The American Monarchy

[Lief 🗽]

I'll update in about half an hour. No need to squabble amongst yourselves.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: 1919 - 1920

Germany quickly transferred troops from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, while Austria-Hungary refocused on the Balkans. In late 1918, the Austrians had over-run Serbia, and were now fighting the remains of the Serbian army and Romania. On the Western Front, Germany began the 1919 Spring Offensive in early March, a wide assault across the western front, focusing again on the French town of Verdun. Once again, the French initially held out against the German attackers. However, by this point in the war, morale in both the British and French armies was at an all time low. Mutinies within the French ranks began to slowly occur, while in the major metropolitan cities of France there was wide-spread rioting, as war weariness and a shortage of food and other supplies began to take its toll. In Britain, there was similar unrest, as the situation in Ireland and India began to look increasingly bleak. In April, as bloody battles raged across France, British Prime Minister Asquith was forced to resign. Andrew Bonar Law, leader of the opposition Conservatives, formed a government with support from some anti-Asquith Liberals (led by Winston Churchill, who had resigned from Asquith’s government as First Lord of the Admiralty in December 1917, before the disastrous Battle of the Skagerrak¹). Prime Minister Law began negotiations with the United States on April 23rd and Germany on April 24th.

On April 26th, Germany crossed the Somme, as the British forces fell back in disarray, many units surrendering without a fight, aware that peace negotiations had already begun. At Verdun, news of the British retreat hit French morale particularly hard, and there were bloody mutinies, as French mutineers, loyal French soldiers, and German soldiers became embroiled in a bloody melee. By the second week of May, the Germans had taken Verdun. When the news reached Paris that Verdun had been lost, the city erupted in chaos. Prime Minister Clemenceau and the French government escaped the city. Within a day, communist and working class Parisians had declared a Second Paris Commune (lead by Boris Souvarine), barring French soldiers from entering the city. The leaders of the Commune raided the French National Bank, and there were many incidents of middle-class Parisians being murdered and robbed by the mob. Similar communes were proclaimed throughout the large cities of France, an uprising historians would term the Summer Revolutions. Clemenceau’s government escaped to Orléans, where they immediately got in touch with Germany. On June 3rd, 1919, an armistice was signed between France and Germany, and the Great War came to a close.

Prime Minister Roosevelt indicated that he wanted peace treaty negotiations to occur in a neutral, central location. Roosevelt and the German government eventually agreed on the city of Rome, in Italy (which had remained genuinely neutral throughout the conflict). But the Summer Revolutions in France soon led to similar uprisings throughout Europe. Rioting and strikes engulfed cities throughout Britain, with Soviets declared by striking and unemployed workers in Liverpool and Glasgow. A defeated Russia saw rebellions in Poland and the Ukraine and communist riots in Petrograd and Moscow, as Kerensky’s government became increasingly unstable. In Ireland, British soldiers and the IRC saw increasingly high casualties, as Irish attacks grew bolder and deadlier, and the Irish Republican Army (still supported in large part by American soldiers, but unofficially) had taken control of the major cities on the island. A British assault on Dublin in early May was an abysmal failure, as the Irish (backed-up by German and American weapons) turned the British away after two weeks of urban warfare.

The Rome Peace Conference began on July 4th, 1919. The victorious nations of the Great War were all represented: Theodore Roosevelt (the first sitting Prime Minister to visit Europe) represented the United States, with Chief Political Advisor to King Robert II Woodrow  also attending, as the king himself was too unhealthy to attend; Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg represented Germany, along with General Paul von Hindenburg; Emperor Franz Ferdinand I attended representing Austria-Hungary (though he was often pulled away from the meetings due to instability back home); and Grand Vizier Damat Ferid Pasha represented the Ottoman Empire. Roosevelt and Wilson pushed hard against the German, Austrian and Ottoman delegations, who all wanted heavy reparations and territorial concessions from the defeated Entente. Wilson, meanwhile, with the support of King Robert II, pushed his Ten Points on Roosevelt, which called for:
1)   The abolition of secret treaties.
2)   Freedom of the seas.
3)   Free trade between the nations signing the peace treaty.
4)   A general reduction of armaments and weapons between the nations.
5)   The assured independence of Russia and Belgium.
6)   The establishment of an independent Ireland, free of British influence or control.
7)   The establishment of an independent Poland, free of Russian and German influence, and with access to the Baltic Sea.
8 )   Democratization and greater civil liberties in the nations involved in the treaties.
9)   Greater autonomy for the ethnic minorities of Europe and the Middle-East.
10)   An international association of nations, to enforce peace and encourage prosperity.

