Benjamin Judah, a southerner from the Confederate States of America, was sent as a missionary to England to gain British support for the Confederacy's struggle for independence. Great Britain refused to aid the Confederates, remaining neutral in the American Civil War.
But what if Judah had been successful? What if Britain had entered the war on the side of the South?
Southern Victory[]
The Confederate Flag, 1864-1919
Judah Benjamin, a Confederate representative, travels to London and convinces Great Britain to join the Civil War for the Confederate cause. British troops are present at the Battle of Gettysburg, a Confederate victory. Washington and Baltimore fall to Confederate forces, and British and Confederate troops prepare an attack on Philadelphia. With a British blockade and Confederate advance in the west, Abraham Lincoln is forced into signing a treaty recognizing the Confederate States of America- ending the war as a Southern success.
Early Years of the Confederacy[]
Normalizing Relations[]
Relations between the United States and the Confederate States are weak and uneasy. In an era called Normalization (rather then Reconstruction), many problems are dealt with including both sides: establishing a secure government for the Confederacy, dividing western territory, and stopping the “skirmishes” so often - or clashes between armed farmers near the border.
Two years after the war ends, Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by a radical Republican, John Wilkes Booth, who was upset about how Lincoln surrendered. During this time, Radical Republicans wanted to attack the Confederacy and defeat the nation once and for all. By the time a Republican comes to power, Ulysses S. Grant, it's too late to do this, but Grant will lead the nation into a war with Britain later on.
The Confederacy is willing to open up all diplomatic relations with the United States. But in the North, it is not that simple. The house is divided - Radical Republicans against Democrats against Liberal Republicans.
The Treaty of 1867 is the first formal agreement between the two nations. A buffer state is created in the west, called the Republic of Colorado, stretching from the Mexican Border to the Platte River, covering the Great Plains and southern Rocky Mountains. Oklahoma becomes an independent Indian reservation, but the United States remained in diplomatic control over the territory. By 1869, the two nations opened up trade.
Economic Differences
Economic differences between the North and South raise tensions, as the two nations begin to trade with each other. The North faces massive immigration and industrialization, the South prefers a policy of isolationism, it dubs “Pure Americanism.” Even though they aren’t dependent on international trade, Confederate citizens (whites) are generally richer the US citizens, because slaves create products they sell, and therefore all the money they make is a profit. Capitalism is done away with in the south, and Americanism takes its place - basically slavery. The United States industrializes rapidly, while the Confederacy remains a slightly economically weaker farm country. This will be a major factor that causes the USA's victory in World War I.
Foreign Relations Tense: 1870-1900[]
War of 1870[]
The War of 1870 was a conflict between the British Empire and Canada against the United States of America. The North American Confederation, of which it was a member, and Mexico aided the United States. The complete victory of the United States marked the downfall of the Dominion of Canada, partially ruled by Great Britain, and was replaced by a pro-US Republic of Canada. As part of the settlement, the territory around Toronto, Montreal, and Nova Scotia was taken by the United States, which it would retain until over a century later in 1980.
The conflict was a culmination of years of tension between the two nations, which had been building since the British intervention in the War of Secession, and the British aid to the Confederacy. Republican president Ulysses S. Grant took office in Washington in 1868, and began ending normalization efforts and calling for the Confederacy to repay damage done at the battles of Philadelphia, Washington, and Gettysburg, which the south refused to do. Fearing a US invasion of the Confederacy, Britain came to the South’s side.
Vital efforts were made by Democrats and Liberals in the US to prevent a second war with the Confederacy, but none of the opponents of the Republican party could foresee a war with the British. Meanwhile, the Confederacy was growing in power- its fast-growing army quadrupled in men from 1865 to 1870. This was mainly because of its strong alliance with Britain.
On July 2nd, 1870 US-president Ulysses S. Grant sent a telegram to London requesting the United Kingdom cut off trade relations with the Confederacy, or else American forces would invade Canada. The British and Canadians were outraged at the telegram. Britain, fearing the growing power of the United States, mobilized and on July 19th declared war. Britain only declared war on the USA but Mexico and Colorado quickly joined the side of the United States.
The superiority of the American, Mexican and Coloradan forces was soon evident, due in part to efficient use of railways and impressively superior Krupp steel artillery. The United States had the second densest rail network in the world, and Canada not even close. A swift series of American victories in southeast Canada culminated in the Battle of Toronto, at which the bulk of the Canadian and British army was captured on September 2nd.
This ended the Canadian Dominion, and the Republic of Canada was established two days later, independent from Great Britain. Although American officials planned to make peace with the new regime, the Republic of Canada refused to lose territory. Thus, the United States launched a second offensive into Canada that week, the war continuing.
Over a five-month campaign, American armies defeated the newly recruited Canadian and British forces in a series of battles fought across eastern Canada. Following a prolonged siege, Ottawa fell on January 28th, 1871. All remaining French forces surrendered and the Republic of Canada signed a peace armistice with the United States two weeks later. After the war the United States had a huge rise in nationalism. The Treaty of Detroit was signed in June of 1871 between the United States and Britain. The treaty ended the war and re-established a pro-British dominion in Canada, with southern Ontario, southern Québec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia all annexed by the United States.
Crisis Point[]
The War of 1877, between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, lasted from 1877 to 1880. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.
There were several immediate stated causes for the US declaration of war - first, a series of trade restrictions introduced by the United States to impeded American trade with Britain, a country with which the United States was at war at the time ; Second, the US “Grant Doctrine” that refused to allow Confederate expansion into western North America ; third, the Yankee military support for black slaves who were often revolting in the south against white masters. Also, a huge rise of Yankee nationalism after the US victory in the War of 1870 caused a feeling of “war fever”, as Yankees realized if they could defeat Canada and Britain so easily, then we could defeat the south. This was known as the “we could” theory.
Confederate expansion into the southwest was strongly discouraged by the United States. For example, in 1874 the Confederacy requested rights to build a Pacific port in San Diego, and a railroad to connect it to the rest of the Confederacy through Yankee Arizona and New Mexico. The United States stubbornly refused and came back with its own request for the Confederacy to remove its naval base from Norfolk Virginia, due to it’s proximity to the United States.
Yankee ships in Dover Bay, 1879
Some Yankee historians in the early 20th century maintained that Confederates had wanted to seize Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado from the United States, a view that most Yankees still share, while others argue that including the fear of a seizure had merely been a CSA tactic to obtain a bargaining chip. Members of the United States congress at the time claimed that land hunger and expansionism, rather then maritime trade disputes, were the main motivation for the Confederate declaration of war.
By 1875 the Confederacy demanded rights to trade freely with Britain and other nations, such as Mexico and Canada, but the anti-confederate Republicans in power refused. The United States also had the goal of preserving the Republic of Colorado, which the Confederacy wanted the conquer and divide between the US and CSA. The United States made the demands to preserve the state as late as 1879 during a peace conference, but gave in after realizing the Confederacy wasn’t going to stand for it.
So, frustrated with shipping, the United States torpedoed a Confederate ship in Chesapeake Bay bound for Britain. This occurred on June 12th.
On June 18th, 1877, the Confederate States of America declared war on the United States.
War of 1877[]
The war started poorly for the Confederacy in August, 1877, when an attempt to invade the North was repulsed by General George Custer and a force of 1,350 US troops he commanded. This led to the Yankee capture of Nashville. A second invasion, farther east against West Virginia and Maryland, was defeated quickly at the Battle of Washington.
The Confederate strategy relied in part on state-raised militias, which had the deficiencies of poor training, resisting service or being incompetently led. Financial and logistical problems also plagued the Confederate effort. Military and civilian leadership was lacking and remained a critical Southern weakness until 1879. Tennessee and Arkansas opposed the war because, being lightly defended, they were faced with the largest threat of Yankee invasion. The United States had excellent financing and logistics, yet under the “poor” leadership of US president Rutherford B. Hayes, Yankee strategy was a defensive one for the first year of the war. The United States did not go on the offensive until 1878, but by then the Confederates were fully mobilized and prepared for attack. At sea, the slightly larger Yankee navy blockaded most of the Southern coastline. The blockade devastated Confederate agricultural exports, especially cotton and sugar. The Confederate strategy of using wooden boats failed, as the Yankees raided the coastline at will.
