Rasputin of the East

＜ Episode 82 >

off the coast of St. Petersburg. Russian Empire territorial waters.

It seems like it’s been a while since I’ve seen a passenger ship other than a warship. No, is this the first time in your life?

The Interior Ministry had chartered an entire German passenger ship and was using it to evacuate troops.

Judging that it was not necessary to maintain too many troops in Germany, after about a month, they gradually began to reduce the number of troops exceeding the appropriate number.

“Did the Duke say you should go right away?”

“Yeah, that way you won’t be late.”

It’s already early November. In an era without airliners, it would be unreasonable to stay in St. Petersburg for a long time to go to the awards ceremony in early December without being late.

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Maria put down the newspaper with a sad expression on her face.

“Can I read for a moment?”

“ah? Yes, of course.”

The moment I saw the headline of the newspaper I picked up because a familiar face was embedded on the front page, my face hardened.

＜President Woodrow Wilson Defeated by Republican Hughes!>

“What?”

***

United States of America, Washington DC

Republican leaders were raising toasts.

“For President Charles Evans Hughes!”

“for!”

After popping the champagne, the Republican dignitaries started chatting with cigars in their mouths one by one.

“Wilson has announced his resignation.”

“I’m resigning, ha, did you lose your idealism after losing the election?”

Of course, Woodrow Wilson was merely acting on his own convictions.

In his judgment to minimize the administrative vacancy, Wilson’s plan to hand over the presidency to Hughes immediately by resigning the secretary of state and appointing the president-elect Hughes as secretary of state It was his will to reduce the president’s lame duck and block the possibility of problems in the administration.

Of course, the Republicans didn’t know.

“Honestly, the only thing Wilson did well was invade Mexico, didn’t he? tt Now that the idealist is gone, we will be able to sleep in Central and South America as we wish. The war is over, but we need to increase the export market.”

The U.S. economy has been booming. The reason was simple. During the war, he was selling huge amounts of goods to each country, resulting in a huge surplus.

Although the war is over, it is a period of recovery after the war to some extent, so the boom will be maintained, but when that ends?

If the UK, Germany, and France were revived and started to encroach on the market again, the surplus would shrink sharply.

Even so, the Republicans believed that they should defend their supremacy in the Americas. It was in the same vein that Republicans pushed ahead with the ignorant naval plan.

The New World belongs to the Americans. It was an arrogant word that completely ignored Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean countries, Latin America, etc., but at the same time, it was a favorite of the Republican Party, which aims for hegemony.

Currently, the Republican Party in the United States has not yet completely quenched Theodore Roosevelt’s wind of innovation internally, but its foreign policy advocating hegemonism and protectionism has not changed.

***

At this point in time when the war has just ended, the international factions are as follows.

“First, the friendly forces include the Russian Empire and Serbia, which has clearly begun to put pressure on it. Next, for the time being, we will have to rely heavily on us – although the public sentiment will not be very good – the German Empire, a partner who co-manages Germany and a traditional ally France.”

I tapped the desk with my finger.

“Potential adversaries include the UK, whose relations had deteriorated before the war, and the relationship eventually collapsed during this war, Italy, where there is a high possibility of a clash with Serbia in the Mediterranean, and the Anglo-Japanese alliance still in effect, and there is no room for conflict between interests in Manchuria, etc. It’s like a big Japan.”

Neutrality is one of Turkey, which is in a hurry to fix itself, and the Netherlands is more inclined to the UK.

In fact, even if France and Germany break away, I can assure you that if only the United States is brought in, we can win even if the war escalates into an all-out war.

No, it should have felt a bit strange that the United States had started a naval plan that was not in its original history. Even in Japan, where I did not directly intervene, a coup d’état occurred on the pretext of a catastrophic defeat in the Mediterranean, the prime minister was overthrown, and the military took control of the regime.

Woodrow Wilson’s failure to re-elect and the Republican Party’s rise to power may be just one of those pieces.

“Then it means that it is difficult to know how the US will move in the future.”

Will you take a more active imperialist move or will you maintain isolationism?

‘Maybe both.’

There are ways to go out imperialist in Latin America and remain silent about what’s happening across the Pacific-Atlantic.

The problem is that I don’t have much of a way to figure that out.

No, you shouldn’t try to grasp America in this era by modern standards. Just think of War Plan Red and Orange right now and you’ll get the answer.

Up to this time, at least before the Washington Naval Disarmament Treaty, when the Anglo-Japanese alliance was in effect, the United States was seriously preparing for war not only with Japan but also with Britain.

“The problem is that countries that are crazy about the naval race will not agree to a naval treaty.”

