Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Tale of America in the 20th Century Kaiserreich USAAR

[LoneStar Prussian]

New Years Day, 1900. ​

The world was a far different place than it is today, doubly-so for the Land of the Free. The United States stood as the sole hegemon of the Western Hemisphere, guarding the Americas with it's industrial and cultural influence. However unlike in the modern age, outside of the Americas, the USA held no voice or power. Unlike the highly industrious European Powers, the United States still had yet to make the major leap forward in its military and industrial capacity. After all, the mainland portion of the US still had territories yet to achieve statehood. While it was true at the time that America was no world power, the Home of the Brave had something no other nation had. There was a flame inside the heart of the country, one that could fuel the rise of the greatest superpower known to man. America's potential was unmatched at the turn of the new century. And as history would prove, the 20th Century would forever be known as the American Century...even if the road to that title was more than a bit rocky.

I am Cyril Grosscastle, narrator of the Royal Broadcasting Corporation's newest production on the United States of America and its remarkable tale in the last century. This story, as all others worth telling, is filled with highs and lows, an electrifying climax, and characters whose choices impact us all. We will cover America's rise from start to finish. We will see America at its finest, and at its lowest. From the second time brother fought brother, to when an entire planet was threatened by Totalist tyranny, and finally, when every man, woman, and child was at the mercy of the atom.

This is Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Order of the Ages) - The Tale of America in the 20th Century.

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Contents

Prologue
1900-1937

Episode 1: The First Weltkrieg and America

Episode 2: The Fleeting Twenties

Episode 3: A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Second American Civil War
(1937-1938)

Episode 4: The Battle of America

Episode 5: Four Americas and Their Jagged Claws

Episode 6: Manifesting Destiny

Episode 7: Roar of the Federalists

Episode 8: When Freemen Stand

American Interwar Period
(1938-1942)

Episode 9: Reconstruction

Episode 10: False Songs of Syndicalism

Episode 11: The Plunder of Europe (Coming Soon)

Weltkrieg Two
(1942-1946)

Chapter 12: The Arsenal of Freedom (Coming Soon)

Chapter 13: On Stormy Tides (Coming Soon)

Chapter 14: To Anacreon In Heaven (Coming Soon)

Chapter 15: Kaisersschlacht (Coming Soon)

Chapter 16: The Fighting Sun (Coming Soon)

Chapter 17: The Grand Crusade (Coming Soon)

Chapter 18: Last of the Wolves (Coming Soon)

Chapter 19: Victory In Europe (Coming Soon)

Chapter 20: House of the Setting Sun (Coming Soon)

Chapter 21: To Meet Triumph and Disaster (Coming Soon)

Pre-Cold War
(1946-1950)

Chapter 22: A World Divided (Coming Soon)

Chapter 23: The Last Imperialist (Coming Soon)

Chapter 24: Dual Dragons (Coming Soon)

The Third Great South American War
(1950-1953)

Chapter 25: Andes Storm (Coming Soon)

Chapter 26: The Spirit of Monroe (Coming Soon)

Chapter 27: The New-Old War (Coming Soon)

Chapter 28: Almost Hell (Coming Soon)

Chapter 29: The Sixteen Nation Army (Coming Soon)

Chapter 30: Wrath of the Titan (Coming Soon)

Chapter 31: Season Unending (Coming Soon)

The Cold War Pt. 1
(1953-1958)

Chapter 32: The Atomic Age (Coming Soon)

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Notes:
This AAR should last about a year, however probably by early fall I will start to make Ironheart II again, perhaps even earlier.
Cyril is just a character btw. The reason why it's called the RBC is because UoB took the BBC
Also, this AAR will cover 1900 - 2000 purely from America's perspective.
Finally, I'm sorry for starting and ending yet another series and clogging up this forum, I'll make it up by going on to the end with this.

 

[Bored Student1414]

Another LoneStar Prussian AAR. Hopefully it won't die early or be put on infinite hiatus. A standard Kaiserreich game should easier for you because there is less personal modding for you to do.

Do you have the whole game played out already or are you writing as you play? It shows like the former.

Are you going to continue with your gushingly patriotic style or adopt a more neutral tone considering you are using non-American narrator?

There are many USA Kaiserreich AARs out there. I hope yours survives and become well-told.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

Good luck dude

 

[HIMDogson]

Go full MacArthurite tyranny; I mostly see Curtiswanks for US AARs.

 

[Baron Jukaga]

Just remember: Canada was only looking after New England and Alaska as a friendly neighbor.

 

[Nuada Airgetlám]

Good luck and subscribed.

 

[LoneStar Prussian]

Another LoneStar Prussian AAR. Hopefully it won't die early or be put on infinite hiatus. A standard Kaiserreich game should easier for you because there is less personal modding for you to do.

Do you have the whole game played out already or are you writing as you play? It shows like the former.

Are you going to continue with your gushingly patriotic style or adopt a more neutral tone considering you are using non-American narrator?

There are many USA Kaiserreich AARs out there. I hope yours survives and become well-told.

1) Whole game played out, I liked what happened in the game so I decided to share the story in a new way.
2) Also, this is going to be basically neutral, I'm not going to write this like I have the Ironheart series.
3) As do I.

Good luck dude

Thanks, I'll need it.

Go full MacArthurite tyranny; I mostly see Curtiswanks for US AARs.

Sorry to say that I went full Curtiswank, viva la democracia

Just remember: Canada was only looking after New England and Alaska as a friendly neighbor.

Of course, The United States is forever grateful for Canada's caretaking. (First AAR that the British Empire isn't the enemy, wow)

Good luck and subscribed.

Thank you

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​

Welcome to the RBC's Novus Ordo Seclorum, the Tale of America in the 20th Century. I am Cyril Grosscastle, narrator of this production. This program aims to tell the incredible story of the United States in the 20th Century, one filled with highs and lows, an electrifying climax, and characters whose choices impact us all even to this very day. We will cover America's rise from start to finish. We will see America at its finest, and at its lowest. From the second time brother fought brother, to when an entire planet was threatened by Totalist tyranny, and finally, when every man, woman, and child was at the mercy of the atom.

This is Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Order of the Ages) - The Tale of America in the 20th Century.

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Episode 1: The First Weltkrieg and America

(1914-1921)

Narrated by Cyril Grosscastle

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​

At the turn of the century, there was a relative peace in the Americas. Not a sizable conflict stirred in the New World nor was it at threat from abroad. Only Mexico proved unstable in Latin America, and the last war the United States fought in was already forgotten by the public. The average American was living a peaceful and quiet life compared to the rest of the world, with good reason too. At the time, the United States wasn't threatened by economic decline or internal squabbles. America's borders weren't threatened by any rival nation, its geographic position made a foreign invasion almost impossible, and its navy was one of the most formidable in the world. The United States had expanded as far as it could, purchasing Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 and annexing Hawaii in 1898. There truly was no threat from any direction, mostly thanks to Monroe.

With no reason to fight, the United States remained in its own corner of the world, abiding by the long-standing policy of political isolation. Don't get the wrong idea, America was far from being the greatest place to live, as many of the country's minorities could've told you. The United States was in a sort of 'Gilded Age'. Economic policies facilitated rapid industrial growth within the continental US, however this also lead to the rise of tycoons and mediocre government officials within the nation. If the world was a sandbox, America would be the child keeping to himself but being content with it. As the US built its sandcastles all by itself, across the other side of the box, conflict would erupt.

​

Europe in 1914 was a powder keg ready to explode. The Pax Britannica that had kept Europe out of another major war was eroding away. The balance of power on the continent was shattered with the unification of Germany and Italy as well as the collective European 'Race for Africa'. Ours was a continent of rival nations with far reaching colonial empires and ambitions of war. The continent eventually became split between two rival blocs of nations, the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale, and the Austro-German Central Powers (or Kaiserbund). Neither of these blocs were standing for any noble cause, in fact the two alliances had no serious ideological difference. It was a game to the major European Powers, a game that, unfortunately, would end up costing the lives of over forty-one million people.

Battlines of Weltkrieg One, February 1917
​

The spark that started what would become the First Weltkrieg, or World War One, came in the form of assassination and terror. On the 28th of June, 1914, the heir of the Austrian Throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was taking a ride through Sarajevo with his wife. He was only there to inspect imperial armies stationed in the recently annexed Bosnia, a former Ottoman Territory in the turbulent Balkans. The Balkans was the one area of Europe where no one nation could be satisfied, each nation claiming the lands of others. The newly independent Serbian state was no exception, and it unfortunately set the norm. Serbian Nationalists claimed that the whole of Bosnia was rightfully Serbian, and the Serbian Government agreed with them. There was a group inside Serbia, a terrorist cell known as the Black Hand. Full of Serbian Nationalists, their goal was the establishment of a Greater Serbia, and when the news of Austria's Heir arriving in Bosnia's largest city on the anniversary of the First Battle of Kosovo spread to these terrorists...a plot for murder was conceived.

To assassinate Franz Ferdinand would strike a blow into the very heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It'd show, at least according to the Black Hand, that Serbia was not be trifled with, that Bosnia was Belgrade's. What the Black Hand failed to realize however is that Austria-Hungary was willing to go to war with their nation should a terror plot occur. The Black Hand also was targeting the one man who had the power to reform and change the Habsburg Empire into something more along the lines of a federation, where each ethnic group would be fairly represented. Ethnic Serbian regions in Bosnia could've perhaps peacefully join Serbia on their own. Alas, it was never meant to be, for on that fateful day in the summer of 1914, the Black Hand lit Europe ablaze. A wise man once said that the next Great European War would start in the Balkans, perhaps Europe should have listened.

With their casus belli in hand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ignoring warning from Russia and Italy, invaded Serbia a month after the Archduke's death. After that, a massive chain of events dragged every major European Nation into the war, first Russia, next Germany and France, followed by Belgium, Britain, and Bulgaria, and then Greece and the Turkish Empire. A grave and terrible war soon was being waged all over the globe, from the frontlines in Europe to the Colonies in Africa and Asia. When the war began to stabilize, a new type of warfare was introduced. Trench Warfare. This type of warfare was self-explanatory: two opposite armies dug in along the front, building highly defensible trenches and bunkers to stop the other from advancing. It wasn't a new concept as this type of warfare was used during the First American Civil War. Yet, with modern technology, entire armies were slaughtered by the hell-fire of machine guns and the shrapnel of artillery.

British Troops being shelled during the Battle of the Somme, Summer 1916​

News of the conflict in Europe caused a sense of war weariness within the United States. No American wanted to send their boys off to such a slaughter. When the US Government took a poll on if the United States should enter the war, it was revealed to the world that ninety-seven percent of all Americans said no. However, German Arms almost threatened this percentile with the introduction of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and the later sinking of the USS Lusitania. Early on in the war, the Royal Navy blockaded the German Mainland in order to gain an advantage of the German Empire. Furthermore, in November of 1914, the United Kingdom declared the North Sea to be an active warzone, forcing all ships to enter at their own risk.

The blockade the British enforced was unusually restrictive, forcing any ship bound for Germany to be detained and inspected in a British Port before being allowed to reach its destination. Even so, anything the British deemed to be war contraband, including food, was illegal to transport to the German Empire. Many accused the UK of violating international law, but no one was willing to do anything about the blockade. The United Kingdom had the largest and best trained navy during those days, no one nation could stop them militarily. The blockade also had a detrimental effect on the US Economy since the US up to that point was profiting well off both warring parties. The US Government protested the blockade immensely, but the British would not budge. Thus, the German Empire took it upon itself to respond to the blockade. If it couldn't directly blockade the British Isles, it'd take out every allied ship heading to it.

