infantilize Native Americans/Africans. They were singing and dancing all together and happy and then the settlers arrived. There are several reasons why the Tupi allied with the Portuguese against other groups. There are reasons why the Aztecs were so hated, and the tribes allied with the Spaniards.
What is a common thing or trope that always seem to happen?
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This. People generally tend to assume that the arrival of Europeans in America was like German troops entering the Soviet Union. In reality, no one was raising swastika flags before shooting everyone in sight because "it wasn't white enough." That's the best way to get everyone to forget their differences and come together to kick your ass. Often what the settlers did was exploit local strife for their own cause.
Yeah, depending upon what sort of mood I'm in
, frequently the most complimentary thing I can say about "liberal democracy" is that I agree with Churchill's assessment of it
It's often overlooked that certain models of "democracy" posited as ideal, incorporate some very illiberal and undemocratic features (*looking at you, USA...*)
A famous case that illustrates this way in which the wars developed is the War of the Tamoios: it was not a dispute between the Portuguese and the Indians, in which the Portuguese won through strategic capacity. it was a war between Portugal's alliance with the Tupi tribes and the French alliance with the Tamoios, two rival tribes.
Much of Brazil was not conquered/colonized by Portuguese, but children of Tupi with Portuguese.
the non-use of natives/mix people for the army and society(Not at the top level, but in the rest, yes. with exceptions) . It only happened in the USA, the rest was used a lot. the Black baron of the Empire of brazil , master of a thousand slaves.
another example
André Pinto Rebouças was a Brazilian engineer,2nd lieutenant in the army, inventor and abolitionist.
One of the most important articulators of the Abolitionist and monarchist movement, he went into exile, together with the imperial family, after the proclamation of the republic, on November 15, 1889. He spent the last six years of his life working for the development of African countries.
Much of Brazil was not conquered/colonized by Portuguese, but children of Tupi with Portuguese.
the non-use of natives/mix people for the army and society(Not at the top level, but in the rest, yes. with exceptions) . It only happened in the USA, the rest was used a lot. the Black baron of the Empire of brazil , master of a thousand slaves.
another example
André Pinto Rebouças was a Brazilian engineer,2nd lieutenant in the army, inventor and abolitionist.
One of the most important articulators of the Abolitionist and monarchist movement, he went into exile, together with the imperial family, after the proclamation of the republic, on November 15, 1889. He spent the last six years of his life working for the development of African countries.
Beatriz
Gone Fishin'
Nobody has come up with (to my knowledge) a scenario where the Ottomans retain the Balkans but lose Syria, Iraq etc. and nobody has come with a 'Levantine Federation' where Israel, South Lebanon and Jordan are in a weird confederation.
Also, proposed nations like Al-Jazira (OTL Upper Mesopotamia) never make the list for Middle Eastern states, only *ethnic* ones.
Also, proposed nations like Al-Jazira (OTL Upper Mesopotamia) never make the list for Middle Eastern states, only *ethnic* ones.
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I think this might be caused by "I don't want my thread dumped in Chat" syndrome.
I think a big part of the problem here is that it's very hard to write about non-western cultures. Firstly, the non-western cultures we see today have been bastardised by colonialism, so the authentic versions of non-western cultures are often lost to history. Secondly, there is a tendency to 'write what you know' which means westerners are likely to write about western culture. Doing the research needed to make an authentic TL about a less well known region is often not worthwhile when one has so much easier to access knowledge about historical western culture. Meanwhile, putting the effort in to familiarise yourself with a culture enough to read such a TL is often beyond most casual users, so non-western TL's also often get less readership.
Based on my take on the matter, it is assumed that it is easier for the Ottomans to lose the Balkans first because of the combination of three factors:
1) Extremely mountainous and rough geography that favors the defender over the attacker. When you can block 10,000 troops with 300 simply by placing all 300 in the appropriate spot, the ability to field more soldiers is no longer as important.
2) Very different religion and culture that makes assimilation difficult (not helped by the fact that this different religion is used as an excuse to justify the kidnapping of sons).
3) Borders with powers of religions similar or identical to those of the Balkans, which means a constant flow of weapons and resources to help the local populations rise up.
While Levante in return has:
1) Flat desert regions where whoever can deploy more troops wins, giving the Ottomans the upper hand. Besides that the geography favors the attacker over the defender.
2) Identical religion and similar cultures, plus the Ottoman can exploit his position as "leader of the Muslim world" to convince people to keep their heads down. In addition, of course, to being able to recruit them to oppress religious minorities (Armenians, Jews, Druze, Assyrians).
3) No relevant power is arming and supplying the locals to revolt, making it even more difficult for them to revolt.
there would have to be a kingdom in Egypt strong enough not to be swallowed up by the Ottomans. This has major implications because only the Ottomans were able to compete (partially) with the Portuguese. If the Mamluks remain, Indonesia and other places will be Christian. Part of Syria may be Turkish but total loss is very difficult. The Ottomans were extremely energetic compared to their neighbors.
the reason is because it is very difficult to create something like this.
This region has always had a multiethnic empire. In the future it will return to the norm
Most writers are Americans, or admirers of Americans, and tend to make one or both of these two assumptions:
1) The American population is naturally virtuous and will reject this shit for what it is, so these movements will never gain enough strength to pose a serious threat.
2) In the event that these groups do turn out to be a serious threat anyway, it is only as a plot device so that the author can justify his American leftists perpetrating all sorts of war crimes in the name of " explosive justice" against them before raising the red flag in DC and proclaiming the "United Syndicats of America". Or, without going to such an extreme version, to justify all other Americans forgetting their differences and proceeding to join forces to crush these groups.
