The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 936: Chapter 700: Mexico Enters the Scene

Arthur still underestimated the execution capability of the Americans in dire straits.

Originally, not finding the United States Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, Arthur thought the Pacific Squadron must be stationed along the West Coast of the United States, hiding in some harbor and waiting to pounce on Australasia.

But to Arthur’s surprise, even as the Australasian Army drew closer to the West Coast, there was still no sign of any United States fleet.

This was abnormal by any standard. After all, even if the main strength of the United States navy was in retreat, wouldn’t they at least send out some scouting detachments?

Without knowledge of the enemy’s location, war became a blind struggle and would naturally lead to an inherent disadvantage.

Believing the American army would also understand this, the absence of the United States Navy could only prove that either it was planning something big or it was truly no longer on the West Coast.

General Silvio and the British had made contact and, after learning that the United States Pacific Fleet was not spotted in the Atlantic either, could only reluctantly give up and focus on the landing operations against the United States.

However, the British still strengthened the patrol fleet power around the Panama Canal and the southern region of South America to prevent the United States from secretly amassing its navy.

As time entered August, battles erupted along both the eastern and western coastlines of the United States, and the war gradually reached its most intense stage.

To dispel the American people’s will to resist, the Allied Army began bombing some important Urban Cities in the United States.

Bombing started from four directions: the Air Force transported to Canada and Mexico took charge of the north and south, primarily responsible for bombing the dense Industrial Area of the Great Lakes and major southern cities.

British Aircraft Carriers in the east were tasked with bombing key cities such as New York, Boston, and Washington, while also dispersing a large number of leaflets, attempting to break the American people from within.

The same was true from Australasia. However, since they would later want to control the West Coast, large-scale bombing of cities was not appropriate.

The main goal in Australasia was also dispersing leaflets, while trying to highlight President Hoover’s “achievements” during the economic crisis, encouraging the American people to voluntarily give up their support for President Hoover.

The United States had its Air Force too, with a not insignificant number of Airplanes. But compared to the British and French air forces that had participated in World War I, the combat effectiveness of the United States Air Force was much lower.

Especially with the number of planes of the Allied Army far surpassing those of the United States and combined with the suppression in combat effectiveness, the United States was at a disadvantage in all sectors, suffering one aerial attack after another.

In reality, the air raids did not inflict as many casualties among the American people as one might expect, as all nations bombed with restraint, not wanting to completely offend all Americans and jeopardize their future rule in the country.

The issue was that frequent air raids were like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of the American people, leaving most living in Urban Cities unable to sleep well.

Imagine, with a large number of Airplanes frequently bombing one’s own city, under such circumstances how could those Americans sleep peacefully?

The greatest destruction to the United States was actually the bombing of the Great Lakes Industrial Area by the aircrafts from the Canadian region of the Allied Army.

The pilots weren’t required to distinguish between Civil Industry and heavy industry, nor did they need to locate the areas of Military Industry within the Industrial Area.

Any Factory enterprises in the Great Lakes Industrial Area, as soon as they began operations, would become targets for the Allied bombing.

This put the entire Great Lakes Industrial Area, including Military Industry, into a state of panic. Since the United States’ air defense was not very comprehensive, the Workers could not work in peace, and the production capacity of the Industrial Area quickly fell by more than half.

A vast number of Workers who had just found work were again facing unemployment because if their Factories faced bombing even once, the owners would incur massive losses.

Yet, there was no way to offer Compensation for such losses. It’s not like they could go to the government for indemnification, right?

Some capitalists did entertain this thought, but upon approaching the government, they were quickly turned away and had to abandon their hopes.

As a result, the number of unemployed people in the United States continued to rise, with many unable to get enough food, inadvertently exacerbating the economic crisis in the United States.

With everything progressing smoothly on all fronts, Australasia also launched a landing on the West Coast of the United States.

Of course, while landing on the West Coast of the United States, they also began a landing in Alaska.

Although Alaska’s location was rather remote, its mineral resource reserves were quite abundant.

Being located within the Arctic Circle also gave it certain advantages in exploiting resources in the Arctic, and Arthur naturally would not just hand it over to Russia Nation.

Luckily, the American army stationed in Alaska was not large, and as Australasia launched its landing on the West Coast, its Military was completely sufficient to simultaneously land in the State of Alaska.

