Events of the World: 1927
Europe
The Labour Government resorts to threats and coercion to get their profit sharing scheme to work. By threatening to hike taxes to ninety per cent on all the rich in the country if they did not accept their profit sharing motive, the industries were forced to accept. Investment tanked, as more and more money was given to the workers, who used it to import massive amounts of goods from the United States, as the quality of British goods began to decline, even as wages grew. The workers, knowing the government had the proverbial gun to the head of the industrialist, worked more hours, but less strenuously, as they skimmed more and more profits from the richest men.
Tax loopholes were closed, and the previously mentioned threats were acted upon. Big Businesses began to close, as small businesses and minor industries were allowed to flourish. The long-term sustainability of this process, however, was criticise, and unemployed workers protested these actions, causing the police to get involved, which brought the death of several of these men. They dispersed, but Britain's economy took a sharp downward turn.
Unemployed workers in Northern England, protesting the government.
The final straw for the Labour government was their so called “Sex Campaign”, where they publicly advocated for more and more kids to be born. They threw morality to the wind, when they said marriage was “not needed” and that the younger a woman could get pregnant the better. The government soon collapsed afterwards, and Neville Chamberlain of the Conservative Party was given a commanding 383 seat majority in the elections that were called. A flurry of legislation was passed to stop these measures from the Labour Government from going into effect, but the country seemed poised to drive off the deep end after years of Labour mismanagement. The outlook could be summed up in a single word: Dire.
Martial Law was lifted in Ireland, and free, democratic elections were ordered to be held in a few weeks time from the announcement of the decree. The only stipulation was that Communists would not be allowed to participate, but such a measure was questionable because no communists lived in Ireland anymore due to the governments strict prosecution of them. The current government was soundly re-elected, giving them a mandate to continue their current path.
Telephone lines expand from Dublin to all of the county seats, in some places creating two lines running alongside each other, because of the existing infrastructure, but nevertheless, these lines helped to communicate between government offices, and even some were run to the border of Northern Ireland, showing that they still felt it was occupied by the British.
Taking a lesson from their German neighbours, French tax collectors work to ensure that the proper amount of taxes are collected, and they fan across the nation, extracting every penny they can from the people. They are able to infiltrate many small pubs, and extract the last meagre parts of a paycheck from delinquent drunkards.
Tax collectors, like the man on the far left, fanned across the nation to get money.
Immigration rises in France, as people from all across Europe, except those nations that the French deemed not able to be assimilated into the French nation. The main purpose of this, it seemed, was to provide more workers for Northeastern France, which quickly became of the country’s most diverse areas.
The Haussmann boulevard is opened in Paris, the last great project that was started during the Second Empire, has come to an end. It is now a modern, European city, and the light of the Free World, many of them thought. This was coupled with the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts, where the Soviet delegation proved to be one of the most attractive exposition, with thousands applauding their submission. Industrial ideas were spread across the nation, and the nations that attended this conference, as new and innovative practices, to help modernise old ones, were discussed.
German-backed settlers begin to cross the border into Alsace and the Saarland, demanding that the French Government evacuate the area, in saying that the area was never French, and will never be French. They were fully funded and paid by the German Government, and many in the French Government were shocked, and wondering what the Germans were thinking sending these people to these areas. They were arrested, and put into French prisons.
The Olympics are held in Amsterdam, where the National League of Youth Sports is formed for “devoted service” to the Queen above all. They began to enact a campaign of getting people more active, to try and make the Netherlands a nation full of healthy people. Massive amounts of money were spent on the NLYS, with the Queen proclaiming she cared for all her people and their well-being. As the games closed, the United States, Germany, and Belgium walked away with the most medals.
The Dutch Air Force is doubled, as millions are poured into it to encourage and spurn on investment of their own production. In North Holland, several factories opened, producing French designs, along with the poison gas used on the Riffians. French pilots helped train the new air force, which did include effective gassing tactics.
The Spanish Government, taking over the country from the former Monarchy, disbanded several monarchist regiments, along with the scrapping of many ships, focusing on cutting costs and stressing efficiency. The state of the country’s finances, however, still remained dire.
