Vive la Revolution!: The story of Fructidor and Beyond

[Alternate History]

Pontus is on the Black Sea coast. I'm not sure what that Greek puppet state in South Anatolia is, but it is not Pontus. Also, remember what I said about the need for ethnic cleansing? The Greeks are in a minority in the actual Pontus (i.e. the Russian puppet state), so if Russia wants a puppet there, it'll have to use Turkish administrators. In addition, Greece will be very unstable and cannot reasonably cleanse all the lands it annexed. By the way, I think you forgot to mention what the successor state of the Ottoman Empire is.

I also agree that Denmark wouldn't be eager to join the war and even assuming it would (it's somewhat more plausible than IOTL, since Germany is Balkanized - Denmark would never dare provoke a united Germany), I doubt it'd want to seize such a huge territory, with all its Germans who will, as I said, cause trouble one way or another. Maybe they'll take all of Schleswig-Holstein if they feel adventuristic - I doubt they'll accept more.

Finally, I'd strongly advise you not to just update the same map as you go along, but post a new version of the map after every update so that we can follow the progress of the world as the timeline goes along, even if we're just reading later on. Just post the updates normally, as new posts, and include a table of contents in the first post with links to the updates.

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Pontus is on the Black Sea coast. I'm not sure what that Greek puppet state in South Anatolia is, but it is not Pontus. Also, remember what I said about the need for ethnic cleansing? The Greeks are in a minority in the actual Pontus (i.e. the Russian puppet state), so if Russia wants a puppet there, it'll have to use Turkish administrators. In addition, Greece will be very unstable and cannot reasonably cleanse all the lands it annexed. By the way, I think you forgot to mention what the successor state of the Ottoman Empire is. Oh, sorry. Pontus is on the Black Sea coast? I will change that. What could that Greek puppet be called? Tarsus?

Also, that "Greece will be very unstable" and also the thing about " [ethnic] cleansing" will be used for the later development of the TL... And Russia will also (try to) support Greece. I did though recognise, and do plan with, the fact of a very unstable Greece. But this Greece is also wanting to be somebody, more than they can... this wlll not end well. For now, though, Britain is also supporting Greece.

Successor state of the Ottoman Empire? There is none. But there is a rump Republic of Turkey, led by Atatürk et al., in Anatolia.

I also agree that Denmark wouldn't be eager to join the war and even assuming it would (it's somewhat more plausible than IOTL, since Germany is Balkanized - Denmark would never dare provoke a united Germany), I doubt it'd want to seize such a huge territory, with all its Germans who will, as I said, cause trouble one way or another. Maybe they'll take all of Schleswig-Holstein if they feel adventuristic - I doubt they'll accept more. I can understand why Greece wouldn't want too much of Turkey or any other cosntellation, but why would "Germans... cause trouble" in Denmark of all places? Or was Denmark not democratic at that time and/or out to Danicize it's citizens?

Also, I think any power that has any ambitions of being a power of itself would accept more territory...

Finally, I'd strongly advise you not to just update the same map as you go along, but post a new version of the map after every update so that we can follow the progress of the world as the timeline goes along, even if we're just reading later on. Just post the updates normally, as new posts, and include a table of contents in the first post with links to the updates. That is what I anyway planned. I write the second update, and it includes the second map. It's just for the changes that I used the same map in the first post. Sorry if you thought I was just going to update the map of the first post or so.

Red comments...

 

[Alternate History]

I'm not sure about the southern Anatolian puppet state. "Lycia" is a name I first thought of, but it doesn't cover the entirety of the state's territory. The closest would be probably naming it after the old Byzantine theme of Cibyrrhaeot, but that's perhaps too archaic and too Greek to the local Turkish population. (There are barely any Greeks there at all, I'd say!)

About Atatürk, did you just edit him or did I miss the part about him before? Either way, it's good that you mention it, although a little elaboration on the Anatolian situation would be good. Atatürk will no doubt try to fight what is a much more severe carve-up than IOTL, although with Russia supporting Greece instead of being in complete chaos (and instead of the SU later giving tacit support to Atatürk) he probably won't be successful.

Regarding Denmark, as a communist, you of all people should know better than to have faith in a bourgeois state's good treatment of minorities! But I have two main problems with this whole thing. First, consider the example of Czechoslovakia IOTL. It inherited, IIRC, 3 million Sudeten Germans from Austria-Hungary post-WWI; they weren't oppressed too badly, but still received some discrimination, and many of them definitely were disloyal, especially early on (when they wished to rejoin Austria or join Germany) and late (when Hitler's rhetoric swayed them), though they were on decent terms with the central government in the late 20s-early 30s. Denmark may or may not discriminate against its new Germans, it can go either way - but the Germans definitely will be even more trouble as they don't have historical ties with Denmark (or what they have are hundreds of years old) and I believe they form a MUCH larger part of the population. Denmark's population at the time was a little less than 4 million, going by this, and the combined population of the annexed Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklemburg-Vorpommern together, scaling back from today's data, is maybe 2 million. That means that Denmark just scored a 33% German minority. That's fine as long as they don't get infected by German nationalism, but once they do, Denmark is falling apart, even if Denmark was all nice to them before. If you want an ahistorically strong Denmark, I suggest taking all of Schleswig-Holstein, but not Mecklemburg-Vorpommern... and that's still making Denmark into a potential new Czechoslovakia.

Secondly, there is the matter of Danish mentality. The Entente offered all of Schleswig-Holstein post-WWI to Denmark, but Denmark refused to take anything without a referendum, and they didn't even conduct a referendum in the southern third (Denmark explicitly asked not to). The northern third only was given to Denmark in the end. This was motivated, I suspect, by a fear of Germany, and in this timeline the Danes have less reason to fear German resurgence, but they're still going to be careful, and it's not like Denmark wanted to desparately expand anyway. After WWII, there was once again an opportunity to get the southern parts, and a lot of Germans even lobbied for joining Denmark (the so-called "Speckdanes") simply because they wanted to live in a state with better living conditions, but Denmark refused that too. I mean, you can have an expansionistic Denmark in this timeline, but you've gotta address why it's expanding, what faction inside the government is responsible for this, etc. Oh, and if Denmark is going to take Mecklemburg-Vorpommern for historical reasons, Sweden with its Skane county is going to be wary of the Danes, and relations are going in the crapper...