In August 1878 Yankee forces invaded the Virginia coast. US soldiers landed at various points in Chesapeake Bay, including an attack of Richmond. The Yankees burned down the Confederate Capitol Building and other public centers in what was known as the “Burning of Richmond.” After this event, the Confederate capitol was relocated to Atlanta, where it not only would remain for the rest of the war but Atlanta would be the Confederate capital permanently for now on.
The turning point occurred in 1878 when the Confederate forces crossed the Potomac River and began the Siege of Washington. After massive bombardment and naval raids, the older US capitol fell on September 15th. As the President and government officials evacuated to Baltimore, the Confederacy enjoyed their first major victory over the North.
The Confederates were more successful at sea, as they built several fast frigates in the large shipyard in Norfolk. They sent out several small gunboats and some ironclads that attacked US ships ; Yankee commercial interests were damaged, especially in Latin America. The decisive use of naval power came on Chesapeake Bay and control of the Mississippi River. In 1878, the Confederates won control of the entire Chesapeake Bay and bombarded Baltimore. That cut off Yankee forces to the west from their supplies and as the Southerners reached the Glasgow Canal the entire Delaware Peninsula fell to the Confederates.
After Delaware fell Confederates turned their attention to the mouth of the Delaware River, called Dover Bay. If they took this bay, they would cut off the US navy from the huge shipyards in Philadelphia. Control of Dover Bay changed hands several times with neither side able or willing to take advantage of any temporary superiority. The Americans ultimately gained control in 1879, and the victory forced a huge Yankee army about to invade to turn back that year. The two sides continued at a stalemate for an entire year. The Yankees tried throughout 1879 and early 1880 to take back the Chesapeake but failed. In the United States, Republican popularity fell as it became clear the Republican Party failed to re-unite the country.
In the election of 1880, Democratic nominee Winfield Hancock won. He set out to make peace with the Confederacy, and did so by offering the territory of New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Arkansas all to the Confederacy. Meanwhile, the territories of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming were all annexed by the United States. In 1880 the United States and Confederate States of America agreed to a peace that left prewar boundaries in the east intact.
After four years of warfare, the major causes of the war had disappeared. Neither side had any reason to continue or any chance of gaining a decisive success, as by 1880 both the North and South were nearly equal in military strength, even though the Confederacy controlled more territory. As a result of the stalemate, the two nations signed the Treaty of Baltimore on December 24th, 1880.
The war had the effect of uniting the populations within both countries. The United States celebrated because they avoided conquest and lost much less life than the Confederacy. The unadmitted goal was to unite the whole country under US-rule failed, and because of this the Republican Party would not gain popularity again until 1912, and for a long time would be replaced by the ever growing Reform Party, or "Yankee" Party. The Confederates celebrated another victory over the North. This led to a surge of nationalism in their own country. After this war, they would take a platform of imperialism and interventionism in the Pacific and Latin America.
Imperialism[]
"Grover's Race"[]
In 1888 US president Grover Cleveland coined the term of a "race" between the United States. After the War of 1877 relations between the two nations were still weak. But now the United States finally accepted the fact that the Confederacy had won two wars and gained full independence. The Yankees created this theory that they had the right to expand into the Pacific and Latin America, justified by the territory they lost during the War of Secession. The Confederates, with a huge surge of nationalism felt after the War of 1877, took on a similar imperialistic platform. The Confederacy annexed Mexico's Baja territory in 1887 giving the Confederacy naval access to the Pacific.
This began what Grover Cleveland called a race between the two nations, and the race later became known as "Grover's Race". The Confederacy bought up all of the debt of nations in the Caribbean, mainly of Mexico, Haiti, Panama, Santa Domingo, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. In 1896, the United States annexed Hawaii, and then purchased Alaska from Russia. The Confederacy, striving not to lose its lead over the Yankees, purchased Panama and planned to build a canal across the country , connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Yankee spies sabotaged plans for the canal, and construction would not begin until 1906.
Confederate Imperialism: Wars with Japan and Spain[]
In 1898, the Confederacy went to war with Spain over Cuba and the Philippines, supposedly aiding a Cuban revolt against Spanish rule. The Confederates quickly won the Spanish-American War. Meanwhile, the United States annexed the Oklahoma Panhandle, a more local Yankee gain. In 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China, both the United States and the Confederacy helped European powers quash the anti-Western revolt. Tensions rose very high. The Confederates opposed the USA's "Open Door Policy" from the start. After the Rebellion was destroyed, the Confederacy requested its own "Sphere of Influence" in China. European powers refused, mainly Japan, who opposed Confederate influence in the Pacific. The Confederacy, again with a surging high sense of pride and nationalism, began threatening Japan, attempting to provoke a war. But the Confederates didn't make the first move. Japan did.
On February 8th, 1904 Japan attacked the American harbor of Manila in the Philippines during a surprise attack, followed by a declaration of war. Before American forces could even begin to combat the Japanese, Japan quickly blockaded, bombarded, and began to take over the Philippines. The Americans failed at invading Japan's sphere of influence in Manchuria (China). Japanese forces also attacked Confederate Guam and Samoa. The war was fought at a slow pace, mainly because of the distance between the two powers and because the Panama Canal wasn't built, the Confederate's only port in Baja had to be their entire base of the Pacific War. The Confederates also requested that they could use the Yankee bases at Midway and Hawaii. The United States refused.
A year and a half later, in the fall of 1905, the Japan won the war following a Confederate exit from China and other Pacific. The war embarrassed the Confederacy and because of the USA's support for Japan, it raised tensions even further between the USA and the CSA. By the late 1900s, the USA and CSA looked to a new part of North America which would play a new role in relations between the two powers: Mexico.
Latin America as the "Powder Keg"[]
At the turn of the century, the Confederate States of America and the United States are locked in a rivalry for supremacy in the Western Hemisphere. The Confederacy still controls Sonora, Cuba, and Panama, and has built the Panama Canal and strategic naval bases at Midway and Samoa. Great Britain is threatening war with the United States- if the Canadian territories of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and parts of Ontario aren't returned to Canada. But in 1904, The Confederacy invaded Mexico and several island-nations in the Caribbean. The Confederacy occupies Cuba, Santa Domingo, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, the USA owns Alaska and Hawaii.
The Assassination of Woodrow Wilson.
On top of that, both nations had built up huge militaries and had built alliances with European Countries- Germany, Britain, France, Russia, and Austria were locked in an arms race. With these circumstances, the North and South seem to be charging down a path toward a third war between them.
On June 28th, 1914, Confederate president Woodrow Wilson was touring Havana, in occupied Cuba. Gerardo Machado, a Cuban nationalist, shot him in Wilson’s motorcade. Machado was a member of the Puño Café, Spanish for the Black Fist, a terrorist organization that fought against Confederate imperialism. The Black Fist was also funded and supported by Mexico.
Following the assassination , the Confederacy made three demands to Mexico: That Mexico hand over all members of the Black Fist it was harboring, that Mexico hand over all weapons and arms to the United States, and pay a fine for $30 million. Mexico refused.
The Confederacy declared war on Mexico a month later, on July 28th. The United States, with influence in Central America being threatened, mobilized its armies, and a third war between the USA and CSA was about to begin.