Not forgetting, of course, the many cases that go the WMIT route and put these guys in government just because the author wants to gloat watching America turn hilariously evil because "lol I'm an edgelord who read too much Ctulhu."
This, leaving the topic a little off, is one of the things that have nowadays greatly disturbed American foreign policy.
hey, existential horror when done right is great
Foreign policy or domestic policy? because this sounds more like a problem of domestic policy at all
I am personally of the opinion that WMIT is not doing a very good job of existential horror and is rather focusing too much on "I wonder what new horrible atrocity I can include in my story now without falling into the cliche of death camps by gas oh no that's too Nazi and the Republican Union IS NOT NAZI Who cares about little things like their ruling party being called the AMERICAN FASCIST PARTY or their racial policy being based on the systematic extermination of the "Inferior" through to exploit them to death (see, just like Himmler!)"
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Indeed
Besides that, as I commented on the other thread, its hard to make a Latin America TL with worldwide consequences, that creates a whole different world
Like if you wanna wank Mexico or Brazil its great for the fans of those countries, but for those who arent and want to see the cultural effects on a global scale it isnt that great
On that note I must praise the Legacy of the Magnanimous and Cinco de Mayo for avoiding this, even if a lot of the changes are very indirect through their awesome use of the butterflies rather than the focus country directly causing all of it
Modern politics
In my Pre-1900?
More likely than you think!
Seriously I dont want you two to get kicked or banned over this
It's the problem I ran into in Latin American TL attempts on this and other sites. Not helped because several examples copied the worst tropes of the US versions (such as devoting pages and pages to completely uninteresting electoral games).
*shrieks in pain*
I already dont like the election day in my country and I dont even know who these guys are, why Im being subject to such a torture!
-Me every time I read a british or american TL
Seriously the best argument for absolutism is that at least you dont have to deal with elections
Also to address the democratic elephant in the room
I think another reason why its so common that TLs go for the Westminster System isnt so much that it is the best system period, but because it gives some semblance of stability(like you dont have to play russian roulette with your heir) and its a good way to wrap up your wank-story because everything after implementing liberal democracy would be extremely boring to write
I think another reason why its so common that TLs go for the Westminster System isnt so much that it is the best system period, but because it gives some semblance of stability(like you dont have to play russian roulette with your heir) and its a good way to wrap up your wank-story because everything after implementing liberal democracy would be extremely boring to write
Alt History guide to have a SIGMA alt-nation/SI;
- Centralizing authority in the ruler? Based and chad pilled. ALWAYS the answer, never mind the context. Unless you are the envy of Luis XIV and Czar Alexander III you are doing it wrong. What do you mean the nobility is already cowed? Time to do an Ivan the Terrible trolling incident.
What do you mean the nobility is powerful enough and rebel against you forcing your Sigma ruler to sign an Alt-Magna Carta? HAHA that shit doesn't happen on wank or SIs
- Religion with autonomy from YOUR based rule? Bad, wrong, virgin pilled. Didn't you know that Catholic Pope bad corrupt?
Protestantism is ok I guessThe TRUE Christians are loyal to an Orthodox Patriarchwho is not prone to such things as disagreeing with me (thanks caesaropapism!). We must avenge the Sack! Better dead than Latin!
- Great Man Theory? Very true, if only
Nickythis ruler would have been more assertive/intelligent/bold/calm/adult,Al-Andalus, Hungary, Polandthis realm would be single-handedly safe! A SIGMA nation wouldn't care about institutional, deep-rooted problems, or if we tried to be realistic the SI Chad King would be able to reform it,not with a continuous effort that occupy most of his lifetime (and most likely fail),but with the stroke of a pen! The nobles/merchants/farmers rebel? just win a decisive engagement to show that a THAD ruler is also a Total War gamer, solving the issue forevah. Is not like you need them to administer the realm!
- Famine is like Pandemics, something that never would happen to your realm. Horrible, consecutive winters? Invalidated by introducing x agricultural thingy the year before. As we know, from the 1750s onwards famine never happened. A new pathogen? With basic hygiene/sewerage is no longer a problem. Is just that easy!
- Science is like democracy or human rights; You can force it through people's throats! As the Japanese showed us in GATE and the Americans did in Afghanistan.
Is not like the Arabic numerals/Gregory Calendar needed decades or even centuries to become the standard they are thanks to religious beff!
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Beatriz
Gone Fishin'
Dominant-party “responsive technocracy” is interesting , with literal Pavlovian social engineering, 4 day workdays and children raised in creches.
something like Walden-2 as a country or Benthamist utilitarianism that grew out of a no-French Revolution where enlightened despotism and growing industrial corporate power intersected and some thinkers were like “Why do we need a king? Why not a Board of Scientists to Manage Society with proper *Taylorism?”
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What is worse. Unless one of them is cartoonishly evil and obviously the option you shouldn't vote for, I can't even see the difference between their political proposals! The latter is in reference to how it will be assumed that US politics will continue to follow the same tracks as OTL regardless of what is happening inside and outside the country.
So maybe TTL America is waging an all-out war in China, where it has 10 million troops deployed, is committing the kind of atrocities usually associated with the Imperial Japanese Army, and has dropped eight nuclear bombs and going up... but we get pages and pages arguing about why it IS VERY IMPORTANT that Jonathan Abraham Doe should win Nebraska's 17th Ward over Efraim Zimbalist Kanakarides.
Because supposedly this will give an electoral turnaround that could potentially lead the Supreme Court to annul Soylent Green vs. Brazil, which would be catastrophic for the national economy!