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

I edited the turn to suit the Danish mindset (about which I did get a lot of infos, thanks for this!) better. Referendums and such were inserted... And I made it more clear who is the Turkish leader and who supported the Young Turks... But the fact that Greece has to, and unfortunately does, use ethnic cleansing remains.

 

[Ellie]

I do think it would be more interesting if Hitler were butterflied away (i.e. he died in the war) and replaced with someone else.

 

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that without fascism's rise in Italy, particularly the semi-successful March on Rome, you wouldn't have had things like the Beer Hall Putsch which really put the Nazis into the limelight.

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that without fascism's rise in Italy, particularly the semi-successful March on Rome, you wouldn't have had things like the Beer Hall Putsch which really put the Nazis into the limelight.

Firstly, I have to agree with you: Without the rise of Benny, you would not have that much success of fascism. Especially, you will not have OTL Nazism.

However, the Treaty of Schönbrunn (and it's complementary treaties) left many powers unsatisfied. Germany is balkanised for which there is relatively little support, Austria-Hungary wants it's southern territories back, the same applies to Spain,... and thus, there is a lot of potential for radically nationalist ideologies to arise. And this VDNP of Adolf Hitler must be imagined more like the DNVP of OTL than the genocidal maniacs of the NSDAP. More "just" radical nationalists with a passionate hatred for Jews and Slavic peoples than genocidal maniacs... I thought this approach more interesting than the usual "good Adolf Hitler" or "Adolf Hitler killed in World War I", don't you think?

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Already working on the next update...

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

The flag of the United Worker's Republics... The French colours shall only say that the revolution started in France. Full credit for this work goes to Oscar Paris

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Germinal CXXIX - Floréal CXXXVIII
The Fall and Fise of two great Empires

CXXIX:

• More sabre-rattling by Ethiopia against the Anglo-Italian alliance, and another general strike took place in the UK. Also, for some Radical Republicans, home rule was not enough as specified in the Home Rule Act, and they demonstrated for full independence. France supported such demonstrations, showing that the Entente had broken.
• Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, travels to Russia as first communist revolutions crop up in the Center. The Russian Civil War is picking up in strength by the month, and more groups are revolting: Tuvans, Buryats, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, Pan-Turks, Azeris, Armenians,... Leadership of the Swiss Worker's Republic passes to Fritz Platten.
  
• The USA, under newly inaugurated President Leonard Wood supported everybody who was not a commie in the Russian Civil War. But the first priority was still Mexico, whose government surrendered on 8 Fructidor to rebellious forces taking Mexico City. The Yucatan and the Rio Grande Republic were carved out as American puppet states, Baja California was ceded directly to the US and became a territory, and the rest? Aztec fundamentalist revolutionaries (imagine Iran as Aztec version) were now in power in what they, as their very first act, renamed as Tenochtitlan, a name that the city had not bore for 400 years.
• In the Russian Civil War, in Fructidor and on the Sansculottides, revolutions were fully fledged civil war. And most groups had already crystalised themselves: Tuvan/Mongolian nationalism, Central Asian nationalism, Pan-Turkism, the different Caucasian nationalisms, Ukrainian nationalism, Communism, and, to many people's surprise, Pan-Baltism. The Czar was executed by a (mostly communist) mob during the storm onto the Winter Palace on Jour du Génie.
  

CXXX:

• Russian leadership totally collapsed in the months of Vendemiaire and Brumaire. and military generals sometimes just took over an area. Mostly, they were fought back by either communists, Orthodox extremists, or some nationalists (all these having armies themselves), but in the case of the Far East, Leonard Wood sent troops in to support the local general who was loyal to him.
• The Russian armies, after a purely disastrous winter, withdraw from the periphery. From the Baltic Nations, East Prussia, Belarus and Ukraine in Pluviôse, from the Southern Caucaus (including Kurdistan) in Ventôse, and from Central Asia up to the Kazakh border in Germinal and Floréal to keep fighting in the core territory. The North Caucasus is nearly-abandoned too as there are many separatists in control, and few Russians.
• In Floréal, however, it becomes apparent that Japan, which is by now a rather big power, supports Mongolia and lends support to Far Eastern separatists, necessitating withdrawal of troops from western areas to the Far East. On 28 Floréal, Russia abandons Tatarstan and it is taken over by a mix of communists and Tatar nationalists. America gives support to both non-communist sides, and Japan also gives support to North Mongolian/Greater Tuvan nationalists. In Prairial, two areas around the Bratsk reservoir and west of Lake Baikal are taken over by the local divisions and their generals make them into their personal fiefdoms.
• On 10 Pluviôse, it is revealed, by an incident of a ship being controlled in St. Petersburg and then seized, that the UWR give support to communists in the western parts of Russia and in Finland. Russia protests, but soon after, namely on 2 Ventôse, Finland is abandoned and the Social Republic of Finland, a not quite commie, but rather lefty state, is internationally (at least by the UWR, the Norse countries, Britain, Greece, and others) recognised. Now, the support of the UWR for the Russian communists of Vladimir Lenin begins for real. After this, the Caucasian separatists are recognised and the claims relinquished by Russia.
• More general strikes and also first bread riots begin in Britain. This year, they are notable because parts of the army side with the strikers, who are organised in the TUC. Civil war seems imminent when armed Constabulatory units fire on a mourning celebration/demonstration on 23 Messidor.
  
