1855 United States Tycoon

While France and Prussia are working hard for a common goal-fighting desperately, the new presidential election of United States is also underway. To be honest, this round of elections was not fierce. Due to the drag of the civil war, the Democratic Party, the traditionally strongest political party in the United States, is, at least seems to be dying. In addition to being able to survive in some southern states, in the entire United States, they Almost completely unable to compete with the Republican Party. As for the current President Andrew Johnson, the Democrat who was lucky enough to become president because of Lincoln’s assassination, from the first day he took office, he was dissatisfied with cabinet members who thought he was too lucky and jealous, and later even more so. Almost impeached. Although with the help of Scrooge, he is six votes short of impeachment, which is a lot safer than the original one in history, but the degree of his lameness has not changed much. Everyone, even himself, and other Democrats know that he is absolutely useless in this round of elections, and even the Democratic Party is useless. Even if the Republicans lead a dog to the election, the presidential throne will not be the turn of the Democrats. Therefore, President Johnson did not continue to run for the election, and the Democratic Party elected Horatio Seymour, who had served as governor of New York State, as the presidential candidate.

Therefore, what is really important in this year's presidential election is not the rivalry between the Republicans and the Democrats, but the competition within the Republicans. In the end, after visiting Scrooge and Morgan, after making a series of policy commitments, the Civil War hero General Grant received a lot of campaign funds. With this money, General Grant made the front page of the newspaper everywhere. They are all own photos, so that the radio broadcasts are full of own voices and own stories. In the north, people can always hear the story of how General Grant fought the rebels steadily and stubbornly and finally forced the rebels to surrender on the radio; while in the south, people can always see General Grant on the radio or in the newspapers. At the end of the war, the soldiers of General Robert Lee laid down their weapons and magnanimously declared: "The war is over, and the former rebels have become our fellow citizens again." And generously agreed to let the soldiers of the Southern Army. Take the own war horse home to prepare for the story of spring ploughing.

In history, when Grant was running for president, there was an obvious problem. First, he did not have any ruling experience, and second, he did not have a decent and clear governance program. In other words, Grant's political views were unclear. In the subsequent presidency, this has always been a weakness of Grant. Because there is no long-term plan, Grant's governance has always been wherever he goes. But this is nothing compared to Grant's other weakness, that weakness is corruption.In general, Grant is a good, soft-hearted person, and he is always reluctant to hold him accountable for people around him who made a mistake or something. Well, if a famous general really has such a personality, it would be considered a strange thing, and the result is that a large number of people around him are corrupting by his identity. What's more terrible is that every time a corruption case broke out, Grant always expressed outrageously that he would investigate to the end, and he would never be merciless, but every time he did an investigation, it turned out that his relatives and his friends were found. Grant immediately relented again, emphasizing that everyone would make mistakes, and that people who made mistakes should be given a chance to rehabilitate.

However, Grant is a complete fool in financial management. He failed to invest after leaving office and was almost impoverished in the end. But now, President Grant will not make these mistakes that almost no one will make again in future generations, because thanks to Scrooge, the monster of monopoly consortium appeared in the United States earlier than in the original history. Now, there is no need for it. The president’s policy program is now, and serving the monopoly consortium is the most fundamental policy program. As for the problem of corruption, it is better to solve it. Scrooge has already had a package of legal corruption solutions. During the conversation with Grant, Scrooge told Grant that as long as he is committed to promoting the development of the United States railway, is committed to maintaining the hegemony of United States in the America market, and actively developing the Asian market, and strengthening the navy for this. Then I will prepare a position for him and his family and relatives in the MacDonald Consortium to get money without work. Of course, the Macdonald Consortium is not a charity, and even if it is a charity under the Macdonald Consortium, it also serves the profit of the consortium. So if you want to have a good position, at least these four years, Grant's performance must be stronger.

...

The Prussian response was very much in line with Emperor Napoleon III’s expectations. They rejected Napoleon III’s request in one fell swoop, and even published a reply in the newspaper. Not only did they flatly reject Emperor Napoleon III’s request, but also He also said that "His Majesty the King refused to receive the French ambassador in the future and ordered the adjutant on duty to tell the French ambassador. His Majesty has nothing to talk about." This attitude of not seeing France in his eyes immediately excited the French crowd. Taking this opportunity, on February 12, 1869, Emperor Napoleon III declared war on Prussia.

One month before the declaration of war, Emperor Napoleon III had already begun to mobilize the army. Unlike Prussia, which adopted the universal military service system, the French army was all professional soldiers, so the number was even smaller. Even after the mobilization, all those who joined the army joined the army. Retired veteran. Therefore, the French generally believe that the own army has to overwhelm the Prussian army in quality, so although the number is smaller, it can definitely defeat the Prussian barbarians easily. Just like the Colonel Jouffer in "Siege of Berlin", almost everyone is confident that the French army will eventually defeat the Prussian barbarians.

