The North Atlantic Alliance

The last of the three Grand Alliances, the North Atlantic Alliance stands unsteady as the guardian of democracy in a troubled world. Faced with the prospect of war with the League of Five Emperors on one side and The Anglo-Japanese Pact on the other, the members of the NAA find themselves as allies of convenience more than desire. Despite its immense economic might and massive populations, ideological differences, strained relations, and hesistant members threaten to split the fledgling alliance apart just as fast as it assembled.

By the late 1920’s Versailles University's multi-national, and free-state status made it the undeniable leader of the academic world. In total, they owned about 10% of the land mass in New Paris, with about 6% of the population of the megacity being involved with the University or its affiliates in some way. With this much control and respect, these times marked an academic renaissance centered in the Germinal Colonial system. Although all the professors were from off-world, Chérier culture had found its way into the campus culture among staff and students alike. With this, in its early years, the university attempted to remain an apolitical institution focused solely on the pursuit of knowledge. There was a particular incentive for the University to distance itself from French politics so as to not appear in violation of its extranational charter. However, as the university’s prestige grew, it became more difficult to maintain the trappings of geopolitical neutrality.

The early years of the University were marked mostly by recruitment and research efforts akin to any other academic institution, and as such they were mostly successful in sticking to apolitical goals. The appeal of life off world proved quite attractive for many of the top scientists at the time. During the first wave of recruitment in 1927 VU had attracted Werner Heisenberg from the University of Munich to head their physics department, Alfred North Whitehead from the College of London to head the Philosophy department, and Emile Durkheim from the University of Paris to head the department of Sociology. Since each of these men was at the top of their field at the time, this proved the viability of an off-world university to the larger academic community. The extranational appeal of the University brought an extremely multilingual, multiethnic staff all venturing out to take advantage of the free-thinking and tolerant culture of the University, as well as its free state status. This diversity worked two-fold to legitimize VU to the broader international community, as well as bring many of the best and brightest minds from Earth to the Germinal system. This however had the inevitable adverse effect of bringing the political distresses of Earth to the far-flung colonial world.

Although the goings-on of the University remained insular for the first couple of years, rising tensions and ideological disagreements among staff, students, and the administration in the early thirties began to transform what Versailles University's unique status as an independent state meant for the broader geopolitical world. For all intents and purposes, the first two years in operation the University was run like any other educational institution. The University was run by President Sir Thomas Herbert Warren from Oxford University, with a board composed of senior staff and initial investors. Warrens's leadership of the University was characterized mostly by the rapid expansion of staff, land, and wealth. His time as President of Oxford before his transfer brought many investors, as did the novelty of an otherworldly University. Warren had turned VU into one of the richest universities in just a few short years. This wealth however raised questions as to what the university ought to do with it. Ultimately the board decided that the funds would be used for international humanitarian goals.

In 1930 Warren issued a challenge to staff members from all departments to band together and create a proposal to the board as to how Versailles University might use its wealth and unique international status to better the whole of humanity. Such a lofty project was rather vague, but the results of this challenge was one of a humongous cross-disciplinary effort which unbeknownst to the board would drastically reshape the nature of the university.

A number of proposals ended up being presented to the board ranging from the mundane to the unattainable. The most promising proposal was held by a group consisting of Jane Adams, John Dewey, Goldsworthy Dickinson, Mia Boissevain, Aletta Jacobs, Rosa Manus, and Sakai Toshihiko. This group of Philosophers, Historians, and Political Scientists was composed mostly of like-minded pacifists who proposed the idea of a world government forum where the issues of Earth and its aether colonies could be hosted in hopes of finding peaceful solutions. The idea was that since VU was beholden to no foreign governments, it could act as a neutral host to the nations of the world, and could weigh in on the issues of the day from an impartial academic perspective. The idea was well liked by the board, and construction soon began on a colossal megastructure in central New Paris that could host the delegates from each nation in both a secure and grandiose way. The architect chosen for this task was Frank Lloyd Wright whose organic architectural style seemed fitting for creating a space of harmony and peace. Wright's pick was controversial, as many saw his more modernist approach to architecture as disrespectful to both the classical ideas of liberty and the more traditional architecture of academia, but nevertheless, the project pushed on. Thanks to the use of Balfour engines, advancements in modern building techniques, and most importantly an immense sixty-three million dollar budget, construction finished on the megastructure in just two years. In the meantime, Warren and the board of the University began lobbying the nations of the world to join in the endeavor with the promise of peace, prosperity, and mutual aid.