World War I[]
Background[]
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World War I | |||||||
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  Clockwise from top: The remains of a French defensive line; a German tank advancing on Hellenthal; a Briish battleship sinking during the Battle of the Dardanelles; an American machine-gun grew fighting south of Baltimore; German airplanes. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Entente Powers
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Central Powers
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Military dead: 5,525,000 Military wounded: 12,831,500 Military missing: 4,121,000 Total: 22,477,500 KIA, WIA or MIA...further details. |
Military dead: 4,386,000 Military wounded: 8,388,000 Military missing: 3,629,000 Total: 16,403,000 KIA, WIA or MIA...further detail | ||||||
Confederate soldiers advance during the Battle of Tulsa
The War to End All Wars[]
Confusion among the Entente Powers[]
The strategy of the Entente Powers suffered from miscommunication. Britain had promised to support Germany’s invasion of Mexico, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but never tested in exercises. Confederate leaders believed Britain would force the USA to focus on fighting against British Canada, and divert US troops from the war against the Confederacy. Britain, however, envisioned the Confederacy directing the majority of its troops against the United States, while Britain dealt with Germany. This confusion forced the Confederate army to divide its forces between the American and Mexican fronts, which would prove one of the blunders that cost the Confederacy the war.
Mexican Campaign[]
The Mexican army fought the Battle of Sabinas Hidalgo against the invading Confederates, beginning on 12 August, occupying defensive positions on the south side of the town. Over the next two weeks Confederate attacks were thrown back with heavy losses, which marked the first major Central Powers victory of the war and dashed Confederate hopes of a swift victory. As a result, the Confederacy had to keep sizable forces on the Mexican front, weakening its efforts against the United States.
Anglo-French Invasion of Germany[]
Britain and France attacked Germany through neutral Belgium before turning eastwards to encircle the German army at the French border. The plan called for the right flank of the French advance to converge on Dusselforg-Cologne, and initially, the French were very successful, particularly in the Battle of Koblenz (14–24 August). By 12 September, the Germans with assistance from the Austria-Hungary halted the British-French advance south of Cologne at the First Battle of Bonn (5–12 September). The last days of this battle signified the end of mobile warfare in the west. A small, ineffective German offensive into France further south launched on August 7, and after the Battle of Colmar, the German forces retreated back into Germany.
Stalemate Warfare Begins[]
In North America, only one British army defended Canada's Niagara Peninsula and when the United States attacked in this region it diverted British/Canadian forces intended for the Western Front against Germany. Britain defeated the United States in a series of battles collectively known as the First Battle of Toronto (17 August – 2 September), but this diversion exacerbated problems of insufficient speed of advance from rail-heads not foreseen by the British. The Entente Powers were thereby denied a quick victory and forced to fight a war on two fronts, against the USA in North America and against Germany in Europe. The British-French armies had fought its way into a good defensive position inside Germany and had permanently incapacitated 230,000 more German troops than it had lost itself. Despite this, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Britain and France the chance of obtaining an early victory.
War in Asia and the Pacific[]
British New Zealand occupied Confederate Samoa (later Western Samoa) on 30 August. On 11 September, the Australian Navy and Army Expeditionary Force landed on the island of Neu Pommern, which formed part of Confederate New Guinea. Japan seized the Confederacy's Micronesian colonies. By 1915, British forces landed on the Marshall Islands, Howland Island, Baker Island, Wake Island, and Guam. Within a few months, the Allied forces had seized all the Confederate territories in the Pacific; only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea remained.
Trench Warfare on the German Front[]
Military tactics before World War I had failed to keep pace with advances in technology. These changes resulted in the building of impressive defence systems, which out of date tactics could not break through for most of the war. Barbed wire was a significant hindrance to massed infantry advances. Artillery, vastly more lethal than in the 1870s, coupled with machine guns, made crossing open ground very difficult. The Germans introduced poison gas; it soon became used by both sides, though it never proved decisive in winning a battle. Its effects were brutal, causing slow and painful death, and poison gas became one of the most-feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Commanders on both sides failed to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, however, technology began to produce new offensive weapons, such as the tank. Germany was its primary user; the British employed captured German tanks and small numbers of their own design.
After the First Battle of Bonn, both Entente and German forces began a series of outflanking maneuvers, in the so-called "Race to the River". The Germans attempted to build a huge trench system prevent the British and French from advancing deeper into Germany. The so-called Bismarck Line stretched from the River Rhine in Bonn to the Dutch Border in Aachen. Germany also placed massive gun emplacements at the bridges over the River Rhine, which soon became fortified, thus crossing the River Rhine soon became even more difficult then breaking through the Bismarck Line. Germany sought to take the offensive, while Britain and France defended the occupied territories; consequently, Entente trenches were generally much better constructed than those of their enemy. German trenches were only intended to be "temporary" before their forces broke through Entente defenses. Both sides attempted to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915 at the First Battle of Euskirchen, the Germans (in violation of the Hague Convention) used chlorine gas for the first time on the German Front. German troops retreated when gassed and a six km (four mi) hole opened in the German lines near Stolberg that the Allies quickly exploited, temporarily occupying all of Aachen. German troops closed the breach at the Second Battle of Aachen. At the Third Battle of Aachen, German troops secured the city from the Entente forces.
Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years, though protracted British/French action at Duren throughout 1916, combined with the bloodletting at Bornheim, brought the exhausted German army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts at frontal assault came at a high price for both the German and led to widespread mutinies, especially during the Kreuzau Offensive. On 1 July 1916, the German Army endured the bloodiest day in its history, suffering 57,470 casualties including 19,240 dead on the first day of the Battle of Kreuzau.
Throughout 1915–17, Germany suffered more casualties than both the Entente powers combined, due both to the strategic and tactical stances chosen by the sides. At the strategic level, while the British and French only mounted a single main offensive at Duren, the Germans made several attempts to break through Allied lines. The defense of the Allies included a lightly defended forward position and a more powerful main position farther back beyond artillery range, from which an immediate and powerful counter-offensive could be launched.
Around 1.1 to 1.2 million soldiers from the German armies were on the Western Front at any one time. A thousand battalions, occupying sectors of the line from the River Rhine to the Belgium-Holland-France border, operated on a month-long four-stage rotation system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over 9600 km (5965 mi) of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for about a week before moving back to support lines and then further back to the reserve lines before a week out-of-line.
In the 1917 Battle of Hurtgenwald the only significant German military success was the capture of Hurtgenwald, and opened the possibility of a German advance into French Belgium. The Allies attempted several times to retake Hurtgenwald that year, but failed on all three occasions. Yet the Germans were hugely unprepared for an offensive into Belgium, which would cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and instead the Germans entrenched themselves south of Hurtgenwald and built massive defensive systems on south and west of the city. Hurtgenwald would be captured by the Allies in 1918.
War in Central America[]
Faced with the United States, the Confederacy could spare only one-third of its army to attack Mexico. After suffering heavy losses, the Confederates briefly occupied Guadalupe. A Mexican counter attack in the Battle of Saltillo, however, succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first ten months of 1915, the CSA used most of its military reserves to fight the United States. British and Confederate diplomats, however, scored a coup by persuading Guatemala to join in attacking Mexico. The Confederate provinces of Cuba, the Bahamas, and Haiti provided troops for the CSA, invading Mexico as well as fighting Florida and the United States. Honduras allied itself witth Mexico.
When the Entente Powers did counterattack, it was a huge success. Mexico was conquered in a little more than a month. The attack began in October, when the Confederates launched an offensive from the north; four days later the Guatemalans joined the attack from the south. The Mexican army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into the area around Mexico City, halting only once to make a stand against the Guatemalans. The Mexicans suffered defeat in the Battle of Veracruz. US and Honduras ships made an attempt to sneak the remainder of the battered Mexican fighting force into Honduras. Invading from Guatemala, Confederate troops eventually conquered Honduras, and the same ships transported some 5000 Mexican troops to Panama, where they were finally safe. This daring move was a success.
In late 1915, a German force landed at Cativa in Panama, to offer assistance and to pressure the government to declare war against the Allied Powers. They failed, and were recalled by Germany to fight in Europe.