German U-Boat afloat in the Celtic Sea, Unrestricted U-Boat Campaign of January-June 1915
​

To take the fight to the Royal Navy would be suicide for the Hochseeflotte. Germany may have had one of the world's greatest navies, but it didn't hold a candle to Britain. Rather then, the Germans unleashed their counterattack from below the high seas, not on them. The U-31 Class U-Boat was a dangerous beast. Armed with six torpedoes, a single U-Boat could potentially sink six different ships, and it had an impressive range of 8790 miles powered by two-shaft diesel and electric motors. With thirty-five men operating the sixty-four meter long underwater vessel, this submarine would prove a massive boon for the Kaiser's Germany. While it did not turn the tide of the war, it did allow the Germans to fight back against the Entente's Naval Superiority. The Germans picked and chose their battles, sinking many Anglo-French Supply Ships and if they were lucky, a combat ship.

In late January of 1915, something changed in the U-Boat attacks. They no longer attacked ships with warnings and began to pray upon neutral ships heading to the British Isles, both clear violations of international law. After three Italian Merchant Vessels were sunk heading to the UK, the Kingdom of Italy renounced it's membership within the Triple Alliance. This would soon cause Italy to join the war against the Germans. In America, many pondered if the US should be supportive or against Germany's actions, however, they stopped when innocent Americans were sent to their deaths by way of the torpedo. The RMS Lusitania, a merchant vessel departing from New York City to Liverpool, carrying one-hundred and twenty American Citizens, was gutted on the Seventh of May by a German U-Boat, killing nearly all aboard. It was an utter massacre of American Lives. The public opinion in the United States started to sway against Germany, even the massive German-American population was outraged.

​

The United States of America was quick to respond to the Lusitania Incident. Acting President Woodrow Wilson, the first Southern President since the Civil War, was hell bent on neutrality. The 1916 Presidential Elections were fastly approaching and Wilson knew if he could keep America out of the war, he would no doubt win re-election. At the same time, he had to send a message to the Kaiser in Berlin, one that would force the German Empire to cease it's destructive policy of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. Thus, with the support of the United States Congress, an ultimatum to the German Empire was issued by Wilson: Restrict Submarines or War, a gamble for the ages. Fortunately for the President's career, Germany heeded the US's warning. Germany's Military Staff knew it would stand no chance in the war if the United States began to use it's economic might to bankroll the Entente into winning. It was possibly the most decisive decision of the entire war, and in the end, America's show of force actually turned the nation even more isolationist than it was before. Not wanting to risk the peace Wilson had forged with Germany and the Entente, the United States retreated back to its borders. Interestingly enough, the German Surface Navy eventually broke the British Blockade in 1918 during the Second Battle of Jutland. Had America entered the war, it would've been the single most greatest mistake Germany could've made.

To say that all Americans did not want a war would be false. While yes, an overwhelming majority of folks within the United States wanted nothing to do with the barbarous wars of the Old World, others did. There was man in France. Born American, he'd already been flying for the French since the war started. His name was Dr. Edmund Gros, a proponent of a volunteer American Air Corps for France. Until the summer of 1916, Dr. Gros had been rejected each time he proposed his ideas to the French Government. Things changed for the man however. With the Anglo-French Entente engaged in the most brutal year of fighting in the war, back-up in the skies, even if that back-up was American, seemed more and more acceptable by the day. Eventually, the Doctor got his wish. The Lafayette Flying Corps was the name the French gave to the two-hundred pilot corps that would be fighting for another red-white-and-blue. The Lafayette Escadrille, a sub-group of the corps, achieved major aerial victories during the Battle of Verdun and the later Battle of Passchendaele. Unfortunately for the squadron, their combat usefulness was made null and void during the German Spring Offensive of 1919. The Lafayette Escadrille were obliterated by a surprise attack during the Battle of Reims, and soon the rest of the Lafayette Flying Corps would be disbanded.

Another volunteer force, this time an infantry unit, found much more fame in their war. These Americans were strangers to war, and like many young boys that enlisted in the many armies of Europe, they did not see war as something horrible. This volunteer division was known to the world as 'Yorktown's Finest'. They were formed by those in the US Military who wanted a war rather than a guard post. Their leader, Ethan Winchester, offered the British Army their support in the war. Britain accepted in order to garner a better image in the American Public, however, Yorktown's Finest saw no combat for an entire year. Instead, they were paraded around England and France to boost morale, to give the men at the front hope of an American Relief that would never come. When it became clear the the United States would not enter the war, the British finally put Yorktown's Finest to use.

In 1917, the Entente around the Somme were preparing for another offensive. During the Second Battle of the Somme, the 'Doughboys' (a derogatory term for the inexperienced American Volunteers) first saw combat against the German Army on the Seventh of August. The Americans were tasked with capturing a German Fortification at the village of Gommecourt. The Germans, experienced and perfectly prepared for any Entente Assault, were utterly bewildered when Yorktown's Finest came charging at them. Not because they had American emblems strapped to their uniforms, but because they fought with a fearless tenacity not seen since the start of the war. However, blind morale only gets you so far in the age of machine gunfire. The Doughboys were cut down in the fields of No Man's Land, a reminder of how brutal war could be. After their colossal failure in the field, what remained of Yorktown's Finest were immediately sent back to the United States. The whole affair was embarrassing for the United Kingdom. An entire division worth of American Men slaughtered under their supervision did nothing to convince the US Public to enter the Weltkrieg. Furthermore, a British Submarine accidentally torpedoed an American Vessel carrying Christmas Gifts to Germany later that year, causing a partial lift in the British Blockade of the German Kaiserreich. All the parades and propaganda were now made void. Yorktown's Finest did achieve the fame they originally sought out for, but in the most sorrowful of ways.

Members of the Lafayette Escadrille, Northern France 1916.​

The 'War To End All Wars' would soon end six years later on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month with the Peace With Honor between the German and British Empires. In 1918, revolution knocked the fragile Russian Republic out of the war. Later that year, Entente attacks in the West were beaten back, and an offensive into Italy proved successful. The Balkans fell to the Central Powers in early 1919, as did the French Nation after a German breakthrough at St. Mihel broke the French Army. A naval war dragged on the war further than anticipated, but soon the British and German Governments made amends in the esteemed Peace With Honor, which involved both sides signing a white peace. The European Continent once again knew peace, but was a changed place. No longer was there a Pax Britannica ruling over the continent. Now, it was replaced by a victorious Pax Germanica, for better or for worse.

German Cavalry parade through Paris like their fathers before them, Spring 1919.​

The Weltkrieg may have been over, but the damaging ramifications of a German Victory were about show. With the rise of a dangerous ideology across Western Europe, both the United States and the World were now unknowingly on the road to another war. For America, the twenties would show short economic prosperity, but when the greatest economic depression took the nation by storm, there would be no reversing the damage done. The seeds of another civil war were planted with rise of Syndicalism in the North and National Populism in the South, but that is a story for another time.

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On the next episode of Novus Ordo Seclorum, we will delve into the forward plunge that started America's trek to it's lowest point, and the world's. From the rise of Marxism in the defeated nations of the Weltkrieg to the division of American Society, come back to us when we air the series's second episode: The Fleeting Twenties. I have been your host, Cyril Grosscastle, and on behalf of RBC, we hope to see you all again. Now, I'm afraid I must depart, the RBC pays huge amounts for overtime, so we've been told to make sure we don't, and to just say goodnight instead.

Goodnight.

 

[Bored Student1414]

Next we learn how the fundamentals of American society were rocked to their core and the stage set for the rise of America's most notorious demagogues in the 1920s....

Good luck telling (or retelling) the well-worn but ever enjoyable tell of American kaiserreich. It is a challenge.

 

[LoneStar Prussian]

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Welcome to the RBC's Novus Ordo Seclorum, the Tale of America in the 20th Century. I am Cyril Grosscastle, narrator of this production. This program aims to tell the incredible story of the United States in the 20th Century, one filled with highs and lows, an electrifying climax, and characters whose choices impact us all even to this very day. We will cover America's rise from start to finish. We will see America at its finest, and at its lowest. From the second time brother fought brother, to when an entire planet was threatened by Totalist tyranny, and finally, when every man, woman, and child was at the mercy of the atom.

This is Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Order of the Ages) - The Tale of America in the 20th Century.

Disclaimer: While it is illegal in the United Kingdom to display imagery of the Union of Britain and Syndicalism, for educational purposes, the Royal Broadcasting Corporation is protected by the Liberation and Reconstruction Acts of 1949 and 1956, thus it is allowed to show these symbols. Viewer's discretion is advised.

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Episode 2: The Fleeting Twenties

(1921-1936)

Narrated by Cyril Grosscastle

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America, 1921.

The destructive War to End All Wars was over, American arts and culture were reaching a peaking point, and it seemed as if the new decade would bring about a roar of economic prosperity. For the first time in the nation's history, more people were bustling in the streets of a city than those plowing amber waves of grain. The United States's total wealth more than doubled from the years of 1920 to 1925, pushing many American Citizens into the age of the Consumer Economy. From coast to coast, people listened to the same music, bought the same goods, danced the same moves, and even used the same slang. The phenomenon that swept America was that of Mass Culture, and to some, it brought on more conflict than it did celebration. Nonetheless, change had arrived in the Home of the Brave, and for many in the cities, the 1920s were Roaring. Alas, that roar would be a fleeting one, for like the Twenties itself, prosperity would not last. Instead, the pillars of American Society would be chiseled to their very cores, setting the stage of the single greatest test for the American Experiment.

Baseball Player 'Stan the Man' hitting a ball out of the park, the early Fleeting Twenties.​

When one is reminded of the Fleeting Twenties, he or she probably is first reminded of the flapper (young women with bobbed hair and short skirts who drank, smoked, and freely voiced themselves even it perhaps wasn't ladylike). While many women weren't actually flappers, they were more liberated than the many previous generations that could only dream for what they'd been bestowed: The right to vote. Global Women's Suffrage had achieved a major victory in 1920, during the last stage of the International Weltkrieg. While here in Britain, Women would not get the vote until 1921, and even further down the road in 1948 for the German Empire, the American Congress ratified the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, granting Women in America the right to vote in any election, from local to general.

Before 1925, the birth of Mass Culture transformed the American Economy greatly. Americans on average had much more money to spend than before thanks to the economic surplus created by the Weltkrieg. Average Americans spent this money on new luxurious clothes and convenient home appliances like electric refrigerators and the esteemed radio. The first commercial radio station in the United States hit the airwaves early in 1920, it being Pittsburgh's KDKA. A mere three years later, there were more than five-hundred radio stations broadcasting across the United States and radios in more than twelve million homes. The movie industry too boomed, with nearly three-quarters of the US Population visiting the movie theaters every week.

A Trio of children listening to their parent's radio, 1921.​

Undoubtedly, the most important consumer product of the early Fleeting Twenties was that of the automobile. Companies such as Ford offered low prices and generous credit, allowing the automobile to flourish on the streets of America. Automobiles gave the young people of the Untied States the ability to travel to wherever they pleased. It would be to no one's surprise that these vehicles would soon be known to some as 'bedrooms on wheels'. As America was entering a Jazz Age, many of these young travelers wanted to do one thing: Dance. Jazz bands played at dance halls like the Savoy in New York City while many radio stations played their music for the folks at home. America, for all of it's previous faults, was prospering with it's people enjoying total freedom across the land. Well, that would've been the case if that same freedom wasn't restricted in every local pub.

Prohibition - that was what the collective ban of the sale of alcohol in the United States was known as. While the United States expanded some of it's freedoms, it also curtailed many others at the same time. The eighteenth amendment to the United States Constitution effectively banned the selling of most intoxicating drinks within the country, however it didn't actually ban the consumption of alcohol itself. This, as one would expect, drove the liquor trade underground while also increasing crime related to the illegal beverages. Most beers were now controlled by bootleggers, racketeers, and other organized crime lords. The most notable of these crime bosses was an individual named Al Capone, a Chicago Gangster who was protected by over a thousand gunmen and had half the city's police in his pocket. To some Anglophone Americans, Prohibition was a way to reassert American Values and curtail many Germanophones within America by stopping the wide-spread use of the 'Kaiser's Brew'.

