Guest Historian Jackie Rose says, a series of Happy Endings destined for compilation in a novella on the Fictionwise Web Site. If you're interested in viewing samples of my other work why not visit Jackie Rose site.
| March 12 |  |
Editor says, what if the concept of collective security had never taken hold? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1938, on this day the tin-pot army of Austrian Chancellor Adolph Schicklegruber marched into the tiny Soviet Republic of Munich. Predictably, the Füehrer's latest antics were greeted by fresh calls for the introducton of the collective security model proposed and then abandoned during the brief "Wilsonian Moment".
Happy Endings 13
Das Kleiner AnschlußUnlike the outmoded structures of the other victor nations, the American Republic's constitution encouraged a sensible level of consultation between the branches of government prior to executive action. This quickly revealed a shocking new isolationism on the Hill. Lacking a platform of popular support, President Wilson quietly dropped1 his radical proposals for collective security and instead of attending in person dispatched his Secretary of State Robert Lansing to the Peace Conference. After months of drawn-out negotiation, Lloyd George and Clemenceau admitted their worst fears of a twenty-year armistice followed by an even more bloody conflict.
The cause of this cycle was determined to be Prussian militarism which was squarely blamed on Bismarck and his heirs. And so the unavoidable and perhaps inevitable conclusion was that the Prussian German State had to be broken up. The demilitarization of the Rhineland, and the occupation of the coal-rich Saar proceeded without much difficulty. And in fact, many aspects of the break-up went to plan, but only where Anglo-French interests were at stake. Some of the länder even refused to return to the pre-unification monarchies and one such example was Bavaria.
But by this stage, the Anglo-French Governments had decided that a mixture of different philosophies was no bad thing after all as it would "spike" a resurgence of German unity. However the small fly in this ointment was a ridiculous little man with a bad moustache. His romantic dreams of a Großer Deutschland generated concern in European Capitals and a wild level of enthusiasm in Southern Germany and Austria. But it was nothing of substance to really trouble the happy retirement years of Woodrow Wilson and his second wife Edith Bolling. After all, they had only married in 1914, and were able to fully enjoy the long autumnal years after they left the White House in 1921. Unlike Prussian Germany, their happy marriage really was a lasting union under God.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Anschluss, Germany, Austria, Woodrow Wilson, League of Nations. Editor says, in reality Wilson stubbornly pursued collective security and his active campaigning destroyed his health. He suffered a stroke in 1919 and died five years later, only sixty-seven years old.
~ A world without Wilsonianism... quite thought-provoking.
~ needs a total rewrite. i have no idea what it means.
~ Don't think it could have ever happened.
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December 16
Editor says, what if Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales had lived? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1485, on this day Catherine of Aragon the Spanish Queen consort to King Arthur II of England was born in Madrid.
Happy Endings 14
"A True and Loving Husband"Due to the English ancestry she inherited from her mother Queen Isabella I of Castile, she actually had a stronger legitimate claim to the English throne than King Henry VII. And therefore, from an early age she was considered a suitable wife for Henry's first born son Arthur because the union validated the House of Tudor in the eyes of European royalty and also strengthened the Tudor claim to the English throne via Catherine of Aragon's ancestry.
Against the odds, this political union was a case of love at first sight when the couple first met on 4 November, 1501 at Dogmersfield in Hampshire. Arthur wrote to his parents-in-law that he would be "a true and loving husband" and told his parents that he was immensely happy to "behold the face of his lovely bride". Ten days later, on 14 November, they were married at Old St. Paul's Cathedral.
Arthur and Catherine were crowned King and Queen of England in 1509, making England a vibrant Tudor monarchy for a new century, protected by an unbreakable bond with their Catholic allies in Spain.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Catherine of Aragon, Arthur Tudor, England, Spain, Monarch. Editor says, in reality Arthur died suddenly at the early age of fifteen. The cause of his death is unknown but may have been consumption, diabetes, or the mysterious sweating sickness, which some modern theorists tie to a hantavirus.
~ Which means no, or a much later, English Reformation. I wonder what his younger brother Henry would have done? The stories about him going into the Church were probably not true, but they'd have had to figure out something to do with him.
~ If this is simply a matter of London being added to the notorious Vienna-Madrid marriage network, this could end badly. One other point is Scotland remaining in the French and general Anti-Hapburg orbit.
~ But wouldn't Arthur have run up against the same problem that Henry did...namely, the need for a male heir...leading to the Reformation?
~ Protestantism was definitely growing in England, following a lot of other Northern Europe nations. We'd see civil war later, and bloodier.
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January 7
Editor says, what if Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales had lived? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the January 2013 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1536, on this day Catherine of Aragon beloved wife to King Arthur II of England died at the Palace of Westminister. She was fifty years old.
Happy Endings 14a
"A True and Loving Husband"Due to the English ancestry she inherited from her mother Queen Isabella I of Castile, she actually had a stronger legitimate claim to the English throne than King Henry VII. And therefore, from an early age she was considered a suitable wife for Henry's first born son Arthur because the union validated the House of Tudor in the eyes of European royalty and also strengthened the Tudor claim to the English throne via Catherine of Aragon's ancestry.
Against the odds, this political union was a case of love at first sight when the couple first met on 4 November, 1501 at Dogmersfield in Hampshire. Arthur wrote to his parents-in-law that he would be "a true and loving husband" and told his parents that he was immensely happy to "behold the face of his lovely bride". Ten days later, on 14 November, they were married at Old St. Paul's Cathedral.
Arthur and Catherine were crowned King and Queen of England in 1509, making England a vibrant Tudor monarchy for a new century, protected by an unbreakable bond with their Catholic allies in Spain.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Catherine of Aragon, Arthur Tudor, England, Spain, Monarch. Editor says, in reality Arthur died suddenly at the early age of fifteen. The cause of his death is unknown but may have been consumption, diabetes, or the mysterious sweating sickness, which some modern theorists tie to a hantavirus.
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April 10
Editor says, what if the authorities chased Tolstoy out of Russia? muse Ed & Jackie Rose. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the April 2013 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1899, provoked by the blistering satire of his final novel, Russian authorities forced Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy into exile.
Happy Endings 20: Tolstoy a Canadian Life by Ed & Jackie RoseIn writing Resurrection, he had originally intended to aid members of the Dukhobor sect to emigrate to Canada where they could practice
their beliefs freely and without persecution. But instead, with the
Tsarist Government emboldened1 by the Russian Orthodox Church's
decision to excommunicate him, Tolstoy opted to accompany them. It was in hindsight a step that had become inevitable ever since the banning of his Christian anarchist tract The Kingdom of God Is Within You five years earlier.
Also inevitable and also a result of the success of his novel-writing was his marital breakdown. Because his unbalanced union was also a source of tension and conflict - and for a very good reason. After his wife Sonya had transcribed and edited his novels, he ingraciously informed her that he was giving all the proceeds to the poor [3]. With the insensitive delivery of that painful revelation any semblance of marital harmony was destroyed, because in Sonya's eyes Leo had undone the magic of their partnership. The relationship was never quite the same and then a
final fracas Sonya made the decision for him and he set off to find a new day in Canada.
But the disastrous Russo-Japanese War changed everything and Tolstoy was able to return to Russia after the Revolution of 1905 overthrew the Tsar. Thanks to Father Gapon, he spent the final happy years of his life in his homeland, and was even able to reconcile with Sonya [2]. This was because in the new Era, women were granted property rights and his wife was afforded her full monied status as co-author of the Tolstoy novels [3].
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Tolstoy, Russia, Tsar, Communism, Revolution. Editor says, in reality, [1] due to the fear of an international outcry, the Government never took any direct action to silence him. [2] picture from the movie Annie Karenina. [3] Contributions with received with thanks from Jackie.
Comment from Google+ reader Mike Whelan: I think it's brilliant. In my mind there is nothing greater than alternate history as it makes us think. And as a military historian it's nice to break out into other spheres of history and learn something new. I do like the idea of exile saving a marriage.
Comment from Google+ reader Brigitte Wooten: Aw, you went and said something about Edward IV which makes me think of a fav :John of Gaunt. As for Tolstoy in Canada, I dare say War and Peace would be different. The names would be easier that's for sure. ;)
~ That tension and conflict occurred for a very good reason. After Sonya transcribed and edited his novels, he informed her that he was giving all the proceeds to the poor. This helped to raise the issue of women's property rights, which were non-existent at the time. From this point of view, the happy ending came when she survived him into the Bolshevik era.
