A Three Party System: LaFollete and the Progressives

[Colin]

Is that a majority of the electoral college?

Yes it is. 306 to the Progressives against 225 for both the Democrats and Republicans if my calculations are correct.

[War on Want]

Is that a majority of the electoral college?

Yes it is. 306 to the Progressives against 225 for both the Democrats and Republicans if my calculations are correct.

Sorry about forgeting to do this. It slipped my mind, because there is no Indepedent on the 1932 Calc.

[War on Want]

Do you guys want me to write seperate updates on Foriegn Stuff, and American stuff. It can be done if you really want me too. Keep in mind though it will mainly focus on Europe.

[Hash]

Yes.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Looking forward to the Borah Presidency. Keep up the Good Work

[War on Want]

Thanks to everyone who is reading and I will be posting seperate Foriegn stuff from now on. Here is my rough map of Europe:

[True Democrat]

Woah.  I didn't realize France fractured that badly in your timeline.

[War on Want]

Woah.  I didn't realize France fractured that badly in your timeline.

Yeah things are pretty bad. Luckily for Republican France, most of the land the Nationalist France owns is rural. The biggest cities it controls are Brest, Bordeaux, and Vichy.

[Hash]

Woah.  I didn't realize France fractured that badly in your timeline.

Yeah things are pretty bad. Luckily for Republican France, most of the land the Nationalist France owns is rural. The biggest cities it controls are Brest, Bordeaux, and Vichy.

Vichy isn't that important of a city either. They also have Lille, Rouen, Le Havre etc. according to that map, all of which are industrial and/or maritime cities.

[Hash]

Re: A few more things about France. I think it would be better if you took somebody from the Action francaise as leader of the nationalist France. The AF was a monarchist, Catholic, traditionalist right-wing party, not Nazi or fascist (although some were IIRC). Somebody along the lines of Raphaël Alibert, Pierre de Bénouville, Gilbert Renault, Léon Daudet, Charles Maurras (founder of the movement). Do note that Renault and Benouville joined the resistance in OTL.

If this nationalist france is fascist along the lines of Italy as I assume it is, then you should look into taking somebody from Le Faisceau (France's fascist party) such as Georges Valois, Jacques Arthuys.

Most of those people/organization should have english Wikipedia pages to look them up for more information.

And to nitpick, the "radical liberals" should be the Radical-Socialists as they were in real-life.

PM me if you need help.

[War on Want]

Re: A few more things about France. I think it would be better if you took somebody from the Action francaise as leader of the nationalist France. The AF was a monarchist, Catholic, traditionalist right-wing party, not Nazi or fascist (although some were IIRC). Somebody along the lines of Raphaël Alibert, Pierre de Bénouville, Gilbert Renault, Léon Daudet, Charles Maurras (founder of the movement). Do note that Renault and Benouville joined the resistance in OTL.

If this nationalist france is fascist along the lines of Italy as I assume it is, then you should look into taking somebody from Le Faisceau (France's fascist party) such as Georges Valois, Jacques Arthuys.

Most of those people/organization should have english Wikipedia pages to look them up for more information.

And to nitpick, the "radical liberals" should be the Radical-Socialists as they were in real-life.

PM me if you need help.

Thanks for the help. I wanted Nationalist France to be a mix of Action Francaise, and Le Faisceau, kind of like Nationalist Spain, but also like Italy. The Catholic, Conservative beliefs have moved further to the Right, because of the idea that France would need to be Authoritarian in order to keep Communism and Liberalism in line.

[War on Want]

I am going to be making a large update sometime this week, but I am busy so this could be any day that I am free.

[The Hack Hater]

I haven't either, hence why I haven't been here recently.

[War on Want]

1932 Congressional Election Results

The 1932 Congressional Elections largely reflected the same thing as the 1930 Congressional Elections, with Democrats making gains in the Northeast, and West, and the Progressives making gains in the Midwest, and Inter-Mountain West.
Senate Results:

Republicans 39 Seats(-12)
Democrats 37 Seats(+3)
Progressives 24 Seats(+24)

House Results

Republicans 151 Seats(-42)
Democrats 208(+8)
Progressives 90(+34)

In the end the elections forced the Progressives and Democrats to form a coalition in the Senate, and the House in order to make bills. This was to be termed the Unholy Alliance by many Republicans who saw the Democrats to be radical Confederates, and the Progressives to be Socialists.