After conquest, Mexico was divided between the Confederate States of America and Guatemala. After forced conscription of the Mexican population into the Guatemalan army in 1917, the Guerro Uprising began. Mexican rebels liberated for a short time the Guerro province of Mexico. The uprising was crushed by joint efforts of Guatemalan and Confederate forces at the end of March 1917. A guerrilla war continued in Mexico against the Entente occupiers, weakening the Confederacy even more. This insurgency would be one of the reasons the CSA eventually capitulated. On November 19th, 1918 (with the war in Europe over as Britain and France sued for peace earlier that month), Confederate troops withdrew from Mexico. A week later, Guatemala followed.
War in North America[]
Thetare of War- the American Front[]
The length of the fronts in North America was much longer than in Europe. The theatre of war was roughly delimited by the Colorado River in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and Philadelphia in the north and Memphis in the south, a distance of more than 3544 km (2202 mi). This had a drastic effect on the nature of the warfare. While World War I in Europe developed into trench warfare, the battle lines in North America were much more fluid and trenches never truly developed. This was because the greater length of the front ensured that the density of soldiers in the line was lower so the line was easier to break. Once broken, the sparse communication networks made it difficult for the defender to rush reinforcements to the rupture in the line to mount a rapid counteroffensive and seal off a breakthrough. In short, in North America the side defending did not have the overwhelming advantages it had in Europe. However, as in the War of 1877 and like in World War II, US forces were familiar with their own ground which provided a natural advantage for the United States.
1914[]
As soon as the CSA attacked Mexico and fighting began, the United States mobilized for war. On mobilization, the US army totaled 115 infantry and 38 cavalry divisions with nearly 7,900 guns (7,100 field guns, 540 field howitzers and 257 heavy guns). Divisions were allocated as follows: 32 infantry and 10.5 cavalry divisions to operate against British Canada, 46 infantry and 18.5 cavalry divisions to operate against the Confederacy, 19.5 infantry and 5.5 cavalry divisions for the defence of Hawaii, Alaska, and the Philippines against possible Russian or Japanese attack, and 17 infantry and 3.5 cavalry divisions were to be kept for reserve in the United States. This move would prove decisive in winning the war later on.
The war in North America began with the US invasion of the Niagara Peninsula and Confederate Tennessee. The effort against Canada was quickly halted during the Battle of Hamilton in August 1914. The attack against the Confederacy was completely successful, with the USA controlling almost all of Tennessee by the end of 1914. The United States won the Battle of North Tennessee in September and began the Siege of Memphis.
This early US success in 1914 on the CSA-USA border was a reason for concern to the Allied Powers and caused considerable British forces to be transferred from Europe to North America take pressure off the Confederates, leading to the creation of the new British Ninth Army. This did no good for the British in Europe, for without a full focus on the war in Germany, the British advance into Germany was halted. At the end of 1914 the main focus of the fighting shifted further northeast, to the area around the Saint Lawrence River in northern New York. The October Battle for the Saint Lawrence River and the November Battle of Ottawa brought little advancement for the British, but at least kept the US troops at a safe distance from Canada's main industrial hub on and around the Niagara Peninsula.
The US and CSA armies continued to clash in and near the Appalachian Mountains throughout the winter of 1914–1915. Meanwhile, in the Midwest, Memphis managed to hold out deep behind enemy lines throughout this period, with the US bypassing it in order to attack the Confederate troops further to the west. They made some progress, crossing the Mississippi River in February and March 1915, but then the British sent relief to the CSA-USA front and stopped further US advance. In the meantime, Memphis was almost entirely destroyed and the Siege of Memphis ended in a defeat for the Confederates.
1915[]
In 1915 London decided to make its main effort in North America, and accordingly transferred considerable forces there. To eliminate the US threat, the Entente Powers began the campaign season of 1915 with the successful Michigan Offensive, a British offensive into Michigan, in May 1915. After the Second Battle of the Great Lakes, the British and Confederate troops in North America functioned under a unified command. The Entente offensive soon turned into a general advance and then a strategic retreat by the US army. The cause of the reverses suffered by the US army was not so much errors in the tactical sphere, as the deficiency in technical equipment - particularly in artillery and ammunition. Only by 1916 did buildup of US war industries increase production of war material and improve the supply situation.
The general outline of this front line did not change until the Confederate collapse in 1918.
1916[]
By June 1916 there were 140 US infantry divisions against 105 Anglo-Confederate infantry divisions and 40 US cavalry divisions against 22 Allied. The mobilization of industry and increase of imports enabled the US army to resume offensive. A large offensive into Confederate Oklahoma (that area had been quiet since the war began) started in June. The attack, aimed to seize the initiative against the Confederacy and divert Confederate troops from the East, was initially a spectacular success. US forces advanced to a depth of 50--70 km (31-43 mi), capturing several hundred thousand prisoners and several hundred guns. The arrival of important enemy reinforcements from the east, the defeat of the Austria-Hungary in Europe (the USA's ally), and failure of Germany to bomb Confederate defenses, brought the US advance to an end in September.
On 14 August 1916, Cuba entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, and attacked southern Florida. After that it started to suffer great losses and several defeats from British-Confederate-Guatemalan forces, with assistance from a Communist uprising in Cuba. The Cuban army was poorly equiped, small, and did little to assist the US fight.
1917-1918[]
At the start of 1917, the Confederates were on the advance and the United States was at the verge of capitulation. But a series of events occurred that would reverse the tides. Ever since the war began, the Confederacy was in a state of "total war." It's entire industry was focused on the war effort. The United States had a much larger industrial base, yet it wasn't fighting a total war until a complete industrial mobilization began in late 1916. After this industrialization, as well as the institution of the draft in the United States, the Central Powers began to advance in North America. Also, another key factor was that Britain lost interest on the North American Front and instead focused on the effort against Germany in Europe, which was now advancing towards the French-German border. Rather then attempting to conquer and occupy Canada, the United States agreed to an armistice with the country, and focused on fighting the Confederacy.
Tired of fighting the war, Louisiana declared it's independence from the CSA. Texas, Arkansas, Sonora, Arizona, and New Mexico followed. They formed the Democratic State of America (DSA), declared independence from the Confederate States of America, and immediately signed an armistice with the United States. The Confederacy refused to recognize this, and declared war on the DSA. The United States continued to advance. On December 4th, 1917, the CSA requested an armistice with the United States. The Confederacy capitulated, and World War I in North America was over. The United States was victorious.
1917-1918: Central Powers Advance[]
====Events of 1917 proved decisive in ending the war, although their effects were not fully felt until 1918. The British naval blockade began to have a serious impact on Germany. In response, in February 1917, Germany renewed its strategy of unrestricted submarine warfare, with the goal of starving Britain out of the war. Tonnage sunk rose above 500,000 tons per month from February to July. It peaked at 860,000 tons in April. Germany was safe from starvation and British industrial output fell. On 3 May 1917, during the Battle of Kreuzau, weary German troops, veterans of the Battle of Duren, refused their orders, arriving drunk and without their weapons. Their officers lacked the means to punish an entire division, and harsh measures were not immediately implemented. Then, mutinies afflicted an additional 54 German divisions and saw 20,000 men desert. The other Allied forces attacked but sustained tremendous casualties. However, appeals to patriotism and duty, as well as mass arrests and trials, encouraged the soldiers to return to defend their trenches, although the French soldiers refused to participate in further offensive action. The German army then received a new general, General Erich Ludendorff, who was told to be "Germany's George Patton", and he suspended large-scale attacks.
The German humiliation at the Battle of Kreuzau led the Central Powers to form the Central War Council to coordinate planning. Previously, German and Austrian armies had operated under separate commands.
In December, the Allies signed an armistice with the United States. This released troops for use in Europe. Ironically, Allied troop transfers could have been greater if their territorial acquisitions had not been so dramatic. With British reinforcements and new Ottoman troops pouring in (the Ottoman Empire had just joined the war), the outcome was to be decided on the Western front. The Entente Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success based on a final quick offensive. Furthermore, the leaders of the Central Powers and the Allies became increasingly fearful of social unrest and revolution in Europe. The civil war in Russia was expanding to parts of Eastern Europe, and civil unrest was already beginning to occur in Britain, France, Italy, and the CSA. Food shortages in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the United States were also worries. Thus, both sides urgently sought a decisive victory.