~ My e-mail is giving me just about as much trouble as Leo gave to Sonya. For some reason, it is allowing me to post here...so I will use this opportunity to assure Steve that I will be very flattered if he includes my contribution about Sonya's struggles within the story. And I thank him as always for his kind encouragement.
~ What a jerk giving his money to the poor. But, a jerk indeed as one should care for one's family first (though not to the detriment of others... Mafia family style).
~ But remember, Jeff, she had helped him earn the money, before he decided to give it all away.
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June 26
Editor says, what if love conquered all? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the July 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 1998, and to wish the happy couple the very best of British good luck, the bride's former husband, Charles Windsor, has ordered a spectacular flyover by the Royal Air Force in honor of the newlyweds, Dodi and Diana Fayed. The climax is a dazzling manoeuvre with three of the jets arching in the formation of the Prince of Wales's Feathers, the heir apparent's heraldic badge. Rose-coloured letters in smoke spelled out the motto "Ich Dien" (I serve) dating back to the time of Edward, the Black Prince.
Happy Endings Part 1
The Very Best of BritishThis generous display of goodwill has followed more than a decade of acrimony. Charles, Prince of Wales, had married Lady Diana Spencer 17 years earlier, in a "fairy-tale wedding" that was little more than a sham. On their wedding night, he had apparently called his long-time mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles, to assure her that she was still his only love. Rumors soon spread that Diana had found a lover of her own. Despite the birth of two royal sons, Charles and Diana soon shared a divorce that was as spectacular as their wedding had been.
Diana's romantic history was not over yet. Photographers spotted her lounging on the deck of a yacht belonging to Dodi Fayed, an international playboy and Hollywood producer, and it was soon the picture seen 'round the world. Dodi's "Chariots of Fire" won the Academy Award as Best Motion Picture, while featuring a Jewish hero of the 1924 Olympics.
The famous couple made further headlines by surviving a near-death crash in a Paris tunnel, where the paparazzi photographers had pursued them. Dodi held Diana's hand while the fire brigade cut them out of the crushed vehicle, and the couple was married six months later.
This article is one of a series of standadlone articles forming part of thread developed collaboratively with the romantic author Jackie Rose whose work can be viewed at the Extasy Books web site.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Dodi Fayed, Princess Diana, Diana Spencer, Prince Charles, Premature Death. Editor says, in authoring this article we have shared concepts with Robbie Taylor and Jackie Rose.
What really happened: Dodi and Diana were both killed in the car crash, leaving Dodi's heartbroken father, Mohammed e-Fayed, making wild accusations against the British Secret Service and even Prince Phillip himself, based on his bitter belief that they wouldnever have allowed Muslim so near the royal family.
~ Would that it were. A happy ending, indeed.
~ Frankly, Diana would probably have made Dodi as miserable as she did Charles.
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November 6
Editor says, what if Arthur Prince of Wales had married the other fertile Sister Queen and lived? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1479, on this day future Queen Joanna of England was born in Toledo, Spain. She was the third child and second daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon of the royal House of Trastámara.
Happy Endings Part 10
Many blessings of Joanna and ArthurBy the time she was of age to be married, the dynastic wars in England were over. To move the country forward in the face of renewed threats from France, King Henry VII decided to build upon the Tudor and Yorkish alliance. His primary aim was to prevent the French from supporting potential pretenders (most notably Perkin Warbeck) to the throne. And so he sought the support of Queen Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon ("Ferdinand the Catholic"). When his son Arthur was two years old, a marriage with their second youngest daughter, Catherine of Aragon was arranged for him as part of the Treaty of Medina del Campo.
Yet Isabella and Ferdinand were in no hurry to have their daughter married, and, although the treaty had been made, they were open to other options. Ferdinand was especially aware that Tudor rule was threatened and sent Pedro de Ayala as ambassador in Scotland, where Warbeck had found support. After Warbeck had been hanged and the Earl of Warwick, another potential threat, beheaded in 1499, the rule of Henry VII stabilised. The marriage to Prince Arthur could then proceed although these carefully laid plans were almost destroyed when the Prince of Wales almost perished from consumption. Fortunately, Joanna saved his life, and while their marriage was blessed with children, her younger sister Katherine was not so fortunate. She suffered from infertility and a tortured marriage. Her megalomaniac husband Philip the Handsome would dominate everyone on the continent reducing the power of Catholic England to a mere vassal state within a truly global Spanish Empire.
An article from the Happy Endings series conceived by Jackie Rose.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Joanna, Arthur, Henry VIII, England, Spain. Editor says, in reality her sister Katherine married Arthur and after his death, his brother Henry VIII. Joanna's marriage to Philip the Handsome initiated the rule of the Habsburgs in Spain. However, throughout her long reign, she was under the regency of her husband, father, inquisitor, or son and she was long confined to a nunnery for reasons of mental illness that are (according to Wikipedia) disputed.
~ Spanish wars with the Dutch independence would still spark, leading up to an overall Protestant-Catholic war in Germany with Sweden backing the north. The Scots broke with the Papacy in 1560, just after the Thirty Years' War, but I wonder if it could've spilled into Britain as well.
~ I think of her as the 15th Century version of Zelda Fitzgerald, who was also branded with insanity by the men in her life...in Juana's case, her, father, husband and son, all eager to seize her royal power. For me, the tipoff is that, once Juana had been confined in the nunnery, her own loyal servants were replaced by guess whose. The only bright spot is that she apparently lived pretty royally there. This whole issue was the subject of a well-known historical novel called "The Prisoner of Tordesillas." The reason I am thinking about this now is that I recently wrote an AH where Zelda gets her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, sent to the asylum before he can do it to her, because I always like a happy ending.
~ I think this should read "By the time she was of age to be married, the dynastic wars in England were over." 1479 was before Bosworth. Thanks - changed. Ed
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December 16
Editor says, what if Rasputin had enabled the Romanovs to survive? muses Jackie Rose. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is December 16th 1916, and and the monk known as Grigori Rasputin has been invited by Prince Felix Yusupov to a wild party at the Moika Palace.
Happy Endings Part 11
Rasputin Rescues the RomanovsHe abruptly cancels his plans when a message arrives from the Empress. It tells him that an Okrana secret policeman has come to warn her that the British secret service has been plotting with Prince Yusupov to kill Rasputin.
With the Czar commanding the troops, the Czarina Alexandra has been acting as regent. Now she is horrified by the secret police report, that the British agents have decided to get rid of the monk, because he is persuading her to convince Czar Nicholas to make peace with her native Germany.
Rasputin's influence is certainly very great, since he is able to stop their son Alexei's bouts of hemophilia. (His power apparently came through hypnosis, combined with common-sense advice to let the boy rest.).
At any rate, the Russian people have long since turned against the war, which has led only to defeat and starvation. They are also reviling the Empress with rumors that she is a German spy, as well as Rasputin's mistress.
But her first thought is to save "our friend" (as she calls Rasputin), from any more assassination attempts. At once, she surrounds him with her family's famous Black bodyguards.
She also fires off a telegram to her husband, urging him to rush home. When the Okrana agent tells him about the English assassination scheme, he is so filled with outrage that he sues at once for peace with Germany and the other Central Powers.
He soon has reason to be glad he did. While the war had been turning the people against the royal family, the armistice brings on the same wild public rejoicing that greeted the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty a few years earlier.
About the only people who disapprove are the Bolsheviks, who had been hoping that the war would lead to a revolution. Instead, Vladimir Lenin stays stuck in Switzerland, while Joseph Stalin continues his career of robbing banks. As for Prince Yusupov, he is lucky to be able to flee in disguise to London.
The imperial family's popularity grows during World War II, when the Czar rallies his people during the Siege of Rasputingrad, which helps bring about the German defeat.
So now, under the rule of Czar Nicholas V, the Russian Empire seems likely to be governed by Romanovs for another 300 years. And of course the national anthem will always be "God Save the Czar!"
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Rasputin, Romanov, Russia, Czar, Tsar. Editor says, point of divergence: Rasputin did attend that fatal party, where he was brutally murdered. For a long time, it was believed that the killer was Prince Yusupov, especially since he bragged that he had done the deed. However, Wikipedia now reports that the British secret service might well have been responsible, because they did, indeed, fear that the monk would convince the Czarina to urge her husband towards peace. As it was, World War I raged on, the people rebelled, the royal family was overthrown, and the Bolsheviks seized control of the revolution by promising to take Russia out of the war .. everything that the British had feared. The Bolsheviks went on to kill the entire royal family, including the couple's five children.
