| September 18 |  |
Editor says, what if the Scots vote for their own Kingdom? 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.
| Share this Article on: |  Facebook |  Twitter |
It is Sept. 18, 2014, and the long-awaited referendum on Scottish independence has finally taken place..along with the restoration of the Stuart dynasty.
Happy Endings 23:
Charlie comes back againSentiment had been largely in favor of keeping Queen Elizabeth as the reigning monarch, especially since Victoria had done so much to show her Scottish sympathies, with her frequent vacations at Balmoral Castle and her Scottish boy toy John Brown.
But now an even more popular candidate has appeared..namely, the great-great-great-great-and-so-forth grandson of Bonnie Prince Charlie. It's true his line was started out of wedlock .. but modern DNA testing had shown that he was indeed a descendant of the Stuart Dynasty.
By electing Parliamentary delegates from the new Stuart Party, the public showed their overwhelming support. He was swept into office with "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" as his campaign song. Women sang it with special enthusiasm at his political rallies, and some of the younger ones even screamed and fainted when they saw him .. just as their feminine ancestors had done 200 years earlier, when he came to Scotland to lead the failed revolt.
That sad song had lasted for more than a century .. and now it had a happy ending at last. Bonnie Charlie HAD come back again .. and thanks to his overwhelming popularity in Britain, Australia and America, he was able to have a great and positive influence in both places.
Entry posted by
Jackie Rose
© Jackie Rose, 2011-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Religion Source: Wikipedia Labels: Scottish Independence, Bonnie Charlie, Stuart, Monarchy, King.
~ Scotland may go, but I'd bet that London would keep the North Sea oil, or the lion's share of it. Wouldn't want that to go astray, after all...
~ John, I had thought that this Bonnie Prince would represent the long dead dreams of Scottish nationalism with the revival of the Stuart Dynasty. But if his supporters would only be dreaming of the North Sea Oil...it's another illusion shot to hell.
~ One has to wonder if the Highland clan system would come back with him.....
In all seriousness, there are still a few Scots who would to see this happen. If the 2014 Referendum goes the way of independence, I expect the calls for Stuart restoration to increase (slightly).
~ Jared, I did not know there were any Stuarts left...although I would be delighted to hear that there were, and that there were indeed some calls for restoring them.
~ A few years ago, when this possibility surfaced, there were notes that England might be better off financially if it was a Disuninted Kingdom. If that is the truth, such a vote could get support from previously overlooked places -- if the economy goes south.
~ Jackie, you're very much right on there not being Stuarts left. Two generations after the Bonnie Prince, Henry Benedict Stuart (Henry IX) was a cardinal down in Rome with no issue, so no potential continues there (except by illegitimacy, as you mention).
~ I looked it up, though, and found that there were several illegitimate claimants. If the Scots were free to elect a descendant as their king, I don't think they would have worried too much about the legitimacy thing.
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Licinius had recovered from his defeat at Hellespont? 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 September 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 324, in the decisive final encounter between the two emperors, Roman forces loyal to Licinius (pictured) prevailed at the Battle of Chrysopolis, in Bithynia.
Licinius wins the Battle of ChrysopolisFollowing his catastrophic defeat at the Battle of the Hellespont, his rival Constantine had crossed over to Asia Minor, using a flotilla of light transports in order to avoid the enemy army, which, under the command of Licinius' newly appointed co-emperor Martinian, was guarding the coast at Lampsacus. Meanwhile Licinius had evacuated his garrison from Byzantium which joined his main army in Chalcedon on the Asiatic shore of the Bosporus. From there he also summoned Martinian's forces and a band of Visigothic auxiliaries, under their leader Aliquaca, to reinforce his principal army which had been depleted by its earlier defeat at the Battle of Adrianople.
Overconfident, Constantine seemingly eschewed any subtlety of manoeuvre, launching a single massive frontal assault on Licinius' troops but his forces were routed by them. Constantia, Constantine's half-sister and Licinius' wife, acted as intermediary, but no mercy was shown and Constantine was executed.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Chrysopolis, Constantine I, Licinius , Rome, Tetrarchy. Editor says, in authoring this post we have repurpose content from Wikipedia which reports ~ the battle was the final encounter between the two emperors. After his navy's defeat in the Battle of the Hellespont, Licinius withdrew his forces from the city of Byzantium across the Bosporus to Chalcedon in Bithynia. Constantine followed, and won the subsequent battle. This left Constantine as the sole emperor, ending the period of the Tetrarchy.
~ Well, there goes Christianity's shot at becoming Rome's official religion, at least for a while. And if the triumph of the Christian church in the Roman Empire is delayed, someone other than Athanasius may win out in the Church's internal struggles, with potentially major consequences.
~ Would paganism, or Mithraism, or something, anything else, have had a chance at survival?
~ Without one state religion, it's likely. They might even be Unitarian with the Pantheon and similar universal leanings.
~ Or maybe a new Julian would enforce the traditional paganism. Who knows?
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Dief had toppled the USG? 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 September 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1895, on this day the ultra-nationalist Canadian Tory prime minister John George Diefenbaker was born in the peaceful village of Neustadt, Ontario.
Birth of architect of Diefenbaker PlanHis term of office was shaped by the apocalyptic events of October 1962; the often unilateral judgements he took, and the heavy-handed way he communicated those decisions to his colleagues and allies. In his diaries, he rejected these charges, claiming that President Kennedy told him bluntly that, "When I tell Canada to do something, I expect her to do it!". What is indisputed is that on the 22nd, his Defense Minister Douglas Harkness advised him that Kennedy had approved an escalation of the NORAD measurement from two (peace) to three (enhanced awareness) on the way to five (war) without consulting Ottawa even though Canada was supposedly an equal partner to America in NORAD.
Two days later, World War Three broke out and the boot was on the other foot. American Cities were devastated by Soviet nuclear missiles. Under the Dieffenbaker Plan, the Canadian Government laid claim to territory possessed by the United States in order to rehabilitate that land "back to a standard of civilization".
This is an installemend from the Cuba 62 - Canada thread.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Cuba62 Canada Source: Wikipedia Labels: John Diefenbaker, Kennedy, Cuba, NORAD, Cold War. Editor says, in reality the Cuban Missiles Crisis was resolved, World War Three did not break although it has been conjectured that Kennedy toppled Dieffenbaker's Government.
