Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 562 Chilean Civil War and Haitian Crisis

In early November 1890, the ocean-going fleet arrived in Southeast Asia.

From early November to late December, with the impact of the victory in the Songkhla War and the arrival of the ocean-going fleet, a series of changes took place in the Nanyang and even East Asia region.

On November 11, a rectification storm was launched from top to bottom in Lan Fang. By the end of the rectification on December 3, a total of more than 12 officials, secret society members, and businessmen had been arrested, and the total number of people involved reached more than 17.

On December 12, Lan Fang announced that it would join the Han Empire and become an autonomous kingdom under the rule of the Han Dynasty, accepting the guidance of the Han central government in all aspects such as politics, economy, and diplomacy.

On December 12, the Kingdom of Joseon announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Han, and the diplomatic relations were upgraded to the ministerial level. The royal families of the two countries were engaged. At the age of 22, Princess Hyeyong Lee Min-eun, the daughter of Prince Heungin Lee Jae-gyeong, was engaged to the third son of the emperor, Lee Gyeong-yeong. When the two came of age, they were escorted by the Korean side to the South American mainland to get married.

On December 12, frightened by the Han Dynasty's ocean-going fleet, the Japanese government urgently approved a sum of financial funds to purchase several warships from Britain.

In 1891, when the Han Dynasty's ocean-going fleet was on a global tour, a fierce civil war broke out in Chile in the southern part of the South American continent.

The autocratic faction led by Chilean President Balmaceda and the pro-British faction led by Ramón Barros had a disagreement over a bill to nationalize mineral resources, which then evolved into a civil war that spread across Chile.

When the civil war broke out, the Chilean Army chose to support President Balmaceda, while the Navy sided with the congressional faction.

Starting from mid-January 1891, a number of small- and medium-scale armed conflicts broke out between the Chilean president and Congress, but no one was determined.

In February 1891, Congress recruited a total of more than 2 troops from the northern and central regions of Chile under its control, and imported arms from Britain, France, Germany and other countries to arm the forces.

In April 1891, after initial training and being equipped with weapons and equipment purchased from Britain, the Chilean congressional faction took advantage of its naval superiority, landed at Bisaza, defeated the local government forces, and successfully advanced to the inland areas.

In mid-April, Jorge Monte, the naval commander of the congressional faction, established a provisional government in Iquique and appointed himself as the president of the provisional government. After the establishment of the provisional government, in order to use external forces to suppress Balmaceda's faction, Monte compromised with Britain and France and successfully persuaded Britain, France and other European countries to stop selling weapons and warships to the presidential faction.

With the external lobbying and blockade of the congressional faction, and the loss of internal sea control, the presidential troops gradually showed signs of decline in the civil war. In order to save the crisis, President Balmaceda obtained the support of the US government at the cost of concluding a military alliance against the Han State, excluding British influence, and allowing American capital to enter certain economic fields in Chile.

In late April 1891, the U.S. government urgently sold four ironclad ships to the Chilean government represented by the president at a preferential price of US$4 million.

In June 1891, the ironclad ships sold by the United States, along with a batch of weapons and equipment, arrived in Santiago, the capital of Chile.

On July 7, the presidential faction, which had obtained weapons replenishment and some warship support, reorganized a counterattack and successively recovered the areas around the capital Santiago and the central region.

At the end of October, relying on the numerical advantage of the army, the presidential troops advanced to Iquique, the headquarters of the congressional faction.

In November, a fierce battle broke out between the presidential and congressional fleets off the coast of Iquique. The congressional fleet won and annihilated the presidential navy, but it also suffered heavy losses.

The small ironclad ships Captain Pratt, with a displacement of 6900 tons, Admiral Cochrane, with a displacement of 3600 tons, and Huascar, with a displacement of 2000 tons, sank.
The Encalada, with a displacement of 4000 tons, and the Esmeralda, with a displacement of 5000 tons, were damaged.

After the Battle of Iquique, the Chilean Navy, which once ranked first in the South American navy, lost more than half of its main forces due to internal divisions. Even though it won the naval battle, the congressional faction, which still had more than 20 large and small warships, lost the initiative in the war because of the failure in the land war and the greatly reduced area of ​​control.

In January 1892, the siege around Iquique continued to tighten, and after losing the reinforcements of several major port bases in the north and center, the frequency of the remaining fleet's harassment of the presidential faction and the damage it caused became increasingly less frequent.

In March 1892, after nearly four months of siege, the congressional garrison, which had run out of ammunition, broke out into internal conflict. On March 3, some troops gave up their defensive positions, and the presidential troops passed through the defensive gap and entered the city of Iquique.

On March 3, Jorge Montt, the leader of the congressional faction, who knew that the situation was hopeless, shot himself. The remaining troops lost their will to resist and surrendered. The Chilean Civil War lasted for more than a year due to the intervention of external countries such as Britain, France, and the United States. The long-term civil war caused a heavy blow to the originally wealthy Chile. The population was reduced from 13 before the war to less than 87. More than two-thirds of the main warships were lost in the tug-of-war and harassment wars between the two sides.