~ The *imperial* family! ; - )) The Russians were very sticky on that point.
~ The Romanovs were the Russian *Imperial*family. Fixed - thanks. Ed They were very sticky on that point. As they liked to say, "Bozheh Tsaria krani!"
~ By the way, how would there be a WWII if nobody was overthrown? In this scenario, Poland would probably be a buffer state, the kingdom of Poland, as would be Finland.
~ British agentsdid indeed assassinate Rasputin, the controlling agnet remaining outside the building and having Russian assassins do the deed. We know this because the British records were captured in Petrograd.
The reason was indeed moves were being made towards peace and historians ask "but why did not the Russians make a rational decision and make peace.?"
The Duke of Hesse, the czarina's BROTHER now actually DOES are in St.P on a secret peace mission, his offer is quickly accepted, and Russia makes a seperate peace with Germany and A-H.
~ Don't know enough about the personality for Russia under Alexander IV (li'l Alexei) later on. Would he have worked to modernize Russia, or would he live long enough?
~ Cassandra, the Romanovs are a large family, like the Price regent and his brothers in Britain in 1810, there are even LIBERAL Grand Dukes amongst them. The extreme revolutionaries are a tiny minority and the situation is only created by the continuing involvement in the war. If the pro-german party under the czarina gain power they can easily modernise, linked to other people like Kerensky.
Also Ha! Ha! Ha!, they can renounce the french loans.
~ Finland and Poland could easily be sold as the price of peace, while Russia itself may well be pulled into the German economic orbit.
The big question is what peace deal London and Paris would make with the Germans freed up for the Western Front this early.
~ *rechecks timeline*
Okay 3-4 months earlier may not make that much of a difference, but without the Red Menace(tm) you can forget about the Nazis in any recognizable form.
~ If there is no Versailles Peace, no American entry into the War, therefore no Reparations and no wothdrawal of the American loans to Germany to pay for them, there is no depression.
Peace of Helsinfors Jan. 1917. Hystria in French and British capitals. Wilson now has greater difficulties as it appears war is ending. Offensive in West April 1917 and not march 1918. Germans arrive in Paris as American army not ready in August 1917 and Britain has no reserves.
~ Maybe... much depends on if effective political reform can be pushed through by whoever follows Nick. Continued Autocracy after getting out of (note, _not_ winning) the Great War would have only slowed down pressure for reform.
~ It is for this reason the Versailles peace is such a disaster and there is a series of American books on this, since it sets loose the 20th Century's disasterous history. There is no Nazi movement, Hitler never comes to power and remains a baad nationalist folk-artist in Vienna.. It is likely liberals will take over if there is peace with Germany and A-H and the Czars are still ruling as constitutional monarchs. The reactionary party or the Military-reactionary clique as it was referred to would be discredited for losing their "Short, Victorious War" and the pro_germans gain influence as the German minister-plenepotentiary is the Czarina's BROTHER, the Duke of Hesse.
~ This outcome would have been far better
~ It's ironic that Rasputin has this scary, evil reputation when his advice "Don't get into WWI!" was so good. In this TL, did he move on to Scotland and take up a position as a Potions Professor at a certain school, after losing the beard? *grin*
~ No, he gets promoted to an Orthodox bishop. He eventually get an American peace prize and a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts and ending the Great War. Finally he gets declared an Orthodox saint for saving Holy Russia.
Churches abd chapels of cathedrals are dedicated to him and he gets stained glass window in the new cathedral in Moscow.
He had in fact always advised the Czar not to get involved in war and had succeeded in getting him to demobilise in the crisis of 1912. There is a documentarty that if he had been in St.P.in July 1914 he would probably have persuaded the Czar not to mobilise, unfotunately he was in hospital in his home towm recovering from an assassination attempt which has never been satisfactorily explained.
Yes, Charles manson, he was a con-man and a right one.
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March 18
Editor says, what if Hitler had never risen to power? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1869, on this day the future British Conservative Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain was born in the leafy West Midlands town of Edgbaston. Founded in the first millenia as the "village of a man called bold sword", by the late nineteen century Edgbaston was an affluent surburb on the outskirts of Birmingham where the trees begin.
Happy Endings Part 12
Where the trees beginEducated at the elite Rugby School, he was sent to the Bahamas to rebuild the family fortune. But the plantation was a dismal failure, and he soon returned from this "faraway place of which we know little". After working in business and local government, he followed his father and older half-brother into politics becoming a Member of Parliament in 1918. Being trusted as a safe pair of hands he was rapidly promoted to Minister of Health and then Chancellor of the Exchequer. When Stanley Baldwin retired in May 1937, Chamberlain took his place as Prime Minister.
The architect of the adjustment policy, he travelled to Munich to negotiate a "grand settlement" between the victor and the resurgent reformist powers. Although Anglo-France had dictated foreign policy during the 1920s, it was now time to bring Germany and Italy back inside the European Security Model. This required the resetting of a delicate balance of global interests between the Anglo-French retention of Great Power status and the ceding of selective territories to satisfy the nationalist interests of Germany and Italy. For creating this new "concert of Europe", he was rightly hailed as a successor to Metternich and Castelreagh, but in truth his framework was a modern adaptation of Victorian era thinking. Tragically, at the height of his prestige, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died in November 1940 and within months, the world would be plunged into a new great power crisis.
Due to the vast size of the British and French Colonial Empires, Chamberlain saw very clearly the challenges of global imperial defence ("We are a very rich Empire, and there are plenty of adventurers not very far away who look upon us with hungry eyes"). Even after the post-war return of Germany's African Colonies, the limited Germano-Italian overseas possessions permitted a European concentration of forces; whereas a year before Chamberlain's death over 90,000 British troops were deployed in the "troublesome" Middle East. Now, a generation who only wanted "peace in our time" would have to confront the irresistible rise of Japan. And with their working classes largely ambivalent about the Empire, the Anglo-French elite would somehow have to make some painful cessations of their own precious overseas possessions in the Far East. At the League of Nations in Geneva, the situation was summed up with a chuckle of self-satisfaction by Benito Mussolini, Che cosa viene intorno, va in giro ("What comes around, goes around").
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Neville Chamberlain, Hitler, Mussolini, World War 2, Appeasement. Jennifer Harris commented on Facebook: very interesting to know of Mr. Chamberlain...he had done so much before he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I really enjoyed this piece...and you know with this it has showed me about Mr. Chamberlain and the accomplishments he had done before he died.. and I like your work..this is just amazing..thank you so very much for sharing this...I look forward to reading more of your work...:)
~ But doesn't this still leave General Ludendorff, who helped create the Nazi Party and promote the stab-the-back theory (the argument that the Marxists had deliberately caused Germany's defeat in WWI). About the best you can say for him is that he hated Jews and Christians equally, which would have made The Final Solution very difficult, since he would have had to kill almost everyone. He died in 1937...but he would certainly have named a successor, and one doubts that it would have been an Austrian upstart rather than a fellow general.
~ Jackie -- Hitler's rise was a fluke, a confluence of disasters. If the Great Depression hadn't happened, who knows what Germany would have been like?
~ That was sort of my point, Stan:The whole concept of this article was "What if Hitler had never risen to power?" I assumed that the Depression would have happened...And my feeling was that someone very similar would have replaced him then.
~ Even if the depression happens Hitler could still have been a flash in the pan. The problem was that the Nationalists[DNVP] and major elements of the Catholic Center Party underestimated him. They thought he could be tamed and create a government coalition of the right and without the Social Democrats. The regime Hitler came to power on was such a front. Hitler was Chancellor but the legal power rested with the DNVP who had the President, the army, the business elites, the bureaucracy and the bulk of the ministries. All the Nazis did was Interior [Police] and the lander administration in Prussia and a few others. Adolph spent two years outmaneuvering his elite handlers.
~ Ah, Chamberlain, the Great Conductor of the Concert of Europe...
~ A delayed war, giving a much more popular Chamberlain a nicer exit. Won't be too long until Stalin starts acting up, but, in a world without the Great Patriotic War (as the Russians termed World War II), his regime might not hold on to great visions of expansion.
~ Stalin was an opportunist. His expectation 1938-early June 1940 was a WW1 type western front between Germany and the Anglo-French. At an opportune moment he would attack one side or the other. The Fall of Paris unhinged his plans as it did Roosevelt's.
~ How long till Stalin gets ideas?
~ Eric, Uncle Joe was an opportunist. He never attacked into strength. Korea was a misjudgment based on believing Acheson when Acheson said Korea was outside the US defense perimeter.
