Post by TheRomanSlayer on Feb 14, 2024 4:53:53 GMT
Sorry for the very late review, and sorry for such a short update.
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TURN 013: DEAD DRAGONS AND LIVE CHICKENS
France - Two Civil Wars in One Country
Although the trenches of central France remained quiet, aside from the occasional attempts by either the monarchists or the republicans to advance forward, only to end in an abysmal failure with dreadful consequences, there were also other key areas where the Republicans held some form of advantage. France's African colonies were controlled by governors that were sympathetic to the Republican cause, which also allowed the French Foreign Legion to recruit more African volunteers into its own ranks. However, French Indochina was an exception, as none of the French Indochinese forces there volunteered for either side, choosing instead to join another conflict from across the South China Sea, while being taught and drilled by Japanese officers who were attached to the Filipino rebels. To ensure the ease of administrating the massive African colonies that the French republican government controlled, the French republican government, which moved their seat of authority to Marseille, decided to split their French African colonies into two autonomous areas: French West Africa (based in Dakar, modern day Senegal), and French Equatorial Africa (based in Bangui, modern day Ubangi-Chari). Both the FWA and FEA not only helped provide the French Republican forces with volunteers, but also resources as well. Although the Republican forces would eventually gain an upper hand in areas of manpower, the behavior of the colonial troops fighting for the French Republican government eventually played into the hands of the monarchists, who increasingly began to employ a much more extreme form of racist propaganda, depicting the French Republic as a degenerated cesspit where ordinary French citizens are being targeted by the colonial subjects based in Africa. At the same time though, much of the colonial troops fighting within the French Foreign Legion were exposed to socialist propaganda, and that their struggle against the reactionaries would herald the beginning of a socialist kind of French society where racial equality would become popular. Most shockingly though, the fate of French colonial soldiers who were captured by the reactionaries were often tortured and murdered for their supposed 'crimes' against the French people (meaning white French). In an incident that occurred on September of 1902 when several French colonial soldiers had gotten lost while attempting to return to their positions, and somehow ended up inside a monarchist trench. Surprised by thirteen reactionary soldiers aiming their rifles at them, the ten French colonial soldiers raised their hands in surrender, only for the reactionaries to drag them into another part of the monarchist trench and shot them without giving them a trial at all.
Approximately a year later though, the reactionaries have managed to expand their control of metropolitan France, with the successful capture of southwestern France, around the province of Aquitaine. The fall of Aquitaine to the reactionaries, though before its fall, it was loosely controlled by pro-Republican Milice officers operating independently from the Marseilles-based government. Its fall during the Aquitaine Offensive launched on September of 1903, had been crucial in cutting off the French Republican forces from their access to the Atlantic Ocean. Yet, the Republican forces countered by consolidating control of the rest of southern France, successfully repelling a monarchist offensive aimed at capturing Toulouse by October 12th of 1903. Yet, the Aquitaine Offensive was actually accomplished with almost a surprising little amount of trouble on the monarchists' part, mostly because the Milice officers who operated independently acted more like warlords than actual governors. They spent more time fighting each other and accusing one another of betraying the Republic for personal gain. The speed of which the advance from western France into Aquitaine was also due to the tactics and strategies that the Russian volunteers who fought in Manchuria had employed. The deadly kolesnyanka mobile machine guns allowed the monarchist forces to overrun several lightly defended Republican positions, and in a few cases, there were instances of Milice paramilitaries surrendering to the reactionaries. The National Gendarmerie was tasked with pacifying the newly conquered areas of Aquitaine, often with the help of defected Milice officers who switched sides and joined the National Gendarmerie. One occurring theme of how and why some Milice officers opted to surrender instead of fighting to the death was because of their gradual lost of control in areas of France that they controlled. Municipal police officers were often powerless when it came to preventing the colonial troops from committing crimes, though there were rare cases when the colonial troops had turned the offenders within their ranks over to the Legionnaire leadership, who had to try them on charges of robbery and burglary, which often carried a death sentence in times of war. In addition, the growing socialist propaganda push aimed at undermining the support for the reactionaries had alienated the Milice officers who did not want anything to do with politics at all. The frustration of the Aquitaine Milice officers at their Republican government's politicization of the civil war through the inclusion of anarchist activists also horrified the reactionaries, having been aware of the Belgian anarchists' role in the assassination of the late Prince Edward of Great Britain.
