Today In Alternate History

November 10

In 1444, on this day a mixed Papal army defeated a large Ottoman force near Varna in eastern Bulgaria.

Glorious Papal Victory at VarnaTheir hard fought victory was a personal triumph for Władysław III of Poland (also King of Hungary). Over-ruling the sound advice of the more experienced Bulgarian Commander Hunyadi János, he rushed five hundred of his Polish knights against the Ottoman center in a bold move that ultimately won the day.

It was of course a huge risk but the only way that the thirty thousand man Papal Army could overcome an Ottoman force nearly twice the size. It would prove a crucial turning point in the Ottoman War.

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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Hungary, Poland, Ottoman, Turk, Papal.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in authoring this post we have repurpose content from Wikipedia which reports ~ The Ottoman Army under Sultan Murad II defeated the Hungarian and Polish armies commanded by Władysław III of Poland (also King of Hungary) and Hunyadi J´nos. It was the final battle of the Crusade of Varna. The death of Władysław left Hungary in the hands of the four-year-old Ladislaus Posthumous of Bohemia and Hungary. The defeat also set the stage for the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-11-10 23:41:20 ~ It might have held off the inevitable for a while, but I do think that the Ottomans were on a roll.

Readers Comment Mike McIlvain commented on 2012-11-11 14:44:44 ~ But, this could have sent Ottoman advances in other directions, and changed some European history.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2012-11-15 19:32:38 ~ Might even have crippled them if the morale fell. We'd have a different history for Africa and the Middle East all around.

In 1956, to the further embarrassment of the Soviet Union, the Russian adventurer Boris Skossyreff (pictured, with monocle) managed to join the revolutionary armed forces fighting for the Hungarian Uprising.

Conjoined Crisis Part 7
Colonel Pal Maleter welcomes King of AndorraColonel Pál Maléter and his troops were holed up in mines which dated back to the old Empire and extended across the border into Czechoslovakia. Their plight was being broadcast to the world by Imre Nagy who had been given refuge in the British Embassy. Despite their bold attempts to emulate the Cursed Soldiers of Poland, their resistance to Soviet forces was mostly symbolic. However, the intervention of Boris Skossyreff was a psychological blow to the Soviets.

A Lithuanian Baron who fled Russia after the Revolution he later proclaimed himself King of Andorra before being sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. He had been released from a labor camp in Siberia earlier in the year.

Superficially, the bold personal interventions of maverick nobles such as von Habsburg, Skossyreff and later Michael King of Romania was a rival "throwback" challenge to Soviet Authority. Regardless of the misreports in the Western Media that the old Royal Families were tearing down the Iron Curtain, there was of course absolutely no prospect of a return to power for the Imperial Houses of Eastern Europe. Which was not to say their token resistance was completely without significance, because the real issue was the series of blundering mistakes that had been made in the Politburo, not just the release of Skossyreff but also yielding to Władysław Gomułka the newly appointed First Secretary of the Party in Poland.

The impression was that Stalin's successors - Nikita Khrushchev, Mikoyan, Bulganin, Molotov, Kaganovich, Marshal Konev and others - had lost their grip, and it was becoming increasingly likely that the crises in Eastern Europe would force a regime change in Moscow. An article from the Conjoined Crisis thread.

Entry posted by Guest Historian

Jackie Speel

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Conjoined Crisis Source: Wikipedia Labels: Boris Skossyreff, Egypt, Suez, Hungary, Otto Von Habsburg.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in reality the two crises were not directly connected and the time sequences have been adjusted to suite the story line. By Ed and Jackie Speel

Readers Comment Todayinah Ed. commented on 2012-10-27 21:38:44 ~ Opinions invited on a Khrushchev who might take a different stance on this developing situation in Eastern Europe, either progressive or dystopian.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-10-30 18:14:50 ~ As I understand it, there was a lot of residual affection for the Hapsburgs in Hungary; having Otto get involved might rally support for the revolution.

In 2012, just days after Mitt Romney's defeat at the polls, Republicans demanded a fundamental restructuring of the Electoral College that would bring an end to the frustration of dysfunctional Federal Government. The result followed a wave of voter disappointment in which Donald Trump (pictured) called for a protest march on Washington. Other commentators remarked upon the excessive focus on swing states and undecided voters that perhaps disenfranchised the mainstream majority.

Radcliffe Cloud, ReduxBecause under these far-reaching proposals to address the change of demographics, the winner-take-all voting system would be slowly eliminated on a state by state basis. One option was a national roll-out of the congressional districting solution already operating in Maine.

Of course a more extreme option being proposed by GOP backers was secession model based upon a refinement of the Radcliffe Cloud in which those congressional districts would become red or blue cantons in a two-countries-in-one geography model like the modern India. Comedian Bill Maher suggested that perhaps Trump's hair and scalp represented an assessment model for the viability of two entities loosely connected in a shared living space.

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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Electoral College, Red, Blue, Presidency, Election.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, this idea was conceived by Jeff Provine in Radcliffe Cloud Unveiled and based on discussions with Stan Brin, Chris Oakley and Tony Rocca.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2012-11-09 17:26:25 ~ Civil War II, coming this January to Fox.... :D

Readers Comment Jared Myers commented on 2012-11-09 17:47:46 ~ I could see the Radcliffe model being pushed for in some circles here in the States, but beyond that not much.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-11-09 17:53:43 ~ Ho! ho! That would really be a radical move for the right wing of the Republican Party. This is because of the 18th century constitution which was based around such things as Electors and Colleges of Electors to avoid direct democracy. In theory you are electing the elctors to get on horses and in coaches to meet to elect the president. In practise the tradition has evolvedthat the electors o each state all vote for whoever has the most votes in that state. Really two days ago the electorate were elcting the electors with guidance in each state as to who they shouldvote for. The solution of course would be diect voting in which the electorate just vote for the candidates.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-11-09 18:52:53 ~ The Electoral College ensures that people campaigning for the only nation-wide elective offices campaign everywhere, not just in the major metros.

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2012-11-09 19:06:12 ~ Eric Oppen -- That's the excuse. As we have seen, virtually all of the campaign was conducted in a very few swing states. The rest of the country was taken for granted. California is solidly Democratic, so we never saw either candidate. A Maine-style system would not require a constitutional amendment, but would require a pairing of states so that neither party felt threatened. The result would far more accurately reflect the national consensus. Or, we could just abolish the Electoral College altogether, even have a runoff if the winning candidate fails to obtain a majority.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-11-09 22:05:49 ~ Supporting Stan's suggestion to abolish the electoral college...we were just faced with the absurd situation of Ohio and Florida largely deciding the whole election.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-11-09 22:41:10 ~ Folks, you need to check end of 18th century - early 19th century history. restricted franchises, usually taking the form of Electoral College, were all the rage, to keep the vote in the hands of the good. Napoleon as First Consu had it in his constitution. In other word's its an 18th century survival.

