January 1928
President Muniz, though a long-time Hawk of the Democratic Party, proved that Hawkishness was a spectrum with his New Year's Address. In this address, Muniz proposed that a conference be held in a neutral European city to defuse the rising tensions between Germany and the American Republics.
The Germans, still caught up in repressing the Prussian revolt, agreed to the conference.
Tensions down to 10
February 1928
The Soviet government approached Cascadian authorities with another proposal for a technology purchase, this time seeking Cascadian schematics for watertight hatches. The signal from the Admiralty was a "yes" - the offered compensation would help deal with the budget crunch of the peacetime mobilization of the fleet.
In Basel, Switzerland, Swedish mediators met with representatives of the American Republics and the German Republic to discuss a way to settle the ongoing tensions.
This netted Muniz the approval of the Cascadian populace. Much to the chagrin of many Hawks, most polling showed that the majority were not interested in a war with Germany, which was no longer seen as a direct physical threat to Cascadian territory.
For men like Senator Abernathy, this state of affairs was dangerous. There were, in their view, still opportunities to seize with the Germans, and furthermore, the alliance with the United States had assumed paramount importance. The Liberal-Conservative leadership in the Government were becoming convinced that the popular sentiments would make supporting an American war against Germany impossible. Something would have to be done.
March 1928
On the 3rd of the month, The Oreganian published an article that spelled out the Hawk position: Germany, despite everything, was still a potential threat to Cascadian commerce, and to the Cascadian sphere of influence in South America. This threat had to be faced, and it had to be faced alongside the Americans.
The Liberal newspaper's article was immediately mocked by several other periodicals and dailies, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the San Francisco Times, and the Boise Standard News. Socialist newspaper The Cascadian Worker's News was especially voracious, printing an article by former Senator Flagg excoriating the Hawk government for its "bloody criminality" in pursuing "a war unjustified by even their usual imperialist aims".
This was not going unnoticed in Washington. Anti-Cascadian sentiments in the nation, primarily in the Southern states and sections of the Republican Party, openly declared their concern that the Cascadians would "abandon" the alliance treaty and leave the United States isolated against Germany. President Coolidge made his concerns plain in a message to the Cascadian Cabinet - his government was worried that if it came to shooting, Cascadia would abandon the alliance, in direct contrast to America's behavior in the Japanese War.
Senator Abernathy and War Secretary Jake Roberts therefore came together and approached Secretary of State Montelbano, urging him to go public with the need to face Germany alongside the United States. Montelbano, however, would not be budged - progress was being made in Basel, he asserted.
By the 12th, this progress was undone. The German Republic, desperately trying to avoid further conservative and monarchist defections to the East Prussian revolt, asserted that it could not make any concessions on trade to South America, or indeed any outright concessions period to the American Republic. For Berlin the situation was impossible: the concessions that would have defused the American war movement would have driven more support for the junker revolt, but not giving those concessions increased the likelihood of war with the American and Cascadian nations.
Senator Abernathy struck. In the Senate, and with his allies in the House, he proposed a vote to declare the German terms at Basel unacceptable, and to require the termination of talks if Germany did not acquiesce. Montelbano resisted the vote and the measure, declaring it "unacceptable". With the Secretary of State's position clear, Jake Roberts jumped in - he announced he could no longer support the Government "as constituted" due to "weakness in the Cabinet". Other devoted hawks echoed this. A vote of no confidence against Montelbano was made and barely defeated.
In the House, the Conservatives took up the reins and threw in their own vote of no confidence. With the strength of the Hawks, the measure barely passed (Democrat Hawks and a few Liberals opposed the overthrow, as did many Doves who saw what was going on). Montelbano gave his resignation to the President that night.
On the 16th of March, Abernathy stepped up and declared he would form a new Hawk government. Roberts would remain as Secretary of War and Conservative hardliner Representative John Edward Hallinger of Shasta would become Foreign Secretary. Liberal Hawk leader Horace Cromley of Bremerton was tapped to be the new Naval Secretary.
Muniz distrusted the Liberal Oppositionist, who had been a political enemy during the Sullivan Presidency. Furthermore, he was facing an election campaign, and a strong Dove challenge joined by discontent over the anemic domestic agenda of the Hawk years could see his own party decide to run someone else. Exercising his authority as President, Muniz required Abernathy to win a vote of confidence in the Parliament before he accepted the new government.
Abernathy left nothing to chance. He went to the Liberal Party leadership and, with the force of the Hawk majority on its National Committee, won the right to apply the Whip. Any Liberal Dove who voted against his Government would be stripped of Party support. Abernathy went into the House fully expecting to ride a unanimous Liberal vote.
