Timeline-191 Entente Victory

NOTE: this map is not mine. I found it online, and I am only posting it on here. It was made by RvBOMally, and I am only adding on to it. All rights to this map go to him. As well, there might be some minor grammar errors; if there are, let me know and I'll fix them.

This map details a world where the Entente Powers won the Great War as seen in the Southern Victory Series, or Timeline 191, by Harry Turtledove. This map goes along with "Timeline-191: Gone Horribly Right" by RvBOMally, the counterpart map of the same name by BlamedThande, and "Alternate of an Alternate" by Alt-Reality. Their maps are great, but they don't touch what the point of divergence was which caused the Entente to win this version of the Great War, as well as how the resulting version of the Second Great War played out. Therefore, I am going to try to do that for them. I am going to use elements from both their maps, and also from "The Presbyterian Butcher: A History of President Gordon McSweeney" by Spiff's Oliphaunt


Point of Divergence:

In early 1917, the war in North America was still a bloody stalemate. Neither the United States, nor the Confederate States or the Dominion of Canada and their British allies, were going anywhere fast on their respective fronts. That was to change soon, however. General George Armstrong Custer, commander of the US First Army in Kentucky, was one of the most controversial commanders of the entire war. Using outdated strategies from decades past, Custer had got thousands of his men killed in meaningless frontal assaults on Confederate positions. In what probably the only real stretch of genius in his lifetime, Custer devised a plan he believed would end the war by years end. Custer was very fond of Barrels, large heavily armored fighting vehicles that were introduced early on in the war. Custer planned to use all the barrels under his command, around 300, and mass them into a single formation. Launching his assault on Remembrance Day (April 22; the anniversary of America's capitulation in the Second Mexican War), known as the Barrel Roll Offensive, Custer succeeded in breaking through the initial Confederate trench lines. However, the attack stalled outside Nashville when the barrels broke down at the worst possible time. The Confederate Army of Kentucky, the principal Confederate formation in the theater, saw an opportunity to surround First Army, along with the neighboring US Second Army under General John Pershing. Linking up with columns in Arkansas and Eastern Tennessee, the Army of Kentucky succeeded in surrounding the two US armies in what is today known as the Nashville Pocket. For the next couple weeks, Confederate troops slowly grinded away at the US forces. Custer grew increasingly out of touch with the reality of his situation and refused even the possibility of surrender. Eventually, his adjutant, Major Abner Dowling, his subordinate Brigadier General Daniel MacArthur, and Pershing decided to remove Custer, which they promptly did. On May 25, 1917, the forces in the Nashville Pocket surrendered. The few troops that did escape were forced to withdraw back across the Ohio River into Indiana and Ohio.

In the aftermath of this unprecedented disaster, Socialist extremists in the US began mass protests to end the war, but President Theodore Roosevelt stubbornly refused. On the Maryland front, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was in danger of losing its holdings in Maryland, including the de jure capital of the US, Washington DC. Reinforced by troops fresh from Tennessee and Kentucky along with newly-raised black troops, the ANV planned a drive straight towards Philadelphia, the de facto capital of the US, also using barrels, except this time engineers were making sure they wouldn't break down. Launching the offensive, code named 'Longwood,' on June 15, the ANV succeeded in breaking through the lines of the US Fifth and Ninth Armies. By the end of the month, they were on the outskirts of Philadelphia. By early July, the city was surrounded and under siege. President Roosevelt and the government didn't escape prior, deciding to stay in order to keep morale strong. Things were going terribly, however. US troops elsewhere were unable to relieve the beleaguered capital, and an all-out Socialist uprising was occurring throughout the nation. 

Farther north in Canada, Anglo-Canadian forces were beginning to copy the strategy of massed barrels, and were slowly driving US forces out. Manitoba was fully liberated in late June, while liberation campaigns were ongoing in Ontario. By the end of July, Ontario was liberated, and Anglo-Canadian columns had entered New York. Meanwhile, the Mormons, taking advantage of the US's situation, launched a second uprising in Utah. Despite the position his country was in, President Roosevelt continued to howl defiance. In early August, however, Roosevelt was assassinated in a coup by army officers. On August 9, 1917, the US asked the Confederates, Canadians, and British for an armistice, which was signed five days later in a church outside Watertown, New York. 

The Treaty of Trenton, New Jersey, signed on December 7th 1917, was negotiated personally by CS President Gabriel Semmes, US President Walter McKenna, Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden, and British Ambassador to the US Sir Cecil Spring Rice. The treaty was noticably harsh towards the US; gone at the stroke of a pen to the Confederacy were eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois and Indiana, and eastern West Virginia and western Maryland. These regions pro-Confederate populations joined the CSA as states, while the ceded portions of West Virginia and Maryland became part of Virginia, along with the now former de jure capital of Washington DC. New Mexico was also ceded in order to protect Utah, which was given independence as the Republic of Deseret. In the case of Canada, the US was forced to cede Washington state, northern Michigan, and Maine, while the Sandwich Islands were returned to Britain. As well, a small piece of California, including San Diego, was ceded to the Mexican Empire. Aside from territorial concessions, the US was forced to pay harsh reparations to the victors, and also had to agree to severe restrictions on their military. For instance, the US military could have no more than 100,000 men, barrels, submarines, poison gas, and new airplanes were prohibited (with severe restrictions on current models). Lastly, the US had to accept the blame for starting the war. The treaty was utter humiliation for a nation that had lost its third war in a row to the CSA and its allies.