One other kind of civil war that was being waged inside France however, was actually a political conflict between Russian Jews fighting for the French Republican cause against the Russian military volunteers who fought on the reactionaries' side. The brutality that both sides displayed towards each other had shocked even the two rival French camps, as rampant anti-Semitism spiked exponentially within the Russian military volunteers, choosing to execute Jewish volunteers who fought for the Republican cause. It has also gotten worse when over nine Russian volunteers had gone on a massive rampage throughout the city of Rouen's Jewish quarters a few weeks after the Slonim Pogrom had broken out. With each growing time that the Russian volunteers spent in France, they were also being exposed to the political trends of the French reactionaries. For most of them, along with the other volunteers from the Russian Army that did not fight in Manchuria, they were attracted to the idea of maintaining the monarchy, but they were more open to the idea of introducing some kind of reform that is badly needed for their declining country. The great distrust of political ideology as a driving force behind government had reasonated with most of the Russian volunteers, who distrusted the growing politicization of extreme ideologies within the Russian Empire. However, where the Russian volunteers differed from the traditional Russian nationalists operating back home lay in the difference between respecting the regional autonomy and recognition of various minority cultures. The more radical nationalists had long favored the policy of Russification, or the assimilation of various minority groups into the larger Russian cultural norm. Russification however, would be viewed negatively among the other minority groups, especially Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, and various non-Christian minorities as well, seeing it as a precursor to losing their ethnic identity. The issue facing the Jews within the Russian Empire on the other hand, had gone out of control so much that they were now refusing to adopt Russian sounding surnames, opting to retain their original Jewish surnames instead, or to use Hebrew sounding surnames instead, to emphasize their Jewish identity. Though it only encouraged more attacks on them by rampaging anti-Semites, the Jewish community within Russia had now started to fight back against their oppressors. The ethnic conflict between Russians and Jews now transplanted into France, where their hatred of one another often led to tragedy.
---
Britain - The Conquest of the Chinese Shan States
Fresh off from their victory over the Boers in South Africa, the British Empire looked a bit stronger than ever before. Yet, the troubles in one of their largest colonies within their empire was not as stable as everyone thought it was. In the midst of the emerging conflict within China between supporters of the Hegemon-Protector Zhang Xun and Chinese Republican loyalists, another conflict was brewing in another part of China. Although Tibet had declared its independence in December of 1900, the new state had emerged as a purely Buddhist theocratic state, but under the leadership of several Buddhist clerical leaders, though in reality it was the 13th Dalai Lama that ruled the country. Tibetan nationalists also clamored for the return of historically Tibetan lands still occupied by the Chinese government, though with the civil war erupting within China proper, the Tibetans felt that now was the time to retake their territories. Unfortunately, the Tibetan military at that time had entirely consisted of poorly armed and poorly trained militias that faced financial difficulties at that time. Sensing a need for protecting the British Raj, the British government recognized Tibet's independence the following month back in 1901. When the British plan for turning Xinjiang into a pro-British protectorate fell apart because of logistical difficulties and threats of a possible Russian invasion, British Raj Governor General Lord George Curzon, also known as the 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston decided to help the new Tibetan state with funneling arms and money to the 13th Dalai Lama. Surprisingly, Tibet was rather quiet for the first three years of its independence, having consolidated control of its external and internal affairs, though Buddhist monks held more political power, making possible political progressions impossible. Secular activists within Tibet often clashed with the clerical government, giving the impression that Tibet was becoming a clerical autocratic regime, with virtually no freedom of political expression present. However, Tibet was not only the main focus of the British Indian colonial government.
