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Today in Alternate History

This Day in Alternate History Blog

by Paul MacLeod

 

 

 

 

"The victory is complete. But, as a nation, we must now decide what that victory means….

 

We are a nation whose values are changing. However, not all the changes imposed by the previous Administration have been subject to adequate scrutiny and have made sinister and alien inroads into our national consciousness. A new Government, of, for and by the people, will look at these changes with new eyes and the heedlessness, the squandering of excess, the scorn of caution will be childish things that we put away….

Our nation is one of incomparable wealth, great in its unlimited genius and enterprise. We have an enduring and stable system of government that has stood against the storms and ravages of time, and is now being imitated in other lands. The rich abundance cannot, however, forgive inexcusable waste, the squandering of our great gifts to rob others of their bounty, the impotence of enterprise when plundered by those who have been given all of life's benefits, the theft of lives to achieve one dollar more, and the miserly stealing of government through over- taxation. We will look at each of our shortcomings with candid and fearless eyes. We will take back the governance of this country from those who have used us for their selfish and private ends and restore it to the people….

It is our duty to cleanse, to restore, to purify the crude, heartless machinery that threatens to tear morality, sentiment and hope from the heart of the nation. It is our duty to serve the humblest of citizens, to serve justice and to remember the achievements of the next four years with pride in our history and our character. It is our duty to rebuild America….

I stand here today because the nation has been stirred from its apathy, stirred to end the wrongs we know exist, stirred to recapture our ideals, stirred to make governance an instrument of good. We have heard the stirring of our hearts to restore justice and mercy and fraternity. We have been challenged to search our hearts and to take the highest course of action. Today, I dedicate myself, and this great Union, to a defence of the hearts, lives and hopes of all men. I summon all of you who are honest and patriotic, all of you who have vision to my side, and God helping us, we shall not fail."

 

 

The Spread of Suffrage

The marriage of Crown Prince Georg of Aragon and the daughter of the Duke of Teschen, in February, 1912, had been meant as a grand affair. Instead, the Crown Prince had left his wife during the honeymoon to spend time with his mistress in Innsbruck. When the Archduchess sought an annulment, the Aragon royal family was scandalised. The King had already publicly indicated his intention to abdicate in favour of his son and heir in the coming year, but there could be no way that he could pursue such an option now. As to his other children, the Princess Elisabeth had already disappointed the family with a morganatic marriage and Prince Konrad, now in his fourth decade, showed no indication of a willingness to follow the family business. It motivated the King to pass a

decree in which succession was based on birth order, and the position as heir apparent moved to the Princess Augusta Maria (left), who, despite having never lived in Aragon, was the wife of Prince Joseph August, Palatine and Viceroy of Hungary.

 

A major influence in his decision was Queen Gisela, who, as a Hapsburg, saw the modernisation projected by Archduke Franz Ferdinand as an instrument through which Aragon and its minorities could be absorbed into the Hapsburg Empire. Her grandchildren, as Hungarians, would stand a good chance of advancing union, and representation in the Reichsrat would give Aragon a sizable bloc of votes. Her daughter, as cousin of both the Cisalpine monarch and the Austrian heir, could also guarantee national security.

 

There was a great deal of uncertainty about the change in succession law and it fell to Princess Augusta to deal with the fallout. To ensure popular support, she announced that, upon her enthronement in March, 1913, she would immediately pursue universal adult suffrage to give all adult citizens a voice in the management of the kingdom.

 

A similar debate could be heard across the channel in Great Britain, where the Liberal Government of H.H. Asquith was beginning to tire of the suffragette movement. The Prime Minister believed that their social action had prevented him from gaining the electoral advantage he deserved from the Bonar Law Scandal; Opposition Leader Chamberlain had managed to convince the country that the imprisoned Conservatives, more than ten percent of the party’s representation, were nothing more than "a few bad eggs". There were grumblings on his own backbench about his failure to make the Conservatives pay for the political failures. In addition, the Liberal Party share of the popular vote was clearly in decline, being squeezed by the Conservatives on the right and the Labour Party on the left. Asquith felt that, should he be the one to grant female suffrage, it would convince the females to vote Liberal.

 

The Suffrage Act of 1913 made the first move toward a female franchise, opening the vote to all women aged thirty or older, as well as any women aged between eighteen and thirty who owned property. The bill provided that, following a period of ten years, universal suffrage would be introduced in all of the United Kingdom.

Another country where there was a similar concern was the Kingdom of Belgium, which in April found its trade unions declaring a general strike in favour of the extension of voting rights. However, street protests turned ugly when supporters of Flemish independence called for liberation by their "Dutch and German brothers". In Ghent, a statue of King Leopold II was defaced and torn down and anti-royalist slogans were written on public buildings. There had been similar outrages in 1909 when, during the burial procession, his coffin had been booed. There was soon declarations in the Flemish press about a desire for "reunification" with the Netherlands. This referred to the outcome of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, in which a large number of Dutch speakers had been incorporated into the Belgian state. And, as the citizens of Flanders held a majority, it soon became clear that any future move toward democracy could be the end of Belgian unity.

 

In the history of the Union of South Africa, there are many great names, but few as great as Mohandas K. Gandhi (right). Up until the Indian Mutiny of 1911-14, the Indian-born, English-trained lawyer had always intended to return home. However, the violence in his homeland led him to continue in South Africa, working on political issues, such as the abolition of taxation on ex-indentured Indian workers and the recognition of Hind marriage by the Government of South Africa. The Indian Mutiny increased his workload considerably.

 

During his time in South Africa, Gandhi had matured into an astute politician and had led the fight against racism and discrimination. From 1911, the size of the Indian population of South Africa swelled enormously, from an estimated 150,000 to over one quarter of a million people. As refugees continued to flee the troubled subcontinent, South Africa was one of the few places they could find safety and an established community. Not surprisingly, the influx of cheap labour was welcomed by some, particularly those involved in farming, sugar and tea plantations and mining. Regrettably, there were elements of the society that were outraged by the arrival of the new coloured migrants and the seeming lack of ability by the government to curtail the numbers.

 

For these new arrivals, Mohandas Gandhi was an unquestioned leader. Boer resistance to immigration required him to build alliances outside the Indian community. On 14 June, 1913, the Indian Congress became a founding member of the new National African Congress, a political body led by the Oxford-educated Zulu prince, Pixley Seme, and the son of an American missionary, John Langalibalele Dube. The leaders called on all Indians who wished to find sanctuary from the troubles of India to defy any laws restricting immigration to South Africa and find refuge there.

 

During his later term as ANC Chairman, Gandhi would admit that he often dreamed of returning to India, but that the Mutiny had made his presence in South Africa necessary and his return somewhat difficult. It is a confluence of events for which Asians, and other citizens of South Africa, remain grateful. Without Gandhi’s later Satyagraha Resistance Movement and his leadership of non-white South Africans, it is quite possible that there would have been no Smuts Compromise and the future of South Africa would have been considerably altered forever.

 

 

The Federal Trade Commission

US President James Clark had been elected on a platform under which he had pledged to attack big business interests on the East Coast. For an economy that was experiencing sporadic growth, it was not an ideal time to start restricting business opportunities. Nonetheless, in October 1913, President Clark announced his intention to disband the Corporations Commission and to replace it with an enormously powerful Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

 

The FTC was to act as a licensing body for all corporations. It would design and enforce standards to which companies, their suppliers and their contractors would be expected to comply. All companies wishing to operate in the United States, or wishing to trade with the United States, would have to apply for certification that they met those standards. Without certification, they would receive a warning of non-compliance, followed by fines for non-compliance. Those who continued to operate without meeting the guidelines would have their directors prosecuted and their assets seized by the Federal Government. The minimum standards set by the Administration were as follows:

 

All companies were required to permit free association by the employees, including membership of trade unions, and would be required to undertake collective bargaining agreements where that was the express wish of the employee;

No product could be bought or sold in the United States, or by a company registered within the United States, if its production involved any form of compulsory or enforced labour;

A person under the age of fifteen, working in full-time employment, would be regarded as a person for whom labour was either forced or compulsory;

Companies would not be permitted to discriminate against persons in the matter of employment or occupation on the basis of race, colour, gender and "other such status" – a phrase that kept US courts very busy in the years to come;

Companies would be required to provide equal pay for equal work and that pay must be at a level that "is consistent with ensuring human dignity";

Companies must provide "reasonable hours of employment" and could seek adjudication from the FTC or the Labor Court as to what was reasonable and what was not in each case, though 48 hours per week was standard;

Companies would be required to provide two weeks of annual leave plus a cash bonus equivalent to two weeks salary OR four weeks annual leave to all permanent employees every year.

 

The Federal Trade Commission was also responsible for consulting with the Department of the Interior to determine the level of ecological damage created by American industry, to ascertain the costs involved in removing waste from the environment and to take measures to remove such costs. The environmentalism of the Roosevelt years certainly spilled over into the Clark Administration. However, nobody was prepared for the costs once they became clear. When the report came through in 1915, it made clear that the cost of cleaning up ALL corporate pollution annually was $130 billion (26% of gross domestic product). The FTC would establish the world’s first pollution trading system to deal with the costs. To continue to qualify for certification, companies would need to purchase a government license to pollute.

 

Corporate America was outraged. The effect of these provisions meant that some companies suddenly found their tax burden minimised to virtually nil. Others found themselves completely unable to continue operations. One such company was Standard Oil, which was seized by the Federal Government in 1915. The Rockefeller companies became the focus of the government in April, 1914, when state troopers massacred two hundred striking workers in Ludlow, Colorado. The assets of numerous Rockefeller companies (Colorado Fuel & Iron, Colorado Mining, Colorado Supply Company and Colorado & Wyoming Railroad) were all seized, as federal authorities began a comprehensive investigation of business practices in the Rockefeller empire. By November, John D. Rockefeller Jnr had filed for bankruptcy to protect his family’s personal assets and it would not be until 1922 that the family could begin to recover its fortunes. Other companies that suffered were the Aluminium Company of America (Alcoa), which forced a dramatic increase in the price of aluminium, and Eastman Kodak, which faced enormous chemical pollution costs.

 

With a more competitive labour market, downward pressure on wages came into effect for the first time in years, and corporate pressure for immigration also dissipated. This was balanced by the demand for raw materials and products not produced by "compulsory or enforced labor", which meant America began to use and produce much higher quantities of her own raw materials, rather than sourcing them from abroad. Where companies chose to operate off-shore to reduce wage costs even further, they entered labour markets where American working conditions were regarded as nirvana. The best and brightest of foreign nations would pursue the opportunity to work for American companies bound by American regulations. The move of large amounts of American investment offshore placed further downward pressure on tariffs and led to a 50% cut in May, 1914. However, Senator Pinchot of Pennsylvania did manage to convince the Tariff Board that tariff cuts on raw minerals would encourage bad environmental practices and thus those tariffs were maintained.

 

The role of the United States in the global marketplace (20% of all trade) meant it was somewhat inevitable that other industrialised countries were required to follow her lead if they wish to continue to conduct business. This became especially the case when the Supreme Court ruled that a subsidiary organisation in another legal domain was liable to have all its assets in the United States seized if it undertook actions in that jurisdiction that were illegal in the United States.