• In the former Russian Empire, the new states have the following governments: The United Baltic Duchies are a constitutional, democratic monarchy with a bit of right-wing lean. The same is also valid for the Ukraine and Crimea. The Central Asian states are more or less "democratic" (from Jordan to Syria levels of democracy) Sultanates and Emirates, in the case of Kazakhstan a republic. The Caucasian states are relatively democratic, but rather Islamist in the case of Dagestan.

CXXXI:

• Around Tatarstan, desertions are high. They increase during Brumaire and Frimaire, and most desertees go to the communists. The Navy (but it is small) is the only force loyal to the Russiam Empire. But the civil war is nearly finished.
  The UWR and Social Republic of Finland keep supporting the communists.
• The Russian Civil War is completed with the communists taking Moscow on 4 Messidor and the remaining government fleeing to Novosibirsk. This incites the communists to proclaim the Union of Soviet Worker's Republics, this time gerrymandered to favour the native peoples. The Kamtchatka Republic is a puppet state of the USA made with and due to the intervention of Leonard Wood, the Primorye Republic is a Japanese puppet, the Republic of Armenia is allied to Greece, the Central Asians and Caucasians are more or less neutral
• To divert from the civil unrest, Britain supports both Tibet and Azeri separatists in Iran. But this is the straw that broke the camel's back. On 28 Nivôse, coordinated demonstrations take place of workers (general strike) and Irish separatists. And when the protestors in Manchester, Birmingham and Dublin are fired upon on 29 Nivôse, civil war erupts as the protestors take up their UWR-provided arms.
• Troops are recalled from the dominions, but on 1 Pluviôse, worker's riots and general strikes also erupt in Canada and Australia. When troops are tried to be recalled from Canada and Australia, soldiers and ships mass-desert to the newly declared independent Canada (4 Pluviôse) and Australia (5 Pluviôse). A sizeable part of the Royal Navy is now gone. Also, the Dominion of Newfoundland declares independence under a communist government and allies itself with France.
• As the garrisons from Somaliland, Italian Somalia, and French Somaliland are recalled, Emperor Haile Selassie I. sees his chance and sends his army in. There is only token resistance, and Djibouti, Eritrea and Somaliland are incorporated directly, while Italian Somalia is puppetised using Somali administrators.
• When Navy ships from the region are ordered to fire on the city of Plymouth on 18 Germinal (as the city is controlled by the rebellious workers of the TUC) the whole unit deserts to the rebels. The units on the Channel Islands sent to "help out" just follow suit instead and are helped by the UWR's Red Navy (which ITTL deserves it's name!) on 3 Floréal. The war goes on in the following months.

​

CXXXII:

• In Vendemiaire to Frimaire, the British Civil War escalates further as more and more Navy units desert, not wanting to shoot on fellow Englishmen, carrying the Civil War onto the seas once again. The UWR of course supports the rebels and strikers. .
• Leonard Wood, US president who wants to be reelected in one year in Brumaire, pursues an aggressive course against any "communists" in and outside of his country. Not only was a veritable "Red Scare" stirred up in public, also, all British, Dutch and French Caribbean Territories (including Bermuda) get occupied during the months of Nivose and Pluviose to "secure them against the communist threat".
• As his populace, after costly and deadly interventions (despite having had quite a lot of success, to be honest) in Mexico and Russia, is slightly war-weary, and as his navy (and army) has had high casualties making them unfit for such a thing right now, Leonard Wood cannot get an intervention directly on British soil through Congress. What he can get through this body, though, is an intervention in Canada, but even this only goes through on 17 Thermidor after the workers, organised in the CUC (Council of Unions of Canada), took control of Parliament in Ottawa. As that happens, and thus American territory is directly threatened by communists (here: Syndicalists), it goes from "just" supporting Quebecois and even Maritime separatists and Canadian nationalists alike to a direct intervention with troops. Some Americans, from Messidor onwards, hope to expand, and several extreme Congressmen start to reuse the decades-old slogan of Fifty-four fourty or Fight! to campaign for American Expansion into Canada. Leonard Wood remarkably does not distance himself from them...
• In Greece, the Basiloi (Orthodox extremists with a compassionate hatred for everything non-Byzantine) successfully and without much resistance, march on Athens between 11 and 28 Ventose, take over, and proclaim the Second Byzantine Empire. It is led by Sokratis Kyrgiakos, who proclaims himself Basil. However, despite his title meaning "King", he does not depose the King or crown himself, just reign in an autocratic manner.
• In Austria-Hungary, the CSVP (Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei) led by people like Engelbert Dollfuß, Kurt Schuschnigg et al. becomes more radical by the day. However, they trend not towards nationalism as is the case in Japan or Prussia's VDNP led by Adolf Hitler, but towards Catholic fundamentalism. They want to establish a fundamentally Catholic state reigned by a single monarch or leader, which will be very conservative. They now have the example of the Second Byzantine Empire to look up to...

CXXXIII:

• With the intervention in Canada having started on 22 Fructidor the previous year, Leonard Wood, the interventionist and highly decorated military man, is reelected in a landslide on 13 Brumaire, winning 38 of the 48 states. This is a confirmation of the mandate to intervene against Canadian Communism.
• In Britain, things go more and more smoothly for the Reds as even loyal parts of the Army and Navy now desert or flee to Africa. However, war is still there throughout the year as the US covertly supports nationalists, Scottish and Welsh separatists, and anti-communists in general.. However, a significant morale blow is dealt to the Empire when King George V. flees to India on 25 Brumaire.
• Another morale blow is suffered by Britain when the Indian Raj declares independence under Subhas Chandra Bose et al. as the Indian Union, allying with Japan and immediately becoming a "Hindu-Apartheid state" on 3 Nivose. . George V. and his immediate family flee to Cape Town soon after, and on 10 Pluviose, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is declared null and void. Now, the British Empire has only got control over territory from Baghdad to Cape Town, except for it's remnants of control in the Scottish and Welsh highlands. By 1 Germinal, Ireland is fully occupied by rebel and UWR troops. The Worker's Republic of Ireland is declared on 9 Germinal.
• In Croatia, the first general election to be held since the war, on 10 Ventose, is won by the Communist Worker's Party of Croatia. But this is not so much because the people love Communism or their workers so much, but more because the WPC promises an alliance with the UWR and thus protection of their independence against the ever more radical Austro-Hungary and Second Byzantine Empire. On an equally negative note, royalists and Catholic fundamentalists found the Partido del Dio in Spain.
• Ethiopia also becomes more and more Orthodox/Copt extremist and anti-Muslim as the British Empire is now majority Muslim. This is, for now, more cultural than any sort of revolution as the current government is already very much nationalist.