As this was going on, a Constitutional Committee, formed to discuss the drafting of a new Constitution for the Republic, was opened in Madrid. Several proposals were thrown around, but the idea of women’s suffrage became a hotly debated issue. Two factions formed, for it and against it, and the political bickering continued all year, with no progress happening on the new document.
In Germany, Government departments are slashed, many remaining relics from Germany’s fragmented past, and offices are consolidated, in a bid to help lower the amount of time it takes to do government business. The scheme was very successful, but the government, headed by Stresemann, collapsed in the wake of the settlers scheme with the French. Elections were held, and the SPD was returned to power, pledging cooperation with the allied powers, as the disgraced Stresemann collapsed of a stroke in his Berlin home, to die only a few days later. Wels, the new chancellor, was able to govern in his own right, as the KPD was shut out of the government.
The Inter-Allied Weapons Commission announces that Germany has complied with all the stipulations set out from the Treaty of Versailles, and that the weapons sent to China were the last remnants of Great War weapons.
Polskie Radio is formed in Warsaw and across the country, broadcasting Polish-language shows each and every day, helping to educate some of the non-Polish literate peasants in the east. Along with this, a high-tech radio manufacturing factory is opened in Warsaw, as hundreds of Polish workers gain valuable knowledge in building these valuable machines.
Loans for tractors and farming equipment are extended to the eastern portions of Poland, as information on modern farming practices is given to these people in their own native languages, so they could understand and utilise it. Northern of Krakow, along the railway, a nitrogenous fertilizer factory was opened up, to help supply the eastern farms in the country.
The Italian aviation industry was given a massive amount of new orders, with hundreds upon hundreds of airplanes being ordered by the Italian Government, along with Anti-Aircraft guns, mobile and fixed, to help counter any bombing campaigns against the country. At the same time, large investments were given to the army in order to ensure that a synergy between the two, as well as to be ready for any attacks, was ensured.
A Fascist Party newspaper in Rome was given a massive headline, claiming that a massive comet has been sighted streaking across the sky. While proving to be false, these newspapers claimed that they lived in such enlightened times.
The East Austrian legislature passes the Gemeindebauten acts, which look to establish community construction buildings. They would be centred in Vienna, and owned by the government. It was the initial parts of a plan to both rebuild the shattered city, and to offer low-cost housing for the poor. Taxes were raised on luxury goods to help fund these, and while small, it was successful as many of these new buildings arose by the end of the year.
President Seitz tours East Austria, hailing it as the true nation of Freedom, while the Italian-backed Fascist regime exists only to oppress the people. His tours across the country, as well as his speeches for freedom, prove to be highly helpful in shoring up their support, as the last foreign soldiers leave the East, border patrol are kept up between the newly outlined border between the two nations. Even with the loss of tax revenue and productivity, the industrial East was better off without many of the poorer in the mountains, as more food was available for fewer people, helping to spurn a population boom.
A Military Research Centre was opened in Prague, which had the goal of organising and controlling the collective actions of Czechoslovakia’s best companies. It was open to help by other members of the Eastern Entente, but only a few Polish advisors showed up to help, but the foundation of this cooperation could prove to be monumental in the future.
Surveyors prospect up and down the Vltava River, looking for an ideal location for a hydroelectric power plant. After several months of intense mapping, government cross-checks, and some help from French engineers, the first few iron construction beams were set up, with construction slated to be complete within three years.
In Budapest, the Government, still working to reconstruct the city, announced that the University of Budapest would have students, who would be set up by the Government, in order to try and encourage higher learning in the young Republic. Of the virtues told, was the importance of loyalty to Hungary, and the hatred of Communism.
While plans had been laid the previous year, the Hungarian government begins to help modernise the equipment owned by the farmers and peasants. Many of them had been deeply affected by the War, and then the Civil War, and an injection of fund to help them recover was deeply appreciated by the people.
The Swedish Army was vastly expanded, with large amounts of money being spent in modernisation, and mobilization, of their army. Machine guns, rifles, artillery, and even light tanks were ordered from France. Older equipment was sent to those in Finland who supported their cause, as the country lurched towards war.
Fighting in Finland continued, as the United Front once again was able to form, as Communist forces, under the control of the Soviet Union, begin assaults on the outskirts of Helsinki. The government forces were hardstripped for funds, weapons, and ammunition, thanks to the French blockade of it. The Soviets kept supplying the united front forces in the east, while Sweden funded the western rebels.
