Chapter II: The Second New Deal
1936.3.10: We are going rather well with the finishing of those ships. The destroyers are already lunched, it is only a few months until the submarines and the cruiser arrives, and the two carriers will be operational within the year. That will pave the way four our new job creation program: a Trans-States Railway. That of course will be only a temporary measure: as soon as the railroad is completed, the jobs will disapear again. The second phase of the program, on the other hand will be a large scale industrializing project on the Western Coast, and in the Southern States. They could use some help with the catching up! But actually, that is not why I started this entry.
The war in Abyssinia. The hostilities ended with reestablishing the government under Italian control. Not that it really poses any direct threat to us, but it could make a very dangerous precedent!
1936.4.15.: Just like I feared, after the expansionism of Mussolini in Africa was fruitful, Hitler decided to take a bold step as well: he sent troops to the demilitarised zone of the Rheinland. This is clearly in violation of the Versailles treaty, but there were no real opposition against it. Hitler can get away with it for now, it seems. Well, it is German territory, I guess...
1936.5.26.: Naval development goes pretty well. We already have some pretty solid blueprints for new cruisers and carriers as well as a new tank engine to use in future models. We redistributed some resources to more industrial projects improving our mining and refining efforts.
1936.8.5.: I got new of unrest in Spain. The people are not really used to being a democracy there, I think. They lean towards extremists, and that will surely tear the nation apart. It's only a matter of time...
1936.9.5.: As I was saying, a Civil War broke out in Spain. The recently elected left-wing coalition was unable to keep the communists and anarchists at bay, which led to open revolt in Madrid. That resulted in the escalation of the confilct between the Republicans and the Nationalists, and in now a days later, in full scale war.
The start of the Spanish Civil War
The fascists and communists couldn't keep their dirty hands out of the conflict of course, and started to support one side or the other in secret. (What? We have a low budget in foreign intelligence, but not
that low...)
1936.9.9.: Speaking of Civil Wars. There was another one going on in China between the communists led by Mao Zedong and the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek, for a few years now. Today, the two leaders agreed on an armistice to contain the Japanese threat. (Remember the Mukden-Incident from '31?) The strange thing about this, is that it was actually forced on Chiang: two of his generals
kidnapped him! I'm a bit sceptic about such an uneasy alliance, though. Will it be strong enough in case of an actual Japanese invasion? Only time will tell. At any rate, the world starts to get more and more troublesome. I think I may need some spies overseas to keep me on level. I will call Friedman immediately!
1936.10.1.: Hitler announced the proposal of a defensive pact against the spread of Communism. That is clearly a provocation of the Soviet Union. Italy signed the so called 'Anti-Commintern Pact' in a few hours, and so did the Empire of Japan. They are up to some hanky-panky, I tell ya'!
1936.10.20.: On the brighter side: the production of those stupid carriers is finally done, so we can now start to build something more practical: the Trans-States Railway! It will go from Washington DC. through Campton, St. Louis, Tulsa, Santa Fe, through the Rocky Mountains to San Francisco! Meanwhile, we have nice progress in the development of tanks. These moving fortresses will rule the battlefield someday. I can only hope, that we won't need them...
1936.12.19.: Today, someone accused me (ME!) of staging a rigged election! I tought I was a popular person... No matter, they will forget it soon enough!
1937.1.1.: Stalin started a systematic purge against so-called 'traitors'. I can't believe this guy... Alright, I admit it, sometimes I feel like everybody around me is conspiring against me, but to make some show trials and executing half of his marshals is a bit extreme in my opinion... Note to self: don't get on his bad side! Or his right side? I'm not really sure, what would be worse. If he's my enemy, then at least he won't backstab me...
1937.2.21.: The first round of the first phase of the Second New Deal is done. That's a start! Lowering taxes a bit will also help gathering some support. (Not that I really need it mind you, everybody loves me!
) Also, I orderd Hull (my Secretary of State, remember?) to try and outsource our military supply needs. We can do a lot more important stuff with our domestic industry than producing bullets, canned beans and toilet paper for our practically non-existent military. Like building even more railroads! And I was also thinking about financing some nice new harbours in the Pacific. It is lovely there in this time of the year!
1937.5.3.: There was a greate peace demonstration held in Washington DC today. The people don't want to go to war. (Not that there are any going on. Except for the Spanish Civil War, but civil wars don't count! Except for fascists and communists it would seem, but we are neither!) I don't want to go to war either. (" - What, are you a pacifist? - No, sir! I'm a coward!") But we don't really have to, it seems. The second round of the firts phase of the Second New Deal goes pretty well, another section of the Trans-States Railway is completed. (Well, not exactly completed, only the basic facilities are finished as of now, but it is going smoothly nontheless!)
