A Confederate Victory

General Robert E. Lee makes a crucial decision at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Confederacy earns support from both Great Britain and France leading to a divided North America and a South America, unprotected by the Monroe Doctrine, that faces the same colonial fate as Asia and Africa.

01 July 1863- POD

Confederate General Robert E. Lee, at the suggestion of General James Longstreet, decides not to confront Union Maj. General George Meade's Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg while the Union is dug in on the high ground. Instead, Lee Marches North, around the Union Army and places himself between Meade and the Union Capital of Washington, D.C.

General Meade, realizing Lee's Army of Northern Virginia is now between him and the capital, has no choice but to follow Lee back into Maryland.

07 July 1863

Lee crosses the Patapsco River and entrenches his forces.

08 July 1863

While Meade's Army of the Potomac is crossing the Patapsco River, Lee surprise attacks Meade and route's his army at the Battle of New Windsor. Meade, inflicted with heavy casualties, retreats to Baltimore. The successful Army of Northern Virginia Now marches towards Washington D.C. The U.S. government,upon hearing of the tragic loss, hastily evacuates the capital by sea and relocates to Philadelphia, PA.

10 July 1863

Seeing the major confederate victory at New Windsor and nothing between Lee and Washington, D.C., Great Britain and France recognize the Confederate States of America and declare war on the United States.

Union General Ulysses S. Grant is forced to abandon his siege of Vicksburg, MS in the western theater to reinforce the now vulnerable east.

15 July 1863

Lee begins a siege on the Union capital. Washington, D.C. will fall to the Army of Northern Virginia after a 3 week siege.

August 1863

France, then in Mexico, invades California.

Great Britain conducts a three pronged attack on the United States, invading at Detroit, MI, Niagara, NY, and Plattsburg, NY.

The British Army at Detroit marches south into Ohio where it encounters Grant's Army on its way to reinforce Meade's Army of the Potomac. The Battle of Marietta was a route for Grant's unprepared forces, but they managed to retreat across the Ohio River and on to Washington, with The British force in pursuit. Grant reaches Meade, held up in Baltimore. But shortly after the combined Army of Grant and Meade is ordered to Philadelphia to protect the interim capital

The British Army at Niagara first marched south to capture Buffalo. Then, the British advanced eastward through Western and Central New York, finally meeting with the British Army from Plattsburg in Albany.

The British Army at Plattsburg quickly moved southward meeting up with the British from Niagara to siege the New York state capital of Albany. From Albany, the first British Army headed south toward New York City and the second British Army headed east toward Boston.

Autumn 1863

By the end of the campaigning season, British and Confederate forces were entrenched on the outskirts of Boston, New York, and Baltimore prepared to starve the major cities come spring 1864.

Also, the Union blockade of the confederacy is broken in September of 1863 by the British Navy, allowing British and Confederate forces to liberate New Orleans and open the Mississippi River.

Spring 1864

All three major cities fall by May of 1864 for after long sieges and British Naval blockades.

June 1864

Confederate and British Forces head from New York and Baltimore toward Philadelphia. Meade and Grant take their well rested, but much smaller armies to intercept the British and Confederate forces. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but ultimately, the British and Confederates were too much for Meade and Grants Armies. Both Union Generals Surrender, leaving the interim Union capital unprotected.

Threatened by a siege, the U.S. government agrees to negotiate a peace with the Confederates, French and British.

July 1864

The Treaty of Havana, ironically signed on 04 July 1864, granted the 11 secessionist states their independence, ceded the states of Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and the District of Columbia to the Confederacy and ceded the Arizona territory and Oklahoma territory to the confederacy. Britain did not ask for any concessions from the United States hoping to re-establish friendly relations with the country. France, however, hoping to garner support for Mexican Emperor Maximilion I, whom the French placed on the throne, wanted to re-acquire California for Mexico. But, British pressure forced the French to concede their demands.

1865-1880

 Mexican Empire  Not threatened by the United States through the Monroe Doctrine, France remains in Mexico, propping up Maximilion I, a member of the Austrian Hapsburg royal family. The French eventually succeed in establishing a European style monarchy under Maximilion's Hapsburg line. Mexico, with French aid, heads south to conquer all of central America under the New Worlds only Monarchy. French troops leave Mexico in 1870 to fight the Franco-Prussian War in Europe, but Maximilion's empire is now strong enough to stand on it's own.

