The most original WI ever

Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy · Jun 17, 2006

After many months of hard work researching the most obscure corners of history as well as the entire AH.com archive, I have found it. This is guaranteed to be the most original and praiseworthy WI whose presence has ever blessed the AH.com Discussion Board, both New and Old. Are you ready? Here it is:

WI the CSA won the ACW?

I think this calls for at least one Turtledove.

Martinus Paduei · Jun 17, 2006

The level of originality astounds me.

pa_dutch · Jun 17, 2006

The Confederation of Southern Arabia could never win the Armenian Cold War.

DuQuense · Jun 17, 2006

The Confederation of Southern Arabia could never win the Armenian Cold War.

I'm not sure about that,
Sure Armenia controlled Mesopotamia and the Oil Fields in northern Arabia, But Greater Afganistan and its control of the Eastern Zorgos Mountains, Would have been no walkover,
And the Byzantine Rus, were just sitting back hoping to pick up some pieces.

EvolvedSaurian · Jun 17, 2006

The Byzantine Rus were too worried about the Keiven Rus and the Volga Rus to interfere in a southern war.

Thande · Jun 17, 2006

What if that business with the Armenians stopping that Ethiopian ship, you know the one carrying the two South Arab diplomats to Addis Ababa to plead their case, had blown up? Might the Empire of Ethiopia have intervened on the side of the South Arabs?

Tetsu · Jun 17, 2006

And let's not forget the piracy incident off the coast of Zanj... the Kerala League never heard the end of that one. Of course, the CSA's weapons were supplied by the KL all along.

Thande · Jun 17, 2006

Tetsu said:
And let's not forget the piracy incident off the coast of Zanj... the Kerala League never heard the end of that one. Of course, the CSA's weapons were supplied by the KL all along.

Unless of course you believe that conspiracy theory that that was organised by Afghans as part of their latest attempt to undermine the KL...

Aluminium foil hijab on, eh?

Tetsu · Jun 17, 2006

Thande said:
Unless of course you believe that conspiracy theory that that was organised by Afghans as part of their latest attempt to undermine the KL... Aluminium foil hijab on, eh?

Nah, I don't place much stock in anything the Afghans say, except whenever they announce that they're stepping up their opium production.

They, along with the Deccan People's Combine and the Bengali Republic, were simply unhappy about the KL's position in the war- but the Kerali technological advantage made it difficult for anybody else on the subcontinent to do anything about it but bitch.

Thande · Jun 17, 2006

Tetsu said:
Nah, I don't place much stock in anything the Afghans say, except whenever they announce that they're stepping up their opium production. They, along with the Deccan People's Combine and the Bengali Republic, were simply unhappy about the KL's position in the war- but the Kerali technological advantage made it difficult for anybody else on the subcontinent to do anything about it but bitch.

Now come on, you're starting to believe your own propaganda with that last part

Kerala's so-called technological advantage is so much hot air for the most part - a few flashy new weapons to intimidate its neighbours. But I bet that ironclad fleet would have been completely useless in effective combat if it ever came to the crunch. Still, we'll never know, I suppose...

Thermopylae · Jun 17, 2006

OMG U N00BS!!!!!11!!

T3H 1R0QU0IS C0NF3D3R4CY W0ULD T0T4LLY H4V3 K1KK3D UR BU770RZ!!!!11!!!

EvolvedSaurian · Jun 17, 2006

Thermopylae said:
OMG U N00BS!!!!!11!!

T3H 1R0QU0IS C0NF3D3R4CY W0ULD T0T4LLY H4V3 K1KK3D UR BU770RZ!!!!11!!!

Iroquois? That band of nomadic mystics??

Speaking of opium, have you been to Afganistan recently?

Flocculencio · Jun 17, 2006

Thande said:
Now come on, you're starting to believe your own propaganda with that last part Kerala's so-called technological advantage is so much hot air for the most part - a few flashy new weapons to intimidate its neighbours. But I bet that ironclad fleet would have been completely useless in effective combat if it ever came to the crunch. Still, we'll never know, I suppose...