After mass casualties on both sides, Finnish Communists entered Helsinki, while the Franco-Swedish forces were able to capture Turku. While technically allied, the western rebels began their own operations to those holding Helsinki. It was revealed that they were special operatives of the Swedish Government, where a few Swedish Generals, motivated by the anti-Bolshevism of the King and the Country, ordered that all Bolsheviks should be killed at the “cleansing hands” of the Swedish Army.
Urgently, Soviet and French forces were called to Helsinki to help assist in the defense of the city. The French, seemingly onboard with the operation, refused to offer any support. Pro-Democracy forces in Finland, supported by Ståhlberg, announced that they would fight against the Swedish. They felt betrayed by the Swedish, who simply pressed forward, capturing the city of Vantaa and Porvoo, stopping any retreat attempts by the Free Finnish.
The Swedish Military named all those who stood against their Liberation “Bolshevik Scum”, and any rioters were shot. The Swedish reign of terror continued over the country, as nearly every defender of Helsinki was murdered by the Swedish Army, acting on what they called their own initiative. The city was declared liberated, but the Free Finnish forces, betrayed, were powerless to stop the advance of the Swedish. Stalin, thinking the French would assist them, had not relocated any soldiers to the front. Swedish soldiers entered the town of Terijoki, on the outskirts of Leningrad. The local militia was mobilized, but this invasion force was poised to strike a major blow at the city. The Swedish Government denied any involvement in these actions, but it showed that the military, inspired by the fanatical teachings of the Government, wished to eliminate the threat of Bolshevism from Finland, and to try and strike a blow at the heart of the Soviet beast.
In the ports being rebuilt in the Black Sea, German shipbuilders, working with the Soviet Government, announce their relocation to the Soviet Union, gutting Germany’s ability to produce new and modern ships as thousand of engineers and shipbuilders migrate to study the V.I. Lenin, once the pride of the British Navy. Design plans, and even secret documents not captured by the British agents, were found. Construction of a new, and expensive, Soviet Fleet was soon underway. Based off designs of the captured ship, as well as the expertise of the Germans, Stalin ordered the new ships to be complete within five years. A powerful navy, he reasoned, would be the only way to assert the safety of the Soviet Union’s shores, which were “desperately” attacked by the “crumbling” Empires of Capitalism.
After several votes in the Politburo, it was decided upon that collectivisation of farms and agricultural land would continue, with a various amount of incentives. Those who did agree to enter into these farms were rewarded with metal tools, draft animals, and some advanced fertilizers. Those who did not, however, were forced at gunpoint. Thousands of farmers were rounded up and shot if they did not comply. Collectivisation reached 6.4% of all farms in the Soviet Union, but Stalin demanded more. He announced in Moscow that 20% of all farms were in collective farms, based on false data fed to him. His policies for industrialisation were also pushed, to help the output of machines and tractors for these farms. Using inflated numbers, grain was forcefully requisitioned by the government. Deaths were high of starvation, but no one dared to tell Stalin of the errors in the Government, and instead the famine was blamed on the continued private ownership of farms.
An Uzbek man sowing crops on a Government farm.
In Moscow, news of peace with Japan were met with mixed reactions. The treaty, brokered by Georgy Chicherin with representatives of the Imperial Japanese government, was seen as a stifling blow to the ideas of Trotsky, who would have favoured a war to liberate both China and Japan. This was seen as surrender, and several Bolsheviks in the Politburo, and several party members, rallied against this treaty. Stalin, on the other hand, regarded Trotsky's "World Revolution" as a fallacy. While a martyr of the Soviet Union, Stalin used his name to defame those who opposed him, for it was Stalin, not these ruffians who opposed him, that was advancing Trotsky's work. Politburo membership shrank, and several important homes became abandoned, as those who had previously supported Stalin "retired" with typed notes sent to the Kremlin. They were never seen, not heard from, again, and the Politburo endorses Stalin's treaty with not a single vote in opposition.