~ And, um . . . "Uncle Joe" didn't attack South Korea. Anyone who believes the North Koreans were the robot slaves of Moscow has been suckered. P eople thought the same of China in '49, and it wasn't true in that case either.
Which isn't to say Pyongyang's regime wasn't Communist--of course it was, though Marx would have been horrified at the form it took and wouldn't have expected a Communst takeover in a backward Third World country anyway (he expeced "the revolution" to come first to developed capitalist democracies). But "monolithic Communism" was a myth even in 1950.
~ Joe gave permission. The documentation came out after the SU fell.
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December 30
Editor says, what if Henry VIII had married Anne Boleyn's older sister Mary? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1499, on this day future Queen of England Mary Boleyn was born in Blickling Hall, the family seat in Norfolk. But she grew up at Hever Castle, Kent alongside her less famous siblings Thomas and Anne (the wife of Percy of Northumberland).
An installment from the Happy Endings thread
Happy Endings Part 15
Henry VIII's Second Wife: Mary BoleynBecause the Tudors was locked in conflict with elements the nobility, her origin amongst the "new men" of self-acquired wealth played well in the Royal court. Accordingly she was sent to the French court in the household of the queen, Henry VIII's younger sister Mary Tudor who was betrothed to King Louis XII.
A blond, blue-eyed, curvy beauty that was the era's belle idéale, she was greatly desired by the Valois monarch's son François I. However in 1515 Louis died, and the Tudor Household was recalled to England. And François's loss was King Henry VIII's gain. They remained happily married until her tragic death age just forty-three, having two children Henry and Catherine. Surely there was some irony in this choice of names, because of course the Pope refused to grant Henry a divorce for Catherine of Aragon, and their relationship caused a schism in the English Church that lasts until today. But then you can't have everything..
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, Tudor, François I. Editor says, thanks to Jackie Rose for her contributions and also some ideas explored in the various biographical publications of Alison Weir ("The Mistress of Kings" and "The Great and Infamous Whore") and History Hoydens.
~ No comment
~ The good news is, Bloody Mary would never have come to power in her embittered and fanatical state. The bad news is, her brilliant half-sister Elizabeth would never have been born.
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May 20
Editor says, what if Nathan Bedford Forrest had been hanged for his war crimes? This would have been a happy ending indeed, and Jackie Rose explains why. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 1865, and the Civil War has just ended.
Happy Endings Part 16
Death of a War CriminalThe world is outraged to hear of the atrocities committed by the Confederate general named Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Indeed, some of his own men were so horrified that they revealed how he had ordered them to execute Negro prisoners of war. His attitudes might have been shaped by the fact that he himself had been a slave trader before the war, but of course that was no excuse.
Needless to say, he was tried and hanged as a war criminal. While he had been helping the form the Ku Klux Klan after the Confederate surrender, its sympathizers were now afraid of suffering the same penalty, so the new organization never got started. And thank goodness for that!
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Civil War, Confederate, Confederacy, America. Editor says, what really happened: Forrest was not even tried for his terrible crime. Instead, he became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, causing even more hundreds of murders, mostly of innocent Blacks. Efforts are now being made to remove his name from the high school and state park that were named in his honor, but so far they have not succeeded.
~ Someting like the Klan would have come along; its roots were in the pre-CW "patter-rollers" who kept an eye on slave movements, as well as in other pre-CW organizations (the Antirenters in NYS had a lot in common with the Klan, as did pro- and anti-Mormon groups in Missouri and Illinois). Matter of fact, outfits with names like the Pale Faces and Knights of the White Camellia were around as well, operating in much the same way.
~ Well, I found a Web site dedicated to the Knights of the White Camelia of the Ku Klux Klan. That strongly suggests that there is a very strong connection. However, I would urge everyone to avoid going into any site like that to find out more about those people, because if you can find them that way, then they can find you.
~ Some research is best left to others. While we might have had the Klan, or some sort of such thing, we would have been OK without them, too.
~ Forrest was a great general. There were atrocities on both sides.
~ Mark, I am talking about a program of specifically racist atrocities against Black POW's, on Forrest's direct command. One of the worst examples was the massacre that Forrest personally ordered, following the Battle of Fort Pillow. The story survives because of a letter written by Achilles Clark, of the 20th Tennessee Cavalry, to his sister, describing the horrors...and they are horrifying indeed.
~ This could be a big shift of precedence for Reconstruction. Lots of Confederates could be hanged for lots of activities.
~ Jeff, I don't know of another Confederate general who ordered all Black POW's to be killed. I have read that others directed that the Blacks should be returned to slavery, but that still stops short of these racist war crimes. And while it is true that some Northerners called for Robert E. Lee and other Confederate generals to be hanged for treason, in fact as far as I know they were never put on trial for it.
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December 31
Editor says, what if Flora MacDonald had been the architect of the Stuart Restoration? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1720, on this day the Jacobite Pretender Charles Edward Stuart was born in the Palazzo Muti, Rome.
This article is a reversal of the Jackie Rose story Hard Man which focuses on Captain Francis O'Neill
Happy Endings Part 17
Hard Woman saves the Forty-Five RebellionAged twenty-five he launched a bold attempt to restore the House of Stuart. Because in 1745 a five thousand man Jacobite army landed at Moidart in the Outer Hebrides. But of course it took a woman to save the forty-five rebellion from abject failure - the incomparable Highland rebel Flora MacDonald.
Hopes had built up rather quickly; at the Battle of Prestonpans they had soundly defeated the only government army in Scotland. But their hapless commander General John Cope would soon be replaced by the murderous Duke of Cumberland and the mood in the camp would drastically change. In despair the Young Pretender had left the still undefeated Jacobite Army in the hands of his trusted companion, Captain Francis O'Neill. Planning to flee Scotland forever, the Prince sought the incomparable Highland rebel Flora MacDonald for her assistance only to discover that the MacDonalds were secretly sympathetic with the Jacobite cause. She convinced the Prince to rejoin the Jacobite Army by promising to organize reinforcements from her own Clan. With fresh resolve, he inspired the "forty-five" rebels with a fiery new leadership that turned the tables on the Hanoverians.
The full novel is available for download at the Extasy Books web site.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie, England, Scotland, Stuart. Editor says, thanks to Jeff Provine, Jackie Rose and Jared Myers for their contributions to the development of this ongoing theme.
~ Would have put an interesting spin on the American Revolution...
~ Either the American Revolution would have been a peaceful transition of power (BPC lets them go in peace), or there is no Revolution at all.
~ The Young Pretender would flee the field BEFORE the fatal Battle of Culloden? No way!
~ Did any Englishman ever sit back to think "We have a Scottish pretender with French money fighting a German king who's fighting for Austria"?
~ Jeff, there WERE good English Jacobites, who remembered that the Bonnie Prince was the grandson of an English king. They included Lady Primrose, one of those notorious "female rebels" who evolved into the modern feminists. You probably know already that "pretender" meant "claimant"...not "imitator."
~ Thrilling, could have been, chapter to history. I hope there are some play or screen writers in the group here.
~ Well, Mike, there have been alternate histories about Charlie Victorious...most notably Prince Charlie's Bluff, where he comes to America.
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December 8
Editor says, what if Victoria had started her scandalous affair while Albert was still alive? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the January 2013 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1826, on this day Queen Victoria's lover and second husband John Brown was born in Crathie, Aberdeenshire.
This article is part of the Happy Endings thread.
Happy Endings Part 18
Mrs Brown's Ghillie Lover by Ed & Jackie RoseHe went to work as an outdoor servant (in Scots ghillie or gillie) at Balmoral Castle, which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert leased in February 1848 and purchased outright in November 1851.
Because of the growing size of their young family, Prince Albert increasingly took-on monarchical responsibilities as the Queen lost her powers due to her pregnancies. A once passionate relationship was fundamentally wrecked by this domination, and Victoria frequently withdrew herself in fury whilst Albert was reduced to posting notes of apology under her locked door.
John Brown saw all of this, and what is more the Queen welcomed the distraction of his company. They began a passionate love affair that had to be conducted in utter secrecy. But almost inevitably, a discovery was made, beginning with a mysterious written note in John's hand-writing, containing an odd remark that something had been missing in this harsh world, but finally, it had been fulfilled [2].
