Chapter 1280: The United States Strikes a Heavy Punch

The leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Allies of the Third World are all real, a position that India has never reached since. Who could think of India now, when India had also appeared as one of the parties mediating the Franco-Vietnamese war at the Geneva Conference.

“What are you thinking about, my dear?” A wicked grin flashed across Pamela Mountbatten’s face and she felt that her absent-minded husband, must be reminiscing about the glory days of the colonizers.

For once she had really guessed wrong, Alan Wilson was not thinking that way, “I was just thinking that if war is chosen one must be prepared for all wars. Otherwise that’s what will happen to India.”

When the Indians bravely stick out their chests, the enemy falls back? Is this a strategy a modern man can come up with? It is not surprising that Nehru was depressed.

War has repercussions for any country, except that because of the disparity in national power, some countries manage to fight it off the hard way.

Take Britain, which at least survived the Boer War plus two world wars and now can’t really fight anymore. At least not with the permanent members of the United Nations.

While Alan Wilson was being far-reaching, the ceremonies to remember Nehru continued, and there was still a great deal of affection for the de facto founder of India.

In a sense, Gandhi, whom Alan Wilson ridiculed, was also a hero of India. Though it is true that Gandhi’s idea was to turn India into a big rural village.

An era has its own ideas, and the era in which Gandhi made his case for independence cannot be evaluated by the ideas of later generations.

When did Gandhi argue for independence? It was before the First World War, when Gandhi would have been betrayed by the Indians themselves to the colonial government of British India, not to mention shouting nonviolent non-cooperation.

At that time, Britain was the real Empire of the Sunset, in the First World War from India to recruit soldiers, Indians are enthusiastic to join the army to maintain the glory of the Sunset Empire, the enthusiasm is not lower than the British mainland. In the eyes of the Indians at that time, there was no country in the world that could fight against Britain. What Germany would surrender in three months!

In a society that was going through fire for the Sunset Empire, Gandhiji dared to cry for independence, and certainly deserved Nehru’s praise for Gandhiji. As for the change of heart that began to come over India when it realized that Britain was not much more powerful than the other powers, that’s a different matter.

As the last Viceroy of British India, Mountbatten was symbolically important, appearing from beginning to end until he stood next to the woodpile where Nehru was to be cremated.

This was the kind of occasion Allen Wilson honored, and incidentally pulled Pamela Mountbatten away, not wanting to witness the cremation.

The Foreign Secretary and Mountbatten were there anyway, and US Secretary of State Lasker’s appetite for showmanship was so great that he addressed Nehru as the greatest man of our time in front of a crowd of Congress Party executives.

But in reality, what Lasker is most interested in communicating to the British right now is what the future situation in India will be, and in particular whether India will fall into the arms of the Soviet Union, as Indonesia did. If this is a possibility, the United States wants Britain to use its influence to intervene.

“The Congress Party, while favoring social justice, is still very different from the Soviets’ philosophy.” Alan Wilson thought to himself, the Americans really look down on Britain, is a country of India’s size something that can just be intervened in? “Some hasty considerations and put into action could inflame the situation in South Asia. Our view is to wait and see what happens.”

Rab Butler agreed, naturally considering much the same as Alan Wilson, that America had overestimated British influence, and that once colonization was out of the way, there was no going back. And to hope to influence the political situation in India? It was an overthinking.

“We simply believe that Britain should play an important role in Indian affairs.” Lasker said calmly, “The United States has always respected British interests in South Asia.”

“Thank you America for your respect!” Alan Wilson responded smilingly, “We want the situation in South Asia to be smooth and do our best to maintain the current situation stable.”

Can not be because the United States to pour ecstasy soup on the drift, India since it has become independent, the United Kingdom is not likely to come back.

Really believe the words of the United States, the United Kingdom is the lack of heart, faced with the dilemma of the dilemma, probably equivalent to, a major country on the one hand, the release of aircraft carrier propaganda film to prove that I can build, and on the other hand, test-fired anti-ship ballistic missiles, proving that the arsenal of the ship I can also, and then asked the Americans how to follow.

This kind of far-reaching decision-making can not be a pat on the head, the reason why the United States will encounter naval problems, is not because the collapse of the Soviet Union feel invincible, and then get out of the Jumbo Walter class, the Littoral Combat Ship that kind of bad stuff, squeezing the normal renewal program? Waiting to look back, dozens of main ships lined up to reach the end of service life, resulting in constant money fleet is getting smaller and smaller.

Visible decision-making mistakes is how terrible, no matter what the Americans say, the United Kingdom has to remain calm, Alan Wilson also did not forget to take the opportunity to open the mouth, “I hope to work with the new U.S. administration to solve this problem.”

