Chapter 420 Roosevelt's Concerns

"There is oil in the Siirt Basin?!" Churchill read the telegram sent by Ambassador Samuel several times with an incredulous look on his face and shouted. "How is it possible!! This is impossible!!"

In the mid-to-late 19th century, the second industrial revolution represented by electricity and internal combustion engines emerged. Since then, oil has stepped onto the stage of history and played an irreplaceable role. Without oil, factories cannot start work. Without oil, airplanes, warships, and mechanized troops are just a pile of scrap copper and iron. Without oil, there will be no modern industry and modern industrial powers. Therefore, countries have launched a fierce competition for oil resources.

As a British Empire with colonies all over the world, it is naturally keen on exploring for oil. Although the oil production in Britain and its colonies is not outstanding, the British have used their strong capital and influence to infiltrate major oil fields in the world. From mining, transportation to sales, the British can be seen.

As for Libya, the Italians and even many British oil exploration experts have also explored it in the early years, and the conclusion is that Libya is a barren land without oil.

But how come oil is suddenly discovered now? !

Or a large oil field that can support Europe's ten-year war? !

"Oh my God! Have you abandoned the British Empire?" Churchill groaned in pain and slumped in his chair.

After a while, he barely pulled himself together and called his secretary to tell him. "Send a telegram to President Roosevelt and send him this message." The Soviet Union can't be counted on. Now only the United States can help Britain. After all, Roosevelt certainly doesn't want to see Germany dominate Europe.

After the secretary left, Churchill read the telegram again. "Flying bombs?" If it's true as Salazar said, the number of such flying bombs is enough to bomb London for a year, then London will be razed to the ground?

We must find a way to intercept such flying bombs. But Salazar, that greedy guy, will definitely ask for a sky-high price. Britain has sent 470 tons of gold to Spain. When has the British Empire suffered such a loss? Thinking about it makes me hate it.

After thinking for a long time, Churchill issued another order. "Send a telegram to Ambassador Samuel. As long as the Spanish can get a full set of 'flying bomb' drawings, the price is negotiable." As long as the drawings of this flying bomb are obtained, Britain can also produce it to fight back against Germany.

In the White House on the other side of the Atlantic, President Roosevelt, who received Churchill's telegram, was also shocked and immediately found Marshall to discuss the matter.

Marshall read the telegram and his face was a little heavy. "If the Germans find enough oil, I think it will be difficult to win even if we join." The industrial strength of the European continent is no less than that of the United States, and the population is far greater than that of Britain and the United States. However, the weakness is that resources are short-term, especially oil is very dependent on imports, and food, cotton and non-ferrous metals are also insufficient.

Now that oil, the most important factor that can affect the war, has been solved by the German army, it is really difficult to defeat Germany completely. "The best way is to send bombers to destroy the Libyan oil fields immediately."

President Roosevelt sighed helplessly. He didn't want to. But he dared not act rashly now. According to the opinion poll released by the National Broadcasting Corporation of the United States two days ago, his public support rate was only 29%, a record low. Another 66% of the American people do not support the Roosevelt administration.

As mentioned earlier, because Yannick in this time and space took the lead in using all kinds of new policies and reform methods in Germany, Roosevelt's measures to save the US economy do not seem so new. The opposition party sarcastically ridiculed Roosevelt as a "copycat" president, and even if a monkey sat on the presidential throne, it could do better than him.

Therefore, his approval rating is much lower than that of the original time and space. Not long ago, the sinking of the "New Jersey" and the secret support for Britain occurred, and his approval rating is falling.

The proposal put forward by Congress to change back to the neutrality bill has been placed in front of him. Although there has been no response so far, he can't delay for long. Maybe those isolationists will really initiate a motion to impeach the president.

"What a bunch of idiots!" Roosevelt cursed angrily, not knowing who he was scolding. "These short-sighted fools only covet immediate benefits and comfort. Don't they know that if Germany wins on the European continent, it will be a disaster for the United States!"

Because the United States is far away from the traditional center of the earth, the Eurasian continental plate, and because of its huge national size, it has an absolute dominant position in the American continent. There is no country around the United States that can threaten the national security of the United States, so the national security of the United States is much more stable than that of traditional Eurasian powers.

Militarily speaking, the United States has almost no enemies on land. Therefore, the United States can develop the navy first without hesitation in history, without having to invest heavily in the army. As long as the ocean is controlled, no country can threaten the security of the United States. This is a condition that the powerful countries in Eurasia do not have. After achieving naval hegemony, the army will be developed. The US military has never had to consider its own national security issues when fighting foreign wars, because it is located in America and has a strong navy. So it can deal with its enemies with all its strength. This strategic advantage is not available to the powerful countries in the Eurasian continent. The United States was not attacked by any country in World War I and World War II, which is an obvious example. And this advantage is very huge. Especially in modern warfare, the demand for industry is huge, and the strategic advantage brought by the unattacked industrial system will be decisive. Once the war is over, the United States, which has not suffered any damage to its industrial system, can easily economically colonize countries devastated by war.

But such a geographical advantage is also the fatal weakness of the United States.

In theory, the United States is actually the edge of the world, not the center of the world. Because it is too far away from the world island (Asia, Africa and Europe), it is very easy to cause isolation and closure. This disadvantage of being far away from the world island is the fundamental reason for the backwardness of the culture and technology of the Native Americans - they could not learn the most advanced culture and technology of other civilizations on the earth for thousands of years, which caused the American civilization to be in the late Stone Age when Europeans discovered the American continent.

Therefore, the United States cannot participate in the affairs of the Eurasian plate, and it is difficult to influence the politics and economy of the countries in the Eurasian plate.

This has been the case since the founding of the United States, so the United States has established a national policy of heavy industrial power after its founding. When Britain, the world's first industrial country, gradually abandoned heavy industry due to the huge benefits brought by financial hegemony, the United States, Japan, and Germany, however, regarded heavy industry as the foundation of the country and gradually caught up with and surpassed Britain. At this time, the collapse of the British Empire was only a matter of time.

However, the rise of heavy industry can only enable the United States to participate in international trade, not in international politics, and it is even more impossible to have a voice in the world.

So how can the United States achieve world hegemony?

That is to use the contradictions of the Eurasian plate to establish a strategic fulcrum, participate in global affairs, and achieve world hegemony.

Once Europe is unified, will the United States still have the conditions for world hegemony?