Anti-Prohibitionists protesting in the town of Middelsboro, 1922.​

Social Tension would not only be facilitated by Prohibition, but also by many other factors. From the Great Migration of African-Americans from Southern States to Northern Cities, bringing with them Jazz and ever more visible Black Culture, to the Red Scares of 1921 and 1925, the United States domestically was socially unstable, especially after 1925. To be fair though, America's social cohesion in the twenties didn't hold a candle to that of Western Europe. The American Klu Klux Klan saw a small resurgence in the heart of Dixieland as well as the northern states of Illinois and Indiana. To many who were joining the Klan, the group offered a return to certain values that the fast-paced, city-dwelling twenties were supposedly eroding. However, many more in the ever growing left leaning North had no sympathy for any attacks on American Citizens, forming Red Mobs to protect their communities. Push never came to shove, but the organization of opposing political groups in the Fleeting Twenties would prove to be a precursor to the violence that was coming.

Federal Officials and Civilians standing by after the Wall Street Bombing by an Italian Syndicalist Immigrant, 1923.
​

There is a reason why the denizens of the United States remember this decade not as the Roaring Twenties, but as the Fleeting Twenties. The ever so prosperous lifestyle of the first half of the decade was not to continue further beyond the year 1925 - the year everything came crashing down for both the United States and United Kingdom. America may have averted the Weltkrieg directly, but unseen by all in the Americas was the crossair aimed directly at it. Mass Consumerism and blind spending in the United States was dependent on the foreign markets of Western Europe. Unbeknownst to most Americans was the quiet rise of a dangerous ideology across the defeated nations of the Weltkrieg, silently picking off nation after nation, creeping ever closer to the shores of America. With Germany taking America's spot on the global economic spotlight and Syndicalism in Western Europe, America's short roar would be just that, fleeting.

Marxist theories themselves weren't new, but the new offspring of Communism, Syndicalism, was a potent and deadly force following the end of the Weltkrieg. It, like all Marxist doctrines, appealed to the working class of industrialized nations. Syndicalism was the popular ideology of Trade Unionists, Far-Leftists, Radical Socialists, and Totalists. Trade Unionists and the Far Left followed the orthodox branch of Syndicalism. To the Syndicalists, this economic system was the natural successor to Capitalism as worker's rights improved. The core theme of the ideology was the management of the economy by the workers themselves. To reach this goal, Syndicalism requires a General Strike, the pretense of a Syndicalist Revolution, where all workers would stop working and grab their rifles. Radical Socialists were very similar, save for the fact that they were more liberal than their Syndicalist and Totalist counterparts.

Speaking of Totalism, Totalism was a new branch of Syndicalism created by British Maxamist Oswald Mosley, future Chairman of Britain, in 1928. It was much more in line with Communist thought, envisioning state controlled economics and authoritarianism. Another major tenet of this ideology was the power of the state being the most important. It was also no surprise that most Totalists were also Nationalists, believing both in borders and the expansion of their state. Oswald Mosley of Britain, Benito Mussolini of Italy, Nikolai Bukharin of the defeated Soviet Russia, and Georges Valois of France all were the spearheads of this terrifying ideology, one that would someday endanger the entire planet.

​

First of the many revolutions in Europe was Russia, where Lenin's Bolsheviks seized the apparatus of the state and declared a new Socialist State in the autumn of 1917. The incompetence of the Russian Tsar lead to his popular ousting and the declaration of a free Russian Republic. This new republic's refusal to have peace with the German Empire triggered Lenin's rebellion, launching the first nationwide Marxist Rebellion in the 20th Century. Russia fell into civil war, many factions aligning to two different sides: The Communist Reds and the Anti-Communist Whites. Neither side bore an resemblance of the former republic, however, that didn't mean the major economic players of the world didn't care who won the war. While the war in Russia would prove bloody, the competence of White Commanders, the assassination of Lenin, and the onset of German Military Aid quelled the Russian Revolution. In spite of that, Marxism in the first half of the century was like the mythical hydra. You could cut off its head in Russia, but two more would grow back in the West.

White Soldiers go on the offensive during the Battle of Saratov, 1919.​

The French Third Republic ended the way it began - defeated by German Arms and plundered by Marxist Revolution. After the failed French Offensive of 1918 and the German Breakthrough at St. Mihel, the radical left Confederation Generale du Travail organized a general strike across Metropolitan France. After Paris itself fell to the German Empire, a new French Provisional Republic was set in place as peace talks were beginning to form, but the FPR would not survive the year. Jacobin Rebels, fueled with inspiration from their fellow revolutionaries in Russia, started a series of attacks on public offices and government buildings in unoccupied France. The French Provisional Government tried to send in recently demobilized soldiers to disperse the rebels, but like when French Soldiers were sent to capture Napoleon when he returned from Elbe, they flocked to the revolutionaries in droves. What followed was a short but ruthless civil war within the French Homeland between the Revolutionaries and the Government. Every inch of the country was fought over, but after the dust had settled, it was the newly proclaimed Commune of France that came out on top. The tattered remains of the French Establishment managed to escape to French Africa. The Commune's rise in 1920 sent shock waves throughout Europe, waves that unfortunately, due to the Weltkrieg, were not be dealt with seriously. And so, another nation would fall.

French Communals during a street engagement with Establishment Forces, 1920.​

That other nation would be Italy, at least, partially. Mere hours after the Kingdom of Italy, battered and defeated by the Central Powers signed a peace treaty, the nation fell apart. It quite literally traveled back in time, devolving into numerous states all vying for control over the peninsula. Around Torino, the Syndicalist Socialist Republic of Italy was founded. The faction wasted no time in declaring war on the Italian Republic around Milan and finishing off the remains of the Savoyard Kingdom. In the center, Papal Forces held Rome against Syndicalist onslaught, but it would not be enough to defeat the SRI. To make things worse, the short-lived reincarnation of the Kingdom of Two-Sicilies was toppled when it's population joined the Syndicalists in ousting their Austrian King. It would take Austria-Hungary intervening directly to spare all of the Italian Peninsula falling to the Syndicalists. The Austrians re-fought their way to Rome with the Italian-Papal Forces, but that was where Austria stopped. A divided peninsula for the Habsburgs was in their best interest, even if that meant allowing yet another Syndicalist State to exist in Europe. These Marxist Outbreaks were threatening to the American Economy, but the real damning event for the nation's economy would occur on a hot summer noon in Wales...

Italian Syndicalists boosting morale before attempting to take Rome, 1921.
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Here in Britain, what I'm about to retell might be sensitive to some, but it is our history, lest we forget. Approximately 12:05, July 7th, 1925, calamity struck the British Empire at its very core. After the First Weltkrieg ended with the Peace With Honor, the socio-political situation in Britain had dramatically changed. No longer was Britain the economic powerhouse it once was, and on the world stage, Germany had overtaken it. Territoriality, the British Empire still stood at its zenith, internally, the scene couldn't have been worse. Every nation within the empire had their confidence in London shattered. Even Britain itself was broken, dealing with the nearly three million dead (the United Kingdom alone) and even more wounded. To make the desolate situation ever more devastating, a famine swept through the British Isles in 1924. Ireland, now fully independent from the United Kingdom, received aid from the German Empire, however, the ruling Conservative Government in Britain, still at odds with Berlin, refused German proposals for aid. Thus, the seeds of Syndicalist Revolution were planted - all across the empire.

After the devastating famine of 1924 passed with the winter, coupled with rising Syndicalist Agitation in Urban England, those seeds started to sprout. In June of 1925, the British Government imposed several tariffs on Germany, intentionally starting a trade war with the Kaiserreich, one that the British Empire was not equipped to win. The sudden rise in consumer goods due to European Markets closing themselves off from Britain caused a month of crisis within Britain. A General Strike was called from Manchester after workers there refused to work. The strike quickly spread to Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Cambridge. The world watched with fear as the strikers stalemated with British Authorities. This protracted calm period lasted a month before being shattered on the fateful day of July 7th, 1925. After a coal mining incident between Welsh Strikers and British Territorials erupted into fighting, the entire island fell into disarray. Leading Syndicalist John Mclean led the workers of London into open battle with the British Establishment, calling for open revolution and the overthrow of the Conservative Social Order. In the short span of less than a week, the British Revolutionaries took the isle by storm, ending the United Kingdom and forming the Union of Britain.

The Fall of London to the Syndicalists, birth of the London Commune, 1925.
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The collective overthrow of Western Europe's biggest markets sent the United States into a panic. The economy stopped slowly falling - it plunged. While capital from the British Exiles did flow into Canada and trickle down south, it would not be enough to keep the United States afloat. The sudden yet utter collapse of American trade around the globe culminated in the New York Stock Market Crash of October 1925, the kick-off to the worst economic depression in modern history. Investors traded a record sixteen million shares within the market, they ended up losing fourteen billion. In today's currency, that is one-hundred-ninety-nine billion. During the four days of the crash, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped twenty-five percent and investors lost up to thirty billion, ten times the amount of the 1925 Federal Budget. Following the crash, stocks continued to plummet with no sign of return. By the thirteenth of November, the United States had lost one-hundred billion dollars, or 1.3 trillion in today's money. This single event would be the start of America's road to rock bottom. After the crash, Syndicalist Groups within America began to rise in popularity, as did far-right circles in the South. More devastatingly, the United States entered what would be known to history as the Great Depression: The complete and utter collapse of the American Economy.

Despite the efforts of acting President Herbert Hoover that the crisis would be resolved, things only worsened as the United States reached the late 1920s. Six million Americans could not find work and double that were being laid off. The country's industrial capacity along with it's production were sliced in half. Bread Lines, Soup Kitchens, and homelessness skyrocketed in America. The nation's farmers couldn't harvest their crops, many forced to leave their produce to rot in the fields they'd worked for a lifetime. In 1927, the first of the four bank panics began as large amounts of investors lost confidence in competence of banks and demanded their deposits in full cash. In response, many banks were forced to liquidate loans in order to supply their insufficient cash reserves. By the turn of the decade, thousands of banks had closed their doors with many more Americans in dire need of economic salvation.

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During the Great Depression, two groups on the opposite ends of the political spectrum formed in response to the failing economic policies of the Hoover Administration and the growing social instability within the United States. In the new 'Red Belt' (consisting of the major population and industrial centers of the American North, centered around Chicago), a new political party formed by the Lithuanian Immigrant Alexander Berkman, the Combined Syndicates of America, gained major support from the local populace. They rode on the platform of the worker, promising him liberation from his Capitalist overlord. Problematically for the Democrats and Republicans was the fact that the Combined Syndicates were not only vehemently anti-racist, they were also anti-segregationist. The many African-Americans who migrated to the Northern States were attracted to the CSA's message, however, African-American support for the Combined Syndicates ended there, as one would quite peculiarly see down the road. The Combined Syndicates of America was not a unified party in terms of ideology. There were three factions within the CSA that all vied for power in the party. There were the Moderates lead by the Democratic Socialist Norman Thomas, the Syndicalists organized by Paul Mattick, the British savvy Radical Socialists lead by Max Schachtman, and the American Soviets spearheaded by Totalist William Z. Foster. There was one man however who kept them all in line, coincidentally, he was also front-runner to take up leadership of the entire coalition. His name was John 'Jack' Reed, a political operator who was transformed into a Syndicalist by his time in Russia during it's civil war. He was popular for his literary works advocating and addressing Lenin's ideas (and flaws), and to top it all off, he was popular with the people of the North. He, along with the entirety of the Combined Syndicates of America, proposed a new electoral challenge in the coming 1936 Presidential Election, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. There was another loose screw amongst the dysfunctional political entity that called itself 'United', one who's charisma could sway even the most conservative American.

