American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

The previously boastful Britain and France suddenly panicked.

At that time, France had not yet developed nuclear weapons. The British had developed nuclear bombs in 1953, but apart from a few experimental bombs, they did not have many in stock, and the delivery method was limited to airborne.

The Russian side immediately halted its advance. It was only then that Gugurusha remembered that his country's nuclear weapons development seemed to be related to Austria. However, at that time, the leader was the bearded man. Although he was the bearded man's confidant, he was not fully aware of some classified matters. Some of the intelligence organizations that Gugurusha had participated in had also been shut down by him.

Without knowing Austria's specific nuclear strike capabilities, he had to consider the potentially serious consequences of a nuclear war.

Of course, he wasn't too worried. After all, his territory was so large that even if Austria had nuclear weapons, they probably couldn't reach his core area.

As for the member states, he wouldn't care about losing one or two.

Throughout the entire process, the United States, which should have been the most active party, strangely remained silent.

This is quite normal, because Hydra has made its move.

With Josie's help, Hydra has expanded rapidly in the United States in recent years and now basically controls the discourse in Congress.

The Council, Hydra's highest leadership body, is well aware that the nuclear weapons data from back then was provided by Josie.

Now that Josie's daughter is the Queen of the United Kingdom of Austria, and given the industrial system Josie has built in Europe, the other council members simply wouldn't believe that Austria doesn't have nuclear weapons.

Under these circumstances, the other council members would naturally also push for the United States not to interfere.

Otherwise, if a real fight breaks out, there will be no benefit whatsoever.

Amid this bizarre international situation, the date quickly arrived at January 31st.

Under the radar surveillance prepared by various countries, a missile was launched from the Alps, passing through the airspace of Germany, Denmark, and Norway, and heading straight for the North Pole.

As soon as the missile flew out of German airspace, the expressions of observers from various countries changed.

That's an incredibly long range for a strike!

Chapter 298 Viewing the Ceremony

On January 31, 1957, the sun shone brightly in the sky.

A massive fireball with a radius of five kilometers suddenly erupted in the pitch-black polar night environment of the North Pole, illuminating the entire Arctic sky.

Immediately afterwards, a huge mushroom cloud, nearly 40 kilometers wide and about 64 kilometers high, rose into the sky and lingered for a long time.

The shockwave generated by the explosion spread as far as an astonishing 1,000 kilometers.

Several countries around the world that had been closely following the launch of this nuclear missile fell silent instantly.

It has such a long range and such great power.

It's alright for the big countries, but wouldn't a small country be wiped out with just one shot?

"Can we launch a nuclear missile of this magnitude and in this manner? Can we intercept it using this launch method?" In the White House conference room, after listening to the summary report from Europe on the entire process of launching the nuclear missile, Eisenhower, who had just been re-elected last year, asked the group of military leaders and advisors in front of him.

The group of bigwigs looked at each other, but no one spoke.

Because this is a very obvious problem, and none of those involved are idiots. When that intercontinental ballistic missile broke through the atmosphere, everyone knew that with the current level of the US military, it was simply impossible to intercept it.

Eisenhower understood this very well.

He asked that question simply to find a reason for his subsequent compromise.

“Mr. President, while we cannot intercept such nuclear bombs, we can certainly manufacture and deploy them!” Just as everyone remained silent, General Maxwell Taylor, then Chief of Staff of the Army and an old acquaintance of Josie, spoke up.

His words immediately drew everyone's attention.

It's important to know that before this, the US military had conducted numerous nuclear tests, but the yields had always been kept within a certain range, and the delivery methods were primarily airdrops.

Missiles have been tested, but the technology for long-range strategic missiles is still not very advanced.

"Tell me about it?" Eisenhower nodded at General Taylor.

"In fact, our military and Boeing had already launched a series of strategic missile research programs as early as 1951 and achieved good results. However, this program was halted by the Secretary of Defense two years ago. Despite losing the support of the military, Boeing retained the relevant research data and continued its research, and made a new breakthrough last year. I reported this to the Secretary at the time, but it seems to have been ignored!" General Taylor said, praising Boeing while simultaneously trying to undermine the Secretary of Defense.

General Taylor's words made both Eisenhower and then-Secretary of Defense Charles Owen Wilson's eyebrows twitch.

The people present kept glancing at the three of them.

I immediately understood the trickery involved.

Who owns Boeing? It's a subsidiary of Continental, the conglomerate owned by tycoon Josh Kahn.

It was also the largest supplier to the U.S. Army and aerospace industry during the Truman era.

Moreover, since World War II, Josh Kahn's close relationship with the Army has been so well-known that anyone at a certain level would know it.

The General Taylor before us had maintained an extremely good personal relationship with Josh Kahn during World War II.

However, Boeing's cooperation with the military encountered some obstacles after Eisenhower took office.

The problem lies with the Secretary of Defense appointed by Eisenhower.

