Soft Power

Propaganda for the war between the United States and Britain should not only be carried out in the Americas, but also in Europe. In particular, the communications tower on Flores Island, which the France bought from the Portugal, has finally been completed. With the help of this tower and several other towers, Louisiana and Europe can finally communicate directly by radio.

This was a momentous event. Before this, Europe and the Americas were separated by vast oceans, and the speed of news transmission was entirely limited by the speed of ships. If something happened in the Americas, it would take several months for the news to reach Europe, and then several more months for Europe to react and send its decision back—by then, the situation would have changed drastically, and the decisions made domestically would likely be inappropriate.

In fact, this problem wasn't limited to Europe mother countries and their colonies. In fact, any vast empire has faced this issue. Because the speed of information dissemination has its limits, these countries encountered problems controlling their peripheral regions. If they insisted on centralized power, the entire empire would become a thunder dragon. Considering the speed of nerve conduction, if someone were to cut its tail, it would take half a day for it to know. And the reaction speed of a large empire would be even slower. Of course, it was still much better than discovering decades later that the Red Hare Kingdom was a Marxist-Leninist cult.

Therefore, like the vast empires of antiquity, Europe nations could only entrust the full rule of their colonies in the Americas, and elsewhere, to governors. Aside from the fact that the governorship was not hereditary, the governor was essentially a feudal lord in terms of power. However, this meant that the Europe mother countries worried that the governors might rebel, declare independence, or even establish their own kingdoms. To maintain firm control over these colonies, the Europe mother countries had to ensure that their power over the colonies was overwhelmingly superior, even if it meant sending only a small force to conquer and rebuild the entire colony. To possess such power, it was necessary to suppress colonial development, especially industrial development.

For example, Spain's atrocities in its Americas colonies were not without reason. One important objective was to suppress the development of these colonies, as this was the only way to ensure the mother country's rule over them.

However, the situation changed after North America gained independence. In the original history, after United States independence, the United States was surrounded by these weakened colonies, which allowed the United States to expand rapidly. Apart from Canada, the world's strongest Britain, which received support from its mother country and was able to survive, no other country's colonies could withstand the United States. Even in this timeline, before the France returned to the Americas, the Spain were repeatedly bullied by the United States Americas.

Thus, these Europe countries were caught in a dilemma. If they continued to suppress the development of their colonies, preventing them from even producing a single bullet, they would be easier to control. However, they would inevitably be bullied by the United States. Today they would cede five cities, tomorrow ten, and then they would have a night of peace. But when they looked around, the American army was already there.

Developing colonies and giving them even slightly weaker industrial capabilities than the United States would certainly make him stronger when facing the United States. However, it would also lead to another problem: the colonies might simply declare independence, just like the United States did.

Considering the possibility of United States invasion, the option was to sell the colonies for profit if all else failed; however, if the colonies gained independence, everything would be lost. Therefore, in most historical accounts, the choice was to continue suppressing colonial development. When Napoleon reclaimed Louisiana and began Louisiana large-scale development, many Europe were waiting to France fail. They believed that before long, the developed Louisiana colony would likely experience a wave of independence movements, perhaps leading to another North America Revolutionary War.

Of course, some people suspect that Napoleon might have intended to send one of his sons or a brother there to become king. For example, Franz from the neighboring country had always thought this way and had hinted more than once that if Napoleon made the Louisiana Overseas Departments into the Kingdom of Louisiana, they could provide the Kingdom of Louisiana with a princess who could be queen.

However, the advent of radio communication technology made it possible to carry out efficient, centralized rule in various parts of the vast empire. After this communication line was established, the Louisiana Overseas Province truly became a larger and more remote province.

However, at this time, one of the most direct impacts of the opening of this line was reflected in the news.

With the opening of this route, news from Europe Americas could appear in Europe newspapers within hours Americas, and vice versa.

This advantage in information dissemination has made France's already dominant media system even more advantageous. For example, in Europe today, the France have essentially monopolized the reporting of news from the Americas. Media outlets in other countries can only reprint the news. And in the Americas, reporting on the situation in Europe has also become the exclusive domain of France media, since, apart from the France, everyone else only has old news.

These days, the focus of France newspapers is naturally on the war. However, the fighting in Europe is not intense at the moment. The Eight-Nation Alliance has still not landed in Britain, and in Spain, they are merely continuing to blockade the Gibraltar fortress. But the Britain had made some preparations and stockpiled a considerable amount of supplies, so there are no immediate problems with supplies or food shortages. As for a direct assault, looking at the Gibraltar fortress, everyone has lost interest.

Therefore, the wars in Europe today are almost entirely passive, like a sit-in war. Such wars are truly uninspiring. While the level of warfare in Europe has been high so far, the intensity hasn't been particularly great; it hasn't caused much direct pain to the people of the Europe continent. On the contrary, the wars have even led to some economic improvement. So, Europe not only don't fear the war, but many are actually watching with a sense of detached amusement. The current passive wars in Europe are simply too unsatisfying. Therefore, when war reports from North America arrive, they immediately pique everyone's interest.

