MoF 20: Through a Glass, Darkly

Krall · Aug 9, 2010

Through a Glass, Darkly

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
1 Corinthians 13:12

THE CHALLENGE
To fashion a map of an AH as imagined by a person in an AH (for example the fake alternate history novel "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" in the real alternate history novel "The Man in the High Castle").

THE RESTRICTIONS
The original point of divergence may be any time after 100 AD. The map itself must be set after 1750 AD. Future history and outright ASB maps are not allowed, but the AH's AH will obviously be written by a mind coloured by their own history, not ours, so there is some leeway in terms of plausibility

This round shall finish on Sunday, 22nd of August.

!THIS THREAD IS FOR POSTING OF ENTRIES ONLY!

Any discussion must take place in the discussion thread. If you post anything other than an entry to the contest here you will be disqualified from competing in this round of the contest.

Remember to vote on the previous round of MoF.

OAM47 · Aug 9, 2010

Disclamer: Anything in this post is to be considered in universe and therefore subject to bias.

From the appendix of The Broken Legacy where the author invisions what the world would have been like if JFK had been assassinated in Dallas in November of 1963 because the shooter had not injured his hand in a car door earlier that week. The following description is not in the original text, but a second hand explanation.

Without the confidence Kennedy inspired in the American people in his two terms, the country slowly spiralled into chaos as the counterculture became more and more confrontational with several other violent movements cropping up. This culminated in the loss of government control over major portions of the country as the populace all flocked to one armed cause or another. While not an outright civil war, and government control being restored to most of the country by 1970, the US was never able to regain control of the West Coast from the "People's Freedom Front". Some US possesions had no choice but to turn to other powers for protection, such as the annexation of Alaska by Canada, or become fully independent such as Hawaii. The remainder of the US is much as it was earlier in the century as enforced by some less then democratic measures.

Elsewhere in the world, much of Latin America followed in the footsteps of Cuba, at first of their own accord, but then later brough into line by the other powers. Panama was an exception, electing a pro-Cuban government to avoid the wrath of its neighbors. Brazil has largely ignored these events, becoming a major power in its own right, everyone else is content to leave it be. The Caribbean Federation forms from former colonies largely left to fend for themselves due to events elsewhere and becomes a close ally of Brazil.

Major shakeups occur in Europe, but perhaps less so then might be imagined. Without any pressure on it, the USSR becomes the world's sole superpower. However, it cannot afford to wildly exert its power for fear of internal trouble, as years of domestic neglect have lead to a few serious problems. Nevertheless, certain parts of Europe see fit to appease this new order, disputes beteween the Warsaw Pact and Moscow are unheard of, several countries elected socialist governments, though in some countries such as France this was well on its way to happening before the political order was shaken. Others were pushed farther right in response to these events and subsequent economic downturn.

In Asia, both China and India are rapidly gaining strength. These two, together with the USSR, make up "the big three" of the modern world, and as such they frequently rub elbows at inconvienient times. The populaton of India is mostly pro-socialism, but unwilling to subordinate themselves to Moscow or Beijing. India recieved support over Kashmir, though this was more to guarantee their nuetrality then an offer of alliance. Southeast Asia is slowly being absorbed into the Chinese sphere, with the government of Thailand, never the most stable, recently breaking down completely. Countries close to the mainland, such as Japan, the Philipines, and Indoneisia are ever vigilent for communist agression, while Austrailia and New Zealand enjoy relative peace.

Lastly, Africa. The South is dominated by a political union of many former British colonies into a mostly democratic body. Directly North, the former Portugese colonies were a hotbed for communist rebels. Early on they had many gains, and two confederations were formed with the support of Angola, Rwanda, Mozambique, and others. However the absorption of the Congo has been met with stiff resistance. The rest of the contenent has mostly polarized into either Soviet backed countries or harsh dictatorships opposing them, with the sole exception of the East African Union, which is slightly more free. The border between Africa and Asia is awash with Islamic dictatorships.

