Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 412: The Struggle for Dominance in South America

Although the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty signed by Britain and the United States in 1850 stipulated that the two countries should not seek any expansion in Central America, after gaining local regional advantages, the Americans did not stop interfering in the internal affairs of Central America.

Southern expansionists did not accept the treaty signed with Britain and continued to pursue a policy of "manifest destiny" and unlimited expansion.

Nicaraguan liberals, defeated in the civil war of 1845, organized an expedition on American soil with the active support of the Americans and prepared to return to politics.

Adventurer William Walker, leader of a group of mercenaries known as the "Moroccan Liberationists," is hired by a Nicaraguan insurgent group to "liberate" the Central American country.

Walker and the Liberation Movement invaded and ruled Nicaragua in 1855. Rather than handing over power to the Nicaraguans who hired him, Walker established a personal dictatorship and prepared to

From Managua, the conquest of all of Central America began.

In the face of protests from Central American countries and Britain, the United States claimed that it was not responsible for the incident and that Walker had acted on his own initiative, regardless of the law. However, the support of influential economic circles in the southern United States for the liberation movement party was open and obvious, and the sympathetic eyes of American leaders and the press viewed this support openly and obviously.

All of Central America united against Walker in what is known as the "Liberation Party War," and drove him out of the Isthmus in 1857. However, the liberation party leader was not satisfied and invaded Central America a second time that year. This time, he had to withdraw again.

In 1860, he invaded for the third time, but this time he ran into the British navy that was sent out to defend the territorial integrity of Central America, and Walker was captured by the British. The British handed him over to the Central Americans and shot him.

During this period, the United States was stepping up its efforts to occupy the island of Cuba. Since Jefferson, the United States has had a strategic plan to annex Cuba. John Quincy Adams tried his best to keep Cuba under the weak rule of Spain so that it would become a "ripe fruit" in the hands of the United States in the future.

American geopolitical theorist and Navy Captain Mahan, then president of the U.S. Naval Academy, emphasized that it is very important for the United States to rule the nearby islands and waters.

Before Mahan proposed the sea power theory, President Polk had paid $1848 to buy Cuba in 1849. From 1850 to 1853, Narciso Lopez, who was supported by the southern United States, tried to liberate Cuba from the Spanish and then merge it into the United States. In 1854, Liberal President Fillmore stepped down, and the Democratic Party returned to power in the United States, with Franklin Pierce as president. When Pierce took office, he promised to "never leave the path of expansionism", and his government wanted to buy the island of Cuba again. In , the United States offered $ million and used a recent maritime incident to threaten Spain. Spain was determined not to sell its most valuable colony.

Strong political pressure from the American South called for an armed invasion of the island. Dixie plantation owners and merchants spread rumors that Britain planned to seize Cuba, free the slaves, and establish an "Africanized republic" that would serve as the basis for an anti-slavery uprising in the United States.

As part of this pressure, three American envoys to European countries, after meeting in the Belgian city of Ostend, sent a memorandum to President Pierce suggesting that Cuba be conquered by force.

On the island of Cuba, the Havana Club, which politically spoke for the sugar oligarchs, agreed to drive out the Spaniards and enter the United States, working closely with slavery supporters in the southern United States.

However, the Cuban middle class opposed the pro-American elements, and the politically minded activists among them were divided into two factions. One was the autonomy faction, which demanded greater political autonomy for the island of Cuba but did not demand complete independence from the Spanish colonial power; the other was the patriotic faction, which advocated the establishment of a "Cuba for Cubans" without any foreign rule.

In 1869, the patriotic movement gained enough strength and support to launch a large-scale anti-Spanish armed uprising. At that time, Britain and France supported Spain's rule over the American colonies and used Cuba as a core line of defense to curb the expansion of the United States. Therefore, the uprising ultimately failed, and the Americans did not wait for the right opportunity to occupy the Cuban colony.

The key to seizing Cuba lies in the support of Britain and France for the Kingdom of Spain. Under the current coordination among Britain, France and Spain, the US government, in order to counter Britain's sabotage of the International Conference of the Americas, has temporarily suppressed its ambition to attack Cuba and instead directed its expansion directly to the Caribbean and northern South America.