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2012-11-10 00:37:41 ~ The Electoral College was also intended to give added political clout to slaveholding Southern states to postpone the evil day when a federal government dominated by non-slaveholding states might abol;ish their most cherished institution, the "right of property in Negro slaves." When the South attempted secession in the 1860s, the individial Southern states' secession resolutions made it explicit that they were bolting the Union to keep slavery. Surely that's a dead issue at this point, robbing the EC of one of its (less publicized but jmore important) reasons for being.

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2012-11-10 08:25:31 ~ The only reason to retain the EC in any form would be to retain a measure of Federalism in the selection of the President. Frankly, most people would prefer that the President be elected by popular vote. (I would also prefer that California had more Senators than Wyoming or Delaware, but what do I know?

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2012-11-15 19:29:51 ~ At least splitting the votes as Nebraska and Maine do would make a world of difference.

In 2011, on this day the ruinously high costs of providing a nuclear shield to American allies was carefully examined by the US Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

Flaithiulacht The Federal Deficit forces America to call time on "Ruinous Generosity"Back in August, the Debt Celling Negotiations had introduced a "trigger mechanism" that should this Supercommittee fail to reach an agreement, disproportionate cuts would fall upon the defense budget. And for the past two decades the centrepiece of America's critical defense program had been the Strategic Defense Initiative. But the costs of providing a ground and space-based systems to protect the United States and its allies from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles had become prohibitively expensive.

The problem was that there was an even bigger picture in November. That very day the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report estimating that Iran was less than eighteen months away from acquiring nuclear capability. Therefore the removal of the nuclear shield from Israel was currently unthinkable. And with the Eurozone close to financial collapse, America could not seek to recover costs from faltering countries such as Italy and Greece. Coming into view was the prospect of a contracted nuclear shield for critical coverage, a decision that could split the Western Alliance.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Star Wars, Strategic Defense Initiative, Budget, Iran, Israel.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2011-11-11 05:15:05 ~ I don't know if we ever intended to bring Israel under whatever shield we built...it's a longish way from our European allies.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2011-11-11 05:22:07 ~ To borrow from President Obama's speech following the death of Gadhafi, "It’s time to come together and show the world why the United States of America remains the greatest source for freedom and opportunity that the world has ever known.” Pay it in, y'all!

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2011-11-11 14:50:30 ~ Whatever the reason why the U.S. "remains the greatest source for freedom and oppotunity that the world has ever known," it isn't because of our willingness to pour uncounted billions of dollars into a technologically dubious defense system. Spending on weapons programs which top experts believe can't be made to work is the way to national bankruptcy instead.

Readers Comment Brian Wall commented on 2011-11-11 18:16:18 ~ "Spending on weapons programs which top experts believe can't be made to work is the way to national bankruptcy instead." Except it was only the Soviet Union that imploded, not the US. If any country could make it work it would be the US. Russians still haven't made it to the Moon, looks like the Chinese will beat them there too.

In 1938, on this day the British High Commissioner's office in Rome cabled prime minister Neville Chamberlain with alarming news: Martian militarist technicians were working with Italian and German physicists at a desert research station in Italian-occupied Libya on the development of a new type of explosive weapon which utilized the process of atomic fission to achieve its destructive effect.

Part Five of Parley To make matters worse, these same technicians were also consulting with German rocket scientists on the possibility of adapting the experimental atomic weapon to be capable of fitting into the warhead of a long-range or medium-range ballistic missile.

If the Nazis succeeded in devising such a warhead, the cable warned, Hitler could potentially attack targets as distant as London simply by pushing a button.

Entry posted by Guest Historian

Chris Oakley

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Parley Source: Wikipedia Labels: War of the Worlds, Mars, Martians, Alliance, New Jersey.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2011-03-31 05:47:58 ~ The UK and Allied powers would go balls-to-the-wall to either sabotage this, build their own version, or reverse-engineer it.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2011-03-31 14:19:14 ~ I think you just gave me some ideas for Chapter 6.... ;)

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2011-03-31 20:31:37 ~ What do Nazis with a penchant for pure races think about alien species? Might be better or even worse for the Jews.

In 4004 B.C., Humanity Resists Temptation. On this day, as calculated by our brother James Ussher and remembered by Mother Eve, she was walking in The Garden when approached by a serpent, that crafty foe.

Humanity Resists Temptation The world was still young, having only been finished that October, and there were but two humans in all of Creation, Eve and our slightly older Father, Adam, from whose rib Eve, and thereby all of us, came. She meandered by the feared Tree of Knowledge that has long been buried under concrete and steel.

Before its protection, however, the tree was open to be seen and its fruit could be picked with mere fingertips. The serpent asked, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

A new story by Jeff ProvineEve replied, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

The serpent scoffed and said, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil".

After a moment of temptation, Eve resisted and ran screaming through the Garden, crying out for God. Upon hearing His voice asking after the matter, Eve explained she had been tempted. God found the spirit of Lucifer, that most rebellious angel cast out of Heaven, in the beast, and both were cast into the Pit. Since that day, we humans have always fought the temptation of the Tree, leading to its burial in the ongoing Babel project, putting it under a foundation someday as high as Heaven. Until the end of time, we will drive it deeper and deeper, away from our hand so that we will never know what it is to "die".

In the six thousand years since, humanity has grown and achieved feats applauded by the angels such as building cities and exploring to every corner of the Earth. As far as we have gone, all of us consider The Garden our home, and many continue to sleep under its boughs. We have even "created" on our own, making art and music and telling tales of fanciful things, such as if the morning dew were so heavy it fell from the sky in waves of drops or if we could fly like angels.

Meanwhile, Heaven has been quiet other than a second rebellion by angels suffering something known as "boredom," perhaps a thing akin to the arrogance of the first rebellion. The Word, which was in the beginning being with God and being God, also seemed at a loss, as if He were meant for more. Still, He was known to approach Earth and share fellowship with us. Most dramatically, some 2000 years ago, the Word became man by virgin birth and ruled as king. While a significant entry, most agree we would have accepted Him in any case, but who are we to question God's Plan?

Entry posted by Guest Historian

Jeff Provine

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jeff Provine Blog Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: Garden of Eden, Adam, Eve, Good, Evil.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in reality Eve and Adam ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Sin came into the world, as did death and the punishments of toil, birth pains, and serpents crawling on their bellies. The Word, Jesus, also came into the world and served as the sacrifice for redemption, allowing us to return to Paradise if only we accept such grace. But, humans have Free Will, and we may choose as we feel best.

Comment from Joe Annaruma on Facebook: and in 1936, there came a painter of prayer cards named Hitler. While looking for the spear of Longinus, dug down into the earth for miles and stumbled upon the forbidden tree. He realized how famished he was from the heavy toil, and ate of the fruit from the tree. at once the earth rumbled, the sky cracked wide open, a brilliant light, as bright as a million stars scorched the surface of the world. God fell from heaven with a thousand angels with broken wings.There was darkness for 60 days, and when the sun did rise, the angels dispersed, forming colonies, and they fight to this day, waging war against each other, in the name of a God that does not exist anymore. Meanwhile at the whore house...