[War on Want]

The French Civil War

The French Civil War started out very slowly in June of 1932 with the Republican French making a few assualts to try and regain Lille, and Calais. These all ended with massive setbacks because of high desertion rates, and low morale because many of the "Elite" Military were either Conservative or Fascist and had no reason to fight for Herriot, against what many men considered their hero, Petain.
French Generals De Gaulle, and Joffre decided to make a head long assualt to take Le Havre, and cut the Nationalist lines in two. On August 3rd, the assualt began with the 45,000 remaining loyal Elite Republican Soldiers moving out to attack the weak Miltia forces, and deserters garrisoned in many small French villages. In one week the Republican attack crushed the weak defence of the Nationalists, and Le Havre was soon in reach. After a 3 day long battle in which the Republicans took 3,000 casualties to the Nationalist 4,000, the Republicans took the city and in the process many French ships. The plan was working and even in the South the Republicans were progressing towards Vichy and were in the process of cutting of Brest from Bordeaux.
Meanwhile the Nationalists lobbied for help from the Anti-Comintern Pact in order to defeat the "Bolsheviks". They recieved it but the help was topped by Polish and German Worker's Council Aid, in which 250,000 men "volunteered" to help fight for the Republicans. However the French Economy was in shambles and many French towns and villages were burnt out shells.
For 3 more months the Republicans pressed on and finally destroyed all Nationalist resistence in Calais, and Lille after a long struggle with guerrilas, and miltia forces. The Nationalists waged futile resistence around Bretagne, in which the first major Aerial warfare was raged between Republican airplanes, and Spanish manufactured ones. The Nationalists were crushed once again and very few units escaped from the pocket the Republicans had created. By mid-November the Nationalists held no land 50 miles north of Bordeaux and Grenoble, and their lines were shattered.
Eduoard Herriot offered an honorable peace to the belaguered Petain and he accepted reluctantly. The terms were that the Action Francaise would be banned from running in elections for 5 years, Petain and all major Nationalist leaders would be put in prison for a minnimum of 5 years, but all men fighting for the Nationalists would be pardoned. In the end the French Civil War did nothing for the Right in France, but unify the Left, and keep France out of the Right's power for many years to come. At the same time though Herriot stepped up rhetoric against the Anti-Comintern Pact, and aligned more and more with Germany and Poland.

The Rest of Foriegn Affairs

Meanwhile the rest of Europe was quiet except for Britain which saw the Parliament dissolved after a vote of now confidence in Baldwin and a Labour-Liberal coalition enacted, which comprimise was too have Free Trade. Germany and Poland continued building up their military against the Anti-Comintern Pact, while the Soviets military machine slowly built up and increased Rhetoric against Romania, and Finland.
Spain and Italy started to construct large border fortifications with France in early 1933, after a military buildup on their borders occured. They also tried hard to spread propaganda into Belgium and the Netherlands to try and turn them Fascist leaning but in the end they elected moderate Social Liberal governments.


(Ask questions about the rest of the world's affairs and I will answer them)

[Хahar 🤔]

What's going on in The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes?

[Hash]

Which side did the French christian democrats go on?

The christian democrats became an important part of French politics after 1936, and were an important centre-right party despite participating in centre-left governments.

Centrists with right-wing voters supporting the left describes the MRP and the French christian democrats.

[War on Want]

I have decided to keep this going

Xahar- Yugoslavia has successfully absorbed them, and they are ruled by a Semi-Fascist government aligned with Mussolini.

Kreizouriezh- The Christian Democrats went with the Nationalist French, because of fears of a Communist takeover, and anti-Christian politics. Most of this came after the collectivisation proposed by Blum but they really don't mind the Republican French much, as long as they are not controlled by the Socialists.

[TommyC1776]

more more more.............I like this TL.  It's great.

[War on Want]

Update coming soon!!!

[Хahar 🤔]

I was missing this (especially your maps).

[War on Want]

The Presidency of William Borah

After the inaguation of President Borah on March 4th, 1933, Congress rushed to get to work. During the first two weeks of President Borah's term many small bills were passed, with the help of southern Democrats. These consisted of the Farm Relief Act of 1933, Hunger Prevention Act, the Bank Holiday Act and the Emergency Banking Act. Unfortunatley for President Borah, both the Collective Bargaining and many other programs desiged to fight the great depression were held up in committees, because of many Democrats not supporting what many of them saw as "Pinko" legislation.

