Chapter 347: The American Anti-War Movement

  Chapter 337 The American Anti-War Movement

Washington, D.C. The federal government was organizing an evacuation. With continued losses on the front lines, the war has reached the federal capital.

Maryland was ultimately unable to hold back the Confederates, there was no way to drag their feet too much, and with internal and external problems, even if the federal army tried harder, it would be futile.

Besides, the federal government had too many places to defend. In contrast to Washington’s greatest value in politics, the Great Lakes region is the core of the federal government.

So to speak, as long as the Great Lakes industrial region was not lost, the federal government had the backbone to suppress the rebellion. On the contrary, this war simply cannot be fought.

President Lincoln cautiously asked, “General Grant, I want a definite answer, can Washington hold?”

Grant, a Union general who had quickly risen to prominence because of the war, commanded the Union army to its first major victory and became the main protagonist in this defense of Washington.

It was not a good job, it was too difficult to hold the capital with the Union army at a disadvantage.

Anywhere else that was lost was lost, and the federal government was unlikely to hold the federal government accountable for the fact that the federal army was routed all the way through the overall battle anyway.

The so-called historical generals still have to concede in front of the strength, the federal government was trumpeted in the latter part of the famous generals, the battlefield were all beaten up, and occasionally win a time have to rely on luck.

This is not a problem of their command ability can not work, the main thing is that the federal army is not enough to implement the ability.

A bunch of farmers and workers who have just put down their weapons, many of whom have been trained for less than a month, were sent to the battlefield, and their fighting ability can be imagined.

If you didn’t let your troops collapse halfway through the war, you’d be considered a famous general. With such a troop, it was only natural to defeat the war.

Of course, after a few more battles, the rookies become veterans, and their fighting ability goes up. Historically, the Northern government practiced in wars and then piled up the South.

In this context, if you hold people accountable for defeats, there will be no one to command the troops.

The only thing that’s different is Washington, which is so politically significant that losing the capital would certainly be bad luck for someone.

Grant replied, “Mr. President, I can’t give you an answer to that question. I can only say that whether Washington can be saved or not depends on the enemy’s determination.”

Not having a clear strategy was the biggest problem for the Confederate government. Because the interests of the confederate states were different, everyone had different strategic goals.

In order to balance the internal forces, the strategy given by the Southern government looked like a four-sided approach, without concentrating superior forces often in one place to fight, wasting the opportunity to fight.

Lincoln thought about it and said, “Well, what needs you can mention, can help you solve, I will give you to solve.

In short, you must hold Washington as long as possible, that is even hiding in the corner to fight the alley war, as long as Washington is not all lost, I can accept.”

Use Washington as bait to attract the main force of the Confederate army and buy time for the federal government to win the war.

These were political propaganda slogans, and really, if he had a choice, Lincoln would never have done it. With the capital city lost, how much more prestige would he as president have over the Confederate states?

Grant thought for a moment and said, “The 50,000 reinforcements from the West Coast California, Oregon, and New Mexico areas have not yet departed.

I sent a telegram to remind the state government of this, and the rumor is that they have not yet completed their conscription. If this part of the raw force is missing to join them, there is no way for Washington to hold.”

Not every Confederate state was actively participating in this war; the West Coast states were far from the battlefield and felt no pressure themselves. There were also European countries waging influence in pulling back, they were naturally less enthusiastic about joining the war.

President Lincoln asked, “Mr. Safar, what is going on?”

Secretary of State Safar frowned and replied, “The population of the West Coast states was already small, and they have already provided the federal government with 150,000 soldiers, and almost all of the lads who are willing to serve have already come.

Not long ago the Austrian Ocean Fleet made a visit to the West Coast states, and Count Hummel received many Germans and encouraged them to leave the United States.

Quite a number had already left, and these men now resisted entering the service of the Union army under the pretext of being anti-civil war. In order not to furnish the Austrians with an excuse to intervene, we cannot compel them to serve.

Then, setting off a chain reaction, a lot of people on the West Coast joined the anti-war movement, and there was no way for the state governments to fulfill the draft.

There were other European countries behind this. The home base of the anti-war movement was around the embassies of the various countries, and at the first sign of trouble these people went into the embassies.

In order to avoid creating a diplomatic conflict and triggering countries to intervene in this war, the state governments did not dare to take any action.”

