As the Great War rolled into its
second year, it became obvious that Germany was caught in an unwinnable
two-front war. Hoping to distract the Russians by deepening the
revolution breaking out in early 1917, the German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman
arranged for a group of Communists including the infamous Vladimir Lenin to
travel through German territory in a closed railroad car, eventually taking
them back to Petrograd. To weaken the Western Front, Germany announced
its resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, crippling the supply line
coming in from America.
Seeing that the war might spread,
German leadership began to investigate ways to make such an expansion work in
their favor. Zimmerman sent a telegram to the ambassador to Mexico,
Heinrich von Eckardt, instructing him to suggest an alliance. Germany
would contribute munitions and funding while Mexico created a new front for
America. By the time of Germany's victory, it would give Mexico back
Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, land lost in the Mexican-American War seventy
years before. Mexico itself was in a very difficult position, still
facing revolutionaries after decades of lawless fighting in the desert
northwest. The US had already performed patrols into Mexico, chasing warlords
such as Pancho Villa who raided American towns. Mexico adopted a new
constitution on February 5, 1917, which was the first in the world to guarantee
social rights. There was still much discontent in the country, and at
last the Mexican government determined that solidarity could be established if
the nation faced a single enemy. On April 6, 1917, the US Congress declared
war on Germany and its allies, which suddenly included Mexico.
On the same day, the war spilled
northward into the Baltic region. Despite its earlier prominence as one
of the greatest nations of Europe, Sweden had long maintained its neutrality.
Wars with Russia had weakened the country in the eighteenth century and
resulted in the loss of Finland in 1809. In the Napoleonic Era, Norway
was handed over to Sweden from Denmark, though the Norwegians fought for
independence. In 1905, Norway won its independence, and Sweden became a
fraction of what it had been. After much encouragement and seeing the
weakness of the Russians, the Swedes finally determined to win back their glory
by retaking Finland. On April 6, a Swedish force invaded from the north,
backed by a flotilla, and was joined by hopeful Finns. "White"
Finns who had enjoyed Russian protection in the Grand Duchy interrupted the
Swedish advance, adding to the chaos.
Despite the entrance of the United
States, 1917 proved a difficult year for the Allies. US troops were
immediately dispatched to Mexico, which was quickly overrun thanks to armored
vehicle advances made by effective military minds such as Captain George S.
Patton. While the battles were one-sided, America became bogged down with
long supply-trains and a difficult occupation. Revolutionaries who had
long practiced guerrilla warfare continued their resistance, causing Americans
to pour more and more troops into Mexico rather than the trenches in France.
Issues also broke out between the
United States and Japan, who had been among the Allies since the first days of
the War. Almost immediately after their declaration of war against
Germany, Britain and Japan followed their treaty of 1902 to use Japanese ships to
capture German colonies in the Pacific and destroy the Kriegsmarine stationed
there. With Russia collapsing, the Japanese began to push further into
Asia, bringing the question of expansion into China. The US had
disapproved of the Twenty-One Demands issued by Japan to China, which Secretary
of State William J. Bryan saw as a rejection of the previous Open Door Policy
defending Chinese autonomy while supporting all foreign interests.
Britain attempted to keep both sides happy and helped to clarify spheres of
influence while hosting Japanese Foreign Minister Ishii Kikujiro and American
Secretary of State Robert Lansing, promoting Japan while the US held the
Philippines.
Russia dropped out of the war
October 26, 1917, with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, forming a separate peace
with Germany. While much of the Central Powers celebrated, the Russian
Civil War proved to destabilize the conquered regions. As Socialist
"Reds" expanded their powers in Russia following the November revolution,
they crossed the border into Finland, creating a new front for the Swedes
occupying there. The Swedish invasion turned into a multisided Finnish
Civil War. After a Soviet victory in the
Russian Civil War, the Swedes were chased out of Finland, which again fell
under Russian dominance.
The exhausted Central Powers
eventually collapsed in 1919, ending the fighting in Europe while it continued
for years elsewhere. The American occupation of Mexico finally ceased in
1920, though it would forever mingle America in the affairs of Latin
America. The ABC Nations (Argentina,
Brazil, and Chile) worked to counter America’s Monroe Doctrine, causing
division and a number of bush wars, such as the fierce fighting in America’s
occupation of Hispaniola and expansion into the Caribbean.
When Germany went to war against
Western Europe again in 1939, the United States refused to join another World
War as occupations in the south were so difficult. The war did expand to Asia, however, when the
Japanese allies of Germany performed a sneak-attack on Vladivostok in
1941. Soon both hemispheres were once
again embroiled in war.
--
In reality, Mexico and Sweden
maintained their neutrality in World War I.
US intervention shifted more abroad, gradually away from a paternalistic
stance of the Monroe Doctrine and toward the Truman Doctrine’s global Cold War.
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