Roosevelt supported all ten points, though the other victorious powers were bitterly opposed to a number of them. Germany, now the world’s chief naval power (after the defeat of the British fleet) opposed the second point, and refused to allow a wholly independent Poland or Belgium. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were both frightened by the implications of the ninth point, as both had already seen limited rebellions and unrest from the ethnic minorities within their own states.

As the negotiations continued, the British, Russians and French tried to restore some semblance of normality to their countries. In August, the French Army, still ragged and poorly-supplied after the war, attack Paris, in an effort to defeat the Paris Commune. The Commune’s survival for nearly 3 months in the country’s capital had been humiliating for Clemenceau and the nation, and had led to further communist uprisings throughout France. The French government knew that if it did not retake Paris, the entire country could descend into civil war. But the French army was demoralized, and the Paris Commune had taken 3 months to reinforce the city. By the end of August, the Commune was still in control of the city, and the French army was fighting communist forces throughout the country. Prime Minister Clemenceau, still leading the French government in Orléans, reluctantly begged the Germans and Americans for help. Roosevelt and Bethmann Hollweg (still in Rome) agreed to send material aid to the French government, and the German army, still occupying eastern France along the Rhine, moved into Paris, supporting the French government. By late September, the Paris Commune had been defeated, and communist rebels throughout France were mostly defeated by 1920.

In Britain, labor groups throughout the country (from coal miners to railroad workers to dock workers) went on strike, culminating in unrest throughout the country worse than the “Great Unrest” of the early 1910s. Andrew Bonar Law’s Conservative-Independent Liberal government became increasingly weak, to the point that elections were needed in early 1920. British troops in Ireland were also increasingly bloodied, as the Irish populace turned against the harsh anti-revolutionary measures undertaken by the British. This all culminated in a landslide Labour victory in February 1920, giving Ramsay MacDonald (an original opponent of the war) a narrow majority in the House of Commons. MacDonald immediately pursued peace in Ireland. Meanwhile, in Russia, Alexander Kerensky oversaw the Russian Republic’s first democratic elections, resulting in a solid majority for his Socialist Revolution Party (a moderate leftist party). Nonetheless, monarchist revolutionaries and socialist revolutionaries in the Ukraine presented problems to Kerensky’s government.

[Lief 🗽]

Finally, in March 1920, Prime Minister Roosevelt oversaw the signing of the Treaty of Rome, officially ending the war. Roosevelt and the American delegation had won a promise by the signatories to reduce their armaments and military by 25% by 1925 and an additional 25% by 1930; a pledge by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire to pursue democratic reforms; and the creation of a League of Nations to mediate international disputes, as well as the full annexation of British Canada, with the exception of Alaska, Newfoundland, Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Britain agreed to grant full independence to “Southern Ireland”, with a plebiscite to be held in Northern Ireland considering that area’s future.² Germany annexed Luxembourg and the remainder of Lorraine, and the French were forced to demilitarize the area east of the Meuse River and north of the Seine River. Germany would also establish a Zollverein, or German Customs Union, including Belgium (which would essentially become a German puppet state) and Netherlands, effectively gaining economic control of the two nations. In the Balkans, a German prince would be instated as King of Albania, while Serbia became a puppet state under the influence of Austria-Hungary, and was essentially blamed for starting the war. Greece was forced to surrender the Aegean Islands to the Ottoman Empire. Britain was also forced to cede Cyprus to the Ottomans and guarantee limited autonomy for Egypt (through Britain was allowed to hold on to Palestine and the Basra/Kuwait area as British mandates). Germany also gave up all claims to islands or territories in the Pacific that had been seized by the Japanese, though the Japanese were forced to pay reparations (as were the other members of the Entente Powers). Finally, Poland was created with German political control and as a member of the Zollverein, as a buffer state between Russia and Germany. Finally, the United States and Germany gained numerous colonial possessions in Africa from the British, French and Belgians. Germany also gained Indochina.

¹Churchill had lobbied heavily for an invasion of Anatolia, a maneuver that he believed would knock the Ottomans out of the war, but Asquith, unwilling to stretch British forces further, denied Churchill’s request.
²Northern Ireland would vote overwhelmingly to remain part of the United Kingdom.

