Recent content by Lycaon pictus

Washington, January 30, 1840. Dear Sir,—During the election of 1836, the Populist Party joined forces with the Liberation Party in its opposition to the Government of then-President Sergeant. I do not now seek to reproach this alliance, either for its intent or for its consequences; quite the...

First, let me thank @Cataquack Warrior and @Soundwave G1 for nominating this timeline for the 2024 Turtledove. Now… “Great to-do at the docks today. A British merchantman arrived in harbor this morning, one day too late to offload its cargo of dried Cayenne and Scotch Bonnet peppers before the...

About the same, but a little more widely scattered. Arthur's control of the penal system and everything connected to it created an incentive to build more convict-free towns.

Happy Halloween! December 29, 1839 Greyhaven, New South Wales The first sign of trouble was the two merchantmen in harbour flying the colours of the Compagnie de Commerce de L’Orient. A closer look showed African and Asian sailors trading foodstuffs for gold dust. Lesson learned, thought...

December 26, 1839 off Kangaroo Island 6:00 a.m. George Charles Canning hadn’t expected to be woken up at around dawn the day after Christmas—certainly not for a visit to another ship. But it was what the captain wanted, and Canning himself was curious. The prow of the other ship—one of the...

My posting has finally just about caught up with my writing, and I'll be taking November off so I can work on the sequel to Altered Seasons: Monsoonrise, before I start working on the election of 1840, the Troubles, the Formosa War, and the [REDACTED]. But I've got three more posts to go. I'll...

Thank you. Ethiopia is… at peace. This means Muhammad Ali has found a reasonably pliable Oromo princeling (a Christian, but very tolerant of Muslims) and declared him king and vassal. The Era of Princes is over, and your average Ethiopian prince views it with a mix of resentment and relief...

For what it's worth, I can imagine the British (caught between wanting a base in the Cape and wanting a friendlier Netherlands) keeping the harbor at Cape Town, or setting up some kind of co-dominion there, but letting the Dutch have the rest of the colony.

The U.S., because this mission was partly organized by Americans, and because they're trying to get away from war and Florida has been invaded very recently.

Russia After a fairly successful twenty years, Russia finds itself in a very bad way. The Tsar’s dominions expanded through the Caucasus to bring Baku, Yerevan, and Trebizond into the empire. Serfdom has been diminished, literacy increased. Any record of Russian history that stopped at the end...

King Milan of Serbia and Prince Horia of Moldavia and Wallachia are both single, and Konstantin has a lot of younger brothers and sisters, so yes.

Did the Army do significant recruiting of Chinese-, Japanese- and Indian-Americans during the war?

The monarchy doesn't feel like they're in a position to crack down on Bohemia in the middle of a major war, especially since Bohemia is a major source of troops and weapons. This is one of those situations where the people in charge recognize the need for reform, try to have a little reform that...

Central Europe and the Balkans Let’s start with the war. After the second day at Silistre, the battle turned into a siege of the island. This lasted for most of a month, until the Russians were so low on food, ammunition, and other supplies that they had no choice but to surrender. The problem...

Yep. I suppose there's no point hiding it—this is indeed the plan. It's much worse than that. Six pregnancies in five years, two more before that, and one living child to show for it.