Heart of the Revolution #4
Britain was drowning in debt right now. And the worst of it all was the debt it owed to America. At this moment, Britain owed the United States an enormous amount of gold.
Britain wanted to wipe out part of that debt in exchange for granting independence to one of its colonies. But that was never going to happen. In some ways, America's rich were even above the American government. They had no intention of forgiving Britain's debt. They'd rather have America join the Western Front. And Coca-Cola was no different.
'Just go to war!' That way, they could sell one more bottle of Coca-Cola in Europe. The Korean Cola being sold in Europe right now was seriously irritating Coca-Cola's shareholders. Because they believed they should be the ones selling it.
In that sense, the gold swap Britain had just agreed to with Korea was turning heads not just among America's rich, but even the American government. 'These bastards?' What country makes a gold swap deal in the middle of a war? When entire nations are printing money like crazy, only gold holds any real value. So which country would swap gold—not even currency—in the middle of that? It was basically just standing as a guarantor.
Yet, astonishingly, Korea had agreed to lend Britain gold for a set period. They even promised to redeem it in physical gold right after the war ended, handing out a numbered ticket to that effect. Even though everyone could plainly see the Korean pound—guaranteed by that gold—would plummet in value compared to the British pound.
If it was just a swap for a limited time and an exchange at face value upon redemption, wasn't that basically giving it away for free? At a time when no one was redeeming anything, not redeeming was the national rule. Swaps were the same. But Korea was blatantly breaking that rule, issuing Britain a redemption ticket for gold. Hell, they were even saying they'd lend more if it ran short right away.
'Are they insane?'
Naturally, America saw this as an affront to friendship. And they demanded even more fiercely that the Anglo-Korean alliance end and that Britain free its colonies. They'd originally planned to pressure Britain with debt, but since debt wasn't working anymore, they switched to military pressure. If they wanted America to intervene on the Western Front, Britain had no choice but to comply—they laid down the ultimatum.
Seeing that, it was clear Britain was under Korean influence, so it had to be done all the more. Thus, at this point, the Anglo-Korean alliance was opposed by both America's rich and its government. Truly, all of America viewed the Anglo-Korean alliance as a blasphemous, evil pact that mocked the world. Korea would probably nod in agreement if it heard that.
Under America's relentless demands, Britain finally promised the Anglo-Korean alliance would fade into history. Korea subtly agreed. Alliance or not, Korea had zero intention of burying itself on the Western Front, that grave for those Yankee bastards.
If Korea wasn't going to bleed massively, America's intervention was an absolute precondition for Britain and France. Hell, they had to win first, right? Without America, whether they could win at all became a matter of probability.
So Italy was reduced to a dog chasing chickens. 'Hey, what about my Egypt?''Why the hell is Egypt yours?'
If America joined, the Southern Front wasn't needed. Just push them back on the West. Britain, France, and America all agreed on that. No need to seat Italy at the table.
To Britain and France—or rather, Britain, France, and America—Korea honestly seemed to have no ambitions in this war, and its actions backed that up. So it was someone they absolutely had to drag to the table. Hell, weren't they paying money together? If Korea went home before paying, they'd be the ones in trouble. Who just gave Britain gold? Korea. Compared to Italy, which wasn't paying properly and just wanted to gorge itself? Not really needed.
Britain and France might be riding the Italy coin, but America's thinking was especially so. Especially if Italy was demanding colonies! If Britain and France had to choose between Italy and America, they'd pick America, of course.
So America used submarines as an excuse to declare war on Germany. Stirring up public opinion, resolving on total war, and joining in. Above all, this war was a just one to thwart Italy's colonial ambitions and promise the dismantling of the British colonial empire. That's what America thought.
Korea's base assets—all its tangible and intangible resources—were currently flowing to the Soviet Union. Technology, resources, experts, and so on.
Was Korea just doing giveaway diplomacy to the Soviets? Of course not. In exchange, Korea was getting gold. The gold that would later flow to Britain.
Astonishingly, the Soviets at this point didn't need the Tsar's gold much because their economy wasn't in ruins—inner war aside. Releasing gold in this economic state would just trigger inflation. What the Soviets needed to flood the market with now was vodka.
Lenin and the Supreme Leader had such a bilateral deal from the start. They'd known each other for a long time, after all. Naturally, both the Soviet and Korean leaderships had known this for ages. And they had no complaints.
For the Soviets, survival was more urgent than gold, and they knew damn well what Korea was giving them wasn't something you could buy anywhere. Japan was rolling on the floor clutching its stomach over it. Even if Japan begged and pleaded, Korea wouldn't give it up—but it was okayed for the Soviets.
Japan had wanted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Korea from the start, but it just got torpedoed. Even now, Japan wanted to build a colonial empire in Southeast Asia together with Korea, but Korea was shaking its head, saying it had no interest in colonial empires. And if Korea said no, Japan couldn't do it.
The Soviets, on the other hand? 'Can you teach us how to use this tractor?''We'll build you a factory first.''How do you store this fertilizer?''We'll build you a power plant first.''Can we attend your training? We want to observe.''We'll dispatch a military attaché.''We'd like Korean advice on the Persia issue.''We'll join if you want.'