Middle East, the Mediterranean, & Central Asia
Along with the French investment, the Yugoslav government addressed new loans to be taken out to help fuel industrial growth. With massive, government-mandated quotas set with industrial output, the Yugoslav Ministry of Industry took examples from the Soviet Union in helping to fuel their industrial growth. While there were was much protest from using Communist management styles in a Democracy, the economy soared, as more and more people were given disposable income.
Even as this was enacted, the government also slashed taxes on all the citizens of the country, and government revenue plummeted. The economic boom that was ongoing in the country, however, continued undisturbed, for yet another year.
The Ploesti Oil Fields are opened up for foreign investment by the government, much to the dismay of the local Romanian owners, who shoved out of business by British and American companies, who took a complete monopoly of Romanian oil. Equally worrying was that Soviet “companies” also opened, causing riots against the government, and several Soviet citizens hung by local, scared, crowds. The current government resigned, and a new government, headed by Iuliu Maniu, who promised decisive action against the Communists, and pleaded with the citizens to not worry.
Iuliu Maniu, Prime Minister of Romania.
The new Maniu government gets to work, restructuring many government offices, and firing massive amounts of government workers. The entire ordeal was structured as a cost-cutting measure, to be on a better footing to stand up against foreign aggression. Contracts were made between the Maniu government and several French governmental departments, strengthening their bonds, but sharply raising French administration costs, as they are deep in their commitment to help Romania.
Fear of the Greeks prevent any resolution being passed in the Bulgarian parliament to sign the Geneva Convention, and the Bulgarian representative is told not to sign, and is forced to return to Bulgaria.
The image of the “Barbarian Greeks” appears across Bulgaria, as public fears of annexation by Greeks are used to bolster the call for a better armed force. Focus was put on modernisation, not an expansion, but while massive leaps and bounds were made, it seemed a fallacy for Bulgaria ever to be able to match the Greeks on the field.
The Greek Intelligence Agency is formed in Athens, with the goal of helping to defend themselves from external attempts at undermining their stability. It was no state secret that they focused on threats coming from Bulgaria, and an underground cell of Bulgarians was rooted out, all of them hanged, and intelligence operations were widely boasted by “anonymous” sources inside Bulgaria, while the Government was silent about it.
The Treaty of Istanbul was signed between the Socialist Republic of Turkey and the German Federation, with the Kingdom of Greece refusing to do any business with the Turks, as animosity between the two groups grew. Talks of a secret alliance with Bulgaria were floated, and the Greek military announced more equipment was to be purchased from abroad. Massive loans, totalling half of the current government debt, were taken out from abroad, as they imported thousands of weapons, vehicles, and military weapons. Protests sprang out from the Turks inside the Greek borders, which put them down with military force. German ships, approaching the city of Istanbul, were sunk by the Greek artillery guns on the Dardanelles, for it was believed that they were going to help the Turks in a war. Despite this setback, the bellicose nation was increasingly becoming an international pariah, as more German ships, ignoring the murder of their countrymen, began to operate in Turkey.
North & South America
The Canadian Road & Rail Act passes the House of Commons with ease, which sought to bring together a mixture of public and private investment to ensure that the country was well-equipped to move forward, to expand their already strong base for sound economic growth. While bias was heavily towards Atlantic Canada, some companies did construct several new branch lines in British Columbia.
CanMil, a conglomeration of the largest weapons manufacturers in North America, eclipsing the small weapons industry of the United States, begins to expand operations overseas. A subsidiary of the company was opened in Yugoslavia, and they sold to buyers from the Soviet Union, Italy, Spain, and some from several Chinese warlords.
The new Democratic-controlled House announced several bills passed that set aside funds in the budget for new artillery in the army. It was stressed it was nothing more than a simple modernisation, and not an attempt to expand their holdings. It passes the Senate, and President Coolidge signs it, hailing the United States attempting to continue to move forward.
Enthusiasm for the aviation industry grows as more companies open, and the price of an airplane ticket decrease. Several flights now leave weekly from New York to Chicago, as thousands buy tickets to fly around the country, with pilot schools overflowing with students.
As oil searches begin in earnest by the government in Mexico, the government finds a large amount of oil atop a Catholic Church, which had been using the crude oil that bubbles out of the ground as lighting for the Church since the middle of the 19th century. The Government announced that the Church, and all of their land, was now government property, and that any attempts to resist this was against the Revolution which had been conducted over the past few years. Catholics, who were being prosecuted, rose up in rebellion. The city of Veracruz was captured by the Conservatives, who made contacts with American and British companies, and begun to purchase large amounts of weaponry to assist them in their fighting.