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2010-11-11 03:29:45 ~ This would be interesting---but would humans be _human_ any more?

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2010-11-11 15:57:15 ~ Humans definitely wouldn't be "human". As much as paradise would be great, it just wouldn't hold the same power.

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2010-11-11 17:21:51 ~ This story pushes my buttons--I am, to put it mildly, not a fan of Biblical literalism. However, taking it at face value, if temptation had been ressisted there would have been no building of cities: humans would have remained "innocent," basically talking animals in the care of a divine Shepherd. The Bible presents the loss of this existence as something to be mourned--but I don't agree. And of course if the Genesis story were true and had unfolded in this alternate manner, the Bible itself would never have been written, nor would anything else.

In 1382 AH, in the hot lush savannah country which lies four days up river from the coast of the Gambia, Kajali Demba died peacefully in his sleep. For too many years he had been the griot of the village of Juffure, serving the local Mandinka as an oral historian, poet, praise singer and wandering musician.

Saga of an African FamilyHis successor would be the young man Kinte (pictured second from left) who began his first address with a simple demonstration. Cutting open a mango, he held the fruit high above his children, preventing them from taking it.

He then began his oration with a piece of homespun wisdom, "When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand, nor can your hand pick up anything". This metaphor of non-violence had served his people for half a millenia of peaceful existence by the banks of the River Gambia.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

© "Roots, Saga of an African Family" by Alex Hayley (1976)
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Beasts Source: Wikipedia Labels: Alex Hayley, Roots, Africa, Gambia, Juffure.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in reality as many as a third of the Mandinka population were shipped to the Americas as slaves through capture in conflict during the 16th, 17th and 18th century. Kajali Demba was the griot in roots c1750.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2010-11-10 21:03:47 ~ So what prevented the slave trade? Was there some disease that was endemic to the Americas that was as fatal to Africans as Eurasian diseases were to the Indians and Eskimos?

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2010-11-10 21:03:47 ~ "No slavery" would require a pretty drastic change. It would be easier simply to imagine that Kunta Kinte was never captured. That, though, would guarantee there was no Alex Haley, asince it would wipe out his family tree from the POD on.

In 2010, on this day the movie "Wrong Turn 4: No Escape" premiered in cinemas across North America.

Directed by Rob Schmidt, and written by Alan B. McElroy, the plot reprises the now familiar life-or-death struggle of an inbred, idiot-like family of rednecks living beyond the fringes of human civilization. These human animals are monstrous and frightening and remain that way through the length of the movie.

Wrong Turn 4In the first reel, George W takes to the cockpit and when Air Force One crashes the entire Bush Family are stranded in the vast forests of West Virginia. And Three Finger, One Eye and Saw Tooth finally face their nemesis.

In 1996, Frederick Willem (F.W.) de Klerk flew to the Southern Cape.Evil Conspiracies

During a fiery meeting at his lagoon-side home Die Anker on the Wilderness, the second Executive State President of the Republic of South Africa would be angrily confronted by the host, his predecessor Pieter Wilhelm (PW) Botha (pictured).

In his autobiography published on this day in 1999, The Last Trek - A New Beginning de Klerk recounted the climax of his confrontation with Die Groot Krokodil (Afrikaans for 'The Big Crocodile') ~

"He received me politely but coolly and took me to his study.

I noticed there was a pile of books on his desk with bookmarkers at various places. He said there was something he wished to discuss with me, namely, what he called my membership of the New World Order.

He picked up some of the books on his desk and began to read me passages, here and there, to the effect that there was an evil conspiracy in the world called the New World Order.

He then referred to the joint press conference that I held with President Bush in the rose garden of the White House during my official visit to the United States in 1990. He said that when we had announced the new spirit of co-operation between the United States and South Africa which had flowed from our discussions, I had been bound¹ into the evil conspiracy by President Bush who, according to him, was a leading figure in the New World Order".

And yet the Republic of South Africa's foreign policy was due in no small part to Botha's own efforts in the 1980s to improve relations with the West - especially the United States. He had argued that the preservation of the apartheid government, though unpopular, was crucial to stemming the tide of African communism, which had made in-roads into neighbouring Angola and Mozambique after these two former Portuguese colonies obtained independence. Botha even began a secret nuclear weapons program in collaboration with Israel, which culminated in the production of six nuclear bombs².

When the Soviet Union blocked UN Resolution 661, a desperate United States was unable to build a coalition of the willing. President George H.W. Bush was forced to negotiate with Israel and South Africa who both provided token forces for the 1991 invasion of Kuwait. This unexpected turn of events would have profound implications for the statesmen of the New World Order.

On 4 December 2001³, the State President's wife Marike de Klerk was found stabbed and violently strangled to death in her luxuous Cape Town flat. De Klerk, who was currently on a brief visit to Stockholm, Sweden to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Nobel Prize foundation, announced he would immediately return to mourn his dead wife. On 6 December, 21 year old security guard Luyanda Mboniswa was arrested for the murder. On 15 May 2003 he received two life sentences for murder as well as three years for breaking into Marike de Klerk's apartment.

Upon his death on 31 October 2006, fresh speculation linked Botha to the murder of Marike de Klerk. In truth, many South Africans harboured little doubt that Botha had also ordered the death in custody of Nelson Mandela, the head of the South African Communist Party⁴, who was murdered under identical circumstancs at Robben Island in 1986. It would take little persuasion to accept that Botha had pulled in a final favour from the security forces, to punish his successor for his act of betrayal.

Die Groot Krokodil had devoured his final victim.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

© FW de Klerk - the autobiography: The Last Trek, a New Beginning (1998) page 374
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Beasts Source: Wikipedia Labels: FW de Klerk, PW Botha, South Africa, New World Order, George W. Bush.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, In the The Last Trek, FWdK visits Botha to involve his predecessor in the National Party's submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
¹The false NWO charges were made by PWB who FwdK describes as a sick old man. In this post, we imagine a scenario where the charges are in fact true.
²Source: Wikipedia
³The slaying of Marike is factual, although FWdK had divorced his wife of 38 years at this point in our timeline.
⁴In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela famously remarked: There will always be those who say that the Communists were using us. But who is to say that we were not using them?

Readers Comment David Atwell commented on 2008-11-15 02:21:07 ~ Wow. This is a wide sweeping history of South Africa. Good to see such an AH too. Just one thing, though, I'd doubt Israel, even if only provding 'token forces', would be involved at all in the Gulf War all things considered... unless we're talking about a completely different one from the OTL.