 

In the short term, however, the American economy suffered a bad blow. Between 1913 and 1914, American gross domestic product fell by eight percent. Most countries, including the USA, were caught in the recession that followed. Only three economies survived the decline into negative growth. Great Britain managed to eke out a small 1.1% growth that year, much lower than had been expected. Mexico’s absorption of fleeing US capital gave it a poor but sufficient 0.6% growth rate. The only booming economy was that of Joseon, where investment directed out of the home islands meant Japan grew at a rate of 5.4% per annum. Nonetheless, the anti-corporate agenda of James Clark left a massive dent in the world economy and in support for the Democratic Party. While he asked for the nation’s continued confidence, many voters would never forgive him for the recession.

 

His lack of popularity was reflected in his decision to avoid the October celebrations in Panama, at which former President Theodore Roosevelt was on hand to blow up the Gamboa Dike. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans flowed into the Calebra Cut and the Panama Canal fundamentally changed the nature of world trade and travel. In 1917, it would be renamed the Roosevelt Canal.

 

The Balkan Crises

On 29 May, 1913, Tsar Michael II spoke to the Russian people by radio. It was the first time that many of them had heard the voice of their Emperor and he called them to war. He was followed by Prime Minister Trotsky, who explained that, since the Revolution, Russia had sought peace, had intervened only where necessary and had sought international cooperation as the basis for all its endeavours. He stated that consultations had been made with the Grand Vizier of the Sublime Porte and the Minister President of Austria and both had agreed to allow this annexation to proceed "in the interests of peace".

 

Trotsky raised a number of issues in his justification for the war. He warned that Tsar Ferdinand (below) had "undisclosed sexual proclivities" that made him susceptible to blackmail and exploitation by those who wished to hurt the

Bulgar people. He stated that the Crown Prince Boris had openly consorted with radical elements that showed no allegiance to Russia. There was substantial evidence that Bulgaria was funding the continued violence and insurgency in Macedonia; the loss of life could not be permitted to continue. Finally, Trotsky stated that Okhranka intelligence had revealed the Bulgarian leader was preparing for a widespread genocide against the Pomak, who though Muslim, were Slavic brothers. None of this has ever been proven to be true. However, it was sufficient to garner popular support for the conflict.

 

Varna, the third largest city in Bulgaria, was the first target of the Russian Imperial Navy and it surrendered after just five days. Its neighbour and Bulgaria’s fourth largest city, Burgas, fell the following day. Within a week of the declaration of war, the Bulgarian navy lay at the bottom of the Black Sea and Russia controlled its coastline absolutely. On 9 June, 1913, the strategically vital city of Shumen surrendered, as did the industrial stronghold of Sliven. The remainder of Bulgaria fell as follows:

 

10 June – Yambol

13 June – Silistra

15 June – Razgrad

16 June – Ruse

17 June – Haskovo

20 June – Targovishte

21 June – Stova Zagora

23 June – Veliko Tarnovo

 

On 26 June, with the fall of the city of Plovdiv, the defeat of Bulgaria became inevitable. It was only five days later that the Russian army reached the gates of the capital and demanded an unconditional surrender. The ease of the conquest was indicative of the willingness of the Bulgarian Army to confront its northern neighbour. It is estimated that less than forty percent of the armed forces answered the call to defend the nation.

 

With the invasion over by early July, the cost to Russia soon became apparent. It was announced that Romania had been granted the right to purchase Bessarabia, while Eastern Rumelia would be granted a referendum to determine whether or not it should return to Ottoman rule. Russia also recognised all Persian territory held by the Ottomans (this was prior to the Treaty of Kabul). It is unclear how many military casualties occurred, but military strategists generally agree the number was minimal. The royal family of Bulgaria was exiled to Egypt before setting up residence in Madrid in 1917.

 

The fall of Bulgaria did not stop resistance in some portions of Macedonia, particularly among Albanians, who had lived under Serbian and Greek occupation since the Balkan War. On 10 October, 1913, protests in the south disrupted Greek control and an initial attempt to repress the protestors by Greek police led to the growth of resistance. By 13 October, all of the Greek-held territory was in revolt and it was spreading north, encompassing Tirana and Skopje. The day after, as it became clear that there was a significant political movement underway, foreigners began to evacuate and the Greek and Serbian armies began to mobilise.

When a declaration of independence was made to the rest of the world on 16 October, it became clear that this was an issue for the Great Powers. War could not be permitted on the peninsula. Telegrams ran between the European capitals at lightning pace, as Greece and Serbia were both ordered to hold off. The Russian Ambassador to Greece entered rebel-held territory the following day to survey the situation and Audrey Herbert, a British MP and the brother of Lord Carnarvon, was also dispatched to investigate. On 28 October, the Great Powers agreed to recognise the Albanian declaration of independence and it was further agreed that Britain would immediately send five thousand troops to prevent an attack. Greece reluctantly agreed to the ultimatum of the Great Powers until discussions could be held on the final borders of the new country in December.

Serbia, confident in its relationships with Vienna and St Petersburg, stated that the claim by the new state on Kosovo would lead to war and resumed its mobilisation. The nominal leader of Albania, Essad Toptani, enjoyed popular support and had control of a formidable militia. He stated plainly that Albania would defend its interests in Kosovo and hastily moved to Durres, where he was established a provisional government and called on Britain to defend his country, even offering King George V the crown. (He declined on the advice of his Prime Minister.) Toptani knew that Britain would thus only be committed for so long, given the situation in Central Asia, and turned his attention north, offering the crown to Emperor Franz Joseph and stating his wish to be included within the new United States proposed by the Archduke.

Serbia warned Vienna not to interfere and threatened to cancel their recently established bonds, as well as withdraw from the planned customs union. However, the Austrians were not going to allow such an opportunity to go to waste. They agreed to join the British in defending Albania from aggression until such time as the borders of the country were decided. An enraged Belgrade immediately provided the requisite diplomatic retaliations and, after years of conciliation, the relationship between Serbia and Austria plunged back to the depths of hostility.

 

In the city of Detroit, Michigan, resided one of the giants of American industry, whose massive publicity machine and national network of supporters was threatening. This same man was also looking for a way to drive his business partners, the Dodge brothers, out of his company. Henry Ford (right) saw an opportunity to outflank the President and the naysayers in one hit, as well as build expertise, raise productivity and cut training costs. He immediately announced that the $5 a day claim was "doable" and introduced it.

As per the ruling of previous wage cases, he offered his employees the opportunity to receive up to 15% of all wages in non-voting company stock. This stock would be held in a corporate account and would be cashed in at the end of an individual's employment with Ford Motor Company. This reduced both his immediate wage bill and allowed him to garner publicity for a wage that he wasn't actually paying. In addition, it would reduce the share of the business held by his partners and undercut their profits. Ford was exceptionally pleased with his efforts.

During his tour of Central America, Clark spoke to crowds across the region about living a life free of American control and the pre-requisites for doing so. He spoke of the need for trial by jury, representative government, a free press and other symbols of liberty and democracy. He had pointed out that the new Panama (soon to be Roosevelt) Canal would bring a massive economic boost to the region, while American policies had led to vast improvements in education, transport, communications and general quality of life. The most important element of his standard speech was his comparisons between US and Central American history. In the 1770's, he said, the thirteen colonies had a similar population and standard of living; however, he believed firmly that what the United States had achieved through war, the Central Americans could achieve through peace and negotiation. America was prepared to hand over her colonies, if only the Central American aristocracy would ensure the prosperity and success of their peoples.

Clark called for the immediate establishment of a Federal Council, consisting of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala. Those countries under US control would be entitled to elect their own representatives, uncensored by US authorities. The Federal Council, consisting of 150 members, would have the following breakdown:

Guatemala: 50 members

and would be empowered to pass binding resolutions relating to defence and foreign affairs by a majority of two-thirds on all countries of the region. If it worked, then the United States would sponsor a national constitutional convention in 1916, and relinquish all its holdings to a newly comprised federal state shortly thereafter. The provisional capital would be San Salvador. And, Clark pointed out, only a federated Central America would be sufficiently strong to stand against any further "imperialism" by the United States in the future.

Guatemala was initially incredibly reluctant. President Cabrera would not agree to allow his citizens to participate in the Federal Council until the events of March, 1915. In that month, a keen astronomer, Percival Lowell, located the ninth planet of the solar system and an international competition began to find a name. There were three popular choices. However, the name likely to be runner-up, Minerva, was boosted by Cabrera's indication that he would be willing to change his mind about the Federal Council if that name was chosen for the ninth planet. Thus the planet out from Neptune became Minerva rather than Kronos or Pluto, the other leading contenders, and Central America held its first functional federal conference.

With Guatemala's assent to the Federal Council, Cabrera became the leading force in the Constitutional Conference of 1915, examining multiple constitutions and eventually deciding that the United States and Switzerland were two models that deserved attention. The 1916 conference voted to adopt the nomenclature of the United States Congress, but to have a nominal President with power vested in the Congress. However, the debate over the division of powers between the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, despite the impetus of Cabrera, the idea broke down late in 1916 and it would be a decade before the birth of the Federation of Central America. As to President Clark, he would stay in Nicaragua for the next month, having arranged meetings with the leaders of Argentina, Brazil and Chile, who had agreed to travel north to discuss foreign policy between their nations and the developing behemoth of the United States, which was soon to expand.

The new state of California had a border that ran, from east to west, along the 35th parallel latitude through the Mohave Desert to the border of what was once Kern County, then ran a dog-leg up to the northern border of Kern and back down to Point Conception. It included all of what had once been Mexico's province of Baja California. San Diego was the new state capital. California was voted into being on the day that the proposal reached Congress.

The second was the island of Cuba. Under sixteen years of US rule, it was now approaching a population of 2.6 million and an economy of $12.5 billion. It was growing and at an exceptionally fast rate. Its size would guarantee it a place among the largest of the Union states and the same number of electoral college votes as Georgia. It was the intent of Clark that he would win both these states in any coming election. Cuba became the 50th state of the Union on 29 April, with an overwhelming approval of the Democratic Party.

A third consideration was Hispaniola. Though Haiti had sufficient population and Santo Domingo sufficient economic strength, it was believed that neither had the capacity to emerge into statehood themselves. While together they had a larger population than either of the other two states mentioned above, they were economically underdeveloped and it was generally agreed by Congress that it should be regarded as a "territory", but should not be admitted as a state. Thus it was delayed for further consideration until 1921.

The remaining contender was Puerto Rico. While half the size of Cuba, it had benefited from American rule and had grown into a strong economy as well. There was considerable debate, but the Congress eventually agreed to call

the matter to a vote and it passed narrowly in both Houses. The Congress made Puerto Rico the 51st state of the Union on 19 May, 1914. A new flag was flown over the Capitol shortly thereafter for the first time.

Once the vote had been completed, Clark travelled to the south-west to implement his plan to wind back Asian migration. There were already large numbers of Mexican nationals living inside this area of the United States. The Government in Washington was prepared to finance the licensing and administrative structure that allowed Mexicans to live and work in the states of California, New Mexico and Arizona without undertaking formal immigration. Instead, they would function as "guest workers", just as the Asians had before them, provided they could show documentation that they were Mexican nationals and formally signed away any rights guaranteed to US workers. If an American and a Mexican applied for the same job, the American would receive priority.