Slowly the Economy began to improve after 6 months of Borah's term, especially in the dust bowl and Mississppi Valley areas, which were beginning to recieve federal aid. Borah's list of achievements was relativley small however as the Collective Bargaining Act, National Farming Administration Act and the Mississippi Valley Authority Act were all voted down with only the Relocation Help Act and Rural Electrification Act being passed. Borah was a very lucky man though as the country blamed the Democratic controlled congress for all of their problems. Borah gave many speeches over the coming months about how the Democrats should come together to give aid to the country, instead of bickering over ideologies, and partisanship.

These speeches and public outcry from around the Mississppi Valley, Appalachia and the Great Plains, caused many Democrats in a re-vote in March of 1934, to vote for both the Mississippy Valley Authority Act and the Tennesee Valley Authority Act which were both government corporations used to provide many services and jobs to the poor residents of the Upper South. The Supreme Court almost voted this bill down but in a 5-4 descion the bills were declared constitutional. By July of 1934 many more bills were passed but they were much more minor, and the only one of any major importance to the Nation's economy as a whole was the National Service Act, which created the National Service Corps, which would work all across the nation building roads, buildings and providing services in an attempt to reduce unemployment.

By the fall of 1934 the economy showed its first signs of improving around the nation as a whole. Unemployment rates had dropped 2.5% from the 22.7% national unemployment rate when Borah became president. In many localised areas though, such as around Detroit, New York, Boston and the Upper South, unemployment rates were as high as 35 to 40%. Thanks to many government  programs though, the states with the fastest growing economies were Tennesee, Arkansas, and Lousiana, while Michigan's and New York's economy actually declined...

[War on Want]

Foriegn Events of 1933-1935

Over the next few years in Europe tensions were highered greatley and quickly as a mass military buildup between 3 great, powerful spheres of power erupted, in the midst of a Depression. Both Spain, and Austria built great defensive rebdoubts all across the border of France and Germany, while Italy slowly constructed a large fleet and airforce, which it believed could control both the seas, and skies of the Mediterranian. France underwent new elections in 1934, in which the Radical Socialists were returned to power once more under President Herriot, and in Germany the restructured Worker's Council continued to be led by the Social Democrats(SDP), under Otto Braun, with the Centrist Democats(CDDP) ,under Otto Marx, coming in second and the Communists under Ernst Thalmann coming in a close third.

In both of these closeley aligned nations, and Poland great arm races also were built up against both the Soviets, and Anti-Comintern Pact. All nations increased their military strength and the first formal alliance between the three nations, and also Norway, and Denmark was the Democratic Defense Pact(DDP). The DDP included the client nations of Sweeden, Belgium and Brazil. Meanwhile the Anti-Comintern Pact also grew having Argentina, Finland, Romania and Venezuela join.

 While Europe, and South America was a powderkeg ready to explode the first signs of war had already come from Asia, where an agressive government led by Hideki Tojo readied for an assualt to finally control all of China, and in Africa, Mussolini assualted Ethiopia quickly subding the country in 1933 regardless of threats from the League of Nations, and the DDP. Halie Selassie's army was no match for the modernized Italians, but help did come from the French colonial forces in the form of weapons and ammunition and this did help the Ethiopians have a long guerilla war with the Italians for years on end....

The only major power that was neutral besides the United States was Great Britain. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin refused to have any dealings with what he considered to be the "Socialist" DDP, under Germany and he also despised the warmongering, authoritarian, Anti-Comintern. Even though he did lean to aligning with the DDP, he had many issues with the leadership, which except for Poland, took a very neutral stance toward the Soviet Union, and communism. The Labour Party had a very different take on foriegn affairs and was pushing the idea that Britain should join the DDP, however Baldwin would not allow it and when he dissolved the Parliament in 1933 the Tories only lost 25 seats from 1929 where they had a 100 seat lead over Labour.

Unfortunatley for all of Europe in late 1934, what would be a minor disturbance turned into a major flashpoint as the Sudetenland revolted against Czechoslovakia under the autocratic rule of Andrej Hilnka. This cascaded into a major civil war, as Slovakia also tried to break off of the nation resulting in chaos. This was not helped by the fact that both Austria and Germany funded Sudetenland's revolt, resulting into two major factions forming, one wanting Fascist rule and one wanting Social Democracy. The issue almost caused Austria to break off of the Anti-Comintern Pact but Italy allowed them to fund Sudetenland understand the idea of German nationalism. Even though thousands of weapons, tanks and ammunition were poured into the country, both Sudtentland and Slovakia were crushed under Hilnka's fairly advanced army, and new ruthless Czech National Police.

Map of Europe in 1935:

[Hash]

President Herriot? Do you mean President of the Council of Ministers or President of the Republic?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Interesting that we both have had Borah become President in our TL's about the rise of the Progressive Party.