Whether or not our Keralite ironclads were battleworthy is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that they were sufficiently intimidating to prevent the Bengali People's Republic ever considering an attempt to force the Palk Straits.

Which brings up another hoary old WI- all the noobs who try asking WI the Deccan People's Combine had tried to cross the Ghats into Tamilia and the Keralite League heartland in Malabar. Everyone seems to assume that if the heartland fell to the DPC, their Bengali allies would then be free to round Cape Comorin and strike up towards the Persian Gulf.

What they seem to forget is that the Keralite Ministry of War had actually planned for this eventuality- the files were declassified recently and make for some very interesting reading. It appears that the plan was for the League's Council of Peers to evacuate from Cochin and reconvene in Colombo to carry on the war from Ceylon. You can be sure that with the heartland occupied, the KL Ministry of Information would have had a field day: "Aryan invaders overrun Dravidian Homeland". The citizens of the KL states in Sri Vijaya would be queuing up at the recruiting depots. You'd probably even see even more volunteer contingents from Australia and South Africa- after all they weren't too slack at volunteering in OTL and they're still Dravidians even though they're not League Members.

Glen · Jun 17, 2006

Naw, its obviously WI Napoleon had beaten Wellington at Waterloo!

Women's Sports AH is sorely neglected.

If Josephine Napoleon had beaten Annette Wellington in the European Tennis Finals at Waterloo, the whole history of the sport would have been changed. Without the fame that went with winning the Cup, Wellington would have sunk back into obscurity and never gone on to head up the International Women's Tennis League or to introduce her radical reforms of the sport.

Sheesh....

NapoleonXIV · Jun 17, 2006

Glen said:
Naw, its obviously WI Napoleon had beaten Wellington at Waterloo!

Women's Sports AH is sorely neglected.

If Josephine Napoleon had beaten Annette Wellington in the European Tennis Finals at Waterloo, the whole history of the sport would have been changed. Without the fame that went with winning the Cup, Wellington would have sunk back into obscurity and never gone on to head up the International Women's Tennis League or to introduce her radical reforms of the sport.

Sheesh....

Yeh, they would probably never have started playing in the nude for one thing.

Alcuin · Jun 17, 2006

NapoleonXIV said:
Yeh, they would probably never have started playing in the nude for one thing.

Now you're just being silly. That is so far fetched. I mean did you ever TRY to get a Burgundian woman to put clothes on? They just won't do it.

Thande · Jun 17, 2006

Guys, guys, let's stay on topic.

So, apart from the whole Ethiopian ship interception incident, what other PODs might have resulted in a South Arab victory? And do we necessarily require intervention by a Great Power on the South Arab side, or can they manage it alone?

pa_dutch · Jun 17, 2006

Well, what about Serimian's March to the Black Sea? The people of Georgia still remember him burning every city in his path. If he hadn't managed to capture the CSA port of Sa'vahna for the Armenians...

Flocculencio · Jun 17, 2006

Thande said:
Guys, guys, let's stay on topic.

So, apart from the whole Ethiopian ship interception incident, what other PODs might have resulted in a South Arab victory? And do we necessarily require intervention by a Great Power on the South Arab side, or can they manage it alone?

The trouble is actually getting one of the Great Powers to intervene- they all knew that once one stepped in, all the others would have to choose sides. It would be a repeat of the First Arabian War and the generals of the Powers had almost all started their careers as officers in that bloodbath. No one really wanted to see the slaughter repeated (which, incidentally, is yet another reason why the Bengalis and their Deccan vassals along with the Keralite League weren't too eager to get involved).

Wendell · Jun 17, 2006

Thande said:
Guys, guys, let's stay on topic.

So, apart from the whole Ethiopian ship interception incident, what other PODs might have resulted in a South Arab victory? And do we necessarily require intervention by a Great Power on the South Arab side, or can they manage it alone?

Well, having the French Empire on their side was certainly a plus for Armenia. Then again, only limited naval assistance was provided due to fear of escalation. Perhaps, if the Prussians had intervened for South Arabia...