The British Empire gradually rose after defeating Spain in the Battle of Britain and the West in 1588. Over the hundreds of years, a "Sun-Don't Setting Empire" with colonial emperors spread all over the world has gradually formed and has always occupied the position of the global "maritime overlord".
Now the lion wearing a crown is old. In the face of the re-emerging ancient Eastern country, this once giant beast was stripped of its harsh disguise and fell to the ground with a bang.
Brigadier General Harwood is very brave, but four heavy cruisers with weak defenses in his hands were not enough to support his courage. When facing two Chinese battlecruisers, the British seemed powerless to fight back, and they finally
I experienced the helplessness and sorrow of the squadron led by Count Spee when he encountered two invincible class battlecruisers led by General Stedy in the Battle of Falkland.
In this one-sided naval battle, Brigadier General Harwood sank into the sea with his flagship "Cornwall", and the heavy cruiser "Exeter" was also sunk. Fortunately, the four ships were severely damaged.
The British ships were able to escape. When the Chinese aircraft carrier sailed out of the stormy area, the bombers taking off from it did not find the target. Otherwise, what awaited them was another massacre in the Java Sea.
George Marshall, the new Army Chief of Staff who was inspecting Fort Benning, hurried back to the White House.
The White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC is still as usual. In the oval presidential office, Marshall saw Franklin Roosevelt sitting behind a huge writing desk, with Secretary of State Hull, Secretary of War Woodlin, Navy
Minister Edison and Commerce Secretary Hopkins several cabinet members.
"George, sit down!" The president's face looked very tired, but after seeing him, he still smiled and called him to sit down, "You may have learned that the Chinese fought a battle with the British Navy in southeastern Africa yesterday.
”
Marshall nodded, "I feel sorry for the British, but we have to admit that the British Empire is about to collapse now, and they are simply unable to resist the Chinese invasion." He used the word aggression here, and in his opinion, the Republican Army
All military offensives are actually challenging the world order under the entire Anglo nation.
"This is exactly the issue we are going to discuss. You have been in China for a long time and have expressed more than once doubts about the country's growing military strength, but never received enough attention until this day.
"There is a lot of excitement," said Roosevelt, with a hint of excitement on his face, "Although we don't want war, we noticed that in the naval battle that happened yesterday, the Chinese were trying to rescue a German warship.
It is enough to prove that some secret alliance treaty between them and Hitler has reached. This has caused great damage to the free world. If we do not take action, one day the entire earth will succumb to their claws.
”
Marshall didn't know how to answer for a moment. In fact, what was fundamentally here was the question of how the British Empire belonged to the hegemony of the world. The crown on the lion's head fell, and she was no longer able to maintain her rule over the entire world.
But now it seems that the president has shown enough interest in who will inherit the crown in the end.
"The problem is that we face much more difficulties than other countries. That powerful Eastern country has a strong independent C-leader in leadership. He can easily impose his personal will on his people, and so does Hitler
.But we can't do this, our people live in glorious isolation." He thought for a moment, and still expressed his opinion carefully.
“We need to reverse this concept and tell us that the people’s war is approaching,” Hopkins said, “and we need to step up preparations from now on.”
"We are already preparing, but the strength is far from enough. Congress's budget makes it difficult for countries to establish their advantages in the Pacific," said Navy Secretary Edison.
"I think it's hard for us to change people's ideas at the moment. I think we need to put enough pressure on the Chinese and Germans to avoid direct conflicts between the two sides while preparing. The problem now is, our nationals
It is impossible to accept a president who is ready to fight a war." Secretary of State Hull said that the problem Roosevelt faced was the anti-war sentiment in the United States. If Roosevelt clearly stated that he would choose a war, it would be very unfavorable for the president who wanted to seek re-election.
The new US presidential election is approaching, and Roosevelt wants to seek a third re-election, which has become a weakness of the Republican attack because it is not in line with the "rules". If he clearly expresses his desire to introduce the United States into this war
, It is certain that he will be abandoned by all Americans.
"I think we can't do anything before 1941, but we can support the Japanese to hold back the Chinese people's attention." War Minister Woodlin said in this regard, in the U.S. Congress, which has revised the neutrality bill.
There will be no great resistance.
"But the Japanese are now unable to continue the war, and they have lost most of their industry," Edison said.
"This is exactly the problem, and the Japanese ambassador expressed his hope to us through Secretary Hull's Secretary of State, we hope that we support their hopes of rebuilding the military industry in the Americas and Australia, and we think this may be feasible. We can defend us through the Japanese.
Australia's rights," said Roosevelt, "In addition, the British are negotiating with the governments of Chile, Peru and Bolivia, hoping that they can deduct a piece of land for the UK and then transfer the Japanese to establish a military base in South America. Only in this way,
Only then can the Japanese be determined to continue the war.”
"What should I do if I do local Japanese?" Marshall said.
"This is not a question we care about. What does the Japanese territory have to do with us?" Roosevelt said with a smile. Who would really care about the Japanese's life or death? Roosevelt has always been eager to implement his "interventionist" policy.
It can be explained by his "quarantine speech" in Chicago as early as October 1937. In the speech, Roosevelt accused the fascist countries of spreading the "plague" of the war of aggression all over the world, and called on free countries around the world to jointly prevent the epidemic.
Isolation of fascist countries. However, the "isolation speech" ultimately failed, and the widespread "isolationist" sentiment in the United States led to the failure of his active intervention policy.
Now, Roosevelt adopts a more concealed approach, dragging the United States into war step by step.
However, Roosevelt's most important goal is to win the general election, and only in this way can he ensure that his plan can be implemented smoothly. Before that, the militant wanted to play a "peace lover" in public against his will.