When the federal government advocated national unity, European countries launched anti-civil war campaigns. It’s the downside of the American system, and whether it works or not, I’m going to press you with the greater good.

The government has not been able to resolve strife through peaceful means, that is government incompetence, and it is absolutely right to oppose the Civil War.

Many of the pro-antiwar newspapers directly attributed the Lincoln administration as the worst in American history, all over James Buchanan.

It’s not like the Mouthbreathers are accountable, so naturally they take it at face value.

The anti-war faction came up with a bunch of programs that could ostensibly resolve conflicts peacefully, but were not actually feasible, attacking the federal government’s inaction and accusing it of being manipulated by arms traffickers and provoking civil wars for profit.

Whether others believe it or not, the anti-war faction does anyway. People who don’t want to go to war and want to avoid military service also believe it.

Being a draft dodger is frowned upon; being anti-civil war has no moral dimension to the risk. Even the state government couldn’t hold them legally responsible because of political correctness and public opinion.

These problems boil down to the fact that the population does not identify with the country, has limited patriotic fervor, and many don’t even think of themselves as Americans.

The Germans, Irish, Italians, etc. in this era are at the bottom of the social ladder and are often discriminated against politically.

The vested interests that held the upper class in place left no room for them to rise. These immigrants often had to work several times harder to achieve the same gains.

If this is the case, why do people still want to work for the federal government? It’s not like they have anything to do with winning the fight, but their lives are their own.

Hummel was able to persuade people to leave, that is, he gave the promise of real money: each migrant to Central America can get fifty hectares of land free of charge, five years of continuous cultivation will have full property rights, but also to get the colonial government to provide 300 guilders of two years of interest-free loan funding.

This was also the reason why the Central American colony, which had only been opened for a few months, had lost more than two million divine guilders.

President Lincoln frowned and asked, “Didn’t we order a ban on any anti-war activities, so why did the anti-war movement still grow?”

Secretary of State Safar explained, “This ban is only being enforced by half of the Confederate states, and the western states, believing it to be unconstitutional and contrary to the spirit of libertarianism, have refused to enforce the decree.”

Lincoln’s head hurt, in this day and age the individual Confederate states in the United States were a small independent court, and it was not uncommon for them to fight against the federal government.

Even if he had the support of the capitalists behind him, but because everyone has different interests, the capitalists in the United States are also divided into different interest groups.

In general, the east is strong and the west is weak, the large consortia are gathered in the east coast states, control the vast majority of the wealth of the United States, the west of the capitalists are mostly dependent on them.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, the western capitalists were eager to smash the East Coast for their own benefit, to get rid of the shackles on their bodies, and to gain greater profits.

Direct confrontation not they are not yet afraid, secretly dragging their feet is not afraid. When things go wrong, they will use the Great Powers to take the blame, anyway, Britain, France, Austria and the West are well known for their position, and they don’t care about taking the blame.

The internal trouble is far more headache than the external trouble, the political intervention of the countries, in fact, is based on the internal people with the situation.

If there is no one inside the United States to help wave the flag, Britain, France, Austria and West, unless they directly intervene with troops, or even trouble can not be counted.

Lincoln meant to say: “Send people to communicate with the western state governments, no matter what must also guarantee the soldiers.

The federal government has reached the most crisis time, if because of the lack of troops, caused the defeat of the Union, everyone who has no good days.”

Obviously, this was for the people who were pulling their leg. It implied that they shouldn’t play too high, and that they should consider the big picture while striking out at their competitors.

Raising tariffs to protect the domestic market and abolishing slavery to get cheap labor were the common interests of most capitalists.

If the federal government lost the war, the cheap raw materials and markets in the South, all gone. Lose those and no one would end up with a good life.

This is the aftermath of the butterfly effect, the southern government increased by three states, the northern government reduced by three states, an increase and a decrease under the contrast of power between the two sides changed.

The first thing to face is the problem of manpower, in the face of a more severe situation than in history, the lack of troops has become a federal government problem.

Reinforcements from the western states were especially important. Without the support of these states, the manpower advantage of the northern government would no longer exist.

In the case of equal number of troops, the northern army can not beat the south. The gap in quality, now the federal government can only rely on quantity to make up.

(End of chapter)