In the years prior to the opening of the World Forum, the idea garnered great enthusiasm in the world press. Some controversial headlines read “world peace achieved”, others predicted the “eradication of hunger in a post-famine world”, with very few in the press being outwardly skeptical. President Al Smith was amiable to the idea, and made the United States one of the first major powers to join in the effort, with Prime Minister Léon Blum very publicly encouraging the French President to join soon after. To the surprise of many, a week after France's entrance, Kaiser Karl I von Habsburg of The Holy Roman Empire joined as well, which prompted many of the more hesitant nations to support the project. By the opening ceremony of the first World Forum in 1932 a representative from nearly every nation state arrived in New Paris. Notably absent from the first forum was Basilius Viktor Balaskas of the Neo-Byzantine Empire, who refused to attend in protest of the entrance of the Republic of Turkey and the Safavid Empire. The first official meeting was mostly theatrical, with each nation's representative swearing an oath to abide by the principles of the World Forum, namely Peace, Prosperity, and Exploration. Despite the pomp, many viewed the first meeting as a smashing success. The press was flooded with pictures of world leaders shaking hands with historical rivals, and many looked hopefully at the future of the project. A famous picture of Marshal Józef Piłsudski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth shaking hands with Prince-Regent Felix Yusupov of The Russian Empire inspired hope for lasting peace in Eastern Europe.

The first year of the World Forum Project seemed at least an optical success. Delegates from each country began making sweeping promises and relations amongst hostile nations seemed to improve. Despite the enthusiasm for the program, events over the following year would expose a glaring problem with the international forum; that being that there was no institutional power that could ensure the Great Powers keep their promises. Although Versailles University was beholden to the laws of no state, the states certainly were not beholden to them. By 1933 it became clear that nation-states had no incentive to keep pledges made under the guidance of the International Forum. These concerns manifested most publicly with Japan and Joseon’s commitments to demilitarize during their cease-fire, so as to not heat up the war once again when it expired, only for both nations to publicly announce increases in military spending the following year. Unfortunately, debate could not counter deep-seated mistrust.

While the initial failures of the World Forum did little to shake public confidence, they were indicative of the future of the project over the next several years. The conferences were marred by continual failure. Although the alarm bells were not yet ringing in the public's ears, it was apparent immediately to the board at VU that something needed to be done to enforce the obligations agreed to by the delegates for the project to be a success. As a result, the board put forward a series of proposals to the World Forum throughout 1933 and 1934 for a variety of enforcement mechanisms. The proposal that came closest to passing was made that August, and would make member states required to uphold the promises made at the threat of economic sanctions by other member states. However, like all the others, this idea failed at the final vote. Many of the representatives stated that they feared it might lead to further promise breaking, particularly among nations whose economies were closely intertwined, such as the United States and France. Due to this failure the entire idea began to look ill-conceived. Institutional trust in the World Forum began to crack. Promises continued to be made and broken over the following years. Despite this, the Forum continued to meet.

The struggles of the board to find a solution to the weakness of the World Forum became an increasing concern across campus. By this point, faculty and students at VU had become deeply concerned with the political tension back on Earth. By December of 1933 the seeds of a great panic began to take hold at the university. A number of academics across disciplines began making predictions of a “Great Collapse” in the world order. This Great Collapse Theory cast a broad net of guesses as to what calamities might befall Earth in the next few years if the World Forum Project were a failure. In the eyes of many academics, including some of the founders of the World Forum, the increase in broken promises amongst nation-states would exacerbate tensions even more amongst rivals, to the point of potentially leading to war. A war amongst Great Powers would be disastrous and would fly in the face of all of the values that the World Forum Project stood for. This anxiety would spill over into nearly every aspect of campus life over the next few years, leading to rolling political demonstrations and protests amongst the student body. In an effort to lessen tensions, the board at VU issued another challenge to the staff: Save the World Forum, stop the Great Collapse.