The Mexican Army, which had been weakened by the Government, proved unable to respond to this new threat. The counter-Revolutionaries rose in number, showing the real dissatisfaction with the government, which lead a campaign of terror against anyone who was a devout Catholic, and those who supported the right-wing. Government finances collapsed, and the government’s authority took a massive hit.
Emergency measures were quickly passed, the Communist Party of Mexico was formed by President Calles, who sent contacts to the Soviet Union in requests for aid for the fledgeling dictatorship. This only moved to grow the anti-Communist forces, as the United States openly supported the rebels. The Mexican Navy was sunk by the United States Navy, which was operating in the Gulf of Mexico, to keep the rebels supplied. On December 19th, rebel forces took control of Chapultepec Castle, as the Government announced a withdrawal to the north, abandoning Mexico City. They vowed to fight on, as angry government forces crossed the Mexican-American border, and fired artillery shell upon the city of El Paso in Texas, prompting the local military garrison to quickly dispatch, and chase them back across the border, taking control of Ciudad Juárez.
Government defenses in Mexico City.
The Brazilian Government takes a massive turn to the left to appease the Communists who arose, by announcing all private land was now to be held by the government, and it would be distributed among the peasants to maximise efficiency, and to try and increase their standards of living. With support all but gone, it was overthrown by Communist revolutionaries, who were aided by the actions of the Government. The Brazilian Navy mutinied, and announced their intention to support the Government. The United States Navy, at the same time, sunk any ship that dared to engage them, and set up a military blockade of the country, as the new Socialist Republic of Brazil was announced. Getúlio Vargas of the Army of Liberation was proclaimed the new leader of the country, and he announced a softening of policies, and denounced the Soviet Union, but demanded the right for Brazilians to determine their own future.
In Chile, the governing council, nothing more than the Chilean General Staff, announces the liberalisation of their own control. At the same time, a new party, the National Party of Chile, was formed by several officers of the Chilean Military. Many Italian political theorists were on hand during this time, and the military endorsed them as such. Rallying against Communism and Argentina, they won the elections with all of the vote, and held a massive majority in the legislature. It was without a doubt a rigged election, given that only three hundred votes were logged for opposition parties, but the new government endorsed President Altamirano, who remained as the leader of the country. With at least an enemy, Argentina, to rally against, the new government was able to shore up its support amongst the population.
Oddly, with the National Party now firmly in power, the Chilean Government begins to promote private investors and companies, along with other capitalists, to invest into the economy. With their own Fascist ideals being implemented into the government, there are no Capitalists stupid enough to invest their own money into Chile, only to have it taken from them by the Government at a later date.
Africa & Asia
Government spending is decreased in Iran, along with a general withdrawal of the Government from industry, produce mixed results for the country. Investment increases, but the lack of funds brought in plunged the treasury into the negatives, an unexpected side effect, as many began to renege on their taxes.
The Chinese elections overall happened quite well. Both sides agreed to commit to the same electoral rules as the ones that were used in 1912-1913 and generally, violence decreased. The KMT was the sole party that remained true to its promises however, as they respected the truce. But this doesn’t mean the elections happened without conversies.
In Manchuria, the troops of the local Communist government, that officially rejoined the CCP, managed to keep their hold on the main cities, thanks to huge amounts of equipment that were ‘left behind’ by the Red Army. The Fengtian wanted to recapture the country, but the KMT told the monarchists that if they broke the truce then so would the KMT. Zhang Zuolin thus enrolled many of his troops in the Northeast Anti-Russian United Army, that was supposedly neutral and not affiliated with the Qing. This army thus marched on Manchuria and the local Communist resistance soon vanished - or to be more correct, went underground with sizeable amounts of weapons. Chiang was furious, but the deed was done and the Northern Front had been dealt with by the Fengtian. In Inner Mongolia, the Mongol army was forced to pull back along with the Soviets, but this left them with a bitter taste. They had lost over half their army in an attempt to seize Inner Mongolia, they had seized it and now they needed to flee. But a promise coming from the KMT made this bitterness slowly fade away, and when Qing troops entered the region to organize elections - and to reassert their control - they found no Mongol troops.