Allied 1918 Spring Offensive[]
Allied generals drew up plans for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The Spring Offensive sought to divide the German forces with a series of feints and advances. British leadership hoped to strike a decisive blow before significant Turkish forces arrived. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918 with an attack on German forces near Nideggen. Allied forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 30 km (20 mi), and briefly occupied Cologne.
German trenches were penetrated using novel infiltration tactics, also named Hutier tactics. Previously, attacks had been characterized by long artillery bombardments and massed assaults. However, in the Spring Offensive of 1918, the Allies used artillery only briefly and infiltrated small groups of infantry at weak points. They attacked command and logistics areas and bypassed points of serious resistance. More heavily armed infantry then destroyed these isolated positions. German success relied greatly on the element of surprise.
The front moved to within 20 km of Dusseldorf, and 80 from Dortmund. The entire Rhine River Valley was shelled, causing most local Germans to flee to the safer cities of Munster and Hanover. Many French and English civilians thought victory was near. After heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or motorized artillery, the British were unable to consolidate their gains. This situation was not helped by the supply lines now being stretched as a result of their advance. The sudden stop was also a result of the four German divisions that were "rushed" down, thus doing what no other army had done and stopping the German advance in its tracks. During that time the first Australian division was hurriedly sent north again to stop the second German breakthrough.
Following the Allied offensive, Britain launched Operation Georgia against Germany's North Sea ports. On the front, the Germans halted the drive with limited territorial gains for the Allies. The Allied Army to the south then conducted Operation York, in an attempt to drive up the the Rhine River Valley and capture Munster. Operation Jersey was launched on 15 July, attempting to encircle Dusseldorf and beginning the Battle of Dusseldorf. The resulting counterattack, starting the Three Months Offensive, marked their first successful German offensive of the war. By 20 July the Allies were were pushed back to Cologne, and eventually, back to the Bismarck Line having achieved nothing. Following this last phase of the war in the West, the Allied Armies never again regained the initiative. German casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000, including many highly trained storm troops.
Meanwhile, France was falling apart at home. Anti-war marches became frequent and morale in the army fell. Industrial output was 53 percent of 1913 level, and a communist insurgency was beginning, assisted by the Bolsheviks who were fighting in Russia.
Collapse of the Allies[]
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The Interwar Period[]
Effects of World War I[]
World War I radically altered the diplomatic and political situations in Eurasia and North America with the defeat of the Entente Powers, including France, Great Britain, and the Confederacy ; and the failed Bolshevik uprising in Russia, in 1917. Meanwhile the successes of the Central Powers including Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the United States resulted in a major shift in the balance of power in Europe. In the aftermath of the war major unrest in both Europe and North America rose, especially with radical nationalism and class conflict. Irredentism and revanchism was strong in the Confederacy, which was forced to accept significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses as part of the Treaty of Toronto. Under the treaty the CSA lost about 20% of it's home territory and all of it's overseas colonies, while Confederate annexation of other states was prohibited, massive reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size of the Confederate military. Meanwhile, after the Bolshevik Uprising was put down, Russia remained weak and neutral in most foreign affairs.
In the interwar period, domestic civil violence occurred in the Confederacy, involving nationalists and reactionaries versus communists and moderate democratic political parties. A similar scenario occurred in France. Germany never returned the French territory of Alsace-Lorraine, and then took away two more provinces- the Framche-Comte and the Ardenne. France was screaming out for more territory. From 1922 to 1925, the French Fascist movement led by Charles Maurras seized power in France with a nationalist, totalitarian, and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed political forces supporting liberalism, and pursued an aggressive foreign policy aimed at forging France as a world power.
Fascism became internationally popular amongst people against democratic government, liberalism, and class conflict. In the Confederacy, the White Party led by Alan Hotherwood pursued establishing such a fascist government in the Confederacy. With the onset of the Great Depression, White Party support rose and in 1933, Hotherwood was elected President of the Confederacy, and in 1935, became a totalitarian dictator turning the CSA into a police state.
Road to a Second War[]
The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former communist allies. In 1939, an increasingly militaristic Russian Empire, which wanted to regain influence in China lost at the end of the war, invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria. Russia established a puppet state in the region. Too weak to resist Russia, China appealed to the Pact of Nations for help. Russia withdrew from the Pact of Nations after being condemned for its invasion of Manchuria.
Hoping to contain the Confederacy, the United States, Mexico, and Canada formed the North American Front. The United States, concerned due to the Confederacy's goals of capturing vast parts of North America, wrote a treaty of mutual assistance with Germany. In June 1935, Germany made an independent naval agreement with the Confederacy, easing prior restrictions. The Ottoman Empire, concerned with events in Europe and North America, passed the Neutrality Agreement in August. In October, France invaded Algeria, with Britain the only major European nation supporting the invasion. Meanwhile, in the Confederacy, Alan Hotherwood began a massive rearmament campaign. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when Virginia was legally reunited with the Confederacy and Hotherwood repudiated the Treaty of Toronto, speeding up his rearmament programs and introducing conscription.
Hotherwood defied the Treaty of Toronto once again by remilitarizing forced in Tennessee in March, 1936. He received little response from other European powers. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July, Hotherwood and Maurras supported fascist national forces in a civil war against the US-supported Spanish Republic. Both sides used the conflict to test new weapons and methods of warfare, and the nationalists won the war in early 1939.
Mounting tensions led to several efforts to strengthen or consolidate power. In October 1936, the Confederacy and France formed the Atlanta-Paris Axis. A month later, the Confederate and Britain signed the Tripartite Pact, which France then joined. In China, the nationalist and communist forces agreed on a ceasefire in order to present a united front to oppose Russian aggression.
World War II[]
1939: War Breaks out in the Americas[]
On September 1st, 1939, the Confederacy attacked Mexico. Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the countries of the Grand Alliance declared war on the Confederacy but provided little military support to Mexico other than a small German bombing of Raleigh, North Carolina. On September 17th, after signing an armistice with Japan, the United States launched their own invasion of Mexico. By early October, Mexico was divided among the United States, the Confederacy, Guatemala, and Belize, although Mexico never officially surrendered and continued to fight outside it's borders. At the same time as the battle in Mexico, Russia launched its first attack against Beijing, the Chinese capital, but was repulsed by late September. Meanwhile, France declared neutrality on September 22nd.
Following the invasion of Mexico, the United States forced Canada to allow it to station US troops in their countries under pacts of "mutual assistance." Canada rejected US territorial demands and was invaded by the United States in November, 1939. The resulting conflict ended in March, 1940, with Canadian concessions. Germany and Austria-Hungary, treating the Yankee attack on Canada as tantamount to entering the war on the side of the Confederates, responded to the Yankee invasion by expelling the United States from the Grand Alliance. In June 1940, the United States fully occupied Canada.
1940: Confederate Success[]
In response to the Confederate invasion of Mexico, Honduras joined the allies and declared war on the Confederacy, as well as Guatemala and Belize. Germany decided to use Honduras as a "spring-board" into North America. Despite German forces landing in North America, neither side launched major operations against each other until April, 1940. The United States and Confederacy entered a trade pact in February of 1940, pursuant to which the Yankees received Confederate military and industrial equipment in exchange for supplying raw materials for the CSA. In April, the Confederacy invaded Panama and Colombia to secure the Panama Canal. Panama immediately capitulated, and despite Allied support, Colombia was conquered within two months.