Prior to this, France newspapers had reported on the British Army's atrocities along the North America coast, but that was old news from several months ago. Moreover, due to poor communication channels, the reports were relatively brief. After the new communication channels were opened, both Les Science Truth Daily and Le Businessman's Daily provided detailed descriptions of the battle situation in North America.

The newspaper "Science Truth Daily" first devoted an entire page to a systematic review of the war situation before France entered the war, including the British Army occupation of Washington and the subsequent burning of United States coastal cities by the British Army. In short, at that time, the impression of the United States was that it was vulnerable and was being repeatedly defeated by the Britain.

The following is a description of France's entry into the war. France's entry immediately changed the entire course of the war; the Britain began a series of defeats, while the France army won victory after victory. Although * Science Truth Daily * pointed out that the France troops fighting in North America were mainly militia, whose fighting strength was far inferior to that of the regular France army, and that the Britain retreat was largely due to logistical difficulties, the continuous reports of victories still filled the France people with immense pride.

"Hehe, our France militia can drive the Britain into a complete rout. France is truly invincible!" a young man reading a newspaper said smugly.

"The militia of the Louisiana Overseas Provinces are mostly German-speaking overseas citizens. It's amazing that even they could achieve such a victory," another young man couldn't help but say. "If we went there, wouldn't we have given the Britain a sound thrashing?"

"Why haven't we landed in Britain yet?" someone else asked.

"However, the newspapers also mentioned that our successive victories were mainly due to our navy cutting off their supplies, coupled with our significant numerical superiority, and for some reason, the Britain were more willing to surrender to us because we are civilized people."

"Where? How could such a thing happen?"

"Turn to the next page. It says that some United States soldiers refused to accept the Britain surrender and even used lynching to kill prisoners. Look at this report, it mentions that the reporter witnessed United States killing captured British Army with bayonets. And here it is..." The man began to read aloud.

"... Near Aurora, about a company of the British Army surrendered to Commander Bock's cavalry battalion. In his haste to pursue the enemy, Commander Bock handed the prisoners over to Captain Andrew of the nearby United States. Third Georgia Legion, instructing them to take the prisoners to our POW camp in Fuller. Captain Andrew readily agreed and assured them he would deliver the prisoners to the camp."

However, after completing his mission, Battalion Commander Bock discovered that the POW camp had no record of receiving these prisoners—they had all vanished. To prove that Battalion Commander Bock hadn't lied about his achievements, our forces contacted the Third Georgia Legion and located Captain Andrew, who had received the prisoners. Captain Andrew confirmed that he and his infantry battalion had received ninety-two prisoners from us in the Aurora area. As for the prisoners' whereabouts, according to Captain Andrew, on the way to Fuller, the prisoners mutinied, attempting to seize American weapons, and then, in self-defense, the United States killed them all.

"Well, look at this, do you really believe that a group of unarmed prisoners who have already surrendered would actively attack a fully armed army that outnumbers them? The Britain aren't good people, but Britain 're not stupid. These people were undoubtedly slaughtered by those United States."

"Those United States are from Georgia? I remember their homeland was ravaged by the Britain. Hmm, the Britain carried out a 'scorched earth' policy there, so it's not surprising that they would do something like this," one person said.

"Indeed," said another. "However, while they may have had their reasons, it's not the way of civilized people. And if these Britain were prisoners they had captured, I wouldn't say anything—after all, the Britain are barbarians, and barbarians do as they please; barbarians have no honor to speak of. But in this matter, the Britain surrendered to us! We guaranteed them all the rights promised in the Joint Declaration between the Holy See and the French Republic after their surrender. Aren't they trampling on our honor by doing this?"

"Barbarians wouldn't know any of this!" said another.

"Damn it, but..."

"Yet they are still our allies. It's true, the Turkey are more civilized and civilized than them."

In North America, France newspapers, on the other hand, would introduce the achievements of Europe civilization, for example, highlighting the "Joint Declaration of the Holy See and the French Republic," promoting the spirit of tolerance and magnanimity, and elevating it to the level of whether a country or a nation is civilized.

This naturally includes explicit or indirect accusations against the various wartime atrocities committed by the United States. And these reports have elicited different reactions in different parts of the United States.

In the South, Southerners don't care about these lectures at all. They don't care whether you're civilized or not. In short, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is the Moses Law!

However, in the North, the Northerners cared more about Europe opinions. Therefore, they often blamed the Southerners for going too far, damaging United States's international image, and dragging them down. Of course, the Northerners knew they couldn't say this directly; otherwise, the Southern slave owners would erupt in anger. So they changed their approach: they joined the France idealists in praising the spirit of tolerance, extolling the Joint Declaration of the Holy See and the French Republic, and strongly demanding that the United States also respect universal values, actively join the declaration, and thus truly become a civilized nation.

Thanks to France's advanced technology and strength, the universal spirit proclaimed by the France is always considered particularly good and inspiring. This is especially appealing to the United States public, particularly in the North. As a result, many people in the United States, especially in the Northern states, have emerged who, although they may not speak French, strongly identify with France spirit.

These people, however, immediately noticed as soon as the war ended that United States still had many "uncivilized" aspects, such as United States.