Away down south in the Land of Cotton, another new political force was emerging in the ashes of the 1932 Presidential Election. The 1932 Election was a disaster for the Democratic Party. Republican Candidate Herbert Hoover won his reelection, however, that was hardly the reason why the Democrats fractured. Before the election, there were two candidates who hand any serious chance of winning the Democratic Nominee for President. They were John Nance Garner and America's other demagogue, Huey Long, or as other's called him, Kingfish. When it came down to choose, the Democrats chose to run with Garner, much to the popular disapproval from Dixieland. With the exception of Texas, Huey Long was more popular in the South due to his Share-Our-Wealth Program, an envisioned plan by Long to restore the early 1920s standard of living. Things didn't get any better for the Democrats when they lost states in the North the growing CSA, but nothing hurt the Democratic Party more than the Democratic Split of 1932. A new political party headed by the defeated Huey Long, the America First Union Party, already adored by the Deep South, would take away the Southern States (again with the exception of Texas) from the Democrats. The AF combined elements of both Traditional Populism and Neo-Capitalism (in terms of economic organization). As Long himself put it, the party aimed to make every man king, yet none would wear a crown. By 1934, the America First Union had gained the support of many prominent businesses and corporations, such as Disney and Ford. Within the party itself, besides Long there were four other figures of authority, each having ideas of their own and often holding contradictory views. Gerald Smith was the leader of the Share Our Wealth Program and was the Kingfish's right hand. Father Charles Coughlin represented the religious elements of the South, being a member of the Catholic Church and holding racist and anti-semetic beliefs. If Coughlin was extreme, then his rival, William Dudley Pelley, National Populist and outlandishly racist representative of the militant views of some Southerners was to go beyond extreme. He was no doubt the farthest to the right out of all AF members, however he was also the least popular do to his undemocratic propositions. Finally, there was a voice of reason within the America First Union. Charles Lindbergh, popular aviator and the first man to fly across the entirety of the Atlantic in one go, he lead the small and overtly democratic of the America First Union. He was mocked by all except Long, whom Lindbergh agreed with on too many points to not join up with his cause.

America First Union Party Leader Huey Long (Left) and Combined Syndicates of America Party Leader Jack Reed (Right)
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With both North and South falling to extremist ideologies, things were not looking well for the United States of America. To the wise, they foresaw the beginning of a great conflict, the likes of which America had up until that point never experienced. American civil society had grown to become polarized, hateful, and distrustful. The coming year of 1936, election year, only would serve to prove this point. The Fleeting Twenties are now behind the United States and the economic collapse they left the nation would only spell more doom and gloom for the Land of the Free.

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On the next episode of Novus Ordo Seclorum, we will enter the most polarizing election cycle in American History, one that would spark the most devastating conflict in American History. However, one would be wise to remember that when one reaches their lowest point, they are open to the greatest change. Join us on the RBC once more as we cover America's downward spiral into the deadliest conflict in American History, from the Rise of Syndicalist and Populist Tyranny to the Washington Conference all the way to the Shot Heard Across A Nation. The series's next episode will be Episode 3: A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand, and like always, I hope to see you there. I have been your host, Cyril Grosscastle, and I on behalf of the Royal Broadcasting Corporation wish you a very goodnight and hope to see you back here once more.

 

[Bored Student1414]

I do enjoy the faux-documentary style that is build to inform an in-universe audience that already somewhat knows the topic. Not too many comments and views yet. I guess people want to see if this AAR is going the long haul or not.

 

[LoneStar Prussian]

I do enjoy the faux-documentary style that is build to inform an in-universe audience that already somewhat knows the topic. Not too many comments and views yet. I guess people want to see if this AAR is going the long haul or not.

Thanks, and that was my guess too. Sucks too, these updates take a lot more effort than my previous works (in terms of writing).

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Welcome to the RBC's Novus Ordo Seclorum, the Tale of America in the 20th Century. I am Cyril Grosscastle, narrator of this production. This program aims to tell the incredible story of the United States in the 20th Century, one filled with highs and lows, an electrifying climax, and characters whose choices impact us all even to this very day. We will cover America's rise from start to finish. We will see America at its finest, and at its lowest. From the second time brother fought brother, to when an entire planet was threatened by Totalist tyranny, and finally, when every man, woman, and child was at the mercy of the atom.

This is Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Order of the Ages) - The Tale of America in the 20th Century.

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Episode 3: A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

(1936-1937)

Narrated by Cyril Grosscastle

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The state of the world in 1936 was one of an unstable old world clashing with the ideals of a new one. Now was the time of monsters from every waking ideology, now was the time of global chaos. In the Syndicalist World, France and Britain continued to rearm themselves for their eventual showdown with the reigning German Empire. Speaking of the Germans, the Kaiserreich was in a precarious position. Kaiser Wilhelm the Great's Imperial Germany have secured itself a place in the sun, but with the empire being surrounded on all sides by destructive forces, the future of Pax Germanica remained unclear. In Russia, Ultranationalists lead by Boris Savinkov took the Russian Nation by storm after the weak White Dictators were enveloped in a sea of Slavic Revival. Farther East, the Empire of Japan pursued it's antagonistic stance against the Western Colonial Powers within the Asian-Pacific while at the same subjugating new lands in China and Indochina for their growing sphere-of-influence. North of the American Border and South of the Commune of France, the exiled Entente Powers mimicked their hated homeland counterparts, gearing up and planning for a war of liberation. For the area that cradled civilization itself, the waning power of the Ottoman Empire coupled with opportunistic forces within the Arab World spelled future conflict for the region. In the Americas, Syndicalism had spread just south of the American Border in Mexico, and further down into the nation of Centro-America. In the Southern Americas, the newly dominant power of La Plata looked ever onward to expand its borders. It had already defeated Bolivia and Brazil during the First Great South American War, and as the title of first would entail, the continent would not see peace in the near future.

And finally, there was the United States of America. No longer an economic superpower, and no longer respected by the world's great powers. Its influence in the Americas were being trifled with by German and Syndicalist diplomats creating proxies to fight each other. The situation for Washington D.C. had grown so distraught that even Americans themselves no longer respected the Stars and Stripes. The American Republican-Democratic Establishment for the first time in forever being challenged by two new rival political parties on opposite ends of the same spectrum. First, you had the Combined Syndicates of America, Far-Leftists who championed the worker beyond all else and the creation of a Syndicalist Economy within America. Then you had the American First Union Party, Far-Rightists who advocated the creation of a corporate-run state and national populism, similar to that of the nations of Iron Guard Romania and Russia. Now that election had finally dawned, America in 1936 would finally hit its rock-bottom, and this was the road to another war. As the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, wisely said before the start of the First American Civil War: A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.

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The opening season of 1936 proved to be calamitous for both the United States and the World. On February 3rd, 1936, the German Berlin Stock Exchange Crashed just as its American counterpart did a little more than a decade earlier. For very similar reasons, the German Empire's economy was thrown into free-fall, dragging what remained of the world's capitalist economies with it. First the European Nations intertwined with Berlin were thrown into disarray (as well as Germany itself), but soon the depression would spread to the Middle East, Africa, Russia, China, Southeast Asia, South America, and the United States. America alone bore the brunt of the German Economic Collapse since neither Canada or Mexico traded with the German Empire. German businesses all around the nation were shut down and their American employees, already burdened by the horrible economy in the US, were once again let go. The entire world was now in a Global Depression, however, no where else around the globe would be as affected like the United States. This damaging blow to the world economy would see its effects spill out of control in the Combined Syndicalist dominated state of Michigan.

In Detroit on Februrary 12th, 1936, leaders of the United Auto Workers, Walter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen, called a general strike against the Ford Motor Company after the company refused to enter into negotiations with the various unions in the city. While Detroit may have been the Automotive Capital of the World, Ford and his company were not entertainers to Syndicalists. In fact, Ford Motor Company was one of the America First Union Party's suppliers of wealth and corporate support. After all, if Long and his party won, their economic policies would enable Ford to fight back and outright destroy the unions in the North. Alas, the strikers, infuriated with the company, once again demanded higher pay and less ours, using the slogan: Unionism, not Fordism. At 2:00 PM, a photographer by the name of Richard Avedon was asked to take a photo of the UAW's leaders standing on the overpass with the Ford sign in the background. While the strikers were posing, forty men armed with security batons from the Ford Service Department, an internal security force, came from behind and began to beat the strikers down to the ground. Some of these men were reported to be wearing America-First Armbands, and while it has never been confirmed, it certainly would not be surprising. After the men hounded the strikers and forcefully ended the strike, these men would continue to terrorize the denizens of Detroit, even going so far as to beat women strikers who were passing out leaflets for the UAW. This act of violence would come be known as the Battle of the Overpass, and to most historians, this was the beginning of the end.

Ford 'Security' beating members of the UAW's Leadership during the start of the Battle of the Overpass, February 1936.
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Controversy would strike the nation once more just a month later, arriving in the form of Father Charles Coughlin's CBS Radio Broadcasts. In 1933, the America First's Religious Right-Hand of Father Charles Coughlin started airing a weekly radio broadcast, garnering fifty-million listeners. Father Coughlin was an adamant Anti-Semite, claiming that the Syndicalist Revolutions in France and Britain were fomented by Jews. He also claimed that the recent Berlin Stock Market Crash was the product of the 'International Conspiracy of Jewish Bankers'. While the number of Americans tuning to his broadcasts had dropped by many, many Americans, mostly disillusioned Southerners, still tuned in every week. His Hate-Speech however was in no way tolerated by the Catholic Church, and the Italian Federation, lead by the Pope, issued a request to the Hoover Administration to shut the man down. While the United States had no love for Coughlin or his stance on minorities and Jews, America could not shut the man down. It wouldn't be morally justified, and neither would it be legally. In Italy, Free Speech was almost non-existent. Both the Northern Italian Federation and Southern Socialist Republic of Italy had no love for differing opinions and ideas. The Pope was misguided however in asking the beacon of freedom to curtail the basic right of speaking your mind. Hoover's Administration declined the Italian Federation's request, and so an appeal to tyranny found no haven in USA.

Charles Coughlin, 'The Radio Preacher'.
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Throughout the year, domestic films and other forms of media began molding themselves to fit the many political agendas of 1936. On the same day as the Battle of the Overpass, the movie Modern Times hit the theaters. The movie's main star was British-born Charlie Chaplin, and its premiere in New York was attended by the demagogues of Jack Reed, Marceau Pivert, and Philip Snowden. Marceau and Snowden both hailed from Europe, Snowden being a prominent socialist in the Union of Britain and Marceau a vibrant Syndicalist. The film was a comedy, aimed to poke fun at Capitalism and National Populism. The movie, featuring Chaplin's famous Little Tramp character, was seen as an anti-capitalist and anti-fordist manifesto in favor of the Combined Syndicates of America. A mere six days later and the movie was partially censored for being too provocative after street clashes between Syndicalist and America First forces within the streets of New York killed ten and injured many more. The next notable media release was the Pro-America First novel Gone with the Wind. Written by Margaret Mitchell, a vocal supporter of the America First Union Party, the book was set in the Old South during the First American Civil War. Many saw it as a reminder of the strained political situation in the United States, both in those days and in the current ones. The book became an instant bestseller in the South, achieving little praise outside of it however.

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Internationally, things were a bit different than they were at home in the United States. The United States, owner of the Panama Canal, needed the canal to remain profitable and safe for remained of the US Economy. For decades the Spanish-Speaking nation of Panama remained a stable partner of the United States. Everything changed for worse however when Syndicalism began to become slowly imported into the country by Mexico and Centro-America. The Syndicalists in Northern Latin America wanted control over the canal, and the best way to do that was seize control of the nation safeguarding one of America's most prized overseas possessions. But, there was one nation in Central America that the Syndicalists feared, in their tongue, it was the Provincias Unidas del Centro de America - the United Provinces of Central America. A nation formed by the fledgling states of non-Syndicalist Occupied Central America, the United Provinces were a bulwark against the spread of Syndicalism and a fierce partner of the United States. On the first day of May, the Panamanian President Harmodio Madrid was assassinated by a Syndicalist Terrorist. When word reached Washington through the spies of the UPCA that a Syndicalist Revolution was taking place in the small nation, the US Government quickly hatched an operation to secure Panama without directly interfering. Codenamed Operation Isla Nublar, the United States would indirectly aid the UPCA in annexing the Panamanian Nation into it's fold in order to both quell the Syndicalist Uprising and place a worthier brow to protect the Panama Canal. The Untied Provinces mobilized its army a day after the assassination, and with the green light to go from President Hoover, the UPCA invaded Panama from the North, fighting both the Syndicalists and Government Forces within the nation. A fortnight later would see the complete annexation of Panama into the United Provinces, leaving just three nations in Central America: Centro-America, Honduras, and the United Provinces. Nonetheless, with Panama secure, the United States turned once more inward, ignoring the growing Syndicalist and Platense Threat looming South America.

