1864 Annum mirabilis for AmericaDece 1894. 1865 Lincoln achieves peace with the south
Nov 6, 2017 19:17:42 GMT
Post by simpleton on Nov 6, 2017 19:17:42 GMT
Background, OTL 1864:
Lincoln is reelected with an overwhelming majority, he controls the army's offensives and has ample experience and a good high command. He is more popular and powerful than ever. The US (including the Confederacy) has 31 million people.
Grant becomes head of the army, subordinate only to Lincoln. He chooses to attack everywhere, causing many more Confederate casualties this year than in the previous years. Sherman has ruined Georgia´s cities, RR, infrastucture and farms in his rapid march to the coast, Sheridan has wiped out the Confederates in Virginia.
The US arms and steel industries have grown enormously and are producing large quantities of repeating guns (Remington and Colt pistols, Henry rifles, etc, The Gatling gun is available, large numbers of excellent, rifled, steel cannon are in service and production is impressive.
By December 1864, the Confederacy has lost most of its troops and officers (including invaluable generals, like Stuart, etc,), it is short on horses, trains, wagons, steel, bronze, food, munitions, boots, blankets, morphine, ether, physicians, armament, etc, and it has lost a lot of valuable territory (including deep in the South, access to Mobile, Georgia, parts of Florida, etc,), the blockade is growing stronger and more effective every day. It has lost considerable agricultural, industrial and RR capacity. In contrast, northern farmland, industry, population, RR, shipyards, etc, are expanding rapidly in the midwest (where the RR has reached Omaha), west coast, the Ohio valley, New England, etc,. Migration into the US is much stronger than into the Confederacy and it is accelerating.
Thousands of prisoners are dying or languishing in North and South. Several dozen generals and over 160,000 men have died this year.
Union cavalry is now better armed, led, much more effective and much stronger than Confederate cavalry, which has lost its best leaders and men. The Union is also using mounted infantry with Henry rifles quite effectively against infantry with muskets. The Confederacy is unable to mount large, effective offensives and is limited to static defence in entrenched strongpoints and cities, where Union artillery inflicts heavy casualties. Heavy Union artillery is shelling civilians in urban areas.
Mexico is occupied by a weak French force, spread thinly over a huge area and armed with muskets, bronze cannon, etc, and fighting Mexican republicans (even more poorly equipped). Mexico does not have RR lines or a navy to deploy forces and supply them efficiently. US cavalry can easily sever long supply lines with wagons to the front.
Independent North American British colonies are holding conferences to establish a union of the maritime provinces, upper and lower Canada. B. C. does not participate. In all independent colonies the populations and armies are small and uncoordinated with other provinces. Price Edward Island is a most valuable territory (the smallest maritime province) with a strategic location and extremely poorly defended.
Britain had sold two steam raiders to the Confederacy (CSS Florida and CSS Alabama) and provided coal, supplies, etc, for them in Bahamas, etc, so tensions are high and the US is building fast screw frigates in preparation for war. The USN and US army (including cavalry) are much stronger and more experienced (the mightiest army in the world) than they were in 1812 and the case for war with Britain and invading Canada, etc, is much stronger. The Eire canal (finished in 1825, long after the 1812 war), strong Great Lakes shipping and a large RR system render transporting troops, reinforcements and supplies for the invasion of Canada much easier than in 1812, when a few crossings and passes in difficult terrain were bravely defended by Canadians. The USN and privateers can seize or sink hundreds of British, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch ships all over the world, even before war officially starts, which will greatly boost the US merchant fleet and ability to supply the invasions of distant lands. Ireland is poorly defended and the Irish hate the British. There are tens of thousands of experienced, competent Irish officers, sailors and troops in the Union and Confederacy, who would love to liberate Ireland (including Ulster), supply their countrymen repeating guns and seize British ships.
Coastal India and China are severy overcrowded, so at least 12 million coastal Indians and 20 million coastal Chinese can be relocated to develop and settle expanding US territory.
Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina have small, weak armies and they are being deployed to fight landlocked Paraguay (they take long months to do so and fight ineffectively when they do arrive), so the long coasts are practically undefended. The tiny Brazilian navy is busy blockading the River Plate. The triple alliance has no RR to supply and deploy troops, Brazil practices slavery (one of the few countries in the world to do so), is huge and it has excellent access through long navigable rivers. It is ideal country and time to invade it, for Confederate planters wishing to practice Slavery to settle. Brazil has gold, diamonds, huge iron deposits and outstanding waterways. Its large cities are in the coast or along rivers, ideal for the USN to invade. Argentina has most of its population dependent on Buenos Aires, so capturing this city paralizes the country. Montevideo is the heart of Uruguay.