CXXXIV:

• On the British Isles itself, the civil war comes to an end on 30 Floréal when the last armed resistance is crushed in the remote highlands of Scotland. The last loyal parts of the Navy flee first to the Faroe Islands, and then to Australia and New Zealand to help the anti-communist parties of the civil war there. The "deserted" part of the Navy forms the Worker's Navy of the new British Syndicate Republics (BSR), a sizeable blue-water force which supports communist revolutions all over the world. Britain allies itself with the UWR against the USA. Gibraltar is taken over by the UWR with little resistance.
• The Civil War is still raging, though, in Australia and Canada. Most of the Outback is already in the hands of the communists, but east of the Great Dividing Range and in it, just as in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, the former loyalist Brits, together with nationalist elements of Australia and New Zealand, fight on...
• Spain has a general election, and the newly-formed Partido del Dio immediately got 11,4 % on 16 Frimaire, campaigning on reclaiming the lost territory, expanding on the "Empire of Christ" and "fighting the infidels and the godless communists". In Prussia's general elections, the VDNP of Adolf Hitler, for the first time, gains the second-most seats in parliament with 20,3 %.
• The Indian Raj, getting some rebellious and/or local elements of the British Navy behind them, exert control over much of formerly British territory in the vicinity of the subcontinent.
• In confirmation of their Anglo-French alliance and of the success of the communist revolution, the BSR switches to a modified (=Anglified) version of the Republican Calendar, the British Republican Calendar. This switch becomes effective, after giving all Brits the Sansculottides off, on 1 Vintagearious I (=1 Vendemiaire CXXXIV). In the UWR and the BSR, it is decided that instead of Nonidi and Decadi, people have every Quintidi and Decadi off, with giving firms the right to use Nonidi (or any other day) instead of Quintidi. However, most firms don't use that right and follow the rythm of Quintidi and Decadi.

CXXXV:

• The New Zealand populace joins the communist cause in masses and thus, the battle for New Zealand becomes an uphill battle. Not only does the populace now join the commies out of frustration with a civil war, but elements of the Worker's Navy arrive to support the commies, along with the Red Navy. This brings the Civil War to the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier reef.
• In Canada, the US troops get bogged down relatively quickly in the vast prairies, contrary to the hopes of Leonard Wood. The war stalls in the month of Frimaire. More successful, though, is the strategy of supporting people like Canadian nationalists, Quebecois separatists, Maritime separatists, and other anti-communists. With mostly this strategy, the communists for example lose control of the western coast.
• General election in Bulgaria results in a communist victory, which will later be attributed to the same causes as in Croatia.
• In the midterm elections, Republicans on an even more interventionist campaign win a number of seats, i.e. the type of Republicans who say things like "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!". The Republican Party now control a supermajority in both houses and they can bring through any law, filibuster-proof.
• Navy support seems to not be enough for the communist rebels, as the Civil War in Australia stays static with guerilla fighting in the Great Dividing Range and the Southern Alps. However, the communists do not lose any territory.

CXXXVI:

• On 12 Pluviôse, Japan invades the collapsing Manchukuo and supports Manchurian separatists. The invasion goes really well, also thanks to support from the Japanese puppets of Primorye and Mongolia. Gansu and Qinghai collapse even more, so that the Indian Raj can, from Ventôse to Fructidor, support Tibetan separatists who can now, with support from the South and from Japan, get control over all of their claim. Tokyo, Delhi, and also Washington recognise this, while Moscow, Paris and London don't. They can not do much more than protest, however.
• The only part of their claim which Tibet can't get is a small area of quasi-independent Uyghurstan. The state is not recognised except by Tokyo, Ulanbaataar et al., however, it is stabilised and de facto does exist.
• Leonard Wood, after getting even more pressure to intervene thanks to the midterm results, makes first offers of a Amero-Japanese Alliance. However, for now, Tokyo has several infulfillable conditions, for example regarding the Phillippines. However, cooperation is renewed and extended.
  
• There are mass uprisings in the Dutch East Indies, in support of the communists of Oceania. Also, the Red Navy and the Worker's Navy land troops to help their fellow communist "rebels" in and near Sydney. The East Indies rebels, to which many natives (feeling suppressed by the colonials) flock, have a lot of success also in guerilla fighting as they, contrary to the Dutch, know the territory. With the guerillas suffering from infighting between loyal Brits and Australian/New Zealander nationalists, Australia and New Zealand are mostly taken over by Thermidor, only few guerilla fighters remain in the Great Dividing Range and in the Southern Alps. In Prairial, the Worker's Navy and Red Navy elements
• FIFA had decided to hold the first World Championship in CXXXIV originally, but moved it two years ahead due to the British Civil War. But this year on 22 Prairial, the first match of the FIFA World Championship took place in the United Worker's Republics, the only stable nation of Europe. Only Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay participate of South America, together with other nations of Europe, Ethiopia and Egypt of Africa and the Japanese Empire of Asia, they form a full field of 16 teams. However, the United Worker's Republics win the first WC on it's home turf, 2-1 in the final against Prussia.

