The eyes of the world were caught up in the two wars that broke out in Europe, thus granting Australasia ample ti to pursue its own agenda, such as instigating an independence war in the Philippines.
In fact, the Philippines had been ticulously preparing for more than half a year, with the necessary weapons and equipnt already dispatched to the three major Philippine independence forces.
After recruiting and training for more than half a year, the numbers in the Philippine forces resisting Arica were substantial.
According to intelligence from the Philippines, the most formidable force remained the Independence Revolutionary Army under Manuel’s control; the total army personnel exceeded twenty thousand.
However, Wade, the leader of the Philippine Liberation Army, and Sandro, the leader of the Independent Corps, appeared to be forming an alliance. These two divided all the remaining weapons and equipnt, and each of their armies had approximately 15,000 personnel. Combined, they were not afraid of Manuel.
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This conflict was sothing Arthur was delighted to see, as there wouldn’t be substantial disagreents among them before completely defeating the Aricans.
After careful preparations, both the three Philippine forces and Australasia Dostic felt that the right opportunity had arrived — it was ti to end Arican rule in the Philippines.
At the end of July 1920, with a single command from Manuel, tens of thousands of Philippine troops were mobilized, surrounding the Philippine Senate and the governnt, swiftly seizing control over the Aricans inside.
The number of Arican forces stationed at these two facilities was not significant, and due to the lack of preparedness, they were quickly defeated by the Philippine army. Manuel successfully took control of the Senate and the governnt.
Then, Manuel used the Arican governnt facilities to publicly declare the independence of the Philippines, and temporarily placed its order under the control of the Philippine Senate.
Manuel retained his position as Speaker of the Senate, while Wade and Sandro assud the positions of Deputy Speaker of the Senate, abolishing all Arican positions and privileges, and requesting Aricans to leave the Philippines in a short period. If not, the Philippines would resort to military force for expulsion.
After announcing this earth-shattering news, Manuel imdiately enlisted the help of the others and his troops surrounded the ports, where there were thousands of U.S. troops and the United States Fleet in the Philippines.
Soon, the news of Philippine independence reached President Wilson of Arica.
White House.
President Wilson’s face was ashen, evidently infuriated by the news from the Philippines. After everyone had gathered, President Wilson scanned the room and said coldly: "Now, a nation is challenging Arica’s authority. I would like to ask you, what are you planning to do?"
The Secretary of State Banbridge Colby was the first to respond: "Although Arica has encountered various difficulties, it is not a state that a lowly nation can provoke. For the peace of all Arican territories, we must resolve this crisis with force. These damn Filipinos need to know that Arica is not Spain, and the Philippines is certainly not Hungary."
The examples Banbridge gave pointed to the relationship between Arica and the Philippines.
The success of the previous Philippine independence war was due to the weak power of Spain, the then colonial ruler of the Philippines, considered by today’s Arica as a small country.
Hungary gained independence from a major power like the Austro-Hungarian Empire not only because Hungary was powerful but because of the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the support of other countries, which were the real reasons for Hungary’s independence.
The current gap between Arica and the Philippines is vast, and the Philippine independence from Arica through military force would never be agreed to or tolerated by the Arican governnt.
"Gentlen, wе have to figure out one thing, which is where the Filipinos got such a large quantity of weapons from." The Vice President stood up and said.
"Although we have loosened our administration of the Philippines, the Filipinos would not be able to put together tens of thousands of weapons. Therefore, there is only one possibility: either we have a mole in our military, or the Philippines has received support from other countries." The vice president of the United States continued.
Arican military control over the Philippines had been quite stringent, which significantly inhibited the developnt of the Philippine military industry.
Moreover, given the news from the Philippines, the rapid capture of the Senate, the governnt, and the surrounding ports by the Philippine Army, it was highly unlikely they would have used outdated weapons.
If so, the Arican troops ard with modern weapons would have been more than enough to teach the Filipinos a harsh lesson, let alone allow them to surround the entire port.
"There should be no significant problems with the military." President Wilson shook his head, dismissing the vice president’s first speculation.