The Trans-States Railway under construction
1937.5.22.: The second round is now completed, now only some celaning up is left on the main sections, and some more work in the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, which will be finished by August. But in the meantime, we can already start to work on the second phase: Industrialization of the Southern States! (The third phase will be the Western States, and finally the fourth will bring us to a vacation to the Pacific!) Wagner (the Secretary of the Treasury) told me that we might need foreign support to actually feed this overgrown industry, but so be it! Creating jobs is what's important right now, we will worry about economics later! (Well, Wagner already worries about it, but that's his problem. He should have a talk with Hull.) And we are working on improved methods of mining those resources anyway! A bunch of interesting (well, quite frankly rather boring...) projects just finished the implementation phase in this field.
1937.7.1.: Yet another sign of trouble comming our way: after an incident near Beiping, China, shots were fired, a Japanese soldier was arrested, an investigation was denied, and now Japan is officially at war with China. How strong will be the alliance between Chiang and Mao will be I wonder? It is still pretty quite there, but that's only the silence before the storm, I feel it! As a reaction to this event, Chaing sent out the word to the rebellious Warlords in China to set asaid their differences and join forces against the common threat. Later today, Japan asked Germany for recognition of Manchukuo. This state came to existence in '32, after Japan invaded the place following the Mukden Incident in '31 and installed Puyi, the last descendant of the Qing Dinasty as the Emperor. They were practically a puppet state eversince. Germany accepted the request of course, which saw an increase in Japan's and Germany's relations, but a decrease between Germany and the Republic of China.
1937.7.15.: After almost a year of struggle, the Spanish Civil War is finally over, the Republican government managed to restore order and put down the rebellious military.
The end of hostilities in Spain
1937.8.3.: Chaing's call did not go unanswered: the autonomous province of Shanxi, the northern provinces ruled by the three Ma-s and even the communists forces under Mao agreed to join forces. Open conflict is sure to follow in a few days. But at least the Second New Deal goes as planned. The first phase will be completed in November, and by the end of January, we will already see some results from the second phase!
For some reason, whenever we start some interesting research project, somehow it turns out to be a militaristic one in nature. I don't know why that might be. It may be because my military advisors are such geniuses that can see a military application for even the most harmless tools. (I'm starting to understand Stalin...)
1937.10.1.: I had a meeting today with Freidman and Hull to keep me in the loop on the situation in China. Japan is making some progress from two directions: the Kantung Army is invading along a long front from the North while a detachment of the Imperial Japanese Navy orchestrated an amphibious invasion at Qingdao. From what I gather, the later seems to be a bit over-exposed, but I don't know anything about the composition of troops there, so I might be wrong... (And I'm not a military genius at any rate either.)
The Second Sino-Japanese War in October, 1937
Later edit on 11.3.: The two invasions linked up by late october, which sealed the fate of the autonomity of Shanxi. Their soldiers will nevertheless keep fighting under the banner of the Republic. The United Kingdom took this as a sign: China needs help! They started to send material for China through the so-called 'Burma Road'. That will hopefully help the Chinese keep the Mikado at bay. I would also help them, but due to their financial problems, they won't accept my trade proposals...
Later that month
But at least the first phase of the Second New Deal is finished. (These phases go simultaneously, by the way.) So now we can start to build some proper airfileds and harbours on Guam. (Plus some coastal forts. These are troublesome times!) I will build a Luxury Hotel there as well! I may need it for relaxation later...
1937.11.6.: Japan declared the independence of Mengjiang, another puppet nation. Where do they get these?
1938.1.1.: The Japanese campaign seems to go unexpectedly and rather disturbingly well... That might be because of the well placed and well executed amphibious invasion back in October. But that doesn't change the fact that the Japanese are starting to be a real threat! If they can take out China, that will tip the balance in Asia, and will have dire consequences later on. The only thing that can slow their advance now is the involvment of the armies from Guanxi, and maybe Yunnan.
But that still won't stop the progress made on the second phase of the Second New Deal! 15 new factories opened their gates today in the Southern States. We will start to work on those imports now... Of course we can easily afford it from the sales of our huge Oil exports.
1938.2.5.: After minor clashes between Soviet and Japanese forces on the Manchurian border, the two sides agreed upon a Non-Aggression Pact. That's one less front to worry about for both of them. And it might very well be one more problem for me in the long run... On an unrelated note, we started to build a Rocket test site in Texas, Houston. This facility will help immensely in our future research! Meanwhile, the improvements on Guam are going nicely as well.
1938.4.23.: My fellow Americans are starting to feel the coming storm, they now held a great war demonstration in DC. I, of course promised them that we won't let foreign powers interfere with our freedom, but also made sure, that we won't go to war except if absolutely inevitable. That pleased the masses, it seems. Unfortunately, it won't help the situation in China by one bit. The communist forces of Mao are surrounded in Xianyang, while the republican forces are pushed back. Some minor successes were achieved in holding up the invaders, but the Kuomintang is about to collapse:
China in late April, 1938
1938.6.12.: The barbarians! I don't even want to go into the details, they are so disturbing, but the 'Nanking Massacre' event happened just now... Outrageous!