Interwar:

From the start, the United States couldn't keep up with the reparations towards the Entente. Inflation became rampant, unemployment rose dramatically, and there was social unrest in every region of the country. The consequences of the piece would come to fruition for the Democratic Party where in the 1920 presidential election, the Socialist ticket under Upton Sinclair came to power for the first time in the party's history. Sinclair won mainly because the Democrats lost the war three years prior, but also because he promised to fix the problems the country was facing after the war, although in reality they would most likely be empty promises. However, Sinclair angered the public when he "tried to cozy up to the Entente." He enforced the continued reparations, and even reduced the military to lower than that allowed in the Treaty of Trenton. Several extremist groups capitalized on this in order to appeal to the public. Among those groups is the National Patriotic Party under Gordon McSweeney. During the war, McSweeney was an undisputed hero in his own right. However, he was suicidal and many people would call him psychotic. McSweeney was forced to endure the shame of surrender in the Nashville Pocket and became savagely embittered from the defeat.

In due time, the NPP became the most prominent of the extremist groups, and many were even absorbed by him. The main reason the NPP gained prominence was through McSweeney. McSweeney was a remarkably talented speaker. However, he spoke with absolute hatred for some many things; he claimed the Democrats were liars in their manner of prosecuting the war, that the Socialists were cowards who were trying to deliberately weaken the nation, and that ethnics groups such as Jews, Catholics, and Mormons (whom McSweeney especially hated as he fought in the Mormon uprising of 1915) were trying to destroy the country from within. McSweeney promised to deal with all these groups, and to make the United States a world power once again, and to do so with the help of the one true God (McSweeney, a devout Presbyterian, was convinced that all other religions were evil, and that it was God's will that he achieve greatness for himself and his country). McSweeney ran in the 1920 election and came very close to winning, but ultimately lost to Sinclair. However, his future, along with that of his party, was bright. That would change in 1923 when, at a Socialist rally in Detroit, Sinclair was assassinated by a delusional NPP member named James Perkins. The NPP's popularity fell dramatically overnight, and it would spend the next six years "wandering in the desert." Also hurting it was the fact that now-President Hosea Blackford successfully got the Entente to cancel the war reparations.

In contrast to the instability and social unrest of the US in the late 1910s and early 1920s, the Confederate States and Canada would enjoy utmost prosperity. Known as the 'roaring twenties,' the two nations would experience economic growth never before seen in their history. In the CS in particular, increased industrialization in the cities as well as the countryside, continued production in agriculture, and other factors benefited the economy, as well as increased immigration to the country from Europe. The Confederate military was the largest and most powerful on the North American continent. The war has definitely changed the nation, however. Defeating their northern neighbor for the third time in over fifty years had increased their sense of national pride, yes, but the necessities from the last round had made the Confederate public reexamine their views on many things. One of those views was on race. During the later half of the war, African-Confederate troops had been a major boost in manpower as losses in white troops increased, and they were very courageous. As a reward for their service, black veterans were granted the right to vote and citizenship; rights never before granted to them or any other black in the country. President Semmes, recognizing that blacks are just patriotic as whites, introduced to congress legislation for full civil rights for all African-Confederates. However, with the memories of the black Socialist uprisings from the war still in their heads, they rejected it... for the moment.

By 1928, the United States, Confederate States, and Canada were all experiencing prosperity, and the Great War had essentially become part of the collective memory. US President Hosea Blackford had won his election as president in his own right, while in the CS the Whigs under President Burton Mitchel continued to dominate politics as they had since the War of Secession. In the US, the National Patriotic Party under Gordon McSweeney seemed to be sidelined to nothing more than a third party, just as the Republicans had been since the 1880s. McSweeney, however, was simply waiting for the right opportunity, knowing that the prosperity wouldn't last.

The opportunity came in 1929. In February of that year, Turkey failed to repay a loan to Britain and France. In short order, various global stock exchanges grew softer as investors grew increasingly nervous. Soon, people who owned stock started to sell in something of a panic in Paris, London, and Rome throughout February and into March. Initially, the exchanges in New York, Berlin, and Richmond seemed to be holding, but as the year passed, the situation continued to deteriorate. France left the gold standard, the London exchange plunged, and finally a sellout began in Richmond. New York began sinking shortly after. Bank runs began in both countries. Finally, in June, 1929, on a day that came to be called "Swan-Dive Wednesday", the New York market simply crashed. Banks soon failed as there was no money to pay back to their customers. A global economic depression set in.

In the Confederate States, Burton Mitchel was blamed for the collapse. Throughout the country, millions lost their jobs, their life savings, and everything overnight. Shantytowns called "Mitchelville's" were established. But as bad as the Confederacy was, the United States was much worse. The economic prosperity that occurred after the lifting of the Entente war reparations was very fragile, and thus, when the collapse came the economy, and indeed the country, was shattered. President Hosea Blackford had to take the blame, and across the country, "Blackfordburgh's" like the "Mitchelville's" in the CS propped up.