CXXXVII:

• In the USA, on 15 Fogarious IV/15 Frimaire, the radical interventionist Henry L. Stimson is elected POTUS. He immediately once again takes up the proposals for an Amero-Japanese alliance. Japan demands: 1. getting "independent" Phillippines, 2. full control of the West Pacific, 3. a free hand in Asia together with it's ally of India. The two latter demands are immediately met, and after reviewing his books and papers, on 8 Ventôse, the Alliance is signed. Japan marches into the Phillippines, which gain Sabah from Malaysia, and then makes Malaysia proper into a puppet.
• From then onwards, Japan, America, and the Indian Raj fight together in Oceania and defends the Dutch East Indies, with the aim of keeping as much non-communist as possible. This is the first proxy war between the two alliances. Canada goes a bit on the back burner as Indonesia is more threatened to fall to the commies.
• Japan can invade Manchuria with relative ease since it supports local warlords and separatists with arms more than really invading with troops. A few troops from Korea are there, though, and there still is resistance.
• However, Sulawesi is already firmly in the hands of the commies in Thermidor. And Java, Bali and Lombok seem to fall to them, too. Australia and New Zealand, like New Caledonia, the Solomons, and Papua New Guinea, are now firmly in the communists' hand.
• In Serbia and Montenegro, the communists win the general elections.

CXXXVIII:

• In the Prussian general election of 14 Floréal, Hitler's VDNP gains 36,8 % of the vote on a campaign of "reuniting as many German states as possible", "fighting the religious fundamentalists in Vienna", and such. The VDNP is more conservative-nationalist like OTL DNVP, not outright Nazist. It has a bit more Anti-Semitism than OTL DNVP, but it more wants to "regulate" the Jews and not exterminate them.
• The USA occupies itself with Canada, winning several important victories with big help of Canadian collaborators, leaving Japan and India to defend the remnants of the Dutch East Indies.
• On 22 Germinal, Jakarta falls to the communists and/or a mob, and they storm the parliament and execute the colonial leaders. The government remnants flee to Pontianak and surrender from there. However, the Japanese and Indians, with a bit of American and Loyalist British help, defend Sumatra and Kalimantan and prop up the remnant Dutch Empire massively. Japan and India negtoiate for peace and, on 25 Floréal (25 Floweral), a treaty delineating the border is signed. However, the USA occupies several of the Pacific territories, delineating it's border in the middle of the sea in the Treaty of Adelaide.
• Albania and notably Bulgaria have communist wins in their general elections, and thus become puppets of the UWR. But being a puppet of the UWR does nit imply you being an undemocratic dictatorship, but just a military and economic alliance and the level of democracy or dictatorship that the local Communist Party wants to implement. Some, like Bulgaria, are very democratic, while Albania and Ireland can seem quite dictatorial. However, the UWR itself would not even dream of intervening if they "stray off the course" or something. As a reaction to these communist victories, Austria-Hungary instigates a coup in Romania, putting undemocratic Orthodox Extremists somewhat like the Basiloi of the Byzantine Empire into power.
• Manchukuo is nearly taken over as communists, led by a certain Mao Tse-Tung, become an additional, albeit small, force in the Warlord period. It is planned to become a puppet state as soon as the last resistance is crushed...
• In Spain, the Partido del Dio wins the general election with 41,4 % of the vote due to their campaign of reversing the harsh Treaty of Braga in which hefty reparations were demanded, cessation of the Northeast was fixed, the army was limited, Galicia was demilitarised, and other things. They were sort of Catholic Fascists: Not race-based, but religion-based saying that Catholicism was the Supreme Religion, that their leader is the new coming of the Messias and will, from now on, form the Empire of Christ.

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Update is finished! Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome!

Especially, I want to know: Is "Basiloi" a good Greek name for a movement? Is "Partido del Dio" correct Castilian Spanish? Do you still like this TL, as the world is polarising?

 

[Zeldar155]

The barrage of bolded text and roman numerals make it really hard to follow, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

The barrage of bolded text and roman numerals make it really hard to follow, but that's just my opinion.

Well... bolded text and the general format I have taken from Pkmatrix's A Revised History of the Future, which is one of the best TLs ever and has won multiple (I think) Turtledoves.
And the Roman numerals? They are a property of my folly, the Republican Calendar...

 

[Zeldar155]

Well... bolded text and the general format I have taken from Pkmatrix's A Revised History of the Future, which is one of the best TLs ever and has won multiple (I think) Turtledoves.
And the Roman numerals? They are a property of my folly, the Republican Calendar...

So?

I'm not sure I'm understanding you here, are you telling me the format was successful in another TL and therefore my argument that it doesn't work in this TL is somehow invalid?

The format's success depends on how well the writer uses it, it doesn't work simply because a successful TL used it before.

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

So?

I'm not sure I'm understanding you here, are you telling me the format was successful in another TL and therefore my argument that it doesn't work in this TL is somehow invalid?

The format's success depends on how well the writer uses it, it doesn't work simply because a successful TL used it before.

I did try to say something like that, or at least that it's not my invention... However, has there been anything blatantly implausible in Denmark, Norway, Finland or any other Nordic areas?

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Bumpity bumpity bump... I am working on the next update, but I would still love to hear more comments! Even if they are critical, but loving the TL (as Alternate History has insinuated) is even better!

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Floréal CXXXVIII - Ventôse CXLVIII

No Peace in Our Time​

​

CXXXVIII:

• The radically interventionist policies of Henry L. Stimson start to backfire as the Worker's International, as the alliance of the communist powers is called, starts to threaten the USA with intervention. Under this impression, The Canadian United Syndicates (CUS) start to fight back.
  
• Manchukuo is fully secured, declared independent, and made a Japanese puppet on 8 Thermidor.
  
