The Flames of War Are Ignited

At that moment, in the White House of the United States, President Hoover was sitting at his desk and cursing furiously.

Unfortunately, none of it did anything to improve the terrible situation facing the United States, even though President Hoover had already smashed several antiques from his office collection.

President Hoover had originally thought he could take advantage of the Coolidge Government and, by leading the Americans out of the economic crisis in a grand feat, turn himself into one of the greatest presidents in American history.

But he had never expected that, not long after taking office, he would find himself facing a dire crisis unlike anything any previous American president had ever encountered.

America's most difficult periods should have been the War of Independence and the Civil War. But back then, their strongest enemy had merely been the United Kingdom, and they had still enjoyed the assistance of the French people.

Now, however, not only had the Anglo-French-Australasian powers taken the opposing side, but nearly thirty countries had also turned against the United States and joined this war together.

Although they had deployed only a small portion of their armies, the combined forces of thirty countries still exceeded eight hundred thousand troops—more than ten times the size of the United States Army.

Even worse, the United States Navy, which the Americans had always been proud of, amounted to little before the Combined Fleet of those countries.

The Royal Navy had mobilized in full force. It was obvious that they intended to crush the United States Navy outright and then come and go freely across American territory.

There was another piece of bad news: the United States was no longer at the height of its power. The economic crisis had left the country's finances desperately strained, and it remained