US blue: Republicans
Orange: Natcorps
Confederate grey outline: Neutral under Long
White outline: Neutral
For the Republic: A History of the Second American Civil War
- Thread starter The Angry Observer
- Start date
Orange: Natcorps
Confederate grey outline: Neutral under Long
White outline: Neutral
Spot on-- only thing is that the Natcorps have pushed further into Minnesota, have much of Kansas, and the Republicans have basically recaptured all of New York.
It was, but Alf Landon winning the 1934 Kansas Governor Election sparked a Natcorp invasion that more or less split the state in two.
Invading neutral a state just because an election didn't go the way you wanted is going to make the other neutral states a lot more wary of the Natcorps.
Yeah, the struggles between Republican and Neutrality organizations in the west is something I’ve been meaning to cover but haven’t gotten around to.
Part of me thinks the Neutral States would be using the National Guard to defend themselves alongside any volunteer militia (and potentially doing minor border skirmishes and raids against each other, depending on which side the state "supports"), and this same part also thinks the Natcorps are stretched so think they can't really invade anything west of Kansas without becoming vulnerable to any Republican counterattack in the Midwest theater and/or the Pennsylvania/New York theater.
I think Civil Rights would advance further than OTL same year. No doubt African Americans are playing vital roles in the Republic's war effort.
The Natcorps are not a unified bunch. They are various disparate factions joined together only by their sheer hate for Smith and the "commies". There's a lot of division no doubt. So MacArthur keeps his power just like Hitler did: turn the factions on each other, and ensure that none gains too much power.
I think that analogy is quite inaccurate for the simple reason that Hitler was much more interventionist and proponent of micromanagement than MacArthur.
I don't know where this idea comes from that Nazi Germany works according on the principle that everyone was eager to overthrow Hitler and be the next Fuhrer and the only reason they didn't was because of the "balance of power between factions" and "everyone is counterbalancing each other's power".
Hitler was the ultimate leader everyone followed, and he meddled in everything everyone else did, while TTL MacArthur is the guy who's supposed to be in charge but actually lets everyone below him do whatever they want, as long as it seems to conform to Mac's wishes.
I don't know where this idea comes from that Nazi Germany works according on the principle that everyone was eager to overthrow Hitler and be the next Fuhrer and the only reason they didn't was because of the "balance of power between factions" and "everyone is counterbalancing each other's power".
Hitler was the ultimate leader everyone followed, and he meddled in everything everyone else did, while TTL MacArthur is the guy who's supposed to be in charge but actually lets everyone below him do whatever they want, as long as it seems to conform to Mac's wishes.
For certain. Smith has already desegregated the military, while the Natcorp regime is heavily and arguably intrinsically racialist.
The long and the short of MacArthur’s secret to staying on his throne is that he is supported by the people that the regime depends on— its grassroots acolytes, because 1) he is the leader, and fascism glorifies the leader 2) schemes like the Bush Plan, which has won him far more friends than J. P. Morgan. MacArthur is also commanding the loyalty of the Army.
Basically, Morgan might’ve wanted a puppet but he’s created a monster that’s way out of his control.
ITL MacArthur is too self absorbed for micromanaging and purges. That’s mostly Hoover’s wheelhouse. MacArthur also takes his job of winning the war very seriously, and has very little patience for domestic politics unless they directly address the situation at the front.
One thing that’s very interesting to us is the historiography of Douglas MacArthur— basically, is he making the “right” moves? I don’t think there’s a super clear answer. Hopefully the next update will be thought provoking in this regard.
Basically. The problem is, these aren’t exactly super stable polities, and both sides really need them to be in their camp in the long run. The Republic has an election coming up. They don’t have the luxury of losing half the country to the Natcorps (again).
MacArthur trying to conquer these areas exposes his flank and would box him in on a three front war. Like Huey Long’s southern fiefdom, the status quo where the west and MacArthur pretend that he’s in charge of them is better than invasion (for now).
Same calculus for the Republic. Smith has to put up with traitors like Hiram Johnson directly undermining the war effort, but letting westerners be a part of the Republic also affords him (and denies MacArthur) contiguity he can’t afford to lose.
Yeah, I definitely need to make an update on western politics during this period.
For those curious:
What I want to cover is the internal conflict in the west between Republicans and Neutrality. As you might imagine, the faction that prevails would have huge ramifications for the war’s ultimate outcome. And both sides would naturally be heavily vested in one result or another happening.
This is insane, thank you so much! You're almost perfect, but East Turkestan is entirely under KMT control after Ma Zhongying's defeat by Ma Bufang on Chiang's behalf. Minnesota south of the Minnesota and Minnetonka Rivers is also almost entirely occupied by the Natcorps.
If the next chapter is about the horrors of the Natcorp Slave Camps. Don't hold your punches in the subject matter.
I would say 5 since I am gonna see the Spy x Family in a week's time. And I am hankering to see the... unromantic portrayal of spycraft.
Just an idea for an option number 6. Having France, Germany and Italy partition Switzerland like a cake between them
Whilst I am always fond of carving up Switzerland, the dynamic between the new France and Germany is very much not friendly. Weygand, as a dictator, is much more in the traditional vein, and even if he were ideologically compatible with Hitler, the fact is that they would be competing for the same territories across the greater Rhenish region.
2 for me.
You'd have Civil Rights of African-Americans, Native Americans and other minority groups being touched by all this.
Hell, with Eleanor basically running NY you'd have a strong arming of improving women's rights on the cards.
I could probably make an arguement for a loosening on restrictions towards (in modern parlance) LGBT folks as well. Not saying anything like equality or such, but having the US start down the road earlier
Maybe Weygand can buddy up with Mussolini to carve up regions of Germany for themselves