The Land of the Free
A Timelines Inter-Season Showcase brought to you by Estonianzulu
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Editor's Note said:
As many of you may know , I plan on continuing the Timelines story into Vicky and HOI2 . As part of that , along with recently watching John Adams , I proposed to Zulu if he'd like to do a piece on the road to American independence during the eve of the Great War in 1936 ! Being a student of history himself and author of his own excellent history book AAR of the United States , he agreed to take up his pen to contribute to our inter-season showcase . Well then , let's take a look at Spanish North America during one of the most pivotal portions before the Great War , a kind of preview of the situation on the threshold of Vicky and HOI2 in Timelines !
As the 1920’s gave way to the 1930’s, the Western territories of the Americas were racked with a series of massive dust storms which destroyed crop production throughout the country. The result of these massive storms was a migration of Westerners back east. These migrants were overwhelmingly Spanish in descent, and as the 30’s marched on, the resentment for these new arrivals built heavily in the East. As men like Henry Ford and other business owners were forced to provide jobs to many of these Spanish migrants by the Viceroyalty, that resentment boiled over. Soon racial violence broke out in many of the major mid-western cities. The largest came in a riot in downtown Pittsburgh, where the Spanish authorities were forced to call out state troops to put an end to the violence. It was clear that the long history of Spanish rule was reaching break point.
Although no acts of direct violence occurred against government institutions, the assault on Spaniards was seen as a direct attack on the crown itself. How could this violence and these incidents go unpunished, especially in the face of similar (and often more extreme) violence in other dominion states? So, the Spanish authorities struck back with an iron fist. Starting in 1934, leaders of Southern Resistance groups, primarily leftovers from the civil war generations earlier, were arrested en masse for “plotting” against the state. When the radical and popular lawyer Huey Long was arrested, the pot boiled over. Crowds of citizens in Louisiana stormed the jail house, demanding his release. What shocked the Spanish authorities the most was who was in the crowd. Present of course were Anglo and French descendents who made up the majority of the Eastern population of the Americas, but also Spanish descendents and Africans.
“The Kingfish” Huey Long
As Long left Louisiana he was welcomed by other Southern politicians eager to challenge Spanish authority. Many of the representatives to the Colonial Congress, although fully under Spanish control, were proud southerners. They often road to election on invocations of the old rebels and the fallen heroes of Southern lore, and now they had a living legend to lead them. Long, and the other Southern leaders called for an Inter-American conference, to meet and discuss the future of American participation in the Spanish Empire. From Quebec to Florida, and from Boston to Las Californias, the cry went out for representatives to come. Meeting in Richmond, the most staunchly Anglicized region of the Americas, the Council of America met to discuss the rising Spanish oppression. Although the meeting was a secret, it was clear that the Spanish knew. But fears of outright war led to caution.
In all 35 territories were represented. The “13 Colonies” of pre-conquest England all sent representatives, as did the Southern territories, the Mid West, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. Notably absent were representatives from the overwhelmingly Spanish West Coast, and most significantly Las Californias. These territories, as with many Far-Western provinces, still held a bitter resentment towards the East for years of cold community and Anti-Spanish hostility. On January 5th, 1936 the council met for the first time. Led by James Michael Curley of Massachusetts, the council began by merely listing the complaints the Americans had against their Spanish overlords. Some were mild and generally agreed upon, such as the rise of taxation to pay for adventures in Persia and the Far East. Others however, drew far more debate. Upon Huey Long’s speech concerning “the Oppression of the American People” by the Spanish authority, a fight broke out on the conference room floor. Many of the delegations from the West walked out, enraged that the Anglo-French delegations had become so dominant.
With the Spanish delegates gone, unity was still missing. The Southern delegates, now worked into a frenzy by the charismatic and fiercely intelligent Long, called for Independence. For too long Spanish hegemony had been unquestioned, and now it was time to bring about a change. And although Northerners were eager to gain some level of autonomy, they were not yet read for an “irreconcilable divide.” Led by Al Smith of New York, the Northern Territories proposed the Council send, directly to the King, a list of complaints. The now famous “Centum List” was a call for reform. Although the list was received in the court, local authorities acted first. The Spanish Viceroy, threatened by rumors of sedition and succession, called up the State militias. It was clear now that the divide was, as Smith put it, irreconcilable. Of the original 35 delegations, 30 remained, and of those 30, 26 declared themselves united in opposition to the call to arms. The other four promised neutrality in any conflict (And of those 4, two would be forced into revolt by Spanish reactions).
The 26 “States” of America declared independence on September 12th, 1936.
Huey Long was immediately elected Consul of the States and tasked with setting up a government. Long, with other Southerners, felt that a strong central government was key, especially after hundreds of years of Spanish failure from abroad. While each state would be an independent government, they would all pay homage to the Executive. Calling upon the old legacies of ancient Rome, the Republic of America was founded. Long appointed Governors to rule the 26 states, and tasked each with the formation of a legislature and began to organize a national war plan. Like Ancient Rome, Long would rule as dictator, protecting the nation in time of crisis. He carried himself like a modern day Cincinnatus, ready to beat his sword into a plow share and return to civility at the end of the conflict.
It was clear that such a bold move would be met with force by the Spanish authorities. As Spanish forces mobilized, the Americas, with rising tides of invented nationalism in the face of Spanish authority, braced for impact. And the world would be changed forever. The newly formed “American Army” was little more than a collection of militias before being restructured in 1936 and fashioned into a tool of war. But the question facing the Americans, as well as the millions abroad under the rule of the Spanish Crown, was what would happen next.
Blue[/blue]- The 26 States of America
Red- Neutral States driven into War
Green- Neutral States
Yellow- Loyal Territories