The NPP, sitting on the sidelines for the last six years, realized their time had come, and Chairman McSweeney immediately began preaching to the American people. McSweeney blamed the collapse on the Socialists with their Marxist beliefs, the Jews and their "arrogant, selfish, greedy values," and above all, the Entente powers. McSweeney promised to avenge the collapse if elected, and to take revenge on all those he deemed responsible for it, as well as to make the United States a major world power once again. As the Blackford administration stood by helplessly as the economy collapsed, the NPP stormed to victory in the congressional elections, even though they failed to win a majority in either house. The future seemed bright once again for the National Patriotic Party.

When the 1932 election came, it was clear that the NPP would most likely win. The party greeting of "America" was on everyone's lips. It's symbol, a flipped-over American flag with a cross replacing the stars in the canton, was posted on every other wall and telephone pole. McSweeney was unanimously nominated at the NPP national convention in Milwaukee. The election was a stunning victory for the NPP. With his running mate J. Edgar Hoover, McSweeney won every single state except for New Jersey, Oregon, and Colorado. With that, everything was set, and on January 20 1933, Gordon McSweeney: national Patriotic Party chairman became Gordon McSweeney: President of the United States of America.

Buildup to War:

As soon as McSweeney took power, the "patriotising" of the United States begun. Stalwarts patrolled the streets, making sure the population saluted the new regime. President McSweeney begun to guide his country away from the depression that had engulfed it and the rest of the world. Knowing that the US's industrial power was second to none, McSweeney decided it was the best way to get the economy booming. Luckily, he already had allies in that field. Prior to the depression and during America's brief spell of prosperity in the 1920s, Henry Ford was famous as a globally-known entrepreneur and businessman through his Detroit-base auto-manufacturing industry, and managed to keep it in business through the depressions darkest years. Ford was a committed member of the NPP from the beginning, and never wavered in his loyalty. For that, President McSweeney appointed him as Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and was tasked with making the United States the continents industrial giant again.

Under Ford's guidance, the US economy bounced back at a rate never before seen in North America, and maybe even the world. New factories were built that produced everything such as cars, airplanes, and new machines such as tractors and other heavy machinery to aid in agriculture. As well, a program to build a national highway system was initiated to connect the country. These development brought unemployment down to a remarkable 2%, and was supported by the NPP-infested Congress and unopposed by the Supreme Court, which McSweeney was blackmailing with information that is still not clear to this day.

McSweeney made a great deal of progress on the world stage as well. The most notable achievements was the reestablishment of close relations with the US's greatest ally Germany. The two nations had been close friends and allies since the Second Mexican War, although it was more of an alliance of necessity: the US was becoming an increasingly weak nation surrounded by hostile foreign powers, and Germany was facing a similar situation in Europe. Upon both nations defeat in the Great War, both nations had a cause to ally for: revenge. In Germany, the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler came to power at the same time and the same manner as the National Patriotic Party under McSweeney. The two leaders also had a lot in common personally: they both hated specific political and ethnic groups, and they wanted to defeat the Entente powers. The two nations began a period of renewed friendship and cooperation with each other. One of those was rearmament. For some time, both nations had covertly been rearming their militaries, but together they felt strong enough to be open about it.

In 1935, the US and Germany jointly announced that they were renouncing the disarmament terms of the Treaties of Trenton and Versailles; the Entente nations, tired of war, did nothing to stop them beyond protesting. Afterwards, the US and Germany began joint rearmament programs. From 1939 to 1940, new pieces of military hardware were invented with cooperation from one side or the other. These ranged from newly-invented semiautomatic rifles like the m1936 Dickens (named after Springfield Armory engineer Marcus Dickens; the rifle is really a Gewehr 43 developed earlier and developed by the US) and Gewehr 36 (really a Gewehr 41 invented earlier), sub-machine guns like the M1 Thompson and M40, machine guns such as the MG38, barrels such as the Mark II 'Custer' (M26 Pershing invented earlier) and German Panzer, and newly-invented rocket launchers like the bazooka and Panzerschreck. Meanwhile, US Army Air Force commander General Charles Lindbergh and head of the German Luftwaffe Hermann Goring oversaw the buildup of the two countries air forces with bombers like the He 177, dive bombers like the stuka, and fighter planes like the P-51 Mustang. In terms of naval power, the Germans taught the Americans how to develop U-boats; a feared weapon from the last war. In turn, the Americans taught the Germans how to develop aircraft carriers; another spector of humiliation from the last war, as the US was developing the worlds first aircraft carrier called the Remembrance, but was forced to surrender it to the British after the war. By the time war broke out in 1941, the US and Germany had restored their prestige's as world powers, and felt good and ready to take on the Entente.