• The USA, together with "Maritime separatist" collaborators, have on 22 Thermidor taken all of the Maritimes and on 29 Messidor they had already taken Vancouver Island. These two victories incite the Worker's Internationale to intervene against the USA which is now seen as endangering the Worker's International.
  Denmark agrees with them, having experienced a leftist (more social-democrat, though), electoral victory in Vendémiaire, to allow troops and ships to pass through their territorial waters although they will not provide any help of their own. The only one to help the USA are Japan and India, but quite honestly, they are more occupied with furthering their goals in Asia.
  
• Hitler's Prussia, Austria-Hungary and others having lost World War One start to secretly rearm as the Red Entente are not looking.
  

CXXXIX:

• Black Sextidi and then Black Octidi hits the world, especially the USA, on 16 and 18 Vendémiaire. The Dow Jones has it's highest loss in a day with 16 %, and it is constantly slipping... Many shareholders have lost their, or most of their money by Germinal. Investments and capital flow are drooping, and the biggest economic crisis ever has started in earnest in Pluviôse.
• With a war on it's home turf, and because the communist economies (due to their safety) profiting from the losses over the whole world, the USA falls down more and more steadily. Troops are evicted from Canada's soil, and the "separatists" crushed, over the course of this year, and on 19 Floréal, a historic event takes place: Foreign troops enter the territory of the United States of America in Maine and the Dakotas, for the first time since 1812. On 28 Floréal, this is followed up by a mass landing of troops on the Great Lake beaches of Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.
• And there is not only a war, but rebellions, riots and revolution runs rampant in the USA, too. For example, on 11 Pluviôse, the Army was needed to crush a pro-communist armed demonstration in Detroit. These incidents only increase in frequency and, as the Army, overstretched and weakened from the many unsuccessful interventions and the heavy losses in the Mexican and Canadian campaign, is needed to crush rebellion, the Canadians have quick successes in the war and, by Fructidor, the Worker's international controls much of the northern Great Plains and the most important areas of Washington and Oregon. Naturally, most of the puppet states very soon went their own way.
• Mecklenburg, anyway having been mostly dependent on Prussia, is coaxed (and somewhat threatened) into holding a referendum with the options of "remaining independent" and "joining Prussia". The referendum of 19 Frimaire is most likely falsified, but Hitler is so sane as to not make it blatantly obvious, as the referendum "only" yields 83 % approval of joining Prussia. This was an Anschluss, but probably based on the will of both sides as many historians will later debate whether a majority of Mecklenburgers really wanted to join Prussia. However, for now, on 20 Frimaire, Prussian troops and police forces march through Mecklenburg and into Rostock and encounter only token resistance.
• India and Japan, in a joint venture, invade the South of China. Japan takes Hongkong and Macau, and then both support separatist warlords in the south.

CXL:

• The FIFA World Championship of this year, held in Spain (despite it's Catholic extremist government), is suspected to be heavily manipulated. After having diverse controversial goals awarded and a clear manipulation in the quarter-finals against the English SR (two clearly regular goals of the English were disallowed due to supposed offensive foul or offside), Spain wins over Poland 2-1 in the final.
• After this year's Olympic Games being sparsely visited, FIFA decides to move the World Championship into the years between the Olympics. Thus, Brazil as the first South American country to host the competition will host it already in CXLII, and the next one will take place in CXLVI.
  
• On 18 Germinal, during an important campaign event in Sacramento/California, a bomb explodes directly in front of the podests. This kick-starts the civil war as President, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, of Defense, and of the Interior, and most candidates for POTUS are killed. There were no presidential succession rules at the time, and Canada was invading. And the Vice President William Borah, who became Acting President, was not born to lead (but to balance Stimson's ticket a bit). He was an isolationist. He hastily made peace with Canada and the Worker's International, who surprisingly leniently demanded Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin to be ceded directly and an independent Cascadia. National pride of the USA was severely damaged.
  
• Borah, from 18 Germinal onwards tried the army on the by now diverse rebel forces (everything from Syndicalists over Mormons and black supremacists to Californian separatists was present), but the army had lost so many men and resources by now that they just couldn't really fight against the rebels. The Army and National Guard were called up, and conscription was issued nationwide on 7 Messidor, but even that did not help. Due to widespread joblessness (28,4 % of Americans were jobless as of 10 Messidor, due to the great depression), starvation after the harsh winter, and general economic insecurity, desertions increased. Nevertheless, the Army, Police and National Guard fought to the last drop of blood and the last cartridge of ammo.
  
• When Prussia marched into the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck on 30 Pluviôse, Hannover and the International Zone requested protection from the UWR on 2 and 5 Ventôse, respectively. And the UWR provides not only protection, but tells the citizens that "they will reunite Germany under the Red Banner". And they flock to that call, not because they want to be communist that desperately, but because they all want to reunite Germany. And not under Prussia's heel. Also, the UWR is not an unfree, genocidal dictatorship like OTL USSR. No, every Worker's Republic is more or less independent (as long as it stays basically communist) and can practice it's traditions, culture and rites as it wishes.
• The territory east of Yunnan falls to the Japanese-Indian-Southeast Asian onslaught, while Japan replaces the French administrators with their own (or loyal local) ones and changes a border in Southeast Asia. The Empire of Vietnam-Lao and the Khmer Empire are proclaimed.