 C.S.A.  Taking over Washington, D.C. and establishing it as their permanent capital the Confederate States begin to rebuild their new country with significant help from the British. The British help to industrialize Confederate cities. Using their significant aid as leverage, the British put pressure on the Confederate government to end the institution of slavery. Seeing it as becoming obsolete, the Confederates release their slaves and in turn hire them to work in their new factories and farms. This peaceful transition allows the freed blacks to incorporate into society with few if any of the post-Reconstruction race problems that plagued the U.S. in the OTL. Immigrants, coming to find jobs in the new Confederate industrial centers, bolster the Confederate population.

Despite the state's rights issues that led to the Southern War for Independence, the resulting governments are remarkably similar. However, the Confederate Federal Government, while more powerful than the states, maintains specific state's rights in their constitution.

 U.S.A.  The United States also recovers quite nicely, having an already established industry and infrastructure. Immigrants continue to come to the U.S.A as well and continue to arrive after 1880 as Confederate immigration tapered off.

The U.S. establishes their new Capital in New York City, which is made independent from New York State, much like Washington, D.C. was. Abraham Lincoln, now extremely unpopular, resigns as President and returns to Illinois. He is succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson. Despite also being unpopular, Johnson is convinced to run in 1868 against Democrat, Horatio Seymour. Seymour wins easily, receiving the first unanimous electoral vote since George Washington, and re-establishes a more conservative, small government in the north.

1880-1910

The C.S.A. and U.S.A., realizing that they can benefit from each other, re-establish relations with each other and become close trading partners as well as allies. In 1896, an independence movement in Cuba sparked the interest of both countries. Seeing the Cuban cause as similar to their own in 1776 and, for the CSA again in 1860, press for Cuban independence from its mother country, Spain. After an explosion on the USS Maine in Havana Harbor, the United States and the Confederate States both declare war on Spain, starting the Spanish-American War. The United States, with a slightly more powerful Navy, attack the Spanish in the Philippines, while a joint U.S.-C.S. expeditionary force invades and liberates Cuba. The Post War Treaty gave The Philippines and Guam to the United States, while Cuba and Puerto Rico are made protectorates of the C.S.A. Later, both would apply for and gain statehood in the C.S.A.  The U.S.A. also acquired Hawaii, which gave them stepping stones to far eastern trade.

In the 1880's, European powers and Japan scrambled to establish new empires in the third world, including Asia, Africa, and without the protection of the Monroe Doctrine, South America. Germany, Italy and Russia are the most prominent powers in South America, with German and Italian Colonies established on the east coast of the continent and Russian colonies on the west coast to go with Alaska.

In Asia, Japan had attained Korea and Manchuria as colonies. Russia, wishing to tap into the resources of Manchuria, went to war with Japan in 1902. In the Russo-Japanese War, Japan surprisingly handed Russia a significant defeat ending their pursuit for an Asian colony.

1910-1940

 The Great War  With most of the world snatched up by European Colonial Powers, rivalries for resources ensue, causing tension in continental Europe. In 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Russia, France, Great Britain and, eventually, Italy went to war with Germany, Austria-Hungary and, eventually, the Ottoman Empire. The war spread to the colonies of the European powers, including South America, where Russian and Italian colonial troops fought a jungle and mountain war with Russian colonial troops as well as the Mexican Imperial Army, led now by Emperor Augustine I, son of Maximilion I, who as a Hapsburg, allied with the Triple Alliance. The U.S.A. and C.S.A., hoping to benefit from the war, traded with the belligerent powers. The U.S. banks also loaned money to the belligerent governments.

Both countries remained neutral until 1917, when a telegram that was intercepted by the British was given to the U.S. and C.S. governments. The Zimmerman telegram offered Mexico the lost territories of New Mexico, Arizon, and California at the end of the war if the United States entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente. With both countries standing to lose territory, they declared war on the Triple Alliance, thinking that Mexican armies would be to preoccupied in South America. However, six weeks after the declaration of war, Mexican Armies crossed the borders of the U.S. and C.S. Both countries scrambled armies to their southwest states. The U.S. and C.S. armies slowly pushed out the Mexican invaders and jointly marched toward Mexico City, capturing it in February of 1918. The combined American forces dethrone Augustine I and set up a parliamentary democracy in Mexico.