Within the region of China's Yunnan province, the Shan states that have pledged their loyalty to successive Chinese rulers since the days of the Qianlong Emperor have remained quiet as well. The First Chinese Republic's own civil war against the Hegemon-Protector allowed a group of Chinese officers stationed in Yuunan to declare their province's independence from the First Chinese Republic by March of 1902, and to declare a separate Kingdom of Yunnan, with Cai E becoming the first so-called King. The population of Yunnan were not consulted on their choice of government, and unsurprisingly enough, Yunnan erupted into full scale rebellion in May of 1902, and would not end until 1904. The Yunnan Rebellion of 1902-04 had been a major distraction for the two rival Chinese factions, but it was the Chinese Republican forces that played a bigger role in suppressing the Yunnan revolt, with Zhang Xun's forces playing absolutely no part in the suppression because of distance issues. Even though Cai E's forces were able to hold on to Yunnan for two years, it was the war of attrition, plus the larger population advantage that the Chinese Republican forces had over the Yunnanese rebels, that played a role in the Chinese reconquest of Yunnan. However, when the Chinese Republican forces retook Yunnan in April fo 1904, they proceeded to massacre villages suspected of harboring pro-Cai E forces in such a way that nearly threatened to undo the work of President Song Jiao-ren's in reintegrating Yuunan into the First Chinese Republic. The Shan states that remained loyal to the various Chinese rulers for centuries now felt that the Chinese Republican forces were becoming more dangerous to their way of life.
Border clashes between Yunnanese troops prior to 1904 and British Indian colonial forces had occurred during the Yunnan Rebellion had increased dramatically, as the Chinese Shan states were also fighting the Yunnanese government. The Shan states bordering the British Raj grew increasingly unstable as the fighting continued throughout all of 1903, and the years before that. To prevent any more Chinese incursions into the British side of the Shan States within British India, Lord Curzon appointed Francis Younghusband to lead a 20,000 force of mostly colonial soldiers into the border between the British Raj and Yunnan Province. On May of 1903, the British Indian Army would launch a punitive invasion of the Chinese Shan States in Yunnan Province, with the sole intention of annexing the border lands into the British Raj. Surprisingly, they received little resistance from the Yunnanese defenders who could not spare any troops to fight off the British invasion, as they were too busy fighting the Chinese Republican forces that were trying to reconquer their lost province. By the time the Chinese Republican forces succeeded in conquering Yunnan province, they were shocked to find the Chinese Shan states occupied by British Indian forces, and would have gone to war with the British, but Lord Younghusband reminded the Chinese military officers commanding the Yunnan invasion force that a fight against British forces would not be in the interest of the Chinese government, considering their civil war and fears of a possible renewed Russian aggression against China. Reluctantly, the Chinese forces backed off, but the inclusion of the Chinese Shan states into the British Raj would force Lord Curzon to face the reality that administering the British Raj was going to be extremely difficult, given the diverse peoples that are living within its territory.
Although the British Expedition to Yunnan was by any means a success, the territorial expansion of the British Raj was controversial, as it did not have the official approval from the British government. Lord Curzon nearly lost his position as Governor General of India when the British government sent a letter to him, expressing their disapproval of launching an invasion of what they considered Chinese territory, until Lord Curzon replied back in his own letter that the border crisis would have severely threatened their hold on Burma. Another letter in 1905 arrived at the Governor-General's desk, stating that if the British Empire is to maintain its hold on to the Raj, it would need to carve off the Burmese provinces and to form a separate colonial entity that would govern all of the Burmese lands. Unfortunately, that separate colonial entity would not get its own form of government until 1922 as the Viceroyalty of Burma, mostly because of internal British affairs, as well as the First Great World War breaking out. Even so, anti-colonial activists within Burmese society had naturally gravitated towards Japan for their salvation, as they saw Japan as the premier Asian power that can help them gain independence.