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if the Caribbean basin had joined the Union as a Sugar State? 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 September 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1861, on this day Union President Abraham Lincoln received an urgent request for reinforcements from Alexander Hamilton III the Governor of the Sugar State.
The Civil War engulfs the IslandsSix months of slave revolts had paralyzed the economic activity across the Caribbean basin and precipitated a plantation owner's backlash.
The larger islands were threatening to secede from the Union and appeal to the British Government for Royal Naval support to protect their new-found sovereignty. Some were even threatening to join the Confederacy.
"When I analyze the stench to me it makes a lot of sense" ~ Bob MarleyThe outbreak of the American Civil War was of course only the latest threat to the continued and perhaps accidental existence of the single maritime polity known as "The Sugar State". Because in 1782 the decisive French naval victory at the Battle of the Saintes marked the beginning of the end of British rule over the Sugar Islands. The crushing of Royal Naval Forces under the command of Admiral Sir George Rodney by the Comte de Grasse's French Fleet enabled the French and Spanish to proceed with the planned invasion of Jamaica. Within eighteen months, the seven thousand islands, islets, reefs, and cays of the Caribbean region were admitted into the Union. And the infant American Republic was confronted with a whole set of fresh challenges that threatened to wreck the ship of state.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Alexander Hamilton, Sugar State, Slavery, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln. Editor says, in reality the British won the Battle of the Saintes.
~ So how would these islands end up in US control? They were big sources of income for Britain and France and the other countries that owned them, and most of those countries had pretty good navies---they'd take them back right quick. A very good point to be addressed in a future post in the TL :-)
~ The US would've had to have been a naval power in the early 19th century... as to this period, it'd be a wonder if the CSA wanted to take on the Sugar State. Sounds like a white elephant with all its defensive and social problems.
~ France would hold onto them if it could. It would certainly keep Jamaica. The US might get the Bahamas and Bermuda if it provided infantry for the operation. It would also put the US and France into future conflict as American settlers moved west into Louisiana, certainly by the 1830s.
~ The common aspects of shared history are not fully understand in Europe, IMHO
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Britain fought in Vietnam? please note this post was inspired an article in the New Statesman Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 2010, Ken Loach and his production team completed final editing on Searching For Albert in advance of the movie's scheduled January 2011 release.
Searching For Albert, Part 4Although Paddy Ashdown and his supporters still planned to stage nationwide protests in Britain against Albert when it premiered, opinion of the movie within the rest of the British Vietnam veterans' community had by this time begun to shift considerably in the movie's favor thanks partly to an outreach effort by Loach and his cast aimed at allaying the veterans' concerns about Loach's handling of its subject matter.
Loach's PR campaign even managed to sway some people who had previously sided with Ashdown's boycott plan; in a New Statesman interview published just before Albert's theatrical release, a House of Commons MP who at first had supported the boycott disclosed that he had reversed his stance after meeting with one of the movie's technical advisors. Eventually the boycott plan would fizzle out and Albert would open to rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: We Were Tommies Once And Young Source: New Statesman Magazine Labels: Vietnam, Britain, Sixties, Vinny Jones, Far East.comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Winston Churchill had become a world famous mathematician? muses Jeff Provine on This Day in Alternate History 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 October 2010 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
By 1893, Young Winston Churchill had done poorly in school. He narrowly graduated Harrow, where teachers had forever scarred him against the notion of learning Latin. Applying to Sandhurst Military Academy, Churchill needed to pass three of five required exams.
Churchill has his Vision of Mathematics He knew his abilities in English and Chemistry, hated Latin, and doubted French, leaving only Mathematics. In his singular autobiography, Churchill wrote, "All my life from time to time I have had to get up disagreeable subjects at short notice, but I consider my triumph, moral and technical, was in learning Mathematics in six months".
With a foundation built by Harrow master, Mr. C. H. P. Mayo, Churchill made way in solving the "hieroglyphs" to be able to meet the requirements set by the Civil Service Commissioners. A new story by Jeff ProvineAs he worked, he bemoaned perplexing devices such as sine, cosine, tangent, the quadratic formula, and the Binomial Theorem. One night, Churchill writes, "I had a feeling once about Mathematics, that I saw it all - Depth beyond depth was revealed to me - the Byss and the Abyss. I saw, as one might see the transit of Venus-or even the Lord Mayor's Show, a quantity passing through infinity and changing its sign from plus to minus. I saw exactly how it happened and why the tergiversation was inevitable: and how the one step involved all the others. It was like politics".
Politics, which he had studied after his father, made sense to him, and Churchill began to embrace the tenants of maths. While at Sandhurst, he set aside formulae for a time, but he took them up again upon placement into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars. His income was £300 per year plus a £400 allowance from his mother, and he calculated that he needed at least another £100 to remain at his accustomed lifestyle. Looking into many sources of additional income such as journalism, Churchill finally settled on answering every possible mathematical quiz available in so many colleges and newspapers around the empire for cash prizes. He also set into a hobby of mathematical proofs, what he called "little riddles", which occupied more and more of his time. Churchill was transferred between Africa and India before returning to England, also playing polo, studying thought-problems, and progressing ever further into calculus in his own time.
In 1906, Churchill read several of Albert Einstein's papers of his Annus Mirabilis in a translation of Annalen der Physik, for which the Jewish German would be given a Nobel Prize. Churchill wrote, "For the first time to me, mathematical play was shown as credible, and my life took new direction". He exchanged correspondence with Einstein and eventually used his growing political influence to offer Einstein a lucrative position as full professor at Cambridge. The two worked together on many projects, later sorting out Einstein's General Relativity, while both also worked their "day jobs" as professor and Minister of Parliament. Churchill grew slowly through the ranks of government before being beaten out in 1931, taking up what he called his "wilderness years". He published his own mathematical papers written from home, studying topology and complex interactions. As war with Germany approached, Churchill returned to the government in patriotic spirit, eventually being named Prime Minister for his calls for defense. Over one of their many teas, Einstein mentioned to Churchill the idea among the physics community of an "atomic" weapon using the explosive power of fission by separating a nucleus.