After war broke out along the northern Borders of the United States, the southern Borders quickly followed suit and also erupted in war.

On August 3, 1928, with the support of the Allied forces, Mexico launched an attack on the United States, and quickly captured Weslaco in the southern region the following day.

This was a small town in southern Texas, a piece of land Mexico had longingly wanted to reclaim and for which Mexico was willing to renounce its claim to California State.

Of course, the Mexican government was not foolish. California was the most populous and economically developed state on the West coast of the United States, and Mexico found it very difficult to annex.

Not to mention, even just the National Guard and militia of California alone would be enough to delay Mexico for a considerable time.

Rather than engaging in a war of attrition with California, it made more sense to swiftly conquer Texas, expanding their own territory and boosting domestic morale first.

It should be noted that, over a hundred years ago, Texas was land belonging to Mexico. However, the Texan people declared independence from Mexico at the time, ultimately joining the embrace of the United States under its influence, which is one of the reasons for Mexico’s resentment towards the United States.

Even the renowned area of California and others were forcefully ceded by Mexico to the United States.

If one were to delve into history, a large part of the West coast of the United States was once Mexican land, which also proved that Mexico once had a glorious history.

Both Mexico and the United States emerged from being colonies. However, the difference is that Mexico was once a colony of Spain, while the United States was a British colony.

Spain and Britain had dramatically different experiences a few hundred years ago, and so did their former colonies.

As Spain continued to weaken, and the British grew stronger, this indirectly led to Mexico becoming weaker and the United States becoming stronger.

Later generations also proved this point. As neighbors to a world superpower, Mexico had an increasingly poor environment, and the gap between it and the United States continued to widen.

The decision to support Mexico was made by the British. For the British, the more allies that attacked the United States, the better.

Moreover, Mexico was a vital southern neighbor of the United States, which increased its importance.

As to whether Mexico’s participation in the war and its aggressive campaign to take Texas would trouble the French, that was not something the British had to consider.

Furthermore, if Mexico did enter into conflict with France over Texas, it was likely the British who would find the greatest happiness in it.

Of course, superficial support for France definitely needed to be maintained, as it was consistent with the purpose of the division conference at the time.

But how much support Britain could actually express towards France was uncertain, because for countries, interests are eternal, while relationships are not.

After capturing Weslaco, the Mexican military did not pause at all and immediately advanced towards the northern city of Corpus Christi.

Corpus Christi was a key town in the southern part of Texas, with San Antonio and Houston further to the north.

If you are familiar with basketball, then you would know that in later times, the United States had three basketball teams in Dallas. The homes of these three basketball teams were San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas.

As of now, Dallas was the most central part of Texas and the most economically developed.

The cotton produced in Dallas and nearby areas accounted for more than 40% of the total cotton production in the US and had established the Dallas Cotton Exchange as early as 1907.

This also showcases a characteristic that has remained unchanged since the Civil War: the northern states of the United States are stronger in industry while the southern states are stronger in agriculture.

The previous contention between the United States and Mexico over Texas, including the current French interest in Texas, is not solely because of the strategic geographic importance of Texas to both the United States and Mexico, but also because of Texas’s rich agricultural products and vast land area.

Texas covers an area of more than 690,000 square kilometers, making it the largest state in the United States after Alaska State, and most of it is plain territory.

Combined with its coastal state status, the development potential is already maximized, creating a later era giant state with a population close to 30 million, which comprised about one-eleventh of the total US population.

What’s more important is that compared to California, which has been and continues to have movements for independence, Texas has the strongest desire for independence.

Texas had also been independent before, establishing the Lone Star Republic. However, at that time the Lone Star Republic was no match for Mexico and reluctantly chose to join the United States Federation.

Considering the terms promised to the Lone Star Republic by the United States, Texas completely had the ability and the conditions to be independent, which was the most concerning issue for the United States.

The current chaos in the United States was ultimately controllable, and it was not damaging enough to be bone-deep.

But as soon as Texas makes the first move towards independence, more states will follow, and the collapse of the federal government’s rule would then become just a matter of time.

The question is, how could the United States prevent Texas from declaring independence? With Texas having higher autonomy than other states, controlling the Texas government was more difficult than figuring out how to deal with the impending Mexican military.