---
Excerpts from 'Building the American Superpower: From McKinley to MacNichol'
by: Shane Connelly
Kilkenny Publishing Press, released on October 14, 2018
Chapter Four: McKinley's Blunder
The events that led to the 1904-07 Japanese-American War was one of the key reasons why President McKinley's party lost the 1904 US Presidential election to Francis Cockrell, along with losing the support of the influential Jewish vote due to the McKinley administration's attempts to improve ties with the autocratic Russian Tsarist government. Although the Asian community in the United States hasn't yet reached past the 50,000 limit, American vigilantes were eager to show their so-called Asian 'guests' how they display their sense of hospitality, through sheer violence. When military reports of Japanese volunteers reached the desk of President McKinley, the President became furious at the audacity of the Japanese government to aid the Filipino rebels, calling the Filipino matter 'an internal one, as per American interests'. A few American generals did have the President's ear, mostly Frederick Funston, who received a written instruction from President McKinley himself to do whatever it takes to eject the Japanese volunteers from the Philippines. Most significantly, the Filipino rebels are getting a much needed specialized training from the Japanese volunteers who are also helping out with reconstruction efforts in areas of the Philippines that were destroyed by American reprisals. Yet, the growing frustrations on part of the American generals who saw the insurgency as becoming more costly as time goes on, with more American troops dying from dengue and malaria. To make matters worse, the Filipino rebels were aided by civilian guerrillas who fled into the jungles and mountains after American troops often shot civilians in cold blood. In one instance during the skirmish taking place on November 1st, 1903, in the town of Paniqui, Tarlac, US forces managed to drive away much of the Philippine forces, but when it became apparent that they were ambushed inside the village, they started to burn down the village huts only after torturing the inhabitants of Paniqui for their whereabouts, after which they killed them anyways. American reprisals however, only invited Filipino counter-reprisals, as captured American soldiers were often found in the deeper parts of the jungle, with their skin sheared off, or their eyes gouged. Their comrades in arms often vomited when seeing the mangled sight of their dead comrades, only fueling the bitter hatred between the Filipinos and Americans. It has also reached a point where American troops are allying with the highland tribes and paying them handsomely in exchange for one head of a Filipino soldier, contributing to what would become the most vicious inter-Filipino ethnic conflict between the highlander tribes of northern Luzon and the lowlanders who were victimized by the highlanders' duplicity and collaboration with American forces.
Starting on January of 1904, President McKinley issued his infamous Military Command Order 66, in which American military officers would be authorized to target any nation that is suspected of aiding Filipino rebels fighting against US forces in the Philippines. Though this was only meant to stop and impede Japanese efforts at supplying and training the same rebels fighting against the Americans inside the Philippines, a few reckless officers had a different interpretation of MC Order 66. It was this kind of radical re-interpretation of MC Order 66 that eventually led to the infamous American naval attack on Miyakojima in the wider Ryukyu Islands on February 24, 1904, that ultimately sparked the Japanese-American War. Initially, MC Order 66 was originally aimed at capturing any area of southern Kyushu in order to give the US Navy a strategic leeway in edging themselves closer towards the Japanese capital, but Admiral Dewey instead suggested an occupation of the Ryukyu Islands to help ease up on the logistical issues facing the US Navy. The American military leadership was aware that they would not get any aid from any other powers in the event of a war against Japan, while at the same time the Japanese might not get any kind of diplomatic and political support for their cause, with events in France and Korea being a major factor in the lack of support for them, and the Americans too. While Korea remained a vicious proxy war between Russia and Japan, the Russian-backed Joseon royalists were significantly gaining more momentum as the Gaehwa rebels in the south were increasingly viewed with suspicion, as the presence of Japanese leftists have sparked fears of a possible Japanese takeover. However, and eventually, the Joseon court started to lose support from the Russians as the 1906 Revolution erupted inside the Russian Empire, thereby increasing the financial burden upon the Russian state from backing the Joseon court. Additionally, when Japan would enter the war against the United States, it too, would suffer from a similar economic and financial strain that it imposed on itself for the proxy war in Korea. It looked as if the United States would make good on its boast that it will take them 'Seven Days to Reach Tokyo', but the increasing casualties suffered by the American military may end up making that boast look like a big lie. The boast that American troops will reach Tokyo in seven days would turn into three years of brutal slugfest that neither side will have any advantage.
---
"'Tis a long way from Mandalay,
we won't be back in a single day,
the jungles are tough to go through,
there's nowhere to go for a furlough,
it's a long distance to Dehong Dai,
we can't even breathe a sigh.
All the Shans are everywhere,
they're fighting the Chinese over there,
it won't be long until we've arrived,
safely with the olive coats intact,
it's indeed a long way back to Mandalay,
but we're marching in the heat all day."