In Europe, stalemates ensued on the Western and Eastern front. However, in late 1917 and early 1918, the Russians, now under a new Bolshevik government, sign an armistice with Germany. Now with thousands of troops freed up, Germany focuses its attention on the Britain and France in the west. In May of 1918 Germany mounts a massive offensive bolstered by Eastern Theater veterans. Without needed manpower from the Americas, the tired British and French Forces are pushed back and Paris is surrounded. In order to save Paris from a destructive bombardment and siege, the French sue for peace in 1918. Knowing they cannot fight the Germans alone, Britain quickly follows suit.

At the Munich Conference, held during the summer of 1918, Germany forced France to give up many of her colonies and demilitarize. Britain and Italy were allowed to keep their empires. The Americas, still maintaining significant military leverage, were able to keep their southwestern states as long as the Mexican emperor was allowed to rule under a constitutional monarchy.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, shattered by both the war and internal strife collapsed in the Aftermath of the War. Germany held up what remained of Austria, but all other areas of the empire were given up.

 The Great Depression  In post-war Europe and America, Economies began to boom, especially in the C.S.A., U.S.A., Germany, and Britain. The U.S.A., now the most wealthy country in the world because of a large industrial complex and banking industry helped to fund Europe's reconstruction. While hostility toward Germany remained in the former entente, diplomatic relations strengthened between the governments.

In 1929, The U.S. stock market crashed. The entire world was plunged into an unprecedented financial crisis. The U.S. and C.S. were hit especially hard since their economies were tied so closely. France was also hit hard, but kept afloat by a combined effort of her former allies. Elected in 1932, President Franklin Roosevelt of the U.S. and President Huey Long of the C.S. came up with a joint 5 year plan to pull the world out of the depression. By 1937 despite the Death of Long in 1935, economies around the world were growing again.

In 1931, the Statue of Westminster limited ties between the British government and some of her older colonies like Canada and Australia.

Russia, now the USSR, already in a financial crisis, granted independence to her colonies in name only. Both Alyeska in North America and Aleksandre in South America maintained Communist puppet governments. After the Rise of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, the country began showing signs of aggression as it built up an unprecedented military.

In Asia, The USSR surprisingly saw an ally in its former foe, Japan. The two countries signed the Stalin-Tojo pact in 1939.

1940-1945

'' World War II, Beginning in the Spring of 1940, The Soviet Union and Japan declared war and invaded the German Empire and her colonies. In Europe, the main force of the Red Army invaded Greater Germany itself as well as Austria, while the Royal Japanese Army invaded Germany's Asian colonies in China. In South America, Aleksandrian troops, backed by a significant Soviet force invaded the German South American colonies of New Bavaria and Klein-Venedig. The other powers of the world, fearing another global war declared neutrality leaving Germany to fight a global war against the Soviet-Japanes Alliance. Within a year Germany, her South American colonies and her Asian colonies were conquered. The Government and Army as well as the Austrian Imperial Family evacuated from the German port city of Bremen as the Red Army closed in. From Germany, the Imperial convoy traveled to Germany's largest colony in Africa, Kamerun.

For nearly a year, Soviet and Japanese fleets bombarded German Africa and sent several invasion forces to try to finish the off the German Empire, but all were repelled. In 1941, the other Great Powers convened in Mumbai, India to discuss the crisis. The German delegation pleaded for economic and military aid, but the reluctant powers opted only to place sanctions on the aggressor nations. However, this cut off Japan's oil supplies from the U.S.A. and C.S.A. In late 1942, with the sanctions starting to strangle Japan, the Japanese conducted an attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, HI. The U.S. declared war on Japan the next day and the C.S. followed. In response, the Soviet Union declared war on both countries.

The Japanese led an invasion of the U.S. controlled Philippines in the Pacific. The other powers of Europe began to mobilize their own militaries, fearing that their overseas colonies could be next. Britain, France and Italy formed an formed the Western Alliance in the summer of 1942. Under this alliance, the three powers agreed to all go to war if one or more of them was victimized by Soviet or Japanese aggression anywhere in the world.