Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 606 America, the Devil!
The chaos in America was another piece of good news for Carlo, no less than the victory in World War II.

Although the United States is not yet in complete chaos, considering its current international situation and domestic circumstances, it can be concluded that American hegemony is no longer possible, at least not for decades to come.

This is the biggest drawback of immigrant countries: because of the large number of immigrants, the country struggles to form an effective cohesion to combat major crises such as influenza and world wars.

More importantly, the scale of American industry and economy has now alarmed European countries. While the current chaos in the United States appears to be caused by the US government, it is certainly being fueled by other European nations.

Of course, Spain is among these European countries. For Carlo, the United States will always be a greater threat than any other European country, and one that deserves his utmost vigilance.

This flu outbreak presents a good opportunity. Even if it's not enough to completely dismantle the US government, it must at least be crippled to ensure that the US doesn't become an obstacle for Spain in a potential second world war.

Moreover, Carlo's plans for the United States certainly went beyond simply causing internal turmoil.

Since European countries are all willing to make the US take the blame, the US government will certainly have to take the blame for this flu outbreak.

The pandemic should be named the American flu, and the US government should compensate Europe and other countries around the world for their losses caused by this flu.

It doesn't matter if the US government is unwilling to pay compensation; Carlos has plenty of ways to sanction the US anyway.

Unless the United States wants to maintain its policy of glorious isolation, it will have to bow down to pressure from European countries.

In an effort to put greater pressure on the US government, European countries, led by Britain, France, and Spain, proposed an investigation into the cause of the flu outbreak within the League of Nations.

Although no direct accusations were made against the United States, all participating countries were aware that the US was the prime suspect and the primary target of the investigation.

Many European countries are unwilling to get involved if the investigation is only about the United States' responsibility.

However, if the investigation could result in the US paying a large sum of money, most European countries would be interested in it.

After all, this flu has caused considerable damage to industrial production and economic development in European countries. Under such circumstances, it is only natural for countries to demand certain compensation from the United States, the culprit that caused the spread of the flu.

The four major powers of the League of Nations agreed to investigate the cause of the flu outbreak, and the proposal was quickly adopted at a League of Nations conference.

When the international coalition officially announced an investigation into the cause of the global spread of the flu, the US government was also conducting its own investigation.

Unfortunately, public opinion is currently very unfavorable to the US government.

Not only newspapers and media outlets in various European countries, but even some newspapers in the United States are following suit and reporting news about the United States being the real culprit behind the spread of this flu.

The dissemination of these news reports has dealt a huge blow to the credibility of the US government.

The fact that the American public has begun to distrust the government is actually a major reason for the current deterioration of the domestic situation in the United States.

To change this situation, the US government must investigate the real cause behind the spread of the flu and produce real evidence to prove that it was an accident or that other countries were behind it.

Otherwise, the angry American public will sooner or later plunge the United States into complete chaos, and then the United States will truly be beyond saving.

The US government made many hypotheses about the flu, but after multiple investigations, it was found that it seemed to be just an accident.

But such an explanation clearly failed to convince the American public, let alone the European public. Faced with the continuous deaths of their friends and family, Americans simply couldn't believe that this flu was just a simple accident.

Angry citizens began storming government buildings, completely paralyzing the security systems in several American cities. If it weren't for the flu somewhat limiting public gatherings, the United States might have already erupted into civil war.

Of course, this is definitely not good news for the US government either. The security systems of many cities were paralyzed by the flu, which means that the citizens of these cities will receive almost no assistance from the US government during the flu season.

The security systems in these cities gradually collapsed as the flu spread. People fought each other over even the smallest medical supplies and food, sometimes even resorting to violence.

Throughout October, at least 5 million people in the United States contracted the flu, and nearly 300,000 Americans died from it, most of whom were young adults.

Scientists and medical experts don't have a definitive answer as to why the mortality rate among young adults was higher than that among the elderly in this flu outbreak. They can only speculate that young adults have stronger immune systems, leading to more severe fever and inflammation caused by the flu, and these complications are the root cause of their deaths. Meanwhile, the US government, after numerous investigations concluded that it was truly an accident, naturally did not refuse the international coalition's request to investigate the cause of the flu outbreak in the United States.

