The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 933 - 698: Feint, Rift

:i>Dsipgex #58&8Chapter 698: Feint, Rift

The war captured the attention of nearly every nation in the world and naturally drew in the interest of populations globally.

Since the outbreak of the war, Caucasians in Europe and Black people in Africa had both developed the good habit of keeping up with the news every day.

Of course, the two groups had different ways of accessing news. Europeans could listen to broadcasts and freely buy any newspapers they wanted to read.

But for Africans, aside from what they heard along the way, they could only catch news commentary while working for their employers.

It was unusual for one country to take on almost the entire world at any given time, even during the previous World War.

Wasn’t Germany, powerful as it was at the time, still allied with nations such as Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Turkey, and Bulgaria?

...

What’s more, Germany failed to win the World War despite having so many allies, let alone the United States, which nearly single-handedly achieved a 1v30 feat.

For this reason, when America would be defeated became a topic of concern for people of various nations.

Especially in European Nations, many citizens were praying for America to be defeated quickly so their own countries could benefit greatly from America, and then use these gains to ease their domestic economic crises.

At this moment, America, bravely taking on the whole world, had become the savior in the eyes of Europeans. Although the courage of the United States did not move the European people, the massive industry and developed economy of the United States constantly impressed them.

Of course, for Africans, they perhaps hoped even more for America to win the war.

After all, compared to Europe, which was excessively discriminatory towards Black people, the situation for Black individuals in the United States could at least be considered human.

If the Allied Army emerged victorious, the only Power among the major nations that recognized Black citizens would dissipate into thin air.

For these Black individuals to regain their rights, they might only wait for a Lincoln to emerge in other nations.

The perspective shifts back to America, where the country had re-entered a state of bustling activity.

Naturally, the government and the people had different angles and purposes for their busyness. The American Government busied itself aiming to win the war, or at least to gain some early advantages for negotiations with other countries.

Whereas the majority of American people who busied themselves did so with a more uniform goal, either fleeing to rural areas far from urban cities and major transportation routes and facilities, or directly boarding ocean liners to leave the country about to be engulfed in gunpowder.

Would they pine for the United States where they had lived for a long time? Perhaps only their hearts knew the true answer to that.

But even if they did pine for America, it definitely wasn’t for the government or President Hoover’s rule; it was for the land and their own properties.

American Government.

In recent times, President Hoover had finally breathed a sigh of relief. By printing a massive amount of US dollars, the government had attracted a significant portion of American people to enlist excitedly.

A meeting regarding army combat plans convened at the White House, with participants including President Hoover, Secretary of State Lestes, General Panxing, MacArthur, and other high-ranking military officials.

“Gentlemen, we have reached the most critical moment in the history of the United States of America. No past disasters can compare to what we face today. We must come together, united as one, to overcome this catastrophe.

If we can win this war, I will use all my efforts to repay your support. But if we fail in this war, gentlemen, we will become sinners in American history, forever marked by our actions.

I believe neither the government nor the military would like to see the fall of our Union.

No matter our previous relations, now I hope we can unite, and not let our beloved country face the threat of extinction,” President Hoover said sternly, his gaze fixed on the military and government higher-ups, passionately making his case.

Regrettably, this speech clearly did not move the high-ranking officials from the military and government below him, as they scarcely showed even superficial cooperation.

President Hoover’s expression chilled as his previously passionate demeanor vanished instantly, replaced by the self-important and arrogant man: “General MacArthur, what is the situation at the front?”

After the second offensive by the Allied Army, the troops led by MacArthur had increased from thirty thousand to seventy thousand.

This meant that, apart from several defensive positions, almost all the troops in the northeast of the United States were now under MacArthur’s command, making his battle plans the most crucial for the country.

MacArthur, absorbed in organizing his documents, noticed everyone’s gaze and President Hoover’s increasingly icy look. Only then did he stand up, nonchalantly stating, “Currently, the enemy has been held at the Scranton—Binghamton—Burlington line.

As long as the enemy doesn’t reinforce their troops, I am confident we can keep them outside our defense line.”

Ever since the tragedy in Washington, MacArthur had grown increasingly at odds with President Hoover.

President Hoover wanted to lay all the blame on MacArthur, while MacArthur was equally eager to shift the blame onto President Hoover.

This not only resulted in a blame game between the President and the Army Chief of Staff after the Washington disaster but also caused many American people to become disillusioned with the government.

After all, to all ordinary American citizens, the military is supposed to be subordinate to the government, and the head of the government is President Hoover.

Moreover, MacArthur did, indeed, have orders from President Hoover. Although these orders somewhat differed from MacArthur’s actions, the call to mobilize the troops was still issued by President Hoover.

Because of this, President Hoover lost the trust of the people and also saw a strengthening of the military’s power.

At least now, even with considerable discord between President Hoover and MacArthur, President Hoover still did not have the nerve to dismiss MacArthur from his post.

To be aware, MacArthur controlled over seventy thousand American troops, more than a fifth of the total strength of the American forces.

The old troops in America were largely under MacArthur’s control. Should MacArthur have any grand designs, it was feared that the newly trained American recruits would be entirely incapable of stopping him.

The size of the forces under his command allowed MacArthur to no longer regard President Hoover, who had finally tasted the bitter fruit once experienced by President Coolidge—that is, the threat to his own political power brought about by excessive leniency.