- From a popular British song that retells the story of the 1902 British Yuunan Expedition
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TURN 013: DEAD DRAGONS AND LIVE CHICKENS
France - Two Civil Wars in One Country
Although the trenches of central France remained quiet, aside from the occasional attempts by either the monarchists or the republicans to advance forward, only to end in an abysmal failure with dreadful consequences, there were also other key areas where the Republicans held some form of advantage. France's African colonies were controlled by governors that were sympathetic to the Republican cause, which also allowed the French Foreign Legion to recruit more African volunteers into its own ranks. However, French Indochina was an exception, as none of the French Indochinese forces there volunteered for either side, choosing instead to join another conflict from across the South China Sea, while being taught and drilled by Japanese officers who were attached to the Filipino rebels. To ensure the ease of administrating the massive African colonies that the French republican government controlled, the French republican government, which moved their seat of authority to Marseille, decided to split their French African colonies into two autonomous areas: French West Africa (based in Dakar, modern day Senegal), and French Equatorial Africa (based in Bangui, modern day Ubangi-Chari). Both the FWA and FEA not only helped provide the French Republican forces with volunteers, but also resources as well. Although the Republican forces would eventually gain an upper hand in areas of manpower, the behavior of the colonial troops fighting for the French Republican government eventually played into the hands of the monarchists, who increasingly began to employ a much more extreme form of racist propaganda, depicting the French Republic as a degenerated cesspit where ordinary French citizens are being targeted by the colonial subjects based in Africa. At the same time though, much of the colonial troops fighting within the French Foreign Legion were exposed to socialist propaganda, and that their struggle against the reactionaries would herald the beginning of a socialist kind of French society where racial equality would become popular. Most shockingly though, the fate of French colonial soldiers who were captured by the reactionaries were often tortured and murdered for their supposed 'crimes' against the French people (meaning white French). In an incident that occurred on September of 1902 when several French colonial soldiers had gotten lost while attempting to return to their positions, and somehow ended up inside a monarchist trench. Surprised by thirteen reactionary soldiers aiming their rifles at them, the ten French colonial soldiers raised their hands in surrender, only for the reactionaries to drag them into another part of the monarchist trench and shot them without giving them a trial at all.
Approximately a year later though, the reactionaries have managed to expand their control of metropolitan France, with the successful capture of southwestern France, around the province of Aquitaine. The fall of Aquitaine to the reactionaries, though before its fall, it was loosely controlled by pro-Republican Milice officers operating independently from the Marseilles-based government. Its fall during the Aquitaine Offensive launched on September of 1903, had been crucial in cutting off the French Republican forces from their access to the Atlantic Ocean. Yet, the Republican forces countered by consolidating control of the rest of southern France, successfully repelling a monarchist offensive aimed at capturing Toulouse by October 12th of 1903. Yet, the Aquitaine Offensive was actually accomplished with almost a surprising little amount of trouble on the monarchists' part, mostly because the Milice officers who operated independently acted more like warlords than actual governors. They spent more time fighting each other and accusing one another of betraying the Republic for personal gain. The speed of which the advance from western France into Aquitaine was also due to the tactics and strategies that the Russian volunteers who fought in Manchuria had employed. The deadly kolesnyanka mobile machine guns allowed the monarchist forces to overrun several lightly defended Republican positions, and in a few cases, there were instances of Milice paramilitaries surrendering to the reactionaries. The National Gendarmerie was tasked with pacifying the newly conquered areas of Aquitaine, often with the help of defected Milice officers who switched sides and joined the National Gendarmerie. One occurring theme of how and why some Milice officers opted to surrender instead of fighting to the death was because of their gradual lost of control in areas of France that they controlled. Municipal police officers were often powerless when it came to preventing the colonial troops from committing crimes, though there were rare cases when the colonial troops had turned the offenders within their ranks over to the Legionnaire leadership, who had to try them on charges of robbery and burglary, which often carried a death sentence in times of war. In addition, the growing socialist propaganda push aimed at undermining the support for the reactionaries had alienated the Milice officers who did not want anything to do with politics at all. The frustration of the Aquitaine Milice officers at their Republican government's politicization of the civil war through the inclusion of anarchist activists also horrified the reactionaries, having been aware of the Belgian anarchists' role in the assassination of the late Prince Edward of Great Britain.
