1914.
A year that will live in the minds of Americans and Bretons alike forever.
The Dominion of Canada had positioned a full division of its soldiers in New York prior to the war, foreseeing possible trouble. They feared no US state militias or policemen. They were Canadians. They were the descendants of the British. What could foolish Yanks do to them?
The units in New York prepared to move out towards New York City, following the pattern of the Dominion War. They laughed and joked among themselves about how they would thrash the Yanks and return home heroes.
Wrong. So wrong.
General John Pershing's 1st Army, containing 120,000 men of the United States "police" slammed into the Canadians like a freight train. supporting his attack were 80,000 men of 2nd Army, formerly commanded by MacArthur, the genius of the Freedom War battle plan, who was now on a top-secret attache mission. The Canadians melted away like smoke in the breeze.
Pershing quickly seized Ottawa, the city where America had been forced to sign the Dominion War peace. 2nd Army looped past him for Montreal. General Wise bulldozed out of Maine with 90,000 men aiming for Quebec City. Other United States forces seized all of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia within weeks.
The Canadians, desperate to regain control of the war, did two things. the first was to send a frantic plea to Britain for reinforcements. The second was to take their troops in the west and launch assaults into the suspiciously quiet states of Montana, Washington, Idaho, North Dakota and Minnesota. The Canadian troops penetrated ten miles into the States facing only scattered opposition. They began to grow confident.
Then they ran into the Custer Line.
Stretching from the Great Lakes all the way to the Pacific coast, the Custer Line had been named in honor of the fallen war hero, and built for just such a case as this. almost 15 divisions of US state militias garrisoned the line, protecting the western United States from any assault.
Meanwhile, London decided to execute three operations simultaneously. A transport fleet would take men and material from the Home Islands to reinforce Quebec against America. Simultaneously, the Royal Navy would ferry men from Britain's Indian satellites to attack the West Coast - as well as carrying Royal Marines to attack the East. Surly America would crumble under the onslaught!
Wrong again.
The invasion of the West Coast ran into a little snag - 60,000 men of the Californian and Oregon militias organized in two mobile commands. Both the UK landing at San Diego and the slightly later one at Portland were completely shattered. With that the eye of the world turned to the reinforcement of Canada.
Britain was at this time embroiled in a colonial conflict with the French, who became very pro-US during this time. The press in the only neutral Great Powers - the CSA, Japan, Germany, Russia and Italy - reported that the US Coast Guard had left its bases in Norfolk, Annapolis and New York to meet the Royal Navy. The British laughed. What could Coast Guard ships do to them? Britannia?
You would have thought they'd learned.
The UK transport fleet was hit sixty miles outside of Riviere-du-Loup by a US fleet consisting of fifteen fully modernized cruisers and four battleships, protected by flotillas of Destroyers and torpedo boats. The transport fleet shattered. Only two battalions worth of British soldiers made it into Riviere-du-Loup - just in time to be steamrolled by General Wise.
The UK landings on the US east coast met with great success. the Delaware State Militia repulsed two successive Royal Marine forces - but the Maryland militia was forced to withdraw into Pennsylvania under pressure from 170,000 British soldiers. Washington fell.
However, even with the US withdrawals from Maryland and Delaware, Pennsylvania was not breached, and the enemy was contained before a breakout into West Virginia occurred. As the year 1914 drew to a close, the world held its breath, waiting for what 1915 would bring.
Whatever else - it would bring war.