While the US rearmed along with Germany, the Confederate States and Canada watched anxiously. Neither nation, however, was compelled to do anything to stop them, as a result of weariness from the last war and the desire to deal with the effects of the worldwide depression. In the 1933 Confederate presidential election, the Radical Liberals under Cordell Hull won for the first time in the nations history. Hull began a program called "the New Deal" to get the CS out of the depression. To do so, he initiated various public works programs so lower unemployment. These programs included building roads, electrical towers, highways, and more. The greatest achievement, however, was the damming the Mississippi River after the great flood of 1927. This not only prevented further floods, but provided power in the deep south. Hull also saw a reduction in immigration barriers (partly to increase the Confederacy's manpower pool in the event of another war) and loosened restrictions on African-Confederates, such as the abolition of passbooks and curfews, and made in at least somewhat easier for black to find jobs. Despite this, African-Confederates would still not achieve full equality until the turbulent 1960s, but that is another story.

On the world stage, ties with Britain, France, and Russia were further strengthened. In the wake of the rise of McSweeney in the US, the Confederacy and her Canadian ally began a gradual policy of rearmament. This included the introduction of the Tredegar Automatic Rifle (TAR; basically an M14 established much earlier) which the Confederates taught the Canadians how to manufacture, the British-invented Spitfire fighter plane, the B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber, and the Mark II 'Lee' barrel (really an M4 Sherman).

In 1940, the United States and Germany finally consolidated their close friendship into a political-military alliance called the Axis Powers. The alliance was established in Berlin with the signing of the Tripartite Pact, and were joined by the Empire of Japan. Japan had fought on the side of the Entente in the Great War, but felt cheated on after being denied significant territorial acquisitions. At first, the US was absolutely reluctant to allow Japan into the Axis, after everything it had done to them in the war, but finally relented with German insistence. Turkey, another defeated ally from the last war, would join later. With the ratification of the Pact on September 29th, the three nations agreed to come to the aid of each other in the event of any war, and also vowed to tie down their respective neighboring enemies.

Throughout 1940, NPP stalwarts had been inciting pro-US riots in the states of Cahokia, Gibson, and North Virginia, along with the Canadian province of Brock. US President McSweeney called upon CS President Ernesto Nava (the son of Dorateo Arango, the 1915 Radical Liberal presidential candidate, and the symbol of the changes in race relations in the CS over the last twenty years) and Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King to hold plebiscites in those respective states/provinces to determine whether or not they should return to the US. Nava and King decided to meet with McSweeney in Philadelphia in June. After brief talks, the two leaders agreed to hold plebiscites in return for the promise that McSweeney would have no more territorial demands and that they would be demilitarized for the next 25 years, which McSweeney agreed to. In the resulting plebiscites held on November 7th, all territories voted to return to the US. This aided McSweeney in winning an unprecedented third term as president the next day (even though he wouldn't need it, as party stalwarts would ensure the Democratic, Socialist, and Republican candidates couldn't campaign safely on even the most mundane of issues). The return of the territories occured on April 30, 1941, and in a gesture of triumph, McSweeney moved the capital of the US back to Washington DC, where he was greeted by chearing crowds. Nava and King, meanwhile, returned to their respective countries, declaring they had secured "peace for our time."

Despite the promise he made, McSweeney remilitarized the regained territories/states after 25 days, in contrast to his promise of 25 years. In late May, NPP stalwarts blew up a police station in Cairo, Illinois, and staged a similar incident in Spokane, Washington. McSweeney blamed the incident on pro-Entente terrorists, and used this as an excuse to place the US army along the frontiers of the CS and Canada. Afterwards, McSweeney demanded that the Confederates and Canadians surrender the remaining territory ceded after the Great War, including Superior (northern Michigan), Maine (along with the northern part of the state ceded at the end of the Second Mexican War), Peniscot (southeastern Missouri), and New Mexico. With the Philadelphia agreement shredded, Nava and King refused to negotiate with their US counterpart and mobilized their armies.

In Europe, Germany under Adolf Hitler had negotiated the cession of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia after mediation from Britain and France, declaring that he had no longer had any more territorial demands in Europe. However, in May 1941, Russian Tsar Mikhail II died of heart failure, and the reds, long in hiding after their defeat in the Russian Civil War of the 1920s, rose up once more. Taking advantage of this chaos, Hitler demanded that the Russians return the Danzig Corridor in the region of Poland and Memel in the Region of Lithuania to Germany. The new Tsar Mikhail III refused, and both sides prepared for war. In Asia, Japan had already invaded China, and was expanding its empire south. In early June, Japan demanded the France cede Indochina while the British cede Hong Kong and Malaysia; both nations refused. With war inevitable, the US, Germany, and Japan agreed to launch joint attacks on their respective neighboring enemies and tie them down. Set for June 22 1941, this was what McSweeney had been dreaming of for nearly 25 years. Everything was set, and in the early morning hours of June 22, the Second Great War kicked off in North America with bombing raids all along the Confederate and Canadian borders.

Early Years:

The outbreak of war in North America took many Confederates  and Canadians by surprise, as major cities were being bombed without a formal declaration of war. What was even more surprising was the US campaign and its success. Operation Monroe, named after President James Monroe, was born in the mind of Lieutenant General John Abell, chief of the General Staff and main advisor to President McSweeney. Knowing that the US would never be able to win a long two-front war, Abell decided that the best way to knock the Confederates and Canadians out of the war was by splitting the two nations into several pieces, using the method of lightning war devised by General Custer, which the Germans were employing in Europe as 'blitzkrieg.' To do this, Army Group West, consisting of the First and Third Armies under General Irving Morrell, would drive down the Mississippi River to the Gulf Coast, while in the east, Army Group East, consisting of the Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Armies under General Daniel MacArthur, would drive down the Eastern Seaboard to cut the Confederacy off from the Atlantic. In the North, Army Group North, consisting of the Fourth and Eighth Armies under General Abner Dowling, would drive through central Canada up to Hudson Bay, and then would make a drive southeast towards Ottawa.