Readers Comment Zach Timmons commented on 2008-11-15 03:39:04 ~ I have to agree with David Atwell, Israeli forces being involved in the Gulf War is a stretch. And for the apartheid government to be able to keep a tight rein on the black population, even with the token support of the West, seems unlikely. If Western governments are seen as supporting something as evil as the apartheid regime, that could cause major political repercussions at home. Reagan might have supported the Apartheid regime, G.H.W. Bush *maybe*, but Clinton? I have a personal connection to ZA, and this story really has me interested. A good concept, no doubt.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2008-11-15 10:18:25 ~ It looks interesting, but I don't know enough about South Africa to be able to comment very intelligently. However, I do agree that Israel's involvement in Gulf War I would have been ultimately disastrous---the Arab/Moslem states would have seen it as another time when the US danced to Israel's piping.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2008-11-15 15:33:57 ~ This sounds like something Botha would pull...

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2008-11-19 14:48:06 ~ President Bush probably wouldn't have dared involve the Israelis in the Kuwait intervention. In our timeline, as I recall, Bush in fact pleaded with the Israelis to take no military action, despite Iraqi missile attacks intended to bring them into the conflict; Bush feared that if the Israelis came in, his coalition would disintegrate and some Gulf states might actually support Iraq.

Flag of	In 1606, British colonists established the first permanent European settlement in what is today the state of Georgia.

State of Georgia

In 1968, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers made their first CFL postseason appearance in twelve years, taking on the Calgary Stampeders in the first round of the 1968 CFL Western Division playoffs. The Blue Bombers took a 13-0 lead in the first half only to collapse early in the second half and lose to Calgary 34-20.	Blue Bombers

	NFL Logo


The Stampeders subsequently beat Saskatchewan in the Western Division finals and were in turn defeated by the Eastern Division champion Ottawa Rough Riders in the 1968 Grey Cup title game in a 13-12 nailbiter. As for Winnipeg, its inglorious first round exit at Calgary's hands would mark the first of four straight early eliminations for the Bombers in the late '60s and early '70s.

Clive Rush	On this day in 1974, the New England Patriots lost to the Cleveland Browns 24-14 in Clive Rush's final game as head coach. The next day Rush was fired; up until Rod Rust's disastrous 1-15 campaign in 1990, Rush's tenure would be regarded as the worst recorded by a Patriots head coach.

in 1953

	On this day in 1944, Allied forces in Germany began advancing toward Dortmund and Munster.

On this day in 1944, the Allied campaign in Germany was dealt an unexpected setback as the Wehrmacht, in a desperate and ultimately doomed last-ditch gamble, launched its famous 'Watch on the Rhine' offensive against the weakest point of the Allied lines.

Crisis Over	On this day in 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to a cease-fire in Cuba. This marked the end of the Florida Coast War.

Armwrestling

In 1989, East German troops begin dismantling the Berlin Wall. In the United States, Democratic efforts to credit the fall of the Wall to what Senator Richard Gephardt calls 'the patient diplomacy of the cool-headed administrations of Presidents Ted Kennedy and Gary Hart' are greeted with furious Republican rebuttals.

Conservative pundit Patrick Buchanan noted acidly that 'patient diplomacy' did not bring down the Wall until a Republican once more occupied the Oval Office. 'It's more likely,' he suggests, 'that once a real leader, a real American, was in the White House again, the Soviets knew the jig was up, and lost their nerve.' Why that had not happened earlier, under President Ford or Buchanan's former employer Richard Nixon, he leaves unsaid.

Balrog	In 1918, the Great War entered its last day and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien set about the life-long work of the Middle-earth opus. "Beleriand was ablaze with the glory of their arms, for the host were arrayed in forms young and fair and terrible, and the mountains rang beneath their feet". ~ Of the Voyage of Earendil and the War of Wrath

Tolkien's Phantasm

In 1988, the U.S. Department of Energy approved the construction of a supercollider to be built near Corsicana, Texas. The supercollider, completed in 1997, has been used to produce anti-matter and has proved invaluable in advancing our knowledge of quantum particles.

In 1973, a church group in Rugby, North Dakota burned all the copies of the novel Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut that were in the town's library. Reverend Jonathan Clark of the First Church of Christ proclaimed Vonnegut a false prophet. When the author arrived in Rugby the next day to seek some sort of common ground with the congregation, he was himself seized and burned at the stake. This lynching of a famous and respected novelist shocked the nation, turning Rugby into a flashpoint against fundamentalist religion.

In 1917, 41 Suffragettes, in a staged protest in front of the White House, commit suicide as the police arrive to arrest them. The horror of the nation at the desperation this action speaks of makes Congress rush through legislation granting universal suffrage throughout the United States.

By 1963, Washington believed that any animosity between US President John F. Kennedy and the Central Intelligence Agency had completely disappeared, any problems were simply water-under-the-bridge. The consensus was that although President Kennedy was somewhat dissatisfied with the CIA after the Bay of Pigs invasion, there is no evidence that Kennedy actually wanted to break up the agency at anytime, even when he instituted his reviews. His statement about splintering the CIA was likely made in a moment of frustration with the Bay of Pigs failure. The CIA had survived two and a half years without being reduced or dismantled in any way. Not so. Kennedy was about the make a major announcement. The Agency would be disbanded, and reconstuted as the Central Intelligence Group (as envisaged by President Truman at its inception on 26th July 1947). Kennedy would refocus on the primary function of obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons in order to advise public policymakers. Not acting as the cowboy strong-arm of American foreign policy, fighting undercover wars and unseating the 'wrong' governments. Kennedy had no confidence in the agency by now, there was just no mileage in losing undercover wars.

In 1863, Swiss Immigrant Henry Wirz was hung for the murder of hundreds of Union soldiers during his tenure as commander of the Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia. When the Southern Rebellion broke out against President Walt Whitman, the rebels sent any Union prisoners to Andersonville, a small stockade that had no facilities for the care of any prisoners at all. Over the months of incarceration, Wirz allowed horrific deaths by disease and starvation to thin out the prisoner population. President Whitman, on hearing of the conditions at the camp, said, 'There are deeds, crimes that may be forgiven, but this is not among them.'

In 12-9-12-16-9, the Osage nation surrended its southern plains to the Oueztecan Empire, under threat of losing their entire nation if the Empire should fight them for it. The farmlands of these plains became the larder of the Empire, producing enough food to both feed the Empire and export to the continent around them.

In 2007, Natavia Lowery the former personal assistant to multimillionaire real estate agent and punk rock pioneer Linda Stein accused her ex-boss of beating her with a yoga stick. In her defence Stein claimed that a barrage of insults threw her into a homicidal rage.

In 1966, a second deep-underground nuclear detonation of a small magnitude is reported by atomic energy authorities throughout the world. None of the nuclear club of nations claim responsibility for either underground test. Washington presses a number of suspects to see if a new power has emerged, possibly Israel or South Africa. All likely candidates deny the test.

In 1938, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, army officer, revolutionary statesman, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first President died on this day and entered Valhalla. Mustafa Kemal established himself as a successful and extremely capable military commander while serving as a division commander in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915. The British cowardly released huge quantities of mustard gas from ships off the coast, decimating the Turkish defenders. Revenge followed in 1922, when the Empire Legion were massacred at the Chanak Incident.