Boer South Africa is a large territory ruled by tens of thousands of independent Dutch settlers, poorly armed, with no industry or RRs. Like Argentina, it is ideal country for Sheridan's cavalry. Capetown is a weak but crucial British colony with a few thousand whites. Occupying South Africa and Argentina greatly limits British access to the Indian and Pacific Oceans and to the South Atlantic.
Hawaii is weak and overcrowded, tens of thousands of young natives can be relocated to settle the sparsely populated Pacific, American coast. It will be an invaluable base for the USN and coaling station for merchant shipping to the PI, Japan, DEI, etc,
Nicaragua is extremely weak and an invaluable shortcut to the Pacific. It is much easier to build a RR across it, than across the Sierra Nevada and the Rockies to reach California. It provides a rapid route to invade weak Acapulco, Alaska, B.C., Peru, Chile, etc, and for construction materials for RR lines across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, from the Sea of Cortes to Arizona, from Acapulco to Puebla, from Lima to the interior of Peru, in California, B.C. the Washington and Oregon Territories, etc,
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Guam, Spanish Guinea, the Canary Islands and the Philippines are weak, but valuable Spanish colonies. The small, poorly equipped Spanish army and navy can hardly defend such territories, far away from Spain.
Angola, Mozambique, cape Verde, the Azores, Macao, Timor, Portuguese Guinea, etc, are weak, distant territories that the small, obsolete Portuguese navy and army cannot defend.
Japan is greatly overpopulated, over 28 million people (In contrast is a comparable population in the whole US, only 9 million in huge Brazil and under 3 million in the even larger area of modern Canada) in a small territory the size of California with little farmland (mostly mountanous terrain). At leat 5 million young Japanese can be invited or relocated to settle the Pacific coast of the Americas and PI, the interior of South Africa, Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, etc, to clear jungles and forests, build RR, shipyards, towns, cities, etc,
The DEI, Suriname, Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire are valuable colonies. There are ridiculously few Dutch defending or settling them. After centuries of Dutch rule in the invaluable DEI, it isn´t until 1864 that Holland gains control of south Sumatra. Suriname are easy to seize and a valuble base to invade British Guiana and Brazil. Aruba, Bonair and Curacao are easy to seize and valuable to invade larger British Caribbean Islands and eventually Maracaibo, Cartagena, etc,
Prussia and Austria invade Denmark this year to seize Schleswig-Holstein, so the Danish army suffers heavy casualties and is weak. Denmark controls access to the Baltic and it has valuable shipyards. Its ports are ideal bases for the USN to attack British shipping and eventually invade Sweden and Norway with Russia. Its ports and shipyards are invaluable in a war with Britain.
The US is the only country producing large numbers of repeating guns and steel cannon and having them already in service.
In this ideal situation for the US, Lincoln decides to stop the war, reunite the US and expand abroad with his formidable armed forces (including reincorporated Confederate forces, armed with modern repeating guns from the Union).
On Dec 15, 1864 he presents this offer to the Confederacy:
Immediate cease fire, prisoner exchange, reincorporation of Confederate service men, congressmen, etc, to the US armed forces, Congress, etc, honoring their rank. The mighty US armed forces will invade the British colonies, the weak Americas, Hawaii, the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch colonies and Boer South Africa.
The former confederate states will abolish slavery within 3 years. However, former confederate planters wishing to practice slavery can sell their property, buy slaves from remaining planters and resettle in larger plantations in slave-owning Brazil (which will be promptly invaded, owing to its weak army being engaged at war in Paraguay, so the populated coast is undefended), which will be the only US territory allowed to continue practicing slavery.
As soon as the Confederacy accepts this terms, the blockade will be lifted, trade will be reestablished, steel will be made available to repair RRs, servicemen will start receiving US army and navy wages, metal cartridge guns, US uniforms and boots. They will also be able to buy food, clothing, building materials, etc, on credit, which will be slowly deducted from their wages. Southern shipyards will work fulltime producing ships for the USN and merchant fleet. grain, sugar, coffee, cattle, etc, will start arriving in the south, Mexico, Canada, Rio, Recife, Sao Paolo, Manaos, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and South Africa will be invaded.