Needless to say, the "Mrs Brown Scandal" rocked the country, forcing Queen Victoria to choose between asking Albert to divorce her (and remaining monarch), or eloping and living in obscurity as Mr & Mrs Brown. Either way, she would keep her Ghillie Lover so it was a happy ending for the lovers after all, if not for her cousin Albert who would return to his former status as a minor German Princeling. After her abdication, the crown went to her eldest son, Edward the Seventh..who soon rocked the country with so many scandals that his mother's were soon forgotten.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: John Brown, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, England, Scotland. Editor says, thanks to Jackie Rose for her contributions to this post which was sparked by an article on the BBC Web Site.
[1] original statement by Robbie Taylor.
~ Good story but they woulkdn't let Albert tkae over the monarchial role - he did enough harm as it was putting the kibosh on British Intervention in the American Civil War.
The whole Albet-Victoria thing was to reform the monarchy as a bourgeouse institution with a crocadile of kids and a nanny pushing the pram, which was a media sensation in the late '40's/early '50's.
There is no way they establishment will let Victoria do anything but her duty.
~ But once she had abdicated and her son had replaced her, the establishment had nothing more to say to her.
~ They wouldn't let it get that far. It would not make the press.
~ But, Richard, in fact the scandal of "Mrs. Brown" did indeed make the press...or at least the court of public opinion.
~ Gives new meaning to the phrase "John Brown's body"...
~ The tabloid press would have been very happy. As would anti-British forces in colonies with more conservative bases, looking for reason to revolt.
~ The Quality Press of the day - there was no tabloid press yet - would be "nobbled" and editors be very "understanding", the were part of the Establishment.
There were problems at home - it was only just past 1848 and the Chartists and there were threats of revolt in South Wales. if it gets out there will be a Republican movement. The would be rumours if the Prince Consort was dead as in RL but not if he was alive.
Incidentally if he is divorced then British Intervention in the American C W goes ahead and Palmerston is wringing his hands in delight.
The Empire and control at home depended on a respectable monarchy.
~ Good point, Richard! Prince Albert's fall from grace could very well have changed the outcome of our Civil War.
~ A big shift of leadership in a crucial time of the British Empire's growth. Would it affect expansion into India and Africa?
~ Another intriguing question, Jeff...especially since she was revered in those countries, with their highly conservative morals.
~ oh there is the can't Marry a Commoner rule in this period.
~ But, Richard...would she not become a commoner herself if she abdicated? I know that George the Sixth made his older brother the Duke of Windsor after that famous abdication, but the duke might have become a mere commoner otherwise.
~ Under British rules she could not become a Commoner.
The Duke remained a Prince of the Royal House whatever title he was given.
The country needed her a symbol both at home and for Imperial purposes.
it would also have made us the laughing-stock of Europe at a time when Palmerston and the policy-makers were anxious to obtain maximum influence.
~ Under British rules she could not become a Commoner.
The Duke remained a Prince of the Royal House whatever title he was given.
The country needed her a symbol both at home and for Imperial purposes.
it would also have made us the laughing-stock of Europe at a time when Palmerston and the policy-makers were anxious to obtain maximum influence.
~ Richard, I never knew that! We certainly do learn a lot here.
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March 28
Editor says, what if Akhenaten was succeeded as Pharaoh by Moses? This would have been a happy ending indeed, and Jackie Rose explains why. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the April 2013 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 1334 BC, and Pharaoh Akhenaten has just died without a son.
Happy Endings Part 19
Pharoah MosesHe is succeeded by Prince Moses, his sister's adopted child. Since Moses enthusiastically shared Akhenaten's new religious views,which replaced the old polytheism with a belief in Aten the One Sun God, the late Pharaoh had chosen his nephew for the throne.
The new Pharaoh Moses-aten continued to worship Aten while requiring his countrymen to do the same. Since the Hebrew slaves also worshipped one God, Moses set them free, knowing that they would be his most enthusiastic supporters. To make things simpler for these simple folks, he condensed the hundreds of Egyptian commandments down to a list of Ten.
And that is why the Faith of Aten is still followed throughout all of Egypt, and indeed the entire Middle East.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Moses, Pharoah, Akhenaten, Egypt, Faith of Aten. Editor says, what really happened: Akhenaten did have a son named Tutunkamon, who returned Egypt to the old polytheistic state religion. Some historians believe that Moses really had followed Akhenaten and left the country with other believers, after the Pharaoh died. The rest, as they say, is history..
~ I think that the old religion was much too hard to uproot for a couple of reforming Pharaohs to do it, try though they might. "Pharaoh Moses" might have had an untimely accident, as Tutankhamon seems to have done. Or been overthrown the first time the Nile failed: "The blaspheming Pharaoh has stopped the Nile!" And I'm not at all sure that there ever WERE Hebrew slaves in Egypt; that story has always looked suspicious to me.
~ But, Eric, as far as I know it is the first anti-slavery story in all literature, which greatly influenced the American abolition movement 3,000 years later, so it deserves respect for that reason.
~ Would Moses have been led to conquer the Canaanites?
~ Good question, Jeff! If the Hebrews and/or Akhenaten followers were happy in Egypt, I don't see why they would have had to go out to conquer someplace else.
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March 24
Editor says, what if a small fortune had boosted the Jacobite chances of success during the spring of 1746? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1746, on this day George Talbot the Capitaine de frigate of Le Prince Charles Stuart managed to throw off pursuit from the HMS Sheerness assuring the safe delivery of £13,000 in gold, arms and other supplies to the Jacobite Army in Inverness.
Happy Endings Part 2
The Lad that's Born to be KingTheir second rebellion was approaching a bloody climax during that fateful spring. Still undefeated in the field, the Jacobite Army was a menace north of the border, but since the retreat from Derby, no longer threatening to restore the exiled Stuart Line by regaining the stolen crown for Bonnie Prince Charlie. With his funds dwindling fast and the British Army hard on his heels his "Forty-Five" rebellion would have been doomed without the French gold.
Instead, the rebellion played out onto the Autumn. This later climax on more honourable terms subsequently encouraged another set of revolutionaries of the "Seventy-Five" to invite him to become their "King of the Americas". Which was by no means to understate the pivotal role of the Hard Woman his wife, the incomparable Highland rebel Flora MacDonald.
This ending is a gender reversal of the Jackie Rose novel Hard Man which focuses on Captain Francis O'Neill and is available for download at the Extasy Books web site..
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Bonnie Prince Charlie, Jacobite, England, Scotland, France. Editor says, in our timeline Talbot hailed some local fisherman he found out that he had a chance if he made for the Kyle of Tongue where his smaller ship should be able to sail in but the Sheerness would not be able to follow. The French ship would be trapped but the supplies could be put ashore with their guards and the ship could be scuttled to stop it being recaptured. Unfortunately the Kyle was narrow and no-one on the ship knew the waters so it soon ran aground on a sandbank at Melness on the west bank of the Kyle. The Sheerness managed to sail far enough up the Kyle for its guns to be in range of the trapped Le Prince Charles Stuart and it started a punishing bombardment.
In authoring this article, we have repurposed content from Wikipedia, Scottish Military and Jacqueline Riding's excellent article ("Charlie will come again") in the April 2011 Edition of History Today Magazine.
~ Yes, a lot of AH stories have been written about Charlie Victorious, including my own "Hard Man." It is graciously mentioned here..and Bagpipelover was kind enough to call it "intriguing," which was praise indeed.. But none of us AH authors want to wait until the Bonnie Prince is an old man before he wins the throne...so why couldn't the French gold have been used to make him Prince Regent in 1746, rather than 30 years later?
~ "My kingdom for a GPS!" ;)
~ Interesting AH...would the Scots have been stomped on so hard after this Forty-Five?
~ Good show of how close major events are; so little could've tipped the scales.
~ What happens is that the grateful government of George II accepts a generous gift of £13k in French gold!
I do not wish to be facetious but the 45 is already over by then (March 1746), the cash will make no difference, they have already retreated into the Highlands and have fofeited their gains in southern Scotland and England. The royal army under Cumberland is only days away and has developed tactics to defeat the Jacobites. The Highlanders are brave but poorly equipped and the force is beset by infighting. Charles himself was by common consent a poor leader, prone to rash decisions, such as organising an invasion and trying to force the French king's hand. He had a generally poor reputation at the time but has greatly benefitted from historical revisionism. So the money would have likely been taken in Charlie's baggage train as it fled for Inverness in the wake of the battle of Culloden. There was not enough time, nor a strategic position to build upon for Charlie to do much with it.