Army Group West made rapid progress, advancing tens of kilometers on the first day alone. By the end of the first week, Peniscot was "liberated," immediately rejoining Missouri, and Morrell was well into northwestern Tennessee and northeastern Arkansas. By early July, Memphis and Little Rock had fallen, and the Confederate 12th Army Group under General George S. Patton had fallen back into Mississippi, while just a week later, the Cross and Stripes flew over Vicksburg. On July 23, the campaign was concluded with the fall of Morgan City along the Gulf coast. Back along the Atlantic, Army Group East had advanced rapidly through Virginia. General MacArthur did what no one had ever done before: he took Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States of America, in just five days, to the shock of the Confederacy and the world. CS President Nava and most of the government escaped and fled to Nashville. President McSweeney visited the conquered capital shortly afterwards, where it's said he danced a jig on the front lawn of the Gray House. Afterwards, US forces kept driving south, while the Confederate 6th Army Group under General Jake Featherston was forced into full retreat. By mid-July, Wilmington had fallen, and MacArthur was on the outskirts of Charleston in no time. US forces were eager to take revenge on the city where the War of Secession began, and they looted it and burned it down. In the Far North, Army Group North under General Dowling pushed though Manitoba and Ontario towards Hudson Bay, while a smaller drive into British Columbia took Vancouver. The Canadian army, along with whatever British forces that could be spared from the war in Europe, was in a steadfast retreat. By mid-July, the Bay had been reached. Deseret was also invaded and was overrun in days. Around half of the population was able to flee to New Mexico, while a handful of Desereti Army units either fled with them or stayed to form resistance groups. The Empire of Mexico, meanwhile, declared war on the United States, and small clashes occurred on the border between California and Baja California. There were minor struggles along the border of New Mexico, Arkansas, and Sequoyah, while Maine was recaptured by the US, along with the northern part of it taken after the Second Mexican War. 

With the Confederacy and Canada both cut in half, both sides figured the war would be ending soon. President McSweeney thought so as he made his peace broadcast in early August, offering terms. First, the Confederacy and Canada were to return northern Michigan and New Mexico to the United States. Second, the CS and Canada were to pay back the reparations they had received after the Great War. Third, the two nations were to remove all fortifications within 100 miles of their respective borders and to not operate barrels or warplanes in these zones. The US reserved the right to send inspectors at any time to verify this. In return, the US would remove its forces from CS and Canadian territory as quickly as it could. Much to everyone's surprise, Nava and Canadian Prime Minister King rejected the peace terms, declaring the war was far from over. Thus, the United States was force into the last thing anyone in their country wanted: a long, two-front war.

Meanwhile, the Allies were planning their first big responses to the US offensives of the summer. In the west, General Patton organized a counteroffensive on the Mississippi River Corridor aimed at Baton Rouge. McSweeney and Abell expected this, and they had the handful of US agents in the region launch a campaign of sabotage. When Patton's attack began in late August, his forces were constantly halted by wrecked roads and bridges, causing him to call off the attack after several days. In the east, similar efforts conducted by Confederate forces under Jake Featherston in a drive from Columbia to the Atlantic coast got nowhere fast, while in Canada, Anglo-Canadian troops failed in an effort to drive from the southwest towards Winnipeg.

In early January, another psychological blow to the Confederacy landed upon it when US bombers accidentally killed President Nava in a raid on Nashville. He had taken shelter under the state capitol, but three bombs hit his shelter in the same place, causing the structure to collapse, killing Nava and whoever else was in it. Nava was mourned, with candlelight vigils held across the country. Confederate bombers retaliated the next night with the biggest raid on DC yet, but McSweeney took shelter and survived. Vice President Reginald Bartlett, who was out touring the city's fortifications, was immediately sworn in as President. He vowed to continue the war and win it for the Confederacy. 

Turning Points:

The first Allied response to the US offensive got nowhere. As soon as that became clear, McSweeney and the US General Staff began making plans to knock the Confederate States of America and Canada out of the war--for good. Knowing that the two nations small but expanding industries would be the only thing keeping them in the fight, the US decided to launch major drives on key industrial centers in both countries. Once those targets fell, McSweeney reasoned the Allies would have to sue for peace. MacArthur was to advance on Savannah while Morrell would capture New Orleans; both cities were key industrial centers as well as major ports. In Canada, Dowling was to continue the original drive on Ottawa, not only a key industrial center, but the capital of Canada. In the meantime, there would be several skirmishes all along the front lines.

The Confederates and Canadians had been expecting another major US offensive, but were still reeling from the advances of the previous summer. Thus, when the offensive, codename 'Smelt,' did come in early June, they fell in utter disarray. MacArthur advanced from Charleston straight to Savannah, brushing aside the Confederate forces under Jake Featherston, but eventually being slowed. In the west, however, things were more difficult, and CS forces under George S. Patton were adapting to, and even copying, the tactics of General Irving Morrell. Farther north, Army Group North under Abner Dowling advanced straight towards Ottawa. Despite determined Anglo-Canadian resistance, Dowling was well on his way.

