The Union Forever: A TL
- Thread starter Mac Gregor
- Start date
That reminds me of another flag I made. Would be perfect for Panama now that I think about it...
That looks pretty cool. I would think there is something symbolic about having the blue on the edges though, to represent the Atlantic and Pacific.
Then again, the blue through the middle could represent the Canal. Actually I like that better.
What I am trying to say is that the sun/wheat symbol in the upper left/bottom right would probably not be around in the timeline because it was created decades after the POD.
Hm... definitely right that it wouldn't be made, but it's also very casual/unofficial. The plant is sugarcane, which is very important to the economy, and the sun kind of speaks for itself, it being a tropical island.
Maybe chalk it up to a combination of historical license and "convergent history"?
Edit:
Here is a page with a few coats of arms of cities on Guadeloupe. They're all fairly similar, and I can't find anything on dates for them.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Coats_of_arms_of_cities_in_Guadeloupe
Double Edit: What happened to St Martin, St Barthelemy, or St Pierre & Miquelon? Also, who got Wallis and Futuna or New Caledonia? Did France keep their Melanesian territories?
I know you've probably already answered these but I can't remember. Sorry
It also occurs to me that the acquisition of the Danish Virgin Islands may have been butterflied away. I don't remember if this was mentioned either.
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That reminds me of another flag I made. Would be perfect for Panama now that I think about it...
I like that flag a lot. Here are three varients. Of the 4 which do y'all prefer?
I like #3; the gold star looks better on blue than on green, and I'm not digging the thick green sides on #1.
However, I also liked the idea of deriving the color scheme from the Colombian flag of the time.
However, I also liked the idea of deriving the color scheme from the Colombian flag of the time.
Anyone care to break the tie?
And yes an update should be coming soon.
1949: Part 5
1949
Part 5: War’s End
The Antofagasta Pocket
Bolivian forces surrender to a Uruguayan soldier in the desert south of Antofagasta
December 14, 1949
With the fall of Calama in late November, the Bolivian and Peruvian forces that had invaded Chile only a year ago found now themselves in an unsustainable situation. Surrounded and under increasing aerial bombardment by Free Americas forces, enemy troops commanded by Bolivian General Marino Sedillo tried desperately on the 4th and 9th of December to break through American lines to the relative safety of the north. Both attempts failed and used up precious amounts of fuel and ammunition which, cut off from all lines of supply, the Bolivians and Peruvians could not replace. On December 14th General Sedillo surrendered his remaining 63,000 battered and starved soldiers after the Argentine government refused his request for asylum. Not wanting to be handed over to the Chileans, Sedillo originally stated that he would only surrender to the Americans. Major General Edward Knight of the U.S. Army refused however maintaining that “to surrender to one member of the Free Americas alliance is to surrender to all”. With the elimination of Sedillo’s forces virtually all of occupied Chile had been liberated by the Free Americas. Furthermore, there was now no significant body of troops between the allies and the Bolivian heartland.
The Deposition of Celso Serrano
The news of General Sedillo’s capitulation proved to be the breaking point for President Celso Serrano’s regime. Despite Serrano’s call to prepare for a guerrilla war in the Bolivian interior, the leadership of the decimated Bolivian Army had had enough. On December 20th around 4:00 AM, nearly 800 soldiers of the capital’s garrison stormed the Presidential Palace. Serrano was dragged from his bed and after some debate amongst the coup’s generals executed by firing squad in the palace courtyard. In the confusion that followed the army junta carried out a hurried and bloody purge of Serrano loyalists in the government and military and appointed the moderate civilian politician Natalio Verdugo as provisional president. Realizing that war had entered its final stage Brazil and Paraguay signed the Charter for a Free Americas on December 21st, followed by Argentina the following day. On December 22nd Verdugo formally requested an armistice with the Free Americas powers.
Peru Quits
While the situation deteriorated in Bolivia, events in Peru had already began to shift decisively against President Elbio Paz Armenta. After 22 days of near constant fighting the embattled city of Piura fell to Colombian and Ecuadorian troops on December 18th, signaling the collapse of the Peruvians’ northern front. This defeat coupled with the news of the failure to contain the American/Mexican beachhead at Arica caused widespread disillusionment with the war and emboldened Peruvian dissidents. When news of Serrano’s death and Bolivia’s armistice reached Lima tensions boiled over. On December 23rd, riots erupted throughout the Peruvian capital that police were unable, or unwilling, to contain. On Christmas Eve the protestors, now armed with munitions confiscated from government stockpiles, had effectively besieged Armenta and his supporters inside Lima’s Plaza Mayor. Around noon that day a confrontation with other leaders of his Sol Rojo party ended badly when Armenta stormed out of the meeting after they insisted that the time had come for him to step down. Rightfully fearing that a coup to remove him was imminent, Armenta took his own life that evening by a gunshot to the head. As such, the Christmas of 1949 would go down as one of the most memorable in American history as people awoke to the much anticipated news that the Peruvian military had requested an armistice and that the war was now over.
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Outstanding ending. It looks like this TL's 2 American continents will have much more solidarity and cooperation than OTL. Can never be a bad thing.
Indeed, America is concentrating on building her alliance system in the western hemisphere and the pacific. Europe is split between the British, Russians, and Germans.
I've always loved the Mongolian flag; that one is quite nice as well.
How are US/UK relations? US/German? US/Russian?
Are things still tense with former enemies/warm with former allies?
How are US/UK relations? US/German? US/Russian?
Are things still tense with former enemies/warm with former allies?
Good questions.
US/UK relations: Still friendly since the Great War due to a shared language and democratic government. The main point of contention is on decolonization. America has positioned itself as the champion of decolonization while Britain is adamant about hanging on to its empire. Furthermore, American influence is growing steadily in places such as Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and New Zealand which the British resent.
US/German relations: At this point America is probably a little closer to Germany than with Britain or Russia due to Germany’s lack of a large colonial empire and the strong ethnic ties with German Americans. As the first and second largest economies respectively America and Germany are important trade partners as well as rivals.
US/Russian relations: Still friendly. The main friction point is over China, whom the U.S. supports. Furthermore, America wishes to see Russia open up its political process more and provide less support to foreign nondemocratic regimes.
US/Japanese relations: American relations with Japan are bad and getting worse. Japan has few friends in the world as has found itself at odds with most of the major powers. America has tried unsuccessfully to stop the growth of Japanese influence in Southeast Asia.
Bottom line: With the exception of Japan, America is on good terms with most nations. However, due to a rough parity of strength completion is fierce as each power tries to gain a little leverage over the others. Each power has carved out a sphere of influence for itself which it guards jealously.
The map below is a rough outline of the great powers’ spheres of influence as of 1950. Keep in mind that the exact nature of the influence varies from state to state nor does it mean that a particular country does not have a relationship with another great power such as Canada which although part of the British Commonwealth is also closely tied to the United States. (Please note that the borders for British west Africa are still not finalized)
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