Before becoming Secretary of Defense, this individual served as president of General Motors for nearly ten years.

General Electric was the U.S. military's primary supplier during World War II, and it was not a member of the council but rather a separate entity with considerable influence.

However, during World War II, General Motors supplied military equipment such as airplanes, trucks, and tanks.

At that time, Josie mainly supplied daily necessities such as medicine and food.

Therefore, there was not much conflict of interest between the two sides at that time.

However, after World War II, with the help of the council and the Chicago consortium, Josie acquired companies such as Boeing and began to get involved in the arms business, which naturally led to conflicts between the two sides.

At that time, Josie had an excellent relationship with the Truman administration, and the military equipment developed by Josie's company was superior to General Electric's. Josie even joined the Truman administration as a senior intelligence official, and even Hoover, who once held absolute power, stepped down.

In this situation, even if General Motors sided with Howard Stark, it could only rely on its old foundation and scraps like contract manufacturing for most of the time.

After Eisenhower took office, he actually got along quite well with Continental Group. For example, he provided strong support for the robotics industry and the nationwide crackdown on organized crime.

In other respects, Eisenhower simply felt that Continental's influence over the military and government was too great, so he promoted some of Continental's rival conglomerates to be their agents.

Josie, whose actual focus was no longer in the United States, didn't take this seriously.

However, during the nearly one year that Josie was away from Earth, people from General Motors seemed to see an opportunity and began to cause trouble frequently. In particular, the Secretary of Defense used his authority to cut off many cooperation projects between the military and Boeing.

However, since the losses were not significant, Josie, who was not on Earth at the time, did not cause too much of a fuss—after all, the other party's actions were within the rules.

However, not pursuing it at the time does not mean that we will not seek it out when the opportunity arises.

And now is a great opportunity.

Boeing, owned by Josie, had developed the technology, but it was rejected by the Department of Defense.

The Queen of Austria was Josie's daughter, and Josie's Continental Group wielded considerable influence in Austria before suddenly acquiring strategic missile technology.

It's hard not to make the corresponding associations.

Faced with General Taylor's criticism, Defense Secretary Wilson wanted to call Boeing a traitor!

But he's a smart man; he knows that if he actually said those words, he'd only be laughed at.

Because Taylor only mentioned from beginning to end that Boeing had strategic missile technology, but never said that the technology used by Austria was Boeing's.

Such accusations, at this level, are very serious if no evidence can be produced.

Wilson didn't want to die in the street that day.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, this is my responsibility. I apologized to Boeing afterwards and resumed cooperation with them. I will make sure that our country has sufficient and excellent strategic weapons in the shortest possible time!" Wilson reluctantly took the blame upon himself.

"This matter isn't urgent. The most pressing matter is the founding ceremony of the United Kingdom of Austria tomorrow. Let's quickly discuss the visiting personnel; time is running out!" Eisenhower waved his hand, indicating this.

His words left his advisors exchanging bewildered glances.

Goodness, there are only a dozen hours left until Austria's founding parade, right? Does this mean the president is planning to go to Vienna in person?

Thankfully, airplanes are fast these days, otherwise it would have been impossible to catch up.

Similar situations to those in the White House are constantly unfolding in other countries.

On the French side, troops that were originally heading towards Germany were urgently recalled by the government.

At the same time, President Gustav Coty personally sent a telegram to Vienna, congratulating the establishment of the United Kingdom of Austria and stating that he would attend the military parade on time the next day.

In the UK, then-Prime Minister Robert Anthony Eden announced his resignation—and the reason for his resignation was not solely due to the Austrian situation.

In 56, at the same time as the Czechoslovakian crisis broke out, a conflict also broke out in Egypt, namely the historically famous Suez Canal Crisis.

In the original timeline, Britain, France, and Israel were originally victorious in this crisis, but they failed under the combined pressure from the United States and Russia.

However, in this world, the place where Israel was founded has changed, so it did not participate.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian army secretly received military support from Ouroboros.

So although they were not able to completely defeat Britain and France, they successfully prevented their military operations and shattered their dream of regaining control of the Suez Canal.

Subsequently, the United States and Russia also took advantage of the situation, criticizing the military actions of Britain and France.

In this situation, Eden's position was already precarious. He originally wanted to use the Czech-Hungarian crisis to turn the tide and divert attention from domestic problems.

For this reason, he even specially invited his retired former boss, Churchill.

However, an intercontinental nuclear missile completely shattered his plans, leaving him no choice but to slink away and announce his resignation.

What should we do if a new prime minister has not yet been elected?

Ultimately, it was only Queen Elizabeth II, who had just ascended the throne a few years prior and was only thirty years old (oh my god, even her name is now a censored term), who stepped forward to deliver a speech.

The speech lavishly praised the principle of peaceful coexistence mentioned by Queen Carole Kahn of the United Kingdom of Austria, stating that the friendship between Britain and Austria has a long history and that both sides should work together for the prosperity of Europe, and so on.