The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

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The election of Woodrow Wilson appeared to be a sure thing in the summer of 1912.  It appeared he would win against his opponents by a large margin.  In the fall of that year, the luck of the Wilson campaign ran out.  His opponent, Theodore Roosevelt, managed to get an edge of Wilson, and the day of the election came around, and there were no clues as to who would win the election.

It turned out no one would.  When the results came in, none of the candidates had enough electoral votes to win outright.  The talks began, first in secret.  In December, it turned out they had come to an agreement for Wilson to cede his electoral votes to Roosevelt, with Roosevelt becoming President and Wilson becoming his Vice-President in exchange for Roosevelts support for Wilson's Presidency in 1920.  So in March, Roosevelt and Wilson were sworn into office.

Roosevelt managed to push through various Progressive programs, many helped by Wilson, who attended nearly every session of Congress.  Perhaps the most important event of Roosevelts term came in 1914.  Then, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, leading to European war.,  Roosevelt and the United States declared war in Early October, less than two months after the wars start.  American forces bolstered French in France, halting the Germans in Picardy, while, in November, they landed alongside British forces in Mecklenburg.  The March to Berlin was then begun, as America-British Forces marched straight to the capitol, which they promptly beseiged and captured.  Peace was dictated at Versailles in March, which took a few lands from Germany and Austria-Hungary, especially, the colonies, which America took some of.  Democracy was to be brought, and the Allies occupied the Rhine.  There was overwhelming support for Roosevelt as his Party won him reelection in 1916 over weak Democrats and Republicans.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Fantastic biography by Edmund Morris (I believe).

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The end of the War of 1914 in December and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles the following March ended the War, but created further troubles.  Though Germany was defeated within a few months, Russias forces had been smashed in October at Riga.  Russia gained only a small portion of German Poland, and felt as if they had received nothing much.  A failed revolution in 1915 by Communist forces exploiting riots failed after a few weeks in July.  The brutality with which the Revolution was ended was considered extreme, which fermented further sentiments.  In October, the All-Russian Union of Anarchist and Communist Revolutionary Soviets was formed as a way for leftist groups to oppose the Tsar.  Finally, in May 1916, the Tsar's agents arrested top Communist leaders, executing them.  This was the last straw.  Victor Makhno, leader of the Union, gave the order for revolution.  Starving forces marched into St. Petersburg and deposed the Tsar.  The Duma quickly set up a new Republic, while Makhno and the Anarchists and Communists set up their own government.  The Tsar was arrested, but his children escaped, with much of the Royal family to northern cities loyal to the Tsar.  War broke out between Republicans and Anarcho-Communists in July.  The Tsar, in the hands of the Anarcho-Communists was used a s a bargaining chip, allowing early Anarcho-Communist advances.  By the end of the year, Civil War had engulfed Russia.  The Republicans and Monarchists had combined forces, and begun to recieve British and French support.  After two years of war, the White Armies were vanquished and Makhno reigned supreme.  In early 1919, the Russian Republic was replaced with the Federation of Associated Communes, a system based around fully voluntary anarchist communes.  By 1920, it was clear anarchism would not be the exact ideology, ands Makhno and the military appeared to be the ruling class.

Meanwhile, Germany had some problems.  The planned quick war had failed, and Germany was defeated.  The Kaiser faced some troubles in 1915 from the right.  In 1917, he sent forces to help the White Armies in Russia, though as volunteers officially.  He was also busy in Africa, where colonial forces were busy fighting rebels in Camaroon.  France and Britain came out of the war relatively unharmed, and the colonies were seeing development by the governments.  The Japanese had gained German Papua New Guinea and were bust in China, where they were slowly gaining influence in Manchuria.  The United States, meanwhile, had gained a newfound place in world politics.  It was now considered more connected to Europe.  Under Roosevelt, America had acquired Tanzania and had begun to gain influence in China.  By 1920, no one was quite sure where the world would go in the next decade.

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1920 saw the beginning of the rough 20s.  The first major war of the decade broke out in 1922, when Austria-Hungary finally collapsed.  The Serbs, Romanians, and Czechs rose up against the Germans and Hungarians.  When the rebels received support from the Russians, things went further down the drain.  Russian forces managed to break the Hungarian forces in October 1922, and looked on the verge of victory.  However, an Austrian Army with German volunteers sent by the King of Bavaria marched in and saved Hungary.  Things were restored to the pre-war situation in 1923.  The Germans came out of the war disillusioned, having lost thousands of men to save the Hungarians in their view.  Into Austria spread associations of the German Federal League, a rightist pro-military group established in 1915.  The Germans themselves were embroiled in a colonial conflict in Cameroon where Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck secured his position as a hero.

Russia, at the time was being secured by Makhno and his forces.  His military roved the country to suggest to the nominally autonomous communes to get work done.  In reality, they forced the peasants to work.  The United States had seen the election of Woodrow WIlson in 1920, with the support of President Roosevelt.  He won nearly every state handily.  The Progressives were supreme, and had extended Americas influence.

The second event of the 1920s occurred in 1925.  The German economy had collapsed the year before, and Communists seemed likely to take the Reichstag.  The German Federal League wanted to stop the imminent takeover, but could not find a way.  Finally, a coup was decided on.  None of the generals in Germany itself had enough fame, having their reputations ruined in the Great War, and the ones without that tarnish were too inexperienced.  There was one, however.  General von Lettow-Vorbeck returned from the colonies on November 1, 1925, and marched on Berlin along nearly the same route as the Allied forces just over a decade before.  The General was installed as Supreme Elector of Germany, effectively a dictator, with the royal leaders deposed.  This caused a panic in France and Austria-Hungary, which was ended when the Germans proved they were not about to attack their neighbors.  In Austria-Hungary, support for Germany ran high, and, on March 1, 1926, the Austrian portion seceded and joined Germany.  The Habsburgs found themselves without a country, but, as they also held the Hungarian throne, took the title of King of Hungary as their primary one.  The South Slavic regions quickly broke off, but the Czechs and Slovaks stayed in the nation.  Nearly half-way through the decade, Europes balance of power was nearly entirely different.