Lincoln is reelected with an overwhelming majority, he controls the army's offensives and has ample experience and a good high command. He is more popular and powerful than ever. The US (including the Confederacy) has 31 million people.
Grant becomes head of the army, subordinate only to Lincoln. He chooses to attack everywhere, causing many more Confederate casualties this year than in the previous years. Sherman has ruined Georgia´s cities, RR, infrastucture and farms in his rapid march to the coast, Sheridan has wiped out the Confederates in Virginia.
The US arms and steel industries have grown enormously and are producing large quantities of repeating guns (Remington and Colt pistols, Henry rifles, etc, The Gatling gun is available, large numbers of excellent, rifled, steel cannon are in service and production is impressive.
By December 1864, the Confederacy has lost most of its troops and officers (including invaluable generals, like Stuart, etc,), it is short on horses, trains, wagons, steel, bronze, food, munitions, boots, blankets, morphine, ether, physicians, armament, etc, and it has lost a lot of valuable territory (including deep in the South, access to Mobile, Georgia, parts of Florida, etc,), the blockade is growing stronger and more effective every day. It has lost considerable agricultural, industrial and RR capacity. In contrast, northern farmland, industry, population, RR, shipyards, etc, are expanding rapidly in the midwest (where the RR has reached Omaha), west coast, the Ohio valley, New England, etc,. Migration into the US is much stronger than into the Confederacy and it is accelerating.
Thousands of prisoners are dying or languishing in North and South. Several dozen generals and over 160,000 men have died this year.
Union cavalry is now better armed, led, much more effective and much stronger than Confederate cavalry, which has lost its best leaders and men. The Union is also using mounted infantry with Henry rifles quite effectively against infantry with muskets. The Confederacy is unable to mount large, effective offensives and is limited to static defence in entrenched strongpoints and cities, where Union artillery inflicts heavy casualties. Heavy Union artillery is shelling civilians in urban areas.
Mexico is occupied by a weak French force, spread thinly over a huge area and armed with muskets, bronze cannon, etc, and fighting Mexican republicans (even more poorly equipped). Mexico does not have RR lines or a navy to deploy forces and supply them efficiently. US cavalry can easily sever long supply lines with wagons to the front.
Independent North American British colonies are holding conferences to establish a union of the maritime provinces, upper and lower Canada. B. C. does not participate. In all independent colonies the populations and armies are small and uncoordinated with other provinces. Price Edward Island is a most valuable territory (the smallest maritime province) with a strategic location and extremely poorly defended.
Britain had sold two steam raiders to the Confederacy (CSS Florida and CSS Alabama) and provided coal, supplies, etc, for them in Bahamas, etc, so tensions are high and the US is building fast screw frigates in preparation for war. The USN and US army (including cavalry) are much stronger and more experienced (the mightiest army in the world) than they were in 1812 and the case for war with Britain and invading Canada, etc, is much stronger. The Eire canal (finished in 1825, long after the 1812 war), strong Great Lakes shipping and a large RR system render transporting troops, reinforcements and supplies for the invasion of Canada much easier than in 1812, when a few crossings and passes in difficult terrain were bravely defended by Canadians. The USN and privateers can seize or sink hundreds of British, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch ships all over the world, even before war officially starts, which will greatly boost the US merchant fleet and ability to supply the invasions of distant lands. Ireland is poorly defended and the Irish hate the British. There are tens of thousands of experienced, competent Irish officers, sailors and troops in the Union and Confederacy, who would love to liberate Ireland (including Ulster), supply their countrymen repeating guns and seize British ships.
Coastal India and China are severy overcrowded, so at least 12 million coastal Indians and 20 million coastal Chinese can be relocated to develop and settle expanding US territory.
Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina have small, weak armies and they are being deployed to fight landlocked Paraguay (they take long months to do so and fight ineffectively when they do arrive), so the long coasts are practically undefended. The tiny Brazilian navy is busy blockading the River Plate. The triple alliance has no RR to supply and deploy troops, Brazil practices slavery (one of the few countries in the world to do so), is huge and it has excellent access through long navigable rivers. It is ideal country and time to invade it, for Confederate planters wishing to practice Slavery to settle. Brazil has gold, diamonds, huge iron deposits and outstanding waterways. Its large cities are in the coast or along rivers, ideal for the USN to invade. Argentina has most of its population dependent on Buenos Aires, so capturing this city paralizes the country. Montevideo is the heart of Uruguay.