The Kiat · Aug 9, 2010

Aftermath of the Hot War

For those of you who know, Karl Marx was a political aggitator during the 19th Century, who was executed in 1849, by the Prussian police after a disasterous rebellion the previous year. In that same year, he published a long forgotten book, the Communist Manifesto.Marx predicted his little revolution would happen in the industrial West.

What if he had been correct? In 1909, a stock market crash in New York brought the United States' economy to a halt. By 1915, with unemployment reach 30%, the workers of the States rose up agains the Federal Government, ousting the capitalist oppressors on the Hill. A new constitutional convention was called, for the 1st People's Republic of the United States. The U.S. remained isolationist throughout the 1920s and 1930s, only brought into the world community because of a sneak-attack by the Japanese Empire that brought them into World War II. It took until 1946, but Japan, as well as Fascist Germany, were destroyed and Europe "liberated". At the Cairo Conference, the United States agreed to allow democratic election in liberated Western Europe before 1948.

These elections never happened, at least not in the way that the Russian Federation had imagined. By 1949, Britain, Ireland, France, the Low Countries, Italy, Norway and Austria all "elected" Rooseveltist Regimes. By 1952, the American zone of Germany was established as the Democratic People's Republic of Germany. In 1955, the United States, and its Communist Sattlelites met in Brussels to sign the Brussels Pact, to counted the truly democratic Northern Eurasian Treaty Organization. Over the course of the 1960s, other states, such as Australia, South Africa, Canada, and even India joined the B.P. as American-back revolutionaries toppled one third-world regime after another. The Free World was slowly rolled back from Central Africa and Asia.

The death nail for the East came in 1985, in what has been dubbed the Hot War, when the Cold War finally erupted into open war between the super powers as B.P. units invaded East Germany. The war lasted for two years, and nuclear weapons were only used a few times, including the destruction of the Russian naval base at Petersburg. Russia's allies in the Mideast were the first to fall, followed by one NETO member after another, until the Americas were inside the Rodina itself. On October 4, 1987, the Russians were forced to surrender under harsh terms. Ethnic minorities of Russia would be granted independence under American protection. Finland received Karilia and Germany got Kaliningrad, and non-B.P. ally China had returned to it land the Russian Empire took more than a century before. The Americans set up further occupation zones of Russia proper in the west, as well as in the east, were a Far East People's Republic was established.

Today, the Free World is a depressed place, where the poor are free to spend their meager income on large consumption of alcohol, while the rest of the world is oppressed by the "Evil Empire".

iori · Aug 10, 2010

'The early stages of our Republic were not the most stable of times, some feared a Communist Revolution, others feared the rising threat of Fascism, and while we did have our share of problems and more than a few extremists, who thankfully never recieved much support, we were among the lucky countries to not suffer the revolutions and political extremism that begot much of the rest of Europe.

But what if this had not been the case, what if the Fascistic Nationalists of the time had gotten power?

The below map shows Europe and the Near-Abroad a decade following the end of the war that would likely result.'

Jman · Aug 10, 2010

Pretty self-explanatory. Note that the author doesn't think blacks and whites can peacefully coexist after a Northern victory, hence the black Homelands.

Whanztastic · Aug 10, 2010

I will post comments/details in the Map thread.

Penelope · Aug 11, 2010

NOTE: This thing is fracking huge. You might want to simply view it on imageshack. HERE

History and other notes: A world where the Gaels took the British Isles by force results in butterflies making the Crusades extremely successful. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, supported by the Papal States and the Twin Francias, grows to be a massive power in the Middle East, eventually encompassing most of Iraq and Syria. Both parts of the Frankish Empire have survived to this day, although they look much more culturally similar to the France and Germany of today. The Tatars managed to survive, but not as in the world below. In the ATL, Tatarstan is about the size of Ukraine.

"Alternate Ages" is an ATL series of RPG's taking place in historic times, in alternate history settings. Jerusalem, East/West Francia, and the Papal States all survived to the modern day ITTL, and as such, they have become stapes of AH (like Britain, Russia, or the USA in our TL's). Alternate Ages IV takes place in the Revolutionary and Victorian Eras - it's predecessors took place in earlier times, with the first taking place in the Dark Ages. You can start in the continents of North America, Asia, or Europe. This is a page of a map pamphlet that comes with the game either in the box or digitally through services like steam or gamersgate.