United Provinces Soldiers Motorized Division deploying to a Panamanian Village, May 1936.
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In South America, the geopolitical situation on the continent was a nearly a clone of the wider world political division, just miniaturized for the area. In the North, there was the Democratic Andean Pact, an allegory to the democracies of Canada, the United States, and Germany. The pact consisted of the newly made states that were once apart of the former Gran Colombia: Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. These nations were bound together by a common fear of their southern neighbors and their shared government structures. In the middle, the newly made Syndicalist Countries of Bolivia and Brazil spearheaded the ideologies influence on the continent. Both Bolivia and Brazil were driven to Syndicalist Revolution at the turn of the year due to their rapid yet destructive defeat at the hands of Argentina/La Plata during the First Great South American War. These nations, now filled with revanchist populations, threatened to paint the entire continent red, should they overcome one formidable foe: The Axis. In February of 1936, the governments of La Plata, Chile, and Peru convened in Buenos Aries to discuss matters of national security in response to the alliance of between Rio De La Plata and Sucre. La Plata, despite it's public statements, only agreed to ally Chile and Peru in order to face a common enemy. Conversley, Peru only allied La Plata in order to find a country to help it expand into Bolivia while Chile was only in it for limited protection from La Plata. After all, if they were allied, they couldn't invade each other. There's was an alliance of convenience, not solidarity. La Plata modeled itself after the National Populists of Russia and Romania, much like the America First. It made efficient use of its industrial capacity and pledged to be the first country out of the Great Depression, and they were in 1937. However, La Plata was no democracy, in fact it resembled nothing of the sort. A single dictator ruled the nation through nationalist thoughts and militarism. Peru and Chile unlike La Plata were democracies, however Peru was much more orientated like the German Empire than it was the Anglosphere (excluding the Union of Britain). All in all, this continent was no safe place, and one day, the United States would come to bring some sense of order to the Southern Americas, but that is a story for another day.

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Olympic Season caught the world by storm in the early summer of 1936. While the United States was dealing with one of the worst heat waves in its collective history, afar in the colder lands of Finland would American athletes distinguish themselves against the world. The Olympic Games, now a common tradition of the international community, hosted a number of nations from across the globe. However, not a single Syndicalist oriented country entered the Olympics, instead these nations hosted what they called the Spartakiade. The First and only Spartakiade was held here in Britain in Manchester. But, with so few contestants from other nations, the Olympics mauled its only form of competition. The 1936 Helsinki Oylmpics consisted of many global nations, with nearly all of the Americas, Mitteleuropa, Asia, and the Entente joining. The games were seen by many as an international act of friendly sportsmanship and fellowship between nations, and indeed many friendships were fostered during the games. Kronprinz Wilhelm III along with the new King of Canada, Edward VIII, were spotted sitting together during the Equestrian and Athletics games. They weren't the only heads of state to attend either, joined by King Frederick of Finland, President Herbert Hoover (United States), Marshal Phillip Petain (National France), Emperor Hirohito (Japan), and Vozhd Boris Savinkov (Russia).

The Helsinki Olympics were noted to be one of the best Olympic Games of the 20th Century, with nearly 4,000 participants from the competing nations. America sent three hundred of its best athletes to the games, most notable of them all was Jesse Owens. An African-American, he won two gold medals for his country. One in the two-hundred meter run, and another in the long jump. His German competitor, Luz Long, was seen by Owens as the one who gave him the courage and advice to keep trying after the athlete almost failed to qualify in the long jump. This was the start of a life-long friendship between the two, the pair both serving in the European Theater of the Second Weltkrieg and surviving to compete once more. Another major American triumph in the Helsinki Olympics came from Mack Robinson, another African-American and brother to the baseball Hall-of-Fame member Jackie-Robinson. He won the United States a silver medal in the 200 meters, winning second place .004 seconds behind Jesse Owens. While inconsequential to the state of the United States, it did serve to provide a few rays of hope for denizens of the United States of America.

Jesse Owens during the 200 Meter, 1936 Helsinki Olympics.
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On a hot summer afternoon across the northern border of the United States, one of the most controversial moments of General MacArthur's career (when discovered in 1951) was taking place. Internal problems in the United States led King Edward VIII and the Canadian Prime Minister at the time, Mackenzie King, to invite the man behind the strongest political environment in the United States - the Army. By way of plane, MacArthur was flown to Ottawa secretly to discuss a possible coup within the United States. Election year was upon the United States, and Canada, just across the border and in a perpetual state of a Red Scare, was concerned about the election. The Canadian Government had no confidence that the future President of the United States would not be as cordial as Hoover was, in fact they believed Jack Reed and his Combined Syndicates would win the Presidential Election now that Alexander Berkmann was dead. Canada itself would not invade and occupy the entirety of the United States, but the Exile establishment believed that MacArthur could save the United States by seizing control of Washington D.C.

A military putsch to save America was something the King and Prime Minister of Canada would support, an on the day in September, MacArthur had to make a choice. The social and political stability in America was broken beyond repair, and the current Presidential Election Campaign between the parties was something the States had never seen before. The America First Union Party was organizing right-wing militias in the South and Mid-West, and Communists controlled the streets of Chicago and Detroit. If the elections were to go ahead, than the American Military would have to be prepared to deal any form insurrection, sooner or later. However, MacArthur declined the Canadian nudge to end democracy in the United States. And so, while the elections would go ahead, the United States Military would be prepared for any rebellion. Unfortunately, that preparedness eroded in the wake of what was to come.

General MacArthur, Chief of Staff of the United States from 1932-1951.
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The turbulent year of 1936 climaxed on the Third of November. Election Day dawned upon the Land of the Free, and as the Home of the Brave, the citizens of the nation voted for whom they thought would represent them the most in the Executive Branch (of the US Government). Throughout the day, many votes were counted, and many more were recounted as to avoid any false accusations of voter-fraud. By the end of the day and the start of the new day, all votes had been cast and the voter box was closed. The Republican Party's Charles Curtis, former Vice President to President Hoover, won the election despite all odds, all due Curtis's victory in New York. The new President won 229 Electoral Votes. In second place at 166 Electoral Votes, the Combined Syndicates of America's Jack Reed nearly won the election were it not for the narrow five-hundred gap in the New York vote, angering many within the state. Behind the CSA, the America First Union Pary came in third in the Presidential Race, Huey Long winning 82 Electoral Votes by way of stealing the south from the Democrats, however, he was denied triple-digits by the Lone Star State. Lastly at 23 Electoral Votes from Texas, Texan Democrat Garner of course lost, by a lot, one of the worst for the Democratic Party. At the dawn of the day, the new US President Charles Curtis, although old, vowed to bring America back from the brink, as another Republican once did.

Map of the 1936 Presidential Elections
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The many factions within the Combined Syndicates of America, excluding Norman Thomas's democratic socialist faction, refused to accept the results of the free and fair elections that had taken place. Reed and his lapdogs were adamant that voter fraud by the 'Capitalist Reactionaries' of New York City had bribed the vote in Charles Curtis's favor, allowing Curtis to come out on top. The CSA Leadership, believing the entire system of democracy was rigged against them, retreated from the public eye the following month, returning in a blaze of sunder. The America First Union Party too contested the results of the election. They suspected that Garner had rigged the elections in Texas and Reed had done the same in the Plains States in order to deny Long the majority. As a sign of what was to come, Huey Long and William Dudley Pelley established America's most feared paramilitary organizations: The Minutemen. Their name came from the original Minutemen of the Revolutionary War, militias that could form at a minute's notice to fend of British Attacks. The Southern Incarnation of the group was much less than that. The organization was filled with thugs, men who had either lost their way or blind supporters of the America First. This, combined with the CSA's New Years Day Strike across the Northern United States which crippled majorty of industries in the region, would prove to be the calm before the deadly storm that had yet to come.

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After Charles Curtis's inauguration as the Thirty-Second President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief's first goal to deal the New Years Day Strike. Curtis opted for a negotiation between him and the Combined Syndicates of America, despite warnings from MacArthur that a stronger approach was needed. The two sat down in Washington D.C., starting what would be known to history as the Washington Conference of 1937. President Curtis and Reed sat down in the capital in an attempt to come to a sense of understanding so that the strike would end. The endeavor the President was taking would be a massive undertaking due to extreme views of Reed and his party, but the President hoped that through non-provocative and patient negotiation, he could bring the strike to an end. During the first three days of the conference, Reed and the President came to many compromises. However, things took a turn for the worst when Huey Long and his America First Union demanded to be present at the negotiations to ensure that President Curtis wouldn't compromise the United States Constitution.

It didn't take long for Long and Reed Argue. The two men may have been two sides of the same coin, but both still held contradictory views. The two men engaged in many heated debates, ones that President Curtis was forced to referee. To many, it was clear that Long had no interest in cooperation, only surrender of the strike. The President did his best to keep the occasion as civil as possible, but both men were vocal in their dislike for each other. Things boiled on the eleventh of February, when Reed threatened to walk out of the negotiations if the America First were not removed. The President and his cabinet kept Long in order to appease the South, but in doing so, he alienated the Combined Syndicates of America. The President's attempts to keep both men were making some headway, right until a squadron of AF Minutemen attacked and accidentally killed a CSA Worker. Reed commended the President for his efforts but he could not deal with the firebrand that was Huey Long. Reed walked away from the table, remarking to the President that he wished things were different. As he left the meeting, armed groups of CSA Militiamen attacked the AF Minutemen and soon Long and his party retreated from the capital. When both men returned to their sphere's of influence, the prospect of laying down their arms flew right over their heads. War was coming to the United States, a war that would shake the very foundations the nation was built upon.

​

On February Twenty-Eighth, 1937, the Second American Civil War was declared after the worker armies of the Combined Syndicates seized the major cities in the North, taking control of the states of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania from Federal Control. Jack Reed declared the United States a dead nation, one that would soon breath its final breath. Federal armories and military equipment were taken control of and the Combined Syndicates issued a General Strike. To strengthen the rebellion, Jack Reed placed the self-proclaimed American Soviet, William Z Foster, as his second-in-command in order to create a vanguard for the revolution. Syndicalist Revolution had arisen, but that would not be the only foe the United States would have to face in order to survive. In the Deep South, Huey Long's America First Union Party seceded from the Union, creating the American Union State. Starting with South Carolina and Atlanta, eventually the states of Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Southern Arkansas joined the new corporate state. Huey Long was sworn as President-for-Life of the AUS with William Dudley Pelley as his second-in-command. Both rogue nations declared war on each other and the United States the following morning, and across the nation, shots began to fire. The disaster had begun.

​

America, after years of decline, had now reached rock bottom, its darkest hour. Once again, brother fought brother, North fought South, and American fought American. The United States had been plunged into war against itself. Across the Northern Border, the Canadian Government prepared to take matters into its own hands, and below Texas, the Syndicalist Government in Mexico readied itself should the war spill into its borders. The Second American Civil War had begun and there would be no retreat, no surrender, and no quarter. The end of days seemed to have befallen the American Nation, yet, like all obstacles the country had faced thus far, they would meet this crisis head on.

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On the next episode of Novus Ordo Seclorum, join us as we dive deep into the first campaigns and occasions of the Second American Civil War, America's most bloody war in all of its existence. Many lives would be lost, many more ruined forever. This was a tale of treachery and foul deeds, an hour of wolves and shattered shields. The fate of the champion of democracy loomed in doubt, and only through the strongest of spirits could the United States hope to see through until absolute victory. The light of freedom was at its dimmest since the nation's conception, but that candle in the dark would go on to prove that it was a flame that would never die, for even the darkest of nights will end and the sun will always rise. We hope to see you again for the series's next episode, Episode 4: The Battle of America. I have been your host, Cyril Grosscastle, and I wish you a safe and sound night. Remember to keep the heater on during this cold front, and I once more bid you farewell along with the entirety of the Royal Broadcasting Corporation. Goodnight, and cheers.

