Anglo-American War | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
|||||||
|
|||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Independence movements: ![]() ![]() | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
The Anglo-American War, sometimes referred to by some as the Second Great War, was the first large-scale armed conflict following the Great War, taking place across the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia. The war was fought from 1923 to 1926 between the United Kingdom and her colonies, Canada, Japan, and the Confederate States against the United States, the Xian Dynasty, Korea, and several liberation movements.
The conflict emerged from tensions regarding many America's views of mistreatment to them during the Treaty of Versailles over the fact they received less reparations following the Great War. The tension between the two nations only escalated when Great Britain renewed their alliance with Japan in 1921 and supported Tokyo in refusing to support the United States' Washington Naval Conference.
Background[]
Many historians believe that tensions behind the Anglo-American War originated during the months following the Great War. President Theodore Roosevelt and his administration hoped that the United States would receive Germany's Pacific colonies during the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles, which would allow the United States a better hold in trade with Asia.
For the Americans, the Paris Peace Conference began on a bad foot when President Theodore Roosevelt died on January 6 on the boat heading to Paris. After Roosevelt's death, the American delegation was left without a leader, which forced the new President Hiram Johnson to choose a successor. He would make the controversial choice of Leonard Wood, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. Wood arrived on March 1919, but negotiations had already begun and, although Woods was a respected military leader, he was not a skilled diplomat.
Since the United States received no territories during the Treaty of Versailles, the nation refused to join the League of Nations. The Johnson Administration viewed the Paris Peace Conference as a complete diplomatic failure, but never the less this did not effect public support for the new president.

Johnson/Woods in Green, Harding/Coolidge in Red, and Cox/Francis in Blue
In the presidential election held on November 2, 1920, President Johnson would win a landslide victory to be elected to his own term in the White House defeating both Unionist Senator Warren G. Harding and Democratic Governor John Cox. This victory would legitimize the young Progressive Party, and would lead to the Democratic Party losing its role as dominant force in national politics.
On August 5, 1921, the Empire of Japan and the United Kingdom renewed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The United States Government condemned the alliance as they feared this would lead to Japanese dominance in the Pacific Market and cut off American trade with China. These fears were only elevated when news media in the United States reported alleged Anti-American clauses in the treaty.

President Hiram Johnson in one of his 1920's campaign pamphlets
By the start of the decade, the British had the largest navy afloat although many of their battle ships were becoming obsolete, and Japan had begun rapidly building expensive new warships. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, fearing that the United States would not be able to keep up with the arm race, would push for a disarmament among the world powers. The Washington Conference looked like it was going to take place in November of 1921, with Great Britain, France, China, the Netherlands, Egypt, Portugal, and the Confederacy all agreeing to participate in it. Yet Japan, confident with their alliance with Great Britain, refused to join the disarmament talks, and in a show of support with their ally stepped out of the Conference. (They were soon followed by the Confederacy, the Netherlands, and France.) In response to this President Johnson would call off the Conference and condemn the two nations as warmongers.
On December 7, 1921 President Johnson would push legislation into the Congress calling for the expansion of the United States' military budget. It would pass with a 3/4th majority shortly after new years.
On March 2, 1923, a small hunting mishap on the United States/Canadian border would escalate into skirmishes between local militia and border patrols. Following attempts by the American, British, and Canadian governments to ease the tension, US President Johnson issued an ultimatum to both Canada and the United Kingdom.
Events of the war[]
Early Course of the War[]
On March 25, 1923, Canada launched a preemptive attack on the United States after the United Kingdom informed the nation that it was going to reject the American ultimatum. The day after the Canadian declaration of war, the United Kingdom and its colonies also declared war on the United States. Two days after that, Japan - in honoring its alliance - joined the British side in the war.
The Canadian offensive was of great surprise to the military command of the United States, which had expected Canada to focus on a purely defensive war. Also, the United States had the majority of its military on the Confederate border and were still in the middle of transferring more troops to the North. This allowed Canada much progress in the early weeks of the war.