On May 10th, 1940, the Confederacy invaded Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador. Venezuela and Peru were overrun using blitzkrieg tactics in a few days and weeks, respectively. The Brazilian army put up a fight and tired to defend Brazil, but the Confederates were superior in both numbers and technology. German troops stationed in South America were forced to evacuate the continent at Sao Paulo, abandoning their heavy equipment by the end of the month. On June 10th, Britain invaded Ireland, declaring war on both Germany and Austria-Hungary. Bolivia and Argentina attacked Brazil only to prove their friendship with the Confederacy. Twelve days later, Brazil surrendered and was soon divided into Confederate, Bolivian, and British occupation zones.
With South American neutralized, the Confederacy began an air superiority campaign over Japan to prepare for an invasion. The campaign failed, and the invasion plans were cancelled by September. Using newly capture ports in South America, the Confederate Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended German Navy, using submarines against German shipping in the Atlantic. Soon after, Britain began operations in Europe, initiating a siege of Jersey in June, conquering German Benin in August, and making an incursion into Italian Libya (Italy was a member of the Grand Alliance) in September, 1940. Russia increased it's blockade of China in September.
At the end of September, 1940, the Tripartite Pact united the Confederacy, Britain, and Russia to formalize the Axis Powers. The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country, with the exception of the United States, not in the war which attacked any Axis member would be forced to go into war with all three.
During this time, the United States continued to support Germany and China by introducing the Lend-Lease Policy authorizing the provision of war material and other items, and creating a security zone spanning roughly half of the Atlantic Ocean where the United States Navy protected German convoys. As a result, the Confederacy and the United States found themselves engaged in sustained naval warfare in the Atlantic by October 1941, even though the United States remained officially neutral. Following the Confederate capture of South America, the United States Navy significantly increased and, after the Russian incursion into Korea, the United States embargoed iron, steel, and mechanical parts against Russia. In September, the US further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for German bases. Still, a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention into the conflict well into 1941.
The Axis expanded in November, 1940, when Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay joined the Tripartite Pact. The Confederacy assisted these nations conquer their neighbor-enemies, Chile and Paraguay. By the end of 1940, all of South America was under Axis rule. Only the United States and Canada remained on the North American continent.
In October, 1940, Britain invaded Denmark and conquered the Danish islands in the North Sea, but a stalemate occurred on the mainland. In December 1940, the German Commonwealth forces began counter-offensives against British forces in Sudan. By early 1941, with the British being pushed back into Sudan, Germany sent a dispatch of troops from Africa to bolster the Danish. The British Navy also suffered significant defeats, with the German Navy putting three British battleships out of commission.
During this time, the Allies did have some successes. German forces invaded Grenada, and successfully secured the island as a stepping-stone into Latin America. In the Atlantic, the Germans scored a much-needed morale boost by winning a naval battle against the Confederacy off the coast of eastern Cuba. Perhaps most importantly, during the Battle of Germany the Luftwaffe successfully resist the Royal Air Force and prevented an invasion of Germany. On May 11th, 1941, the Confederacy called of the bombing campaign. The Confederates soon intervened to assist Britain.
Hotherwood sent Confederate forces to Sudan in February, and by the end of March they had launched an offensive against the weakened German troops. In under a month, German forces were pushed back into Egypt. In early April, the British invaded Denmark and Norway. They made rapid progress, eventually forcing the Allies to evacuate after Britain conquered Copenhagen by the end of May.
In Asia, despite several offensives by both sides, the war between China and Russia was stalemated throughout 1940. In order to increase pressure on China by blocking supply routes, and to better position Russian forces in the event of war with other European powers, Russia had seized military control of southern Korea. In August of that year, Chinese communists launched an offensive in central China. In retaliation, Russia instituted harsh measures in occupied areas to reduce human and material resources for the communists. Continued antipathy between Chinese communist and nationalist forces culminated in armed clashes in January, 1941, effectively ending their co-operation.
With the situation in the Americas, Asia, and Europe relatively stable, the Confederacy, Russia, and the United States made preparations. With the Yankees wary of mounting tensions with the Confederacy and the Russians planning to take advantage of the war by seizing resource-rich European possessions throughout Asia, the United States and Russia signed the Yankee-Russian Neutrality Pact in April, 1941. By contrast, the Confederates were making preparations for an invasion of the United States, amassing forces on the USA-CSA border.
1941: Escalation to Global War[]
On June 22nd, 1941, the Confederacy, along with other Axis members and Canada, invaded the United States in Operation Stonewall. The primary targets of this offensive were California and the west coast, Washington DC, and Chicago, with the ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign at New York in the East, San Francisco in the West, and Lake Michigan in the Midwest. Alan Hotherwood’s objectives were to eliminate the United States as a military power, exterminate American-style democracy, generate so-called living space by dispossessing the native population, and guarantee access to the strategic resources needed to defeat the Confederacy’s remaining rival, Japan.
Although before the war the United States was preparing for a quick counter-offensive into the south, the invasion forced Washington to adopt a strategic defense strategy. During the summer, the Axis made significant gains into Yankee territory, inflicting immense losses in personnel and material. However, by the middle of August, the CSA decided to suspend the offensive of the invasion force in the Midwest, at this point at Indianapolis, Indiana, and divert forces to reinforce troops in the east advancing toward Philadelphia.
The diversion of three quarters of Confederate troops and the majority of their air forces from Latin America and the Atlantic to the North American Front prompted Germany to reconsider its grand strategy. In July, Germany and the United States formed a military alliance against the Confederacy. The two nations jointly invaded the Philippines to secure that region of the Pacific and Filipino oil. In August, Germany and Japan jointly issued the Pacific Charter.
By October, when Axis operational objectives in the Midwest and Northwest achieved, with only the sieges of San Francisco and Grand Rapids continuing, a major offensive against Detroit had been renewed. After two months of fierce battles, the Confederate army almost reached the outer suburbs of the city, where exhausted troops were forced to suspend their offensive. Large territorial gains were made by the Axis forces, but their campaign had failed to achieve its main objectives: many key cities remained in Yankee hands, the Yankee capability to resist was not broken, and the United States retained a considerable part of it's military potential.
By early December, freshly mobilized reserves allowed the US to achieve numerical parity with Axis forces. This, as well as intelligence data that ensured Alaska and Hawaii were safe from Russian attack, allowed the USA to begin a massive counter-offensive that started on December 5th along a front and pushed Confederate troops 100-250 miles south.
Confederate successes in the Americas encouraged Russia to increase pressure on European governments in eastern Asia. Holland agreed to provide Russia with oil supplies from the Dutch East Indies, while refusing to hand over political control of Indonesia. France, wanting to avoid a war with Russia, agreed to a Russian occupation of Indochina. Japan, Germany and other Allied governments reacted to the seizure of Indochina with a freeze on Russian assets, while Japan (with Japanese imports comprising of 80% of Russia's imported raw materials) responded by placing a complete embargo. The seizure meant that Russia was essentially forced to choose between abandoning its ambitions in Asia and the prosecution of the war against China, or seizing the natural resources it needed by force. Russia did not consider it the former an option, and many officers considered the embargo an unspoken declaration of war.
Russia planned to rapidly seize European colonies in Asia by invading German, Dutch, and Japanese territories throughout Asia. Russia would create a large defensive perimeter, and an offensive against China would leave all of East Asia under Russian Control. The Russians would be free to exploit the resources of the continent while exhausting the over-stretched Allies by fighting a defensive war. Russia planned to attack the Japanese Pacific Fleet to prevent a Japanese intervention. On December 7th, 1941, Russia attacked German, Dutch, and Japanese holdings with near-simultaneous offensives against southern and eastern Asia. These included a bombing of the Japanese naval base at Incheon and an invasion of German India from occupied parts of China.
These attacks prompted Japan, Germany, Australia, other Allies, and China (already fighting against Russia) to formally declare war on Russia. The Confederacy and Great Britain responded by declaring war on Japan. In January, Japan, Germany, the United States, China, and 22 smaller or exiled governments issued the Declaration by United Nations, which affirmed the Atlantic Charter. The United States at first did not adhere to the declaration; it remained a neutrality agreement with Russia, and exempted itself from the principle of self-determination.