Churchill, who had previously been a proponent of tanks and aircraft, leaped upon the idea. Using uranium from Scottish peat bogs, Project Tube Alloys (later renamed Wonder) successfully tested the first atomic bomb in 1943. Churchill endorsed its use with thirteen targets, and Germany quickly surrendered, soon followed by Japan. As word spread of the radioactive fallout with the city of Dresden as the prime example, Churchill was given much blame and removed from office with the elections of 1945. He returned briefly in 1951 to the prime ministership, during which he tried to sort out the problems of the Atomic Age he felt he created, only to succumb to a series of strokes. He died in 1965, when his work on the Unified Field Theory merited him, as well as Einstein and several others, a shared Nobel Prize.
Entry posted by
Jeff Provine
© Jeff Provine, 2010-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jeff Provine Blog Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Mathematics, Science, Physics. Editor says, in reality Churchill's vision of mathematics ended, "But it was after dinner and I let it go!" As for mathematics, Churchill wrote, "I quitted for ever in the year 1894..." He turned instead to writing, where he would serve as war correspondent and gain popular leverage to ascend quickly through government despite numerous setbacks.
~ Uranium from peat bogs? You'd have to drain the bogs dry and do a lot of digging to get enough uranium--especially enough fissionable U-235--to work with. I suppose, though, if the stuff were known to be there, wartime priorities might have justified the effort.
And Churvchill would have had to do somethng to draw more European refugee scientists to England in order for that country to build a bomb by 1943. In our history, most of them went to the U.S.
~ Churchill as a mathematician would be interesting, I think. However, the world would have lost a gifted writer...or would he have been able to write books about math that make it clear even to dummies like me?
~ With Churchill as the leader U.K scientists could have done it. Actual events bear this .
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if the British had captured Fort McHenry? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1814, at the Indian Queen Hotel in Baltimore, thirty-five year old amateur author Francis Scott Key (pictured) scribbled the words to his famous poem "Fall of Fort McHenry" on the back of a letter he had kept in his pocket; ironically the lyrics were set to the tune of a popular British drinking song becoming the rebel anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner".
The Fall of Fort McHenryVice President Elbridge Gerry had sent Key and his colleague John Stuart Skinner to appeal for the safe return of President James Madison who had been arrested by British Redcoats at Bladensburg as he fled the burning White House. They boarded the British flagship HMS Tonnant in Chesakpeake Bay and spoke with Major General Robert Ross and then-Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane over dinner.
However Ross and Cochrane were fully engaged in their war plans and Kay and Skinner were moved to the aptly named HMS Surprise where they witnessed British gunboats slipping past the Fort McHenry and effecting a landing in a cove to the west of it. Despite a determined defence by troops from Fort Covington, once the shell and Congreve rocket barrage had stopped, Key observed that the Union Jack had been hoisted in place of the fort's smaller "storm flag".
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Fort McHenry, Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key, War of 1812, America. Editor says, substantial content has been repurposed from Wikipedia
~ In the immortal words of Arte Johnson, "verrrrrrrrrrrry interesting..."
~ Were Aubrey and Maturin there? *grin* It probably wouldn't have mattered much in the long run---maybe made US-British relations marginally worse for a while. By the War of 1812, though, the UK was quite content to have the US independent. We served their interests just about as well as an independent country as we had as colonies, and they didn't have to pay a penny to defend us. If communications had been faster, the whole war would have been avoided---the things we went to war over had been stopped by the British just a few days before Congress declared war.
~ Then again, British pride had been badly wounded by the loss of the American colonies south of Canada. If Britain were really "content to have the U.S independent," the War of 1812 would not have happened at all--but the British continued to regard America as an irritant to the empire, and did everything possible both to harass it (by, among other things, arming Native Americans to harass settlers along the Mississippi, where they retained bases) and to prod at its sovereignty (through, again among other thngs, the policy of impressment, by which American sailors were kidnapped into British naval service on the basis of spurious claims that they were British nationals). Granted, some of these practices were suspended by London before war broke out, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't be resumed any time Britain felt like it.
Even after the War of 1812, Britain still had trouble taking American independence seriously. As late as the 1860s, there were influential Britishers who saw the Civil War as an opportunity to undermine American sovereignty, by assisting the Confederacy in breaking away and then making first the CSA and then the USA dependent on Britain.
comments powered by Disqus
In 2433, by the Qin Calendar, the court sorceror Xu Fu was born in Qi, near the present day city of Zibo in Shandong Province.China Everlasting Part 2 - Court Sorceror
In the service of the First Sovereign Emperor Qin Shi Huang (pictured), Xu Fu was sent to the eastern seas twice to look for the elixir of life. The fleet included sixty barques and around five thousand crew members, three thousand virgin boys and girls, and craftsmen of different fields who sailed to Mount Penglai where the Eight Immortals lived. Fortunately, the crew also included archers who Xu Fu was forced to dispatch to kill a giant sea creature that was blocking the path.
On their return to the capital Hsien-yang, Fu synthetised the elixir of live, enabling Ch'in Shih-Huang to rule in perpetuity. Shortly afterwards, and suitably rewarded, the now immortal Xu Fu returned as King to rule Nippon, the modern day Japanese islands. The capital city Kyushu was described by the Records of the Grand Historian as a place with "flat plains and wide swamps".
For twenty-two centuries, the two immortals of our world have lived apart and in peaceful co-existence.
Yet many assassinations have been attempted on Qin Shi Huang. The Emperor has grown paranoid of remaining in one place too long and hired servants to bear him to different buildings in his palace complex to sleep in each night. He also hired several 'doubles' to make it less clear which figure was the emperor. It would perhaps be no surprise to many if, in the far recesses of his paranoid mind, the Emperor was to perceive Xu Fu as a future adversary in a final battle for the mastery of the future.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: China Everlasting Source: Wikipedia Labels: Qin Shi Huang, China, Elixir of Life, Xu Fu, Civilization. Editor says, Xu Fu never returned from the second mission, and it was suspected that he remained in Japan.