1938.9.7.: The second phase of the Second New Deal is completed, another 15 factories are completed today. We can start the third phase, on the Western Coast now! (And another bunch of foreign deals, but that's still not a problem.)
1938.9.11.: Another expansionist development, now from Germany. Actually, it is from Austria, but now Austria is part of Germany, so... Anyway, the Austrian Chancellor, Kurt Schuschnigg (under German pressure, of course) proposed a referendum on Austria joining the Third Reich (another violation of the Versile Treaty, by the way!), which was canceled after German troops crossed the borders and the Austrian National Socialist Party staged a coup d'état, and made the referendum pointless. Austria, with all its rich history and culture is now reduced to be a province of Hitler's Germany... (Or is it Germany, that became a part of Hitler's Austria? Hitler is Austrian after all. I hope there won't be any American presidents from Austria, they might propose another Anschluss!)
1938.10.4.: Germany mobilized the reserves! What the hell is going on there?!
1938.10.21.: So that's what Hitler has been up to! Today, in Munich, a meeting was held with the representatives of Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom to discuss the problems in the 'Sudetenland', a Czechoslovakian region, with a significant German population. Hitler wanted it for himself, of course (that can't be surprising after the Anschluss), and promised, that this is the extent of his ambitions for expansion. The attendants of the meeting agreed on this, trying to avoid another Great War. I'm not really convinced, though. (Hey! I may be a benevolent gentleman, but at least I'm not a naive optimist!) The consequence of this is that Germany got their hands on a series of fortifications on the Czechoslovakian border. (Did I mention that the Czechoslovakians were not even represented on this meeting? How nice those guys are in Europe! I almost regret not being one of them...)
1938.12.28.: The Japanese advance slowed to a stalemate, there were no major gains in the last few months. It may have been the fresh armies from Yunnan and Guanxi, or the Japanese changed their minds, I can't tell. The fact is, they can't deal with eachother, which lowered their threat towards us, at least for the moment.
1939.2.8.: Who would have guessed? Maybe Hitler really did mean it when he said that the Sudetenland was the extent of his ambition! They demobilized their army!
1939.2.21.: Who would have guessed? It was only a trick, to make everyone believe he had good intentions! There have been a border dispute between Czechoslovakia and Hungary for a 20 years now (a consequence of the Treaty of Trianon). Hitler used the growing tension to his own gain by giving a permission for Hungary to annex parts of Czechoslovakia, while supporting a Slovakian independence movement lead by Jozef Tiso, a Slovakian priest, and under the pretext of protecting the Slovakian people, German forces marched into Bohemia and Moravia. The events may be confusing and chaotic, but the results are pretty clear: Germany annexed half of former Czechoslovakia, while giving some parts to Hungary, and creating a puppet state from the rest. (What's this fetish of creating puppets with dictators anyway?) To make things a bit better (or even worse?), the United Kingdom declared that they guarantee the borders of Poland from now on. That might be relevant because of Danzig (and the rest of Western Poland), which was part of Germany way back, before the Great War. Now Hitler may think twice before doing anything further... (Also, Slovakia sign the Anti-Commintern Pact. Not that it really matters, but still.) A few weaks later Germany laid official claims on Memmel (Klaipeda) from Lithuania, which they reluctantly agreed to. So much for Hitler and his ambitions...
1939.3.2.: Probably as an indirect consequence of the Vienna Award mentioned before, Hungary signed the Anti-Commintern Pact, and joined in an alliance with Germany. (Hungary choose the wrong side in the Great War as well. History might be repeating itself.) I think we will have to cut back on research in the near future. We will need to have more spies to keep an eye on these new threats.
1939.4.3.: The third phase of the Second New Deal is going well. The first round of industrialisation of the Western Coast is done, giving a job for hundreds of thousands of people. Meanwhile, the fourth phase is going well too, Guam will soon become a paradise for the wealthy and the poor alike!
1939.5.5.: Today when I went to work, I found a blueprint on my desk. It was something called 'RADAR'. It looked like a dish stood up, and a spike went out from the middle. From the specification, I found out what it is good for: it can help with detecting where the enemy is! I arranged a cabinet meeting quickly, and after a brief talk with Wagner, Freidman and Laehy, I decided that the Hotel Paradise on Guam could use some decoration!
1939.7.27.: Something must have happened in China while I wasn't looking:
China in the middle of the summer of 1939
Japan must have lost the will (or the means) to fight... It seems that all problems will be solved on their own! How nice
1939.8.21.: Or not... Germany and the Soviet Union has made a Non-Aggression Pact. I have a baaaaad feeling about this...
1939.9.1.: Where's Albania? I'm asking, because my Secretary of the State, Cordell Hull just reported, that Italy has annexed them... But he had something a bit more important to say too: Germany declared war on Poland!
