacramento[2] was the only major battle of the Second Western Army's campaign. The American force of 15,500 won out against the Californio army of 12,000, and entered Sacramento on June 5, 1910. A month later, with assistance from a blockade of the Golden Gate, the American army captured the city of Yerba Buena. Accounts by American soldiers reveal much of the city was still destroyed after the great 1906 earthquake. General Randolph Lee set up command in the Presidio on the northern edge of the peninsula. A meeting between Lee and Admiral Henry Mayo, commander of the Pacific Squadron, in the Presidio is the source of a famous photograph from the American participation in the war. While the economic center of California had been taken, the capital of Monterey was still out of reach as the Second Western Army and Pacific Squadron now coordinated a final coastal offensive.
A Fortuitous Town:
While the American invasion of California kicked up, the Great Lakes campaign continued to crawl at a slow pace. The American naval presence in the Great Lakes stifled much of the waterborne trade along the northern shores of the lakes, but the transcontinental railroad still carried numerous goods across British North America. The icy winter climate also stymied movement into the Dominion of Canada during the winter months. The blockade of Nipigon on Lake Superior, the westernmost port on the route of the Laurentine transcontinental railway, ended after a fierce storm blew in in February 1910 as the four United states corvettes had to make a hasty retreat into the open water to avoid getting stuck in the ice as it built up on Nipigon Bay.
While there was brief action at Nipigon as well as at Thunder Bay in Canada and Sault Sainte Marie in Michigan, most of the fighting on the Canadian front remained around the more densely populated areas in southern and eastern Canada. As the winter thawed into the spring of 1910, the Union advanced from both Detroit and Buffalo into soutern Ontario. Moving around the southern side of Lake St. Clair, the American forces took Glencoe in May and captured Port Huron in June. From the east, the Americans encountered more resistance, but kept their slow advance. Hamilton, Ontario fell in August. Rather than turning north toward Toronto, the eastern army continued west and joined with the western army at London. From London, the combined army marched north and met a British defensive encampment in the hills south of Waterloo on October 19, 1910. The Battle of Waterloo was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the American theater of the war. Ten thousand Americans and over seventeen thousand total men died in the battle, and it ended in a significant American defeat. Having failed to even capture the town, the American army retreated back to London to secure its position for the coming winter. No later offensive toward Toronto would be made for the remainder of the war.
Along the Saint Lawrence, the Canadian army made their only notables incursion into American territory. After the failure of the Quebec campaign, the American army had fallen back to Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain just on the American side of the border. In a daring winter assault in December 1909, the Canadian army attacked Fort Montgomery and captured it. The Americans fell back further south to Plattsburgh, while the British secured the fort and the surrounding area. After a failed attempt to recapture the fort in the summer of 1910, the British advanced on Plattsburgh, New York. In early 1911, in one of the last offensives on the Canadian front, the American army launched a grand offensive across the entire front after routing a British attack on Plattsburgh. The United States recaptured Fort Montgomery in March of 1911, and at last achieved a breakthrough across the Saint Lawrence at Ogdensburg in April. A naval assault on the capital of Kingston and a blockade of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence capped off the campaign, and ended much of the fighting on the Canadian front.
However, there was still some action in the Atlantic between the United States and Great Britain. Further blockades were instituted against British Honduras, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas throughout 1910 and 1911. The town of Freeport on Grand Bahama was seized by three American naval vessels in June of 1910, and a battle off the coast of Key West marked the end of an attempt by the Royal Navy to harrass Aemrican trade leaving the Gulf of Mexico. Further north, however, comes a more interesting story. During the last months of the war, the United States sent several hundred Irish soldiers, known as the Dubliner Regiment, were sent to land just west of Halifax in Saint Margaret's Bay. The next day the regiment assisted pro-independence groups in Halifax to incite a riot among the Acadians, a large majority of whom originated from the Irish diaspora. After the navy shelled the British ships in the harbor, the Dubliner Regiment "liberated" the city of Halifax from the British, ending in the storming of Fort George[3] with the Acadian independence militia.
[1]Fort Juniper is Cedar City. After the ironworks closed in the fort, it was abandoned in TTL with no direct connection from there to the California coast.
[2]Santa Teresa is approximately at the location of OTL Yuba City.
[3] Fort George is now Citadel Hill in Halifax. In TTL it is symbolic as a site of internment for many Irish Acadians.