[Lief 🗽]

Britain didn't want to give up its eastern Pacific presence.

[Lief 🗽]

Yes, I'll make one.

[Lief 🗽]

No problem, Kevinstat. Obviously I can't write hundred-page long updates, so answering questions gives me the opportunity to elaborate on some of the details I overlooked.

Regarding the Ottomans, while the British were in the Middle-East, they managed to conquer most of the Ottoman territory (as in OTL), except for of course Turkey. After Asquith pulled them out, there were enough Arab rebels and remaining British soldiers to ensure that Turkey was unable to regain most of their lost territory. So, at the peace negotiations, aware that the Ottomans would be unable to hold on to much of their conquered territory even if it was returned to them, Roosevelt and Wilson pushed for a free Palestine and Basra (modern-Kuwait plus the Iraqi city of Basra), under British mandate. Giving the British Palestine and Basra also made it easier for them to accept the loss of Cyprus.

Because the United States didn't influence the Balkan or Eastern theater really at all, Romania and Bulgaria still joined the Entente Powers and the Quadruple Alliance (of USA, Germany, Austria, Ottoman Empire), respectively, as they did in OTL.

America never invaded France, as the Germans were able to defeat the French and British without direct American assistance. The successful American efforts in Canada and Ireland, as well as the fermenting of rebellion in India, were able to divert British attention and manpower, leading to a German victory. Regarding India (as I forgot to include it in my update), the British have pacified most of the country, though there is still heavy fighting in the Bengal and Punjab regions, and intermittent attacks throughout the country.

Alaska has the boundaries decided on by the British when they bought the territory from Russia, which are more or less the modern boundaries.

[Lief 🗽]

The rebellion in India has more or less died down, though the British are still facing heavy opposition in the Bengal and Punjab regions.

America gained some colonies in Africa from the Treaty of Rome, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam and the Phillipines from the Spanish War.

[Lief 🗽]

By the start of World War I (in my timeline and in our's) the Ottoman's had been pushed out of Africa. The United States will get some colonies in Africa (I'm making a world map right now), but not as many as Angry Weasel would like. The Germans were pretty adamant at the Rome Peace Conference about establishing a "Mittelafrika" Colony.

[Lief 🗽]

Eh, typo. Should have read Franz Ferdinand I.

[Lief 🗽]

Eh, typo. Should have read Franz Ferdinand I.

OK.

America gained some colonies in Africa from the Treaty of Rome, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam and the Phillipines from the Spanish War.

Will PR go the way of Cuba?

If you mean becoming a state or a Royal Dependency, not at the moment.

[Lief 🗽]

World Map 1920:


Larger Image

Major nations have colors, while minor nations/rebels are in white. Outlined nations/areas mean that the color of the outline has de facto control, while the filled-in color has de jure control.

Specific things:
Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Albania and Livland (the Baltic state) are all officially independent nations, but part of the German Zollverein, and are thus at least partially economically and politically linked to Germany. Poland, Albania and Livland have Hohenzollern kings. The German area in France represents the German-occupied zone. Ukraine is controlled by Anarchist and Monarchist rebels.

[Lief 🗽]

Australia is in the same situation as it was in our timeline. ANZAC troops did fight for the British, in the Middle-East and then on the Western Front.

Livland is German for Livonia, which was a Medieval area encompassing modern day Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

[Lief 🗽]

In Britain, labor groups throughout the country (from coal miners to railroad workers to dock workers) went on strike, culminating in unrest throughout the country worse than the “Great Unrest” of the early 1910s. Andrew Bonar Law’s Conservative-Independent Liberal government became increasingly weak, to the point that elections were needed in early 1920. British troops in Ireland were also increasingly bloodied, as the Irish populace turned against the harsh anti-revolutionary measures undertaken by the British. This all culminated in a landslide Labour victory in February 1920, giving Ramsay MacDonald (an original opponent of the war) a narrow majority in the House of Commons. MacDonald immediately pursued peace in Ireland.

1. Unless the timeline has changed things a lot (not really been reading it much, so might have missed summet) a Labour majority in the Commons as early as 1920 would have been impossible under just about any circumstances possible; there was no national Labour organisation to speak of before 1918 and the party was only active in a minority of constituencies.