CXLI:

• Yunnan falls to the Indian and Tibetan, mountain-experienced, troops on 11 Floréal and is incorporated into the new Empire of Greater Yunnan, a joint Japano-Indian puppet.
• Prussia provokes it's worst crisis to date when it, between 10 Ventôse and 19 Messidor, has to force, against huge international protest, the United Baltic Duchies to give more and more autonomy rights to the German majority in East Prussia by amassing more and more troops on the border. Then, on 2 Thermidor and without any warning, they invaded the United Baltic Duchies. The weak army tried to fight, but potential allies were occupied otherwise and so, by 21 Fructidor, East Prussia could be proclaimed reunited with Prussia.
• The first state to officially declare independence, and immediately requesting Canada's support, was New England on 8 Brumaire consisting of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachussets, Rhode Island, and claiming the entirety of New York. It was quickly followed by Texas (18 Brumaire) and the Union of American Fordist Syndicates (UAFS) on 2 Frimaire. Texas was supported by Mexico in return for a small cession of territory, while the UAFS attracted masses of (unemployed) workers and desertees from the army and thus could quickly conquer a lot of it's territory, despite the USA fighting to the bitter end. Mexico also supported the Californian separatists, as did Mormon separatists who quickly managed to gain control of much of Utah.
• By Fructidor, the USA has de facto retreated from much of the east as Neo-Confederates led by a certain Huey P. Long, Syndicalists in the Northeast led by Ford, and a Kentucky-Tennessee that declared "armed neutrality and secession from the United States" on 15 Floréal, have taken large areas. Despite that, there still is civil war as, for example, Cajun/Louisianan separatists, radical communist black supremacists, and white supremacists of Huey P. Long duke it out.
• The Republic of Greater Tuva suffers a coup by communist factions of the Army and Worker's Party, as these elements think they "need to protect themselves against aggressin from the north and the south".

CXLII:

• In Portugal, until now democratic and quite normal, a coup by Catholic extremists (who are combined with extreme Portuguese nationalism and anti-Hispanism) takes place on 13 Pluviôse after the democratic government refused to pass even more extensive rights for the Catholic church. They say they are better than the "pseudo-Catholics" in Madrid and will constantly try to out-perform them on morale and Catholicism.
• This year's FIFA World Championship takes place in Prussia, again in a simple knock-out system with 16 teams. More teams from South America enter this time, but Spain again narrowly takes the Championship, only due to a goal in injury time against Argentina in the final making it 1-0. This was in the replay, which was necessary due to the first final match ending 1-1 after extra time.
• The US Army valiantly continues to fight and, despite achieving some smaller victoies due to rebels infighting, they are on the short end of the stick in most parts. Especially as Californian nationalist separatists rebel in many cities of California on 15 Floréal and, with Japanese and, ironically, also Canadian United Syndicate support, gave the US a run for their money.
• The US Navy was the only part of the armed forces still mostly loyal, and it wa used to keep control over America's Caribbean holdings. And in that endeavour, it was msotly successful.
• Britain lets Nigeria become a dominion and, to bail out it's enormous state debts, sells the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone to the highest bidder, which turns out to be the French Empire. Nigeria immediately becomes a French puppet state, while Ghaná and Nouveau Louisiane, as the country is now called, is incorporated into the French empire.

CXLIII:

• Austria-Hungary becomes more and more instable as the economic crashes are affecting it and the reparations become more and more unbearable. The CSVP under it's leader Engelbert Dollfuß becomes the strongest party in the elections of 19 Prairial, but all other parties save for the ÖUAP (Österreichisch-Ungarische Arbeiterpartei) lump together in a Grand Coalition to hinder the CSVP from taking power. However, CSVP and ÖUAP have the power to block every law. And they did so, which led to dissolution of the Reichsversammlung on 28 Messidor.
• The President of the Republic, Otto Alois Graf Huyn, started to govern quasi-alone from then onwards thanks to his extensive rights in a "crisis" with Article 71 of the constitution.
• When on 5 Vendémiaire Mormon separatists revolted and took control of much of Utah, the US Navy, together with loyal elements of the Army and Air Force (which were few and far between) fled in parts to Cuba and in parts to Hawaii. At first, both were united, but very soon, rifts started to appear, for example over the question whether to go in for an alliance with Japan or whether Japan commited treason by supporting Californian separatists.
• This was the de facto end of the American Civil War. A real treaty was never signed, however. Although the new state forces (among them Sequoyah as an Indian state and an independent Navajo Nation) came together on 19 Pluviôse to discuss relations and borders, debates still raged on as of Fructidor. The only clear borders were those of the UAFS, but even there, some territory in the south was disputed by other powers.
• The Mormon separatists, meanwhile, had their state of Deseret recognised by many major powers, among them the UWR and BSR, and started to build it's theocratic Mormon-only empire and, as one of the first, to support Mormon separatists in former Idaho.

CXLIV:

• Japan takes full control of Hainan, and the Uyghur state is fully established in it's current extent as the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-Shek being killed, surrenders to concentrate on it's core areas.
  
• In the Pecs Republic, Chancellor Karl Langhammer is nearly powerless as he is always dependent on the agreement of either a parliament (which can't happen as CSVP and ÖUAP block each and every law) or of Graf Huyn. Karl Langhammer and Graf Huyn try deflation politics by saving ever more money on the part of the state. But this is even more disastrous for the economy, and in the election of 30 Nivôse, especially the CSVP gains massively.
  
• On 8 Germinal, Karl Langhammer is deposed and is replaced by Otto Freiherr Ellison von Nidlef, who forms a "Cabinet of Barons", but this lasted only to 22 Messidor. He is followed by Thomas Edler von Lerch, but this attempt to form a "government of unity" failed on 13 Fructidor.
  
• On Jour de la Recompense, Engelbert Dollfuß, Oberster Prälat of the CSVP, was made Chancellor of the Reich. This would mean the beginning of the end...
• Spain, in this year, paints Portugal's Minister of Morale as a closet communist, and even worse, claims that he is a homosexual. The Portuguese government has to investigate these claims, despite them being totally bogus (except for a brief membership in the PTP in An CXX-CXXII), and Joao Rodrigues Ronaldo has to resign. The government is becoming instable once again.
  

CXLV:

• On 27 Vendémiaire, the parliament building (Reichsversammlung) in Vienna went up in flames and was nearly completely destroyed. (Un)Fortunately, only a few lower secretaries were in the building and the fire cost only 3 lives. The only one to be arrested on-site was a certain Mariusz Lewandowski of Silesia, however, a massive crackdown on Jews and "godless communists" followed.
  