Now, had that cash appeared in, say late October 1745, that might have been different. With the Jacobites penetrating deep into England and London still porrly defended the money might have given Charles the impetus he needed to impress the English Tories who seemed ot be hedging their bets and waiting to come out openly for some decisive success, say a Jacobite capture of London. I'm not sure that cash itself would have been the key issue, Charles had a dedicated and brave but small army. A substantial French force or mercenaries landing (to the value of £13k) would have been far more useful.
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March 1
Editor says, what if Charles, Lindbergh Jr. returned alive? muses Jackie Rose. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the May 2013 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is March 1, 1932, .. and the nation is stunned to learn that Charles Lindbergh's infant son has been kidnapped.
An installment from the Happy Endings thread
Happy Endings Part 24
Lindy is Lucky AgainEveryone breathes sigh of relief when the child is returned unharmed, after the ransom is paid. He later grows up to be as skilled a pilot as his father .. and that is saying a great deal, since "Lucky Lindy" is well known for having flown non-stop across the Atlantic in 1927, at age 25.
After the kidnapping, he is more famous than ever .. and more in demand as a speaker on the future of air-plane flight. It will, he believes, include a larger role for air combat in wartime, and urges America to prepare for any conflict that may come. His warnings grow increasingly serious as Germany starts to re-arm.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Charles Lindbergh, Kidnap, America, Premature Death, Isolation. Editor says, In real life: Tragically, as we all know, Charles, Jr. was found dead. As a result, the Lindbergh family left America to live in Germany .. even though, ironically, the kidnap-killer had been a German named Bruno Hauptmann. Lindbergh was later so impressed by German air power that he urged Britain, France and above all America to avoid fighting against it. This resulted in his leadership of the isolationist movement called America First, which might well have delayed re-armament efforts until after the Pearl Harbor surprise attack.
As another unplanned effect .. The infant's death, and Hauptmann's execution, led to the Lindbergh Law, making kidnapping for ransom a capital offense .. even though Clarence Darrow and others warned that it would lead the kidnappers with no reason for leaving the victim alive.
Comment from John Ritzert on Facebook: Many historians today consider Hauptmann to be innocent of the kidnapping and murder.
~ People who've studied the crime without preconceptions are sure that Hauptmann was guilty. That's as in "guilty, guilty, guilty!"
~ OH, all right. What I should have said was, "the accused kidnap killer..." or "the man executed for the crime...'
~ The only "evidence" that Schwartzkopf Sr. was able to dig up was purely circumstancial - and that's a fact. They needed a conviction and they needed now so they grabbed the first loser that they could find and make the "facts" stick to.
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April 14
Editor says, what if Mrs Lincoln had enjoyed the play? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 14th April 1865, and Abraham Lincoln is seated in the presidential box at Ford's Theater, watching "Our American Cousin". He has gone there with some misgivings, having had a nightmare three days earlier, which ended with his being told that an assassin had killed the president. He joins with the audience in laughing at all the jokes, but his nightmare has made him alert, and he is holding his pistol clutched in his hand. When he hears a movement behind him, he wheels to see John Wilkes Booth raising his gun.
Happy Endings Part 3
Death of an Actor But Booth's intended target is well acquainted with firearms, having served as a captain in the Black Hawk War. As Booth takes careful aim, Lincoln quickly raises his own weapon and fires straight at him.
Soon everyone is screaming in horror, having heard Lincoln's bodyguard, Major Rathbone, howling that, "The president has murdered John Wilkes Booth!" Lincoln keeps shouting that Booth had been trying to kill him first. But, with his last breath, the consummate performer whispers that he had brought his gun to help protect the president, when he had heard the alarming rumors of an assassins' conspiracy against the top government leaders.
The handsome actor had become a "matinee idol" during his lifetime, but now he is even more popular in his death. This is due largely to the newspaper cartoon that shows him dying on the floor while the president looms over him, still firing his gun with his homely face twisted in mindless rage. To avoid the scandal of a criminal trial and an impeachment hearing, Lincoln agrees to resign, and winds up eking out a living in his old career as a country lawyer. But somehow, as he later confides to Mary, he still feels he did the right thing.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Abraham Lincoln, Mary Lincoln, Ford's Theatre, Assassination, Premature Death. ~ But Booth would have fallen to the floor once Lincoln had shot him, so there would have been no escape. (And once more, I would like to explain that Cassandra and Jackie Rose are the same person, depending on which e-mail service I am using at the moment).
~ It might've given the Radical Republicans upset by Lincoln's soft treatment of the South during Reconstruction political ground to start an impeachment hearing. While it probably wouldn't have gone anywhere, it would be a stain on his reputation (which wouldn't have the resounding boom of the assassination). Lincoln, if suffering from the various disorders people suspect, might be very sick or dying by the end of his term.
~ Actually, as I understand it, Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theater on the evening of April 14, not April 15; he died early in the morning on the fifteenth. A one-day delay in his attending the play might have derailed the assassination attempt, especially if rumors of a plot surfaced in the interim. Fixed - thanks. Ed
~ Good point, Jeff! And Rep. Thaddeus Steven would have been just the man to lead the impeachment, since he was about as radical a Republican and abolitionist as they came. And hey...what if this had helped lead to his own election as president, with Reconstruction still going on? The mind boggles!
~ And Eric, you are right, of course. I just looked at the dates on Wikipedia and should have remembered that he died the morning after he was shut. Blush.
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May 15
Editor says, what if the plotting of the Scottish nobility had been nipped in the bud? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1567, finally Mary, Queen of Scots found enduring happiness with her third husband James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell who she married on this historic day at the Holyrood Palace in the great city of Edinburgh. In fact, the Queen was so madly in love with Bothwell that she now appeared to give up even her Catholicism for him because the wedding was conducted according to the Protestant rites.
Happy Endings Part 4
The Wedding at HolyroodTo be sure the groom's elevation to Duke of Orkney fostered resentment in some quarters of Scottish society. And some Catholics even considered the marriage unlawful, since they did not recognise Bothwell's divorce or the validity of the Protestant service Also during the early months of their rule, murmurings of a rebellion were heard amongs the Scottish nobility who required little encourage to revert to lawlessness, violence, feuds and rapacity.
However the arrest and conviction of Mary's treacherous half-brother, the Earl of Moray, removed a mischievous key individual who could have siezed the thrown given the slightest opportunity. Another conspirator removed from the scene was the Queen's second husband, Lord Darney; it took a seven-hour murder trial to prove Bothwell's innocence. At last, Mary was able to put down a stable governance platform to build upon for the future. They never looked back; the royal couple were able to move the political situation forward, diminishing the power of the nobles and thus properly immersing Stuart Rule in the fabric of the still-Independent Kingdom of Scotland.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Bothwell, Moray, Stuart, Mary, Holyrood. Editor says, in reality the Confederate Lords rebelled against Mary and Bothwell ending their rule in favour of her one year old son. Her treacherous half-brother Earl of Moray became the Regent. In authoring this post with Jackie Rose we have repurposed content from the Wikipedia and BBC web sites.
~ If Bothwell had been given a chance, Antonia Fraser thinks he could have been a good king-consort for Scotland.
~ Wonder if Mary's reaction to the Spanish Armada would have been as friendly to the English as James VI's. We could see a Spanish army disembarking in the north and marching south much more simply if they decided against testing England's might at sea.
~ To be honest, when Elizabeth died, I would think it would be Mary who would take the throne of England. This is because here it seems that she converted when marrying her husband and the church could not cry out that she was catholic. Plus Elizabeth is not mentioned having kids, so...
~ No Comment
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July 5
Editor says, what if the Secret Gospel of Mark was authentic? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In DCCLV AUC, on this day in the town of Bethany near Jerusalem, sisters Mary and Martha received Yeshua Ben Jesse with a cold welcome because the Bethlehemite Rabbhi had arrived too late to save their brother, Lazarus, "he whom thou lovest".
Happy Endings Part 5
The Youth from BethanyAnd they became increasingly distraught to the point of hysteria when they discovered that he had delayed his departure by two whole days. But although the Rabbhi wept, he replied with the self-assured statement that "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die".
Despite the objections of the awe-struck mourners, he then rolled the stone away from the entrance to the tomb and removed the grave-cloths before ordering in a commanding voice "Lazarus, Come Forth!". And Lazarus indeed rose from the dead because he "believed in him" and was "[the] disciple whom Jesus loved". Yet during the late evening another revelation was in store for Mary and Martha as they celebrated their brother's miraculous return to the living. Because they learned that the youth had come to the Rabbhi wearing only a linen cloth over his naked body. And begged him to remain with him that night, whereupon Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Jesus, Mark, Lazarus, Secret Gospel, New Testament. Editor says, in reality the text is disputed partly because of the sexual orientation of Morton Smith, the professor of ancient history at Columbia University who discovered the secret gospel of Mark in 1973. In authoring this post we have repurposed content from Wikipedia.