After all, an investigation conducted by an international coalition is more likely to gain public trust. And since the investigation is being conducted domestically in the United States, the US isn't worried about the international coalition framing them.

If the final investigation results are true, it will be good news for the US government.

The League of Nations investigation team, composed of experts in the relevant fields, arrived in the United States quickly. Although somewhat puzzled by the smiling welcome from the US government, the League of Nations influenza investigation team was not going to be polite to the US government.

Given that current evidence points directly to a military camp in Kansas, the first stop of the international coalition influenza investigation team was Kansas, in an attempt to trace the cause of the influenza outbreak and its transmission route.

Although this is where the flu first broke out, the number of deaths from it was not high. This is likely because the first wave of the flu gave the local population some immunity, and the first wave didn't cause much damage; the number of infections was also relatively low compared to other parts of the United States.

The investigation team interviewed several soldiers at the military camp where the flu outbreak first occurred, and then questioned several clinic doctors who visited the military camp. They ultimately confirmed that the flu outbreak did indeed occur at a military camp in Kansas, USA.

The US government also wanted the League of Nations investigation team to determine whether the flu outbreak was caused by an accident rather than human intervention. However, with the League of Nations' four major powers as its backers, the investigation team was unlikely to clear the US of suspicion so easily.

The international investigation team conducted a lengthy investigation in the United States but never provided the U.S. government with a sufficiently convincing report.

This unusual action has attracted attention from people in the United States and around the world, who are speculating whether the international investigation team has already reached a conclusion but has been blocked by the US government.

The silence of the international investigation team, to some extent, confirmed this suspicion. This infuriated the US government, as the international investigation team was clearly smearing the US, but the US government was powerless to do anything about it.

Ultimately, the actions of the international investigation team were reasonable and compliant with regulations. Before a clear investigation is completed, the international investigation team is indeed not obligated to provide the United States with a report.

More importantly, the United States was not a member of the League of Nations at all, and therefore had no influence on the League's decisions.

In addition, given the various speculations made by European and American media regarding the cause of this flu outbreak, the fact that the international investigation team has yet to release its findings is essentially providing more possibilities for these speculations.

The actions of the League of Nations investigation team were clearly adding fuel to the fire of America's already dire situation. The US government certainly understood what the four major powers of the League of Nations wanted to do: to extort money from the US while it was embroiled in internal turmoil.

The actions of the League of Nations greatly angered US President Wilson, who repeatedly stated publicly that the League's investigation team was blackmailing the United States, that any speculation about the spread of influenza related to the United States was fabricated, and that the United States would hold all newspapers and media outlets responsible for spreading such speculation accountable.

President Wilson's remarks, though seemingly tough, did not threaten European newspapers and media. More importantly, making such a statement at this juncture was perceived by Europeans as an indication of the US government's own insecurity.

In November 1918, something fatal happened to the US government.

An international coalition investigation team suddenly discovered evidence in the United States that suggests the outbreak was caused by a biochemical experiment in the country.

Although there is no clear evidence, some minor clues seem to point to this claim, adding much credibility to the speculation.

As is well known, this major flu outbreak first occurred on March 4, 1918, at a military camp in Kansas, USA.

On February 11, 1918, it appears that a chemical laboratory in Kansas experienced a leak, but the news was quickly suppressed by the US government.

Although there is no concrete evidence of a chemical lab leak, several photos of the military sealing off a chemical plant seem to support this claim.

The theory that a chemical leak caused the flu outbreak seems quite plausible. More importantly, the chemical plant was sealed off by American soldiers, and the flu first broke out at a military camp in Kansas.

When this news spread from the League of Nations investigation team, international public opinion was in an uproar.

Although it has not yet been confirmed that the flu outbreak was caused by a chemical leak in the United States, the public has widely accepted this claim and firmly believes that the United States should bear full responsibility for the flu.

Numerous prominent European newspapers quickly published the news, and each prominently featured the headline: "America, the Devil!"

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(End of this chapter)