The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 738 - 553: Similar Situation (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!)

At this time, the British were busy dealing with the Ireland issue, but they also had a difficult brother - the United States, which was inexplicably declared war by the Philippines.

As long as other powers do not intervene, the problem of Ireland is not so difficult. This is good news for the British, as the situation in France and the United States is not so good at this time.

If the Irish War of Independence was just the spontaneous rebellion of the Irish against British rule, then the Philippine War of Independence was much more severe than the Irish war.

Because of the support of Australasia, the Philippine army still maintained an advantage over the United States army.

This advantage was not only limited to the number of people but also not far behind in terms of weapons and equipment.

Because of the separation of the entire Pacific Ocean, it would be very costly for the Americans to transport weapons to the Philippines.

At present, there are only two divisions of American troops in the Philippines, and the number of these two divisions is obviously not enough to resist the total scale of more than 150,000 people in all the Philippine independent armies.

What’s even more fatal is that the domestic situation in the United States is not much better than that in the United Kingdom. Even when comparing the two, the United States is the worse one.

Speaking of the bad situation in the United States, we have to mention the various actions of President Wilson during his tenure.

As we all know, the United States is a diverse immigrant country, with a population from all over the world, including whites, yellows, and blacks.

Although these are theoretical American populations, it is still the era of Europe, and there are still a large number of people who hold the psychology of white superiority and do not look down on races other than whites.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson, as the President of the United States, was a fairly pure white supremacist.

How serious was his racial discrimination?

It was President Wilson who promoted the racial segregation policy of American blacks in the 20th century and even defended the former slavery in the United States: "The slaves were all treated generously and even affectionately by their masters."

Under the promotion of President Wilson, the U.S. government departments and institutions quickly introduced racial segregation systems, and even the District of Columbia had a law prohibiting marriage between different races.

The Postal, Financial, and Printing Departments all had strict segregation measures, even completely covering restaurants, baths, offices, and lounges.

Racial segregation even went beyond simply separating whites from blacks, striving to directly reduce and dismiss black employees and pursue more purely white government institutions.

Over the opposition of the southern states, President Wilson even abolished the practices of his two predecessors and did not appoint black officials for the Treasury Registry and other federal agencies.

This relatively harsh racial segregation attitude set the tone for President Wilson’s black policy throughout his tenure and indirectly affected the subsequent U.S. presidents.

It wasn’t until the time of President Truman that such harsh racial segregation policies were abolished, allowing American blacks to enter more national sectors.

If President Wilson had been from the American South or his background was famous for discriminating against blacks, the current situation in the United States would not have been so chaotic.

But the problem was, when Wilson ran for president, he solemnly promised to support the demands of black voters, which led many black Republican voters to turn to President Wilson’s Democratic Party.

In other words, these black voters were the foundation of President Wilson’s rule, accounting for a considerable part of his wide-ranging supporters.

From 1918 onwards, during President Wilson’s second term, the domestic situation in the United States became quite complicated.

The government and business groups blamed each other for the flu, and German-Americans faced discrimination from other Americans during World War I, making them quite dissatisfied with President Wilson’s decision to join the war.

In addition, in recent times, Irish-American dissatisfaction arose because President Wilson did not publicly support Ireland’s independence, which made his position precarious in the final period of his term.

Not only that, but President Wilson’s health had deteriorated significantly since the second half of 1919.

He was diagnosed with a severe stroke, which left the entire left side of his body paralyzed and his left eye blind.

With the departure of many of his political partners and allies, President Wilson’s ruling foundation in the United States had been destroyed, and the stability of the U.S. government was far from what it appeared to be on the surface.

Moreover, the United States also had the same problem as other countries participating in the war, that is, the neglect of post-war recovery issues.

Although the time for the United States to participate in the war was short, there were still hundreds of thousands of army soldiers to be demobilized.

Because the war ended in a hurry, the United States had no plan for these soldiers, some of whom had not received their salaries and were forcibly sent to the United States penniless.

