*Savannah, Georgia*

"You think dey know who did it yet?"

"Not yet, my friend... but soon. Very soon, it'll be time to let them know why they suddenly couldn't speak to each other."

"All dey gotta do is start listenin, and dey'll be able to hear, you know. Start listenin to de People insteda dey pocketbooks. Greed'll do nasty things to a man- make him keep folks as slaves, and make him turn a blind eye to de sufferin of others."

"We'll have to fix that. Ensure that similar troubles continue to plague the countryside. Don't cripple the infrastructure... we'll need it when our time comes. No, cripple the enemy in the minds of their followers. Last month, we interfered with their ability to talk; this time, I plan to make use of their fondness for mass communication. Ensure that this information makes it to our operatives. All we have to do is make people listen, and they will think."

"And anybody dat thinks knows dey's gotta be a better way than thousands livin with empty bellies."

"So we will make them think... and make them see."

August 1908
The Austrian Embassy supplied drawings for simple rod liners to allow CSA designed torpedo tubes to launch the KuKK's umbiqutous 18 inch torpedos. This would eliminate any supply problems with the CSA built "Konfedaerater" small Torpoedobooten.

August 1908
The Newport News Navy Yard received a postcard from Aden, in bad Norman:

"CSS Mudd good ship. Fight good."
signed by "SMS Sankt Sava man-crew"

Quote from: Borys on November 21, 2007, 04:33:43 AM
August 1908
The Newport News Navy Yard received a postcard from Aden, in bad Norman:

"CSS Mudd good ship. Fight good."
signed by "SMS Sankt Sava man-crew"

This postcard is placed under glass and mounted under the worker's entrance to NNNY, along with the commissioning portrait and current one of the ship. Overtop is a plaque that says "Still Strong As The Spirit That Built It."

Converted to placeholder

St. Valentine's Day, 1909

Several blurbs begin appearing in Confederate newspapers about socialist groups meeting at varrious times along the Georgia coast. Savannah in particular has several seperate groups.



23FEB09

A public socialist rally in Savannah. Several small businesses are forced to remain closed because their workers attend the rally instead. LOcal police manage to keep order, but the croud has swelled to over 250 by noon.



St. Patrick's Day

Green becomes red as thousands converge upon Atlanta for a meeting of the Georgia Socialist Party, the first truely organized occurance of it's kind in Confederate History. The concleve sends meesages to other major socialist groups to call for similar meetings in other States, backing A. Turner as a candidate for President in the upcoming election. By the 15th of March, 6 other States have organized meetings of a more organized Socialist party along the lines ofwhat has been seen in Georgia. Several more small strikes spread, though attendance at any one event has yet to break out of the hundreds.

To summarize:

Throughout 1908, there was an increase in the number of Socialist Party rallies, and many local socialist party groups formed in support of running a candidate in the 1909 elections. This put the fear of God in many people, and they began looking for a hero to save them from the new threat.

AS 1908 drew to a close, the CSN prepared to complete a move it had long been planning- Savannah Naval Yard was to be shut down, and the infrastructure transfered to Charleston. Most of the equipment had already been moved (explaining why nothing had been built in either yard for some time). By the week before Thanksgiving day, 1908, the last of the slipways at Savannah had been closed down, and the equipment was on it's way to Charleston.

At this point, the Socialists- who had a strong following among the dock workers, who had saw the end coming for some time- struck, and agitated a riot. Over 1500 now unemployed dock workers participated, many of them gaining arms by breaking into local militia armories and stealing weapons. By the 21st of November, 2500 armed and angry men had barricaded themselves inside the defunct navy yard. President Clark attempted negotiations, but they failed about noon on Thanksgiving day. Shots began to ring out, and local police and county sheriffs attempted to break the stranglehold.

They failed miserably.

The dock workers had secured several M1896 machine guns, and more than 25 law enforcement officers lost their lives. Public outcry lead to political uproar, and a few well placed notes were passed within the halls of the Admiralty building in Richmond, and telegraphs went first to Fort Wheeler, Alabama and then back to Richmond.

On the first of December, Lt. George Patton arrived with several Moon Motors flatbed trucks he had modified by bolting on light metal plates. Each of these trucks mounted a machine gun in it's bed, protected from small arms fire by the metal. Additionally, Cpt. Omar Bradly lead 1000 infantry into the area. The combination of mobile machine guns and trained soldiers under one of the most up-and-coming infantry commanders in the CS Army was too much, and the untrained rioters fell back towards the waterfront... strangely unpursued.