It was to avoid war that the Tsar had come to Germany. He knew that Trotsky had raised the issue of Austria funding Pilsudski's "sporting clubs" without result. He had not liberated his lands in the west simply to have them destroyed by terrorist thugs. Russian finances had assisted in the implementation of law and order in Poland-Lithuania. Russian finances had located the criminal propaganda being circulated by groups full of hatred in Poland-Lithuania. It was apparent to all that Germany understood the gravity of the situation. There was no other clear reason for the sudden rise in the size of her armed forces in June last year. Pilsudski was dangerous and he needed to be stopped.

The Tsar had discussed the matter with his brother-in-law, the Kaiser. Ongoing Austrian interference in the affairs of Poland-Lithuania was moronic. The Okhranka had incontrovertible evidence of Austrian involvement in Pilsudski's bid for power. Did Vienna honestly think that they could control Pilsudski? Didn't they understand the outcry that was being raised in the north of his country about their actions? The Chancellor had nodded sagely when he had heard the news. Those who were not socialist, like Russia and Germany, did not understand. It was quite clear to Berlin that any conflict between Russia and Austria over the question of Poland would be one that Austria had provoked, but Ebert suspected that it might have been a blind spot on the Austrian radar and pledged that he would point it out on his next meeting with von Sturgkh. He also suggested that he would have the Kaiser raise the matter with the British Emperor when the former visited the latter in June.

1. All bills passed by the Indian Parliament would be referred to a Council of State, chaired by the Governor General, of which one quarter of the members would be Ministers elected by the Parliament. All members of the Council of State must be Indian or have lived in India for in excess of a decade.
2. The British would retain responsibility for the defence of India and the Indian Parliament would provide funds for that purpose.

 

The Treaty of Calcutta was signed on 25 May, 1914. The effective outcome was that it split the Indian resistance movement, allowing the British to effectively crush those who were unwilling to compromise. Bal Gangadhar Tilak returned to prison on charges of sedition, dying behind bars in 1917, aged sixty-one. Bipin Chandra Pal was imprisoned for seven years, before being exiled to Britain in 1921.

According to letters kept by Mallet's family, the first matter that came up for discussion was the improvements in Egypt. The Earl of Koubah had agreed to the establishment of a bicameral parliament and recognition of King George V as monarch of Egypt, in return for a guarantee that only the family of Mehemet Ali could serve as British Governors-General. In doing so, Egypt had joined Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, Ireland and Newfoundland as the seventh dominion of the British Empire. There were already significant plans in the pipeline to raise the general living standard, including the construction of the second major upgrade to the dam at Aswan. It would make possible more intensive farming of cotton, rice, wheat, corn and sugar; there would be a complete end to seasonal flooding. In addition, there would be a hydroelectric power generation station. There were also investigations into dredging the canals built by the ancient Egyptians through the Western Desert. The Grand Vizier also expressed the Sultan's pleasure at the decision by the British to make Alexandria a sanctuary for the Copts.

A second matter was the rebellion the previous month. Muhammed Ibn Ali Al-Idrisi, Prince of Asir, had risen in revolt against Beirut. He had stated that rule on the Yemeni border had been corrupt and lax. Fortunately, other vassals in the region had assisted in putting him in his place. However, that did not address the long-term need for consolidation of the Arabian peninsula. Of particular concern to the British were the provocations of the Sultan of Nejd, Ibn Saud. The Emir of Rashid had repeatedly requested assistance to deal with the Saudi menace. However, the Rashidi instability had not been entirely the fault of the House of Saud. Their continual bloody infighting had made them a target for Saudi expansion. The Grand Vizier made clear that he understood the need to contain the Ikhwan, the religious militia which formed the main military force of Ibn Saud's restoration to power in 1912. Britain was concerned that a growing extremist Islamic militia could ultimately effect the transition of India into a functional dominion. In this matter, they had a convergence of opinion. However, the Sublime Porte would appreciate British assistance in acquiring weapons that were more effective than bayonets. The war in Persia had taught them they would not survive on their current weaponry alone.

Their intelligence had told them of a number of German advances: the Flammenwerfer, for example. Did the British have anything similar? the Grand Vizier asked. The Royal Navy's new self-loading Webley or the Lee-Enfield rifle might be helpful. The Germans also had something called the Maschinengewehr 08 - the Porte could understand why the British didn't want it. Too bulky. However, they wondered whether it might be possible to have such a weapon made on a smaller, more portable scale. An offer was made for joint development of such a weapon, but the Ambassador declined, well aware that such technology would never sell to the British High Command.

As discussions rounded up, the Grand Vizier made clear to the Ambassador that the Porte would not be ready for some time to take on the task of "liberating" the Arabian peninsula. However, it was clear that, sooner or later, this was a matter that required their attention and they were willing to pay Britain to supply the tools to achieve it.

The following day, Emperor Franz Joseph mobilised his armies, not to prevent Russia and Germany from activities in Poland, but to attempt to control his own population. In response, President Pilsudski called for a general uprising of all Polish people to "defend the homeland". He issued a declaration of independence for "Greater Poland", which included all the territory he currently held, as well as large chunks of his neighbouring countries. Kaiser Wilhelm III issued a statement that he would utterly crush all resistance. On 31 July, the New York and London Stock Exchanges closed to avoid panic buying and selling.

 

Meanwhile, back in Europe, the Kaiser was advising his citizens to evacuate the city of Posen, within his own borders, so that artillery could be brought to bear against the rebels within his own country. There was a cry of "Remember 1806", a reference to the Dabrowski-led uprising that had aided the liberation of Poland from Prussian occupation in that year. By month's end, the rebellion in Germany was out of the control of the Kaiser, who had lost the cities of Gratz, Wronke, Wongrowitz and Kosten to the rebels.

By 1 September, a little over a month into the war, there was no question that Pilsudski had gained ground. However, it was estimated that over a quarter of the Polish army had been killed in running battles with the Russians and the rebellions in Austria and Germany were slowly being dismembered. On the 4th, President Pilsudski was killed during an attack upon a base outside Warsaw. Within a week, the rebellion was dwindling and, on 14 September, Acting Prime Minister Roman Dmowski requested a ceasefire from Russia, Germany and Austria.

In the United States, multi-millionaire businessman Herbert Hoover established the International Commission for the Relief of Poland and travelled to Europe to convince the parties to allow delivery of food and relief from all countries and persons wishing to participate. In the end, his delivery of aid, valued at the time at $150 million, did much to rebuild and rejuvenate Poland from the horrors of the Pilsudski rebellion and the Polish War. In addition, it made Hoover a hero to many Europeans and Americans while the process of deciding the future of Poland would commence in a December conference in Berlin.

The question was now with whom to replace him. Representing the traditionalist faction that had provided the last pontiff was Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val, Cardinal Secretary of State. On the side of the modernists was Giacomo Cardinal della Chiesa, Archbishop of Bologna. There was also the consideration of the existence of a Papal State to rule, the first time that had factored into decision making since 1861. That made the conclave look at Italians born within their new borders. In the first ballot, it is said that there were seven candidates.

 

While there is no definitive information as to the process which occurred, it is agreed that della Chiesa led the voting for most of the ballots. However, he continued to be opposed by Merry del Val and no party was able to get the required two-thirds vote. On the 11th ballot, the name of another rose and, on 4 September, the balance was tipped by the late arrivals of three cardinals, the Archbishops of Boston, Baltimore and Quebec, who threw their support behind the leading candidate to ensure a progressive pontiff. The bells of St Peters Basilica rang out as the white smoke appeared above the Sistine Chapel. The Dean of the College, Serafino Cardinal Vannutelli, emerged to declare "Annutio vobis gaudium magnum! Habemus Papam! The most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord, Lord Pietro, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Gasparri, who takes to himself the name Gregory XVII".

During his years in office, driven by a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1917, Pope Gregory XVII (above) would undertake a major reform of the Church to unify Rome with the Orthodox faith. He continued to declare that the Pontiff is infallible when speaking "ex cathedra", but specified that such declarations can only be made "in consilium". He convinced the Orthodox Churches to accept the use of unleavened bread. He stated, like Leo XIII, that the Bible can only be interpreted in the context of the world in which God gave it. He declared that the Bishopric of Rome, while "primus inter pares", was equal to the Bishoprics of Jerusalem, Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria.

However, the largest change would be a statement issued in June, 1918 which stated:

"The confusions and schism that occurred within the Church in the latter centuries, we realise today, in now way affects or touches the substance of our faith, since they arose only because of difference in terminology and culture and in the various formulae adopted by different theological schools to express the same matter. Accordingly, we find today no real basis for the sad divisions and schisms that subsequently arose between us concerning the doctrine of Incarnation. In words and life, we confess the true doctrine concerning Christ our Lord, notwithstanding the difference in interpretation of such a doctrine which arose at the time of the Council of Chalcedon."

In accordance with that statement, the Creed was altered for both Orthodox and Roman followers of Catholicism to express that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and through the Son".

The growing numbers of the Socialist Party and the Republican Party were putting a squeeze on the Democrats from both directions. With an election due in the next few months for Congress, Clark desperately wanted to take ground from the relative newcomer and struck out with an embrace of labor. Trade unions would be exempted from trust laws, while strikes, picketing and boycotts were all legalised formally. In an attack on business, having the same director on two different company boards now implied an attempt to violate anti-trust provisions and the Federal Government could review prices of products and force companies to establish new prices where the Government believed that the prices were conducive to the establishment of a monopoly.

It was on these policies that the American people reflected when they went to elect a new Congress in 1914. Their view of the policies, and the continued economic stagnancy, quickly became clear. The result was a landslide. Republicans took fifty-five seats in the House of Representatives, with an eight percent swing nationally against the Democrats. They also took control of the Senate for the first time in four years, winning 58 out of 104 seats. In the House, the new balance was Republican 182, Democrat 135, Socialist 66, Constitution 52.

Clark's personal standing was not the only thing that took a battering. In thirteen of the fifty-two states, the Constitution Party found they had insufficient members to get on the ballot paper. The party leader, William Howard Taft, would announce the dissolution of the party on 17 June, 1915, and would encourage his members to join the Republicans, giving them a 33-seat majority in the House as well. Senior Democrats, like Senator Woodrow Wilson, were also dumped in the landslide, placing a serious dent in his hope of running for the Presidency in 1916 (Wilson would die in 1919 during the Red Scare).

However, the most important outcome of the 1914 Congressional elections was the return of Senator Albert Beveridge. Beveridge almost immediately began his campaign for the presidency in 1916, giving a key speech in California. He stated that the Socialist Party was the cause of the problems in America, internally sabotaging the country and attempting to sell it out to Russian and German philosophies. He stated that Eugene Debs and his Socialist Party were the "sons of foreigners" who had no true loyalty to America and were encouraging racial tension in the nation. The reason for this were clear, he believed. Research done by the Carnegie Institute in New York showed that interbreeding between black and white populations had weakened the country. Both races should stand proud and strong, but separate, in order to oppose this attempt to take over the country by foreign interests. He appealed to the need for a greater military and national security infrastructure to defend the country against "uncivilised" and "irrational" philosophies while promoting a "Greater America".

Referring to the recent addition of Spanish speaking states, he warned that English must be the only acceptable language and that America should not tolerate any "parasitic behaviour" by the new states. He attacked other "parasites", such as the larger corporations, stating that they should be "forced to work" in service to the nation through high asset taxes, seizure of assets where necessary, the funding of large scale national infrastructure and a large social welfare net for "deserving Americans". Lastly, he warned that his plan for the nation would not be without hiccups. He called for powers to more easily reform the Constitution and remove judges who stood in the way of progress.

