George Carty
Banned
Any thoughts on this scenario, where the US goes to war against the Western European powers with the aim of destroying colonialism?
US War on Colonialism - 1929
- Thread starter George Carty
- Start date
Yes it's utterly ridiculous and likely born out of some highly naive and romaticised view of American foreign policy.
Faeelin
Banned
This would probably be funnier if the US hadn't agreed to Filipino independence early on; indeed the first treaty of independence was rejected by the Filipinos as cutting them out of the American market.
Learn some history.
This is a scenario that is borderline absurd..
But a very remote chance, is that if somehow the Washington Naval Treaty is not signed, Britain and the U.S may have strained relations. But Britain was in hardtimes after WWI, Italy and France, forget it. Germany is in serious trouble.
Perhaps this may be plausible under another Therodore Roosevelt term, 1912 or so. Has to be pre-WWI, with alot of other scenarios taking place.
Maybe this war could be plausible without WWI, or inplace of it, but try working WWI out of the picture first. lol
But a very remote chance, is that if somehow the Washington Naval Treaty is not signed, Britain and the U.S may have strained relations. But Britain was in hardtimes after WWI, Italy and France, forget it. Germany is in serious trouble.
Perhaps this may be plausible under another Therodore Roosevelt term, 1912 or so. Has to be pre-WWI, with alot of other scenarios taking place.
Maybe this war could be plausible without WWI, or inplace of it, but try working WWI out of the picture first. lol
Solomaxwell6
Banned
I like the whole idea that Europe would attack through "the traditional route," although I didn't get much farther than that.
America has had two wars against Europe (in which it got invaded). The last one was over 100 years prior to 1929. I doubt Britain's going to attack the exact same way it did in 1812 and 1776, not to mention the other nations that have never fought a war against the US.
America has had two wars against Europe (in which it got invaded). The last one was over 100 years prior to 1929. I doubt Britain's going to attack the exact same way it did in 1812 and 1776, not to mention the other nations that have never fought a war against the US.
George Carty
Banned
I think the original post was thinking of how the capitalist side of the Cold War was disadvantaged in the Third World by the way that communist propagandists there were able to conflate capitalism with imperialism in the minds of the people.
He was thinking "if the US had waged war against colonialism, then the communists would never have been able to co-opt Third World public opinion in this matter..."
He was thinking "if the US had waged war against colonialism, then the communists would never have been able to co-opt Third World public opinion in this matter..."
Only war that's going to happen is the one in the streets as the American public revolt ...
Thande
Donor
And of course the Spanish-American War happened before Britain started granting autonomy to its colonies in 1867.
Memetic repetition.
In 1929?
What does the U.S go to war WITH? In 1929 the ENTIRE U.S. army was 122,000 enlisted and 12,000 Officers. That force was spread across half the Planet with nearly 10,000 men in the Philippines alone.
The USN was in decent shape since it was the key to keeping the world at bay.. The Marine Corps was small and lived on Navy left overs. The Army was the ugly stepsister of Congress and barely got enough funding to maintain half its strength.
Folks seem to forget that in 1939 the U.S. was the 17th ranked military power on Earth.
What does the U.S go to war WITH? In 1929 the ENTIRE U.S. army was 122,000 enlisted and 12,000 Officers. That force was spread across half the Planet with nearly 10,000 men in the Philippines alone.
The USN was in decent shape since it was the key to keeping the world at bay.. The Marine Corps was small and lived on Navy left overs. The Army was the ugly stepsister of Congress and barely got enough funding to maintain half its strength.
Folks seem to forget that in 1939 the U.S. was the 17th ranked military power on Earth.
Woah. While the scenario is certainly nuts, but 17th? In 39, the USN was at least the second strongest on the planet and you would need a lot of weighting towards the Army for the U.S. ranking to get that low.
Caspian
Banned
I don't necessarily disagree, but I would really be interested to see the methodology used to produce that ranking (just because of curiosity, not criticism).
Well I suppose their lack of combat experience might be part of it, the rest if the world's armies had seen at least some conflict recently, and were gearing up for war without the massive losses just yet. (Poland and the USSR excluded, although the Winter War was a net gain for the USSR). At the time the US army didn't have the equipment it did later in the war, and considering how spread out it was, combat readiness was probably taking a beating.
Besides, it the US did declare war on Colonialism, maybe we could stop WW2 by giving the Germans a North American colony?
Yeah, thirded.
I'm guessing USSR, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan? are on the list above the US. It'd be pretty funny if down-in-30-days Poland was above the US, and I could certainly believe it.
Before the U.S. hit the gas it was below such stalwarts as Greece and Portugal. The American military was a massive potential, with a lot of men who had been into the Guard but were not active. The Army was more or less a cadre force. This was the American military tradition, the citizen soldier who was pulled into arms via a call for volunteers when trouble appeared. The U.S. didn't build its first real tank until 1936 and it was lousy, even by the standard of the day. The fleet was the U.S. military.
I do not know the methodology used to come up with the ranking, I am simply quoting it, but it would likely be active forces, or at least ready reserve.
Googling around a bit, in this article Rick Atkinson puts it that "The U.S. Army ranked 17th among armies in size and combat power, just behind Romania. It numbered 190,000 soldiers."
According to such criteria, I think Finland then overtook the US by the end of October 1939, when the field army was mobilized to counter the threat of war with the USSR. The early Winter War period was thus likely the only time before or since Finland has eclipsed the US as a military power.