The total number of casualties on both sides of the war, including the army and navy, exceeded 3. For Chile, which has a population of only more than 80, the casualties of 3 soldiers were undoubtedly a heavy blow.

In retaliation for Britain and France supporting the Congressional faction and imposing a ban on weapons and warships on the Presidential faction, it was also to curry favor with the United States and gain greater support from the United States.

Chilean President Balmaceda directly passed all the policy proposals involving British capital that had been opposed by the congressional faction before the war, and liquidated and sealed off factories, mines and other industries controlled by the congressional faction.

The policies of Chilean President Balmaceda won praise and support from the United States, but also intensified the conflict with Britain and France. After the implementation of the new Chilean policy, the saltpeter, iron, copper, aluminum and other mining resources originally controlled by Britain were forcibly redeemed by the Chilean government.

Even the threat of British warships failed to change Balmaceda's determination to carry out nationalization reforms.

The Chilean Crisis was the second heavy blow suffered by Britain in the Americas after the Argentine War. Moreover, in terms of the amount and impact of lost interests, the losses caused by the Chilean Crisis far exceeded those of the Argentine War.

The successive changes in the Americas have not only exacerbated the contradictions between Britain and the United States, but also made Britain more aware of the future situation in the Americas.

The competition between Han and the United States has brought too much uncertainty and uncontrollable risks to the Americas. The time for Han to completely cede its dominance in the Americas and withdraw from the Americas may have to be shortened to 15 years or even 10 years.

Britain's foreign policy was adjusted according to changes in the situation in the Americas.

In June 1892, in retaliation for the United States' exclusion and damage to Britain's interests during the Chilean Crisis.

When the situation in Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of Haiti became unstable due to the secret intervention of Germany and France, Britain rarely stood on the side of Germany and France, acquiescing in the two countries' support for puppet regimes and the establishment of military bases on the island of Haiti.

Germany and France's actions to divide Haiti's sphere of interests and support the puppet regime touched the sensitive nerves of the US government.

The US government reacted strongly. On the one hand, it created a lot of momentum in diplomatic public opinion, claiming that the entry of German and French troops into Haiti was a sign of a full-scale counterattack by European colonial forces in the Americas and a threat and oppression to all independent countries in the Americas.

The U.S. government called on Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, the Republic of Brazil and other Central American countries to unite and speak out together to oppose the military invasion of American countries by European colonial forces.

Americans are very vocal in the field of public opinion, but due to the reputation of the three world powers, Britain, France and Germany, except for Chile and the Republic of Brazil, two countries whose interests are deeply tied to the United States, other countries, including Venezuela, which has repeatedly sought help from the United States, have not explicitly expressed the idea of ​​confronting Britain, France and Germany.

Seeing that there was no clear effect in the field of public opinion, the US government once again resorted to military threats, demanding that France and Germany withdraw their troops stationed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic within three months, otherwise they would bear the consequences.

Faced with threats from the United States, Germany and France continue to act on their own and, in accordance with the agreements signed with the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, methodically carry out the site selection, construction and troop transportation of military bases.

By September 1892, the number of German and French troops sent to Haiti and the Dominican Republic had reached 9 and 800 respectively as stipulated in the agreement, with the three-month deadline about to expire.

Germany, France and the fleets of the two countries sent to the waters of Haiti were on high alert. Finally, in October, when the ultimatum expired after three months, the United States, looking at the British, French and German fleets gathering in the Caribbean Sea, finally chose to be more rational than impulsive and remained silent.

With the tacit approval of Britain, the sharp counterattacks directly launched by France and Germany poured cold water on the enthusiastic Americans who had made successive victories in Venezuela, Brazil and Chile. Faced with the concerted expansion of colonial power by the three countries, the Americans realized that with their current weak army and inferior navy, they could not confront Britain, France and Germany at all. Moreover, not to mention the three countries, even if any one of them was singled out, it would not be something the current United States could deal with alone. The economic strength of the United States has jumped to the first place in the world, but in terms of comprehensive national strength, especially the military strength of the army and navy, it has a considerable disadvantage compared with the three countries. That is to say, when facing the Han State, it has a certain advantage in the navy, but this advantage is not overwhelming.

There is naturally no problem in constantly making military threats when facing Native American countries such as Colombia and Mexico, but if they are said too much, and domestic public sentiment runs high, and a war breaks out with major powers such as Britain, France, and Germany before preparations are made, the consequences will be disastrous.

The Haitian crisis gradually subsided, while within the United States, the voices of military expansion and preparation for war became louder and louder. Stimulated by Britain, France, and Germany, and facing the possible threat of counterattacks from the Han Kingdom, the US government, with rare efficiency, successively approved several proposals involving military expansion of the army and navy. It was also from October 1892 that the speed of military expansion in the United States suddenly accelerated, and a large number of military orders for the army and navy flowed to various military industrial enterprises. The domestic military industry in the United States also entered the expansion stage ahead of schedule.