comments powered by Disqus
| Flag of | In 1951, Israeli ground forces in Syria began their final assault on the Syrian provisional capital Palmyra. |
 | |
| Israel |
Variant entry posted by
Chris Oakley
original content has been repurposed to celebrate the author's genius © "When World's Collide" (1932), Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin BalmerStory Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Worlds Collide Source: Wikipedia Labels: Worlds Collide, Mexico City, Horror, America, Disaster.comments powered by Disqus
In 1960, on this day the Fire Department of New York published what was then its most comprehensive estimate of department casualties from the Jamaica Bay hurricane; according to its figures 213 FDNY personnel had been killed during the storm and 96 injured, with at least 64 firemen missing. | New York |
 | |
| Fire Department |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jamaica Bay Source: Wikipedia Labels: New York, Hurricane, America, 1948, Disaster.comments powered by Disqus
| Logo | On this day in 1957, the Houston Oilers played their first-ever exhibition game at Sam Houston Coliseum, beating the Fort Wayne Pistons 115-114. |
 | |
| Rochester Royals |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Houston 57 Source: Wikipedia Labels: Rochester Royals, NBA, Les Harrison, America, Sport.comments powered by Disqus
On this day in 1973, the Lawnmower Man - identified by FBI agents as one George Stark - was indicted on multiple murder charges in a Las Vegas courtroom. | |
 | |
| Stephen King |
Variant entry posted by
Chris Oakley
original content has been repurposed to celebrate the author's genius © Stephen King, Salem's Lot, 1976.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Salem50 Source: Internet Movie Database Labels: Salems Lot, Maine, Murder, Stephen King, America.comments powered by Disqus
On this day in 1982, the NWA held its Starrcade '82 PPV telecast at the Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. In the main event NWA world champion Ric Flair retained his title with a victory over "Outlaw" Ron Bass; what truly made the night memorable, however, was that it saw Bret Hart get kicked out of the Enforcers by Jim Cornette after mistimed interference by Hart enabled Jimmy Valiant to regain the NWA TV title from George 'The Animal' Steele. | |
 | |
| Jimmy Valiant |
Following the Steele-Valiant match, the ex-TV champion joined his fellow Enforcers and Cornette in a vicious beatdown of Hart that left the Canadian grappler seriously battered...and vowing to crush Cornette's stable once and for all. |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: The Tommy Rich Story Source: Wikipedia Labels: Jimmy Valiant, George Steele, Wrestling, NWA, Boxing.comments powered by Disqus
On this day in 1947, the US Senate officially confirmed Henry J. Kaiser as FEMA's first director. In a press statement from his home in southern California, Kaiser thanked Truman for entrusting him with this critical task and said he looked forward to the challenge. | FEMA Dir. |
 | |
| Henry J. Kaiser |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Roswell47 Source: Wikipedia Labels: Roswell Incident, America, Meteor, Crater, America.comments powered by Disqus
| Senator | In 1975, President Rockefeller offers the vice-presidency to Senator Paul D. Laxalt of Nevada. Laxalt accepts, and Rockefeller presents his name to the Senate for confirmation. Senator Paul Laxalt is quickly confirmed as vice-president by the Senate. Conservatives hail the choice, as they consider the Senator one of their own. There is open speculation about a Laxalt run for the presidency itself in 1980, if Rockefeller chooses not to run again that year - or perhaps even if he does. |
 | |
| Paul D. Laxalt |
Entry posted by
Eric Lipps
© Eric Lipps,2007-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Ford Killed Source: Wikipedia Labels: Lynette Fromme, Squeaky, Gerald Ford, America, Assasination.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by
Superguy
© Superguy, 2007.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Invision Power Board Labels: War of the States, America, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, George B. McClellan.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by
H2O et al.
© Althistory WikiaStory Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: 1916 Year of Peace Source: Althistory Wikia Labels: World War 1, 1914, Belgium, Flemish, Walloon.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Jack Nimersheim, 'The Rising Sun at Dusk'Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Uchronia Labels: Rising Sun at Dusk, Douglas MacArthur, Brass Hat, I will return, No substitute for victory.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Mukden Incident, Kyushu, Qubilai Khan, China, Japan.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Meggido Source: Pressbox Labels: Battle of Meggido, End of the World, Battle of Armgaddeon, Book of Revelations, Lawrence of Arabia.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Meggido Source: Wikipedia Labels: Battle of Meggido, End of the World, Battle of Armgaddeon, Book of Revelations, Lawrence of Arabia.comments powered by Disqus
Courlander wrote seven novels, his most famous being The African, published in 1967. The novel was the story of a slave's capture in Africa, his experiences aboard a slave ship, and his struggle to retain his native culture in a hostile, new world.
In 1978, Alex Haley went to federal district court in the Southern District of New York charging Courlander with plagiarism. Citing appropriation of more than 80 passages from Roots, Haley's pre-trial memorandum in the copyright infringement lawsuit stated: 'Defendant Courlander had access to and substantially copied from Roots. Without Roots, the African would have been a very different and less successful novel, and indeed it is doubtful that Mr. Courland could have written the African without Roots. . . . Mr. Courland copied language, thoughts, attitudes, incidents, situations, plot and character.'
African Americans were unsurprised, it was not the first time an anglo had cashed in on their copyright material, and it would not be the last.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Roots Source: Wikipedia Labels: Roots, The African, Harold Courlander, Alex Haley, African Holocaust.comments powered by Disqus
September 17
Editor says, what if the Teutonic Order had prevailed at Świecino? 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 September 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1462, on this day the royal and municipal armed forces of Piotr Dunin's Polish Army were decisively beated by the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Świecino.
Teutonic Knights triumph at the Battle of ŚwiecinoThe victorious commanders Fritz Raweneck and Kaspar Nostyc had led a force of two thousand seven hundred mercenaries gathered from the nearby castles Mewe (Gniew), Stargard (Starogard Gdański), Nowe, Skarszewy and Kiszewy.
Raweneck also had the supply chain (tabors), cannons and up to thirteen hundred auxiliary infantry of Pomeranian peasants, used mainly for fortification works. He took the brutal command decision to order the tabors to lead the charge, absorbing the very heavy fire from crossbows of the Polish infantry. Teuton units then savaged the Polish heavy cavalry under Pawel Jasieński and the battle was won.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Polish, Pole, Teutonic, Battle, Europe. Editor says, in authoring this post we have repurpose content from Wikipedia which reports ~ The direct result of the battle was that the city of Danzig and Pomerania were freed from Teutonic Order danger so that the royal and municipal armed forces could be used elsewhere in the war, mainly to protect the Vistula waterway and to capture the Teutonic held strongholds. This way that Teutonic forces in Prussia on the right bank of Vistula were cut off from the supplies form Western Europe. The psychological significance was that this was the first open field battle won by the royal forces, so it increased the morale of the Polish forces and lowered the morale of the Teutonic Knights. Many military historians say that the battle was the turning point of the Thirteen Years' War, leading to the final victory in 1466.
~ Would there be a Polish-speaking Poland?