Then, in February, 1915, African American groups began to picket the screening of a new movie, Birth of a Nation, leading to the first ethnic clashes in quite some time. The relative racial harmony since he had come to office had been a hook on which the President had often raised his banner and, while he called it a "regretful and unfortunate piece of work", the President was criticised by Congressman Dubois of the Socialist Party for failing to ban the film and by Senator Beveridge for failing to protect the civil rights of African Americans.

 

Seven days after the showing of the film, he launched the campaign that he hoped would turn the country, and the party, around. Standing on newly reclaimed land in the national capital, he laid the first stone in a memorial to President Abraham Lincoln (photo of construction, 1916). He had decided that if he would be condemned for racial problems, he might as well make some progress in that area. Announcing that he would emulate the Great Emancipator, he announced the "New Citizenship" scheme, to promote African Americans to sign up for the vote. He also assumed control of the National Guard, an act which Beveridge endorsed, bringing it into the National Investigations Bureau to force desegregation in the South against the screams of his own party members.

Finally, he announced the Civil Rights Act of 1915, closing on the unsuccessful Civil Rights Act of 1912. It established the right of the National Investigations Bureau to inspect local voter registration rolls, a duty to participate in a door knock campaign to increase voter registration (particularly in the South) and to make it a criminal offence to actively discourage a person from registering to vote or from actually voting. As Senate Majority Leader, Beveridge endorsed the scheme. However, the President had shot his party in the foot. One by one, Southern Democrats lined up to oppose and filibuster. While the President stumbled, Beveridge announced his opposition to the filibuster rule and pledged that he would have its power curtailed once the President managed to get the legislation through the Congress. Though the Act would eventually pass due to Republican support, the staunch opposition of Democrats continued to embarrass the President.

As a result of the Act, registrations of African Americans rose by a further 6% by the time of the 1916 Presidential elections. Regrettably, violence in the South also rose and, in October, Congressman Dubois would spend nine days in a Georgia prison, allegedly for inciting violence, before the President was forced to intervene and have him released. The Georgian police involved were removed by the National Guard and charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. And most of the new additions to the roll would decide to vote Republican.

The conditions of the treaty were outlined as follows:

Article I - The member states would commit to fulfill obligations and regulations prescribed by the Commission with regard to the exercise of military power. No member state could legally declare war without the consent of two-thirds of the Commission's governing bodies. No new member could be permitted without the consent of two-thirds of the Commission's governing bodies. Members could only withdraw from the Commission with the consent of their people expressed by popular referendum and must provide two years' notice of such an action.

Article II - The Commission would form a governing Assembly and Council, with a permanent executive.

Article III - Representatives in the Assembly must be in proportion to population of the individual member states and must be chosen by the same method and on such terms in which the member state selects members of their own national parliament. It would be empowered to discuss and make decisions on any matter that affects world peace.

Article IV - The Council would consist of one delegate appointed by the Government of each member state and may be changed at any time. Where a matter under consideration directly involved a member or members of the Council, that nation or those nations would be required to exclude themselves from voting, but may debate the issue before the Council.

Article V - All members must be present for a decision of the Assembly or the Council to have effect, though a three-quarters majority of all members of either body (not just those present) may choose to waive this restriction.

Article VI - The Assembly would appoint a Secretary General to manage the affairs of the Commission, with costs for the Secretariat being borne according to the decision of the Assembly. However, costs must be borne proportionally.

Article VII - A permanent seat would be established in Strasbourg and the territory of Alsace will be eternally neutral and inviolable. All attendees will have diplomatic immunity.

Article VIII - Members would agree to reduce their military forces in line with recommendations from the Commission and would provide the Secretariat with all information requested about their military position, readiness and armaments. The Commission would retain a permanent force of 5000, to be dispatched as necessary for the purposes of peace and defence.

Article IX - The member states could only act together against all threats to territorial integrity and political independence with consent of the Assembly and Council, and an attack upon one member will be treated as an attack on all members.

Article X - Disputes between member states would be referred to the International Court of Justice for settlement and the members agree to abide by the terms arbitrated by the International Court of Justice. They further agree that, if they unwilling to comply, they would withdraw from membership of the Commission under the terms specified in Article I before launching war against the Commission. The International Court of Justice could also provide advisory opinions as requested by the Assembly or the Council. Disputes may be settled by the Council instead of the Court if parties agreed to abide by the decisions of the Council as though it were the Court.

Article XI - If a member state declared war on another member state, the aggressor shall be expelled from the Commission and shall be at war with all other members of the Commission. Trade sanctions should apply against the aggressor state and all financial, commercial and personal relations between the citizens of the aggressor state and the citizens of remaining member states would be regarded as a crime. Member states would contribute military personnel to a campaign against the aggressor state at such levels as the Commission regards as necessary and would provide aid to the member state attacked to ensure loss is minimised.

Article XII - Where the dispute involves a member of the Commission and a non-member of the Commission, the non-member would be invited to take up interim membership and to allow the Commission to arbitrate a settlement that would prevent conflict.

Article XIII - All treaties made by member states could not be effective until they have been reviewed and accepted by the Commission. The members agreed not to seek treaties and obligations that would be inconsistent with being a Commission member.

Article XIV - The Commission was empowered to create international organisations under its direction to further the cause of peace.

The Treaty was signed and ratified by Germany (8 delegates), France (4 delegates), Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. The nineteen Assembly members and nine Council members elected France's Rene Viviani (left) as Secretary General, but it was Aristide Briand who won the Nobel Prize. A supplemental treaty was also signed by the members, allowing for the Franco-German common market in strategic resources, such as oil, gas, iron and coal, to be expanded to all members. It was agreed that the treaty would expire in seven years, but would be renewable for whatever term the members wished thereafter.

The first decision to come before the Commission was the argument over the status of Belgium, with France and Germany bringing the matter before the Commission in its early months. The International Court of Justice ordered that there should be a plebiscite for the people of Belgium to decide the matter. Each province was given the chance to choose between eleven different options.

In the ballot, Flanders voted overwhelmingly for independence, with only a tiny minority (7.7%) voting for union with the Netherlands. In Wallonia, 63.7% voted in favour of union with France, but in the province of Luxemburg, the vote was more divided. 26.7% voted for union with Luxembourg, 27.6% voted for independence and 45.7% voted for union with France. A second plebiscite came down in favour of French nationality over independence. The vote in Brussels had to be redone as well. Just under 50% voted to stay within Flanders, while the remaining votes were evenly split between going with Wallonia and becoming an independent city-state. When the independence option was removed as the lowest scoring of the two and the ballot repeated, the numbers went in favour of Flanders.

The end result of all the voting was that Flanders became an independent state with its capital at Brussels; Wallonia became part of the French Republic. His Majesty, King Albert, remained King of Flanders. And the Commission of Strausborg counted its first success. Belgium had only one colony of any significance: the Congo. As it was already administered in the French language and Wallonia was entitled to a proportion of its territory, King Albert instructed his nation to sell the colony to the French. The price was $3.25 billion.

The first departure came on the first day of the month when the 63-year-old British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith announced that he was stepping down to allow his Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, sufficient time to prepare for an election in 1918. During his seven years as head of the British Government, he had fulfilled the dream of Irish and Indian self-government, redistributed the wealth of the nation, broken the power of the House of Lords and, against his better judgment, given women the vote. He announced that he would retire from Parliament in 1918. At that point, he would become Viscount Asquith, Earl of Oxford, remaining in the House of Lords until his death in 1928.

The second departure came on 9 June, when US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned from office rather than accept an order to commence negotiations with Britain regarding the potential sale of the Philippines. In Bryan's opinion, too many Americans had shed their blood on that soil. America had begun the job, against his better judgment, but he believed they were now obliged to stay the course until Manila was ready for independence. The President disagreed. For the remainder of his life, Bryan was dedicated to fighting on behalf of Christian fundamentalism on a global scale, attacking Darwin's discoveries and modern theology, and calling for an expansion of the treaty between the United States, the Netherlands and China to prohibit opium. He would die on his way home from London in 1925, having finally convinced the British Empire and its dominions to end their participation in the opium trade.

The third departure involved the retirement of 60-year-old William Howard Taft from the chairmanship of the Constitutional Party. The former Secretary of War stated that he would continue as Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale, as a Justice on the Federal Labor Court and as President of the American Bar Association, but would instead devote his time to convincing Americans of the need for the United States to join the European move towards peace and free trade. He entrusted the party leadership to his protégé, the former Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, Warren Harding, with the charge to seek reunification with the Republicans.

As Prime Minister, he had already taken a number of steps to alter the constitution, strongly centralising the Australian state and earned his government a reputation for financial soundness. It was an element that was becoming common in all socialist regimes. Russia, Germany, France and Australia had all been experiencing good growth until the capitalist American system had dragged everyone down. Just one more proof of the benefits of a gradual transition to communism over a revolutionary one. Clearly, Marx had not understood that the transition could be painless.

However, not all the caucus thought that Fisher was the best leader. William Morris "Billy" Hughes (left), his abrasive, pushy and ambitious Attorney General, was clearly pushing for the top job. However, with a long run of success, many believed that Fisher was entitled to name his successor. He indicated his intention to do so, selecting instead his Trade Minister, Frank Tudor. Hughes was furious, setting off a chain of events which would bring down the Government.

In March, 1916, Hughes would cross the floor of the House of Representatives to vote with the Opposition, taking a large number of the caucus with him. The Government fell and, in the ensuing election, the seats of the Parliament came back:

Liberal Party (Joseph Cook): 34 seats

Hughes had hoped to be leader of a new coalition government, but instead, relegated to the position of holding the balance of power, he spoiled, keeping the Australian government hamstrung for the period of a year at a time when the nation was still finding its feet. And it was quite clear to the electorate that the only reason he was doing so was that he thought he deserved to be Prime Minister. When both Prime Minister Cook and the new ALP leader Matthew Charlton gave up trying to find a working relationship with Hughes, they decided to work for each other to maintain the two-party system.

For the first time, the Liberal and Labor parties threw their preferences to each other, guaranteeing that the Nationalists would be relegated to last position in every parliamentary district. They then voted to dissolve the House in December, 1916, and called a general election. In the vote that followed, Matthew Charlton was elected as Australia's seventh Prime Minister, taking forty-one out of seventy-five seats. Billy Hughes was swept out of his own seat and his party decimated. For the rest of his days, Hughes continually sought election to public office and failed, never understanding why the electorate held him in such contempt. In Australian political folklore, Billy Hughes is today remembered mostly for the term used by Andrew Fisher to describe him - "a petulant pestilence, a vermin, an appallingly chronic little rat".

Henry Ford was addressing a scrum of reporters on 2 December, announcing a further wage increase for Ford workers. The Federal Labor Court had voted that, for 1916, the wage would increase to $4.60 per day; in a publicity exercise extraordinaire, Ford announced that his workers would get $5.30 per day. It was during this discussion that Ford was asked about the President's performance. His answer: "I will seek the Democratic nomination for President." From the day of that announcement, the Clark Presidency was unofficially dead. In the coming year, he would have a battle filling the new vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the death of Justice Lamar. The Senate could drag that out forever. The Senate Majority Leader, Albert Beveridge, was also stating that there was no way he would approve the sale of the Philippines to Great Britain, hinting at a long fight on a difficult issue.

