Chapter 106: American Volunteers
Although continental Europe had nothing to do with other regions, even colonial powers such as Britain and France mostly recruited troops from their own countries.
However, Americans in the Far New World do not think so, they believe that Europe should be even.
To a large extent, this kind of thinking is due to the inheritance of the fine traditions of the Ansars.
On the one hand, they demanded world peace, curbed Germany's unrestricted submarine attacks, and promoted anti-war rhetoric in foreign countries.
On the other hand, they mobilized for war at home and sent some of their troops to attend military academies in Europe as volunteers.
As soon as these volunteers came up, they suffered heavy losses and were almost completely annihilated, and only a few brigades remained of the original divisions.
The Yankees had proven that they were not fit for war, except for the black volunteers, who were still fighting the war, the rest of the troops slipped to the rear to do logistics, and the surplus gun supplies were given to the Allied side.
Due to the relative freedom of public opinion in the United States, the news of the defeat of the volunteers quickly spread back to the mainland, arousing anti-war sentiment among the people at home.
The people believe that Europe is far from the United States, Germany is invincible, why should we shed blood and sacrifice for Britain and France, two decadent capitalist countries.
Under the pressure of public opinion, then US President Wilson had to withdraw the white volunteer army and publicly stated that he would no longer intervene in the European war situation with armed force.
The black guys on the front line may not have such good luck, and they are afraid that they will die in Paris.
However, they are not alone, because although the United States has verbally stated that it will not intervene with arms, in reality, they have organized a secret legion.
This legion is peculiar, it is not made up of Americans, but Latinos, Indians, Africans.
Under the guise of mercenaries, the United States recruited more than 100,000 men in its own backyard, and after assembling them, they were secretly sent to France.
As for why Wilson went to such great lengths to give up the arms he had and not sell them, to intervene in a senseless war.
In fact, it is very simple, it is still a matter of arms.
France was devastated by the war, the northern industrial regions were almost completely destroyed, and the few remaining factories could not make many bullets, so they became loyal customers of the Americans.
The Germans on the other side have been fighting away from home, excluding the war from their homeland, and their industrial capacity has increased instead of decreasing, making the industrial capacity that is already the strongest in Europe even more soaring.
Austria-Hungary is also supported by the Czech Republic, an industrial treasure, and Skoda is a good representative, which makes them not short of ammunition.
As for the rest of the Allied members, although they have no industrial capacity at home, they can't help the allies to be strong and constantly transport fresh blood.
In particular, after the signing of the Moscow Entente, defeated Russia was forced to transfer its industrial capacity to the members of the Central Powers.
Bulgaria and Turkey were the biggest gainers, and industry quickly rose several steps to at least supply the needs of the army, and no longer needed the support of the allies.
What's worse is that Turkey has regained full control of the Suez Canal, completely cutting off the closest shipping route connecting Europe and Asia.
The British had no use for the guerrillas behind enemy lines, and the Arabs were vulnerable, and not only did not hinder the Turkish army's movements, but instead brought Egypt back under Ottoman rule.
The Turkish army was winning in North Africa and was about to push the front to the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Turkish army was able to achieve so much because of the relaxation of British defense of the colonies, and more importantly, the new army and strong command.
Although the newly appointed Kemal was not appreciated by the Enville government, he was picked up by the Kaiser's general Kuster, and the Kaiser also favored the young man.
In the face of the Kaiser's obscenity, Enver felt that life and power were more important.
In general, since the surrender of Russia, the Allies have been in full swing, and even Scandinavia, located in the polar regions, has had to submit to them.
Japan and Germany were still at war, and in the face of a weakened Russia, they could take a northward offensive to seize Siberia.
But instead of doing so, they wanted to return Jiaozhou Bay and peace to Germany in exchange for their acquiescence to Japan's aggressive expansion (southward).
Given that Japan was far away in Asia, the Kaiser could not have been as stupid as his cousin, and since his interests in the East could still be guaranteed, there was no need for an expedition to Japan, so he readily agreed.
Thus, Japan made an unconditional peace, at the cost of withdrawing from the Entente, as well as the occupied Jiaozhou Bay, and refraining from collusion with the world powers for twenty years.
Emperor Yoshihito (Hirohito's father) was able to withdraw from the war in his entirety and set his sights on Manchuria.
Even Japan withdrew from the war, which shows that the pattern is clear, but the United States still wants war.
The United States, of course, is not purely belligerent like Germany, and it is ultimately a trade interest.
The Suez Canal, which was controlled by the Entente, was mostly passed by the British supply fleet, but the merchant ships of the rest of the countries could still pass through.
After the occupation by the Central Powers, because the naval power had not yet developed, it was not possible to lock the Allied fleet in the harbor as Britain did with Germany.
From time to time, several convoys of ships would come to the side of Suez and fire on both sides, inflicting huge losses on Turkey.
Some troop carriers disguised themselves as ordinary merchant ships and crossed checkpoints to support Western Europe.
Under pressure, Turkey blocked the shipping lanes.
Their officers and men will open fire when they see a ship at sea, even if it is really an ordinary merchant ship.
Therefore, if you want to open up navigation between Asia and Europe, you must bypass the West African coast and the Cape of Good Hope.
The Suez Canal under British rule is only British priority, and no one can pass through the Suez Canal under German rule, and neither can the French who built it! It's clear who is good and who is bad.
The Americans used this propaganda to say:
"Germany is the worst country, and if the Germans control every strait in the world, they will take everything valuable for themselves, interfere in the internal affairs of all countries, and infringe on the sovereignty of all countries."
Propaganda had a certain effect, at least the people were not as anti-war as before, and the number of people supporting the war against Germany gradually increased.
Of course, as a beacon of democracy, they will not start a war, but only Germany will provoke it.
However, in the meantime, they will increase their efforts to help Europe, and more and more volunteers will be sent.
By the time Kuster entered Belgium, in just two months, the United States had prepared 700,000 volunteers.
Of these, 200,000 are fighting on the front lines, and hundreds of thousands are floating in the Atlantic.
The result is obvious, and the United States has done so, and there is no doubt that they have already considered themselves involved in the war.
But the Germans did not yet know that although there were already soldiers at the front who told the higher-ups, they thought it was the British who were sowing discord.
Even a sensitive general like Kuster didn't notice it, after all, he hadn't been to the battlefield yet.
But it soon became known.