~ Hard to say in the tumultuous history of Eastern Europe. Wonder who would win out between the Teutons and the rise of the Swedes and later Russians.
~ Because it was known in German as the Battle of Schwetz, I actually was tempted to call this article Teutonic Knights triumph at the Battle of Schwetz to make that hint [failure of Polish-speaking Poland to arise].
~ If Alexander Nevsky was halfway accurate, te Russians beat the Teutons...to the tune of Prokofiev's music. It was a great movie anyway.
~ The Teutonic knights eventually consolidated their state, went Lutheran, and their last master proclaimed himself Duke of Prussia. It is a really weird story how all of northern Germany became known as Prussia, even though the real Prussia was essentially inherited by Brandenburg and disappeared from the map. Someday I'll try to explain it.
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Trosky had succeeded Lenin? muses Christopher Orlet. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 2009, Christopher Orlet wrote ~ for decades, Western intellectuals have judged him the Good Marxist. His assassination by Joseph Stalin's agents was further proof -- if further proofs were needed -- of his honorable intentions. If only Leon Trotsky, rather than Stalin, had emerged as Vladimir Lenin's successor, how differently the history of the Soviet Union, indeed, the whole history of communism, might have read.
Blood Brother: If Trotsky had succeeded Lenin written by Christopher OrletHOW MIGHT HISTORY have looked had Trotsky succeeded Lenin?
"If ever Trotsky had been the paramount leader instead of Stalin, the risks of a bloodbath in Europe would have been drastically increased", writes Robert Service, for the simple reason that Trotsky, a believer in permanent revolution, would have taken more risks than Stalin in encouraging revolution in Germany and elsewhere. (While we are playing What If, former Trotskyite Christopher Hitchens has pointed out that Trotsky's German revolution would have preempted the Nazis coming to power, and thus not only World War II?, but the Holocaust as well).
Judging from his past deeds, Trotsky would have continued to act with savage ruthlessness, that meant forcing peasants onto collectivized farms -- as he vowed to do -- or ordering the execution of dissidents, crushing the Kronstadt worker and sailor rebellion in 1921 (they demanded, among other rights, freedom of speech and the press), or creating a system of hostage taking during the civil war -- all of which he did do.
The reason so many Western intellectuals, right and left, fell -- and continue to fall -- for Trotsky is they were charmed by his charisma, his intellect, and his literary skills ("His autobiography is magical to read," Service admits), as well as fooled by his obscurantism. What's more, they were desperate for any Soviet alternative to Stalin.
The idea that a humane communism could have come out of Trotskyism is pure romanticism, Service says. Yet, Trotskyites maintain even today that the tragedy of Soviet history lay in Trotsky's failure to win the battle of succession for leadership of the Soviet Union. Service's biography will not convince them otherwise. But for those with an open mind, Trotsky: A Biography shows that in the end, Stalin and Trotsky were blood brothers. Blood being the operative word.
This shortened article is an abbreviated form of the longer essay
Entry posted by
Christopher Orlet
© John Gittings, 2006.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Spectator Magazine Labels: Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin, Russia, USSR. Editor says, "Blood Brother" by Christopher Orlet published on 11.17.09 @ 6:06AM, a review of "Trotsky: A Biography" by Robert Service
~ Not alternat history. Needs a timeline.
~ Sounds like my "Trotsky's War" timeline. What the intellectuals didn't understand was that communists were communists---the enemies of all humanity.
~ The philosopher-king is indeed a dangerous leader. Imagine university profs in charge of the world...
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Byzantine Forces decided to quit Asia whilst they were still ahead of the curve? 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 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1176, on this day in the mountain passes of Phrygia, the Army of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos recovered from an ambush at the hands of the Seljuk Turks. This spectacular victory enabled the Byzantine Empire to recover the interior of Anatolia which it had lost after the Battle of Manzikert a century before.
Miracle at MyriokephalonFor much of that time, a long peace with the Sultanate of Rûm had enabled the Empire to concentrate on the Western theatre, defeating Hungary and imposing Byzantine control over all the Balkans. Meanwhile the strongest Muslim ruler in Syria, Saladin was more concerned with Egypt and Palestine than the border territory.
The hard won victory at Myriokephalon created a strategic pause in which the Empire could consider its future natural borders more holistically. And a new possibility soon began to take shape in the minds of the Byzantine Leadership: to abandon Anatolia altogether and perhaps shift the Empire Westwards, relocating Constantinople out of Asia and back into Europe.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Myriokephalon, Byzantine, Byzantium, Seljuk Turks , Constantinople. Editor says, Wikipedia reports~ the Battle of Myriokephalon, also known as the Myriocephalum, or Miryakefalon Savas? in Turkish, was a battle between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks in Phrygia on September 17, 1176. The battle was a serious reverse for the Byzantine forces, who were ambushed when moving through a mountain pass. It was to be the final, unsuccessful effort by the Byzantines to recover the interior of Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.
Thanks to Stan Brin for the original suggestion.
~ The trouble with abandoning Anatolia is not only that it had once provided many of the Empire's best soldiers, but without it, the enemy was a hop, skip and jump from the walls of The City. Thats what I mean sir, abandon the city as well, relocate it in Southeastern Europe
~ They'd better have a heck of a shore defense; it's going to be constantly raided.
~ Constantinople is far too defensible and has far too much of an entrenched government/bureaucracy to ditch at this point. Abandoning Anatolia to solidify control of the Balkans _might_ work (esp. with a secondary capital), but pulling out of The City could cost Manuel his throne and would make little sense with an intact navy (the Turks developed one worth the name in OTL only after hiring sailors demobilized by Andronicus II).
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Calvin & Hobbes had ended its newspaper run in 1995? muses Jeff Provine on the This Day in Alternate History web site. 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 February 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1995, the highly successful animated series Garfield and Friends had run the majority of its course and would ultimately be approved for seven seasons.
Calvin & Hobbes Animated Series Premiers On the lookout for something new on the CBS Saturday morning lineup, producers approached Bill Waterson, creator of the acclaimed Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. Waterson was wrapping up his series, saying, "It's always better to leave the party early". Despite the cries from newspapers and readers alike, he refused the risk of running his creation into the ground.
While he had anticipated retiring to paint, the idea of a cartoon fascinated him. Waterson had always admired the artistry of animation, saying in a 1989 interview with The Comics Journal, "If you look at the old cartoons by Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, you'll see that there are a lot of things single drawings just can't do. Animators can get away with incredible distortion and exaggeration". Since he had won his freedom on Sunday comics pages with his sabbatical in 1991, he decided he could use this as a chance to experiment artistically again.