One other kind of civil war that was being waged inside France however, was actually a political conflict between Russian Jews fighting for the French Republican cause against the Russian military volunteers who fought on the reactionaries' side. The brutality that both sides displayed towards each other had shocked even the two rival French camps, as rampant anti-Semitism spiked exponentially within the Russian military volunteers, choosing to execute Jewish volunteers who fought for the Republican cause. It has also gotten worse when over nine Russian volunteers had gone on a massive rampage throughout the city of Rouen's Jewish quarters a few weeks after the Slonim Pogrom had broken out. With each growing time that the Russian volunteers spent in France, they were also being exposed to the political trends of the French reactionaries. For most of them, along with the other volunteers from the Russian Army that did not fight in Manchuria, they were attracted to the idea of maintaining the monarchy, but they were more open to the idea of introducing some kind of reform that is badly needed for their declining country. The great distrust of political ideology as a driving force behind government had reasonated with most of the Russian volunteers, who distrusted the growing politicization of extreme ideologies within the Russian Empire. However, where the Russian volunteers differed from the traditional Russian nationalists operating back home lay in the difference between respecting the regional autonomy and recognition of various minority cultures. The more radical nationalists had long favored the policy of Russification, or the assimilation of various minority groups into the larger Russian cultural norm. Russification however, would be viewed negatively among the other minority groups, especially Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, and various non-Christian minorities as well, seeing it as a precursor to losing their ethnic identity. The issue facing the Jews within the Russian Empire on the other hand, had gone out of control so much that they were now refusing to adopt Russian sounding surnames, opting to retain their original Jewish surnames instead, or to use Hebrew sounding surnames instead, to emphasize their Jewish identity. Though it only encouraged more attacks on them by rampaging anti-Semites, the Jewish community within Russia had now started to fight back against their oppressors. The ethnic conflict between Russians and Jews now transplanted into France, where their hatred of one another often led to tragedy.
---
Britain - The Conquest of the Chinese Shan States
Fresh off from their victory over the Boers in South Africa, the British Empire looked a bit stronger than ever before. Yet, the troubles in one of their largest colonies within their empire was not as stable as everyone thought it was. In the midst of the emerging conflict within China between supporters of the Hegemon-Protector Zhang Xun and Chinese Republican loyalists, another conflict was brewing in another part of China. Although Tibet had declared its independence in December of 1900, the new state had emerged as a purely Buddhist theocratic state, but under the leadership of several Buddhist clerical leaders, though in reality it was the 13th Dalai Lama that ruled the country. Tibetan nationalists also clamored for the return of historically Tibetan lands still occupied by the Chinese government, though with the civil war erupting within China proper, the Tibetans felt that now was the time to retake their territories. Unfortunately, the Tibetan military at that time had entirely consisted of poorly armed and poorly trained militias that faced financial difficulties at that time. Sensing a need for protecting the British Raj, the British government recognized Tibet's independence the following month back in 1901. When the British plan for turning Xinjiang into a pro-British protectorate fell apart because of logistical difficulties and threats of a possible Russian invasion, British Raj Governor General Lord George Curzon, also known as the 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston decided to help the new Tibetan state with funneling arms and money to the 13th Dalai Lama. Surprisingly, Tibet was rather quiet for the first three years of its independence, having consolidated control of its external and internal affairs, though Buddhist monks held more political power, making possible political progressions impossible. Secular activists within Tibet often clashed with the clerical government, giving the impression that Tibet was becoming a clerical autocratic regime, with virtually no freedom of political expression present. However, Tibet was not only the main focus of the British Indian colonial government.
