The Pacific Fleet and the Chinese Conflict
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President Roosevelt swept into the White House like a hurricane. He cast aside nearly all of the public servants who had been appointed by President Bacon. Roosevelt, despite his age, attacked his appointments with a youthful attitude, and was not afraid to appoint unpopular or unknown figures. Roosevelt knew that the Republicans had been loosing face for the last four years in the general public. And although the party had been victorious in Washington politics, outside of the capital, the concerns of a Nationalist or Socialist takeover were very real. Roosevelt had three goals coming into office, to reform the Republican party from the top, to rebuild popular confidence in his party, and to gain revenge for the assassination of Leonard Pope, his old military friend and ally. Within a few months, he was well into his first goal, and the Republican Party was taking on a very different face.
The first step was to oust the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, Willard Saulsbury, Jr., a conservative Republican. His term was rather uneventful, and between Saulsbury and the leading Republican in the Senate, Henry Cabot Lodge, the Republican party had remained quiet and deadlocked in the Senate, merely rubberstamping bacon’s plans. Roosevelt, with his new found political clout, ‘convinced’ the two men to retire at the end of the term, making them lame ducks in the Senate and now powerless. Instead he turned power over to two senators, George Wharton Pepper of Pennsylvania, and Claude Augustus Swanson of Virginia. These two men were tasked with pushing forward a series of bills in the Senate to reignite the party, and inspire the base. The two men orchestrated a series of pork barrel bills to stimulate the development of modern roads and industry improvements in the South. The specific targets were South Carolina and Georiga. Pepper and Swanson hoped to cut back into the South and retake the states from the Nationalist party.
Senator George W. Pepper
With the party leadership reformed, Roosevelt took to his second goal. Rebuilding confidence in his party meant two things, economic improvements, and military victories. With the pork barrel bills creating jobs in the South, Roosevelt turned to that second tactic to gain immediate ground with his own party. General Simpson was ordered to continue his press into Northern Afghanistan, which he did gladly, capturing the Afghani Emir in March of 1917. The Emir agreed to grant certain economic and military benefits to the United States, as well as a general disarmament of his southern border. With the Russians, and their new allies in Bulgaria, engaged with the English, the Tsar was unable to keep the Americans from having their way. Likewise, with the Russian fleet engaged in the Atlantic, Roosevelt saw the Pacific as his playground. By sending ships through the Panama Canal, Roosevelt ordered the unification of the numerous Pacific squadrons. Setting sail from Hawaii, the American Armada quickly overran Russian defenses in Palmyra and Wake, and drove the Russian defenders into captivity all across the Pacific Ocean.
This Pacific Fleet was a shocking reminder to the Russians that the Americans were not to be ignored. In three battles, the Russians were outgunned, outs-paced and outclassed. The American fleet helped cut the Russians off from Alaska, forcing the Russians to abandon it completely to the Canadians. It was clear that Russia was only buying time until its eventual defeat at the hands of the British. Admiral Floyd, commander of the Pacific Fleet, recommended to the White House that the American army threaten Port Arthur and the Russian pacific port city of Vladivostok. Roosevelt was more then happy to ok the plan, and Floyd strove on into the East-China Sea. The Russians, realizing that American guns would easily defeat what little defense the city could raise, agreed to negotiate a peace with the Americans. The US gains in Afghanistan and India were recognized, as was US control over the Pacific islands of Guam, Wake and Palmyra. This victory was quickly followed up in May by the purchase of the Virgin Islands from Denmark. The Danes were suffering a severe economic downturn thanks to the fighting in the Baltic and North seas, and were more than happy to sell the Caribbean islands to the United States.
Roosevelt’s Lake, the Caribbean
Only one step remained, revenge for Leonard Wood. It was clear that the Chinese state was unstable. A series of revolts had rocked the large kingdom during the 1910’s. By 1914, the Austrian government was forced to deploy troops just to keep its puppet Emperor on the throne. Roosevelt used this, as well as the ‘harboring of murderous criminals’ by the Austrian government, as a pretense for mobilization. The US occupation force, led by General Thomas Chamberlain (of no relation to the famous Chamberlain family of the US Civil War), was tripled in size. New artillery pieces and command staff were sent. Chief of the US Army, Hugh L. Scott, was sent to orchestrate and coordinate a three stage strike into China. The Scott planned called for a “Trident Attack”, with an army striking north from Shanghai driving towards Beijing, a second army pushing south from Ningbo towards Nanchang, and a third force defending the Hangzhou fortifications.
Hugh L. Scott
However there were two blocks to Roosevelt’s plan. The first was the Austrian government. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was fiercely proud of its puppet in China, and feared that an American invasion would lead to a democratization of China. If that happened, how could the Empire stand up to calls for reform within? It was clear that any American engagement in China would lead to Austrian counter measures. Any war with Austria would damage the already tense American-German relations, strained even further thanks to Anglo-American treaties. The final obstacle was the Japanese. Japan had been mobilizing its economy rapidly, and hoped to become a major player in South-East Asia. The American victory over the French had shaken European control of the South Pacific, and Japan looked greedily upon the pacific holdings of the Dutch, French and Germans. If the American army crossed into China, which Japan felt cut out of, the Japanese fleet could cause problems. And if the Japanese fleet, which was at least three times the size of the Pacific Fleet under Floyd, assaulted the city of Shanghai, some American commanders were worried that the US could not hold. And if Chamberlain’s army was caught without support in China, it would be forced to surrender. That was a public failure that would destroy American international prestige, and sink the Republican party. However, Roosevelt was willing to risk the gamble, and ordered the plan to commence. He was confident that the US Navy, despite being outnumbered, would thrash the Japanese like they had the Russians and Spanish. And so, on March 11th, 1918, the United States declared war on the Empire of China. The fears of the military planners were well founded, as the Austrians and Japanese honored their agreements with the Chinese and declared war on the American government. War for control of China was begun.
The Nationalists have taken the place of the Democrats as a Southern based party, taking the old-South enmasse.