A new post by Jeff ProvineCalvin & Hobbes would end its newspaper run on December 31, 1995, and fans eagerly awaited the first episode of the animated series the next September as kids went back to school. After months of hangups working with Waterson's perfectionism and him being reportedly "very scared" to choose voice actors, the show aired to critical acclaim. Waterson's writing and initial sketches combined with new flexibility and background music to bring Calvin alive. Sequences of riding wagons and sleds down hills were applauded, as were the leaps in computer technology to incorporate the backgrounds Waterson imagined. Subject matter and Calvin's famous intelligence merited the series the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program twice, beating out the incumbent Animaniacs.
Despite the success of the series, Waterson would stand by his principles in licensing. Producers were furious that they could not capitalize on the audience with Hobbes dolls, G.R.O.S.S. memorabilia, or action figures of Spaceman Spiff, Stupendous Man, and other personae of Calvin's creation. After only two seasons, the show would be cut off to be replaced by a cheaper, wholly educational lineup.
Waterson headed into retirement and refused to answer any questions about a possible Calvin & Hobbes film.
Entry posted by
Jeff Provine
© Jeff Provine, 2010-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jeff Provine Blog Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: Garfield, Calvin, Hobbes, Cartoon, America. ~ This would have been pretty good. I always did think Watterson was a self-righteous ass, though, with his stance on licencing C+H. It's not like you can't get/find C+H stuff...those idiotic "Calvin peeing/Calvin praying" stickers, forex.
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if America needed an Emperor to steady the ship of state? muses Jeff Provine on This Day in Alternate History 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 October 2010 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1859, on this day Joshua Abraham Norton began his reign as Emperor out of necessity to cure problems that had plagued the young nation during its republic. Norton himself was English, born in London and spending most of his life in South Africa before coming to San Francisco as a businessman.
Norton Proclaims Himself Emperor of these United States In a deal gone wrong where a dealer had misled him on the quality of his rice and the justice system denied his rights during his lawsuit to void his contract, leaving Norton financially destroyed in 1858 at age 39. He left the city in self-imposed exile, returning with his political dream in 1859.
The United States surely had its troubles if a hard working man such as Norton could be destroyed, and the system had to be fixed. He delivered a notice to the newspapers stating, "At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton... declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S". On February 1, representatives of each state were to meet him at the Music Hall in San Francisco "and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist".
A new story by Jeff ProvineSeveral editors published the notice as humorous, and a few newspapers back East picked it up as well. On October 12, he released another notice, dissolving the United States Congress in stating that the "universal suffrage, as now existing through the Union, is abused; that fraud and corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice; that open violation of the laws are constantly occurring, caused by mobs, parties, factions and undue influence of political sects; that the citizen has not that protection of person and property which he is entitled to by paying his pro rata of the expense of Government". While Congress did not immediately disband, the notion of reform was picked up by several Midwesterners who had also been overtaxed and under-supported by the government. Though voted as a lark, the state legislature of Indiana decided to send James Herriman, a businessman who was going to San Francisco anyway, as representative. Upon word that Norton had been taken semi-seriously, South Carolina sent a delegation of representatives, hoping that their political maneuver would show the Union that they could do as they pleased under states' rights.
More states for various reasons began plans to send representatives to San Francisco. Proposals of every kind were put on the ballot for elections, and, by November, eighteen states planned to attend. The idea spread that it would be a kind of convention, perhaps even ground to discuss an end to the slavery question as well as trade and tariff disputes. In January, Norton released an edict to "hereby Order and Direct Major-General Scott, the Command-in-Chief of our Armies, immediately upon receipt of this, our Decree, to proceed with a suitable force and clear the Halls of Congress". Winfield Scott did not move the Army, nor did he make action to arrest the Emperor on grounds of treason.
At the 1860 February San Francisco Convention, Mayor Henry F. Teschemacher gave Norton permission to use the Music Hall, impressed with the publicity and income San Francisco was having with the arrival of politics and journalists. Presiding over the convention, Norton addressed each issue tirelessly, repeatedly overturning calls for recess. Economic, judicial, domestic, and international policies were closely examined, appropriated into committee, and then voted upon under the emperor's direction. By the end of the month, newspapers began to address Norton as "emperor" not out of humor but genuine honor from his efforts to support the common man. The convention ended with the writing of a Constitution, which, like the previous US Constitution, required ratification by two-thirds of the states.
The Constitution was largely ignored by the political powers that were, holding their own elections in later 1860 with Abraham Lincoln winning the office of presidency. The South went up in arms over the North's perceived aggression, and talk of secession began. Norton sent another edict, saying that there was no need for a War Between the States over matters of a derelict Congress. States simply needed to appoint representatives to his National Parliament as described in his Constitution. He ended with a reminder General Scott that he was overdue in his elimination of Congress. This time, Scott gave the notice more thought, finally approaching Lincoln, who refused to give up Republicanism to a tyrant.
The South began to send delegates, as did California, formally turning away from the government in Washington. More states followed, and, in April, South Carolina fired upon Union troops at Fort Sumter. Upon hearing the news, Norton immediately called for the arrest of the men who had tried to begin a war. Forgiveness was begged, and Norton called Lincoln and his increasingly illegal government to meet with him in San Francisco before things grew worse. Lincoln, willing to try anything to avoid a bloody war and the separation of the states, agreed to go. After a month-long conference, Norton persuaded Lincoln to surrender Washington and join the National Parliament.
Although there would be uprisings in various parts of the country, Norton would be swift in controlling issues and meeting with rebel commanders, usually persuading them to join him in the new empire. With a civil war avoided, the problems of slavery were solved by Norton's program of freeing skilled slaves with financial compensation to their former masters and installing mandated education programs to free yet more. Education, as well as simple steadfastness in what was right, cured many of the racial ills of the US. During the anti-Chinese riots of the 1870s, Norton stepped around his bodyguards and placed himself between the rioters and their intended victims, bowing his head and reciting the Lord's Prayer until the embarrassed rioters fled or formally apologized. Rumors stated that he planned to marry Queen Victoria of Britain, but Norton never seemed to find the time with such activities as personal inspections of the city's cable car system.