Within the region of China's Yunnan province, the Shan states that have pledged their loyalty to successive Chinese rulers since the days of the Qianlong Emperor have remained quiet as well. The First Chinese Republic's own civil war against the Hegemon-Protector allowed a group of Chinese officers stationed in Yuunan to declare their province's independence from the First Chinese Republic by March of 1902, and to declare a separate Kingdom of Yunnan, with Cai E becoming the first so-called King. The population of Yunnan were not consulted on their choice of government, and unsurprisingly enough, Yunnan erupted into full scale rebellion in May of 1902, and would not end until 1904. The Yunnan Rebellion of 1902-04 had been a major distraction for the two rival Chinese factions, but it was the Chinese Republican forces that played a bigger role in suppressing the Yunnan revolt, with Zhang Xun's forces playing absolutely no part in the suppression because of distance issues. Even though Cai E's forces were able to hold on to Yunnan for two years, it was the war of attrition, plus the larger population advantage that the Chinese Republican forces had over the Yunnanese rebels, that played a role in the Chinese reconquest of Yunnan. However, when the Chinese Republican forces retook Yunnan in April fo 1904, they proceeded to massacre villages suspected of harboring pro-Cai E forces in such a way that nearly threatened to undo the work of President Song Jiao-ren's in reintegrating Yuunan into the First Chinese Republic. The Shan states that remained loyal to the various Chinese rulers for centuries now felt that the Chinese Republican forces were becoming more dangerous to their way of life.
Border clashes between Yunnanese troops prior to 1904 and British Indian colonial forces had occurred during the Yunnan Rebellion had increased dramatically, as the Chinese Shan states were also fighting the Yunnanese government. The Shan states bordering the British Raj grew increasingly unstable as the fighting continued throughout all of 1903, and the years before that. To prevent any more Chinese incursions into the British side of the Shan States within British India, Lord Curzon appointed Francis Younghusband to lead a 20,000 force of mostly colonial soldiers into the border between the British Raj and Yunnan Province. On May of 1903, the British Indian Army would launch a punitive invasion of the Chinese Shan States in Yunnan Province, with the sole intention of annexing the border lands into the British Raj. Surprisingly, they received little resistance from the Yunnanese defenders who could not spare any troops to fight off the British invasion, as they were too busy fighting the Chinese Republican forces that were trying to reconquer their lost province. By the time the Chinese Republican forces succeeded in conquering Yunnan province, they were shocked to find the Chinese Shan states occupied by British Indian forces, and would have gone to war with the British, but Lord Younghusband reminded the Chinese military officers commanding the Yunnan invasion force that a fight against British forces would not be in the interest of the Chinese government, considering their civil war and fears of a possible renewed Russian aggression against China. Reluctantly, the Chinese forces backed off, but the inclusion of the Chinese Shan states into the British Raj would force Lord Curzon to face the reality that administering the British Raj was going to be extremely difficult, given the diverse peoples that are living within its territory.
Although the British Expedition to Yunnan was by any means a success, the territorial expansion of the British Raj was controversial, as it did not have the official approval from the British government. Lord Curzon nearly lost his position as Governor General of India when the British government sent a letter to him, expressing their disapproval of launching an invasion of what they considered Chinese territory, until Lord Curzon replied back in his own letter that the border crisis would have severely threatened their hold on Burma. Another letter in 1905 arrived at the Governor-General's desk, stating that if the British Empire is to maintain its hold on to the Raj, it would need to carve off the Burmese provinces and to form a separate colonial entity that would govern all of the Burmese lands. Unfortunately, that separate colonial entity would not get its own form of government until 1922 as the Viceroyalty of Burma, mostly because of internal British affairs, as well as the First Great World War breaking out. Even so, anti-colonial activists within Burmese society had naturally gravitated towards Japan for their salvation, as they saw Japan as the premier Asian power that can help them gain independence.
