The Rise of Australasia

Which of the remaining Central American countries would stand up against the United States? Honduras is the first to be ruled out, after all, a portion of its territory had been occupied by the United Kingdom, and Honduras harbors a hatred towards the United Kingdom that is far more severe than its animosity towards the United States.

That leaves Guatemala and El Salvador. El Salvador is a region coveted by Australasia, and being a country with small influence, it won’t have much impact on the United States.

In contrast, as one of the largest countries in Central America, if Guatemala were to erupt into civil war again, it would completely destroy the U.S. dominance in Central America.

With this in mind, the British Government hesitated no longer and directly contacted the resistance forces in Guatemala.

The finances of Guatemala were still controlled by that same United Fruit Company.

One has to admit the cunning of the American people. Merely by leveraging a single company, they could easily control the economy and politics of many Central American nations.

But the American-supported governments were mostly military dictatorships, which did leave some local dissatisfaction.

It was this dissatisfaction that presented the British with an opportunity.

Manuel Estrada Cabrera, the current President of Guatemala, was a dictator who should have been overthrown by an armed uprising a few years ago.

Although not yet deposed, the discontent within Guatemala towards Manuel Estrada Cabrera had been deepening gradually.

The opponent of Manuel Estrada Cabrera that the British found was actually Carlos Herrera y Luna, who historically had overthrown Manuel’s dictatorial rule.

Carlos Herrera y Luna was considered the most outstanding politician and businessman in Guatemala since the 19th Century. Although he had not yet become president, his business acumen was already extraordinary.

He founded the Pantaleón Sugar Mill and acquired the El Baúl Sugar Mill at the beginning of the 20th century. He was visionary and tenacious, developing crop and machinery production during his tenure. His Pantaleón Sugar business controlled a far greater share of the Central and South American market than the American sugar companies, ranking in the top ten.

Being able to exceed the capital of American companies within the same industry, Carlos Herrera y Luna’s business talent was evident.

As one of the largest businessmen in Guatemala, Carlos Herrera y Luna held a significant weight in the country.

Once approached by the British, Carlos Herrera y Luna immediately voiced his opposition to Manuel’s dictatorship and, with British support, decided to join the uprising against the dictatorship.

Joining the uprising as well was José María Orellana, the future President of Guatemala who had not only overthrown Manuel’s dictatorial rule but also subsequently unseated the government of Carlos Herrera y Luna.

Arthur was unaware of the British actions, but as soon as the news of the rebellion in Guatemala broke out, President Coolidge, already somewhat agitated and anxious, collapsed.

No one understood better than President Coolidge what the civil war in Guatemala meant – it represented the complete disintegration of American rule in Central America.

Even if the United States continued control over the Panama Canal, the sin of successively losing the majority of Central America would be sufficient to mark President Coolidge as the most incompetent President of the 20th century, surpassing his predecessor President Wilson as the most disappointing President to the American People.

Now the Americans had no mood to consider whether the insurgencies in these countries were influenced by other nations. For the American Government, choosing which countries to suppress the rebellions and how to respond to other nations’ interference were the most pressing issues.

The rebellion in Costa Rica was still tolerable for Arthur, but the subsequent uprising in Guatemala made Arthur realize the possibility of British involvement.

Seeing an opportunity to quickly take control of El Salvador, Arthur no longer hesitated, instructing the Foreign Affairs Department to make contact with El Salvador at once and deploying intelligence organizations to station in El Salvador to help drive out all American military forces.

This was indeed the best and most reasonable opportunity to seize control of the situation in El Salvador.

Only at this time did El Salvador most need support from the outside world, because without the help of other countries, the possibility for this small nation to stand up against the Americans was not great.

If they had American support, they could still guarantee independence. But if they were independent from the Americans, whether El Salvador, surrounded by other Central American countries on three sides, could ensure its own independence and safety was a question.

This was also the reason why, among the Central American countries, El Salvador alone had no reaction—simply because of its weakness!

Three countries in succession directly triggered civil wars, and all three were Central American countries under American control, which made other countries watch with a spectator’s interest, eager to see the Americans become a laughingstock.

The American government had no other choice but to condemn these countries’ rebel forces at the international level on one hand, and on the other, to express willingness to assist the governments and militaries of these countries.

But such condemnation by the Americans meant little to Central American countries, for even if there had been no support for previous rebellions, now there definitely was.

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No matter what the rebels had originally thought, now, there must be the shadow of other powers behind them.

This was also why it was unrealistic for the Americans to want to resolve the Central American rebellions alone—America could not possibly counter all the powers with just one country, unless its navy and army were very strong, which was not the case in reality.

The present United States was strong in industry and economy, like an old man with only property, posing no threat to these robust powers.

If one looked closely, the military strengths of these powerful nations generally matched their economies and sometimes even exceeded them.

Only the United States, a country with a natural geographic advantage, had a very strong industrial and economic development, but its military strength did not match its economy.

The Foreign Affairs Department of Australasia acted quickly and soon made contact with the forces opposing the government in El Salvador.

These Central American governments were all influenced by the American government, and Arthur would definitely not woo them.

Compared with wooing the government of El Salvador, Arthur preferred to seek out those in El Salvador’s civilian population who opposed the government and start from scratch to nurture a government in El Salvador that was friendly to Australasia.

Because a new government like this had one advantage—the rulers had no political foundation and therefore were highly dependent on assistance from Australasia.

This would greatly strengthen Australasia’s control over El Salvador and was far better than supporting the current government.

As for the current government of El Salvador, who would care or pay attention? After all, they were close to the United States; if there was any caring to be done, let the Americans take care of it.

In the two months of February and March, including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador, four countries all erupted into civil wars, instantly igniting most of Central America and drawing the attention of the whole world, also turning the American government into the world’s laughingstock.

At the same time, Panama, with an even greater American military presence, was not at peace. Panama was not satisfied with the Americans’ direct partitioning of the Panama Canal, turning it into a country within a country in Panama.

Moreover, Panama had only recently gained independence from Colombia, and it was well-known that Colombia aspired to reclaim Panama.

At the moment, there was frequent troop movement along the Colombia-Panama border, which was no longer just a possibility of the Americans losing Central America—it was highly likely that they could lose the entire Panama Canal.

And the chaotic situation in Central America during those two months caused the people of European countries to joke about it: "Chaotic Central America, war every day!" and they collectively referred to the numerous internal conflicts of the Central American countries as the Central America Wars.

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