MotF 74: In the Wake of Giants

The POD is that the House of Habsburg is much stronger between 1550 and 1700, when it experiences its so-called Diamond Age. All OTL revolutions and break-away states have to wait until the year 1700...

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In the year 1700, the Habsburg rules over Europe. The House of Habsburg is the mightiest family in the world. It possesses an empire of states that cooperate and conquer the world. An age of exploration has already begun. But no one knew that in this prosperous year, the fall of the flourishing power would start...

Revolts first start in the Low Countries. A federation of states overthrows the Spanish and Austrian rule. Armies from Austria are not able to stop the revolution that sets in motion the collapse of the lands of the era's most powerful monarchs.

After a short period of time, the map of the world has to be redrawn. New states are formed: the United Provinces of the Netherlands, the Free Duchy of Flanders, the Grand Duchy of Artois and the Kingdom of Luxembourg.

Simultaneously, the Holy Roman Empire starts to feel it weakness in the new year troubles. Protestantism rises in Bohemia and it quickly declares it independence, inspired by the revolts in the Low Countries.

Portugal breaks away from the Habsburg lands in 1701, due to a conflict with Castile and Aragon over the possession of colonies in South America. A few weeks later, a dispute over Burgundy, between France and the Holy Roman Empire, starts. The Treaty of Metz ends the conflict that had erupted in a short war. Almost a total of five hundred casualties had forced both countries to negotiate. In the end, Burgundy was to be made independent. However, both France and the Holy Roman Empire would every year get some of Burgundy's wealth. Burgundy would be allowed to keep seventy percent of the money made in one year. Fifteen percent would go to the Holy Roman Empire and another fifteen percent to France.

In the winter of 1701, more and more choas erupts and eventually, Hungary and Milan also break off the Habsburg lands. Hungary gets into a short but fierce war with the Ottoman Empire and gains back some previously lost territory. Meanwhile, all Italian states are unified by a nationalist, so-called fascist leader; Francisco Zoccarato.

At this point, Austria, Castile and the remaining possessions of the Habsburgs realise that a complete dissolution of the empire is the best way to have peace and prosperity return. Aragon gets the south of Italy, Castile is rewarded the colonies in the Americas. Austria gets Tyrol and the Habsburg dynasty keeps ruling here.

The Diamond Age of the Habsburgs is now history. The Holy Roman Empire has had it name changed to the Empire of all Germans. Revolts in the south of the empire start. Will this empire manage to survive? Or does it have the same fate as the Habsburgs?

Well, this certainly makes the illustration on the roundel seem ominous.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the Fallout setting, if not, here are some links explaining it. The gist of it is as follows: US turns pear-shaped after McCarthyists gain control in the '50s, leading to a world where both Cold War sides are equally detestable, but which also has really cool pulpy kind of tech and art forms, with nuclear power and self-aware robots a common sight by the mid-21st century. From that point onward, everything goes downhill, and after nearly a decade of low-level warfare, the US and China (this world's premier communist power) launch their nukes on October 23, 2077. The world tries to rebuild over the following years, but never really get back up to its high point. The New California Republic (NCR), the nation shown here, is the closest to a real functioning state in the known world (which, to be fair, is basically it and the Washington, D.C. area), and as of the latest game, set nearly forty years before this, is struggling to take over New Vegas and the surrounding area.

The basic premise of this map is that they succeed, which always seemed the more logical path to me; they drive out Mr. House as well as the Legion from the area, and establish the city as a state of the Republic. Following this, they stop to consolidate, and are currently engaged in reclaiming the Great California Desert (the Central Valley turned into this after the many, many nukes hitting Sacramento and the Bay Area made the rivers there too irradiated to support life). As for the rest, I should hope the map is self-explanatory. I must stress that as the NCR's actual apparatus of government is a mass of contradictions even as the official canon goes, I've taken a lot of liberties in designing an interesting and hopefully logical political system.

The PoD is the United States gets all the mainland of former British North America in the American Revolution. After that, pretty much everything goes differently.

Having to deal with the francophone population since the beginning, and a larger imbalance between the slave-free states ratio, the United States is not able to achieve the same success with Manifest Destiny as in OTL.

While they aquired the pacific northwest much more easily, lacking a strong rival to their claims in the region, the enterity of the southwest has remained under firm control of a comparatively more powerful Mexican government controlled by the Imperial House of Iturbide.

While the Mexican-American war still happened in the early 1850s, internal issues limited the United States government to a quick regional war with ended with the usurpation of a Texas which had it's initial dreams of independence crushed by the mexicans.

The tensions between south and north escalated quickly in the 1860s, and finally ended with the secession of several southern slave states as the Confederate States of America - opportunistic as they were, americans in the still unorganized Oregon Country formed their own independent government (which they intended it to be neutral), and the Quebecois similarly left the union

The Civil War between the USA and the CSA lasted seven years, after which the Oregon Country still refused to be reincorporated (alot of people having escaped from the east, fleeing from war); but as preparations were made for another military campaign against the pacific nation... the British, French, and Russians intervened diplomatically in the Oregon Country's favour - this did not stop the Americans, which attacked anyway, drawing the ire of the European nations.

Following this, and after rather agressive negotiations, Quebec re-joined the Union peacefully. This further angered the European empires, which were beginning to see the United States as a threat, and thus began to heavily invest in Mexico as a counterweight.