In addition, the collapse of the wartime bubble in farmland prices has led to a significant number of farmers going bankrupt or deeply mired in debt from the purchase of new land.

This led to the massive strikes in the steel and meatpacking industries in 1919, as well as race riots that spread throughout Chicago, Omaha, and other cities.

Although such crises were not enough to shake the United States’ huge industries and economy, it did represent a growing dissatisfaction among some Americans with Wilson’s rule.

This group of people included the American military, as President Wilson did not prioritize veterans, and even those soldiers who had just gone to Europe and were sent back to the United States could not receive their salaries.

Under such circumstances, American soldiers were not enthusiastic about fighting for the government, which considerably delayed the progress of the war in the Philippines.

With the help of the U.S. Navy, American troops successfully landed in Manila.

However, that was it. Two divisions of American troops stationed themselves in Manila, occasionally dealing with attacks from Filipino independence forces, but they made no plans for active offensives.

Enjoying supplies from the United States, but being passive and lax in the war, this can be seen as the American military’s response to the government’s handling of the situation after World War I.

Although such laziness made these American soldiers comfortable, in the few months they spent in the Philippines, the total casualties were only a few hundred.

But this caused great suffering for the United States government, led by President Wilson, as the lingering problem in the Philippines became the Republican Party’s means to attack President Wilson and the Democrats, making Wilson almost a national criminal in the final years of his term.

For Arthur, the current situation in the Philippines was entirely acceptable, and even preferable.

Firstly, most of the Philippine territory was already controlled by three independent forces supported by Australasia, meaning that the Philippines had essentially broken free from the United States’ control.

Moreover, as long as the U.S. military stayed in Manila, the U.S. government had to continuously transport supplies there to ensure the troops wouldn’t lack resources.

Transporting supplies across the entire Pacific Ocean was not an easy task, and the cost of transportation was sometimes even more expensive than the value of the supplies themselves.

As long as the Philippine War of Independence continued, the Americans would be bogged down there, and the costs were undoubtedly enormous.

Having effectively controlled the Philippines and successfully distracted the Americans, this was a worthwhile deal.

Of course, to truly solve the Philippine issue, support from the British Empire was essential.

However, at present, the British were also distracted by the Irish issue, meaning that the Irish issue had to be resolved before addressing the Philippines.

If left undisturbed, the final solution to the Irish issue would likely follow a similar historical trajectory.

But this was not a good thing for the British Empire, nor was it good for the closely associated Australasia.

First of all, the outcome of World War I meant that a more brutal World War II was inevitable.

In this era, Russia was already weakened too much; Soviet Russia combined with Tsarist Russia were simply no match for historical Russia.

This meant that if World War II were to be initiated by the Germans, France and Russia alone would struggle to resist the German onslaught.

Although some time remained until the theoretical outbreak of World War II, that period was not enough for Russia and France to see significant change in their power.

This meant that England and Australasia would have to contribute a large share in World War II. Especially for the United Kingdom, separated from the European mainland by only the English Channel, it would undoubtedly become a major player in the war.

Under such circumstances, British strength was crucial. The stronger the UK, the greater the likelihood of denying German advances.

To reduce casualties for Australasia during World War II, indirectly protecting the power of the British and French was important.

Currently, the British needed international support to address the Irish problem.

Such support was not military assistance, but diplomatic assistance.

There was no need to worry about British military strength, as even if the army was weak, crushing the Irish Republican Army would not be a problem.

However, they needed to place Britain on the just side of this independence war, reversing the current moral disadvantage, in order to legitimately use military force to suppress the rebellion.

The good news was that Arthur was quite familiar with the mobilization and influence of public opinion, and Australasia had its own intelligence and public opinion channels in Europe.

Moreover, as long as Arthur and Australasia firmly supported the British, regardless of the outcome, the relationship between the UK and Australasia would undoubtedly become stronger.