 

[der Kriegsherr]

@LoneStar Prussian

Glad to see you back and writing, my friend!
I always enjoy these history book-style AARs.

 

[HIMDogson]

Aah, splendid, so there's to be a civil war after all. And trust me, I'm a faithful reader.

 

[A.R.G..I.S..W.H.T]

Now, the real battle begins

 

[Bored Student1414]

I see that this AAR is picking up some interest. The disaster has begun. A Second American Civil War begins as the last veterans of the First American Civil War die off.

I can imagine the documentaries in your universe. A British man driving in a jeep kicking up dirt through the American countryside commenting that this sleepy rural town was once the site of the most brutal fighting of the Second American Civil War, spliced with footage of soldiers firing artillery and aircraft dropping bombs, and that this battle would help decide the fate of America and the wider world...

My guess on the wider history of the world. The Federal Government wins the SACW while remaining democratic. The Third Internationale defeats Germany and drives the exiled government into the Entente. The Internationale and the National Populist Russian State battle in an Eastern Front. The Entente returns to Europe with the help of the USA, the Internationale falls and Europe is divided between the mostly democratic Entente and the NatPop Russian faction. A Cold War between the capitalist democracies and the national populist nations occurs.

 

[JodelDiplom]

Prologue is over, now the action starts!

 

[LoneStar Prussian]

My guess on the wider history of the world. The Federal Government wins the SACW while remaining democratic. The Third Internationale defeats Germany and drives the exiled government into the Entente. The Internationale and the National Populist Russian State battle in an Eastern Front. The Entente returns to Europe with the help of the USA, the Internationale falls and Europe is divided between the mostly democratic Entente and the NatPop Russian faction. A Cold War between the capitalist democracies and the national populist nations occurs.

Pretty much, but there are many differences. That wider history is more of a simplification. None of the proxy wars that happened in our timeline will happen, and both sides will be more willing to send the world into another slaughter.

Now, the real battle begins

Yes it is

@LoneStar Prussian

Glad to see you back and writing, my friend!
I always enjoy these history book-style AARs.

Glad to see you back too

Aah, splendid, so there's to be a civil war after all. And trust me, I'm a faithful reader.

Don't think there's anyone more faithful than you, to battle!

Prologue is over, now the action starts!

Yes it shall, and I have to say, I really enjoyed writing this. Something about this style really gets me in that groove.

NOTICE: I plan on going into detail about each faction of the war in the next chapter so there'll be a break in the story. Also, just in case anyone's confused. AUS Soldiers look like Russian Soldiers, CSA Troops are modeled after the British, PSA Troops are similar to US Troops, and the United States uses the same uniforms but uses different weapons and equipment. This was based off the Kaiserreich Skifs.

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Welcome to the RBC's Novus Ordo Seclorum, the Tale of America in the 20th Century. I am Cyril Grosscastle, narrator of this production. This program aims to tell the incredible story of the United States in the 20th Century, one filled with highs and lows, an electrifying climax, and characters whose choices impact us all even to this very day. We will cover America's rise from start to finish. We will see America at its finest, and at its lowest. From the second time brother fought brother, to when an entire planet was threatened by Totalist tyranny, and finally, when every man, woman, and child was at the mercy of the atom.

This is Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Order of the Ages) - The Tale of America in the 20th Century.

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Episode 4: The Battle of America

(March - May 1937)

Narrated by Cyril Grosscastle

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Civil War - A war in which citizens and families of the same nation battle against each other. The United States had fought a war like this before the first skirmishes broke out on the east-side of the Mississippi River. It was up until this war, the bloodiest in American History, and was on a much small scale. The Second American Civil War was not a war of secession but a war of control. Each side of the war wanted to have in their possession the entirety of the mainland United States, from coast to coast. In the west, the fragile Pacific States of America wanted to secure everything up to Texas in order to replace the United States government with it's own dictatorial style. In the American North, the Combined Syndicates of America, supplied heavily by the Union of Britain and Commune of France, wanted to install a Syndicalist-Totalist Coalition Government in America, whatever the cost. In the South, the American Union State was adamant on creating a 'better and stronger America', one that would fight only for itself and one that would destroy anyone with a different opinion than the party's. Finally, there was the United States of America. The nation had been invaded and occupied from the inside. Only the loyal states of Texas, Maryland, the New England Region, and the Plains States remained with the legitimate Government. The United States was forced on the defensive, its armies full of war-virgins and leaders ill-equipped in the field of the mind. Only through experimentation, loss, and perseverance could the USA hope to survive.

On March 1st, 1937, the Canadian Military, prepared and ready, launched a full-scale invasion New England and Alaska. This plan of theirs was called Defense Scheme No. 1, a Canadian Contingency Operation should the United States become embroiled in inner conflict. The plan called for Canadian Motorized and Armored Divisions to swiftly blitz through the New York Countryside to cut off the area from the rest of America. Since the Combined Syndicates had taken over New York City, Canadian Vehicles were forced to move around the city and into the neighboring Connecticut. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy sailed from ports in Halifax and St. Johns to land Royal Canadian Marines in the city of Boston. Another wave of the Canadian Army, this time consisting of just infantry divisions, moved down into Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Eventually, the two spearheads would meet in Massachusetts, followed by an occupation by a mixture of Canadian, Caribbean, and Australasian Troops. In order to keep the local Americans from starting a partisan war against the Canadians, a provisional occupational government was created to allow the continuity of civilian life and to cover any crimes against the locals. Joseph P. Kennedy, former American Ambassador to Canada and influential native of Massachusetts, was chosen to head the faux civilian government while Canadian Authorities ran witch-hunts throughout the region. Resident Owen Custer of Boston was one the many who were hunted down and detained. The RBC visited this fellow at his house in rural Maine, a far-cry from his original home in urban Massachusetts.

"Been too long since those times. I was a young man, barely in my twenties. I was eating dinner with my future wife when we heard the news of the Canadian Invasion on the radio. We were scared, but I had to be brave for her. My brother had moved to Canada in '33. He'd occasionally visited me, telling me about the nation. He said that out of anybody in the world, there was no one country that absolutely despised the Left. I knew the Canadians would find out that I voted for Reed because of Norman Thomas. I also knew that once they did find out, I'd be hunted because of my political affiliation. I used up most of the money I had and bought my wife a plane ticket to Ireland to stay with her family while I stayed in Massachusetts. Couple days later and the Canadians knocked down my front door and grabbed me in the middle of the night. I screamed and fought, but no one came to my aid, not even the police.

They took me to some detention facility in Canada, I don't know where. I was jailed for being a 'Red'. Questioned me about if I had any ties to Reed, beat me if I told the truth. I wasn't the only one either, hundreds more were taken and locked up so that the Canadians up north could feel a little more safe. Hmpf, after the war I was let go at the request of the United States, but if I had it my way, I would've been freed by American Soldiers laying waste to that god-damned nation. The money the Canadians were forced to pay haven't and never will take away these scars."

In Alaska, the Canadian Occupation was much different. Canadian Troops didn't even reach Juneau before the governor of the territory, George Alexander Parks, surrendered his entire dominion. Since Alaska's population was small at the time and virtually no Syndicalists lived in the country, Canadian Occupiers were tasked with extracting any kind of wealth, in secret of course. They didn't take any wealth from American Citizens, but mines and ports were put under direct Canadian rule. The occupiers would leave Alaska before the discovery of oil in the region. There were no revolts or feelings of dissent from the Americans in Alaska. In fact, the Alaskan Occupation was virtually unnoticed, however, George Alexander Parks would later be sacked by President Curtis following the Canadian Withdrawal.

​

The news of war, chaos, and anarchy in the eastern half of the United States left the western states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho in a difficult position. To stay in the hands of the federal government threatened the local political elite. President Curtis was unpopular with the usual Democratic States in the West. Big businesses and corporations that had the Californian Government in their pockets heavily influenced the politics of the region. War on their soil was bad for business, especially when it would involve them being forced to spend money and resources by the United States Government. To leave the United States however would evade all of that, or it would bring the war closer to home. President Curtis was not an iron juggernaut, his decision to sit down with both Reed and Long yet never set his foot down lost him legitimacy in some circles. It was not believed that the President would start another war against another homegrown foe, especially when ideological differences wouldn't be an issue. Even if the United States would retaliate against California, the Golden State could hold out on its own. Around six infantry divisions were ready to be raised to defend the Pacific States. At least half of the USN's Pacific Fleet would undoubtedly separate with their home states, the same was true with any war planes stationed in the forming Pacific States of America.

After President Curtis allowed Canada to occupy both New England and Alaska, the leaders and military figures within California, Oregon, and Washington were confident in their ability to secede without a war. Under the military leadership of former American General of the Army and Air Force Henry H. Arnold, the aforementioned states left the Union. Their justification was that the chaos and anarchy in the east was too much for the people of the West. The governors of the three states formally declared the independence of the Pacific States of America on the 2nd of March. They were quickly joined by the rogue state of Idaho, leaving America's holdings in the Pacific cut off. The United States hastily declared war on the jump start Californians. With nearly all access to the seas in enemy hands, the United States was forced to revoke the long standing Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine was a promise by the United States to protect and guarantee all nations in the Americas from foreign powers and their influence. But, with brother fighting brother at home, the grim reality of the situation was that the United States could no longer help and protect the nations of Latin America. During this time, the German Empire, the Russian State, and Internationale would support their ideologies in the area. Mexico, Centro-America, Brazil, and Bolivia were all given massive amounts of industrial and military aid by the Commune of France. In La Plata, Russian Weaponry and Raw Materials flooded into the rising power in South America. La Plata had proven to the world that it was a capable military power, defeating all of its neighbors in the First Great South American War. It also helped that the Russians and Platense were both National Populist Dictatorships. Peru and Chile both received a token amount of German Monetary Support. Both of these nations had adopted Prussian Customs and both had governments and goals similar to that of Berlin's. It was only natural that the German Empire take interest in the two, but outside of money, the German Empire largely left the Southern Americas alone. Only Canada and the Entente would respect America's sphere of influence.

​

When war broke out on the 28th of February, 1937, none of belligerents had yet to face each other in a major battle. Confused fighting had taken place in the border states of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland, but that was about it. In these states, the small number of US Forces were forced to defend against the onslaught of both the AUS and CS Armies from two different sides. These two armies far outnumbered the US Defenders, and soon, all United States Military Personnel were forced to flee either across the Mississippi River or to Eastern Maryland. It wasn't long before the American Union State and Combined Syndicates began forming a frontline against each other. The Syndicalists had the industrial advantage over the AUS, being able to churn out more rifles and men than the South. However, just as in the First American Civil War, the Southern AUS had without a doubt the most competent and effective generals. The CSA had terrible generals and officers, most of whom were chosen on their political ideology and not their merit. Meanwhile, the AUS made great use of the smart minds that decided to join their side. Chief among the AUS Army was Field Marshal Patton, a pioneer in Armored Warfare and one of the only American Commanders to have seen and fought in a war. Patton, when he was apart of the US Army, was the US Commander who briefly invaded and occupied Northern Mexico during its revolution in 1916. He'd also went to Europe along General Pershing to act as a neutral observer. While Pershing studied the Entente's Armies, Patton was on the other side of the trenches. The man discovered in 1919 how the Germans used their tanks to create an armored offensive not yet seen in the war, responsible for the breakthrough at St. Mihel. Now, he was the most feared commander of the American Union State, his only equal in ferocity was US Field Marshal Douglas MacArthur.