At this time, two old destroyers steamed into the harbor at high speed, knifing their way towards the old waterfront. They began firing on the areas held by the rioters at only 2 miles, and the effect was staggering. As they closed on the old piers, they opened up with their heavy machine guns. Many rioters tried to escape, but Patton and Bradley's forces had received orders to 'take no prisoners; they are all guilty of the murder of those police officers.' By dawn of the 3rd of December,  Only 18 of the nearly 2500 rioters were alive, and they were taken to Richmond to stand trial for murder and treason.

The destinies of two men, friends since their first day at VMI, were shaped by this event:
Patton, with much bravado, explained to the press how the combined forces had bravely carried out their duty with only 14 casualties.
Bradley was simply seen to mount his horse, and ride away... some said weeping for the loss of life on both sides.

On a more upbeat note, 1908 saw the first addition to Confederate territory in almost 25 years, as the CSA purchased Haiti from the French. The island still maintains a French naval base, but plans were in the works for a Confederate Naval base from the beginning, and on New Years Eve, the first group of 6 TR-200 torpedo rams sailed into port at the newly opened Samana Bay Naval Base.

Rumors are a new army corps will be raised and a new, dedicated military command will be opened for the island, which is to be treated as a semi-independent protectorate until it's citizens wish to vote on statehood.

Politics became complicated in the CSA in 1908, or rather, moreso than normal.

The Democrats were implicated in a vote-fixing scandal in which they attempted to change the demographics of the Socialist-leaning former Republican stronghold of Atlanta by recruiting the poorer workers of that city to work on the Grand Canal for the French. 5 local and two national-level officials were indicted and tried for unethical practices. The Democrats lost a lot of face in this incident, and are now considered a party in decline.

The Republicans stumbled, but did not fall. They distanced themselves from the Democrats and their scandal, but the party suffered a split and lost many members of the continued tendency of Eastern Republicans to support Segregation. "'Separate but Equal' is not, in principle, a bad thing, but never, in practice, works out to be a good one" one disgruntled Senator from Sonora said.

The Socialists began the year strong, gaining a new sense of organization and purpose. Their candidate for office, Alvin Turner, however suffered tremendously when the Thanksgiving Riot broke out in Savannah and a red flag flew over the dockyard held by the rioters. Still strong among some the poor in the CSA, the Socialists have nonetheless lost much face and there is talk in Georgia of outlawing the party altogether.

The Confederates gain from the losses of the Republicans and Socialists. Their message of racial equality and more jobs through an enlarged military cause many poor Whites and Negroes defecting from the shamed Socialists to join, and the military accomplishments of their prime figures (not to mention the promise of lucrative contracts) attracts the admiration (and pocketbooks) of more liberal-thinking Republicans who seek to end Segregation (and make a fortune). At the moment, they appear to be the 'compromise party' of choice.

Nice work.

The Gran Colombians would be impressed with the response to the Savannah incident.

Politically, Savannah might lead also to some interesting "pork barrel" politics if closed bases/lost contracts/job transfers are touted as precurssors to socialist uprisings.

The Habsburgs hail the stance of the CSA authorities versus the degenerate troublemakers. Yet another crime caused by the Godless Socialists! Let us pray for the Salvation of Misguided Souls! And for Just Retribution for the Evil Ones!

And pray the socialists never develop this technology: ;D

LOL!

Are you sure that wasn't what happened in the Eastern Kingdom-Swiss-UKA War on 1904?  ;D


As for the news:

January 1, 1909

The Mark is saddened by the bloodshed within of Confederate friends borders.  Such incidents can be avoided, but not easily.  Change is a difficult thing that the Mark understands well, having been forced to change many times while still attempting to maintain our culture and our way of life.  While our people are said to be over 8,000 years old and still going, that does not mean we have not changed in that time.

These clashes with the socialist movements and labor seems to becoming more frequent every year in some countries.  We hope that the efforts of the Rohirrim to remove the stain that was the Anahuac Empire from Mesoamerica has not left a new red stain in its place.  A stain that may threaten our friends.

The rare stupidity of that picture is something I just keep staring at ....