ATPnovel Chapter 927 - 692: Thirty Against One, Fair Isn’t It?
Chapter 927 - 692: Thirty Against One, Fair Isn’t It?
Chapter 927: Chapter 692: Thirty Against One, Fair Isn’t It?
When it comes to the relationship between France and the United States, aside from the well-known Founding Father Louis XVI, there is also a period that the French do not wish to mention. That was when, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Americans took advantage of a vulnerable situation to rob France of its vast colonies.
This event occurred just decades after the American War of Independence, and France, which had just helped the American people gain independence, was threatened by the United States and sold 2.6 million square kilometers of its land in North America to the US for a mere 15 million dollars.
What does 2.6 million square kilometers represent? The land mass of mainland France is about 550,000 square kilometers; the land seized by the United States was approximately five times the size of France’s native land.
This chapter of history became an eternal pain in the hearts of the French, compounded by Louis XVI’s draining of the royal treasury to aid the United States, which greatly worsened the French impression of America.
It is no exaggeration to say that most French politicians avoid this part of history, which is second only to the trauma of the Franco-Prussian War.
Now, given the opportunity to take advantage of America’s plight, the French certainly would not let it pass. After aligning interests with the United Kingdom and Australasia, the French began active military preparations, ready to carve a significant piece off of America.
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Although France had suffered immense wounds in the previous world war and the whole of French society had turned timid,
this depended on the opponent. In the face of a country like the United States, whose military strength was not formidable, France was still a powerful nation.
More importantly, this time the war was guaranteed by Britain and Australasia, with the main forces undoubtedly being from Britain and Australasia.
The French only needed to mobilize a small part of their military to gain vast territories, an opportunity those French politicians certainly would not miss.
Although there had been heated debates within the World Alliance about whether to wage war on the United States, everyone understood that until the British made a decision, the World Alliance would not come to a conclusion.
The reason was simple, only the British navy could overpower the United States Navy, and only by defeating the United States Navy could they land on American soil.
The reason why the United States Army was so weak was entirely because the navy alone could protect the United States.
If they could not defeat the United States Navy, let alone the World Alliance uniting against it, even if all the countries in the world joined forces, they might not be able to defeat the United States.
Fortunately, the British acted quickly. Capitalists saw profits in the endeavor, and officers envisioned the achievements they could create by defeating the United States. The proposal to wage war on the United States faced no opposition and was even officially announced by the British Parliament with an approval rate of over eighty percent.@@@@
On June 17th, 1928, the World Alliance held a routine meeting.
After Britain had decided to wage war on the United States, the voting within the World Alliance also sped up.
Just as Arthur had predicted, once Britain, France, and Australasia united on a decision, other countries had no room for resistance.
But there was no need for resistance, as joining would bring great benefits to their own countries, so those nations had no reason to refuse.
On June 18th, the World Alliance officially declared its intention to wage war on the United States, proclaiming it to be a trial against American sins and a righteous war for the welfare of all humanity.
On the same day, the World Alliance issued a final ultimatum to the United States, demanding that America continue to pay the compensation for the influenza and provide a new round of compensation for the global economic crisis caused by the collapse of the New York Stock Market.
But in reality, aside from the large number of participating countries, the Allied army of 800,000 also has numerous shortcomings.
Firstly, the main forces in combat would certainly consist of the British, French, Australian, Russian, Austrian Empire, and Polish armies.
The sum of military forces from these five countries would be around 450,000, already more than half of the Allied force.
This also meant that the majority of the other countries were mostly there in a token capacity, and whether the United States could win the war depended on whether it could defeat the militaries of these five countries.
If these five were dealt with, the remaining nations, although numerous, would be nothing but paper tigers.
Even though the combined military strength of these five countries amounts to 450,000, not many of these forces could truly be considered elite.
Britain has always been known for its navy, and the combat strength of the British Army is actually not that strong. The elite units of the French Army were mostly depleted during World War I, and given the character of the Frenchmen, it’s highly unlikely they would send their elite troops to participate in a war against the United States.
There is no need to mention the Russians, who still face the risk of civil war and thus would least likely send their elite forces to wage war against the United States.
The combat effectiveness of the Austrian Empire and Polish armies is also questionable; the most reliable force might be Australasia itself.
However, the good news is that the combat effectiveness of the United States Army is even weaker, perhaps not even comparable to the British Army.
While there might be a certain boost in morale in defense of the homeland, the conventional United States Army numbers about 100,000 and it was reduced to about 80,000 due to the economic crisis.
Furthermore, with President Hoover’s massacre of veterans, it is uncertain whether the United States military could pose a threat to other countries’ armies.
As long as the United States Navy could be quickly dealt with, the war could be considered half won.
It is virtually impossible for the United States to defend against an Allied Army of over 800,000 with an army of only 80,000, even if the United States were to start rapidly expanding its forces now.
To develop combat effectiveness, an army would need at least six months of rigorous training, or more than a year of standard training.
An army hastily trained and sent into battle could only serve as cannon fodder, and Arthur had no worries that the United States Army would pose a threat to the Australasia Army, unless the Americans could develop more powerful weapons, such as fully automatic rifles, or ultimate weapons like nuclear weapons.
But such a possibility is even slimmer than the United States Navy defeating the Allied navy, and can virtually be ruled out beforehand.
The World Alliance’s announcement of impending war against the United States immediately ignited global public opinion.
Despite heavy censorship efforts by the United States government, they could not stop the news from spreading throughout the country.
Undoubtedly, the American people are in a state of panic. The mere number of hostile countries is enough to make Americans give up resistance, not to mention facing several Powers as well.
There are even many media outlets speculating about where the Allied forces might land. Whenever such reports are published in newspapers, local Americans massively evacuate, fleeing to the interior regions far from the Coastline.
Unfortunately, there are just too many potential landing spots for the Allied forces along the extensive coastlines of the United States.
Such reports only manage to increase the panic among the American people without any assistance to the war preparations of the United States.