Well, I'll change it to a Labour-Liberal coalition government then, with MacDonald as PM, then.

[Lief 🗽]

Good guess, but a little off.

I have a general idea as to what I'll do through at least the 50s and 60s.

There will be some surprises in the 20s and 30s.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: 1920 - 1922

Theodore Roosevelt returned to the United States a hero in April 1920. While there was initially grumbling from isolationist elements in the Liberal Party (and ardent opposition from the Populists), Roosevelt, due to his immense popularity with the public as well as the large American territorial gains in Canada and across the globe, was able to get the Senate to easily ratify the Treaty of Rome. Realizing his popularity and support among the public, Roosevelt, shortly after the treaty had been ratified, called for elections in the summer.

The SDP convention, held first and beginning in early May in Chicago, was dealt a shock when an ailing Eugene V. Debs declined to run again for the Senate. Stating that it was time he “pass the torch”, Debs left the stage to a thirty minute long standing ovation. A wide-open nominating contest ensued, as numerous SDP politicians threw their hats into the ring. Notable among the candidates what their relative youth: New York City Mayor Norman Thomas (35 years old), Ontario Senator J. S. Woodsworth (45), Massachusetts Senator William Z. Foster (39) and Governor of Hamilton Francisco Villa (42). On the first ballot, Thomas came in last, seen as too young and inexperienced. Villa, representing Western interests, gained a plurality against the two eastern candidates on the second ballot, eventually causing Woodsworth to drop out by the fifth ballot. On the sixth ballot, Villa gained a slim majority and was elected as the SDP leader. In July, he would easily win an open Senate seat in Hamilton. The Populist convention, held in Montgomery, saw John Garner easily secure re-election: despite his unpopularity among the general public, he still had strong backing from rank and file Populists. Finally, at the Liberal convention in New York City, Theodore Roosevelt was elected, after making a series of deals with the economically liberal party bosses who were opposed to much of Roosevelt’s economic progressivism.

In July, the Liberals won a clear victory, securing a majority in the Senate for the first time since the election of 1907. The SDP, though losing over 30 seats, was able to consolidate its hold on the West, and made inroads in many Southern states among blacks and the working class. Theodore Roosevelt was forced by party leaders to fill his cabinet with mostly pro-business Liberals, instead of the progressive Liberals that he was more ideologically close to. Roosevelt was nonetheless able to get his friend Elihu Root the position of Deputy Prime Minister and newly-elected California Senator Hiram Johnson (another progressive) the position of Secretary of the Interior. Nicholas Longworth, seen as the leader of the conservative wing of the party, was appointed Secretary of State. Also notable in Roosevelt’s new cabinet was the abolition of the Secretary of Labor cabinet post, as conservatives in the party saw it as pandering to socialists and trade unions, instead creating a Secretary of Commerce.

The Senate after the Election of 1920:
Liberal Party: 255 Seats (+34)
Populist Party: 77 Seats (-2)
Social Democratic Party: 124 Seats (-31)
Prohibition Party: 1 seat (-1)
Total: 457 Seats



The Second Roosevelt Cabinet (July 1920):
Prime Minister: Theodore Roosevelt (L-NY)
Deputy Prime Minister: Elihu Root (L-PA)
Majority Whip: William Borah (L-KS)
Secretary of State: Nicholas Longworth (L-OH)
Secretary of the Treasury: John Calvin Coolidge (L-MA)
Secretary of War: Frederick H. Gillett (L-MA)
Attorney General: Charles G. Dawes (L-IL)
Secretary of the Interior: Hiram Johnson (L-CA)
Secretary of Agriculture: James W. Good (L-IA)
Secretary of Commerce: Herbert Hoover (L-IA)

First on Roosevelt’s agenda was organizing the territory gained from the war. The Canada Act passed in November 1920, divided what had been unofficially called “Canada Territory” into six new states, to be admitted as soon as possible: Oregon (OR), Upper Columbia  (UC), Lower Columbia (LC), Vancouver Island (VI), Winnipeg (WG), and Madison (MN), the territory between Upper Columbia and Winnipeg. It organized the rest of Canada into the Yukon Territory. Land was also added to the states of Quebec and Ontario. Finally, the act provided for British citizens living in the new states and territory to gain easy citizenhood, and set aside millions of dollars for investments in reconstruction throughout the new states. In early 1921, Roosevelt oversaw the passage of the American Colonies Act, which reorganized America’s newly gained colonies in Africa, Latin America and the Pacific, and set aside millions of dollars in aid to the colonies and ordered sizable garrisons of American troops. Opposition Leader Fransisco Villa offered an amendment (known as the Villa Amendment) guaranteeing the freedom of every colony after twenty years, which failed after a narrow 219 to 233 vote.