But one Dove Liberal refused to accept the Whip. Representative Thomas Garrett of Vallejo stood with the Opposition.
"The Liberal Party must now choose between Power and Duty. Senator Abernathy has set the Whip on the side of Power. I choose to stand on the side of Duty.
What is our duty? Our duty is to protect the dignity and reputation of our Republic from the unscrupulous men who are leading us on the path of infamy. Our duty is to stand for the principles of our nation. The German Republic has not attacked our people. They pose no threat to the safety and security of this Republic. But they provide a convenient excuse for the unprincipled to seize power in the name of national defense.
A vote for Senator Abernathy's government is a vote for war. And I vote 'Nay'." - Rep. Thomas Garrett, Speech on March 17th, 1928
Thomas' stand was not alone, but it was still a very lonesome one. Only three other Liberal Doves stood with him in defiance of the Whip. Abernathy won the vote, and went on to win the vote in the Senate later that day. He became the new Secretary of State.
Newspapers were nevertheless quick to laud the speech, and attacking Thomas - a decorated war veteran and son of the nation's most valued military chief - proved a tricky problem for many pro-war newspapers. Although not all of them: the supremely hawkish Bremerton Standard declared Thomas a "failed, defeatist lawyer".
It was not a problem for the Liberal National Committee. On March 19th, Thomas was informed that the Liberal Party would support an opponent against him in the 1929 Parliament elections.
Thomas responded by crossing the aisle. On March 21st, he sat with the Democrats. He wired his resignation from his seat to the Upper Californian capital of Sacramento the next day, in keeping with parliamentary custom. The Vallejo seat would be opened to a by-election, likely to be held in May.
By this time, Abernathy had already acted. He approached the military leadership of the country and announced that he was ready to pursue a declaration of war against Germany. General Brewer said nothing. Admiral Garrett, however, declared this a mistake. "If you insist on taking us into another war with Germany, at least ensure they are the ones declaring war," he insisted. "We can ill afford to seem the aggressor."
By that point, however, the issue was moot. German refusal to respect an American demand on both shipping in the Baltic and German influence in South America led to anger in the American Congress. For the Germans, the situation remained impossible: to make concessions would fuel the monarchist cause and doom the Republic, while the alternative was war.
The German Republic chose the latter.
It still remained on the United States to draw the sword. And draw the sword it did, after another American merchant ship was sunk in the Baltic exclusion zone. On March 27th, 1928, the United States of America declared war on the German Republic.
Muniz wanted to negotiate the issue, but the Americans activated the Second Chicago Treaty clause. Cascadia was obligated by treaty to join the war. Muniz left Abernathy to make the vote in Parliament. On March 28th, 1928, the Republic of Cascadia declared war on the German Republic.
With war declared, Admiral Garrett ordered a fleet contingent sent into the Indian Ocean. The Cascadian Army began work on an invasion of Tanganyika.
April 1928
Cascadian submersibles operating out of Sumatran ports and German submersibles out of Tanganyika went on an Indian Ocean killing spree in the month: the Cascadians sank nine German ships and the Germans sank six Cascadian vessels and a Cascadian sub.
Germany, as before, let loose cruisers for raiding duties. The Konigsburg sank to Cascadian ships near Ireland and Britain, and Ariadne caught a merchantman off the Azores.
The US Navy did its own share of sinkings, primarily against German merchant ships in the Caribbean.
Pacific Union Station
Portland Federal District
28 April 1928
For the second time that decade, the Admiral and his family assembled at the railroad station to see Sophie Garrett off to Europe.
Much had changed, of course. She was no longer a twenty-three year old student eager to prove her worth - she was a thirty-one year old historian off to make her career. She was laden down with bags that a train employee was helping to pack. Several sets of clothing, a typewriter, notebooks and pens, it had all been packed away.
"I'm gonna miss you, Auntie," protested little Catherine. Rachel joined her sister in hugging her aunt while their mother, Georgia, waited.
"I'll bring you gifts from Europe," she promised her little nieces. "Dresses and dolls. And I know you're going to be big when I get back." Sophie hugged her sister-in-law next. "I'll see you, Georgie."
"Take care, Sophie," urged Georgia.
The Admiral took his daughter in a hug. Even at his advanced age, he could still hug tightly. "Be careful," he insisted. "And for heaven's sake, make sure you're on a British liner. Or French, if you must."
"I've got tickets on the Lusitania," Sophie said. "I paid at the Cunard office in San Francisco."
"Good." The Admiral's relief was evident.