In Sichuan, the long and gruesome civil war finally took a slower tone, as Liu Xiang managed to gain a sizeable amount of power, enough to be able to intervene in any conflict and to bring victory to the one he’d assist. The elections there were a messy affair, with massive bribery, intimidation and murders. There were few people who were wealthy enough to vote, but Sichuan still had many seats to provide. The China Youth Party gained over 60% of the seats, as many warlords opposed Xiang and his alliance with the KMT and the CCP. The KMT took over the rest.
In KMT-controlled areas and in Guangdong, Guizhou and Fujian the KMT gained victories, with the Qinmindang taking over the rest. The upper class was content to support a government that was on the verge of uniting the country. The successes of the Qinmindang were due to the fact that wealthy individuals opposed the United Front with the Communists. The China Youth Party and the Constitutional Progressive Party gained a few seats, except in Shandong where it gained around 30%.
In Yunnan and Hunnan, it came as a surprise that the CPP claimed most seats, after local officers met with delegates. In the Ma Clique territory and Xinjiang, the KMT, the CYP and the CCP all gained similar amount of seats, with many irregularities signaled by observers. In Shanxi, the Qinmindang gained a victory, followed closely by the CPP. In Qinmindang-controlled areas, the Qinmindang scored huge victories, but the candidates on the lists weren’t the ones who had been elected for Cao Kun, as Feng Yuxiang replaced them with men who would be loyal to him. In Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei, elections happened fairly - as long as jailing communists in Manchuria can be considered ‘fair’ - and the CYP party came out on top with 40% of the seats. The CCP was second, followed by the Qinmindang and the KMT. It didn’t depict the real situation in these regions, as the CCP did have a sizeable support in rural areas, but the voting franchise deprived peasants of voting. Members of the Peasant Training Institute did agitate the region, but couldn’t persuade wealthy voters to support them.
The CYP gained a sizeable amount of power thanks to its anti-Communist non-Monarchist rhetorics. It has ties to the right-wing of the KMT.
At the end of the elections, the KMT had 151 seats out of 532. The CPP was second with 147 seats. The outsider of the race, the CYP had 93 seats mainly because it was the sole Republican - Manchu Emperors weren’t loved in China - party that opposed the Communists, the same Communists that some warlords and wealthy voters dreaded. The Qinmindang had 123 and the CCP 18. With 292 seats, the United Front could claim a victory. But then 68 delegates were nominated by the Emperor for the provinces of Tibet, Outer Mongolia and for the overseas Chinese. The CPP thus became the largest party with 215 delegates. The members of the United Front called it a fraud - even if the KMT had used the same technique in 1913 - and declared that the Parliament was in session in Nanjing, for the Republic. The CYP and the CPP remained in Beijing, the CYP supporting the Qing government because it had defended the country against communism. Both sides could thus claim a victory, and each Parliament had legitimacy. It makes no doubt that if every Chinese had been allowed to vote, without pressures from warlords, the United Front would have won overwhelmingly. But the Qing played their cards well, and managed to keep the Empire alive in a deeply Republican country.
In the meantime, convoys from Argentina and Italy reached the Qing. Thanks to Japanese bankers who provided them loans, the monarchists bought weapons from these two countries. The Qing thus managed to overcome the loss of Japan, that could have been the end of them. However, the Communist cells all over the country, with Soviet weaponry, might very well prove deadly to them, should a showdown between the two armies happen once.
Lastly, the effects of the Zhili debt began to weigh down on both sides, as interests levels grew. Even if both had shown their willingness to take this debt, investors had no clear side to ask the money from and this caused distrust and reluctance for newer loans. The Nationalists could count on the Soviets for loans and the Monarchists on Japan, so a total failure of the system was unlikely.