Much of Norton's reign was spent on improvements, such as the suspension bridge between Oakland and San Francisco as well as the long-term project of a tunnel under the bay. While San Francisco was given special consideration as the new capital, numerous projects were carried out throughout the country, like the transcontinental railroad completed in 1864. Late in his reign, Norton turned to international diplomacy, as he had when he had become Protector of Mexico in using the US Army to fight imperialistic advances on Mexico from France. In 1871, Norton called for an Assembly of Nations to meet and discuss issues in a convention he would preside. By 1877, the Assembly of Nations was a continuous facility that would soon outlaw the use of war in diplomacy.
Emperor Norton died in 1880 on his way to give a charity lecture at the California Academy of Sciences. Norton had not appointed a successor, instead leaving a detailed will for power to return to the hands of the Parliament, but forever banning political parties and an unbalanced budget (except in the case of military emergency). Thirty thousand San Franciscans attended his funeral, and the country remained in mourning for a month, though many can say that we are still in mourning of the lost Emperor. His legacy has even continued internationally, such as the Assembly of Nations' diffusing of the Sarajevo Affair in which the assassination of the Archduke may well have led to war.
Entry posted by
Jeff Provine
© Jeff Provine, 2010-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jeff Provine Blog Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: Joshua Abraham Norton, Emperor, United States, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln. Editor says, in reality Norton was one of many of San Francisco's eccentrics, perhaps the most loved. He was given a uniform by troops at the Presidio and later the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and he used self-issued notes as repayment for debts that were stable enough that many businesses accepted them as currency. Thirty thousand people really did attend his funeral.
~ I can't quite make out whether this was written seriously or with tongue in cheek.
I suspect the South, which screamed itself purple in the face over Lincoln's alleged arrogation of imperial powers to himself and then took up arms, wouldn't have been any better disposed toward Norton. And the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states were unlikely to support an actual emperor, either, just eighty years after the Revolution.
~ The country wouldn't have been happy over an English-born monarch...there were still a few Revolutionary vets left around (the last one died IIRC in 1867 or thenabouts) and the schools pounded home "Americans good---England bad, monarchy bad" real hard.
Comment from Mike McIlvain on Facebook: Where do I click unlike? An emperor -- that could have invited another revolution, knowing the kind of mindset in the colonies at the time.
Comment from Jeffrey Bryson on Facebook: What a wonderful tribute to one of California's greats.
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if the foresight of two lesser known Founding Fathers, Patrick Henry and George Clinton had prevented the American Civil War? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1787, on this day the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of both the Union and the federal government was adopted by the Constitutional Convention and later ratified at a local level in the name of "We, the States".
A future-proofed US ConstitutionThe leader of the Virginia delegatation, Patrick Henry had originally refused to attend the Federal Convention, planning to use the power of his rhetoric to defeat the Constitution when it was later presented at the State Ratifying Convention. Persuaded to attend, he convinced the other delegates that the draft preamble smacked of consolidated government rather than confederation. "We, the People" was both improper and illegal because "the people had no right to enter into leagues, alliances or confederations. States and foreign powers are the only proper agents for his kind of government".
Evidence of the success of Henry's gambit soon followed. The Governor of New York, George Clinton issued a "Neutrality Proclamation" after President George Washington had done so at a federal level. And the heads of both Clinton and Henry' would be sculptured at Mount Rushmore, symbolizing their critical involvement in the protection of States Rights at the birth of the Republic.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers by Brion McClanahan (2009)Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Patrick Henry, US Constitution, America, States Rights, Philadelphia. ~ I'm not sure how this would have changed things, but changed they would be.
~ It mitght have given added force in the nineteenth century and later to John Calhoun's argument that the Union was a "compact" or treaty among sovereign states, making secession appear more legitimate.
~ It would have made little difference. the Preamble has always been
considered a statement of ideals, not of government or of law.
At any rate, the various states were considered sovereign.
By the way, I suggest looking at the whole, proper name of the
Articles of Confederation, and after your double take, applying
it to the right of secession -- it couldn't have existed.
~ A constitution is only as good as the national government or the nation's people are willing to enforce it. The Tenth Ammendment is even more solid in the status of the states yet that has not detered the Federal government's grab for power.
~ Preventing federal tyranny at the cost of abetting local tyrannies. Not a net benefit, but then I am biased.
~ Well said, Griffin. With a much weakened federal government, the question of succession would have arisen seriously before the Civil War with bids by the Northeast at the Hartford Convention, plus South Carolina, as well as the legitimacy of Rhode Island. Maybe there wouldn't be a Civil War since America had already broken up into a loose military/economic confederation.
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Americans had been awarded the "historic rights of Englishment" for their loyalty during the Seven Years War? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1777, on this day in upstate New York, loyalist forces under the command of General George Washington triumphed at the Battle of Saratoga. And the revolt against the bicameral American Parliament led by the turncoat Benedict Arnold effectively ended with the crushing of his republican army.
Republican Revolt crushed at SaratogaAlong with many of his peers, Washington had fought in the Seven Years War. And at the climax, the cash-strapped British Government had wisely reinforced the "historic rights of Englishmen" by offering representation alongside the necessary taxation to refill her Majesty's Coffers.
Arnold however had fallen under the influence of Thomas Paine, an extremist who argued that nothing less than full independence was due to Americans. Bizarrely, Paine was an atheist who used religious metaphors to express his republican view that "Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens ... It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set foot for the promotion of idolatry".
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Saratoga, Washington, Arnold, 1776, Loyalist. Editor says, thanks to David Atwell for his contribution to the development of this story.
~ Near absurd. Had the London government of 1775-77 been willing to deal intelligently with Loyalists and with those whigs willing to bargain there would never have been a revolution outside of Boston.
~ Part of the problem was that large numbers of Englishmen in England were not represented in Parliament---this was the time of "rotten boroughs," after all. Also, getting MPs to and from the UK would be a non-trivial problem.
comments powered by Disqus
Editor says, what if Aaron Burr was guilty of treason as charged? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1806, Aaron Burr is accused of conspiring to steal Louisiana Purchase lands away from the United States and crown himself a king or emperor in a new country, or to declare an illegal war against Spanish possessions in Mexico for the same purpose.
Louisiana Theft by Guest Historian Eric Lipps
There is more than a little truth to the accusations. Politically ruined in the United States following his fatal duel with President Alexander Hamilton in 1804, Burr has grown increasingly alienated from the young republic.