The response to this new challenge did not go as smoothly as the first. Solutions to the Great Collapse varied widely among disciplines, political ideologies, and professors' home countries of origin. Debates became heated, sometimes to the point of violence. The high point came at the start of the Fall Semester in 1934. A student organization distributed a paper calling for the creation of a private military to be maintained by the World Forum for the purposes of enforcement. Upon being accused of fascist beliefs, a brawl started between this organization and other students, leading to campus gendarmes being called to break up the fight. The university moved to expel the leaders of both organizations, unwittingly sparking a massive campus-wide protest ending in the expulsion of forty additional students. Nonetheless, publications flew out of the University and were pored over and critiqued by academics and politicians alike. The stress of the entire ordeal was too much for President Warren, who had a stroke later that year. However, he continued to serve as president from his hospital bed until his death in 1938.

Consensus seemed like a pipe dream to many, but on June 8th, 1935 the board at Versailles University gave its official recommendation to the World Forum. They concluded that an International Grand Alliance system was the best way to maintain the peace and prevent the Great Collapse. This decision was highly controversial and led to the resignation of many of the University's faculty, who denounced it as uncritical and anti-intellectual. This was mostly due to the fact that the report itself was overwhelmingly positive both in its projections of economic growth under the Alliance System, as well as the social good it could cause. Notably absent however were the disastrous consequences of such a system in the event of war, as well as the effects of trade wars that would take place among opposed nations. Among the dissenters were World Forum founders John Dewey and Jane Adams, who declared that such a project would only serve to worsen the outcomes of a potential war between the Great Powers. In truth, the report itself was rushed, but the panic of the years-long fervor inclined many on VU’s board to agree that any solution was better than none.

The report itself advocated for the Great Powers of the world to partner with each other in mutually beneficial defensive and economic pacts. The idea was that the announcements of such large-scale defensive pacts would act as a deterrent to the ever growing geopolitical tensions; as an attack on one nation would necessitate another's support, who in turn would call their own allies. This domino effect of the alliance systems would then encourage the leaders of the Great Powers to give pause when threatening war, as any true conflict would inevitably lead to global catastrophe. Indeed such a system was thought to be to the mutual benefit of all in the name of world peace. Many economists remarked that the alliance system provided an opportunity to free up the markets of historically hostile nations, for without the threat of war, nation-states could co-mingle their economies to create a truly globalized economic system. Wars would be fought through embargoes and tariffs, not bullets and bombs. There was an overwhelming sentiment of optimism stemming from the report that this system of alliances would change humanity's course and lead to a brighter future for all. The report was viewed positively by many politicians internationally but did little to alleviate the concern of many on campus who believed that these alliances would merely exacerbate the problem in the event of war.

The report was lacking in one regard though. It failed to acknowledge the prexisting networks of alliances that currently held the world together. The oldest of these, the League of Five Emperors, had been in operation for over a century. While the newest, the pact between the British and Japanese Empires, bound up the majority of the other powers of the world. More clearly than anything, this proposal highlighted the precarious situation that the remaining nations found themselves in.

The report by Versailles University made it to the desk of President Lebrun in Paris two days after the conference on June 10th. Lebrun and his cabinet of like-minded Bonapartian Party members were alarmed by the report, seeing past the optimism laid out by the academics in Germinal. Rather to Lebrun’s eyes, the idea of a Grand Alliance System seemed the only way to even the field against the threat The Holy Roman Empire posed across the Rhine. To achieve this goal, Lebrun sent Henry de Jouvenel des Ursins, the Former French Ambassador, to Naples to return to the Republic of Italia in an effort to establish a formal alliance. This was not a popular pick among the Bonapartian party, as de Jouvenel was a socialist, but Lebrun knew he stood a better chance at convincing President Matteotti of Italy than the far more conservative current French foreign minister Georges Bonnet. Furthermore, Lebrun thought Bonnet’s talents as an economist more suited to seducing the United States into forming an alliance. As such, Bonnet was sent to the US while de Jouvenel went to Naples.