A stabilized front soon enveloped the warring parties. The United States held on to everything west of the Mississippi, east of California, and eastern Maryland (including Baltimore). The American Union State controlled the Southern States (including Virginia), Southern Kentucky, and all of West Virginia. The Combined Syndicates held the Red Belt, New York City, Delaware, New Jersey, and the lion share of Kentucky. And of course, the Pacific States had dominion over everything west of the Rocky Mountains. On the 3rd of March, 1937, the United States launched its first offensive operation of war. Under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a rising military mind within the US Army, the United States invaded Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Codenamed Operation Timberland, it was a plan to secure Chicago before the Combined Syndicates of America could reinforce to where US Forces could no longer penetrate it. Chicago was not only the capital and metropolitan center of the CSA, it was also the most industrial city in the United States with Washington D.C. and Detroit narrowly behind it. Securing Chicago would not only deal a political blow to the Syndicalists, but it would also leave the United States with two of the most industrious cities in America.

Operation Timberland was put into effect at the break of dawn. Five Infantry Divisions attacked three different CS held positions. From Minnesota, Federalist Troops of the 6th 'Arlington Ghosts' Division pushed into largely undefended Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin, taking both Green Bay and Wausau. Two Infantry Divisions under the direct command of Eisenhower launched an assault into the CS City of Milwaukee. The Syndicalist Commander, Lt. General Dart, turned the city into a makeshift fortress. It was the CS's belief that Milwaukee and Peoria were the gateways to Chicago. If they were lost, so would the capital. Before the assault, a US bombing raid leveled most of the defenses within the city. Scouts reported that the civilian population had been evacuated across Lake Michigan the night before. As a result, US Bombers were allowed to destroy many parts of the city. After the bombs fell, the US Troops launched their assault. A street by street battle soon raged throughout Milwaukee, a precursor of what was to come. The United States lost 5,456 Soldiers taking the city while the Syndicalists only lost around 3,000. The battle may have claimed more Federal Lives, but the organization of US Army was unmatched. The CS Troops could were forced to fall back to Chicago. Another ground force of two infantry divisions took the other gateway to Chicago, Peoria. The stage was set for the fulfillment of Operation Timberland.

Us Troops fighting their way through Milwaukee, the gateway to Chicago, Battle of Milwaukee.
​

The Battle of Chicago, the most important battle the Federalists fought up until that point, started nearly a day after Milwaukee was taken. The initial assault consisted of four infantry divisions backed up by three artillery brigades. The CS Defenders numbered around one infantry division, one light infantry division, and one Red Militia. Before reaching the city, US Forces had to fight through the thick forests surrounding Chicago. Majority of US Personnel that died in the battle were killed here due to CS Irregulars launching guerrilla attacks from unsuspecting positions. CS Troops dressed themselves in ghilie attires. The US Soldiers were sitting ducks to the Syndicalists. The first phase of the battle was a sniper's dream. Many of the Federalists were unsuspectingly picked off one by one, tree by tree. However, bombers cleared the forests of any major resistance by 6th of March, and so the battle spilled into the streets of Chicago.

US Soldiers of the 45th "Revolver" Division engaging in a firefight with CS Soldiers a few miles from Chicago, Battle of Chicago.
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Once the United States Army reached the Syndicalist Capital, a fight to death ensued. The Federalists were joined by one more infantry division as the first Federal Soldiers entered into the city. Chicago was an undefendable position for the CSA. Reinforcements wouldn't arrive in time as most of the CS Army was being spent fighting the American Union State. William Z Foster was adamant on remaining in Chicago to hopefully push back the United States. Reed on the other hand had other plans. To stay with Chicago was to lose the war before it even started. He forced Foster to abdicate from his position, and the two, along with the majority of the CS Government, fled eastward to a new, secure city to wage their war from. They chose New York City and established their new base of operations. From there, the CS High Command slowly pulled its troops out of Chicago and retreated to Michigan and Indiana. Like Milwaukee, the CSA inflicted more casualties than it received. The United States lost around 1,000 more men than the Combined Syndicates, but were left with one of America's most important cities, albeit destroyed.

​

The Stars and Stripes were hoisted once more over the rebellious city. The capturing of the CS Capital humiliated the CSA both at home and abroad. In the AUS, Long claimed that Northern Arrogance held no bounds, to lose their capital so fast was a testament to hollowing Syndicalist cause. In the Entente and Mitteleuropa, this signaled to them that even if the United States lost the civil war, at least the Combined Syndicates wouldn't win either. In the Union of Britain and Commune of France, the CSA's diplomatic strength with the two nations was greatly diminished. The steady stream of supplies given to CSA by the two Syndicalist Cornerstones was lessened before the United States Navy blockaded the entire Eastern Seaboard. The United States itself took the capturing of Chicago very well. Civilian Crowds cheered on American Troops from their homes in Texas and Colorado. Denver, where the United States Government had relocated to, became a roaring spectacle for the Federal Cause. These crowds demanded the US take advantage of the situation and punish the people of Chicago. While the US publicly had a policy of 'We're All Americans', in reality, US Forces committed many crimes in Chicago. Stores were raided for supplies without any compensation. Known collaborators with the CSA were jailed or worse. African-Americans who had relatives fighting for CSA were lynched. Chicago was not a pretty scene to say the least.

One incident where an African-American Federal Soldier was beaten by a couple of American Soldiers for protecting a Italian-American family sparked national outrage. A looming disaster was approaching the United States Military. The Combined Syndicates had a desegregated army and had no racial grievances with any one ethnic group. While many within the AUS disliked it, Long too had desegregated the AUS Military in order to garner support from the large African-American communities in the South. The PSA still held onto the segregated army structure, but the United States's Military had to make a decision, or else all of its African-American Soldiers would side with the republic's enemies. To stay with its current army structure would only produce more incidents like what happened in Chicago. An African-American would not fight for a side that treated him like dirt and didn't trust him to fight side by side with his fellow American. By order of President Curtis, with the support of MacArthur, the United States desegregated its military through Executive Order 9981. No one race would be discriminated against within the military, and for first time in the US Army's history, men of different colors would fight side by side for the Red, White, and Blue. The United States took a step further, it started to desegregate the work force and education departments. This effort would culminate in the Civil Rights Act of 1938, but that's a tale for another time.

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With Chicago captured, the United States needed to create an organization dedicated to the spread of American Ideals and Propaganda. To waste the propaganda value with taking the Syndicalist Capital would be like wasting a perfectly good cup of tea. On the 9th of March, 1937, the United States created the Office of War Information. The OWI was an organization founded to be the direct link between civilians and the battlefront. Federalist Propaganda messages and posters were soon to be spotted all across Federal Territory. The Office of War Information immediately began to work on propaganda films dedicated solely on the US's enemies. Its first film, 'This Is Our Plague', dealt with the American Union State, Pacific States, and the Combined Syndicates. 'Hasten the Day', another film, was produced to get more Americans involved in the war, whether it be by joining the military or working in a factory. As well as this, the Comics Industry was tasked by the United States Government to create stories and heroes dedicated to the US's War Effort. One of the most popular heroes in America today was created as a result of the Office of War Information. I am of course speaking of Captain America. While later plots in the character's story would see him fight against the Syndicalist aligned Hydra Organization lead by the Black Skull, his first nemesis's were Commissar Zemo and Minuteman Garvey. The OWI also ran operations targeting the supporters of the AUS and CSA. One such operation was Operation Mercy, a series of fake radio broadcasts from citizens living under Long's rule in fear and poverty.

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Speaking of Long and his Union State, the first naval battle of the Second American Civil War occurred off the coast of Florida between the United States Navy and the fledgling American Union State's Navy. After reports of British, Russian, Communal French, Italian, and Platense Soldiers and Supplies had came to aid of their supported faction were confirmed to be true, the United States Navy enacted a blockade of America. Operation Anaconda was what the military called it, with good reason too. This blockade was modeled almost exactly like the Anaconda Plan of the First American Civil War. In that war, the United States blockaded the rebellious Confederate States. The navy was tasked this time to do the same, except extend it all the way to New York City. The United State's Navy in the Atlantic was rivaled only by the Royal Navy, Kaiserliche Marine, and the Republican Navy. What few ships that decided to entertain the AUS and CSA would be no match to the larger Federal Navy. However, on the 16th of March, the AUS Navy tried to breakthrough the naval blockade. The AUS Navy was outgunned and outmatched, but it was determined to fight through the blockade. Unfortunately for them, four ships were no threat to thirteen ships and an aircraft carrier. The AUSS South Carolina, the only AUS Battleship, was destroyed almost immediately by the USS Texas. The other three AUS Ships would later be destroyed by aircraft from the USS Ranger. While the battle itself was on the smaller caliber, it did cement control of the seas to the USN.

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Washington D.C. Capital of the United States, last stronghold for the United States Military on the Eastern Seaboard, came under attack by both the AUS and CS Armies on the 27th of March, 1937. Neither side estimated how ferocious the Federalist Forces would resist. A mere two infantry divisions, backed up by one militia and garrison, were forced to defend against the enemy hordes. Street by street and house by house, the Federal Defenders gave it were ordered to defend to their dying breaths. AUS Minutemen made the first assault on the city, attacking across the Potomac River. Their assault was thwarted by the entrenched Federal Soldiers. Shortly after, the CS Army attacked the city from the north. CS Bombers damaged the Washington Monument along with much of the capital during their first (and only) raid on the city. In spite of that, the US Army held firm and sent the Syndicalists packing.

The defense was organized by the Federalist's most skilled commander, General MacArthur. He used the United States's advantage in both the skies and on the sea to his advantage. The USN's Battleships were deployed near the coast to provide naval bombardments against the Syndicalist and AUS Troops. Strategic Bombers destroyed the roads and railways leading in and out of Washington D.C., and air wings secured total air supremacy in Maryland and Virginia. He controversially dissolved the local civilian government in the area, taking complete control over the District of Columbia. MacArthur promised to the entire world that he would hold the city or die trying. For him, there would be no surrender, no sunder, no retreat, and no quarter. Federalist Forces locked themselves within the city and prepared for the longest siege in American Military History, the Siege of Washington D.C. The capital's defiance boosted morale across all sectors of the US's Military. Abroad, the defenders saw international support flow to them. Food, water, ammo, and other essentials flooded into the capital from Canada, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Sweden, the UPCA, and National France. Volunteers from around the world ventured to the United States in order to fight for the Federal Cause, consisting of the German 'Vertiger von Amerika', the Canadian 'Edwards', and the National French 'Bayou Boys'. While only the Germans would fight in Washington D.C. (The Edwards were stationed in Chicago and were attached to the US Army stationed there, the Bayou Boys fought in Louisiana and the South), the city's stubborn refusal of surrender would allow the United States to project power in the region without having to do much at all.

US Machine-Gun Crew firing upon advancing AUS Minutemen, Siege of Washington D.C.
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In the American Wild West, another battle took place. As March passed away and April rolled in, the first battle between the United States and Pacific States took shape in the Mojave Desert. Both the United States and the Pacific States knew that whoever controlled the Rocky Mountains and the Mojave Desert could dictate where and how battles on the front would be fought. The United States Army had fewer troops to fight against the PS Armies. To survive against the PSA, the United States would have to rely on the various national guards in the area along with some militia. Along the front, there were three key positions to obtain and hold. The first captured by the US was Salt Lake City, one of the only major cities in the region. Next would be the Mojave Desert and Nevada, capturing these would allow the US to launch an invasion of California itself. Lastly, the Rocky Mountains were to be held at all costs in order to deny the PSA access to the Plains States.

While Salt Lake City was already in the United States's hands, the Mojave was not. The Nevada National Guard along with the '1776' Militia were tasked with securing the desert and capturing Las Vegas. Conversely, the Pacific Armies were given the same objective. Everything culminated in the Battle of Las Vegas. The battle started at noon on April 2nd. US Forces arrived in Las Vegas first, allowing them secure better positions and forcing the Californians to go on the offensive. The Pacific States's Army was in an even worse position than their Federal Counterparts. They had serious trouble pushing through the arid wasteland. The terrain wasn't suited to their liking, and they had no artillery support, no horses, and no trucks. For the Pacific States Soldiers, it was a death march to the objective. When the PS and US forces entered into battle, the the PS Army shattered. The battle saw around 1,500 Californian Troops killed while half of that was lost by the US. More importantly, the US had secured the Mojave.