Meanwhile, by the end of April, 1942, Russia had almost fully conquered Burma, Malaya, Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore, and India, inflicting severe losses on Allied troops and taking a huge number of prisoners. Despite a stubborn resistance at the Battle of Seoul, Korea was eventually captured in May, 1942. Russian forces also achieved naval victories in the West Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea. The only real Allied successes against Russia was a Chinese victory at Beijing in early January 1942. These easy Russian victories over unprepared opponents left Russia overconfident, as well as overextended.
The Confederacy retained the initiative as well. Exploiting dubious Japanese naval command decisions, the Confederate navy ravaged Allied shipping off the Japanese-Pacific Coast. Despite considerable losses, the Axis members stopped a major US offensive in the Midwest and Northeast, keeping most territorial gains they achieved during the previous year. In East Africa, the Confederates launched an offensive in January, pushing the Germans back to positions at the Aswan Line be early February, followed by a temporary lull in combat which the Confederacy used to prepare for their upcoming offensives. Meanwhile, German forces amassed for an attack on Russian territory in eastern Europe.
1942: Stalemate and Turning Point[]
In early May 1942, Russia initiated operations to capture Singapore by amphibious assault and thus sever communications and supply lines between the United States and parts of South Asia. The Allies, however, intercepted and turned back Russian naval forces, successfully prevented the invasion. Russia's next plan, motivated by the earlier bombing of Moscow, was to seize the Japanese base at Okinawa and lure Japanese carriers into battle to be eliminated; as a diversion, Russia would would send forces to occupy the southern end of Sakhalin. In early June, Russia put its operations into action but the Japanese, having broken Russian naval codes by late May. were fully aware of the plans and force dispositions and used this knowledge to achieve a decisive victory at Okinawa over the Russian Imperial Navy.
With its capacity for aggressive action greatly diminished as a result of the Okinawa battle, Russia chose to focus on a belated attempt to capture Singapore by an overland campaign in the Malaya. With the Russians within twenty miles of Singapore and island-to-island fighting happening to the south, the Japanese and Germans planned a counter-attack against Russian positions in the area. The Battle of Pulau Batam, its northern end 11 miles away from Singapore, was a victory and a first step towards capturing Yangon, the main Russian base in Southeast Asia.
Massive fighting throughout Malaya started in July, but by mid-September, the Battle of Pulau Batam took priority for the Russian troops. If Pulau Butam fell, Russia could attack or bomb Singapore easily. Troops in Malaya were ordered to withdraw from combat around Kuala Lumpur and retreat to the southern end of he peninsula, closer to Singapore. At the southern end, the Russians faced Australian and German troops in the Battle of Johor Bahru. Russian forces now surrounded Singapore on three sides, yet they were unable to defeat the Allies. Pulau Batam, still raging, became a focal point for both sides with heavy commitments of troops and ships in the Battle of Pulau Batam.
By the start of 1943, Germany mounted two operations against Russia on the Eastern Front. The first, an offensive into Russian-occupied Latvia, went disastrously forcing a retreat back into German-occupied Lithuania by May 1943. The second was the insertion of irregular forces behind Russian front-lines in February, which, by the end of April, had achieved dubious results.
On the North American Front, the Confederacy defeated US offensives in southern Wisconsin, and then launched their main summer offensives against the northeast in June 1942, with the overall goal of occupying all of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and southern New York up to the Hudson River. The Confederates split the Northeastern Army Group into two groups: Army Group A attacked Harrisburg as the start of an 150-mile drive north to the Finger Lakes. Army Group B struck to the east, towards the Delaware River. The US forces decided to make their stand at Philadelphia, which was in the path of the advancing Confederate armies.
By mid-November, the Confederates had nearly taken Philadelphia in bitter street fighting when the US forces began their winter counter-offensive, starting with an encirclement of Confederate forces at Philadelphia. By early February 1943, the Confederate army had taken tremendous losses; Confederate troops at Philadelphia had been forced to surrender, and the front-line had been pushed back beyond its position before the summer offensive. In mid-February, after the Yankee push had tapered off, the Confederates launched a counteroffensive in the midwest. The Confederacy began a drive from St. Louis up the Mississippi River, assisting the Confederate forces that were slowly advancing towards Omaha since the invasion in 1941. The two incursions created a US salient in the front line, with the bulk of the bulge to the south of Des Moines.
By November 1941, Commonwealth forces had launched a counteroffensive,
1943: Allies Gain Momentum[]
Following the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific, the Allies initiated several operations against the Confederacy. In May 1943, Japanese troops were sent to Laos to assist the Germans in taking the country from the Confederates. The Germans blockaded and bombed New Britain, containing the only remaining Confederate stronghold in the south Pacific, Rabaul. Rabaul fell in March 1944, with the south Pacific free of Confederate influence. The Japanese then broke through the Confederate defense line, blockaded, bombed, and eventually landed in Taiwan. Taiwan was liberated in April.
In North America, both the Yankees and Confederates spent the spring and early summer of 1943 making preparations for large offensives in the Great Plains.
Confederate artillery sergeants facing defeat in Indochina.
On July 4th, 1943, the Confederacy attacked Yankee forces around the Des Moines Budge. Two Confederate armies attacked the well-defended Iowa area, with the Chicago Army attacking from the East and Omaha Army attacking from the West. Within a weak, the Confederates had exhausted themselves against the Yankees well-constructed defenses. For the first time in the war, Alan Hotherwood cancelled the operation before it achieved tactical or operational success. This decision was partially affected by the Allies invasion of France, launched on July 9th. The Confederates felt it was there duty to fight the Germans in France, diverting troops from the North American Front. On July 22nd, the Americans launched their own counter-offensives, thereby dispelling any hopes of Confederate victory or even stalemate in North America.
The Yankee Victory at Des Moines was one of the decisive turning points of the war, giving the United States general superiority in North America. The Confederates attempted to stabilize the front at the heavily-fortified Baltimore Line, however, the Americans easily broke through during offensives in Denver, Indianapolis, and Baltimore. Confederate operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By May, 1943, as Allies began to gain naval superiority, the resulting Confederate submarine losses forced a halt on the Confederacy’s trade with Britain. In November 1943, leaders of Allied nations met in Cairo. They determined there that the United States had the right to occupy the Confederacy after the war, and that the Allies would invade Britain in 1944.
In January of 1944, the Allies captured Paris, and France came under Allied control. By the end of the month, a major Yankee Offensive in North America finally expelled Confederate forces from California, ending the longest and most lethal siege in history. The Yankees captured Sonora. Following the attack, the Confederacy lost all access to the Pacific Ocean via the West Coast, and had to resort on the Panama Canal to conduct the war in the Pacific. The following Yankee offensive was halted at the Colorado River by a surprise Confederate counter-attack. This delay slowed subsequent Yankee Operations in the Southwest. By May 1944, the US had liberated Delaware; largely expelled Confederate forces from Maryland and began incursions into Virginia, which were repulsed by Confederate forces.
The Allies experienced mixed fortunes in Asia. In March 1944, the Confederacy launched the first of two last-ditch invasions in Asia. The Confederates attacked Laos and Cambodia, but these attacks failed, mainly because the Confederate shipping was re-routed through the Panama Canal and was severed more easily by German and Japanese ships. By May, the Confederacy was considering abandoning the Asian mainland altogether and focus on fortifying Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
1944: Allies Close In[]
On June 6th, 1944 (known as Britain-Day, or B-Day), the United States, Germany, Italy, and Japan invaded southern Britain, and soon after Scotland. These landings were successful, and led to the defeat of Axis troops in Britain. The local resistance liberated London on August 25th. With Europe finally peaceful, Germany and Italy could now focus on expelling Confederate forces from the Pacific and a possible seaborne invasion of the Confederacy in the North America to aid the advancing Americans.