Meanwhile, in 1921, Europe was again hit by a wave of revolutions. After defeating Monarchist revolutionaries (and deporting the Tsar and his family to Germany) and ending the revolution in the Ukraine, Kerensky’s government in Russia was wracked again when communists, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (who called himself Vladimir Lenin) led a communist revolt¹. The communists took the cities of Moscow and Petrograd, where they established Soviets. Kerensky appealed to the still largely unorganized League of Nations as well as the United States for support. Roosevelt, unwilling to let communism topple the democracies of Europe, led the League in approving a military expedition 20,000 strong (with 10,000 of the 20,000 from the United States) to aid Kerensky’s government. Led by American General Fred Funston (leader of the RAEF during the Great War), the League of Nations military expedition arrived in the summer of 1921, taking back Petrograd by January 1922.

At the same time, in Austria-Hungary, Emperor Franz Ferdinand's attempts at reform and greatner ethnic autonomy within the empire had failed to quiet the voices of revolution and nationalism. In the summer of 1922, nationalist revolts erupted in Budapest, Prague, Zagreb and Sarajevo. Franz Ferdinand, desparate to hold the empire together, called for a major political restructuring, turning the empire into a confederation of states. Béla Kun, supported by thousands of Communists and former soldiers declared a Hungarian Soviet Republic in Budapest in October 1921. When Franz Ferdinand ordered the army to put down the rebellion, he was faced with dissertion and mutiny, the few units that did make it to Budapest unable to take the city. By 1922, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had completely dissolved, and Franz Ferdinand, pressured by the Leage of Nations (and especially Germany and the United States), signed the Treaty of Salzburg, which officially recognized the new nations of the Kingdom of Austria (which he would still lead), the Soviet Republic of Hungary, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Over the next few months, regions throughout the former empire held plebiscites, joining Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Italy.

In 1922, Secretaries of State and the Treasury Longworth and Coolidge presented the Prime Minister with a budget, significantly cutting the taxes he had raised during the war and increasing the tariff to the levels it had been during Mark Hanna’s administration. Roosevelt negotiated with Coolidge, Longworth and the conservatives in his party to come up with a final budget, with slightly higher taxes and lower tariffs than Coolidge had originally suggested. Despite grumbles from the progressive wing of the party, Roosevelt was able to pass the budget in the summer of 1922. In October 1922, Roosevelt oversaw the passage of the Meighen Federal Reserve Act, sponsored by Arthur Meighen (L-ON), which created a centralized Federal Reserve System in the United States. It passed over bitter opposition from the SDP and Populists.

¹ Vladimir Ulyanov had escaped from Switzerland into Austria and then Russia during the chaotic final months of the war.

[Lief 🗽]

Typo. Should be ON (Ontario). Meighen spent most of his life in Ontario in our timeline, so I assume that if he entered politics in this timeline, he'd be representing a district in Ontario.

[Lief 🗽]

OTL, Woodsworth was born in Ontario (where his family had resided since the early 1800s at least), and his family moved to Manitoba when he was young. Since Manitoba would be in a different country, the American Woodsworth family remained in Ontario in my timeline.

[Lief 🗽]

I'll try to update this weekend, though I'm spending the entire day campaigning for Obama. But I'll try.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarch: 1922 - 1925

Coming off a successful war and legislative achievement, Roosevelt’s Liberal Party did well in the November 1922 Royal Council elections.  The first since 1914 (the 1918 elections had been canceled under the 13th amendment due to the ongoing war), the Liberals made major gains, and won a majority of the new Canadian provinces.