Of course the Soviets had no complaints. Gold? They could earn it later. Korea was happy to make gold, and though it wondered if it should give away even this, since the Supreme Leader said to, it just sold it. Rather, giving this away to grow a friendly neighbor quickly aligned with Korea's national interests—or so it seemed, anyway.
And from the start, Korea had offered the Soviets and its people a path other than gold. 'Petroleum?''Honestly, the gold standard and silver standard are far from beneficial. Go with petroleum.'
The Soviets knew Korea suffered from oil shortages. Just like gold-standard countries lacked gold. But if a gold-standard country that also lacked oil—and silver—like Korea had to choose between gold and oil, it'd pick oil without hesitation.
So guaranteeing currency value with oil. To the Soviets, Korea was a fixed consumer base for oil. A reliable source promising steady demand. Then guaranteeing currency with oil? Of course. That would leave some gold surplus. And silver too.
And right now, Korea was proposing a bargain sale—no, insider trading. That's why even the most hostile comrades said Korea was using the Soviets, but never said to refuse the deal. They'd say to use Korea instead.
Korea had lured Britain with gold for good reason. Gold would trend up long-term, but it wasn't as precious as during this war. America intervening on the Western Front? The war would probably end at lightspeed.
Obviously, once America's intervention was confirmed, Germany couldn't advance east even if it died. Not even the most adventurous military faction would claim America would cross Siberia to the east!
That bought Korea the most crucial thing: time. Then, 'While negotiating currency with financial powerhouse Britain centered on gold and Korea's silver, turn resource powerhouse Soviet into Petro-Ruble to end Korea's silver standard long-term.' When the whole world tasted the spicy flavor of decolonization later, Korea could hole up in a corner of the planet without much issue.
Korea was a big country, but Britain and the Soviets were bigger. Plenty of cushion even if the Great Depression hit later. 'Then just watch the neighbors' house burn.'
America was instigating coups, the Soviets revolutions— the world wouldn't have a peaceful day. Britain and France wouldn't just take it lying down, after all.
Korea—the Korean Supreme Leader—was prepared to grant independence to Taiwan and Japan too if America demanded, waiting for the next phase. The Soviet deal was promised long ago, Japan was rushing to sell its assets domestically, but the toughest negotiation with Britain was still ahead.
Britain. The British Empire. Finally backed into a dead-end alley. By blunting its projection, stripping base assets, tarnishing prestige, crumbling credit—making Korea's proposal Britain's best option once America joined. Korea prided itself on the multifaceted efforts to maneuver Britain into this situation.
But even so, it couldn't relax. First, the path Korea offered seemed to preserve Britain's interests in dominion and federation form, but that was truly the expressway to hell.
'Preserve influence over colonies via key currency? Go right ahead.' That was just a side branch. 'Feed financial powerhouse Britain gold to complete it as gold key-currency nation, send it down the pure financial-power path, then expose it to the American Great Depression as America rises against it as key-currency rival.' That was the real ejector seat. The main trunk.
The question was, did Britain really not know? Or could it cope somehow?
If Britain just swallowed Korea's gold and survived the American Great Depression with it, Korea would be screwed. But if Korea could rig the board so gold-standard Britain had overvalued assets and silver-standard Korea undervalued ones—and negotiate an exchange rate for gold and silver set by mutual agreement between Britain and Korea for the interim—then Korea could leverage silver's quantitative abundance over gold while covering silver's downsides like value drop against gold and fluctuations from new mines via insider deals with Britain.
Conversely, during the Depression, it could roll all the asset-value bombs into Britain, whose gold-standard assets would balloon. Cut Britain loose in the Depression? Britain would cut the whole world loose; why couldn't Korea cut Britain? Not only that—Korea wouldn't sell land or infrastructure base assets, but it needed foreign capital too.
In that sense, silver-standard Korea's asset value drop was ample reason for foreigners to buy in, while braking the asset value boom relative to wages. Speculators would think this was the bottom and dive in, losing their minds to the spice; short-term speculators would be forced into long-term investors.
Now it could sell some land and apartments to individuals, not just combos. Use silver-standard's asset-value-drop flaw like a sword to spin exports infinitely, erode world markets, attract foreign investment—and when the Depression hit, buy up all their panic-selling assets on the cheap as they desperately needed gold and silver. During the Depression, silver would hold value too, so I saw this as feasible. For exports, sell to the Soviets whose economy would expand even then. This negotiation with Britain was crucial in that sense. Not just screwing Britain over.
'Negotiate with Britain now to bulk up our currency weight, so Soviets can't pull shit with Petro-Ruble later.' Wouldn't the Soviets worry Korea might go Petro-Korean if they fucked around? Even now, giving stuff away—would Soviets not bare teeth at Korea? I didn't think so.
Only power and negotiation got you what you wanted. I dreamed of a nation that could negotiate with key currencies, not just be one. And for that, complete Britain—now close to key currency—as a full one.
Korea itself needed Britain's permission to switch to silver standard. None of it was easy, of course.