However, the situation of the war is completely different from what the French imagined. It seems that professional soldiers should be more well-trained than conscripts, but in fact, because of the better economic development, the Prussian army gets more training. And although France mobilized ahead of schedule, the Prussians took longer to prepare. After defeating Austria, the Prussians began to prepare for war against the French. Moreover, relying on the more developed railway network within the territory, the Prussians were also able to mobilize their troops faster.

As a result, after the two anti-war declarations, until the end of February, the French army gathered more than 200,000 troops, and on the opposite side of them, there were already 470,000 Prussian troops.

Originally the French planned to launch a preemptive offensive, rushing to Frankfurt, cutting off the connection between North and South Germany, forcing the states of South Germany to remain neutral, and then defeating Prussia with all their strength. However, the speed of the assembly of the Prussian army far exceeded their expectations, so at the beginning of the war, the situation fell under the control of the Prussians.

The plan of the Prussians is like this. They will use their military advantage and rely on the convenience of radio to divide into a three-way army to attack Alsace and Lorraine in France, and fight the French on the German-French border or in France. Annihilate the French heavy forces as soon as possible.

After the war started, the French found that the way of fighting on the battlefield today is completely different from the way they are familiar. They had just assembled their troops and were about to launch an attack in the direction of the enemy. At this moment, they saw a huge balloon rising from the opposite side, and countless artillery shells fell like raindrops. What is even more frightening is that after these shells fall, they will explode violently, well, just like the hand grenades that the French army has just equipped not long ago, but the power is significantly greater. Under such artillery fire, any direct mass offensive will almost turn into a massacre.

Even defense has become extremely difficult. The French have learned trenches, barbed wire, and landmines, but in the face of such shelling, the mines have been detonated, the barbed wire has been blown up, and the people hiding in the trenches have been from time to time. They were killed by artillery shells that fell from the sky and directly into the trenches. Many people lost control during the shelling and rushed out of the trenches to try to escape. The result was naturally torn to pieces by the artillery shells. More people experienced the violent shelling, although they did not die, but because the vibration was too large, the vestibular function was temporarily lost, so that they could not maintain their balance and could not make normal shooting actions. As a result, when the Prussians faced the French army When they attacked the position, they were as relaxed as an outing. The French soldiers who were stunned by the shells had no chance to make any effective counterattacks.

Under such a blow, the French army quickly collapsed, and the speed of the defeat made even the commanders of the Prussian army caught off guard. In the original history, the Prussian army had to spend several months and several battles before finally defeating the French army. In this time and space, relying on the big killer such as tube retreat and high-explosive bombs, Within a week, the Prussian army completely defeated the French army, and then in a series of pursuits, they not only captured hundreds of thousands of French soldiers, but also captured the French Emperor Napoleon III alive.

In such a good situation, it is said that King William I, who had always obeyed Bismarck, had a rare dispute with Prime Minister Bismarck. Prime Minister Bismarck was ready to take it when he was ready, but King William I felt that he would not take advantage of the opportunity of the collapse of the French army to take advantage of the victory and pursue the victory and capture Paris in one breath. That is simply... For hundreds of years, the French army has more than once It is the Prussian's turn to show off on the Bodhi Tree Street, and now it's finally the Prussian's turn to go to the Champs Elysées. Think about it, leading a lion with hundreds of battles, passing through the Arc de Triomphe, which was dedicated to Emperor Napoleon I, and marching on the Champs Elysées. What a beautiful thing. What? This will seriously irritate the French and make them a feud with Germany in the future? What's this? There can only be one powerful country on the European continent. The contradiction between France and Germany is not so easy to resolve. In that case, it is better to let me be cool and show off. Besides, Napoleon couldn't do it for me?

Although the time of the war was a bit earlier than the original history, the later development was basically the same as the original history. Revolution still took place in Paris, the imperial government was overthrown, a new republican government was established, and the Prussian army fought. After entering Paris, they took a circle along the Champs Elysées, satisfied the vanity of King William I, and withdrew. Then came the peace talks, and the final result was the same as in history: France compensated 5 billion francs and ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. By the way, Emperor Wilhelm I also ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor at the Palace of Versailles and was crowned Emperor of Germany. For the Germans, this was a revenge for the emperor Napoleon who forced the Sacred Roman Empire to abandon the title of emperor. For the French, this was another sprinkle of salt on their wounds.

"The war is finally over." When Scrooge got the news, he was waiting outside Dorothea's delivery room. "Well, a new era has begun. In this era, our allies of yesterday will become enemies of tomorrow."

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