Canadian troops on the march
On April 2, after much debate among its leadership, the Confederate States joined the war on the side of the United Kingdom in hopes of a quick victory over the United States, led to territorial gains for the nation from its northern neighbor.
During the first months of the conflict, the United States was facing a war on two fronts and suffered multiple blows to moral with the losses of Seattle and the Capital of Washington DC, plus the bombardments of the cities of Boston and New York City. Despite this, the United States was able to halt the majority of their enemies' advancements, and by summer begin to retake some of their lost territory.
The American fortune would only improve on December 12, 1923, when a Chinese trading ship was attacked and sunk by a Japanese cruiser. Although both Japan and Britain made official apologizes for the accidental attack, China declares war on the two empires on December 16, 1923, and Korea followed suit the day after.
Turning Point[]

Confederate General George C. Patton with a tank shortly before the Californian breakthrough
With China joining the war, the focus of the United Kingdom and Japan in 1924 shifted from North America to their possessions in Asia and the Pacific. This allowed the United States some much needed breathing room, and by April 22nd, all Canadian forces were driven back into Canada and the capital of Washington DC was liberated from the Confederacy on June 28th.
Similarly to the Great War, by late 1924 and the beginning of 1925, the Anglo-American War became very much a stalemate. In hopes of forces of changing this, China and Korea launched the largest amphibious landing in history with the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands on August 6, 1925.

Chinese soldiers in India
Also in 1925, several independence uprisings began across Great Britain's colonies and protectorates, spreading the British resources even thinner. In response of trying to hold onto its own territories, the United Kingdom was unable to support its allies, Japan and the Confederacy, which now had enemy troops on their national soils.
Surrender of the United Kingdom[]
On March 3, 1926 the Chinese and American would launch a surprise amphibious landing on Hawaii, which quickly lead to the destruction of most of the British Pacific Fleet and capturing of the city Honolulu. Soon after the British public had completely turned against the war, and the British leadership decided that the conflict needed to come to an end. The British government told General Secretary Eric Drummond, 7th Earl of Perth of the League of Nations, to try to seek an end of the conflict through the organization.
The League of Nations sent several delegations with representatives from France, Egypt, Swania, Brazil, and Austria-Hungary to persuade the warring states to come to negotiations. Canada would be the first to sign an armistice on April 7 1926, followed by the United Kingdom on the 12th, Japan on the 27th, and finally the Confederacy on May 17.
Aftermath[]

The British and American delegation at the signing of the Treaty of Thebes
On November 1, 1926, the Treaty of Thebes was signed by the nations involved in the conflict. Among the agreements was the establishments of the Republic of Quebec and the Free State of Hawaii, territory gains by the United States from Canada, and major naval disarmament by all nations involved in the conflict.
Following the war, China and the United States became recognized as new superpowers on the world stage and, with Korea and Hawaii, the four nations would form the Pacific Ocean Nations Treaty Organization, an intergovernmental military alliance for their mutual defense. (As of 2022, PANTO has 36 member nations.)
The United Kingdom left the conflict but joined many more as the Empire began trying to end revolts in South Africa and its Indian colonies. However, eventually the revolts settled down, and in the late 1930s and early 1940s, relations improved between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Japan took a major moral and industrial blow after the war which left it in a weakened state which only got worst in the years to come with the Great Depression. In turn, the Japanese population would become devastated with hatred and resentment for the Emperor, leading to the Japanese Civil War and rise of communism.
The Confederate would be left angered by the results of the war as many felt that it did not lose the conflict. Many would blame the Confederate Government, and this blame would eventually help lead to the Confederate Civil War. These interwar years between the Anglo-American and the Civil War are commonly known as the Rebel Rabbling Years in the CSA.
Canada took the biggest blow from the war, being home to most of the conflict and losing the most territory which in turn would lead to a fall in the nation's economy. Many Canadians would migrate to either the new American territory or the new Republic of Quebec. The lives of these migrating people would only get harder when the Great Depression hit.
|