Comment from John Allen Hough on Facebook: what about the lost gospels of Mary and Judas?..and why did the Counsil of Nicea BANN so many other gospels as heritical when they were actively read and loved at the time the new testiment was being written??
~ Well, he DID hang around with 12 guys and no women most of the time...
~ In My Glorious Brothers, which honored the Maccabee Revolt, the famous historical novelist Howard Fast depicted homosexuality as being a bitter point of contention between the Greco-Roman culture and the Hebrew faith. Since Jesus was a nice patriotic Jewish boy, who did not even accept the Roman coinage, I don't believe that he would have sided with the Greco-Romans on a divisive moral issue.
~ ...And waht's this about Mary and Judas? What IS this...the Biblical Enquirer?
~ Interesting, but I agree with my learned colleague Jackie, above.
~ Nicely written piece, though I too have to agree with Jackie Rose. Not to mention that Jesus of Nazareth said that not one jot or tittle of the Law (speaking of the Mosaic Law) would pass away, in addition to claiming that He fulfilled the Law perfectly. This is the same Mosaic Law, of course, which says that "A man shall not lie with a man as with a woman, for this is an abomination."
~ Fairy tales do not contitiute alternate history. A dead man had belief?LOL!
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October 9
Editor says, what if the King had forced the Prime Minister out? muses Jackie Rose. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the March 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 1936, and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin is threatening to resign if King Edward VIII insists on marrying Mrs. Simpson, a divorced American.
Happy Endings Part 6
Edward VIII and Wallace SimpsonThe King tells his Prime Minister to resign and be damned, then promptly marries his sweetheart.
Baldwin had been planning to sell airplane engines to the Germans, but this project came to a screaming halt when he left office. His replacement, Neville Chamberlain, saw the need to rearm England (rather than Germany) and desperately calls on his countrymen to do just that .. aided by his staunch ally, Winston Churchill. When the German Fuhrer invites Chamberlain to the Munich Conference two years later, the Prime Minister curtly refuses to attend. Even without him, Hitler invades Czechoslovakia, but England is ready to fight him.
Edward had expressed admiration for Hitler before, but at his Prime Minister's directions he avoids doing so again. Instead, he focuses on helping the unemployed, just as he had done before meeting Mrs. Simpson. So now the nation is united behind King Edward and Queen Wallis, and he rallies his people with the King's Speech: "For the second time in most of our lives, we are at war".
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Wallace Simpson, Edward VIII, Abdication Crisis, King, England. Editor says, in reality Edward did abdicate, leaving Baldwin in a stronger position than ever for appeasing Hitler, until it is almost too late. The King's Speech is delivered by Edward's brother, King George VI.
~ Edward would have made a bad King...he was all play, no work, unlike his brother and niece. During his brief reign the "boxes" were sadly neglected, and what had been looked at often showed signs that he'd been drinking while he did it.
~ \edward \viii was pro-Nazi, as was one of his brother and a great admireer of Hitler - as were many who thought something should be done for the workers. Had britain been ivades in 1940 we would have had a King Edwars and Queen Wallis.
o you jst would not have got this, rather a raprochement with the Nazis.
~ One thing's for sure: Britain would have been better off without Baldwin as PM when things started going haywire in central Europe.
~ It'd have been a much shorter WWII if Britain had led an international expeditionary force to take out Hitler. Then again, Hitler might've won it playing himself as a David against Goliaths.
~ Good twist.
~ Reads like a good drama, but that England was ready in 1938 was doubtful.
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January 1
Editor says, what if Katherine of Aragon's son had survived? muses Jackie Rose. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the March 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 1511, and all of England is rejoicing at the birth of Henry, Duke of Cornwall, to King Henry VIII and his beloved Queen Katherine of Aragon.
Happy Endings Part 7
Henry VIII & Catherine of AragonShe turns a blind eye to her husband's affairs with other women, most notably her lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn.
As the young Duke grows, so does his father's devotion to the Church of Rome. At Pope Clement's request, the King is happy to join the other Catholic monarchs in fighting the new Protestant heresy that is flourishing in Germany. Soon all of Europe is Catholic again, as it remains to this day.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Henry VIII, Tudor, Duke of Cornwall, Premature death, King. Editor says, point of departure: Katherine of Aragon's sons all died, leading the king to divorce her and marry Anne Boleyn. He had to do so without the Pope's approval, which meant making himself the head of the new Church of England. Anne Boleyn, in turn, was executed for failing to bear a healthy male child...although she did manage to produce Queen Elizabeth I.
~ The harder you hit the nail the deeper it goes into the wood.
~ Without a Counter-Reformation, increasing literacy and printing will probably kick off another variant of Protestantism sooner than later.
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August 22
Editor says, what if Michael Collins had taken the gun out of Irish Politics? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1922, on this day at a place called Béal na mBláth ("the Mouth of the Flowers") in his home territory of west Cork, Michael Collins secretly met with political rival Éamon de Valera to agree a peace formula that would bring an end to the Irish Civil War.
Happy Endings Part 8
The Mouth of the FlowersThe two Irish leaders had found themselves on the opposing side of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that had partitioned the island by creating a twenty-six county free state in the South. The core of their historic agreement was a joint commitment to use exclusively peaceful means to work towards the creation of a thirty-two country Republic. But in a larger sense, it was a bold move forward for the political situation that had to begin with a refusal to allow the British Government to continue to shape events in Ireland.
Always a man to lead from the front, the "Big Fellow" had made his own personal decision to set off in a different direction. Because shortly afterwards, he resigned his post as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, entered private life and married sweatheart Kitty Kiernan. After a political career that spanned four decades, de Valera became the Patron of the Michael Collins Foundation, declaring that "It is my considered opinion that in the fullness of time history will record the greatness of Collins and it will be recorded at my expense".
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Irish Republican Army, Ireland, Republic. Editor says, in reality Collins was shot dead in an ambush. No one has ever been officially charged with the murder of "The Big Fellow". In authoring this post we have repurposed content from Wikipedia and "A Pocket History of Irish Rebels" by Morgan Llywelyn (2001).
~ The British had their chance to shoot de Valera, along with the other leaders of the Easter Week uprising, but they spared him because he had been born in America, and they did not want to arouse American outrage.
~ Irish politics without decades of violence? I could live with that.
~ Dev may have been spared due to his mental health/ The British were aware of the blowback, from the executions after 1916. Also, the British scheme may have just have been to execute just the signers of the proclamation. They spared other people outside of Dublin.
As to Collins, walking away. Only if Dev orders, the die hards to stand down. If they do, that spares Ireland a year of war, and some but not all bitterness. Collins was keeping the National army on a tight leash, without him, things got worse. Collins walking away, is interesting. Dev almost did the same thing after losing the civil war.
It goes down, to the assement of the man. If he had wanted a quiet life, he could have been a rich new yorker. ( I have an AH about this somewhere) I agree with Peter hart, collins went to London, because he wanted to make a peace, not to sit in the back ground.
Comment from Brandon Przepiorski on Facebook: What Eamon had gone to the british for the peace tready and got shot instead of MC Good call sir. What interests me more actually is what if MC had refused to sign the Treaty (in his diary Winston Churchill said "Michael Collins rose up looking as if he was going to shoot someone, preferably himself. In all my life, I have never seen so much passion and suffering in restraint"). I have a feeling the British would have killed him if he would have signed he, he was the real leader of the IRA Eamon was always in jail or out of country, Mick was the only reason the British even decided to sign a tready he was a master at gorilla warfare I have absolutely no doubt you're right about that sir. I think you're key point is that the Treaty would never have happened at all without Collins? Without a doubt, the Brits had the upperhand until Eamon was arrested and then left for the US, and Collins took over
~ Would Eamon de Valera have had things so all his own way in this TL, or would Michael Collins' influence have made Ireland less of a backwater?
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July 11
Editor says, what if F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife Zelda had him committed first? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 1930, and F. Scott Fitzgerald has been committed to a mental hospital at the urging of his wife, Zelda.
Happy Endings Part 9
Zelda Fitzgerald HemingwayIt is a shocking but somehow suitable ending to the Roaring Twenties. The Fitzgeralds had been the very essence of the Jazz Age, which Scott had immortalized in now-classic novels like This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby. He had, in fact, termed his wife "the first American flapper".
