Recent content by jolo

Let's outline the scenario first We need an ideological difference which makes people's emotions flare up - similar to communism vs. capitalism. Monarchy vs. republicanism won't be sufficient. Slight differences in economy (free market vs. mercantilism) also doesn't really flare up moods...

IIRC, most of the social democrats were in favour of a slow unification, first "westernising" the GDR, than uniting - in a similar step by step approach as the European Union expansion. Only a charismatic social democrat veteran and the dynamics of the reunification kept that from becoming their...

I chose Germany. I assume that Britain wins the independence war in America, and tries to keep those colonies from becoming too strong. That also means, other powers like France, Russia and Spain keep larger interests in the area - and therefore more of the ressources there. The Spanish...

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Dutch appeared to know pretty good what needed to be done to spur the economy - a hundred years earlier, or so. So there must have been enough theory available - just the same infighting which keeps many countries even in our time from making the right...

The Chinese do have a phonetic alphabeth. It just never became popular - mostly because it was just used as a means for people who can't read and write Chinese to note down something. I see no difference in logic or the likes due to the system of writing. The main problem for China appears to...

Changes happen. People have to learn to deal with it. It is also said that changing pollution in Europe was partly responsible for droughts in North Africa in the 1980s. What counts is only the net results (even if calculated purely in social terms - lifes, quality of living...) - and those...

TL with no 30 years war: 1618 - asbs make the catholics tolerant of protestants. Religious freedom flourishes. After Lutheranism comes Calvinism, then religions spring up everywhere, similar to the US. Over the next 50 years, all the smaller and bigger German states learn to accept...

I'm pretty sure the bomb wouldn't be developed in Germany - the few German scientists working on it depended upon the knowledge and abilities of foreign scientists who often informed the Allies about what was going on. Half the good German scientists were driven out of the country - which meant...

I'm sure if Russia had attacked India (most likely target?), the US would quickly be in the war fighting mood Roosevelt wanted it to be in, anyways. Thus, the US might declare war against the enlarged Axis instead of waiting for them to start it. Germany would have more oil and tanks in this...

Here's the reason why they built water caverns: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/drght_mayan.html

Before an extreme drought hit them, they had large cities, communal infrastructure projects (mainly water storage and tempels), lots of knowledge, and so on. In a report I once saw on tv, natural weather patterns, completely independent of local agricultural methods, were made responsible for...

I just realized there's no threat on alternate Vietnam wars here - except this one. Maybe the matter was discussed on the old forum. Here's another (professional) thread to this (which brought me here): http://www.censa.net/publications/Vietnam.html As to your post: While I don't know...

A large sub might launch a small sub, as did the Japanese. The Italians also used "manned torpedos" with divers in wwi(!). Such a mission could deliver a few sizable bombs to buildings close to the Potomac. The military value would be near zero, though - the best that could happen is that the...

In continental Europe, the word describes a country trying to export as much as possible and import as little as possible - a backward economic system which made sure continental Europe usually stayed behind Anglosaxon countries. In Anglosaxon countries, the word seems to refer to a policy of...

I believe that kind of success would come automatically if France industrialized. What's available in the available ressource rich areas is completely sufficient for half a century of industrial revolution, afaik.