Within weeks, Henry Ford was on the campaign trail, pledging to bring new levels of prosperity to all Americans. He launched his bid in St Louis, the President's home town, to wide acclaim, talking about cheap housing and a national pension scheme, protection for business and low taxes. The Republicans were somewhat stumped, uncertain of how to deal with this new electoral factor. Even Senator Beveridge wrote in his diary at this time that "Ford represents a significant threat" to his planned run for the Presidency. However, on 20 January, 1916, a speech was delivered that would fundamentally shape the coming campaign. It ended:

"Friends, our task as Republicans is to strive for justice, achieved through the genuine rule of the people. This is our end, our purpose. The methods for achieving the end are merely expedients, to be finally accepted or rejected according as actual experience shows that they work well or ill. But in our hearts we must have this lofty purpose, and we must strive for it in all earnestness and sincerity, or our work will come to nothing. In order to succeed we need leaders of inspired idealism, leaders to whom are granted great visions, who dream greatly and strive to make their dreams come true; who can kindle the people with the fire from their own burning souls. The leader for the time being, whoever he may be, is but an instrument, to be used until broken and then to be cast aside; and if he is worth his salt he will care no more when he is broken than a soldier cares when he is sent where his life is forfeit in order that the victory may be won. In the long fight for righteousness the watchword for all of us is spend and be spent. It is of little matter whether any one man fails or succeeds; but the cause shall not fail, for it is the cause of mankind.

Rather than allowing vacancies to occur for political gain, the Senate Judiciary Committee would send a list of names to the Attorney General for each vacancy. All names would have to be approved unanimously, meaning that both Republicans and Democrats would need to appear on the list as part of a process of political compromise. The Cabinet would then vote on the list and the President would then appoint someone approved by the Cabinet. He encouraged the Senate to initiate the procedure and allow the President to fill the gap left by the death of Justice Lamar. To further oversight, the Senate would be able to recall a judge by a three-quarters vote.

On 28 January, the Congress sent a list of names to the White House. The new Justice, appointed shortly thereafter, was Bainbridge Colby, a graduate of Columbia University, Missouri-born, former State Assembly member for New York with connections to both the Republicans and the Democrats. The Court, following his appointment was then:

Joseph McKenna (California);

Roosevelt also commented on the arrest of Emma Goldman, a woman who had issued detailed pamphlets to women, describing birth control methods. He stated that the Administration should be condemned for not addressing the growing poverty of mothers and that Goldman was only pointing out "substantial evils that the Congress has a responsibility to address". He also defended free speech, stating that it should always be permitted without a clear demonstration that the speech could be shown to have "evil purpose", the malicious harm of another human being.

The vehicle carrying US Secretary of State Robert Lansing (right) turned off Mendiola Street and, as his door was opened, he was glad it was only February. Imagine how hot it would be in summer here. Directly ahead was the newly-renovated Malacanang complex and the small gentleman waiting for him ahead was the long-serving and inaugural Prime Minister of the Philippines, Sergio Osmena. Next year, Osmena would complete a decade in office and was not a man with whom the United States would trifle unnecessarily.

With Osmena stood his deputy, Manuel Quezon, and Francis Harrison, the Governor General of the Philippines. Lansing did not know how Harrison would take the idea that the President wanted to put him out of a job, but as a former Representative, at least he would understand the politics behind it all. It had been an open secret that the United States under President Clark had wanted out of the colonial game. Lansing was here to advise that the British had finally opened negotiations for the purpose of purchasing the Philippines from the United States.

The plan had some support at home, particularly in the Caribbean states where there was concern about the growing competitiveness of Philippino sugar. In the West, there were as many complaints about Philippino migration as there was regarding the Japanese and Chinese. All in all, Congress was likely to pass the bill provided the price was right, irregardless of the rants of the Republican Senate leadership.

There were two hiccups. Firstly, Britain was hesitant about the US price, being $1.9 billion per annum over a period of 25 years. While this was significant, inflation meant that it was lower much than the price paid for Egypt. Nonetheless, it still represented a significant investment by Britain and she needed to be sure that it would pay off. She wanted to bring the price down and wanted a provision in the treaty that, if the Philippines revolted against British rule before the end of the payment period, Britain would be entitled to cease payment. Secondly, Osmena wanted built into any treaty a series of guarantees regarding Philippino self-rule. He wanted a guarantee that there would be no change to the current governance system for the interim, but that:

1. At five years, all appointed members of Parliament would make way for elected members. (1921)

2. At fifteen years, the Philippines would be granted full dominion status. (1931)
3. At twenty-five years, the right to appoint its own Governor General would pass from the British Parliament to the Philippino Parliament. (1941)

Osmena also wanted a guarantee that there would be no attempt to combine the Philippines with another British colony.

The treaty was finally signed on 4 August and approved by the United Kingdom and the United States on 29 August. The final approved price was $1.4 billion per annum. In order to achieve Senate approval, the President was required to throw a sop to the imperialists: the purchase of the West Indies from Denmark. Over the next five years, the United Kingdom would spend a massive $2.5 billion on the development of the Philippines.

He rose to the podium and a less-than-receptive audience. His words were as follows:

"There are always in nature those minds that have been inflamed to weak and to vicious acts of violence. There will always be those who will abuse and slander. There will always be those who brutally and bitterly assault all that is good. I have truly endeavoured never to be one of those men. I give you my word that my only care has ever been for my country. I have said no thing that I could not substantiate, done no deed that I could not justify.

Nonetheless, the issues that have divided in the past have brought sadness and misery to both sides of the border, to both great nations. However, it does not reduce - rather, it emphasises - that we both share a common need. Citizens of Mexico, we see, as you do, a world of those who have and those who have not. We see the day when wars will not be between countries, but between the creed of the great and powerful against the creed of the meek and lowly. When that day comes where those who have not, swayed by their injury, rise up, when they loose their passions to reclaim what is rightfully theirs, when they turn against those who have improperly claimed what is not their own, that will be an ill day for both our countries.

We ask the citizens of Mexico to join with us and forestall the war of creed. We ask them to stand with just men of generous and forgiving hearts, to put aside the grievances that have held us apart, and to stand together for the elementary rights of humanity. Never in my life have I realised the futility of our division as I do today; never in my life have I been as committed to repairing the bridges between us and standing up for what is our common good. I do not regard creed or birthplace as being the essential makeup of a good man; it is a matter of spirit and purpose and your President represents both.

I have today sincerely asked President Carranza to take the lead in denouncing militarism and disorder, to denouncing riot and rebellion, and, in return, the day I am elected, I will offer your country the protection and defence of the United States. A foundation will be established between our two great countries as the nucleus of our eternal peace, and we will turn aside from a relationship that has been dominated by cruel greed and violence to one dominated by righteousness and justice. This will not be a peace marked of cowardice and sloth, or an instrument to further the ends of despotism and anarchy. It will not be a tool of heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, nor one of indulgence and sentimentality. This will not be a peace of giant leaps, but one of confident and practical steps toward that lofty ideal.

The advance in the relationship of the United States with Mexico can be made along several lines. Firstly, we need to arbitrate our differences and draw together to resolve the questions that have explicitly dealt with the controversies between us. I am prepared to submit to international arbitration where we are unable to resolve these differences ourselves, but I believe that we have the capacity and intelligence to resolve our own problems. Secondly, it is clear that the international framework I encouraged has expanded to create a rule of law for nations, an ideal for which we might strive. It is my hope that we can work together to advance this ideal throughout Europe, throughout Asia, throughout the Americas to secure a framework that will prevent all hostility between sovereign and supreme states. Thirdly, under my Administration, America will endorse the masterstroke of the Strasbourg Commission, joining together with those Great Powers honestly bent on peace, and will encourage the formation of an international police power, competent and willing to prevent hostilities between nations. Together, Mr Carranza and I, as international statesmen, will work together to bring about a world of nations that desire peace and that are incapable of aggression, earning our peoples a place in history for all time and the eternal gratitude of all men."

 

 

The Caliph claimed that this was a war of defence, citing numerous justifications. He quoted Quran 22:39-40, arguing that the destruction of churches, mosques and synagogues by Saudis was a wrongfully waged war. He stated that Quran 60:10 made clear that alliance with those who fought against you to change your religion was unjust and thus Saud’s persecution of other Muslims to convert them to Wahabi ideas was sinful. He then stated that his duty, under Quran 2:190-191, was to ensure that the Saudis ended their persecutions and to continue hostilities until all people were free to worship the Most Wise and Compassionate.

Ibn Saud had been born in 1876, the son of the then Sultan of Nejd. However, his father had been deposed in 1890 and the young prince went into exile in Kuwait. In 1902, he had returned to depose the Rashidi and to retake his father's throne. However, his ongoing harassment of the Rashidi tribes made him an enemy of Constantinople and the Ottomans sent assistance to the Rashidi on a continual basis from 1904 until finally declaring war themselves in 1916. In October of that year, the United Kingdom agreed to end its trade with the Saudis and to detain any Ikhwan who went outside Saudi territory. The Sherif of Mecca and Prince of the Arabs, Hussein Ibn Ali, joined with the Ottomans and the Rashidis, riding into Riyadh in October and sacking Masmak Castle. The fort was razed to the ground, but no sign was found of Ibn Saud and many of his defenders dissolved into the streets of Al-Bathaa. The Saudi chieftain's eldest son, Turki, was killed in the fighting.

As for the leader himself, Ibn Saud was captured on 11 March, 1917, by troops loyal to Sheikh Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait. After conferral with both the British and the Ottomans, he was transferred to Baghdad where he lived under house arrest for the next eleven years, receiving a stipend from the Ottoman government but separated from his children and wives. In, November, 1928, he was killed while making an attempt to escape from custody and is buried in an unmarked grave south of the Jabrin Oasis.

From 1913, new trade and wage regulations discouraged US companies from investing heavily in their own country, although they did invest in greater raw material production. Therefore, in the years 1913-1915, US companies, despite their complaints regarding congressional regulation, actually found themselves swimming in a pool of significant cash assets. Some estimates have put that unproductive liquid asset base at $70 billion by the year 1915. We can therefore begin to understand the sudden boom of Latin America once the Congress lifted foreign investment restrictions.

The Great Boom, as it is known today, lasted only three years in total, but it was sufficient to drag the world economy out of the rut it had endured since 1912. Over the course of two years, the productive output of Latin America rose by 68%. Looking at the individual figures for where US companies spent monies, there is no doubt that the largest recipient was Brazil. Into an economy that had previously been $19 billion in size went $29 billion of US money. The results were staggering. Per capita incomes rose from $811 to $2050 and unemployment virtually disappeared. Argentina attracted the next largest input (about $9.2 billion) before wage inflation made it uncompetitive. Another country to benefit enormously was Peru ($8.8 billion). In just two short years, the average per capita income of Latin America rose from about $1600 to close to $2800.

The second country to have significant impact, though on a much smaller scale, was the Commonwealth of Australia. Riding on high commodity prices, the Government found itself with a current account surplus approaching $1.1 billion per annum, or 22% of GDP, and continuing to rise. However, like its Anglophone cousin on the other side of the Pacific, Australian wages were extremely high and business was reluctant to invest. During the administration of Andrew (later Sir Andrew) Fisher, the Australian government demanded from Britain a transfer of sovereignty for New Guinea so that it could control the market. Britain had already transferred administrative control in 1906; it was a relatively small step to pass over full control from London to Melbourne.