As he finished hugging, a chorus of young voices shouted "Aunt Sophie!" and "Auntie!" Everyone turned in time to see Thomas and Anne-Marie following their children through the boarding terminal. Sophie embraced her nephews and nieces tightly. "Oh, I'm going to miss you all," she said.
Thomas sighed with relief. "We made it, excellent."
"Shouldn't you be running a campaign?", Sophie asked, although she happily accepted her brother's hug. "The papers say it is a tight one."
"It is. And the train will be taking us home tonight," Thomas replied. "But I wanted to see you off."
"Well, thank you."
"You're going by a neutral liner, right?" Worry appeared on Thomas' face. "Please tell me you…"
"Yes, I've ordered tickets on Cunard. Don't worry."
Thomas sighed with relief. "Hopefully this insanity will be over with before you're due to return."
"I won't be staying longer than 1930, I assure you. This mess should be over by then."
"Yes, it should," the Admiral said softly. He looked to Thomas and nodded.
The whistle sounded. Sophie gave her final hugs to her family and, with teary-eyes and a smile, boarded the train. She found a nearby seat and waved at them out of the window until the train began to chug its way down the tracks.
Once it had disappeared, the Admiral looked to them. "Do you have time for an early dinner?", he asked. "Before your next train?"
"We do," Thomas answered. "Pa, I…"
The Admiral nodded. "It's fine. I understand." He clapped a hand to Thomas' shoulder. "You are a brave man, Thomas. I could not be prouder of you. Your mother and grandfathers would be saying the same if they were here."
Thomas nodded and closed his eye. "Thanks, Pa."
"Now… let us see about dinner."
May 1928
On May 8th, the people in the Vallejo district cast their ballots. Most polls conducted from newspapers indicated that Liberal-backed Conservative Oswald Heller would win the ballot on the strength of the War Government and his pro-war stance.
By the 9th, the official results were conclusive: Thomas Garrett, now a Democrat, had been re-elected by his constituents by a margin of 55 to 45.
The result rang like a thunderbolt through the nation's political scene. Newspapers across the country declared it a "complete refutation of Senator Abernathy's Government" by the Vallejo district voters. Many attributed the victory to the campaigning of the renegade Liberal-turned-Democrat, who maintained a constant series of attacks on Abernathy's push for war and the conflict as a whole.
The outcome of the Vallejo by-election was now fueling a Dove and Democrat resurgence, and with only a year to go before the Parliamentary elections were mandated.
The enhanced training regimen ordered the prior year had clearly taken hold.
The Cascadian submersibles sank another nine German ships at the cost of two of their number, with Germany sinking only six again but with no losses. The cruiser Demosthenes, having entered the Caribbean via the Panama Canal, caught a German oil tanker near the Venezuelan coast and sank her.
On May 17th, the Canadian training destroyer HMCS Champlain was the first to arrive at the North Atlantic site where an American-flagged liner, the Star of Brooklyn, had sent an SOS. She found several dozen lifeboats with a few hundred cold, delirious survivors aboard. It soon became apparent that the Star of Brooklyn had been sunk by a German U-Boat. Neutral outrage sounded across the world.
Additional ships were sent to secure the sealanes in the Indian Ocean for the proposed invasion force.
June 1928
The Seawolf torpedoed a German light cruiser.
In June the German U-boat fleet won the honors for most sinkings, costing the Cascadian merchant marine seven vessels with one U-boat lost. Cascadia sank three German ships to one lost sub.
With politics in Germany reaching crisis levels of tension between conservatives demanding punitive naval expeditions, anti-war leftists and Communists, and the beleaguered moderate conservatives and centrist factions, the German government ordered the Hochseeflotte into action. The bulk of German naval power crossed the Atlantic to engage in a series of raids on American coastal cities, supported by transport ships that would provide some logistical assistance.
The German fleet could not leave European water ways without being spotted. The United States Navy was informed of the incoming German fleet and sortied into the North Atlantic.
Off Newfoundland, the two fleets met in a summer storm. The result was a strategic and tactical draw: the Germans, damaged and concerned for it, withdrew from their planned attacks, but they lost only a battle cruiser, the Furst Bismarck, while their forces had sunk the American battleship North Dakota.
Meanwhile, near the end of the month, the Cascadian Navy launched a coastal sortie near Dar-es-Salaam.
The Artemis and Fairbanks swept the Tanganyikan coast, sinking the sole German destroyer in the area.
The Cascadian Navy ordered further expansion to the fleet bases in Sumatra after informing the British.
The Navy, concerned with losses to the submersible fleet, ordered ten new subs.
10 new subs ordered
Statistics: Posted by Steve — 2017-03-02 10:31am