By the first decade of the XXth Century, the United States had become a Great Power. But unlike in OTL, the Monroe Doctrine never became mainstream, as (imperial) Mexico was instead seen as the natural leader of the Latin American countries, and as it was supported by the European powers it greatly limited the United States capacity to do anything.

In 1913, a skirmish between Spain and the United States escalated to what would be known as the Atlantic War or the European-American War. It was something that the american leaders had been preparing for since decades ago.

A coalition lead by the United Kingdom including Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany, and Russia fought across the atlantic and in the caribbean against the United States, which aimed to 'liberate' the european colonies in America.

The war ended in 1916. After three years of intense fighting in the atlantic, the blockade of the american atlantic forts, the occupation of Seattle by a combined Russo-British Task Force, a disastrous invasion of Cuba in which the american navy was decimated, and Mexico partially mobilizing and threatening to invade Texas...

it was clear that the United States had lost. The peace treaty was harsh, demanding reparations, and heavily restricting the size of the navy. The ports of Vancouver, New Orleans, and Miami would be occupied by the defending coalition until the reparations had been met.

This lead to the United States going extreme radical the following decades, voting an authoritarian militarist nationalist party in the 1930s.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the countries that had fought the United States form a sort of proto-European Union, except led my their respective monarchs and with an emphasis on military cooperation.

The two projects begin to clash and tensions flare when the United States suspend the payment of the reparations and rebuild their navy, and finally the World War begins in 1938 when the United States forcefully expels the occupation forces from their ports.

In a grand naval campaign, the United States occupies all the colonial posessions of the european powers in the americas, as well as strategical territories that belonged to weak neutral nations (such as the caribbean coast of Venezuela and Colombia, the Mosquito Coast, and the isthmus of Panama).

The United States' wanked navy also manages to push back the european navies to their side of the atlantic, and American expeditions land sucessfully in French West Africa, German Central Africa, and British South Africa.

Drunken with victory, in their anti-colonial crusade, Manifest Destiny reborn, the United States fleet also attacks Japanese Hawaii (British ally) to decimate their navy there and deny them the ability to invade the mainland, invades Russian Alaska (which is considered a Russian colony in the sacred American mainland), and begins the pre-emptive land invasion of imperial Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande and an additional campaign in California, while assaulting amphibiously the port of Veracruz.

However, by 1943 the tables are turned, and the americans have been expelled from Africa, the Russians have landed in Alaska to take it back and push into the U.S. proper, and the advance into Mexico has been stopped and reversed just a few miles from Mexico City.

Finally, the United States government dissolves in late 1945, after the european forces had destroyed the overextended american navy, taken their caribbean colonial posessions back, blockaded all atlantic ports, and landed in New England (which immediately changed sides) from where they pushed towards virginia, the ohio, and quebec (which also declared itself independent and allied itself with the europeans).

By this time, the Russians and Japanese had also taken control of the pacific northwest, and the mexicans had pushed almost to the missisipi.

By 1947, most of the midwest and the south had yet to surrender, still fighting a vicious guerilla against the occupation forces. However, by 1949, most of the continent had been pacified, and the ocupation forces had granted autonomy to the local governments, which resttructured themselves into the independent nations seen on the map.

Thus, the United States of America, once a might empire stretching from Hawaii to Africa, and from Alaska to Venezuela, had ceased to exist pretty much.

1422: Charles VI of France dies leaving the throne of France to his recently enforced heir Henry V of England, who is soon crowned Henry II of France. Within a few years the Dauphin has been captured and joined the Dukes of Orleans and Angloueme in prison. The Duke of Burgundy is greatly rewarded for his aid, and the Valois-Angevins are too busy in Naples to do anything more than consolidate in Provence. Most of the other duchies slip into independence.

15 years later Henry V and II dies, leaving the throne to his teenaged son, Henry VI and III, though his brothers Edward and John gain the Duchies of Aquitane and Toulouse which have been seperated from the main lands around Paris due to the need for closer supervision to prevent rebellion. Henry VI has inherited more than a crown from his maternal grandfather though, and after a bout of insanity in 1452, is declared incapable. Edward, Duke of Aquitane takes up the regency after a brief power struggle with the younger, but arguably more capable, John of Toulouse. In the meantime the lords of Aqutiane begin to assert more independnece with their Duke in London. Henry's son Edward will is crowned Edward IV and I in 1475 after his father's forced abdication, while Aquitane passes on soon afterwards, leaving behind an heir every bit as mad as the late King. Quite without intention the Duchies of Aqutiane and Toulouse are now every bit as independent as the other French duchies, and with several weak kings in succssion, the Duke of York seeks to assert his claims to the thrones on the death of Edward IV/I and accession of his underage son Henry VII/IV under the regency of the Duke of Toulouse. Gathering support in England, he is able to sweep south and take London, crowning himself Edward V/II, but Henry retains control of the Royal Demense around Paris for now, though his title of 'King of France' is rapidly becoming as nominal as that of the Holy Roman Emperor next door.

And here's a somewhat different map from my usual style.

This is set in the same timeline as my entries for rounds 69 and 71. After a golden age in the 1950s and 1960s Mitteleuropa began to decline and decay. In the 1990s it collapsed altogether, and a scramble to pick up the pieces ensued.