De Jouvenel was in a good position to negotiate this alliance. Not only was de Jouvenel one of the French ambassadors at the World Forum, but he also was well liked in both France and Italy for his hard-hitting journalism during his time working as associate editor-in-chief at the newspaper Le Matin during the Great Famine. There was much pomp and fanfare surrounding his visit to Naples in September of 1935. When his aethership touched down, there was reportedly a crowd of over two thousand cheering fans as he went to present his alliance system plan to President Giacomo Matteotti. Matteotti, a long time friend of Henry, joked to the press that de Jouvenel was half as handsome as himself yet had twice the crowd at his arrival in Naples than he had on his own election day. The meeting was a smashing success for de Jouvenel.

Given that France supported Italy during the Italian wars in 1856, and the Italian government, much like the French parliament, was more left leaning; it was no surprise that they were quick to affirm a new defensive pact with France. It was an all around boon to the Republic of Italia, as de Jouvenel negotiated an exceptional free trade policy with France and its colonial territories. Furthermore, the tension over Italy's borders with The Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy never fully simmered down after the Italian wars, and a powerful military alliance would act as a fine deterrent to keep their borders safe. The agreements of course did not happen overnight, but de Jouvenel’s left-leaning tendencies combined with his close relationship with President Matteotti made the alliance an inevitable success. After his success in Naples, Jouvenel returned triumphantly to President Lebrun, with the alliance between France and Italy being officiated at the World Forum in January 1936. Additional alliances followed shortly thereafter, with a reaffirmation of a defensive pact with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and a new agreement with the Republic of Argentina.

The arrival of Georges Bonnet to the United States was unwelcome news to President John D. Rockefeller Jr. Rockefeller and the Republican party were not happy about the radical shift to the left after the New Revolution in 1928. Although the Bonapartians controlled the Presidency, Prime Minister Léon Blum and the Liberal Party controlled parliament continued to push out left wing anti corporate legislation in France. Business interests in the US were deeply dependent on labor and production in Canada and did not wish for what seemed like the inevitable overthrow of the Great Lakes Trade Agreement by radicals in parliament. Although the US and France had enjoyed a friendship dating back to the foundation of the nation, Rockefeller was reluctant to accept any kind of new defensive or economic arrangements without an absolute guarantee that American business interests would not be under threat by socialists in France. As such, when Bonnet arrived at his first meeting with the president, Rockefeller declined to make any deals regardless of the assurances made by Lebrun and the Bonapartian party.

Bonnet spent the next few months in Washington proposing the alliance to both the Republican controlled Senate and House of Representatives, in hopes of swaying more party members to the benefits of a defensive pact. Many US politicians worried about getting pulled into a war in Europe. The risk to American lives in a foreign war seemed too great to many Americans, and the idea of a true defensive pact was taken off the bargaining table. Although this was discouraging news, Bonnet stressed the importance of forming some kind of alliance with the US as was deemed necessary by the World Forum. By this point, politicians in the US were quite dismissive of any of the World Forum ideas, so they continued to rebuke and criticize Bonnet's efforts.

After a few trips back and forth between France and Washington, Bonnet and Lebrun devised a new strategy to get the US on board. Instead of advocating for a defensive pact, Bonnet would use his skills as an economist to demonstrate the importance of continued economic integration between the two countries. Bonnet returned to Washington in April of 1936 to present his new proposal to Congress, this time with an emphasis on mutual economic aid in the event of wartime. This new plan would see the two nations produce and sell arms to one another in the event of wartime rather than engage with their enemies directly. As a result, in the event of a war, the party at peace would sell weapons to the other on credit and at a bargain price.

What was eventually settled on was the inclusion of the United States in a purely economic treaty with France, in which the US’s role would be one of a supplier. Being the largest producer of engines and weaponry in the world, the deal was attractive to many American manufacturers. And so the Lend-Lease Act was drafted so that in the event of war, America would provide France and its allies with US military supplies and equipment at an extremely low price and at essentially unlimited credit. This act was passed reluctantly in Congress in August of 1936, nearly a full year after his initial arrival. Although Bonnet was disappointed that the US did not join as a full ally, the deal proved satisfactory and he returned to France with diplomatic success under his belt.