But now he has decided to commit her to the hospital. Having overheard his intentions during a phone call to his friend Ernest Hemingway while all three are living in Paris, she knows she must strike first. Selling her jewels to pay the required two doctors to testify against her husband, she also uses all the charm she acquired as a Southern belle back in Montgomery, Alabama to win them to her side.
That includes her helpless weeping over her poor husband's plight .. backed up by the photos she secretly took of his attacks of fury, that included throwing chandeliers. She manages to be away from home when the ambulance comes, leaving her with no need to answer his wild charges that she is the crazy one.
But she still has one danger to overcome. During that fatal phone call, Hemingway assured her husband that "She is a bitch and she is crazy". Now she must prove that neither charge was true, in case Hemingway uses his own growing influence as a popular author to turn those charges against her.
So she hurries to Ernest's side, turning on the charm and the tears once more. He cannot resist putting his arms around her as she weeps on his shoulder, and soon they are joined in a much more intimate embrace. It leads to his divorcing his second wife Pauline and making Zelda into Mrs. Hemingway.
The happy couple is still married when he dies of natural causes 30 years later, leaving her with his rich stock of literary royalties, along with their luxurious Florida and Cuba homes. Their saddest moment had come in 1948, when her first husband died in the fire at the mental hospital where he was still confined.
An article from the Happy Endings series.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Madness, Happy Endings, Zelda Fitzgerald Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway. Editor says, what really happened: It was F. Scott Fitzgerald who had his wife committed, at Hemingway's suggestion, and she was the one who died in the institution blaze. His evidence was so flimsy that it raised the controversy over involuntary commitment, which continues to this day .. including her strenuous efforts to become a ballerina at age 27, thus carrying out her lifelong ambition. In fact, his own behavior was much more bizarre and violent than hers .. including his threat to kill his mistress Sheilah Graham in an alcoholic rage. As for Hemingway, he committed suicide in 1961, wedded to the last of his four wives.
~ I wouldn't exactly call this a happy ending, but I certainly got a kick out of it, and I hope you do, too.
~ Not sure if Hemingway would have kept Zelda's interest. His writing (and lifestyle) would much more terse journalist than the flamboyant flowing sentences of Fitzgerald. Maybe she'd go back to her flapper days and pick up another notable flamboyant lover... say, Prince Edward?
~ You mean...we could now be writing about the Duke of Windsor and his Duchess Zelda? I LOVE IT!
~ From what I know about Hemingway and his alcoholism, Zelda would have jumped from one frying pan straight into the other, if not into the fire itself.
~ I admit, I did not know that Hemingway was also an alcoholic. But I was aware that he was always charging off to Africa to shoot zebras or something, and that might have been very wearing, too.
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December 21
Editor says, what if F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife Zelda had him committed first? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1940, on this day the American author of Jazz-age novels and short stories Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald died in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Happy Endings Part 9a
Death of F. Scott FitzgeraldA decade before he had been committed to a mental hospital at the urging of his wife, Zelda (pictured). It was a shocking but somehow suitable ending to the Roaring Twenties. The Fitzgeralds had been the very essence of the Jazz Age, which Scott had immortalized in now-classic novels like This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby. He had, in fact, termed his wife "the first American flapper".
But now he had decided to commit her to the hospital. Having overheard his intentions during a phone call to his friend Ernest Hemingway while all three are living in Paris, she knew she must strike first. Selling her jewels to pay the required two doctors to testify against her husband, she also used all the charm she acquired as a Southern belle back in Montgomery, Alabama to win them to her side.
That included her helpless weeping over her poor husband's plight .. backed up by the photos she secretly took of his attacks of fury, that included throwing chandeliers. She manages to be away from home when the ambulance comes, leaving her with no need to answer his wild charges that she is the crazy one.
But she still had one danger to overcome. During that fatal phone call, Hemingway assured her husband that "She is a bitch and she is crazy". Now she had to prove that neither charge was true, in case Hemingway used his own growing influence as a popular author to turn those charges against her.
So she hurried to Ernest's side, turning on the charm and the tears once more. He cannot resist putting his arms around her as she wept on his shoulder, and soon they were joined in a much more intimate embrace. It leads to his divorcing his second wife Pauline and making Zelda into Mrs. Hemingway.
The happy couple is still married when he dies of natural causes 30 years later, leaving her with his rich stock of literary royalties, along with their luxurious Florida and Cuba homes.
An article from the Happy Endings series.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Madness, Happy Endings, Zelda Fitzgerald Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway. Editor says, what really happened: It was F. Scott Fitzgerald who had his wife committed, at Hemingway's suggestion, and she was the one who died in the institution blaze. His evidence was so flimsy that it raised the controversy over involuntary commitment, which continues to this day .. including her strenuous efforts to become a ballerina at age 27, thus carrying out her lifelong ambition. In fact, his own behavior was much more bizarre and violent than hers .. including his threat to kill his mistress Sheilah Graham in an alcoholic rage. As for Hemingway, he committed suicide in 1961, wedded to the last of his four wives.
~ Some people theorize Zelda was really the writer (or at least gave Scott the real ideas). We might've gotten some more great books out of him.
~ I also read that he refused to let her use her own experiences in her own writing, because it would reduce their value to him.
~ Can anyone say "gold digger"?
~ Jared, when they got married, he did not have much gold to dig. She later played the giddy, greedy Flapper image for all it was worth, which was a lot...saying things like "I hope you will buy his latest book because I need a new fur coat." And the gold he eventually did mine came largely from her own experience.
~ Jumping from F. Scott to Ernest Hemingway? That woman apparently had a real taste for alcoholics.
~ And, another question arises -- do such women inspire, or drag, creativity out of men who might be drinking too much?
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February 16
Editor says, what if America had responded to the Great Depression the same way that we are dealing .. or rather NOT dealing .. with our own Great Recession now? Jackie Rose muses .. and this time, she sees no happy ending in sight. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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It is 1933, and the newly-elected President Franklin Roosevelt is planning to fight the Great Depression with the New Deal.
Unhappy Ending
FDR goes over the Fiscal CliffThe problem is .. not all of Congress is fighting on his side. The Democrats enthusiastically endorse his programs to get Americans working again, even at the taxpayers' expense ... while most Republicans refuse to let the taxes be raised.
With chances for a recovery dimming every day, many Americans turn, in their desperation, to extremist programs imported from abroad. The American Nazi "brown shirts" and American Communist "red shirts" are soon fighting in the streets, both sure that they are America's only hope.
In addition to the New Deal, the newspapers soon coin another phrase .. the Fiscal Cliff. And everyone knows that the country is rapidly falling to the bottom. An installment from the Happy Endings thread.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Fiscal Cliff, Franklin Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Finance, Depression. ~ In 1933, Republicans were mostly lying low, as their party was widely blamed (fairly or not) for the Crash of '29 and the Depression which followed. As for taxes, FDR's New Deal was originally funded via deficit spending, and later, when he allowed himself to be persuaded to reduce the deficit, Roosevelt did it by curtailing some New Deal programs. (Not that he had a choice, since the Seventy-fifth Congress, elected in 1936, was packed with conservative Republicans and right-wing Southern Democrats who dedicated themselves to attacking the New Deal.)
~ Ironically, FDR wasn't the deficit spender most Keynesians would have wanted him to be. If he had been forced to print money by the billion and even dump it out of airplanes (as some economists suggested) -- the economy would have recovered far faster. Remember, the severity of the Great Depression was caused by a collapse of demand. If 1934 had been met by a flood of new consumer demand, the depression would have ended by the election of '36. As it happened, it was worse. Yes, Bundists and Commies would have battled in the streets, but they were still tiny minority cults, rightly perceived by the general public as foreign agents. Remember, a vote for Republicans or Southern Democrats is a vote for stability, not a vote for revolution.
~ I think that any paramilitaries we had here in the US would not appeal well by openly modeling themselves on foreign models.
~ But Eric O, I am talking about a country in such utter chaos that the extremists would have been glad to model themselves on successful foreign models.
~ Thank goodness politics then wasn't like politics now. Things changed in the '90s.
~ That was sort of the point, Jeff. I have also heard it said that things got much more extreme with primaries, when the True Believers turned out to nominate their favorites, rather than simply focusing on the candidates who were most likely to succeed.
~ Jackie Rose -- Boy, you hit it on the head. Primaries may be "open," but in practice, they're a disaster. Only the rich can run for office.
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© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