US National Guardsmen marching through the Mojave Desert, Battle of Las Vegas.
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The United States, after securing Chicago, decided to dig-in instead of attempting to push inwards into Syndicalist Territory. Of the two breakaway factions in the east, the American Union State was the weaker. AUS Troops may have been better in combat and their generals smarter, but that advantage would eventually erode away should the AUS not acquire new territory. The South had industry, but no where near the amount the United States and Combined Syndicates had. It could only fund minor war-time projects. Meanwhile, the United States was in an overdrive state of industrial production, creating new ships, vehicles, and airplanes for the war effort. Thus the United States Military decided to focus primarily on the American Union State, lest they become an ever greater threat in the future.

Operation Jefferson - that was what the Full Scale Invasion of the American Union State was codenamed. US Forces were first tasked with the capture of Louisiana and Mississippi. The United States Army took the fight to the AUS at the Battle of Shreveport. The Bayou Boys made their first debut in America here. The Bayou Boys and their American Allies pushed through the marshlands of Louisiana, inching ever closer to New Orleans. Unexpectedly however, before a battle could begin over the city, the AUS Garrison at New Orleans surrendered. It was a massive embarrassment for Long. His home state was now in the hands of his hated enemy, and not much later, so too was Mississippi. The Federalists had breached hard into the American Union State, taking majority of Alabama and getting closer and closer to the AUS's Capital, Atlanta. But before Federal Guns could be pointed to that city, another had to be taken first. Birmingham (Alabama). Here, the AUS defenders would not surrender without a fight.

Five US Infantry Divisions converged on Birmingham Alabama, entering into yet another urban battle, this time against the fanatical AUS Minutemen. US Troops were forced to fight a brutal bloc by bloc fight, the AUS taking advantage of the attacker's disorganization. This battle also saw the Russian Petrograd Division enter into combat for the first time against Federal Forces. Foreign Volunteers of all nations flocked to America, and as one would expect, not all would fight for the United States. Others, such as the Russian 'Petrograd' Division and the British 'American Territorial' Division fought for whatever side their home country would be most politically aligned to, most groups being state sanctioned. In Birmingham, the Russian Forces were the backbone of the AUS Defense. Heavy Artillery brought from Russia leveled much of the US Forces, and Russian Marksmen nearly turned the tide when the local US Commander, Major General Smith, was assassinated by a lucky shot. However, the battle was eventually won by the 12th of April, 1937. US Troops has a positive kill/death ratio, more defenders dying than attackers. With the capture of Birmingham, the United States was within striking range of the American Union State's capital.

US Soldiers during a skirmish within Birmingham, Battle of Birmingham.
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In the skies above Alabama, Florida, and New York City, the United States began a major air offensive. The time had come for the United States to assert complete air dominance over America, from sea to shining sea. Corresponding with Operation Jefferson in the American Union State, the USAAF launched a series of air superiority missions above Alabama and Georgia, subsequently bombing Atlanta on the 17th of April. The city was largely unaffected, but the damage that the United States inflicted was more psychological than it was physical. The United States demonstrated that Atlanta, as well as the entirety of America, was at the mercy of the USAAF. Long immediately ordered a revenge bombardment of Washington D.C., but his bombers were shot to pieces by the city's AA guns and interceptor planes. To add insult to injury, the few remaining ships of the AUS Navy were totally obliterated a few hours after the bombing of Atlanta had finished. US Bombers took off from the Aircraft Carrier USS Ranger. A similar raid that befell Atlanta happened in the CSA's new capital, New York City. Launching from the USS Saratoga, the Federalist Bombers laid waste to the Big Apple.

Authorized by the US Military, the USAAF was allowed to use incendiary devices instead of bombs in order to inflict greater damage. Thus, New York City was firebombed and unlike Atlanta, much of the city was laid to waste. Of a population of several million, 230,000 American Civilians were killed in what would become the most deadly firebombing in world history. The CS Capital was in ruins, and much of their leadership were dead or missing. Those who survived, as well as the entire city, were infuriated beyond measure. Their homes and families had been wiped off the earth. Mothers burned alive with their babies in arms. Those who weren't killed by the fires were left with no shelter, food, or water. Immediately, the Combined Syndicates accused the United States of war crimes, to which Curtis Lemay, Air Marshal of the USAAF, rebutted the claim. To Lemay and the US Military, this was a total war, all options were on the table. Even more shocking, Lemay would later remark that if was tasked to firebomb the city once more, he would destroy New York again if he had to. Unsatisfied, Reed reached out to the international community, showing the world what the US had done to New York. World Opinion was on Reed's side, but nothing was done to punish the United States. There was no international rule of law back then, no League of Nations as there is today. In retaliation, the CSA executed majority of US POWs it had captured, likewise the South did the same. This, by all accounts, was the lowest point in American History, when the nation that propelled peace and freedom entered into a state of war and heartless slaughter.

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Filled with a new resolve against the United States, the American Union State found its first victory against the Federal Government. US General Omar Bradley ordered an offensive into AUS held Kentucky and Tennessee. Taking Tennessee would allow the United States to take the Union State's Capital with more ease if it only attacked from the south. Attacking from Memphis, the United States launched an attack on Nashville, capital of the state. Despite experiencing minor victories at first, the tide soon turned against the Federal Troops once AUS Minutemen fresh from Washington D.C. arrived. These men, battle hardened and looking for victory, made the battle a hell not worth pursuing for the Federal Government. AUS Troops fought the US Forces in the fields and on the roads, chasing them across the other side of the Tennessee River. After the US Forces had been routed, the American Union State destroyed all bridges allowing the United States to cross into Nashville. It would be a while before the United States could push against the American Union State, and while the US licked its wounds, the American Union State in the east would engage in the bloodiest urban battle of the entire war. The Battle of The Pit.

AUS Minutemen defending a farm near Nashville, Battle of Nashville.
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Pittsburgh. The city was one the first cities to rise up and join the Combined Syndicates of America. It was also a major industrial sector and railroad hub, making it one of the Combined Syndicates most valued possessions, especially after the Fall of Chicago. It was defended by a token force, consisting of just one infantry division and one Red Militia. The CS Commander in charge of the city's defense was none other than Major General Hunter, the first African-American Military Commander to lead Black and White troops into battle. While the CSA was distracted with seizing Washington D.C. and Virginia, it had accidentally exposed both Ohio and Pennsylvania to Long's Armies. When Huey Long received news of the shallowness of the CS Defenses, he ordered an offensive to take Ohio and Pittsburgh. Taking Ohio would split the CSA in half and leave it susceptible to a military collapse. Taking Pittsburgh would be an even greater achievement. This was because Pittsburgh would provide the American Union State with the industry it desperately needed to wage war against the CSA and USA. AUS Generals drafted an operation codenamed Blackbeard, the hostile takeover of Ohio and Pittsburgh. Long decided to place Field Marshal Patton in charge of the operation.

On 20th of April, 1937, the American Union State started Operation Blackbeard and invaded Ohio along with Pennsylvania. AUS Forces battled the Syndicalists at Columbus and Cincinnati, winning both battles at a cost of 11,000 AUS Casualties. The AUS threatened to reach Lake Erie if they took Cleveland, the one city that connected the CSA to Indiana and Michigan. Meanwhile, Patton's army launched an audacious attack on the city of Pittsburgh against Hunter's forces, thus starting the Battle of the Pit. Patton started the battle by launching a massive artillery barrage on CS Forces within the city. Once the barrage was lifted, AUS Soldiers charged the city, losing many of their own. The CS Troops were forced to fall back into the city once Patton unleashed his secret weapon: Tanks. US Spies and CS Forces were in a state of panic, no side had even seen tanks before. After the war, it was revealed that these tanks had come from the Russian State prior to Operation Anaconda. With Patton's edge, he opened a whole through CS Lines, advancing into Pittsburgh. However Patton's tanks were recalled to deal with the United States, thus leaving him only with his infantry. Nevertheless, his forces pushed on into the city. Pittsburgh quickly became the ultimate showdown between the ideological arch-enemies of the AUS and CSA. AUS Minutemen and Soldiers flooded into Pittsburgh, reaching the Monongahela River separating the two sides of Pittsburgh. Close quarters combat became frequent, firefights taking place inside multiple apartments, homes, and restaurants. Despite being outnumbered by Patton's forces, Major General Hunter was determined to hold the city against all odds. He ordered his men to protect the railroad and communication stations stationed on both sides of the city. Holding these key points would allow the CSA to project power within the city. It would also allow the CSA to get relay orders to different squadrons in remote areas of the city. Bitter fighting continued to engulf Pittsburgh, every factory, street, house, cellar and attic were fought over. Pittsburgh had become so leveled that few were calling it Pittsburgh anymore, rather, the Pit. Fighting even started to occur in the sewers of the city, and for the days between April 25-May 3rd, the battle for Pittsburgh would take place above, inside, and below the city. By the beginning of May, the AUS Army had secured the southern sector of Pittsburgh, but Hunter's defenders still held out in the north. The Battle of the Pit had in just two weeks become the deadliest battle of the war, and luckily, no battle in the future of the war would match it. Regardless, the Battle of the Pit would leave a scar no amount of healing could ever get rid of.

AUS Soldiers stuck in an apartment firing upon CS Defenders, Battle of Pittsburgh.
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What was once America, a nation of brotherhood and security, had now become the exact opposite. The most fearsome battle on American Soil was raging ever onward between two hateful foes hell bent on each other's destruction. The Syndicalist Capital, Chicago, was now in Federalist Hands. The United States had achieved air and naval supremacy against its foes, going on the offensive against them. The United States has taken a bite out of the Big Apple, sundering its legacy and incinerating the civilian population. Truly, America had become the Land of War and the Home of Terror.

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On the next episode of Novus Ordo Seclorum, join us as we delve deep into the many different warring parties of the Second American Civil War. We will explore everything about them, from their governments to their weapons, their supporters and their enemies. Four Americas and their hateful spite. We here at the Royal Broadcasting Corporation can only hope you'll be here with us once more. The next episode shall be dubbed Episode 5: The Four Americas and Their Jagged Claws. For our Scottish Viewers, heavy thunderstorms are expected to swing south from Orkney, one should not be outside during those hours. In England however, it seems we'll actually be having a nice for once, so enjoy it. I have been your host, Cyril Grosscastle, and on behalf of the RBC, we bid you farewell.

Fare thee well.

 

[grievousrommel]

Well...didn't expect that well of a start for the Federalists. Ohio, my home state, what are you doing supporting these Syndies? Take the fight to Reed! I mean he couldn't even hold on to Chicago!

Wonder who will cry Uncle first, I bet the CSA with the PSA as a close second.

 

[Baron Jukaga]

Great update, but are you sure that 600k casualty figure for New York isn't excessive? New York isn't made out of paper and the USAAF wouldn't have the inventory to bomb it that much. And not to mention that such a casualty figure would go down as one of the worst crimes in history!

 

[LoneStar Prussian]

Well...didn't expect that well of a start for the Federalists. Ohio, my home state, what are you doing supporting these Syndies? Take the fight to Reed! I mean he couldn't even hold on to Chicago!

Wonder who will cry Uncle first, I bet the CSA with the PSA as a close second.

Well actually the CSA when I was playing buffed up their defenses in the west against me so I couldn't advance until the PSA was dealt with.

Great update, but are you sure that 600k casualty figure for New York isn't excessive? New York isn't made out of paper and the USAAF wouldn't have the inventory to bomb it that much. And not to mention that such a casualty figure would go down as one of the worst crimes in history!

Yeah, for some reason I thought the firebombing of Tokyo (which is what the New York Firebombing was heavily inspired by) was 500,000 when in reality it was around 150,000. I will change it, not to 150,000 but to 230,000 since I think New York would still suffer more casualties.