Boer South Africa is a large territory ruled by tens of thousands of independent Dutch settlers, poorly armed, with no industry or RRs. Like Argentina, it is ideal country for Sheridan's cavalry. Capetown is a weak but crucial British colony with a few thousand whites. Occupying South Africa and Argentina greatly limits British access to the Indian and Pacific Oceans and to the South Atlantic.
Hawaii is weak and overcrowded, tens of thousands of young natives can be relocated to settle the sparsely populated Pacific, American coast. It will be an invaluable base for the USN and coaling station for merchant shipping to the PI, Japan, DEI, etc,
Nicaragua is extremely weak and an invaluable shortcut to the Pacific. It is much easier to build a RR across it, than across the Sierra Nevada and the Rockies to reach California. It provides a rapid route to invade weak Acapulco, Alaska, B.C., Peru, Chile, etc, and for construction materials for RR lines across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, from the Sea of Cortes to Arizona, from Acapulco to Puebla, from Lima to the interior of Peru, in California, B.C. the Washington and Oregon Territories, etc,
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Guam, Spanish Guinea, the Canary Islands and the Philippines are weak, but valuable Spanish colonies. The small, poorly equipped Spanish army and navy can hardly defend such territories, far away from Spain.
Angola, Mozambique, cape Verde, the Azores, Macao, Timor, Portuguese Guinea, etc, are weak, distant territories that the small, obsolete Portuguese navy and army cannot defend.
Japan is greatly overpopulated, over 28 million people (In contrast is a comparable population in the whole US, only 9 million in huge Brazil and under 3 million in the even larger area of modern Canada) in a small territory the size of California with little farmland (mostly mountanous terrain). At leat 5 million young Japanese can be invited or relocated to settle the Pacific coast of the Americas and PI, the interior of South Africa, Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, etc, to clear jungles and forests, build RR, shipyards, towns, cities, etc,
The DEI, Suriname, Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire are valuable colonies. There are ridiculously few Dutch defending or settling them. After centuries of Dutch rule in the invaluable DEI, it isn´t until 1864 that Holland gains control of south Sumatra. Suriname are easy to seize and a valuble base to invade British Guiana and Brazil. Aruba, Bonair and Curacao are easy to seize and valuable to invade larger British Caribbean Islands and eventually Maracaibo, Cartagena, etc,
Prussia and Austria invade Denmark this year to seize Schleswig-Holstein, so the Danish army suffers heavy casualties and is weak. Denmark controls access to the Baltic and it has valuable shipyards. Its ports are ideal bases for the USN to attack British shipping and eventually invade Sweden and Norway with Russia. Its ports and shipyards are invaluable in a war with Britain.
The US is the only country producing large numbers of repeating guns and steel cannon and having them already in service.
In this ideal situation for the US, Lincoln decides to stop the war, reunite the US and expand abroad with his formidable armed forces (including reincorporated Confederate forces, armed with modern repeating guns from the Union).
On Dec 15, 1864 he presents this offer to the Confederacy:
Immediate cease fire, prisoner exchange, reincorporation of Confederate service men, congressmen, etc, to the US armed forces, Congress, etc, honoring their rank. The mighty US armed forces will invade the British colonies, the weak Americas, Hawaii, the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch colonies and Boer South Africa.
The former confederate states will abolish slavery within 3 years. However, former confederate planters wishing to practice slavery can sell their property, buy slaves from remaining planters and resettle in larger plantations in slave-owning Brazil (which will be promptly invaded, owing to its weak army being engaged at war in Paraguay, so the populated coast is undefended), which will be the only US territory allowed to continue practicing slavery.
As soon as the Confederacy accepts this terms, the blockade will be lifted, trade will be reestablished, steel will be made available to repair RRs, servicemen will start receiving US army and navy wages, metal cartridge guns, US uniforms and boots. They will also be able to buy food, clothing, building materials, etc, on credit, which will be slowly deducted from their wages. Southern shipyards will work fulltime producing ships for the USN and merchant fleet. grain, sugar, coffee, cattle, etc, will start arriving in the south, Mexico, Canada, Rio, Recife, Sao Paolo, Manaos, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and South Africa will be invaded.