On June 22nd, the United States launched a strategic offensive, the Battle of Indianapolis, that resulted in almost complete destruction of the entire bulk of Confederate forces remaining in the Midwest. Soon after that, another strategic offensive in Kentucky pushed the Confederates back over the pre-war border into Tennessee. The successful advance of Yankee troops prompted the Americans to penetrate the border. In September 1944, the Yankee army advanced into Arizona and New Mexico, meeting up with another Yankee Army that originated in southern California. By October, the Allies with only southern Oklahoma occupied by the Confederacy, liberated the entire western half of the continent. Later that month, the Americans launched a massive assault against Virginia that lasted until the fall of Richmond in February 1945. In contrast to the impressive American victories in the southwest, the bitter Canadian resistance in the North denied the Americans occupation of Canada. This led to the signing of the American-Canadian Armistice, and resulted in Canada's shift from being an Axis to an Ally.
Yankee soldiers landing on B-Day for the invasion of Britain.
As they were in North America, the Confederacy was loosing its grip in the Pacific. At the start of July, German and Japanese forces invaded various islands of Indonesia, still held by the Confederacy. Japanese forces continued to press back against the Confederate perimeter. In mid-June of 1944, they began their offensive in the Mariana and Palau Islands, which proved a decisive victory.
Following the battle, Germany began massive bombings of the Confederate Philippines. In August, Indonesia was liberated. In late October, Japanese forces invaded the island of Leyte, and soon after, Allied naval forces scored a huge victory during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Confederates withdrawal from the Philippines later that month, as back in North America the Confederacy itself was being invaded by the United States.
1945: Axis Collapse, Allied Victory[]
On December 16th, 1944, the Confederacy attempted its last desperate measure for success on the North American Front by launching a massive counter-offensive in the Appalachian Mountains, the light-defended area of West Virginia. The offensive was an attempt to split the invading US armies, encircle large portions of Yankee troops and capture the capital and key city of Washington. The offensive had been repulsed by January with no strategic objectives fulfilled.
In Asia, the Allies remained at a stalemate against the Confederacy at the Alor Setar defensive line set up across the Malacca Peninsula.
In mid-January 1945, the Yankees attacked North Caroline, pushing south into Raleigh, and the occupied the entire state by the end of February. On February 4th, Yankee, German, and Japanese leaders met in Yalta. They agreed on the occupation of post-war France, and when the United States would enter the war in the Pacific.
Later that month, the Yankees invaded Tennessee and Arkansas, while German and Italian forces aided the Yankees advancing east from Mexico and the Southwest. A Yankee Army from Oklahoma attacked the Shreveport area of eastern Texas, and reached the Beaumont by mid-March. This action encircled the bulk of Texas, and led to the elimination of there Confederate armies.
As the Yankees advanced on the crumbling Confederacy, they discovered concentration camps- for African-Americans. The government had forced them to do slave labor in these camps, some with gas chambers for massive extermination. These discoveries would be the main justification for total citizenship for blacks, a movement led by Lyndon Banes Johnson.
In early April the Japanese finally pushed forward in Malacca. The Japanese reached Kuala Lumpur in two weeks, but total victory in the Pacific against the Confederates was no longer necessary, for on April 25th the United States seized Atlanta, the Confederate capital.
Meanwhile, the Germans were dashing through Louisiana and Mississippi, virtually unopposed as the Confederates were caught up with defending Atlanta. An army that originated in New York and the one that originated in California met up Birmingham, symbolizing how far the Americans have come and how close they were to total victory. On April 30th, 1945, the Hall of Confederation was captured, signaling the military and political defeat of the Confederate States of America.
The Allies celebrated hard in the following two months, especially in the United States, but the war wasn’t over. China was retaliating against Japan, who had taken advantage when Japan was caught up in fighting the Confederacy. The Confederate Armies remaining in the Pacific were still present, and now vowing to “retake” the homeland of the South.
Also, the Ottoman Empire and Germany were involved in a border dispute over occupied Austria. Turks, Arabs, Armenians, and Jews all over the Empire were rebelling. As the Ottoman Empire cracked apart, it soon became clear it’s alliance with Germany and the United States had to end.
Several changes in leadership occurred during this period. On April 12th, US President Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry Truman, a hard-core Conservative Democrat. French partisans killed Charles de Gaulle in France on April 28th and France switched to the Allies. Two days later, with Atlanta finally overrun, Alan Hotherwood committed suicide, and was succeeded by Karl Darchwood, who commanded all Confederate forces in the Pacific and rebels in the South. On March 2nd, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Germany.
Confederate forces surrendered in Malacca, and all Confederate influence on the continent of Asia and Oceania were destroyed. Alaska, Hawaii, Midway, Guam, and a bunch of other dots in the Pacific were still under Darchwood’s command.
The mushroom cloud that formed during the atomic bombing of Kuwait.
In North America, the remaining Confederates in the south surrendered in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 8th, although a battered, small army remained in Cuba. The Americans and Germans invaded Cuba, and these troops were destroyed on May 11th. In the Pacific, Japanese and German forces moved towards the shores of North America, taking Samoa by March and Hawaii by June. During this time, the United States began a massive bombing of China, as submarines cut off all there supplies from the Ottoman Empire, now on the Axis side.
On July 2nd, the United States sent an army of 1,000,000, battle-hardened soldiers fresh from North America to launch a seaborne invasion of the Ottoman Empire. This destroyed the last of the Empire's conventional fighting abilities, and allowed German armies to move in on Istanbul.
On July 11th, the Allies met in Potsdam, Germany. They confirmed earlier agreements about the Confederacy, and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender by the Ottoman Empire, stating, “the alternative for Turkey is prompt and utter destruction.” They also agreed that the Ottoman Empire would be broken up into Mesopotamia, Palestine, Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and Bulgaria. They also agreed that the United Kingdom and some of her former colonies would be restored, a new French Republic would be established, and a new Russian Republic would be established. New democratic constitutions will be implemented in Germany, China, and Japan, and the Confederacy would be re-absorbed into the United States.
By then, German forces reached Istanbul in the Balkans, and Confederate and Chinese rebels were being put down by massive Allied bombings.
When the Ottomans continued to reject the Potsdam terms, Germany dropped atomic bombs on the Ottoman cities of Dubai and Kuwait. A division of Yankee soldiers was sent to Guam, and destroyed remaining Confederate positions. This defeat was considered the end of all major Confederate resistance, besides occasional revolts in the south.
On August 15th, the battered Ottoman Empire surrendered with surrender documents finally signed aboard a German battleship on September 2nd, 1945, ending the war with a victory for the Allies.
Absorbing the South: Death of the Confederacy[]
Following the Confederacy's diplomatic surrender on May 8th, 1945, the United States already knew by then it planned to re-absorb the entire former Confederacy into the USA. For twenty years, the Confederacy came under Yankee occupation. During this time, the United States focused on physical reconstruction- it received billions of dollars in aid from Germany and Japan. Meanwhile, US president Harry S. Truman had appointed Dwight Eisenhower as "military governor" of the South during its twenty years it would spend under US occupation. Two days after he was appointed, General Eisenhower privately met with President Truman.
"Everyone is saying Washington is going to eventually absorb the entire former Confederacy back into the US." Eisenhower said.
"Yes. It is the only way to keep peace. This continent isn't meant for two countries. It took us four wars to realize that." Truman responded.
"Bloody ones, too. America should never have split in the first place, back in the 1860s."
"As Ulysses S. Grant said himself 'A divided party can't stand.' "
"Lincoln said that."
"Really?" Truman asked.
"Yes, believe it or not. It's like that old saying, Divide and Conquer."
"I never understood that."
"If your enemies are divided against each other, it is easier for you to conquer them."
"And America was divided- ever since those cannons fired at Fort Sumter."
"Yes, we were."
"Then ... what exactly conquered us?"
"Four wars. 80 years of bitterness. Isn't that enough?"
After saying that line, General Eisenhower left the office and walked out into the streets of a war-torn Washington DC. President Truman stood in awe.