November 9

In 1908, on this day Senator Lenore Romney née LaFount was born in Logan, Utah.

Birth of Senator Lenore Romney (R-MI)The wife of American businessman and politician George W. Romney she was First Lady of Michigan from 1963 to 1969. After her husband stood down as Governor, he made an unsuccessful run for the Presidency and later was appointed Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary by Richard Nixon.

Too used to be listened to and making his own decisions, this dis-empowered position in the Cabinet quickly became untenable. Both men were frustrated. Nixon, who could not bring himself to fire Romney, made a pointed remark about the upcoming 1970 senate race, but Romney completely missed the coded signal and instead advised his wife to run.

It was a tall order to beat popular, two-term Democratic incumbent Senator Philip Hart and in fact Lenore even struggled to overcome State Senator Robert J. Huber in the Republican party primary. However Hart's electoral support soon evaporated because of his controversial stand on gun control and busing [1]. And the result was the narrowest of victories for Lenore Romney.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Lenore Romney, Senate, Mitchigan, First Lady, Politics.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in reality soon after Hart's victory there were calls from conservatives in Michigan to recall him from office due to his stand on gun control and busing, with bumper stickers reading "Recall cures Hart attacks". The recall effort never got off the ground, because the United States Constitution does not authorize the recall of federal officials. He died of cancer in 1972 shortly before the expiry of his term of office.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2013-03-04 00:58:03 ~ Could she wind up running for president with Mitt as First Gentleman?

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2013-03-04 01:40:13 ~ What WAS his stand on gun control and busing? And what was Romney's?

Readers Comment Robbie Taylor commented on 2013-03-04 02:46:10 ~ Since George's natural-born citizenship status was not the purest, Senator Romney would be the only one in their family who could achieve the presidency

Readers Comment Mike McIlvain commented on 2013-03-04 03:07:10 ~ I think she would have been on time to inspire other women to run. Hard to say what that could have led to? Her performance could have eventually served to help, or hurt, other Romneys running for office.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2013-03-04 14:27:29 ~ Like to see what she'd do with the 2002 Winter Games....

In 2012, on this day American writer and researcher Paula Broadwell (pictured) was tragically killed in a mysterious automobile accident in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Embedded JournalistBroadwell graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1995. She earned a master's degree from the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies in 2006. She earned a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She later entered the Ph.D. program at Department of War Studies at King's College London.

She was most famous for co-authoring the biography All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. The book was developed during her six months service as an embedded journalist following the General around the Battlefields on the Korean peninsula. Some of the hardest and most penetrating work was conducted under cover with the old soldier.

They met in 2006 when he was a speaker at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Broadwell was a graduate student at the time. According to the Charlotte Observer, she told him about her research interests after he spoke. He handed her his card and offered his help. She began a doctoral dissertation that included a case study of his leadership, with Petraeus fully cooperating. The General is currently overseeing the drawdown of US forces, which is expected to complete by the end of the first half of 2013.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell, General, America, West Point.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in reality David Petraeus resigned from his post as CIA Director because of the extramarital affair. And thankfully there was no war in Korea in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-11-11 06:03:12 ~ One fewer journalist = one fewer plague rat.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-11-11 14:33:20 ~ No need to kill her...if the government wanted to keep him that much,they would have just ignored the whole thing. I mean, are we really shocked...SHOCKED!...that powerful men have young mistresses? In fact, it is possible that his enemies seized on this affair as a way of getting rid of him, because of that Libyan disaster.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2012-11-11 21:20:02 ~ @Eric Oppen: I'm going to take a wild shot in the dark and guess you don't like reporters.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-11-12 01:25:08 ~ But hey, Eric, I am a member of that despised and detested minority myself.

In 1330, the inexorable Hungarian march to the Black Sea continued with a hard-fought victory in the Carpathian Mountains.

Charles I Robert survives Wallachian ambushA small Wallachian army formed of cavalry, foot archers, as well as local peasants led by Basarab ambushed the 30,000-strong army of Charles I Robert in a mountainous region near the border between Oltenia and Severin.

The Hungarians had entered Curtea de Argeş, the main city of the Wallachian state and realised that Basarab had fled into the mountains and decided to give chase. After many days of difficult marching in the Carpathian Mountains, with his troops beginning to starve, the king and Basarab agreed to an armistice, with the condition that the latter would provide guides who knew the way out of the mountains and would lead the army back to the Hungarian plain by the shortest route. The guides, however, were ordered to lead the Hungarians into an ambush. However the Cumans[1] switches sides and warned Charles I Robert, who was able to defeat the Wallachians by outflanking them in a ravine from where they planned to attack.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Hungary, Charles Robert, Wallachia, Basarab I, Posada.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in authoring this post we have repurpose content from Wikipedia which reports ~ the battle resulted in a major Wallachian victory and disaster for Charles Robert, becoming a turning point in the politics of Hungary, which had to abandon its hopes of extending the kingdom to the Black Sea. For Wallachia, the victory meant an increase in morale and the further independent evolution of the state. [1]Some historians claim that the Cumans aided the Wallachians in the battle.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-11-12 07:04:58 ~ Would Romanians have survived as a separate people?

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2012-11-16 17:54:46 ~ Might've been the Hungro-Austrian Empire instead of putting the other first. A powerful entity.

In 1313, on this day the forces of Frederick I of Austria triumphed at the Battle of Gamelsdorf.

Glorious Austrian Victory at GammelsdorfThe vanquished army was led by his cousin Ludwig (Louis the Bavarian of the House of Wittelsbach). Originally, the two bitter rivals (pictured) were childhood friends who had been raised together as siblings at the Habsburg court.

However, armed conflict arose when the guardianship over the young Dukes of Lower Bavaria (Henry XIV, Otto IV and Henry XV) was entrusted to Frederick. This decision to elevate him to the first rank of Princes forced his cousin to break with the House of Habsburg. But his challenge ended with Frederick's triumphant victory which allowed him to impose a tutelage over the subordinate nobility. It was a case of birth order sibling rivalry settled in blood on the battlefields of southern Germany.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Gammelsdorf, Louis the Bavarian, Frederick I, Lower Bavarian, Austrian.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in authoring this post we have repurpose content from Wikipedia which reports ~ the Bavarians were victorious, forcing Frederick to renounce his tutelage over the Lower Bavarian dukes.

Readers Comment Mike McIlvain commented on 2013-01-08 06:02:38 ~ Eventually, more Austrian leadership, and direction -- reshaping what would have been a different 20th century?

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2013-01-15 16:05:09 ~ It could also have the opposite effect of Bavarian solidarity against Austria, making them never want to rebel, ala Switzerland.

In 2008, just days after Barack Obama's landslide defeat at the polls, the Democratic Party proposed a "no more amateurs amendment".

No More Amateurs AmendmentUnder this principle of progression of offices, candidates would be required to serve two full terms as either senator or governor as a condition of eligibility for the Presidency.