Mountbatten finally returned with the peculiar odor of open-air cremation in India, Allen Wilson immediately evaded, looking for his wife to go and bite his ear, this occasion is more appropriate to leave to Mountbatten.

In India these two days, the U.S. election officially kicked off, McCarthy as a fighter, to Lyndon Johnson launched a challenge.

President Lyndon Johnson had succeeded to the presidency of the United States after the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, almost a year ago, and Johnson had managed to associate himself with Kennedy’s popularity.

Many believed that Lyndon Johnson would lead the Democrats to a resounding victory, and that is exactly what happened, with public opinion generally unfavorable to McCarthy.

This was especially true since several of the Republican candidates took radical positions on the South Vietnam situation, and this included McCarthy himself. Lyndon Johnson claimed that nuclear war with the Soviet Union would break out once McCarthy won.

The war accusations against McCarthy, combined with Kennedy’s influence, made Lyndon Johnson invincible, and even the Republican camp just hoped that McCarthy wouldn’t lose by a record margin.

As the voting began, McCarthy’s disadvantage became more and more apparent, and in the end, Allen Wilson, a good friend, failed to work a miracle and lost this election.

However, it is worth noting that this election, although McCarthy lost, but he managed to win seven southern states, in the past, the Republican Party has never won in the southern states, due to a number of southern Democrats dissatisfied with the Democratic Party’s support for the civil rights movement, began to support support Republican Party’s ideas, marking the Republican Party in the South gradually gained advantage.

This shift, too, was noticed by the Republican camp, and McCarthy, though defeated, received encouragement from his fellow Republicans.

Got the news Allen Wilson know, this election is considered to be the exchange of the basic disk of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the later generation of the United States election map pattern is also taking shape, from which you can see, the Democratic Party for the first time in the absence of a split in the case of the loss of the southern base, and from then on, the southern base of the word has formally gone into the history.

Alan Wilson, who had finished attending Nehru’s funeral, was the first to send his best wishes to McCarthy, hoping that the old friend would not be discouraged and would build on his success.

Re-elected Lyndon Johnson needed no consolation; he had been successfully re-elected, and now, for his part, had to practice bravery and give the North Vietnamese, who had bombed American carriers and opened fire on the United States, a run for their money.

First to arrive in Washington was South Korean Foreign Minister Lee Dong-won, and with the expectation of South Korean President Park Chung-hee, Lee met with Lyndon Johnson to express South Korea’s willingness to go to war. This was a great thing for Lyndon Johnson, who was struggling with the issue of conscription and the potential for citizen discontent.

“We are willing to spare 2,000 soldiers to provide support for U.S. military operations in Vietnam.” Lee Dong-won spoke with what could be described as a generous heart, and of course he did not hide the fact that South Korea was now poor and nearly engulfed by famine last year, and that South Korea had to ensure domestic stability, which required some economic support from the United States.

At this time, South Korea to express the value of unification is just the right time, for Lyndon Johnson, the United States to give support to countries like South Korea, in the easy but, on the contrary, these allies of the United States, willing to send troops are few and far between, the United Kingdom on the pretext of containment of Indonesia can not act, France, needless to say, and now almost in all areas and the United States against the United States.

Federal Germany and Italy are both defeated countries, especially Germany directly facing the Soviet Union, the United States is also reluctant to weaken Germany’s arms in the face of the Soviet Union ground threat.

After exhorting the Koreans, Lyndon Johnson called a military conference and sought out former President Eisenhower to hear what the five-star general had to say.

“Bombing will help accomplish this. The bombing would not completely eliminate infiltration, but it would help weaken Hanoi’s resolve to continue the war. So I think the time has come for the president to change the retaliatory strike to a pressure campaign.” After listening, Eisenhower turned to Lyndon Johnson and said, “Has the Pentagon assessed how many troops are needed?”

“Probably eight divisions will be needed.” Lyndon Johnson didn’t hold back and said, “If we don’t listen, the entire Central South Peninsula and even all of Southeast Asia will be lost.”

“I wish we didn’t have to use so many troops, but in that case, let’s do it.” Eisenhower didn’t hesitate too long before expressing his support for the ground war.

Since even Eisenhower, an American hero, supported the war, there was no longer any obstacle in front of Lyndon Johnson, and the three-year-long bombing campaign against North Vietnam officially began at this moment. At the same time along with South Korea continued to increase troops to South Vietnam and began to make preparations for a ground war.

“Do you know what to do when you get back to Perth, honey?” Alan Wilson inquired hesitantly as he took his wife’s arm to the airport to say goodbye.

“The Americans are invincible and the North Vietnamese are dead and wounded.” Pamela Mountbatten heartily rushed her husband’s reply, “I understand all that, and Australians love to hear it.”