The third country was the tiny Pacific dominion of New Zealand, established in only 1907. Because of the scale of its economy, benefits ran only into the hundreds of million, rather than the billions, and impact on the external world was minimal. Nonetheless, it did reach an arrangement with cash-strapped Portugal over the eastern half of Timor and, even though Lisbon remained official sovereign, most of the titles on land were held by New Zealand companies and citizens. A similar situation soon existed in Fiji and large amounts of European and Indian labour were brought to both countries to work an estimated additional 50,000 jobs.

"Theodore Roosevelt dedicated his life to this country and died while living that life on behalf of his country. In this terrible hour, we seek to remember the direction he provided and to follow it, becoming the nation he dreamed we could become.

We can be full of bitterness and hatred and revenge, we can use his departure from among us as a cause for further division among us. Or we can make the dedication that he called from all of us - to forgive, to stand against this violence, to have compassion on the people he loved. It will be difficult, but Teddy always called on us to do the impossible. It will be a time of suffering, but we will work, like him, to ease the suffering of all Americans, whatever the cause.

I ask you tonight to pray for Edith and the children, and to also pray for our nation - to remember a man and a country that we all loved before the throne of Almighty God. And I ask you to dedicate yourselves to the cause he set out before us: to bring justice to abide in the hearts and lives of all God's creatures."

 

The shadow of the late President Roosevelt hung over the election, a martyr to the reconciliation of the Constitutional Party, which had folded back into the Republican fold after it became clear they would lose their last Senator and over half their House seats. Suitably chastised, they were a broken force. The President's assassin had been a former member of the Socialist Labor Party and both main candidates were talking about the "Red Scare" - the rise of the threat of socialist revolution in America, in the hope to contain the SLP's result.

Another major issue in the election was Democrat corruption of the electoral system. There was a clear gerrymander in the House in favour of the Democrats of between 3.5% and 4%. The Republicans and Socialists were calling on all voters to come out on election day and ensure that the Democrats were not re-elected through fraud, undermining confidence in the strength of the political system and its fragility under abuse. There were also grave concerns in some camps about the Republican campaign. Beveridge's less-than-veiled attacks upon his political rivals as enemies of the state, his allegiance to the new ideas of eugenics, his appeal for a greater security apparatus and his call to disempower the judiciary all contributed to a greater sense of nervousness abroad and at home.

When asked by his Prime Minister which candidate Britain should hope won the election, the British Ambassador wrote back, "None of the above". Nonetheless, it was inevitable that a victor must emerge and one did. Riding on the tail of popular sympathy, Albert Beveridge was elected as the 28th President of the United States of America. While he lost a total of 47 congressional districts, he retained a large majority in the Senate and control of the largest party in the House of Representatives. The result was:

Republican Party: 47.3%

Those who were actively concerned about Beveridge wondered if this might be the last days of the Republic and whether or not there would ever again be in America such a thing as a free and fair election.

Emperor Franz Ferdinand, his successor, had already laid out a plan for his nation's future and it was one that was distasteful to many. It was therefore no surprise that, as the imperial family began to make preparations for a funeral, forces claiming to be loyal to Count Istvan Tisza, Prime Minister of Hungary, seized control of public buildings in Vienna and Budapest and declared a provisional government. The Treasury Minister, Ernst von Koerber of Trento, in nominal control of the Government, declared Tisza and his supporters rebels. For a few days, it appeared as though the Empire would break down into civil war.

However, many of Tisza's supporters were shocked by the direct assault on Austria and backed away from their former master. Large numbers took to the streets of the empire, shutting it down in a general strike. He was sacked four days after the initial coup and placed under arrest. While the Emperor gave him a reprieve from the death penalty, Tisva nonetheless died in prison in 1919 as the new Emperor proceeded with his plans for federalisation and the formation of the United States of Greater Austria, with Mihaly Karolyi taking on the task of Governor of Hungary.

Unfortunately, there were some deaths as a result of the violence that gripped the Empire during the attempted coup. Count von Sturgkh, the long-serving Minister President of Austria, was shot in his offices on the first day of the violence. Prince Consort Joseph August of Aragon and his children were on holiday in Budapest at the time and were caught in their car by a firebombing that killed them all. In the trashing of the ministries, a number of bureaucrats were killed, including a Bohemian count, Fidel Palffy, murdered by crossfire in Prague.

Professor Romain Rolland of Sorbonne University, Nobel laureate in literature, shifted the papers on his desk. There was last week's Le Monde, with an article about the uprising by Greek Cypriots which Britain had crushed on behalf of its Ottoman allies. Athens had fumed over that one. There was the papers that required marking and the notice of a new history lecture that he had to distribute. On the other side sat the latest novel by Ernest Poole, just brought in from America, about the concept of "the generation gap". All of these had to be clear. It would not do any good to have a messy office when his visitor arrived. A knock at the door announced his arrival in good time and Professor Roland welcomed in his long-haired dark-eyed guest, bowing to the youthful man as he entered. It was a distinct honour to have in his presence a swami who had set him, and many others, on the course to self-realisation.

The success of the International Hindu (Roland) School movement was largely influenced by French distaste for the Roman Catholic Church. Roland was keen to see the spiritual vacuum filled by religions of the East and had sponsored Yogananda on a tour of France, taking in Paris, Marseilles, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Strasbourg and Nantes. In each city, there had been a large amount of curiosity, interest and support and, in Paris, it appeared like there may be sufficient numbers for two schools. From France, it was hoped that interest would spread across the Channel and throughout Europe.

In 1918, Roland would go on to write his texts on world government, bringing even more attention to his work with the Hindu School movement. The schools would later absorb large elements of the pedagogy of Rudolf Steiner, becoming very student-oriented. As a result of his work, 23% of all students in the world today have been educated at a Roland Steiner School, a combination of Western pedagogy and Eastern philosophy.

"Our great nation is defenceless against the threat of socialist revolutionaries. And there are those in the Senate and House who are willing to bow down to the enemy within. But I am here to call the country to awaken to the danger it faces and to defend the freedom it loves. We should be resolute, angry and resolute, determined to bring to justice those who have threatened us.

The needs of our security and military forces are many. I want to call upon the members of Congress to do what is necessary, to stand up for the American people, to display leadership and to serve this country - not the vested political interests of a small minority who threaten our very soul, who wish to bring bloodshed, who wish to bring us to a state of war. America has known and fought war, but this is not being fought on foreign soil, nor is it being declared by a sovereign government. This is a war that is not attacking our bodies or our cities, but our very freedom.

Why has our great nation stumbled? Because people who wish to remake the world, who wish to impose their radical beliefs upon us, extremists who have killed our most illustrious leaders, McKinley and Roosevelt, have been allowed to pretend they are innocent of this shed blood. The socialists are linked to organisations in other countries, all of whom have recruited and trained with one object - to take over peaceful democratic nations everywhere and bring them under their control.

So today, I am announcing that we will not quietly. We will fight. We will take in hand those who have conspired against this country. We will liberate those whom they have oppressed. We will cease apologising to the world for defending those things we hold dear. We will demand our right to continue as a sovereign and free people. We will neither negotiate nor surrender.

Now, there are those Americans among us who believe in the right of the working man. I respect that belief because I share it. It is good that all men should have share in the bounty of this country. To prove this, I will sign the Eight Hour Day Bill into law. However, the socialists are traitors to that belief, using it to build support so that they may hijack this nation. They are our enemy and I will endeavour to prove to you over the next four years that this enemy can be found, that it can be stopped and that it can be defeated. Those who want to depose legitimate governments, those who wish to take away our freedom, those who wish to disrupt and end our capitalist way of life must learn that we will stand in their way, every step of the way. We will not grow fearful and retreat. We will not forsake others to fall under their sway. We will stand up against every atrocity they commit, we will point our their lies and we will not abandon our values in favour of totalitarianism.

I pledge to America that I will use every resource, every tool of diplomacy and intelligence, every arm of law enforcement, every weapon of war, every dollar down to our last cent, to disrupt and defeat this global menace. We will drive them out and give them no refuge or rest until they are gone. And those countries who harbour and protect such people will be regarded as an enemy and hostile regime.

Over the next year, we will get American industry back on its feet. We will block deport those who have come to this country only to attack it. We will fight a war to clean up sedition and clean out the traitors, to shut down the support network of the enemy, to close up its voice, to bring their plots and their plans and their moral corruption to nought. We will actively rip out the root of socialism wherever it grows and kill it.

This is a war that we fight not just for ourselves, but for all humanity. It is a fight for freedom, for democracy, for progress. We call on those who yet remain free, who still have control of their governments, to rally to our side and to stand against this assault upon our souls. We have nothing to fear for the hand of the Supreme Governor of the Universe will stand with us. We face struggles and dangers but we will be determined and strong and we shall not fail. I promise you - the President of the United States will not rest until this war is won.

We are confident of victory in the wisdom of God and may He watch over the United States of America. Thank you."

 

Senator Walton did not regard himself as a radical. He had previously spoken on an expanded farm cooperative program to aid troubled farms, demanded improvements in workers compensation to increase benefits to employees and criticised the Congress' failure to enact stronger warehouse inspection laws to protect Oklahoma's cotton and wheat markets. He had campaigned on free books for children, increased welfare spending and strong law and order. In April, 1917, he found himself willing to speak on anything. And everything. He had an assistant running back and forward to the Library of Congress just to get him something new to read. And, as he was viciously attacking the White House, the Democrats were content to allow him to continue reading.

For 35 hours and 17 minutes, the Senator would continue to read in the longest filibuster to date the chamber had known. The bill under debate was the Military Reform Bill. The President was attempting to expand the military again; the Socialist Party was standing against it. Instead, they wanted the extra $4 billion redirected towards a stimulus package for American education, employee benefits and welfare to rebuild prosperity. Walton also wanted a tax break to business in return for a 15% increase in wages - with every cent of the new wages going into the National Savings Fund, in the name of the employee, rather than directly to workers for expenditure. This should ensure that all citizens could retire at 65 and be paid by the government the same income they earned prior to retirement, ongoing, for the rest of their lives. If the employee (generally a man) died prior to retirement, his family would receive the benefit upon his death and the government will make up extra money required.

Eventually, the President would manage to get his increases, but not before committing another $2 billion to socialist ideas. The rest of the expenditure would come on 10 April, 1917, when the President again had to negotiate with the Socialists to reform the immigration laws. Beveridge got a complete ban on Chinese immigration and allowed for the deportation of immigrants who were "mentally or physically defective". In the years to come, that term would be contested in courts across the country. In Utah, federal persecution of Mormonism occurred, with Mormons arrested as "mentally defective" for their belief in polygamy. Anarchist and socialist groups were rounded up and all foreign nationals in them expelled.

With each barrier, the President grew more frustrated. He eventually asked the Senate to introduce a rule that a filibuster could be brought to an end by a two-thirds vote. He received a compromise, and the cloture rule was set at three-quarters. The assault on the Senate was, however, only Beveridge’s first step in his fervent campaign against "the Reds". What nobody appreciated was that it was also the first attack on the freedoms that had made America great and the first signal of democracy’s demise.