The Royal Council after the Election of 1922:
Liberal Party: 29 Seats (+3)
Populist Party: 11 Seats (+0)
Social Democratic Party: 14 Seats (+3)
Total: 54 Seats

But December 1922 saw national tragedy, as King Robert II died peacefully in Arlington. At seventy-six, Robert II had lived through tumultuous decades of war and recession, and had been criticized in his later years for being too close to the wealthy elite. Crown Prince George, at the age of 39, was crowned in January, at a formal ceremony at Arlington Palace, along with Queen Consort Alice¹. Prince George, rather than being crowned George III (a name that carried with it some historically negative connotations), took the name Henry (his middle-name), becoming King Henry I. King Henry, in his first speech before the Senate in March 1923, vowed to work closely with the legislature, and gave his support for internationalism and interventionism, commending General Fred Funston and the RAEF for their efforts in support of democracy in Russia. A combined American-Russian force led by American General Frederick Funston and Russian General Lavr Kornilov would take Moscow in late April 1923, effectively ending the Russian Civil War.  While Vladimir Ulyanov (also known as Vladimir Lenin) was executed by Kerensky’s government, the other leader of the communist revolt, Leon Trotsky, escaped to communist Hungary.


King Henry I

By the summer of 1923, the American economy began to slow down, with farmers especially hit by a farm crisis and declining crop prices. Opposition Leader Villa and Populist leader John Garner both pushed Roosevelt to pass a farm bill, while Secretary Coolidge famously proclaimed that agriculture must “stand independent.” Theodore Roosevelt once again found himself to the left of his caucus, as a private supporter of the farm relief bill. Nonetheless, when the vote on the bill came up, it failed by a 217 to 232 margin, with Roosevelt voting against the bill (though many of Roosevelt’s allies in the Liberal Party came out in favor of the bill). But the rift in the Liberal Party was soon overshadowed. In 1924, the Mexican government collapsed into civil war with the assassination of Victoriano Huerta² by communist terrorists. Immediately the country once again fractured into warring factions: Emiliano Zapata led a socialist peasants army, based largely in Southern Mexico; Félix Díaz (nephew of former dictator Porfirio Díaz) led a conservative faction based around Mexico City; Álvaro Obregón, who was raised in Sonora as an American, but had returned to Mexico after the fall of Díaz, was a skilled and charismatic general, who quickly took control of the American border regions with a somewhat-democratic faction; and the Mexican Communist Party (PCM) led by labor leader Luis Morones, which had the strong support of workers in the north.

With Mexico descending into anarchy, King Henry I called a joint session of the Royal Council and Senate in May 1924. He called for American military intervention in Mexico to restore political order, asking the Royal Council to approve the use of military force and the Senate to fund it. Prime Minister Roosevelt, and the Liberal Party, supported intervention whole-heartedly, for both moral reasons (the spreading of democracy into Mexico), defensive reasons (preventing the destablization of Mexico from affecting the southern United States), and business reasons (as many American businessmen wanted to expand into Mexico). The Populist Party, as per usual with foreign affairs, vehemently opposed what they saw as an un-needed, imperalist excursion. The SDP, however, was split: while Opposition Leader Villa supported the intervention, the so-called “Peace Wing” of the party, led by Sen. William Z. Foster (SDP-MA) and popular Mayor Norman Thomas of New York, opposed it. Nevertheless, the Senate passed the Mexican Stability Authorization Act in July 1924, by a vote of 319 to 138. The Royal Council also authorized an invasion of Mexico in July, despite a 21-hour-long filibuster by Councilor William J. Bryan of Nebraska, by a vote of 34 to 20.

General John Pershing was put in charge of the invasion of Mexico. As the army and navy prepared, Secretary of State Longworth met with Gen. Álvaro Obregón, the rebel leader that the Roosevelt government and King Henry I both thought would make the most agreeable leader of Mexico. Obregón agreed to set up a constitutional republic with free and fair elections in exchange for support from the United States armed forces. With this secret agreement between Obregón and Longworth , Pershing left Brownsville in October 1924, and set out across the barren landscape of northern Mexico. The first battle of the “war” occurred only a few days after Pershing’s army had crossed the Rio Grande, when PCM forces attacked an American detachment. Pershing pressed forward, defeating the majority of the PCM army in the Battle of Saltillo in January 1925. It quickly became clear that the PCM was unable to resist Pershing’s or Obregón’s advance, and with the capture of Durango in March 1925, and PCM leader Luis Morones, the communist forces were effectively defeated.