All three targets were reached by early October. The plan was suffering setbacks by then, however. Despite the initial plan of surrounding them, several blunt Allied counterattacks had forced the US into driving into the three cities themselves. US armour was unleashed straight through the cities, hoping to overrun them before the Allies could put up a major defense. Not wishing to give them up without a fight, Allied commanders turned every inch of the three cities into fortresses. The US forces slowly and bloodily advanced inch by inch. In mid-November, intelligence reports to General Patton indicated weak flanks along the US salient surrounding New Orleans. Confederate units south of Lake Pontchartrain advanced on it, while forces in Chalmette did the same. In just a week, these objectives were completed, and the US Third Army was surrounded. Meanwhile, Confederate forces under Jake Featherston found a similar opportunity in Savannah. CS units advanced on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina along the Atlantic, while other units took Ossabaw Island, trapping the US Ninth Army. In Canada, Anglo-Canadian forces did a pincer movement that trapped the US Fourth Army. Slowly, each of the three pockets melted away. The Savannah pocket fell on Christmas Day, 1942, followed by Ottawa on January 7th, 1943. On February 2nd, the last US troops in New Orleans surrendered, while General Morrell was personally ordered by President McSweeney to escape on the last transport plane. The battles had definitely succeeded in wrecking the industrial centers, but the loss of three field armies would do just as much to hurt the US. From that moment on, the Confederate States and Canada had the initiative.

As the battles in Ottawa, New Orleans, and Savannah were being fought, something even more surreal was occurring out in the American heartland. Since his rise to power and even long before, McSweeney had long believed that the United States had too many radical groups in the country. Particularly hated were Jews, Mormons, Catholics, and Socialists; all viewed as inferior. In Germany, the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler had similar views. Thus, in early 1941, both Hitler and McSweeney decided on a joint 'final solution' for the problems of radical groups in their two countries; killing them all. In the US, entire towns were emptied of these elements by Patriotic Guards, and sent to concentration camps out west, where they would be worked to death as slave labor. As the US advanced into the Confederacy and Canada, people of those categories joined them. Over the course of the war, other "radical elements" and racial minorities were sent to camps out west, such as Democrats, Republicans, homosexuals, Asian-Americans, etc. As the tied of war turned against the US, blacks would be sent to camps as well, as McSweeney viewed them as "betraying" the cause of the US for the Confederates. Out west, there were some specially-designed camps called 'death camps,' where prisoners were just killed outright. The most notable death camp was Camp Vengeance outside Weed, California, commanded by Brigade Leader Sam Carsten.

The Noose tightens:

Following the surrender of the New Orleans, Savannah, and Ottawa pockets, Confederate and Canadian forces began the job of driving US forces out of their countries. On the Atlantic Coast, the Confederate 6th Army Group under Jake Featherston began pushing the US Seventh and Eleventh Armies under Daniel MacArthur back north, liberating Charleston by late March. In Canada, Anglo-Canadian forces began pushing the US Eighth Army under Abner Dowling out of Ontario and reached Hudson Bay by early April. In the west, the Confederate 12th Army Group under George S. Patton began pushing the US First Army under Irving Morrell back up the Mississippi River. Aided by newly-developed Mark III 'Stonewall' barrels (M48 Patton tank), Patton, copying the lightning warfare tactics from earlier in the war, would be at Memphis by early March. Some occupied towns continued to hold out against Patton's push, but in actuality, the remnants of US forces along the Mississippi had no cohesion, and by mid-March, all Confederate territory west of the Appalachian Mountains would be free of US soldiers, save for the ones in POW camps.

Patton devised a way to slash a line across the United States in the same way the US did to the Confederacy two summers before. Although confident that the campaign could end the war by the end of 1943, conservative estimates by the war department concluded that Patton's plan would be a one-year campaign at the earliest. To keep the US intelligence guessing, Patton moved units up and down the Ohio River along Kentucky in an effort to disguise the true focus of his crossing: the stretch of Ohio between Portsmouth and Covington. Patton began his offensive in early May, reinforced by newly-raised black divisions. Barrages and air raids (along with dummy balloon barrels and landing craft, gunfire played on loudspeakers and empty gas shells to trick the US) on several locations in southern Ohio prevented the US from figuring out where the real attack was. Both CS and US air power, by that time, was equal. By the 1st of June, Patton was at Hillsboro, but was beginning to be slowed by US reinforcements, including Patriotic Guard units made up of Confederate and Canadian collaborators.

Back east, Confederate forces under Jake Featherston were slowly pushing north along the Atlantic coast. Also reinforced by newly-raised black units, Featherston was on the outskirts of Myrtle Beach by mid-May. The city was besieged for two weeks and fell by the end of the month, with Featherston crossing into North Carolina by the end of the first week of June. Afterwards, the advance north would be slower and grow even bloodier, as it was clear that Featherston intended to liberate Richmond and possibly even advance on Washington DC. In Canada, the Anglo-Canadians continued to advance south from Hudson Bay back to the border. By mid-July, Gillam in Manitoba had been reached. In the east, Canadian columns had recaptured Maine. In occupied Deseret, readmitted to the US as Utah, the Free Mormon Army would launch an uprising that would take control of over 50% of Salt Lake City by mid-August. With the arrival of Patriotic Guard units, along with barrels and dive bombers, the uprising was crushed with the last rebel fighters surrendering in early October in exchange for the promise of being treated as prisoners of war; a promise that was actually somewhat kept.