 

What Einstein wondered was whether you could stimulate the movement of these electrons by bombarding the electrons with photons. Not only would the photon bound back as light, but it would bring more photons with it, dramatically amplifying the wave of light energy. He then decided that, if this process could be repeated en masse, with a whole lot of atoms, these breakaway photons would hit other atoms and produce large amounts of light energy. While the technology would not exist to test this process in 1917, Einstein had just laid the mathematical and theoretical basis for the laser. He would participate in Russian experiments to solve the problem of continuous output from 1924, but it would be 1931 before he would manage to produce the first working laser.

Government of that time would look upon the laser as a potential weapons, and both Germany and Russia contributed considerable funding towards development. They achieved an operational model in 1931, but Einstein demonstrated in 1933 that output through a diode could only be achieved in a pulsed operation and that it required a temperature state of 77 degrees Kelvin. It would be 1941 before lasers could operate at room temperature and they would not begin to enter visible application in our daily lives until 1945. The first major consumer device equipped with lasers was the compact disc player, which began selling in European stores in 1953, having taken two decades to convert a military application into a civilian one.

Other scientific and cultural advances were made in the year 1917. Another field of discovery was that of morphogenesis. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson of Scotland was a mathematician who applied his understanding to biology and came to the conclusion that evolutionary divergence of biological forms was limited by physics. Therefore, to achieve evolutionary growth, he speculated that there must have been another factor in play and Thompson would finally discover what that was in 1941, just seven years before his death - DNA.

Finally, in 1917, there were further discoveries about our past. The British, inspired to strike a closer relationship with Mexico, funded their first expedition in the Mayan territories. Dr Thomas Gann was the chief medical officer of the British Honduras, but his foremost love was archaeology and he was chosen to lead the expedition. He crawled over sites across the Yucatan, discovered a few unknowns and, at Tulum, discovered a stucco idol completely intact. By the time he returned to Britain in 1923, Gann was the foremost expert on the Mayan civilisation and his continued insights made him the last great European explorer of central America.

The Russian Empire ceased to exist on 17 March, 1917, with the passage of the new Russian constitution. The new nation, the Union of Socialist States of Russia (USSR), had long been in the plan of Baron Trotsky, now in his fifth year and retitled as Chancellor, to revamp Russia's outdated bureaucratic nightmare. The new Constitution, which continued to bind all parts of the former Empire together, devolved a large amount of power to the constituent parts of that Empire, which designating that all authority came from the Tsar.

There were a number of state kingdoms within the realm: Ukraine, White Russia, Bulgaria, Caucasia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan, Turkmenistan, and, of course, Russia. The capital of Russia would be moved to Moscow, while St Petersburg would remain the federal capital in a territory that was separated from Russia entirely. The new kingdoms would be permitted to exercise any power which was not restricted to St Petersburg by the new Constitution. Each would have a Premier, who would be responsible to the Tsar, but Trotsky alone would hold the title of Chancellor.

The powers outlined for the central government were very similar to those outlined for the federal government of the United States of America. However, there were additions to the Federal Duma's powers. They would be in charge of all banking, registration of corporations, marriage and divorce, welfare provision, railways, and relations between commerce and labour. In addition, there was one additional power which entitled the government to "assume ownership of property from any State or any person for any purpose, provided compensation for such assumption can be considered just." All other powers were devolved to the new state kingdom governments, including education, health and police powers. They would be required to hold their own constitutional conventions and agree on how to govern their new regions. To represent the new federation, they adopted a new flag (above). The Duma was elected on the basis of universal suffrage from each of the kingdoms of the USSR. There are 351 seats, which are divided between the state kingdoms as follows:

Of greater importance to Trotsky, however, was the coming conference in St Petersburg in July. Representatives from socialist parties across the world would gather as part of the Second International (Socintern). It would include the Prime Ministers of France, Germany, the USSR, Austria-Hungary and Australia (Charlton was sending a representative), as well as delegations from China, Japan, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Britain and the United States. It would also include representatives from the International Workers of the World and other trade unions.

It was necessary for them all to develop a common ground on which to deal with the potential threat of the United States Administration. With the four major powers of continental Europe allied, there was little that the Americans could hope to achieve outside their sphere of influence. However, the question was whether socialist movements should actively oppose the Americans. In the end, the question would be deferred until 1920 due to disagreements among those present on a course of action.

 

The ruling that was about to be published today, 4 July, 1917, would enrage, infuriate and aggravate the President. Hughes had felt uncomfortable with the President ever since he had passed the Sedition Act, creating the National Security Council, which Beveridge had then used to harass trade unions, prevent publications that disagreed with the government and to threaten Socialist Party members. The response had been a massive protest in Chicago, creating racial conflict for the first time in years as white supporters of the President (many suggested that they were members of the National Investigations Bureau) had clashed with African American supporters of the Socialist Party. The President had allowed the violence to escalate until, with three hundred people dead, he had instituted martial law across the whole state of Illinois.

The Chief Justice had immediately hijacked a case of an individual arrested under the Sedition Act, despite the recent vacancy caused by the retirement of the ailing Justice Moody. The brethren had agreed unanimously with his decision to do so. And together, they attacked the Sedition Act, stating that prohibitions on the spread of political activities and information were a violation of the First Amendment. Congress had no power to prevent agitation against the Government or to prohibit citizens from conducting political activism unless they became violent. And, under close examination of the Chicago riot, the people who should have been arrested were those who initiated the violence - the supporters of the President. Those who had been detained had been detained illegally and were free to go.

Congressman Dubois would take over the campaign against the President later in the month and under the protection of the Supreme Court, would stage rallies in New York, Philadelphia and Houston. Their complaint was that, during the Administration, the tide was turning in favour of greater segregation based on the President's doctrine of the purity of the races. Then, in August, the Governors of Oklahoma and Arkansas issued a joint statement, arguing that the President's use of the National Guard was a direct attack on states rights. A protest march to Washington had been attacked, resulting in eight deaths.

It soon became clear that the level of conflict in the United States was on the rise and this time, there may be no stopping it. The government of the Dominion of Canada, under Sir Robert Borden, formally expressed its concerns and contacted London, suggesting that the British Army might like to engage in some friendly troop rotations. Prime Minister Lloyd George agreed, with the proviso that Canada agree to raise its own forces. Over the period between July and December, 1917, Canada raised a total of sixteen thousand troops. The British would steadily send a further thirteen thousand. While these figures couldn't compare to the US military, being only about one third the size, the organisation of the Canadian forces into "shock infantry", with sniper, grenadier and demolition brigades becoming the core of the units, gave the Americans considerable pause. The new slogan of the Canadian armed forces to those of the south: "Dare If You Will, but Prepare for the Worst".

In St Petersburg, it was agreed that Vienna had made every attempt possible to rectify the difficulties between the two nations, including granting southern Bosnia and refusing to annex Albania outright into the Empire. Russia was also working with Austria toward a steady revival of the Polish nation. Serbia was without support on this one. Britain, Germany, France, the Ottomans, even her neighbours in Romania and Greece, made clear that Serbia had overstepped the mark. Austria-Hungary was given a free hand.

Her demands were simple. Serbia should allow Austrian forces to enter its borders without resistance to remove those people who were engaged in criminal activity. There was a list of names of those to be detained, including six members of the Government, Prime Minister Pasic among them, as well as four members of the General Staff. There was also a warning that further investigations may produce even more names. Essentially, the Serbian ruling class, with the exception of their King, would become the hunted. Austria would "temporarily" take over a number of functions of government until all those involved in the activities had been removed. Once all conditions were met, Austria would withdraw and allow Serbia to resume full sovereignty. The Serbians were given 72 hours to reply.

On 22 July, the Regent, Prince Aleksander, working with Field Marshal Zivojin Misic and his assistant, General Petar Bojovic, orchestrated a coup d'etat and arrested all the persons named by the Austrian government. They detained all known associates of the named conspirators, including judges, military officers, professors, bureaucrats and diplomats, offering them up to the Austrians as a sacrificial lamb. However, on 23 July, the Reichsrat decided that the Serbians had failed to meet their demands and mobilised their forces for war.

The invasion began on 10 August, with the crossing of the Sava and Drina Rivers and an offensive across the mountains near Cer. In a battle lasting three days, the Austrians took twenty-five thousand casualties, while the Serbians, fielding a smaller force, lost sixteen thousand. By 1 September, the Serbian army was running out of artillery shells and gradually, in a war of attrition on both sides, the Austrians progressed steadily. On 22 November, Prince Aleksander ordered the evacuation of the capital and Serbia surrendered two days later. The Serbian royal family were granted refuge in Russia.

 

The official death toll was nearly four hundred thousands, with Austria bearing a slight disadvantage in number of deaths. However, the shattered infrastructure of Serbia led to a number of deadly epidemics during the winter months that followed the occupation. There was also considerable evidence of atrocities committed by the imperial forces against unarmed defenceless Serbians (above). In all, over nine hundred thousand Serbians (23% of the total population) died, the vast majority of them male. Serbia was incorporated into the United States of Austria-Hungary, initially as a protectorate, later as a state. However, it would be difficult to underestimate the degree of hatred and animosity the invasion created and it was appreciated, at the time, that Serbia may never be fully integrated into the Empire.

The instability of their individual dynasties could not be undone through cooperation. The age difference and the lack of marriageable stock made that impossible. There were growing movements towards republicanism and anarchism and growing political instability in both countries. This was particularly obvious when one considered that they were, without comparison, the poorest countries in Europe. Even tiny Portugal and Greece had begun to pull ahead. In Castile, the El Turno Pacifico system was crumbling.

The King dealt with the emerging chaos the only way he knew how. He turned to his advisors and, in particular, his Andalusian-born Chief of Staff, General Miguel Primo de Rivera, nephew and heir of the Marques de Estella. Primo de Rivera had tutored the young monarch in military tactics, but had also led him through political discussions about the worthlessness of constitutional rule, the futility of political parties, the value of building the military and national infrastructure to subjugate the "rebels" in the east.

On 13 August, 1917, the Duke of Parma, Regent of Spain, was removed in a palace coup and replaced by General Primo de Rivera. It is from this date that we can begin to record the massive expenditure on business and public services that raised living standards in Spain, but also produced unsustainable inflation. It is also from this date that we can begin to observe the steady preparations of the Castilian armed forces for a new war against Aragon.

Over the course of a year and a half, the two spent much time travelling between Zaragosa and Florence, between the refurbished Aljaferia Palace and Palazzo Pitti. Both had their share of concerns about the future of their dynasties. For the Queen, she no longer had an heir and she was past her child-bearing days. She was under extreme pressure from the Spanish court to adopt the King of Castile as her heir. For the King, the steady decline of his father, King Ludwig III of Bavaria, meant that he would soon inherit that throne too. As King of Bavaria, he would be liege to the Kaiser. However, as King of the Cisalpine, he owed a loyalty to nobody. The Kaiser was insistent that he either relinquish his claim to Bavaria, or that he bring the Cisalpinians into loyalty to Berlin. In addition, his father's Prime Minister, Georg, Graf von Hertling, was nearly eighty and quite incapable. Despite Roberto's continual warnings, the King refused to do anything about him. In addition, the recent incorporation of Genoa back into the kingdom, in a treaty signed early in 1918, was causing headaches. Who would have thought that the tiny state could cause so many headaches?