And.... Here's the map.

EDIT: I mixed up the colors for East and West Francia, fixed them. Those numbers are simply aesthetic when it comes to the map, but they would correspond to something within the game if it were real.

Plumber · Aug 12, 2010

Custer's Legacy

A novel by Ophelia Clemens in an alternate Timeline-191 universe where Custer defeats Cleveland for the Democratic nomination in 1884. He goes on to wreck the US in yet another war, and the US retreats into isolationism and big-business friendly policies. The Great War still breaks out, and President Hearst leads the US to war, only to have the country crippled by a communist revolution, ensuring an Entente victory in the Americas. However the Entente lose in Europe because French, British (failed) and Russian communist revolutions break out there as well.

The year is 1939, and the Russian Civil War (1917-39

), along with a successful communist revolution in Spain and an unsuccessful one in Portugal, has just ended.

this is my first kind of map in this style so don't make me lose too badly

NKVD · Aug 12, 2010

What if Marx became the face of communism, rather than Bakunin?

Revolution spreads like wildfire in Europe, and the revolutionary communist countries unite into a nation known as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. With Nicholai Bakunin fading into obscurity, revolution never comes to Russia, and in the year 2000 it is still ruled by the Tsar. The Dictatorship has a de jure federal system, with a central legislature known as the Great Worker's Congress. However, all political power is concentrated in Marxia, formerly known as Berlin, and the Marxist Party of Europe has total control over the country's politics. Freedom is unheard of in the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. To question the regime is death, and you may not even buy food without permission from the government. This, children, is why Marx was a terrible person.

It's supposed to be that corny.

Teleology · Aug 13, 2010

Megaman03 · Aug 13, 2010

In a world where the Whites won a resounding victory in the Russian Civil War, many continue to ask...

What would happen if the Reds had won? Some even speculate the rise of a different brand of Communism in the Balkans to rival the Red Russians.

Scarecrow · Aug 15, 2010

It speaks for itself, I think. A dystopia of a dystopia.

Germany has been defeated. Almost a generation of total war, starting with France and Britain invaded the Rhine during the Sudetenland crisis. Germany herself has been destroyed. The Germans have been dispersed into Siberia, her treasures carried east and west. From her corpse the Bolsheviks in Moscow carved two new Slavic states, Sorbia and Caranthia, along with a Jewish homeland in East Prussia. The NSTO occupied Germany is equaly torn apart, as the three new nations of Westphalia, Rhineland and Alamania undergo a process of de-Germanization.

B_Munro · Aug 18, 2010

Okay, the latest on an old standard...what if the Ming had stopped sailing? I'm assuming some sort of more successful Mongol revival forces them to concentrate on their inland frontiers. As a result the Twin Continents are first discovered by Europeans, and the European colonies are much larger. France, as the richest and most populous western European nation of the time, manages to snaffle the big and wealthy native empires, although Portugal, Spain and Britain also get involved.

Ming expansion pushes Russia west into the Balkans and central Europe, and in reaction an earlier and more complete union of the German states takes place. The French-Italian union is butterflied away, and with the Inka continent's resources the Spanish monarchy does somewhat better than OTL. Similarly, with a far larger colonial empire, the British Crown is much richer, and the OTL revolution does not take place, so it's still a monarchy 2010.

The British colonies in America are much larger than OTL, and without the Han Menace they eventually break away under a branch of the British monarchy. Similiarly, French Mexique (using a tribal name of pre-Ming Zhongyang) becomes independent through revolution, and in the 19th century wars with New Brittania for control of the west.

There is no Grand Alliance vs Chungkuo in this world: although the Middle Kingdom is too large and too politically sophisticated to be conquered, its inward turn slows its development, so although it maintains local hegemony, it is only one of several major powers. (Given a more limited sphere for action, I assumed they would eventually incorporate Japan outright rather than being satisfied with vassalage as OTL).

