Divide and Conquer

Benjamin Judah, a southern Jew from the Confederate States of America, was sent as a missonary 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 was successful? What if Britain entered the war on the side of the South?

Southern Victory
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.

Normalizing Relations
Relations between the United States and the Confederate States are weak and un-easy. In an era called Normalization (rather then Reconstruction), many problems are dealt with including both sides: establishing a secure government for the Confederacy, divided 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 assisinated by

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- 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 general 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 it’s place- basically slavery.

The 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 another war with the United States, but none of the opponents of the Republican party could foresee a war with the British. Meanwhile, the Confederacy was growing in power- it’s fast-growing army quadrupled in men from 1865 to 1870. This was mainly because of it’s strong alliance to the British.

On July 2nd, 1870, US-president Grover Cleveland 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 Coloradoan 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 loose 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, Ottanta 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.

Relations Tense through the 1870s
=== === The War of 1882, between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, lasted from 1812 to 1815. 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 it’s own request for the Confederacy to remove it’s naval base from Norfolk Virginia, due to it’s proximity to the United States.

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.

The 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, further 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 in competently 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.”

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 it’s 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. This 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 then 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 Whig 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.

American-Japanese War:
The American-Japanese War or the First Pacific War in some English sources was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Confederate States of America and the Japanese Empire over Hawaii, Alaska, the Philippines and several Confederate-controlled islands in the Pacific. The major theatres of operations were in the Philippines, with battles in Hawaii, Alaska, and Samoa, and naval clashes occurred in the seas around Alaska, the Philippines, and the southwest Pacific Ocean.

The Confederacy wanted to form an Empire in the Pacific, and did so by acquiring the territories of Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Samoa by 1900. The Confederates were in pursuit of a port on the eastern coastline of Asia, in ether Japan or China.

The British allowed an exclusively American port in Hong Kong, but by 1904 the CSA began negotiating for a port in Japan or Korea. The Confederacy blockaded Korea for two weeks. Following this, Japan chose war to maintain dominance in Korea and to fight American expansion into eastern Asia. On February 8th, 1904, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the “heart” of the Confederacy’s pacific empire. This was followed by attacks on Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The war, in which the Japanese military consistently attained victory over the American forces arrayed against them, were unexpected by world observers. These victories would dramatically transform the balance of power in the Pacific, resulting in the reassessment of Japan’s recent entry onto the world stage. The Japanese attack at Hong Kong severed relations with Great Britain. The embarrassing string of defeats inflamed American’s dissatisfaction, as the war proved a major cause for the American Uprising in 1905 against the Confederate government.

Pre-war North America
Both the United States and the Confederacy take on a strongly imperialistic stance. The United States establishes an empire in South America and the Pacific, builds the Panama Canal and strategic naval bases at Midway and Pearl Harbor. The United States, in a short war with Britain, took over the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and parts of Ontario. The Confederate States of America invades Mexico and several island-nations in the Caribbean. The Confederacy occupies Cuba, Santa Domingo, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. With nationalism high and each nations possessing huge militaries, the North and South seem to be charging down a path to a third war between them.

On June 28th, 1914, Confederate president Woodrow Wilson was touring Havana, in occupied Mexico. Felipe Ponarez, a Mexican nationalist, shot him in Wilson’s motorcade. Ponarez was a member of the Puño Café, Spanish for the Brown Fist, a terrorist organization that fought against Confederate imperialism. The Brown Fist was also funded and supported by Mexico.

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 demanded a Confederate withdrawal from Mexico. Two days later, Britain mobilized armies in Canada. Forecasting war, Great Britain saw an opportunity to reclaim lost territory. On August 4th, the United States declared war on the Confederate States of America. The next day, Britain declared war on the United States, and Japan took the side of the US. By the end of the week, fighting was already starting. World War I had began.

Background
In the 19th century, powers in Europe and North America had gone to great lengths to maintain a balance of power throughout the world, resulting in 1900, in a complex network of political and military alliances.

After the War of 1870, European conflict was averted largely due to a carefully planned network of treaties between the United States and Europe, along with the Confederacy; orchestrated by US president Ulysses S. Grant. He especially worked to hold the Confederacy at America’s side to avoid a two-front war with the Confederacy and British Canada. With the new Democratic domination of American politics, Grant’s system of alliances was gradually demoted. For example, the United States refused to renew the American Treaty with the Confederacy in 1890. Two years later, the Anglo-Confederate Alliance was signed to counteract the force of the United States’ partnership with Denmark, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1904, the United Kingdom sealed an alliance with France, the Entente cordiale, and in 1907, the United Kingdom and the Confederacy signed the Anglo-American convention. This was a bi-national agreement that formed the Triple Entente.

After Prussia was defeated in the War of 1870, the German Confederation dissolved into 39 smaller German states. France gained the Saarland and the Rhineland, both territories that were considered part of Germany. Austria was no longer part of the confederation, although it did grow and become a major power. By the mid-1910s, it became obvious that France, Denmark, Austria, and Russia (all surrounding Germany) were to clash over the weaker interior German states.

Yankee industrial and economic power had grown greatly after the end of the War of 1870. From the mid-1890s on, the United States used this power to devote significant economic resources to building up the American Imperial Navy, in rivalry with the British Royal Navy for world supremacy.

As a result, both nations strove to out-build each other in terms of capital ships. With the launch of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906, the British Empire expanded on its significant advantage over its Yankee rivals. The arms race between Britain and the United States eventually extended to the rest of Europe and North America, with all the major powers devoting their industrial base to the production of equipment and weapons necessary for a global conflict. Between 1908 and 1913, the military spending of European and North American powers increased by 50%.

The United States precipitated the Baja Crisis of 1908-1909 by officially annexing the former Mexican territory of Baja California, which it had occupied since 1878. This greatly angered the Mexicans all over Central America as well as Confederate president Woodrow Wilson, as the CSA rivaled with the US over trade and economic power in Mexican kingdoms. Confederate political maneuvering in the region destabilized peace all over the continent.

On June 28th, 1914, Confederate president Woodrow Wilson was touring Esenada, in occupied Baja California. Felipe Ponarez, a Sonorian nationalist, shot him in Wilson’s motorcade. Ponarez was a member of the Puño Café, Spanish for the Brown Fist, a terrorist organization that fought against Confederate imperialism and a united The Brown Fist was also funded and supported by Sonoria, pushing for a united Mexico.

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 demanded a Confederate withdrawal from Mexico. Two days later, Britain mobilized armies in Canada.

Forecasting war, Great Britain saw an opportunity to reclaim lost territory. On August 4th, the United States declared war on the Confederate States of America. The next day, Britain declared war on the United States, and Japan took the side of the US. By the end of the week, fighting was already starting. World War I had began.

Overview of the War
A variety of evens led up to the escalation of hostilities between the Axis and Allied powers prior to the start of the war. In the aftermath of World War I, a defeated Confederate States of America signed the White House Treaty. This caused the Confederacy to lose about 25% of its home territory and all of its overseas colonies, prohibited Confederate annexation of other states, imposed massive reparations and limited the size and makeup of the Confederate armed forces.

In the United States, the socialist party rose to power in a massive economic depression. In the election of 1928, Al Smith came to power and reversed economic policy towards a more left-wing system. In the United Kingdom, conservative Winston Churchill gained power and Britain stuck to a far-right anti-communist stance. British forces secretly assassinated Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union. Leon Trotsky came to power, and under his rule, Russia remains a technologically backwards state with a small military and little industrial power, unlike how it would have been under Stalin.

The Kuomintang party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the 1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese communist allies.