As Obregón and Pershing marched towards Mexico City, in the United States, election time was approaching. While Roosevelt had the constitutional ability to post-pone elections due to the war, the ever combative Prime Minister called for elections anyway. Though ailing and weak, Roosevelt easily won re-election at the Liberal Party convention in April. The SDP convention, held in New York, saw a bitter divide rear its head. Mayor Norman Thomas, who by governing the city the convention was held in was able to exercise much control over the proceedings, pushed for  a peace plank to be added to the party’s platform, which was resisted by Francisco Villa, the leader of the party. Eventually, Villa defeated the peace plank, though by a small margin. In the election for party leader, Thomas and the “Peace Wing” of the party ran a number of candidates against Villa, in an attempt to deny him a first ballot victory, though Villa was able to gain the votes of a slim majority of delegates on the first ballot. At the Populist convention, John Garner announced his retirement, famously remarking that being the leader of a minority party was “not worth a bucket of warm piss.” After a few rounds of balloting, John W. Davis of Virginia was elected the leader of the Populist Party.

The split in the major opposition party, as well as the war’s popularity amongst American people, resulted in one of the largest landslides in American history that June, delivering Theodore Roosevelt his third term. His third cabinet remained largely unchanged from his second.



The Senate after the Election of 1925:
Liberal Party: 303 Seats (+48)
Populist Party: 63 Seats (-14)
Social Democratic Party: 118 Seats (-6)
Total: 484 Seats

¹Crown Prince George and his wife Alice had had three children: Robert Theodore Custis Lee (born 1908), Martha Ellen Lee (born 1910), and Edward Alexander Lee (born 1911).
²Huerta had been put into power largely with the support of the United States government, and supported through the World War with American funding and weapons, to prevent an anti-American government from seizing power to the south and opening up another front.

[Lief 🗽]

Thanks for being patient guys. I'll answer some of the questions asked.

As Verily noted, for the Prohibition party to win a seat, they'd only need about 30% or so of the vote, and are thus able to win the occasional seat in the Senate.

There aren't currently any serious separatist movements, though there is the occasional French- or Spanish-speaking separatist group popping up in Quebec or Sonora/Hamilton, respectively.

Xahar, I'll admit that I'm hardly an expert on the various ethnic divisions of the early 20th century Europe. Thank you for the suggestions.

Unfortunately, my ability to make a Ted Stevens or Mike Gravel the Premier of British Alaska is hindered by the fact that they, and a majority of well-known Alaskan politicians, were actually born and raised in the continental United States.

TN2024, I was accepted to UT, but I'm waiting until April when I get replies from some of the other colleges to which I applied to make a final decision.

[Lief 🗽]

The following ran for the position of Populist Party leadership:

Sen. John W. Davis (P-VA)
Sen. Joseph T. Robinson (P-AR)
Gov. Charles W. Bryan (P-NE)
Sen. Robert L. Owen (P-OK)
Mayor Walter Sims of Atlanta, GA
Sen Carter Glass (P-VA)

[Lief 🗽]

Joseph Stalin did not support Lenin and Trotsky's revolution, and led the anti-revolution faction of the Bolsheviks after Lenin and Trotsky began the revolution. He currently leads the Bolshevik Party in the Russian Constituent Assembly, which is the second largest party in the Russian parliamentary body. Alexander Kerensky's Socialist-Revolutionary Party (PSR) (a more moderate leftist faction) is the largest, and the Constitutional Democratic Party (a classical liberal party) is the third largest, with various nationalist parties making up the remainder.

The socialist revolutions of 1920 discredited the leftist parties of France, allowing Clemenceau, though unpopular for losing the war, to hold on to the government until 1922. Alexandre Millerand, a socialist came to power in 1922, but his government fell quickly. After a number of short-lived governments, Raymond Poincaré and the conservatives are currently in power. Economic conditions in France are very poor, and the widespread anti-semetism of the late 19th century has returned. Anarchist, fascist, and communist groups are behind regular terrorist attacks in the major cities of France. Though the Third Republic still rules in France, it is anything but stable.

[Lief 🗽]

Are the new Canadian states supposed to reflect the real boundaries (such as the BC-Alberta border), or are they different ones?

They're mostly present/our-timeline boundaries, except for Ontario and Quebec. Why, did I get something horribly off?

[Lief 🗽]

The state of Vancouver Island is made up of Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands. Remember that in this timeline American ceded all territory north of the Columbia River to the British in the 1810s, so there was never a conflict between the Americans and British over these islands.

[Lief 🗽]

Spring Break starts tomorrow, so I should have plenty of time again.

Thanks for all being patient.