Apartheid Superpower 4.0

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Foundation of the Afrikaner Confederation (October, 1740 AD)-The recent invasion of the Free State by Rharhabe in the aftermath of Scots-Irish/Afrikaner squabbles reveals just how fragile the situation has become. Representatives of the various white ethnicities (and one or two Coloureds as well—high-caste Indians) come to Cape Town and hammer out a new constitution. Slavery, which the white ruling class recognizes as untenable in the long term and a standing internal threat due to the recent slave risings, is also abolished. The proposal to abolish slavery (with compensation for masters) was a major kink in the reorganization process—Biblical debate raged for days before the anti-slavery forces won (the leader of that faction pointed that although slavery may be Biblical, it is not mandatory, and if the “powers that be” outlawed slavery, it would be immoral). Mechanisms will be put in place to exploit blacks economically—“hut taxes” to make previously self-sufficient black communities (untouched by slavery) need money to pay and thus need to work for whites, reparations in cash and labour from the followers of (the warlord) the carnage caused by the recently-concluded war, and limits to the size of tribal cattle herds (ostensibly for environmental reasons, but in reality to keep the tribes from supporting themselves, thus requiring them to work for Afrikaners). An apartheid-like policy is put in place where newly-freed slaves are NOT considered legal residents of the white settlements, but of the places where they (or their parents or grandparents) were taken as slaves. Thus, they’re subject to legal controls of various kinds. The state church is legally separated from Holland and becomes the Afrikaner Reformed Church. It is made the official religion and one must be a member in order to have a government position or own land larger than (what amount?). Other Protestant churches have complete freedom of religion, while Catholics, Hindus, and Muslims are subject to restrictions of various kinds (no attempts to convert Calvinists, must apply for permission to expand buildings, etc). The harshest restrictions are on Catholics, since the Afrikaners fear the Catholic states of Europe.

By now you could have lots of Sikhs in the army. I'd wonder if the Sikhs would be granted freedom of religion since they were the 'protestants' of India.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Err.. 100,000 or 200,000?

Oops. Brain mustn't have been working.

Which do you think is the more realistic figure?

 

[MerryPrankster]

By now you could have lots of Sikhs in the army. I'd wonder if the Sikhs would be granted freedom of religion since they were the 'protestants' of India.

Perhaps Sikhism will be subjected to the fewest restrictions of any non-Christian faith, but given the way the Confederation tends to behave re: religion throughout the TL, I don't think they'll get full freedom there.

 

[BGMan]

Battle of (What?) (1577 AD)-Here the Spanish army, overextended by its recent victories, suffers a severe blow. Leiden is recaptured soon afterward, along with (what city?).

Battle of Rijnsburg... along with The Hague?

Afrikaner Attack on the (What Ships?) (1581 AD)-The Afrikaners attack the Portuguese ships (name) and (name). This irritates the Spanish.

São Paulo and Encarnação?

Battle of (Where?) (1584 AD)-The Spanish are finally defeated. The Afrikaners, angry at the execution of their churchmen, return the favour and show no quarter.

Towsrivier?

 

[BGMan]

Gold Discovered in the Witwatersrand (1605)-Afrikaner ranchers watering their herds in (what river?) discover placer gold deposits. When word reaches Cape Town and other Afrikaner settlements, many make their way into the region to mine for it. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough Afrikaners to extract it efficiently.

De Kaap Valley is where it happened in OTL. There is a river just east of Jo-burg but I haven't been able to find its name.

Battle of (Where?) (1635 AD)-Overconfident Afrikaners, fresh from the occupation of L-M, surge northward. Remaining Portuguese forces check them at (where?).

Nova Lusitânia?

(What?) Raid (1638 AD)-Spanish and Portuguese forces based in Angola raid into Afrikaner-held territory, defeating small Afrikaner garrisons and at one point, massacring several families and razing their homesteads.

Grootfontein (town in NE Namibia)

Battle of (Where?) (1638 AD)-An Afrikaner militia attempts to intercept the Spanish force as it retreats out of Afrikaner territory. The Afrikaners are defeated, although Spanish losses are heavy.

Ondangwa?

Afrikaner Invasion of Angola (1639 AD)-The Afrikaners, supported by Dutch ships, decide to put an end to the Spanish menace.

Battle of (Where?) (1639 AD)-

Battle of (Where?) (1639 AD)-

Battle of (Where?) (1640 AD)-

Cunene Crossing, Lobito, and Huambo?

 

[MerryPrankster]

Wow. I may actually use some of those.

Thanks BGMan.

Where is Towsrivier?

 

[BGMan]

Wow. I may actually use some of those.

Thanks BGMan.

Where is Towsrivier?

I saw Touwsrivier in my old atlas... it's a small town in the Western Cape province, inland about 100 miles northeast of Cape Town.