Because inside the beltway, it was fully understood that the US had constructed a political maze that only the insiders could understand. But suitable experienced candidates such as six-term senator Joe Biden were always disadvantaged by populist candidates such as Obama who were less experienced but more photogenic. And worse, such an imbalance also ran the larger risk of a dysfunctional government whereby the electorate would be tempted to vote for a progressive candidate of hope that would inevitably fail to enact the promised kind of legislative program. Whereas a terms-limit would ensure the Chief Magistrate had a record of voting that would unambiguously demonstrate their ability to build bipartisan support on the Hill.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Term Limits, Barack Obama, Presidency, Mr America, Election.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, this idea was developed with Scott Palter, also the flipside whereby the original constitution required such a two-term service as a condition of eligibility.

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2012-10-28 03:27:20 ~ How did this "landslide defeat" take place? POD, please. 2008 implosion would have needed a different Republican, and Lehman not being allowed to fail. The different Republican goes after the gaps in Obama's record. Gets his university records unsealed 'proving' that he got into Columbia as an Indonesian exchange student

Readers Comment Mike McIlvain commented on 2012-10-28 03:47:37 ~ Predictions I am hearing seem to favor a narrow win for Obama, but it is conceivable that the Dems might go for more training, or certainly find ways to better sell their top candidates. For that matter, so could the GOP.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-10-28 05:39:01 ~ Obama could have been defeated, had the MSM not been so thoroughly on his side. Maybe in this TL the PUMAs and Hillary managed to open the closet and let his skeletons out for a dance? And the theory of progression of offices sounds like the _cursus honorum_ of ancient Republican Rome, where one progresssed up the ladder of offices, one at a time, until (hopefully) the Consulship.

Readers Comment Allen W. McDonnell commented on 2012-10-28 10:39:53 ~ Three problems immediately come to mind. The Vice President would also have to be qualified for President under the new amendment. Some states only have a two year term for a Governor so potentially a person with 4 years of executive experience (say Bill Clinton when he was much younger) would qualify while others with 5 to 8 years experience who were still in their second term would not. Thirdly, Members of the House would never pass an amendment that cut them out of the possibility to run for President. I think if it were worded that to be Qualified the candidate would have to have served 8 years as a Governor, 8 years as a Representative or 8 years as a Senator you would have much better odds of passage and ratification. Hillary only had 8 years when she ran in 2008 so if you want her support you need to cut down that two term requirement for Senators. Paul Ryan would also qualify for VP under this modified form but not under the one you originally proposed. Something else I just thought of, the line of succession to the Presidency goes Vice President, Speaker of the House, President Pro Temp of the Senate, then through the Cabinet members of the Administration. To be in the line of succession you would have to be qualified under the amendment so the Cabinet would either need more experienced elected appointee's or a further modification. Cabinet posts are occasionally held by people who would qualify now, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State 8 years in the Senate or Tom Ridge, Governor of Pennsylvania for example. This would require more effort to recruit retired Governors or Congress persons to the Cabinet.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-10-28 13:23:48 ~ Well, that would certainly leave out a backwoods country lawyer named Abe Lincoln.

Readers Comment Mark Taylor commented on 2012-10-28 13:40:39 ~ That would be a blatant attack on democracy and an Establishment stitchup. What's wrong with populist outsiders,anyway?

Readers Comment Brian Wall commented on 2012-10-28 18:50:17 ~ Jackie, considering the Lincoln is long dead by 2008, this amendment doesn't affect him. I doubt such an amendment would ever pass. However, this idea could be taken as a guideline for both parties and their nomination systems.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-10-28 21:40:36 ~ Brian, my point is that the amendment would be disqualifying some pretty great candidates.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2012-10-29 18:58:29 ~ There would be many, many naysayers (as we've already seen) and pessimism could spread as Washington does what it wants anyway.

In 1960, on this day Robert McNamara was named president of Ford Motor Co., the first non-Ford to serve in that post.

The Best and the BrightestA month later, he turned down an opportunity to join the newly-elected John F. Kennedy administration. And eight years later, he introduced the Kennedy Continental, the re-branded 1969 model personal luxury car.

The rebadging decision had been discussed at the highest levels of management at Ford's Corporate Headquarters in Dearborn ever since President John F. Kennedy had been shot dead inside a customised Lincoln 4-door convertible.

The Secret Service had code named the vehicle "SS-100-X" after the Hess & Eisenhart company of Cincinnati, Ohio adapted a 1961 model, later updating the limousine with the grille/headlight/bumper assembly from the 1962 Lincoln. After the assassination, the limousine was repaired and retrofitted with full armor and a fixed roof, subsequently continuing in service for the White House for many years before being put on display at the Henry Ford Museum.

It is Nov 9 1923, and Adolf Hitler's effort to take over the Munich government ends abruptly when the soldiers and police defeat his Beer Hall Putsch (named in honor of the tavern where the uprising started).

The Return of the KaiserHe flees to the home of an American supporter named Helen Hanfstaegnl, determined to commit suicide there. She struggles to take the gun from him, but to no avail, and he is soon lying dead at her feet.

His second-in-command of the Nazi Party is Ernst Rohm, the leader of the Stormtroopers, who tries to take Hitler's place. But Rohm is fat, homely and beset by rumors of homosexuality. Completely lacking in Hitler's compelling charisma, he soon sees the Nazis and Communists constantly battling each other. Helpless to stop them, he soon flees the country.

Seeing their nation collapsing into chaos, the soldiers who had demanded Kaiser Wilhelm II's abdication during the last days of the Great War are now calling for his return. They make a startling alliance with the socialists, who still remember the Kaiser's public commitment to helping the workers, most notably the mistreated miners. As for the former Allied leaders, they are now coming to see their old arch-enemy as a welcome voice of moderation calming his chaotic land. And, of course, there is still a staunch group of monarchists who have longbeen encouraging his return.

Bolstered by all the widespread encouragement, he soon leaves his castle in Holland and returns home to cheering crowds, along with his lovely second wife Princess Hermine and his handsome son, the Crown Prince Frederick William.

By winning the admiration of the right- and left-wing alike, the Kaiser (pictured) is able to inspire patriotism, pride and proletarian sympathies. He also warns the crowds that he will ruthlessly crush all Jew baiting, thus impressing them with his stern, sincere commitment to an unpopular cause. Not surprisingly, his great-grandson Frederick Nicholas is ruling Germany to this day.

Entry posted by Guest Historian

Jackie Rose

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler, Germany, Nazi, Hohenzollern.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in reality Helen Hanfstaegnl persuaded Hitler to put away the gun. She must later have bitterly regretted her generous action, when she returned to America completely disillusioned with the new Reich. Ernst Rohm also left Germany, but returned at the urgent request of Hitler .. who soon had him executed as a potential rival on the notorious "Night of the Long Knives". And Kaiser Wilhelm II died in exile in Holland. Four years later, when World War II was hopelessly lost, Hitler made his second attempt to shoot himself .. and this time he succeeded .. but 22 years too late.