She needed an heir apparent; he needed strength to be able to determine the future course of his inheritance without having to follow orders from the Kaiser. It was thus somewhat inevitable that on 9 November, 1918, they wed. As part of their contract, they became joint monarchs of the United Kingdom of Aragon, with both their assents required to any law; each named the other as successor; his son, the 13-year-old Crown Prince Albert, would succeed to the throne only once both of them were deceased.

As for a reorganisation of the government, they pursued a line similar to their cousin, Emperor Franz Ferdinand, dividing the territory up into states and distributing representation accordingly. The new Parliament was, at 556 members, going to require a new building. Following are the names of the states and their individual number of representatives:

Milan - 94 seats

It was during his stay in New York that he went to visit the Statue of Liberty and read the "New Colossus". He stirred when asked the poet's name: Emma Lazarus, a Jew who had fled from persecution in Russia. On further discussion, he learned that she had called for a Jewish homeland in Uhyun in the 1880's. It encouraged him to consult with American Jewry about the future of his refugee experiment on the coasts of Palestine.

On 2 November, upon his return to Beirut, he announced that he had excised Jerusalem from Arab control, making it a city-state comparable to what the Egyptians had done in Alexandria and his own people had done in Constantinople. The management of the city would be placed under a council of clerics, with representation from each of the traditions: the Tawrat, the Injil and the Qu'ran. As to Uhyun, it would become a province in its own right, though the Sultan would remain monarch to balance the growing influence of the Hashemites. To celebrate the change, it would receive a new name: Isra'il.

The nationalisation of the railways under anti-trust legislation had not been expected. Nor had the decision of Congress to pass legislation that made all sexual interaction outside marriage illegal. The Supreme Court had been doing their best to hold off the tide by stating that this could only apply to relationships of a commercial nature, but that didn't stop the National Security Agency from enforcing it somewhat differently. And until elections were held in 1918, it was supposed that nothing could be done to stop the President.

It didn't stop resistance, however. There had been more protests in Pennsylvania again, and then Nebraska had joined the case, with large numbers of immigrant families claiming that they had been harassed. It was enough for some states to make a definitive stand. There was legislation on the books in most of the southern states that had been used to ban the operations of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Dubois' experiment in agitation. However, it did not specifically mention that organisation or any other. It simply said that the states had the power to deregister or prevent the operations of organisations that threatened the safety and security of others.

For Governor Hugh Dorsey of Georgia, the answer could not have been more obvious. On 13 November, 1917, he issued an Executive Order stating that the Republican Party met the criteria of his state and that it would be deregistered as an organisation. Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina followed suit the following day. And the Governors of Arkansas, Florida, Texas and Virginia indicated that they may follow the lead. Alabama merely endorsed their decision, but stated that, at this stage, they would not ban the Republican Party.

Socialist minority governments in Washington, Oklahoma and South Dakota stated they would stand by the decisions of the southern states. However, their tactics were different. On 7 December, the day the railways became national property, they passed a bill requesting a constitutional convention. Their proposal was that the states, by a majority of two-thirds, could recall the Congress to an election. Initiated in South Dakota, the movement quickly swept the country. It passed through the state congresses in every state except for:

Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.

This provided 39 out of 52 states, requesting a constitutional convention. However, a gubernatorial veto in a number of states reduced this considerably. Those states where a veto was exercised were:

California, Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin.

In Idaho, North Dakota and Kansas, Republican Governors voted in favour of a convention, allowing legislation to pass and earning themselves expulsions from the Republican Party. However, it was insufficient as gubernatorial vetos reduced the number of states requesting a constitutional convention to thirty-two out of fifty-two. This was clearly insufficient to make the necessary two-thirds to provide for a convention.

 

To get an increase in those numbers, the Democrats and the Socialists struck an interim alliance, insisting that Minnesota Governor Joseph Burnquist (right) had, through his operation of the "Public Safety Commission", violated his constitutional responsibility. They immediately moved for his impeachment. There was more direct attempt to influence the situation in California, when Governor Williams Stephens was killed during a bombing of the Governor's mansion. The new Governor, Clement Young, signalled his intention to not veto any more attempts by the state congress to call a convention.
Either way, the tensions were clear as the United States marched warily into 1918, unsure of its future.

What they did not support was the Executive Order of 16 May. Under this directive to the National Security Council and the National Investigations Bureau, it became a criminal offence to speak, print, write or publish anything that was critical of the US Executive, any government department, any national symbol or any act or person within the military. The Postmaster General was ordered to begin searches on all correspondence, to remove any such comments from correspondence and to notify the police of the criminal behaviour of the author. It was under this legislation that author Sherwood Anderson was arrested on 4 May when he described the President as a "grotesque, stunted and inarticulate being". Actor Charlie Chaplin, who wrote to the President demanding freedom of expression for his new United Artists, likewise found himself detained. Even the Chief Justice, who commented in June that child labour was "inherently evil", found himself being warned about "inappropriate language".

There has often been discussion about the direction in which the United States was headed under Beveridge and what might have happened had it not been for the events of August that year. It is fairly certain that the Great Plague, the pandemic of influenza, began in the Great Plains. Why and how, nobody has yet been able to ascertain. What is definitely certain is that the world would never be the same. The Great Plague swept through American society and, subsequently, the entire human population of the planet. A virulent disease, it is believed that one in four people (475 million total) contracted the virus, including over twenty-two million people in the United States alone.

Within the first months, modern scientists estimate that it had spread to every continent and every people. Fear of contagion brought much of modern society to a standstill. Theatres, churches, schools, the court system, public transport, even hospitals all ceased to function. The symptoms became clear to the American population earlier than any other and a number of clerics declared it to be the judgment of God on the Administration. With the police unable and, in some cases, unwilling to enforce order for fear of infection, the growing national security apparatus began to fall apart. In the end, close to 4.5 million Americans, and 90 million people worldwide, would die. It is uncertain who spread the disease into the Capitol, but twenty-two members of the House and five Senators died in the Great Plague as well. Globally, the disease would have similar effects, with Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire being the most "high profile" of its victims. In later years, he would be remembered as the leader who revived the Ottoman fortunes and as a great humanitarian by Jewish people of all nations.

 

On 30 August, the lack of response by the White House to the growing list of casualties, the growing list of military dead and the growing chaos in the streets led to an unprecedented crisis in American political history. On that date, it was confirmed that President Albert Beveridge had fallen ill. With a 20% chance he would succumb to the disease, people looked to the line of succession. Vice President Harding (left) was generally regarded as incompetent, with little formal education. It was also general knowledge that he was in violation of legislation prohibiting sex outside marriage, although the President had seemed disinclined to act. Furthermore, he was a drinker at a time when there was widespread support for restrictions on alcohol and there had been discussions about his potential replacement. The Secretary of State, Knute Nelson, had been born in Norway and was thus constitutionally incapable of holding the office. The Secretary of War, John Wingate Weeks, had little Republican support in the Congress, despite his perceived competence and honesty.

The oppression of the Beveridge Administration continued under Vice President Harding’s oversight. Harding co-opted the best intelligence resources of the defence forces into the National Security Council and sacked the rest. The blatant attacks on every minority group within society had spurred a great degree of antagonism towards the Administration and a feeling that half measures were no longer acceptable.

The feeling was reflected strongly in the 1918 Congressional elections, with a higher than expected turnout. There had been no chance as yet to alter the Constitution, despite growing support to do so. Thus, there was little chance of absolute defeat for the Republican Party. Nonetheless, a large number of African Americans turned out for the first time in American history. They voted, not with the Republicans who had originally granted them the vote and not with the Democrats who continued to represent their former oppressors in the south, but for the Socialists, who had formed a strong alliance with Dubois' NAACP. Dubois, already a Socialist member of Congress, had a subscriber list of nearly two hundred thousand for his monthly newsletter and had strongly called for the workers and African Americans to unite.

Days prior to the election, a number of state congresses changed their voting systems from first-past-the-post, to preferential voting, and began a campaign of "Put the Republicans Last". They argued that the power was granted them under Article 1, Section 4 of the US Constitution. On election eve, Vice President Harding sought a Supreme Court injunction to bar the states from using the new voting procedure, arguing that federal regulations were already in place and that federal law overrode state law. However, the brethren, more than uncomfortable with the behaviour of Beveridge and his Cabinet (much of which remained unchanged under Harding) refused to issue the injunction, stating that the power to make election regulations lay with the states. They interpreted the meaning of the Constitution in this way:

The current federal regulations governing elections were "revisions" of previous state regulations. These state regulations had now been repealed and replaced with new regulations. If the federal government wished to revise or change these new regulations, it was free to do so. However, it could not prevent the states from issuing new regulations on elections. To do so would be to make the power of the states to draft electoral regulations null and void from the time of the first Congress. What this judgment effectively meant is that, unless the Republicans gained an absolute majority of votes in the district, Socialist preferences would flow to the Democrats or vice versa.

In South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana, the Republican Party did not contest the election. Strong anti-government feelings in Texas led large numbers to abandon the Republicans. They fell from a 23% share of the vote in 1916 to less than 6% in 1918; a similar result in Virginia saw their share slip from 36% at the previous poll to a meagre 7%. In Arkansas, it slipped from 28% to 10%. Nationally, the Republican Party's share of the popular vote fell from 47.3% to 38.8%. What was amazing was that the Democrats' primary vote barely registered a change, rising from 37.0% to 37.7%. The largest swing went to the Socialists, who rose from 15.7% to 23.5%.

The new House of Representatives saw the Republicans crushed, losing a massive fifty-four districts. Despite the damage, the landslide could have been much worse. In Connecticut, Kansas, Montana, Oregon and Rhode Island, the Socialist romp and the lack of response from Republican faithful reduced the Republican primary vote to a level where many other seats came close to falling to the Democrats. In the Caribbean states, where there had always been distaste for the Republicans, they didn't stand a chance. The new House of Representatives was Democrats 188 (+12); Republicans 135 (-54); Socialist 112 (+42).

In the Senate, where a clear majority was necessary across the whole state rather than in isolated areas of it, the Socialists also took the lion's share of the falling Republican numbers. They scored higher than the Democrats in a number of key states, but lower than the Republicans and Democrat votes flowed their way. They took Senate spots in California, Illinois, Jefferson, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Sth Dakota and Washington, pushing their total numbers to eleven. The Republicans, while heavily damaged, managed to retain the large numbers from the days of the Clark recession and thus scraped together a four-seat majority over the combined power of the Socialist and Democrats.

The election also marked the beginning of agitation by the Native American Nationalist Association (NANA), encouraged and led by anthropologist James Mooney. He had worked with the Cherokee, the Sioux and the Kiowa and wanted the same protections for them as had been gained under the law by African Americans. The last chief of the Cherokees, William C Rogers, had died in 1917, still calling for the return of eastern Oklahoma as an Indian territory, including the cities of Tulsa and Broken Arrow. The Sioux in South Dakota wanted demanding recognition as citizens and land. The Kiowa still believed that they owned the mountains north of the Red River.

Mooney had led a campaign in Oklahoma and South Dakota, getting the Socialist Party to promise Native America self-determination in return for logistical support for their campaign. It had worked amazingly well and, in 1919, for the first time, a Socialist Representative would stand on the floor of the Congress and demand restoration for the indigenous peoples of America.