During the few years after announcing the Grand Alliance system, the World Forum seemed to stabilize a bit. Nation states began announcing tacit alliances as their delegates and politicians began making agreements amongst each other. The process of alliance-making was slow, but many of the Great Powers already had tacit historical alliances that naturally worked their way together. Notably, The Holy Roman Empire's League of Five Emperors was fully formed before the proposal was even made. France’s announcement of its alliance with Italy came as no surprise to the delegation’s president. With the addition of the Poles, Argentinians, and American economic support, the beginning of a Grand Alliance was in place.

The events of December 25th, 1936 shook both the world, and the Forum, and threatened to dismantle the entirety of the delegation. That night, the Joseon Empire launched the Sichuan Blitz against the Japanese. Strike forces deployed from the mountains of Sichuan swept down in concert with an unprecedented air raid across the Strait of Tsushima. This was in abject violation of the peace both nations had enjoyed over the last five years since the cease-fire in October of 1931. The maintenance of that peace and ceasefire had been a top priority of the World Forum since its inception, and this attack and the Japanese backlash in the months after struck a mighty blow against the forum's legitimacy. Delegates from around the world and representatives from VU did their best to salvage any kind of peaceful negotiation between the two nations, but neither would listen, with both member states formally withdrawing from the forum in March. In solidarity with the Japanese, Great Britain withdrew their delegation in April, along with the representatives from all of their colonial provinces. In just a few months, a third of the world's population that was previously represented in the World Forum suddenly were not.

The World Forum continued to operate for the next two years, but to almost everyone's eyes, it lacked the same legitimacy it once had. The very idea that an unbiased, outside force could help settle the disputes of the nations came to be viewed as an out-of-touch, fanciful idea. One dreamt up from the ivory tower of academia, with no bearing on reality. Slowly more nations began to back out of the Forum in unofficial capacities. By June 3rd of 1938, only France and Italy maintained a permanent presence. With the project an evident failure, Versailles University decided to permanently dissolve the World Forum, leaving Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece to sit vacant, looming over the streets of New Paris.

Although the World Forum was gone, the existence of the Grand Alliance System weighed on in the minds of many of the world's politicians. After Auguste Charbonnier’s landslide Presidential victory in France in mid June, France set its sights on a new potential ally. Shortly after the election, President Charbonnier was presented with the Germinal Military Readiness Report. This report issued by his predecessor, outlined the vulnerability of France’s preparedness in mobilizing its military in the event of war. This was grim news to Charbonnier. In order to prevent the L'Aiglon conspiracy from coming true, he felt the French people must be ready to fight back against their perceived monarchist oppressors. Charbonnier felt it critical to find additional allies to strengthen its defense against The Holy Roman Empire, while he worked to reorganize the French government and military in preparation for the war he felt was certain to come.

To achieve this task, Charbonnier needed to appoint a new foreign minister who was up to the task. His first choice was, of course, Henry de Jouvenel des Ursins, who shared many of his more radical socialist beliefs. De Jouvenel however declined, as he had spent many years as a statesman and now enjoyed his comfortable celebrity retirement at his vineyard in Naples. Unfortunately for him, this rejection proved fatal for De Jouvenel, who became the target of a smear campaign by the newspaper, Le Lorrains. He was found dead in his home from a cyanide overdose three days after the publication of an article accusing him of a number of heinous acts. With De Jouvenel out of the picture, Charbonnier fell back on Georges Bonnet to act as foreign minister to the president. Bonnet was not a socialist and was not well-liked by Charbonnier or the Liberation Party, he was however a pragmatist, and accepted the appointment in hopes of not ending up like his colleague De Jouvenel.