Slowly, the 12th Confederate Army Group grinded its way up Ohio. By late August, they had reached the outskirts of Columbus, the state capital and a major transportation hub. However, instead of repeating the US mistake of pushing right into the city, Patton bypassed it and continued northeast. The city would eventually fall in early November. Aside from the Ohio campaign, Confederate forces launched smaller offensives in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. Despite the strategic meaningless of the offensives, they managed to seize enough territory to revive the states of Peniscot, Cahokia, and Gibson. Back on the Atlantic Coast, the 6th Confederate Army Group under Jake Featherston continued its drive straight to Richmond. In late August, Wilmington was liberated, joined by Jacksonville in mid-September. By the end of the month, Raleigh was recaptured and by late October, the North Carolina-Virginia border had been reached, where the front would stabilize until December. Farther North, in Canada, Winnipeg was liberated in late October, and the front would remain relatively inactive for the next several weeks. In the far west, Mexican forces launched an offensive into California from Baja California, aided by some small Confederate columns in New Mexico. The goal of the operation was to capture Camp Vengeance and display its atrocities to the world. 

With the tide of war now turned against the United States, Confederate President Bartlett and Canadian Prime Minister King issued a joint declaration on December 1st, calling for the United States's unconditional surrender. President McSweeney angrily refused, and six days later on December 7th, US forces began the largest counteroffensive of any of the four wars between the US and CS. Thousands of troops and hundreds of barrels attacked all along the Ohio and Atlantic fronts. In Ohio, Confederate forces under George S. Patton were at Parma, on the outskirts of Cleveland. The attack drove them all the way back to Columbus. In North Carolina, Confederate forces under Jake Featherston were pushed all the way back to Durham. Meanwhile, US forces in Canada launched a counterattack that recaptured Winnipeg and some surrounding areas. By mid-December, however, the US counteroffensive was winding down and by New Years, Allied forces had regained the ground taken. Anglo-Canadian forces also liberated the rest of Canada, and Patton even captured Cleveland, cutting the United States in half just as the Confederacy and Canada were in the summer of 1941.

Endgame:

With the US counteroffensive an absolute failure, Bartlett and King once again demanded the US's unconditional surrender. This time, McSweeney responded with a new, terrifying weapon; the superbomb. The superbomb, utilizing the nuclear fission of uranium or plutonium, was first theorized by European physicists in 1937. Impressed by the idea of its destructive power, and afraid of what would happen if their enemies developed it before they do, a number of nations sponsored programs to research and build these weapons, despite the high costs in terms of money, resources, and personnel these projects entail, and the inability of physicists to guarantee that such weapons could indeed and would indeed be built. These nations included the United States, the Confederate States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan. With the exception of Germany and the US, these nations were not interested in reducing the high costs of their programs by pooling their resources with allies, though all of them were allied with other nations with an interest in uranium bombs. Germany and the US did share information about the bomb. The US won the race in late 1943 with the completion of their bomb at their facility in Hanford, Washington. The bomb was dropped on Birmingham, Alabama, with the carnage being gruesome. Afterwards, Confederate air attacks on the facility would become much more frequent, making it much more difficult to produce another bomb. 

McSweeney's defiance made it absolutely clear the war would have to be fought to the end. The statistics are nevertheless overwhelming. The US still outnumbered the CS and Canada 2 to 1 in population, despite the growing numbers of black troops in Confederate service, while the US still outnumbered both nations 3 to 1 industrially. McSweeney had planned to flee to the American interior and use it as a redoubt and bargaining chip to secure a peace the US could stand. The Confederates and Canadians realized that and intended to cut off his escape (on the ground anyway). After two months of solidifying the supply train and replenishing divisions bloodied by combat and putting new divisions on the front line the Confederates and Canadians were ready to launch their offensive. These were the last true Allied reserves of men, barrels, and planes; brought from all over the Confederacy and Canada, leaving many border states/provinces with almost nothing. This was the last offensive, all depended on it. Win and the Allies would win the war; lose and all that they had won would be for nothing.