Readers Comment Scott Palter commented on 2012-05-24 05:36:19 ~ The Nazi party in 1923 was a regional thing in parts of Bavaria. Rohem was head of the SA which was allied with but not exactly at that time part of the Nazi Party. Absent Adolph the union of the various regional far right movements is never completed. The Army takes over Germany 1931-32 with support of the Nationalists, Center [Catholic Party], Goring and probably the Strasser Brothers. The rest of the far right and the Com,munists are smashed in street battles. The socialists stand aside in opposition.

Comment from Steve Kudlak on Facebook: i STILL WANT A GOOD SCENARIO FOR HITLER GETTING ACCEPTED TO ART SCHOOL AND BECOMING A MODERNIST.

Readers Comment Scott Palter commented on 2012-05-24 05:36:24 ~ Changing Vienna is difficult. Changing Munich postwar is MUCH easier

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-05-26 09:55:02 ~ Kaiser Bill himself might not have been welcomed back, but his eldest grandson, I am told, would have been a really good monarch.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-05-26 10:47:30 ~ STILL WANT A GOOD SCENARIO FOR HITLER GETTING ACCEPTED TO ART SCHOOL AND BECOMING A MODERNIST. Yes, yes! He conyinues as an artist in Vienna, graduates from the art school and then embraces Modernism. It is possible in Vienna if the A-H government embraces the "minorities" and the Slavs in a muti-cultural state. The Austrian-germans have less influence and the German Austrian Volks Sociall Party of which Hitler was a member has less influence and he his less impressed, watchng from the public gallery of the Viennese parliament their speakers speaking from the rostrum in the exact style which would become his speeches. He decides to concentrate on art. They did actually use the swastika. However, Wilhelm II returning in the twenties is problematic - given the hatred and hostility by the former allies to Germany, desire to punish Germany, and self-righteous crowing over the disaterous Versaillers Peace.

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2012-05-26 15:04:19 ~ I did a timeline resembling this once, jumping off from Hitler being killed in a car crash in 1930 (I borrowed that from someone else). The Nazis tear themselves apart and Hugenberg's Nationalists, who had a royalist element, take power; a few years llater, the Kaiser is welcomed back and installed as a figurehead.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2012-05-26 15:59:42 ~ How close it came... this TL might've dodged a lot of the war, but we'd have little advancement in the way of rockets and nuclear power, probably a lot less in the way of military-industrial complex as well to give us things like Internet and cell phones. Or, worse, a Soviet War ravaging Europe in the '50s.

In 1916, in the midst of trench fever, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, signals officer with the Lancashire Fusiliers, began hallucinations that would forever change him.

JRR Tolkien Hallucinates in the Trenches He was meant to have been invalided the day before, but he chose to stay behind to let another, sicker soldier take his place. Still in the miserable conditions of the trenches, Tolkien relapsed the next day into a high fever, crippling muscle soreness in his legs, and stabbing pain in his eyes. Others went to fetch a medic while he remained propped in the dark of a supply tent, near an unused machine gun. He had listened to the thunderous blasts of machine gun fire often in training in Staffordshire and later in combat during the Somme offensive.

This time, however, the noise was only in his mind, which translated the mechanical pattering into a language. He thought he could just about translate the words, a series of taps as if a living telegraph key, reassuring him that the gun would fight on just as a fellow soldier would. When medics arrived to take him away from the front, he told them, "The gun. It shall fight on".

Tolkien returned to England and to his wife, Edith, whom he had married three years before after five years of waiting due to his guardian's refusal they see one another before Tolkien was 21. He would spend the rest of the war alternately in hospitals or on light guard duty since he was too ill with recurrent fever to participate other than stints in camps on the home front, but honor kept him in the service until the end of the war. While recovering, Tolkien would begin writing fanciful stories, mixing the worlds of myth he had always studied with his new ideas of animated machines. He devoured science romances of Jules Verne and the like, but the use of machines as tools carried too little personification. Instead, Tolkien created machines that were as human as men, with personalities and special skills, just as the dwarves or elf creatures in Northern European myth. One of his first stories, "Fall of Gondolin" told of a city made of machines, each working its duty to create a glorious world, and its betrayal and destruction by the armies of an industrial behemoth monster called Morgoth ("Black Foe of the World" in Klindirin, a clicking language he invented for his machines).

A new story by Jeff ProvineTolkien was not the only fiction-writer fascinated with intelligent machines. Just after the turn of the century, Frank L. Baum wrote about Tik-tok, a living clockwork being. The idea was taken further in 1921 by the Czech playwright Karel Capek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), first coining the term "robot" for a humanlike automaton built to do work. Films would soon have their own robots with Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1927 giving a robot indistinguishable from the human Maria. In all of these, the machines were written to emulate humans, but Tolkien's stories went further, creating a world complete with history, language, and culture with different races of machines, not metal emulations of humanity. His studies of myth, particularly Beowulf, turned him to a sense of social tribalism and competition over resources. In 1936, Tolkien published The Robbit about a portly, quiet machine chosen by a magical Tinkerer to join a quest to liberate a coal mine from Smaug, an ancient predatory machine. This and the following Bearing trilogy would inspire the next generation of science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.

While he would continue to write during his free time, Tolkien's professional life kept him busy. He worked for the Oxford English Dictionary, became the youngest professor at the University of Leeds, and finally settled at Oxford first at Pembroke College and then Merton, becoming chair of English Language and Literature. Tolkien often ate with fellow writers in a club nicknamed "The Inklings", including C.S. Lewis, the unquestioned Father of Modern Fantasy with his Wardrobe tales. In World War II, Tolkien served his country again as a code-breaker (though was notoriously vocal about his anti-war sentiments) and worked alongside men such as Alan Turing, who would be inspired by Tolkien's ideas on machine communication. While Tolkien never officially worked on computer development projects, he and Turing kept close correspondence, even through Turing's indecency debacle in the early ?50s. Shortly before Tolkien's death in 1973, Turing's Beren system came online, creating the first vocal command interface and allowing man and machine to talk just as Tolkien dreamed. Mankind would far surpass Arthur C. Clarke's description of a "HAL 9000" by its fictional birth date in 1997 for his 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Entry posted by Guest Historian

Jeff Provine

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jeff Provine Blog Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: Tolkien, World War 1, First World War, Fantasy, Novel.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in reality Tolkien was invalided to England on November 8, 1916. He wrote extensively in the style of ancient myth, giving new life to the High Fantasy genre that supplied depth and poetry to literature that was often considered nothing but pulp adventure.

Readers Comment Mark Taylor commented on 2011-08-24 16:15:23 ~ Without Lord of the Rings-what would fantasy have been like?I don't think lewis'Narnia could have filled the gap.

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2011-08-24 20:52:47 ~ Conan would have filled the gap.