I was expecting a more in depth coverage of the American front, but after what must be nearly 3 years of covering the Great War I'm sure you're ready to move on. Was expecting California to be a tougher nut to crack, while BNA would be the one to fall (given the HBC was ready to turn over Rupert's Land). Hopefully California won't be stripped too much of it's lands, but if it is, the Mormons sound like they're going to a head ache for the US.
Great update. Hopefully the U.S. gets California and all land south of the Saint Lawrence. And an Irish Arcadian Free State would be nice as well.
How is Moorfield Storey, a classical liberal in every possible way in OTL, the Socialist candidate?
So the Progressives are interventionist and left-wing domestically, the Republicans are non-interventionist and left-wing domestically, and the Democrats are interventionist and right-wing domestically? Is that correct?
Great update Wilcox!
It is. But good news is Illyria could still take all or most of Dalmatia and landlock Hungary.
I did expect California to be a much harder challenge. Especially at sea since it seemed that up until this point California was a pretty well established Pacific Power, having Hawaii and Revillagigedo. Hopefully the Californios put a well establish resistance in San Francisco.
The lesser of all evils maybe? Storey might be leaning more on his socially progressive ideals than his libertarian views here.
That is what I got from it. But the "left-wing domestically" seems to vary a bit between Progressives and Republicans. Progressives seem somewhat more centric at the moment. While the Republicans are trying to bring the Socialists under their wing.
It is. But good news is Illyria could still take all or most of Dalmatia and landlock Hungary.
I did expect California to be a much harder challenge. Especially at sea since it seemed that up until this point California was a pretty well established Pacific Power, having Hawaii and Revillagigedo. Hopefully the Californios put a well establish resistance in San Francisco.
The lesser of all evils maybe? Storey might be leaning more on his socially progressive ideals than his libertarian views here.
That is what I got from it. But the "left-wing domestically" seems to vary a bit between Progressives and Republicans. Progressives seem somewhat more centric at the moment. While the Republicans are trying to bring the Socialists under their wing.
The Saint Lawrence makes an awful border. It bisects several population centres, and both the major cities on it are on its north side (or in the middle of it).
Perhaps. But this TL seems more socially progressive than OTL, and if anything it would seem Storey would need to focus more on fiscal issues. Anyway, it's just a very minor quibble, but it does feed into my bigger question.
I just skimmed the presidential elections again. It would appear that the Democrats really aren't "right-wing." At least in the classical liberal sense. They already have interventionism, which is bad enough from a classical liberal standpoint, but protectionism too? It seems they endorsed both under McKinley.
And I'm sort of confused about the "Eagle Democrats." If they favored one of those issues, I could see them forming a loud minority in the party. But if they endorse both, then how did they agree with the Democratic platform to begin with? And if they left the party in 1896 with Lodge, and the Bourbons remained in control of the main party, how could they win the nomination in 1900, and consolidate it in 1904 by getting rid of Villas?
In OTL, Bryan won the official nomination, and it was the classical liberal third-party that helped end their reign. Why didn't the same thing happen to the Eagles? And in OTL at least Bryan was anti-imperialist; this Democratic Party shows no such similarities.
I fully understand the Progressive Party's platform and where it came from. I also understand the Republican's platform, since imperialism and larger government were their original beliefs in OTL and ITTL. But I don't understand how the Democrats, in OTL the "party of personal liberty," could become both interventionist and protectionist without there being a major classical liberal shift to one of the two other parties.
I think we are going to need Wilcox' imput to answer these questions, but here is my take:
Not a bad point actually. TTL does seem to be more socially progressive so far; at least in the US.
At the same time the entire world (at least the US and Europe) seem a bit more accustomed to bigger government.
I'm taking it as McKinley being a compromise candidate for the Democrats. Up until his administration they seemed more "classically liberal" aligned. And they are still a tent-pole party (and the most successful tent-pole in TTL) which means they carry quite a few different philosophies under them.
At the same time the TL has stated that anarchism (and forms of libertarian socialism) are generally seen as quite a big threat in TTL. This might be the result of the Liberty Party existing and provoking the TTL's National War. Just like OTL was rather wary of socialism, folks in TTL might be quite distrustful of "classical liberal" rhetoric. Which down the line allowed for each party to pick and choose the parts it like of classical liberalism (isolationism for Republicans, social-liberty for Progressives, and free-market for the Democrats to some extent) while tearing the sum of all three apart.