The Treaty of Vladivostok however came as an humiliation to the Japanese, who had expected to reenact their victory of the Russo-Japanese war. But the Soviet Union wasn’t Tsarist Russia, and Japan hadn’t been prepared for this war. The Japanese army remained strong, but its numbers were no match against the might of the Red Army and the failure or lack of mobilization had been the key factor that led to the downfall of the Japanese armies in Manchuria. The Transsiberian railway, that hadn’t been finished for the Russo-Japanese war and that thus isolated the Russian forces in the Far East had done its job, even if members of the Soviet leadership still wanted to upgrade it. With the Soviets able to field and reinforce a million men in Transbaikalia, the small Japanese army faced a crushing defeat. The peace treaty was light, as Japan managed to avoid paying reparations, but the Japanese people still didn’t take it happily. Riots broke out all over the country, that were harshly put down by the military police. Japan respected the treaty, but still kept some interests in China, as Japanese merchants in Manchuria and Hebei, some of them very close to the Kwantung army, never left the country.
The leadership of the Korean government established by the Soviets was evacuated by the Red Army as it left the peninsula. But the Korean resistance fighters who fought behind Japanese lines and the bulk of the partisans - who regardless of political affiliation had been supported since 1918 - suddenly faced a revanchist IJA and were out of weapons. The crackdown was violent and bloody, as North-Eastern Korea was ‘cleansed’ by the Japanese, who also jailed thousands of people who had opposed them during the war. These partisans, along with their families and close friends, were sent to labour camps in Hokkaido and weren’t seen again in Korea.
Without supplies whatsoever, the Korean Patriots suffered at the hands of the vengeful Japanese.
The Japanese officer corps was warned that opposing the treaty was the same as opposing the Emperor, and they ended up understanding that this treaty, as humiliating as it was for Pan-Asianists, had been the lesser evil. The Hokushinron (Northern Expansion) school lost some credit, as the Emperor himself forbade to attack the Russians. But the Nanshinron (Southern Expansion) didn’t manage to grow that much, as the IJN was seen as the instrument that had led to the disaster at Khabarovsk. But the Government, facing election in 1928, would need to take a formal stance on this matter, as it was clear that the entire Japanese society wished for Japan to expand somewhere.
But the war did take its toll on the IJA as new emphasis on discipline was introduced during training. Japanese soldiers didn’t need to think, they needed to obey and to sacrifice themselves for a greater cause. Some members of the staff were fired and faced trials for treason for their poor performances against the Soviets, Sadao Araki escaping pursuits. New members were promoted, and these men began to rework the Japanese military doctrine, that remained centered around powerful, localized and coordinated strikes against the enemy lines. But now they devised flexible schemes to be used in different environments, also improving the logistics of the army so as to support such campaigns.
The Australian Parliament convenes for the first time in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, which had been finished earlier in the year. Before this, the Parliament had been meeting in Melbourne, in the State of Victoria.
Attempts to encourage investment into the “solar” industry are ridiculed, as some people in the Australian government hold the silly theory that the sun can be used as a power source. The MPs which proposed this bill resigned in disgrace, as hundreds of posters showing them plugging electric plugs into the sun circulated around the country.
Other Notable World Events
The first transatlantic telephone call is made via radio from New York City to London.
A military rebellion is crushed in Lisbon, Portugal.
Werner Heisenberg formulates his famous uncertainty principle while employed as a lecturer at Niels Bohr's Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen.
An earthquake in Yugoslavia kills 100.
A Richter Scale 7.6 magnitude earthquake kills at least 2,925 at Toyooka and Mineyama area, western Honshu, Japan.
Fritz Lang's culturally influential film Metropolis premieres in Germany.
In China, due to the never-ending strife and the decrepitude of the police forces, opium consumption grew steadily, people seeking to escape their daily hardships thanks to narcotics.
Bell Telephone Co. transmits an image of Herbert Hoover, which becomes the first successful long distance demonstration of television.
The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 renames the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The change acknowledges that Ireland is no longer part of the Kingdom.
Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo, nonstop transatlantic airplane flight, carried out from New York City to Paris, France, in his single-engined aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis.
Peter Voikov, the Soviet ambassador to Poland, is murdered.
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge announces, "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."
The Mount Rushmore Park is rededicated. President Calvin Coolidge promises national funding for the proposed carving of the Presidential figures.
Communist Party congress condemns all deviation from the general party line in the USSR.
Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
The U.S. submarine S-4 is accidentally rammed and sunk by the United States Coast Guard cutter John Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, killing everyone aboard despite several unsuccessful attempts to raise the submarine.