In the original history, there were quite a few rumors about the outbreak of war in 1923. The reason was simple.

This is because the battleship forces of the US and Japan reached a balance point in 1923. Even in the original history, the motto of the US Navy is ‘second to none’. It means that the US Navy is never satisfied with second place, and it will become a reality if the current construction schedule is enforced.

At this point in the original history, the naval disarmament treaty was realized due to the cooperation of the spiritual descendants of Woodrow Wilson led by Warren Harding, the cooperation of diplomatic idealists, and the British financial crisis. Under this circumstance, it must be said that the idealism of the US administration has virtually collapsed.

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Moreover, even if idealism remains, the Royal Navy has already suffered a fatal blow. The 1>2+3 strategy is already over the water, and you have to compete purely with new-built battleships, and there is literally no answer in that way.

When Britain builds one battleship, the United States can build four. Yamamoto Isoroku’s assessment that the meaning of the disarmament treaty is that the United States is grouped by 5, not us, is applied to Britain as well. In its original history, the British still had some things they had built up, but now many of them have been lost.

What idiot would accept a request for a truce from the one being pushed back in a war where he was sure to win?

In the original history, Britain paid the price for the destruction of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. The United States was afraid of the two-sided front between Japan and Britain, and Britain did not have any regrets about the Anglo-Japanese alliance because the British judged that there was no possibility that Russia, which was in chaos as the Soviet Union entered the Russian Revolution, would advance into the ocean.

“But now it’s different, in that sense that uncle is a little helpful…”

“There you are, sir.”

Irina’s eyebrows, who were sitting opposite me like a barley sack borrowed from me, curved like a bow.

“Are you calling to talk to me now? if not…….”

“Ah, sorry, I called you to review the current state of affairs.”

“How do you see it?”

“For now, an international naval treaty is unlikely. Right?”

“If it’s a disarmament treaty… yes, you can say that it doesn’t exist. President Hughes of the United States, elected this time, is more active than anyone else in defending American hegemony.”

“Even if he doesn’t like it, the Republicans will want it, and there won’t be a better chance than now. Then for Britain to protect its naval hegemony…”

“As always, why don’t we join hands with Japan and put pressure on us?”

“Yes, Britain desperately needs to maintain the current Anglo-Japanese alliance, but Japan may be passive.”

The navy that caused the coup is traditionally friendly, but Japan’s current position is close to neither one nor that one, as the atmosphere of reflection has been heightened due to the disaster in the Mediterranean Sea. From the British standpoint, it would be devastating.

“Moreover, our navy also has a naval plan in place, so we will add more.”

The naval plan eventually had to be agreed upon by us as well. I couldn’t help it.

This was closely related to the Serbian problem, which, after gaining a port, wanted to take over the fleet of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

However, the navy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire slashed the ship rather than surrendering to Serbia or Italy, and eventually surrendered to us.

The problem was that even with four Bayern-class ships in our possession, the West seemed to notice that we took a bite, and the risk was similar to handing them over to Serbia. After all, Serbia is our 2nd Company in the West.

So we handed over the Austro-Hungarian fleet to France. This was also a bribe to maintain the alliance with France, and it was close to dealing with battleships that were difficult to deal with due to the different specifications from parts anyway.

France welcomed it with open arms because it was possible to compensate not only for the battleships lost during the war, but also for the naval plans that were blown away by the outbreak of World War II.

The problem was that this made Alexander I’s position unstable, and our side, who needed to properly appease and control Serbia, came up with a way.

A number of warships, including the Russian Empire’s all-class battleships, are exported or provided to Serbia, including military advisors.

Of course, since Serbia was a landlocked country until recently, our advisory group will take charge of the actual operation, and furthermore, we will intervene in the creation of the Serbian Navy.

The navy, trained by Russian advisors and trained to use Russian-made weapons, will naturally exhibit pro-Russian tendencies, and the military advisors will be the cause or means for us to intervene in case of a sudden change.

In effect, it becomes the main Serbian Russian army, that is, the Russian fleet with the Serbian flag.

Of course, for this, we had to bring the old battleships we already had, so the power gap of the existing fleet was inevitable, so we had no choice but to push forward with the naval plan of Archduke Cyril…

In any case, they look pretty terrifying as it looks like we’re going to build a naval fleet with a lot of battleships and battlecruisers on a massive scale.

Therefore, Britain cannot abandon the Anglo-Japanese alliance… indeed, assuming the worst case scenario, in the Treaty of Versailles – which is not in this world – it is impossible to thresh what Foch said.

It’s not like a 20-year truce, it looks like it won’t last 10 years.