If there is a shift as you say, TTL multi-party system could allow for another small part to pop-up as the Socialist and Conservadores have done. (Or the Conservadores in Cuba might evolve into a national party of the kind arguing in favor of small Federal government, fiscal liberty, isolationism, but will likely remain socially conservative).
Not a bad point actually. TTL does seem to be more socially progressive so far; at least in the US.
At the same time the entire world (at least the US and Europe) seem a bit more accustomed to bigger government.
I'm taking it as McKinley being a compromise candidate for the Democrats. Up until his administration they seemed more "classically liberal" aligned. And they are still a tent-pole party (and the most successful tent-pole in TTL) which means they carry quite a few different philosophies under them.
At the same time the TL has stated that anarchism (and forms of libertarian socialism) are generally seen as quite a big threat in TTL. This might be the result of the Liberty Party existing and provoking the TTL's National War. Just like OTL was rather wary of socialism, folks in TTL might be quite distrustful of "classical liberal" rhetoric. Which down the line allowed for each party to pick and choose the parts it like of classical liberalism (isolationism for Republicans, social-liberty for Progressives, and free-market for the Democrats to some extent) while tearing the sum of all three apart.
If there is a shift as you say, TTL multi-party system could allow for another small part to pop-up as the Socialist and Conservadores have done. (Or the Conservadores in Cuba might evolve into a national party of the kind arguing in favor of small Federal government, fiscal liberty, isolationism, but will likely remain socially conservative).
Agreed.
Yes, until the 1890s ITTL the Democrats remained classical liberal oriented like in OTL; they nominated Tilden twice, and Cleveland.
Agreed, anarchism has really been built up as more dangerous ITTL. I think the first hint was Wilhelm II's assassination in 1886. But anarchism didn't seem to hit North America with any strength until 1896, and it didn't become a threat til roughly 1900. While this could be a component, the Eagle Democrats seem to date to at least 1890, so it couldn't be the key force.
I can't see McKinley as a compromise candidate simply because I can't see the compromise; he protectionist, expansionist, and nationalist. Those are all Eagle Democrat stances, not classical liberal. He had Vilas as VP, and even if this was enough to compromise (which I find very unlikely), he then ditched him in 1904. He's replaced with George T. Oliver, whose described as a personal friend of McKinley's and a throw to the party bosses. This only solidifies Eagle dominance.
Long-term, I can see the parties splitting up classical liberalism, much like OTL. Although classical liberalism is a more consistent view, being against government in both domestic and foreign affairs (much more consistent than modern conservatism), so it would stand to reason that a party would hold these consistent views (like the Democrats in the 19th century). Although that consistency fell apart in OTL, so I can't complain about it happening here. What is strange is that it happened within a decade. Now I understand that political positions change and so do parties. Sometimes quickly, like Bryan's takeover of the Democrats in 1896; but even then they nominated Parker in 1904. But it seems that by supporting both interventionism and protectionism, the opposite of the two basic cores of the original Democrats, they repudiate both the domestic and foreign policy opinions of the party before them. The Party in 1900 is a complete 180 of what it was just four years earlier; the only similarity is the name. While this might happen under crisis like conditions, it seems to have simply happened here without a hiccup.
I can see the Conservadores expanding like that. It would certainly be interesting for them to pick up the old classical liberal banner.
I know I'm writing a lot with this, so I guess my questions just boil down to: Why did the Eagle Democrats become Democrats when they have nothing in common? How did they gain power to so quickly even though they abandoned it's organization to the Bourbons? Where did the classical liberals flock to after McKinley's nomination in 1900?
Hi everyone. This isn't quite dead. For a while I lost the motivation to work on this and moved on mostly to other things. I do want to give this a proper conclusion though, especially since the Great War is so close to being wrapped up. I am probably abandoning the attempt to bring it up to the present day, and right now I'm leaning toward ending it properly at the 1912 election. Recently I've been thinking about U&L more though, so the motivation to work on it is coming back. I never really planned much beyond 1912 except for a few scattered ideas, so I might add on some individual disjointed pieces after the main end with what I did have planned out.
Thanks to everyone who's still following this for sticking around. Hopefully I'll have something more soon.
Thanks to everyone who's still following this for sticking around. Hopefully I'll have something more soon.
Its always good to have a conclusion. You can always restart the TL later if the spirit returns.