---
Excerpts from 'Building the American Superpower: From McKinley to MacNichol'
by: Shane Connelly
Kilkenny Publishing Press, released on October 14, 2018
Chapter Four: McKinley's Blunder
The events that led to the 1904-07 Japanese-American War was one of the key reasons why President McKinley's party lost the 1904 US Presidential election to Francis Cockrell, along with losing the support of the influential Jewish vote due to the McKinley administration's attempts to improve ties with the autocratic Russian Tsarist government. Although the Asian community in the United States hasn't yet reached past the 50,000 limit, American vigilantes were eager to show their so-called Asian 'guests' how they display their sense of hospitality, through sheer violence. When military reports of Japanese volunteers reached the desk of President McKinley, the President became furious at the audacity of the Japanese government to aid the Filipino rebels, calling the Filipino matter 'an internal one, as per American interests'. A few American generals did have the President's ear, mostly Frederick Funston, who received a written instruction from President McKinley himself to do whatever it takes to eject the Japanese volunteers from the Philippines. Most significantly, the Filipino rebels are getting a much needed specialized training from the Japanese volunteers who are also helping out with reconstruction efforts in areas of the Philippines that were destroyed by American reprisals. Yet, the growing frustrations on part of the American generals who saw the insurgency as becoming more costly as time goes on, with more American troops dying from dengue and malaria. To make matters worse, the Filipino rebels were aided by civilian guerrillas who fled into the jungles and mountains after American troops often shot civilians in cold blood. In one instance during the skirmish taking place on November 1st, 1903, in the town of Paniqui, Tarlac, US forces managed to drive away much of the Philippine forces, but when it became apparent that they were ambushed inside the village, they started to burn down the village huts only after torturing the inhabitants of Paniqui for their whereabouts, after which they killed them anyways. American reprisals however, only invited Filipino counter-reprisals, as captured American soldiers were often found in the deeper parts of the jungle, with their skin sheared off, or their eyes gouged. Their comrades in arms often vomited when seeing the mangled sight of their dead comrades, only fueling the bitter hatred between the Filipinos and Americans. It has also reached a point where American troops are allying with the highland tribes and paying them handsomely in exchange for one head of a Filipino soldier, contributing to what would become the most vicious inter-Filipino ethnic conflict between the highlander tribes of northern Luzon and the lowlanders who were victimized by the highlanders' duplicity and collaboration with American forces.
Starting on January of 1904, President McKinley issued his infamous Military Command Order 66, in which American military officers would be authorized to target any nation that is suspected of aiding Filipino rebels fighting against US forces in the Philippines. Though this was only meant to stop and impede Japanese efforts at supplying and training the same rebels fighting against the Americans inside the Philippines, a few reckless officers had a different interpretation of MC Order 66. It was this kind of radical re-interpretation of MC Order 66 that eventually led to the infamous American naval attack on Miyakojima in the wider Ryukyu Islands on February 24, 1904, that ultimately sparked the Japanese-American War. Initially, MC Order 66 was originally aimed at capturing any area of southern Kyushu in order to give the US Navy a strategic leeway in edging themselves closer towards the Japanese capital, but Admiral Dewey instead suggested an occupation of the Ryukyu Islands to help ease up on the logistical issues facing the US Navy. The American military leadership was aware that they would not get any aid from any other powers in the event of a war against Japan, while at the same time the Japanese might not get any kind of diplomatic and political support for their cause, with events in France and Korea being a major factor in the lack of support for them, and the Americans too. While Korea remained a vicious proxy war between Russia and Japan, the Russian-backed Joseon royalists were significantly gaining more momentum as the Gaehwa rebels in the south were increasingly viewed with suspicion, as the presence of Japanese leftists have sparked fears of a possible Japanese takeover. However, and eventually, the Joseon court started to lose support from the Russians as the 1906 Revolution erupted inside the Russian Empire, thereby increasing the financial burden upon the Russian state from backing the Joseon court. Additionally, when Japan would enter the war against the United States, it too, would suffer from a similar economic and financial strain that it imposed on itself for the proxy war in Korea. It looked as if the United States would make good on its boast that it will take them 'Seven Days to Reach Tokyo', but the increasing casualties suffered by the American military may end up making that boast look like a big lie. The boast that American troops will reach Tokyo in seven days would turn into three years of brutal slugfest that neither side will have any advantage.
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"'Tis a long way from Mandalay,
we won't be back in a single day,
the jungles are tough to go through,
there's nowhere to go for a furlough,
it's a long distance to Dehong Dai,
we can't even breathe a sigh.
All the Shans are everywhere,
they're fighting the Chinese over there,
it won't be long until we've arrived,
safely with the olive coats intact,
it's indeed a long way back to Mandalay,
but we're marching in the heat all day."
- From a popular British song that retells the story of the 1902 British Yuunan Expedition