On January 1889, 1, representatives of eight countries, including Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico, led by the United States, signed a trade agreement and announced the establishment of the American Customs Union. The signatory countries opened up their local economic fields and granted the same tariff reduction and exemption preferences to other signatory countries. The six Central American countries and Mexico were no match for the Americans in the industrial and economic fields. The seemingly equal and reciprocal trade agreement actually provided an excellent excuse for American capital to reasonably and legally control the economy and politics of the seven countries.

The six Central American countries cover an area of ​​about 50 square kilometers and have a population of about 400 million, most of whom are of Indo-European descent.

In the economic field, except for the sugarcane industry, which has a long history of cultivation and is controlled by Western countries,
More than 70 percent of industries related to the national economy, such as cotton, tobacco, cocoa, sisal, grain and cash crop cultivation, animal husbandry and forestry, food processing, mineral resource mining and smelting, are controlled by American capital.

The establishment of the American Customs Union means that the Americans have completed the final step in completely controlling Central America.

After officially announcing the signing of the agreement by the eight governments, the US government immediately took a number of countermeasures.

One was to impose an armed blockade on Tortuga Island, where the Caribbean Squadron was stationed, on the pretext of maintaining the security of maritime trade routes in the Caribbean and clearing the surrounding waters.

Second, on the issue of the construction of the Isthmus of Central America, the US government, on the one hand, demanded that the British give up their right to interfere in the construction of the canal, and on the other hand, secretly contacted Panamanian independence elements, intending to gain independent control over the construction of the canal by instigating Panama to secede from the Republic of Colombia.

Third, on the territorial dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela, the US government took the initiative to contact the Venezuelan government, promising to support Venezuela's reasonable demands on territorial issues and providing strong backing for Venezuela to deal with the threat of force from the British Empire.

The territorial dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela has a long history.
In 1814, Britain gained control of Guyana from the Netherlands and began to send colonial officials to administer it.
In 1831, Guyana officially became a British colony and was named British Guiana.

After 1850, the British gradually pushed the border between Venezuela and British Guiana westward.
and then in the 1880s into territory historically belonging to Venezuela.

Venezuela is a small and weak country, and is no match for the British Empire in terms of military strength. Therefore, the colonists of British Guiana have always ignored the protests from Venezuela.

Venezuela is rich in mineral resources and untapped oil resources, and is close to British Guiana, the British bridgehead in South America. The Americans intervened and brought their military and political influence into northern South America, which has a completely different meaning from the previous economic expansion.

Faced with the Americans' strong counterattack, the British government ordered its diplomatic agencies to issue a strong statement against the United States, and at the same time ordered the army and navy stationed in British Guiana to strengthen their vigilance and be alert to the movements of Venezuela and the US Navy.

The local government's strategic focus is on Paraguay and the Republic of Brazil. Han is separated from the United States by most of South America. Even if the local government learned of the hostile military actions of the US fleet against the Caribbean Squadron stationed on Tortuga Island, it would not be able to take effective countermeasures.

Britain and the United States are the two major powers that dominate American affairs. Under the current realistic conditions, the Han government does not have the strength to directly confront the United States.

Therefore, in the face of the struggle between Britain and the United States for dominance in the northern region of South America, the local government could only follow the British. On the one hand, it exchanged insults with the Americans, and on the other hand, it issued orders to the Caribbean Fleet, ordering the fleet to end the confrontation with the US Navy after handling matters such as the transfer of Chinese civilians and the arrangement of armed personnel on land, and immediately withdraw from the Caribbean waters and return to the mainland for repairs.

After the local government made concessions and voluntarily withdrew its Caribbean fleet, the border line of confrontation between the United States and Britain was officially pushed forward from Central America and the Caribbean region to Venezuela and Colombia in northern South America. The two countries' competition for dominance in South America also entered its most intense and white-hot stage.

Thanks to the classmates in the book, such as the little book boy in the house, Nantang Yishao, the invincible savage tribe, the black wind buffalo, the confused face, Eagle Eye 112, etc. for their rewards!
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(End of this chapter)