On February 2nd, the anniversary of the surrender of the New Orleans Pocket, the Allies launched Operation Noose. Confederate forces in Ohio drove along the coast of Lake Erie eastward. The offensive was so swift that in just two weeks, the Pennsylvania border was reached. Anglo-Canadian forces, meanwhile, advanced from Superior into Michigan. The northern half of the state fell fairly quickly, but the advance would then be slowed greatly as it became clear that their objective was Detroit, one of the key industrial centers in the east. On the Atlantic front, the Confederates began an all-out drive on Richmond. The city fell on March 14th after a three-week siege that decimated the Confederate capital and caused thousands of casualties on both sides, as well as civilians. With Richmond liberated, the road to Washington DC was wide open. In DC, President McSweeney raged at John Abell to pull soldiers from other areas for the defense of the US's capital. The chief of the General Staff replied that he could not comply with the President's demands, and started asking his commander-in-chief if he felt that it was time to step down, all the while waiting for his own soldiers to come to the bunker office. McSweeney called in Patriotic Guards and crushed Abell's coup before it could fully get off the ground. Abell was tortured and then shot. A few days later, McSweeney, his Cabinet, and most of Congress fled the capital of the United States and returned to Philadelphia for the first time in four years. Washington was besieged for four weeks and finally fell on April 30th, with General MacArthur killed defending the city. The photo of Cassius James raising the Stars and Bars over the White House is arguably the most famous photo of the entire war.

While the titanic battles east were being waged, Mexican forces continued to advance north in California, then on the outskirts of Monterrey. At that time, the state governor Earl Warren declared California's secession from the United States and restored the Republic of California. Warren asked for, and received, an armistice from the allies, including the Mexicans, on the condition that California was to surrender all Patriotic Guard personnel, including Brigade Leader Sam Carsten, commander of Camp Vengeance. Canadian forces were advancing in Washington state and took Seattle and Spokane, having liberated Vancouver a month earlier. They would reach the border with Oregon by wars end. Meanwhile, Free Deseret forces were beginning the liberation of their homeland from New Mexico and would have reached the town of Beaver by war’s end.

Back east, the Confederates under George S. Patton were driving along the Lake Erie coast in New York towards the Canadian border, while Detroit was under siege by the Anglo-Canadians. By mid-May, Buffalo was reached and besieged, but the US forces under General Irving Morrell refused to surrender. Despite the fact that he was surrounded, McSweeney howled defiance at the Allies. It seemed that his defiance would prolong the war; something the Confederates and Canadians could not afford, being stretched to the absolute breaking point in manpower. To add to that, the second US superpbomb was deployed on Houstin, Texas. On May 23rd, however, the Confederates finally completed their superbomb with the Trinity test in New Mexico. They managed to produce two bombs; as well, the British had finally completed their bomb and sent three over to North America. On May 25th, the first Confederate bomb was dropped on Chicago, while the British dropped their first bomb on New York City. On May 29th, the second and third British bombs were dropped on Portland and Denver. Despite these attacks, McSweeney remained defiant. On June 1st, however, the Confederates dropped their last bomb of Philadelphia, killing McSweeney, Vice President Hoover, and most of the government right before they were to try to flee west by airplane. On June 2nd, Morrell, convinced a bomb would be dropped on him, surrendered in Buffalo, while the forces in Detroit under Abner Dowling surrendered the next day under the same pretext.

Speaker of the House Jonathan Moss, who was not present in Philadelphia as he was visiting the front lines trying (in vain) to boost morale, was now President of the United States. Not possessing the demonic hatred and charisma held by McSweeney that would continue the conflict, Moss reached an agreement for a ceasefire on all fronts. The president met with Allied representatives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the North American half of the Second Great War ended on June 10th, 1944, with the United States's unconditional surrender.

Aftermath: 

With the surrender of the United States, the fourth and final war on the North American continent came to an end. The wars in Europe and the Pacific would continue until Germany's unconditional surrender in August and that of Japan in May 1945 after the arrival of fresh Confederate and Canadian troops. The Confederacy and Canada mutually agreed that the best way to prevent the US from rising again was to permanently divide the country. To do so, the Confederacy annexed Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Illinois, and Delaware, while Canada would annex Michigan (I pretend that later, all pre-Great War state boundaries within the Confederacy would be restored to help reconcile former US citizens; the exception would be West Virginia, which would reunite with Virginia, while Washington DC would become the Confederate capital). As anyone could well imagine, a country split in half could not possibly exist. Thus, in the west a new government was formed by the remnants of the US government called the Federal Republic of America, while in the east Socialist extremists formed the United Socialist Communes of America. Both countries were forced to completely demilitarize along with the Republic of California, and would undergo yearly inspections to ensure that they remained so. Meanwhile, Deseret was restored and would annex western Wyoming and southern Idaho. California would be rewarded for its cooperation by receiving Nevada and southern Oregon, while the northern half was annexed by Canada.

It is now the year 1949, and in Europe tensions have grown between the Western Sphere led by Britain and France, and the Eastern sphere led by the Russian and Chinese Empires. The Confederate States, now the dominant power in North America, chooses to remain isolated from the so-called 'Soft War' and has now formed a mutual defense pact with various Central and South American nations, along with California, called the Monroe Area. The Whig party now leads the country under President Clarence Potter, who defeated President Bartlett in the 1945 election. The Supreme Court permitted Bartlett to run in his own right since he succeeded President Nava after he was basically assassinated. Potter beat him under the pretext that the Radical Liberals allowed the United States to regain its strength before the war. The Federal Republic and United Socialist Communes of America, meanwhile, have signed compacts of free association with the British Commonwealth, while Deseret remains entirely neutral, preferring to focus on rebuilding itself with the return of its population that escaped the US invasion. Even with the last major war behind them, it is possible another one can one day engulf the war-weary continent.

(Concluded in Timeline-191: Gone Horribly Right)