With no unifying Han Menace, the various European powers fight over colonial territories. Eventually, Germany, squeezed between France and Russia, joins Britain, competing for territory with Russia and France in South Asia and Africa, in a war on a scale comparable to those of the Han Reunification: eventually the British come to regret this, since although they pick up a fair bit of colonial territory, the Germans come to dominate Europe: by 2010, Britain has switched its alliance to Russia.

(The Ottomans? I assume that without their alliance with Chungkuo, they would have been driven out of Europe and their empire broken up: they had a fairly tough time of it even OTL in the 18th and much of the 19th centuries).

Bruce

Analytical Engine · Aug 19, 2010

(Warning: this map contains spoilers relating to Vive la Francewank)

WI: The Republicans won the First Revolutionary War?

Being a map of the Coalition of Revolutionary Republics, formed for the Preservation of the People's Liberty, to defend the Principles of the various forms of Socialism, being either Scientific, Mechanistic or otherwise.

The Coalition is dedicated to spread the Glorious Revolution to the corners of the world, for the Justice of the People, and the True Cause of Social Democracy shall not be denied.

Long Live the Revolution!

--

In short, when Bourbon France is the in-TL's Arsenal of Freedom, and Bastion of Democracy, you know the world has gone rather "off"...

ah-sue · Aug 19, 2010

[From the website of Farms & Goble]

Barry Twitterglove’s latest Alternate History offering, “The Faith Ill Defended”, starts on the premise that Arthur, son of the English King Henry VII, did not ascend the throne but died at the tender age of 15. This meant that his younger brother Henry Duke of York became King upon the death of Henry VII, thus England had a different Henry VIII from the one in our history books. Unlike the Catholic Tudor monarchs we know, the fictional “Henry VIII” fell out with the Pope over the question of a wife and became an adherent to the Protestant cause. Instead of the Catholic Church emerging triumphant from the Wars of Faith, the book tells us of a series of inconclusive wars covering almost 200 years. The disunity of the Christian nations allowed the Islamic states to advance across much of Europe. The story concludes in the year 1837, with the new, young English Queen Elizabeth facing the prospect of what might be “one final push” by the Muslims.

The book, published by Nickleby & Windermere, is priced at $5.99
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[From the Sunday Chronicle books section]

THE FAITH ILL DEFENDED
By Barry Twitterglove

A review by Professor John Immerrecht

While the book will no doubt be yet another good seller for Mr Twitterglove, it is constructed on very loose sand. The character of Henry Duke of York is totally at odds with reality. Far from being an impetuous and selfish tyrant, Henry was a well educated man of unswerving loyalty to the Catholic faith. Although he never took Holy Orders as many contemporaries expected, he maintained close connection with the clergy throughout his life and his writings not only inspired many to fight for the Catholic cause but also led to a number of reforms in the Church.

Mr Twitterglove has Henry marrying the widow, Catherine of Aragon, following the death of Arthur but subsequently divorcing her in a bid to have a male heir. Anyone who has the least understanding of Henry’s character realises that both actions would have been anathema to him, apart from the fact that his devotion to his religion led to him choosing never to marry, despite pressure from his brother Arthur.

So we have this ‘Henry VIII’ almost running amok in his kingdom, looting the monasteries and elsewhere. His apparent megalomania leading to seeing himself as the leader of Protestant Europe and setting a series of events in train whereby the continued existence of Christianity is in danger. Of course, Christianity is well establish in the Americas by the end of the book, though the English colonies were so antagonised by one of Henry’s successors, a certain James IV, that they divorced themselves from the mother country. Sadly they did not have our Arthur III to make wise counsel prevail.

Apart from the totally unsustainable foundation of the book, I found the mass of repetitive detail about its characters, real and fictional, quite boring and distracting. But then again I am an historian.
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[Map reproduced from the book, by kind permission of the author]

Axeman · Aug 20, 2010

As we all know following the Russian defeat at the battle of Kulikovo the Golden Horde was able to re-affirm its position as the power over Russia, rather then being kicked out by Poland.

