Episode VII: End of the Beginning
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1st of January – 3rd of June 1938
By mid-January, Atlanta was back in US army hands. Huey Long and his goons fled to Charlotte and set up their government there. But the syndicalists were close to taking Charlotte, Long was now on his last breath and he couldn’t flee forever. On the 10th of February, Canada and the US held combined naval exercises of the American Coast, as a preparation for the Canadian entry into the war against the CSA. On the 22nd of February 1938, the Kingdom of Canada declared war on the Combined Syndicates of America. On the 1st of March, Canadian troops entered New York City. They were welcomed by the citizens, who had replaced all syndicalist flags with the US flag.
Lieutenant Alexander Coleville, who had joined the Civil War as a volunteer from the Union of Britain, was holding out in City Hall with a couple of other soldiers. They had heard from others that Canadian troops were about to arrive and that they better flee or they would be killed. But Alexander was stubborn and ordered his troops to prepare for battle. Alexander had joined this war because he hoped it would make his grandmother proud. Ever since his parents died in the Revolution of ’25, she took care of him. But she was of the old order and didn’t like Alexander’s naïve enthusiasm for the Union of Britain. Alexander had always suspected his grandmother of listening to the King’s propaganda on Radio Dublin, which was being broadcasted from private owned radio stations in Ireland.
Alexander and his soldiers now had barricaded the entrance to the building and were waiting to shoot on whoever would enter. Suddenly, a tank drove through the door and Canadian soldiers entered the building, covered by heavy machinegun fire. Alexander and his American friends were overwhelmed by this sudden attack. Not long after they entered, Alexander was hit by a bullet in his shoulder. His fellow soldiers were now either all dead, or captured. Alexander saw the pointlessness in the situation and surrendered. The Canadian troops were with too many and had too much fire power compared to them.
On the 5th of March, Philadelphia was also liberated. As in New York, people cheered and welcomed the Canadian army with American flags. It was always suspected that the East Coast cities didn’t really support the syndicalist cause. On the 24th of March, the American Union State capitulated, when Charlotte was taken by the US army. Unfortunately, Huey Long was able to flee to Cuba, with a considerable amount of Minute Men. In the Treaty of Charlotte, the terms of peace were discussed. Obviously, the US took back all the territory controlled by the AUS. McArthur was now advancing into the CSA with two armies, one in the west and one in the south, all the while, Canada was invading from the north.
On the 7th of May, Canadian troops started engaging CSA troops on the outskirts of Washington DC. On the 26th of May, Canadians crossed the border into Detroit. The first real CSA stronghold was taken. The syndicalists were now in full retreat. On the 2nd of June, an isolated Canadian tank division was able to take Chicago, the CSA capital. Military Police soon arrived and arrested Jack Reed and the other syndicalist leaders. On the 3rd of June, the CSA capitulated and the Second American Civil War was over.
Head of MI6, Winston Churchill, commented on the matter: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The question now was how the Kingdom of Canada and the United States would negotiate their cooperation with each other, now that the US no longer needed Canadian help, but Canada still needed the help of the US for their future War of Homecoming.
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Very exciting times. A battle in the war against syndicalism has been won, but the war is far from over yet. We haven't seen the last of Huey Long yet (little spoiler for you there) and US-Canadian relations are not set on stone as they have much to discuss in a coming agreement.