Bonnet’s progress was slow going at first mostly due to most nations already being committed to other alliances. As a result, Bonnet felt his only option was to negotiate some kind of alliance with the Nordic Union who up to this point had remained a neutral power, though he still had yet to strategize how he ought to approach his upcoming meeting with the council in Copenhagen. Inspiration struck while he was reading a newspaper on his way back to Paris after a short visit to Marseille. Bonnet learned that Robert Grimm's efforts to unify Switzerland into the Nordic Union had been finalized on July 1st. Although France and Switzerland had a tumultuous relationship since the Italian wars, the Swiss' choice to join the Nordic Union was one made out of fear to deter The Holy Roman Empire from attacking. Bonnet reasoned that although the Swiss themselves would likely be hostile to the idea of an alliance, the security brought on by a defensive pact as a deterrent might change their minds. As a result, When Bonnet arrived in Paris he quickly sent a telegram to President Charbonnier about his strategy to win over the Nordic Union. Bonnet also sent private correspondents to Grimm in an attempt to find a winning strategy for winning Switzerland's vote in the Union.

Many members of the Nordic Union were very hesitant to agree to the terms proposed by Bonnet, though overall his tour seemed a success. Although The Holy Roman Empire by far represented a greater threat to the Union's interests in Europe than France, the idea of mutual military aid worried many of the politicians present that France might be planning an attack on the HRE. However, the threat of the increasingly unstable Russian Empire to their east made many consider the alliance even more beneficial as a deterrent. The fears of a plan to wage war against the League were mostly assuaged by President Charbonnier who, unbeknownst to Bonnet, made an appearance at the meeting in Copenhagen. Charbonnier stressed that the pact was purely conditional on external threats and would not trigger if France were to invade The Holy Roman Empire. These arguments, in tandem with Charbonnier’s natural charisma and Bonnet’s diplomatic maneuvering, were enough to get the representatives to vote in favor of the alliance in the following week via a rather tight vote. The alliance was announced on July 29th, and was met with protests in Switzerland, as many there believed in the event of war France would simply use them as a stepping stone to get at the HRE. One Swiss politician was quoted as saying: "We have gotten in bed with a lion to protect ourselves from a bear!"

Bonnet’s success in negotiating these critical alliances for France was sensational, making international headlines. This announcement set Bonnet up as a maverick foreign minister capable of landing any deal. This publicity proved dangerous for Bonnet however, as he wished to quietly step down after the council in Copenhagen to avoid angering the Liberation Party and meeting an untimely end. Although France’s deal with the Nordic Union had nothing to do with France’s other allies, stories all over the world headlined a Grand Alliance between France, Italy, The United States, the PLC, and the Nordic Union. These headlines were hasty in their assessment of the actual achievements of Bonnet, as he had merely negotiated the alliances with France, not an ironclad defensive pact among each member. Despite this though, the citizens of the member nations mostly cheered at the news of this large-scale alliance.

The news came as a shock to many world leaders, none of which had intended for there to be a unified alliance. Pressures at home from the overwhelming popularity of the announcement made it difficult for political leaders to denounce the headlines, and the organization of a third Grand Alliance on the world stage seemed to many to be a necessary development. To the surprise of many Americans at the time, President Rockefeller, just days after the lies in the news headlines, publicly called for the first gathering of what he proclaimed to be The North Atlantic Alliance at his estate in New York City. The Nordic Union was furious at President Rockefeller for this, as it suddenly legitimized an alliance with the US and Italy that the Union had never bargained for. The Italian response was one more of shock than anger, but they too in a public statement by the president tacitly acknowledged the legitimacy of the North Atlantic Alliance.

After a few more days of sensational headlines and heated debate in the council of Copenhagen, the Union decided to accept the American president's offer for a meeting, and sent representatives. At this meeting, leaders from each nation gathered and finalized the details of their grand alliance for the first time. France, The Nordic Union, and Italy agreed to come to the aid of any member who was attacked, while the US would play a cursory role through lend-lease in the event of war. All members agreed to free trade with zero tax on imported goods from any alliance member or their colonial possessions. President Charbonnier also agreed to maintain the Great Lakes Trade Agreement in Canada at the behest of President Rockefeller. Although the Italians and The Nordic Union were hesitant at first, each member left the meeting feeling that the alliance was in the best interest of each of them.

The League and the Pact looked grimly looked on to the announcement of the North Atlantic Alliance, judging accurately that the board was finally set, and the game was about to begin. Versailles University stayed notably silent on the establishment of the alliance, having turned inwards following their failure. When everything was said and done, and the North Atlantic Alliance was finalized on July 21st. One day before the scales would finally tip towards war.