However, what if the Russians had gathered a larger Boyar coalition and the lords of Rayazan had not sided with the Mongols?

tormsen · Aug 21, 2010

The Years of Wheat and Cloth

I'm going to tackle a common what-if scenarios, what would have happened if the great plagues that depopulated Firanja in the 9th century [1] had never happened.

It is generally known that Timur the Lame was preparing to move west against the Franks of Western Europe when his scouts discovered the empty and desolate villages of eastern Firanja, the land known as Hungarica [2]. Now, I'm going to assume that the lotus-leaf-dropping-in-a-still-pond effect [3] will be in place, and thus the lightning bolt which killed him in the Pureline [4] misses.

Timur pushes west, and ravages Hungarica and Italia, until distracted by the continuing civil war in the Ottoman Empire. Seeking to restore the Seljuks, he pushes down through southeast Firanja and overwhelms the Ottomans, taking out the last remnant of the Roman empire as he does so. His successors conveniently forget the Seljuks, and the whole region is incorporated into the empire. Persian culture seeps through the whole region, and the relations between the Timurids and their Christian subjects are somewhat akin to that of the Mughals of the Pureline and their Hindus.

The Timurids lose their capital later, to invading Manchus, who call themselves Jusen here. Finding the Ming too tough a nut[5], the Jusen are lured west by the relative weakness of the Timurids in their eastern flank. The Jusen conquer the region, and force the Timurids to move their capital to Konstantiyye (which is flooded with Persian scholars and government men). The Jusen later push down into India, and convert to a form of Hinduism that reconciles Buddhism. The Jusen form a barrier between China and the Islamic world in this reflection [6]. The weakened Ming continue to totter on, and will later be conquered by the Japanese (there is no migration of Japanese to Yingzhou[7]).

France is slowly conquered by the Goddamns[8], and eventually the French king and court flee with thousands of subjects to Yingzhou, where they are incorporated into the Hodenosaunee League. Later, the example of the Hodenosaunee League will lead to the creation of the Jaumanee League, uniting the hundreds of tiny kingdoms of Firanja into one nation.

In Iberia, the state of Castile continues to slowly push the Moors out of the peninsula, and even manages to begin a long and bloody headway into the north of Africa. Aragon, in the meantime, becomes the most powerful trading state in the Mediterranean after the sacking of Venice by Timur. Lusitania [9] continues to exist, and later is the port of call for visiting Asian traders [10].

In the north, the Order of the Holy Virgin[11] continues to grow in power, clashing freguently with the Lehis[12] and the unified state of Swedenmark [13].

This is the current situation in the Christian year 1979 [14], in what we would call the year 1400. There has been no Long War in this world, but an alliance has been formed by the Timurids and the Ming against the industrialising empire of the Jusen.

[1] Islamic calendar.
[2] As in the Years of Rice and Salt.
[3] Butterfly effect.
[4] OTL
[5] Since the Ming were pillaging the Inca for gold in YoRaS, I think their economic outlook is slightly better than OTL, and their conquest by the Manchus a bit of laziness of KSR's part.
[6] this timeline
[7] North America as in YoRaS
[8] Some shonky research on the map designers part, due to the fact that the French sometimes referred to the English as les goddamns for their tendency to swear. Glancing over the history, the map designer assumed that was the name of the country. Pre-Plague northern Europe isn't particularly well known.
[9] Again, more shonky research, made worse by the fact he got the other two Iberian states right.
[10] Iberian naval expansion goes woefully unpredicted by this guy. The Portugeuse visits to the Azores and Spanish visits to the Canary islands are known about, but horribly obscure in this timeline so quite easy to overlook. The map designer thinks all European ships of the period are akin to galleys.
[11] We would call them the Teutonic Knights.
[12] Poles.
[13]

[14] Actually, should be 1980 by our reckoning. But no Pope Gregory XIII in this timeline, so the map designer is basing it on the Julian.

In general, the map designer has tried to use what he could gather to be pre-Plague European designs. But he has used the south-to-north orientation which is the standard of his timeline when creating his map.