Indeed, even if military weapons did leak out, it wouldn’t be so severe as to arm tens of thousands of Philippine troops.
Besides, there was no information from the Philippines confirming the use of Arican-made weapons by the Philippine Army, indicating that the Philippines must have received support from other countries.
Moreover, any entity daring enough to provoke the dignity of the United States must certainly be a powerful nation.
Although the United States and Spain have disagreents concerning the Philippines, Aricans do not believe Spain would dare offend such a powerful nation as the United States with such a move.
"Whether it’s the United Kingdom, France or Australasia, none is an excuse for our retreat. Gentlen, haven’t you forgotten the parades during the influenza epidemic? If we allow the Philippines to declare independence, Hawaii could be next, then California, even all the states across the US.
For national unity and stability, we must extinguish any enemies in our path." Secretary of State Banbridge addressed the others in a rather determined tone.
President Wilson was quite satisfied with Banbridge’s statent.
In reality, the reason Banbridge beca the Secretary of State in the latter part of President Wilson’s term was entirely due to the recklessness of the previous Secretary of State, which resulted in significant ideological conflicts with President Wilson.
Additionally, President Wilson’s six months of illness during the influenza epidemic allowed the forr Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, to oversee foreign policy and cabinet etings.
The result was a significant ideological conflict between Robert Lansing and President Wilson. The first thing President Wilson did upon returning to the office was to decisively order Robert Lansing to resign imdiately and hand his position over to a more suitable candidate.
In reality, it was during this period that the US faced one of its biggest crises since its founding, nearly causing the collapse of the federal system.
For context, the history of the United States is quite short, with formal independence only declared in 1776, less than 150 years prior to the present.
This may not seem short, but when the United States was first established, there were only 13 colonies.
The rest of the territory was annexed or purchased after the founding and most of these acquisitions occurred less than 100 years ago.
Not to ntion the recent overseas territories, even so of the more famous holand states, such as California, where Los Angeles is located, was annexed in 1848, only 72 years ago.
Can a region be completely assimilated in 72 years? Unless all the population is evicted from this land and replaced with people from one’s own country, it is impossible to achieve.
Moreover, the United States experienced the Civil War in 1861, which further inflad conflicts between the states and the governnt, making this diverse immigrant country relatively unstable.
The Civil War ended in 1865, only 55 years from now, and there are even people still alive who experienced the war firsthand.
Under these circumstances, it is almost impossible to make the United States into a completely unified nation.
The unity of the future United States is due to the fact these events occurred over 100 years ago. Direct survivors have long since died, leaving only a cold history that does not evoke such deep emotions.
In addition, the future strength of the United States as the world’s most powerful nation bred a sense of pride in Aricans that suppressed the impact of history.
Moreover, to be blunt, even in the future, the United States is not so stable. There is no perfect coexistence between whites and blacks. Racial discrimination that has persisted for hundreds of years will not disappear in a short period of ti.
If this is the case in the future, not to ntion Arica a hundred years ago.
The influenza epidemic made the united states appear fragnted, with Kansas, seen as the origin of the epidemic, even being isolated by other states for a while, prohibiting Kansas residents from traveling to other states.
Besides, the state governnts were also very dissatisfied with the federal governnt, precisely because its reckless choices led to significant economic losses for the states.
The divide between the states and the divide between the states and the federal governnt were not enough to break up the united states, but these problems could not be redied in a short ti.
In addition to the complex ethnic distribution in the US and the conflicts between whites and blacks, the country did not seem so cohesive.
It may be harsh to say, but if another major crisis like the influenza epidemic were to occur again, even the current unity of the United States could be called into question, let alone expanding Arica’s influence on a global scale and shaping a superpower.
Upon hearing Secretary of State Banbridge’s remarks, the others in the room fell silent, all turning their eyes to President Wilson.
After montarily pondering, President Wilson raised his head with difficulty, glanced at the crowd, his throat bobbed, but his voice was firm, "I cannot let Arica be destroyed during my term, nor can I let this country, established over a hundred years ago, be ruined in an instant. Gentlen, for the sake of Arica, let’s crush those damn Filipinos!"
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