It does not help, either, that Thomas Jefferson is now President: Burr is still bitter over the manner in which Hamilton kept his eventual slayer from gaining even the vice-presidency in 1800 by urging electors to vote for the Virginian over him if they could not support Hamilton himself. In the two years since the duel, he has persuaded himself that he deserves to rule, and he is tempted by the prospect of leading a second revolution.
Entry posted by
Eric Lipps
© Eric Lipps,2007-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Lifeterm Source: Wikipedia Labels: Aaron Burr, Louisiana Purchase, Union, America, Alexander Hamilton. ~ How much of a following did he honestly have?
~ Trail is fairly muddied but he appeared to have a decent base of support among the leadership of Trans-Appalachian US. People such as Andy Jackson.
~ "I've always thought that Burr was more-or-less a puppet and fall-guy for James Wilkinson. All his life, Burr was fatally susceptible to con-men, and Wilkinson was generally known by the end of his life to be "from the bark to the core a villain." Leading Burr down the primrose path would be all in a day's conniving for Wilkinson, the only general who never won a battle nor lost a court-martial."
comments powered by Disqus
In 1951, a devastating tropical storm ravaged Mexico City, killing half a million people. The storm was a consequence of the climate changes wrought by the Bellus-Zyra disaster. | Mexico City |
 | |
| City of Palaces |
Variant entry posted by
Chris Oakley
original content has been repurposed to celebrate the author's genius © "When World's Collide" (1932), Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin BalmerStory Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Worlds Collide Source: Wikipedia Labels: Worlds Collide, Mexico City, Horror, America, Disaster.comments powered by Disqus
On this day in 1944, the Western Allies launched Operation Toadstool, an airborne offensive aimed at liberating Belgium and Luxembourg from Nazi occupation. | |
 | |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Valkyrie Source: Wikipedia Labels: July 20th Plot, Valkyrie, Adolf Hitler, Goering, Germany.comments powered by Disqus
In 1960, on this day the Jewish-American women's philanthropic organization Hadassah started a fundraising drive to collect money to help New York's Jewish community rebuild synagogues that had been wrecked by the Jamaica Bay hurricane. | |
 | |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jamaica Bay Source: Wikipedia Labels: New York, Hurricane, America, 1948, Disaster.comments powered by Disqus
On this day in 1972, the Dallas Cowboys opened the 1972 season and their quest to regain the Super Bowl championship with a 28-6 thrashing of the Philadelphia Eagles at the Cotton Bowl. | |
 | |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Ice Bowl Source: Wikipedia Labels: Dallas Cowboys, NFL, Kansas City Chiefs, America, Touchdown.comments powered by Disqus
On this day in 1941, with Wehrmacht and SS divisions less than 40 miles from the outskirts of Moscow, Adolf Hitler inexplicably ordered a halt to the German advance in Russia. This would turn out to be as great a tactical mistake for the Third Reich on the Eastern Front as the four-day suspension of ground operations near Dunkirk in June 1940 had been on the Western Front. | |
 | |
| Adolf Hitler |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Barbarossa41 Source: Wikipedia Labels: World War 2, Operation Barbarossa, Fascism, Europe of the Dictators, Axis Powers.comments powered by Disqus
| Nature Boy | On this day in 1981, 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair beat Tommy Rich at a live NWA card in Charleston, South Carolina to win his first NWA world title. However, the new champion had little time to celebrate; moments after the match ended Rich, driven to a psychotic rage by bitterness over the defeat and by the stress of his war with Terry Funk, went ballistic and attacked Flair with a trash can, touching off a post-match brawl that ended only with the intervention of arena security. |
 | |
| Ric Flair |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
© Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: The Tommy Rich Story Source: Wikipedia Labels: Tommy Rich, Wildfire, Wrestling, NWA, Boxing.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Winston Churchill, 'Thus Perished Operation Sea Lion Mark I'
Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Winston Churchill Web Site Labels: Winston Churchill, Sealion, Battle of Britain, World War 2, Hitler Triumphant.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Israel60 Source: Wikipedia Labels: Count Folke Bernadotte, Stern, Lehi, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Palestine.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: #REF! Source: Wikipedia comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Pierre Boulle, 'Planet of the Apes (La planète des singes)', 1963.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle, Harry S. Truman, Ku Klux Klan, Chief Justice.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: #REF! Source: Wikipedia comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: #REF! Source: Wikipedia comments powered by Disqus
General Agwai will lead the biggest peacekeeping operation in the world with 200,000 troops and 6,000 police under his command.
The general told BBC News that building a peacekeeping force of that size from scratch would take time, and he warned against high expectations, saying without peace his troops would be in a 'in a very uncomfortable position'.
The former head of Nigeria's armed forces is courteous and softly-spoken. He told me his military heroes are General George Patton and General Ariel Sharon. Asked if his new job is a poisoned chalice, his response is characteristically low-key.
'When I was accepting this job I did it with all sincerity,' he said, 'believing that somebody has to do the job and if somebody has to do it, why not me.'
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: BBC News Labels: Martin Luther Agwai, Iraq, United Nations, Peace-keeping, Humility.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Alternate History Labels: Red Baron, Red Menace, Vampire, World War 1, Aces High.comments powered by Disqus
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Operation Market Garden, Montgomery, World War 2, Third Reich, Adolf Hitler.comments powered by Disqus
Older Posts 
Related posts from the same era that you may also like
 After "Winston" was bust |  After twelve years of production delays, Disney finally releases "Wonderful Wizard of Oz". | ![In 1858 at the first Illinois Senatorial debate held on this day at Ottawa, Abraham Lincoln declared that his opponent Stephen A. Douglas "cares not whether slavery is voted down or voted up," and that, [in the words of Henry Clay], he would "blow out the moral lights around us" and eradicate the love of liberty.](http://www.todayinah.co.uk/support_images/lincolna.jpg) After the secession crisis, a philosophical Senator Lincoln says America has suffered "A Slip, not a Fall". |
 American Raid on "Tripoli" Fails |  Architect of "Monroe-Pinkney Treaty" passes away |  Barack Obama, Sr. survives the "1982 car crash" |
 Battlefield Alaska: "Khadafy Captured" |  Birth of President "William E. Miller" |  Birth of President "Zachary Taylor" |
 Bloody "New Mexico" |  Broken Watch on the Rhine: "Part 1" |  Brezhnev Orders Stand Down in "Afghanistan" |
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