 

[nemo1986]

Really good. couple of things. you mention the panama canal but not when it was constructed also I do not remember any mention of Hawai'i being annexed.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Battle of York (1778 AD)-General Robert Harms decides to “roll the hard six” and attacks the British city of York (present-day Toronto) from his bases in the Ohio Valley. This battle will give the infant US the Niagara Peninsula, which includes Toronto, Oshawa, Bramptom, Peterborough, etc. between Georgian Bay and Lake Erie.

Errr... Since York was founded in 1793, AFTER the revolution, this would be a touch difficult!

'Ontario' (=Anglophone upper Canada) is a direct result of the Revolution - with the initial settlers being Loyalists fleeing the nascent US.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Sinking of the Indefatigable (1840 AD)-Using early self-propelled torpedoes and more advanced artillery supplied by the Afrikaners, Ali’s forces sink the British ship Indefatigable off the Syrian coast. Fearing the possible possession of more such weapons by the Egyptians, the European commanders call off the landings in Beirut.

Self propelled torpedoes not only developed by sold to allies in 1840?!

OTL

The first prototypes of a self-propelled torpedo were created by I.F. Alexandrovskii, a Russian naval specialist and designer of submarines, and Giovanni Luppis, an Austrian naval officer (though ethnically Italian) from Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia), a port city of the Austrian Empire. In 1865 Alexandrovskii offered his project of "self-propelled torpedo" to the Russian Naval Ministry. In 1860, Giovanni Luppis presented the salvacoste (coastsaver), a floating weapon, driven by ropes from the land. The project was not taken up by the Navy. Luppis knew Robert Whitehead, an English engineer who was the manager of a Fiume factory and in 1864 Luppis made a contract with him in order to perfect the invention. The result was a submarine weapon, the Minenschiff, the first real self-propelled torpedo, officially presented to the Imperial Naval commission on December 21, 1866.

also

On 16 January 1877, the Turkish steamer Intibah became the first vessel to be sunk by torpedoes, launched from torpedo boats operating from the tender Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin under the command of Stepan Osipovich Makarov during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

It seems to me that moving the history of torpedoes forward that far, that fast, without any explanation is ... a problem. Moreover, why is South Africa the first to develop such a weapon when the major industrial powers e.g. Britain, and France haven't?

 

[MerryPrankster]

The Afrikaners have got a small miltary-eligible population (the army is solely white/Coloured at this point) and a lot of money. I figured they'd be more inclined to invest in new and trendy gadgets--hence self-propelled torpedos several decades early.

Of course, the French and Brits are still more industrialized than the Afrikaners at this stage, although the Afrikaners do have a larger territorial base. Perhaps they get self-propelled torpedos of their own soon afterwards and supply them to some enemies of the Afrikaners (in India, perhaps) for revenge.

Good point re: York. If the Americans can snag the Niagara Peninsula, when might the city that will become Toronto be founded?

 

[MerryPrankster]

Really good. couple of things. you mention the panama canal but not when it was constructed also I do not remember any mention of Hawai'i being annexed.

The Panama Canal will be constructed somewhat earlier than OTL (need to think of some medical advances so everyone doesn't die of malaria--perhaps owing to earlier white settlement in Africa, the mosquito vector is discovered early) and Hawaii will still be annexed, but not sure when.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Good point re: York. If the Americans can snag the Niagara Peninsula, when might the city that will become Toronto be founded?

Whenever the area is settled?

 

[MerryPrankster]

Whenever the area is settled?

Ah. So the future state of Niagara would be part of the Northwest Ordinance?

 

[MerryPrankster]

Bump. Not everyone who commented on the earlier versions has commented yet.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Whoops. Forgot the map.

 

[TheLoneAmigo]

Awesome TL! I love it from its early beginnings to the modern, realistic World War Three you've depicted. The only stain on the TL's chronological beauty is the many Battles of Where.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Awesome TL! I love it from its early beginnings to the modern, realistic World War Three you've depicted. The only stain on the TL's chronological beauty is the many Battles of Where.

Thanks. I think I need to learn geography better.

 

[Burton K Wheeler]

One detail fix. In the section detailing the post-1848 German Empire, you have Hungary controlling "Czechoslovakia". In fact, you should have Bohemia-Moravia (OTL Czech Republic) as part of Austria and Slovakia as part of Hungary.

 

[MerryPrankster]

One detail fix. In the section detailing the post-1848 German Empire, you have Hungary controlling "Czechoslovakia". In fact, you should have Bohemia-Moravia (OTL Czech Republic) as part of Austria and Slovakia as part of Hungary.

It would have been divided that way? I thought the non-German parts of A-H were under Hungarian control, and the Hungarians were always trying to force their culture on everyone else.

Of course, if the Czech lands were under German jurisdiction, that would explain why the Czechs end up part of mega-Germany in many of these scenarios...