章節 42: Samoa Crisis/Washington, D.C.
The Age of Exploration.
As welfare foundations were established in the German Empire, like missionaries sent out in the name of war and colonization, the doors of the great Berlin palace swung open and a servant quickly stepped out.
"Kaiser!"
"...But why, did the British Empire suddenly declare war?"
"It's not the British Empire.... It's the United States of America. The United States of America has had an accident."
The eyes of high-ranking officials and lawmakers widened at the appearance of the United States of America.
The idea that the United States of America, a country with which the French Republic was on bad terms, had made a mistake was bad news for the German Empire.
Unlike the Allies, who took an extreme pro-German path.
"The United States of America is in trouble.... What happened?"
"The United States of America has sent three warships to the Samoan civil war. Not only that, but they're sending 200 marines, and it looks like they're going to get really involved in the Samoan civil war."
"...!!!!"
"...!!!!"
"...!!!!"
"...!!!!"
***
The convention was over.
And just like that, the Social Democrats and the conservative National Liberals ebbed away, leaving a tidal wave of military figures, led by Juncker, in the room.
There were only three of them, but the vitriol they exuded was enough to make even me, a World War I veteran (a very subjective opinion), feel uncomfortable.
Minister of War (Kriegsministerium) of the German Empire.
Julius von Perdi du Bernoulli.
"This is a declaration of war, Kaiser! You have just slapped the face of the world's second largest power, our German Empire, with the pretext that the United States of America is intervening in the Samoan civil war!"
"..."
"How dare a civil war-halved Yankee touch the mustache of the great and glorious German Empire.... As Secretary of War, I cannot stand it - we must send America back to the Stone Age."
Chief of Staff of the General Staff (Oberste Generalstab).
Alfred von Schlieffen.
"Calm down. Minister Julius."
"Calm down?! Aren't you even angry?"
"Because it's not even worth getting angry in the first place. Why are you so angry against a small country like the United States of America? Are you.... nervous?"
"What?! We, the German Empire, descendants of the Prussian Empire, who beat up the Russian Empire, who beat up the French Empire, are afraid of monkeys from the New World?!! Make some sense."
Minister of the Reichsmarineamt and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy Chief of the Admiralty of the Imperial High Command (Kaiserliches Oberkommando der Marine).
Alfred von Tirpitz.
"Hmm.... You're not wrong, to be honest, about being a dick."
"What?! You bitch!"
"But our German Empire has been an army-centered empire for millennia, and even if the Admiralty's budget has been gradually increasing since the Kaiser ascended to the throne, it takes a lot more money to build a battleship. Besides, we can't have a naval race with Great Britain when they're looking at us."
"..."
"How are you going to invade the United States of America when you don't even have the right of first refusal? Unless the United States of America is in the war, wake up."
Boatfucker Alfred's words cut Julius off.
She had just realized something.
The monkeys from the New World weren't coming for nothing.
"..."
"..."
"..."
When the atmosphere had calmed down a bit, I asked Bismarck, who heads the RSHA, the National Security Headquarters.
"Is the information that the United States has dispatched three warships accurate?"
"Yes. Three warships, the USS VANDALIA, a Sloop-Of-War, the USS TRENTON, a Screw Steamer, and the USS NIPSIC, a Gunboat, are said to be traveling around South America to the island of Samoa."
"Hmm.... Come to think of it, I guess that's what happened."
It did happen in a past life.
The effects of World War I were so strong that I had forgotten about it, but the United States of America and our German Empire clashed as they tried to expand their influence into the Pacific.
It ended with a cyclone blowing in and sinking them all.
***
1878.
The United States acquired a fuel depot at the port of Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila in exchange for protection for Samoa.
And the German Empire was drooling over the harbor of Apia on Upolu Island.
Even if Bismarck was a powerhouse that was only begging Great Britain, it didn't want to lose its foothold in colonizing the vast Pacific.
The vast Pacific Ocean, though not particularly nutritious, was essential for the German Empire to achieve maritime supremacy and expand its influence in Asia.
1881.
My grandmother's pro-German leanings put Malietoa Laupepa on the throne.
But relations between him and the German Empire broke down in 1885, and he was exiled from the Samoan islands in 1887.
The problem was that the United States, with its policy of Pacific expansion, and Great Britain, an evil empire that wanted to intervene in every conflict in the world, got involved in this conflict.
"In the meantime, the United States has sent three warships...."
"The problem is, the British Empire isn't going to let this go unchallenged, because they're negative to our Pacific expansion policy."
"..."
"To make matters worse, there's a British cruiser, HMS Calliope, near the Samoan Islands, and it looks like they're going to step in as an arbitrator and make sure they get a piece of the action."
1860.
Just as the Russian Empire ripped off the Qing Empire for mediating in the Second Opium War.
...Imagine the British Empire's pain in the ass.
It was the Russian Empire that had gained a huge territory by fighting a war to sell drugs.
But that doesn't mean we, the German Reich, should be drawn into their schemes.
"Hmm.... This is not something we can sit idly by. We, the German Empire, the world's second-largest power, have been slapped on the cheek by the Yankees of the New World, and we cannot, as the Bible says, turn the other cheek."
"Yes, Kaiser, isn't it the heart of a woman in the German Empire to be ready to kill her opponent if she gets a slap on the cheek!"
At my words, the warmongering Minister of War, Julius, shouted.
The cautious Schlieffen turned to me with some hesitation.
"...So we're sending warships too?"
"Yes, sir. The German Empire will never bow down to a lesser power. We may be temporarily bowing down to the great British Empire, but not to the United States of America, which is not a world superpower and is half a world power!"
"I take my orders from the legitimate monarch of the German Empire."
January 13, 1889.
The German Empire officially intervenes in the Samoan Civil War, sending three battleships to castrate the United States of America's Pacific influence.
With or without the Kaiser's knowledge of the future.
SMS Adler
SMS Eber
SMS Olga
***
Capital of the United States of America.
The White House in Washington, D.C.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Even after the Civil War, when the country became more decentralized and the central government's influence was dramatically reduced, the power of the White House was still enormous.
In particular, its monopoly on foreign affairs and its ability to project influence abroad was overwhelming to the states.
Today, however, the White House was shrouded in silence.
"..."
"..."
"..."
In 100 years, it may be called the center of world politics, but today the center of the world is Europe, not the Americas.
The White House is not even the center of America.
...Isn't the United States of America's greatest enemy the United Nations?
Then.
The owner of the White House and the president of the United States, the world's 10th largest power.
Grover Cleveland Grover Cleveland.
He broke through the heavy atmosphere, and spoke.
"...Is it true that the German Empire has sent three warships to the Samoan Islands?"
"It was headlined in newspapers all over Europe, without even putting an emblem on it, that war between the German Empire and us, the United States of America, is at hand."
"...Damn it!"
With the world linked together by the electric telegraph, it was only a matter of time before news from Europe reached the Americas.
And Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange were screaming for the benefits of this civilization.
"War between the German Empire and us, the United States of America, is at hand."
NYSE Composite Index ∇23.52%
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