• Dollfuß had already on 2 Vendémiaire called for elections, and with the Reichsversammlungsbrand, he had a good excuse for cracking down and banning the ÖUAP.
  
• The last semi-free elections took place on 14 Brumaire, and even the banned ÖUAP got 18,4 %. However, Dollfuß and Holzweber did not allow the ÖUAP to take it's seats, then lured the centrist PdÖW into being a puppet of the CSVP, and passed the Enabling Act which ends up transferring power to the government and away from parliament.
  
• Argentina fell to a Catholic extremist "military" coup, and allies itself with Colombia which fell to such a coup months earlier.
• In Florida, a subsidiary to the Spanish Partido del Dio wins the first free election of the state, also thanks to the big amount of Spanish support in the independence war, and immediately starts to reform the state according to the Spanish theocratic-fascist model. Florida gets Spanish navy and army troops for "protection" and becomes nothing more than a Spanish puppet.

CXLVI:

• Spain, after having held the Estado Novo of Portugal to ransom for the last four years (supposed alliance and then provoking several crises, e.g. forcing the Minister of Morale to be exchanged) and after desperate wishes of the populace of La Conexión, they invade Portugal on 28 Brumaire. However, A Adesao was feared in Portugal just as much as La Conexión was wanted in Spain and thus, a lot of resistance was encountered by the Catholic Army, as the Spanish Army is called. Only on 9 Messidor could the last resistance be crushed and Spain was, for the first time since 1640, united with Portugal.
• Saxony and Silesia declare themselves neutral and independent. Both Hitler and Dollfuß seemed to respect it for now...
• This year's World Cup was the first to be hosted in South America, and Argentina won against the UWR in the final, celebrating a propaganda victory against the "godless communists".
• Ecuador "falls to a coup with Colombian support", however, in reality, there was no coup but on 8 Ventôse Colombia had really invaded Ecuador. When Venezuela's capital of Caracas was successfully taken on 27 Thermidor, the United Holy Republics of Gran Colombia were declared.

CXLVII:

• France does a major reorganisation of it's colonies, carving French Coastal Africa out of French West Africa, in which low-key revolts by Africans start this year. Sierra Leone and Ghana are incorporated into FCA, while French West and Central Africa are lumped together.
• Zinedine Mohamed Benzema, the first non-French candidate to be chosen, surprisingly was chosen as the leader of the National Worker's Council and proclaimed himself Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Utah is now fully formed into a Mormon theocracy and allies itself with Jacksonville, Madrid, Vienna, Constantinople and, newly, Teheran as the Shah is deposed by Shi'a extremists in a brief, but bloody, civil war.
• Later in the year, the Orthodox Extremist Holy Patriarchal Party (HPP) win the election and Russia starts to become an ally of Madrid, Vienna et al.
• Dollfuß and Holzweber, together with other government members in Vienna, marched their troops into demilitarised Czechia and officially announced the existance of the Luftstreitkraft, the Austro-Hungarian Air Force which was against the treaties, but except for protesting, the powers did not do much about this blatant violation of the Treaties of Castel Gandolfo.

CXLVIII:

• Byzantines causes a crisis in which it claims that the puppet states of Cyberrhaeot and Pontus "mistreat Orthodox citizens" and demands more rights for them on 3 Vendémiaire, at the threat of invasion. When their parliaments don't de facto disempower themselves in 7 days, the Byzantines invade on 10 Vendémiaire and encounter only token resistance against incorporation.
• In Brumaire, the CSVP extremist government of Austria-Hungary demands "better treatment of the German minority and more autonomy" from the government of Romania. Romania gets an ultimatum on 8 Nivôse that, if they don't surrender, troops will enter the country. This happens, and on 17 Nivôse, the Protectorate of Wallachia is established.
• Armenia experiences a coup by Orthodox Extremist, pro-Byzantine factions supported, in part, by the populace. It has to cede some eastern areas to Azerbaijan, but otherwise becomes a Byzantine puppet state under Hovhannes Kargasyan. A similar Orthodox Extremist coup happens in the Crimean Tatar Republic.
• Austria-Hungary, to many people's surprise and shock, signs a non-aggression pact on 4 Ventôse, after lengthy negotiations, with the United Worker's Republics, the country which Engelbert Dollfuß has ostensibly eyed as Lebensraum for "the Christian Empire". The same happens with the United Soviet Worker's Republics of Leon Trotsky. It is colloqially called the Benzema-Holzweber agreement, and in it, secretly, influence spheres are carved out for the two partners.
• On 12 Ventôse, Austria-Hungary's government forges an incident, namely an attack on a railway station in Kischinau (Kishinev), and demand Ukraine to apologise and to fulfill some infulfillable demands. However, Prussia, the British Empire, Denmark (having become a not-so-neutral and relatively great power during the years since it's brief intervention in World War I) and the BSR have secretly given Ukraine guarantees for it's sovereignty...

 

[Historyman 14]

Floréal CXXXVIII - Ventôse CXLVIII

No Peace in Our Time​

​

CXXXVIII:

Won. Well, Ukraine, and Japan is doing well. I wounder what the Anime looks like? And is that a new CSA?

 

[Alternate History]

That Anatolia really doesn't look healthy.

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

Won. Well, Ukraine, and Japan is doing well. I wounder what the Anime looks like? And is that a new CSA?

Ukraine? I did wank it a bit, but I didn't expand it any...

But yes, the Japanese Empire has saner, less megalomaniac leaders, and China falls even more into warlordism. Also, the Japanese have an ally in the Indian Raj. And thus, the Japanese are doing better than OTL. Another factor is (or was) the Amero-Japanese alliance.

And the state in the Deep South? Well, it's not quite the CSA (no slavery here!) but still a racist, quasi-fascist, imperialist Apartheid State. A bit of Christian extremism is mixed in, too...