Readers Comment Sailorbarsoom commented on 2011-08-24 21:05:32 ~ Maybe Conan would have been a cyborg.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2011-08-25 15:37:31 ~ With Robert E. Howard as the chief of Fantasy, at least the the Peter Jackson Conan trilogy would set a record number of Oscars instead of what our TL got.

In 2009, on this day the future of the super-violent billion-dollar video gaming industry was thrown into jeopardy when the US Government prohibited sales of Call of Duty (COD): Modern Warfare 2 (pictured), an appropriately timed decision that was intended to show a mark of respect to the victims of the Fort Hood Massacre.

Blood-Soaked Blockbuster Cancelled by Ed. & Chris OakleyThe latest installment of COD was due to debut at selected retail outlets that same evening. To fans, the game sets the benchmark for stunning cinematography and striking realism, with troops of elite soldiers hunting down targets in South America, Russia, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan. Players typically plug into an online community, moving in teams to hunt down enemy snipers. But detractors last minute calls had finally convinced the President that COD represents everything that is wrong with the billion-dollar video gaming industry: blood-soaked images of warfare that poses a risk to the mental health of children and even some adults who may not be able to tear themselves away. The President was influenced by the release of COD, which came at a particularly awkward time, just days after thirteen people were killed and twenty-nine wounded in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.

Because COD was the most highly anticipated game of the year, the outcome was a financial catastrophe for the software author Activision Blizzard Inc who had confidently expected to break sales records. Amazon pre-orders had topped 1.6 million, and the e-tailer had officially named COD the biggest selling pre-order video game of all time. Robert Kotick, chief executive of Activision crowed that the shooter game is likely to be "one of the largest entertainment launches of any media of all time".

Across the Atlantic in the U.K., the British Prime Minister Bryan Gould had already denounced the portrayal of violence in the game and called for the US government to enact measures to prevent sales to minors. To assuage his critics, Barack Obama added a personal touch in announcing the controversial decision. Having just been informed that he would become a father for the third time, Obama said that the decision had finally come down to a personal judgement, would he permit his son to play COD at the White House?

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

© Article in the Toronto Star, "Latest Call of Duty a blood-soaked blockbusterFans itching to play, critics panning the gore and retailers raking it in" (November 10th 2009 Edition)
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Beasts Source: The Star Labels: Call of Duty, Video Violence, Gaming Industry, Canada, America.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, please note that to explore this controversial issue, extensive amounts of content have been repurposed from the source article. We have once again introduced our favourite politian Bryan Gould as the voice of reason, even though he was defeated in the 1994 Labour Leadership contest which Tony Blair won.

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2009-11-11 09:31:16 ~ Under what law? Impossible. The Feds could more easily force people to paint their noses green.

In 2009, on this day in Canada, the mortality rate from the zombie virus known as Solanum exceeded the pre-apocalypse unemployment count for the first time.

That the excesses of the credit crunch had been addressed by a population control measure foreseen by Thomas Malthus was of course of little cause for comfort to the Government. Because Stephen Harper and his senior ministers were desperately holed up behind a hastily erected maximum security cordon in Ottawa's "Green Zone".

The War on Terror Plus, Part 7 - "The Frozen Chosen"According to now irrelevant Olympic schedules, the Cabinet's focus should have been on the twenty members of the post who call themselves "The Frozen Chosen". Because on this, Day 10 of the cross-Canada Olympic torch relay, the Olympic athletes were due to arrive in the polar bear capital of the world, Churchill, Manitoba.

Their plan was to run with the flame into the Arctic darkness, which lasts 24 hours-a-day this time of the year. But instead, on day one the first torchbearers Catriona Le May-Doan and Simon Whitfield had carried the Olympic flame through a crowd of thousands in Victoria. Infected with Solanum, they also carried with them the deadly zombie virus.

Which was not to say that people werent arriving in Churchill, and in large crowds. Because the latest advice from Health Canada was for the non-infected to travel to the far north of the country, where it was hoped that the living dead would be unable reach...

In 1963, on this day US President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 in the Oval Office. Accordingly the force of law was given to the planned withdrawal of all American personnel absolutely no later than the end of 1965. Because just four months after a Vietnamese Buddhist by the name of Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire in a Saigon street (pictured), the security situation in the country was rapidly deteriorating.

Bear any burden, pay any priceIn so doing, the Kennedy brothers were backtracking big-time on a key inauguration pledge to "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge - and more".

Yet two other Catholic brothers had even more reason to regret listening to those warm words, the Vietnamese Dictator Ngo Dinh Diem and his younger brother Ngo Dinh Nhu. Because on the celebration of Buddha's 2,527 birthday on May 8th, the Diem Regime had ordered the Catholic deputy in Hue to prevent the Buddhists from flying their own flag. A wave of religious fervour swept the county. And just about the last thing South Vietnam needed right now was a religious feud, and so a group of generals led by Doung Van Minh and Tran Van Don acting unilaterally without US approval overthrew the Diem regime and executed the brothers and their sister-in-law, the anti-Buddhist "dragon lady" Madame Nhu. The US-financed Nationalist Chinese Armies who had sustained Diem in power since 1962 also evacuated the country. Those departing soldiers had been resettled by the French in 1950 in what was then Chochin China and expanded over time by local recruitment.

Commander R. Sargent Shriver was the last American out of Saigon. He told Embassy staff that it was a matter of deep regret that the Peace Corps had been unable to complete their mission in Vietnam.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

© "The Vietnam War for Dummies", Frankum and Maxner (2003)
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Beacon of Liberty Source: Wikipedia Labels: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, America, Cold War, Forties.

Readers Comment Scott Palter commented on 2009-11-07 04:47:04 ~ Timing is ever so slighlt off. . The Diems are already dead and the US look like equine feces for approving the coup and THEN bugging out. Now if the coup and murders had not happened we would have been out MUCH faster than 1965. Once the US was bugging out the Diem regime implodes. France brokers a face saving neutralist regime while Diem, Nhu and their ten thousand closest supporters leave for Paris. We are out by Easter of 1964. We also probably inherit several million refugees or look REAL bad.

Readers Comment H. Torrance Griffin commented on 2009-11-07 11:26:26 ~ IIRC, the Viet Cong was still intact, so a northern takover is not a given here....

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2009-11-07 13:19:26 ~ Kennedy did issue and order for the withdrawal of about 1,000 troops. Three weeks later, he was assassinated, and one of incoming President Johnson's first acts in office was to rescind that order. That said, I doubt Kennedy would have issued an order for total withdrawal that early. The Republicans would have skewered him for it in the 1964 election campaign. If he were going to withdraw, he'd wait to issue the order until after he'd been safely re-elected.

Readers Comment Scott Palter commented on 2009-11-08 02:41:21 ~ Instead of the last copter off the roof of the embassy you have a shrinking perimeter around the few remaining ports while 7th fleet does a Dunkirk on steroids.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2009-11-08 17:48:55 ~ This is a steroid-free zone, mister! :)

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2009-11-09 23:44:46 ~ All it would have taken to win the war in Vietnam at any time was a month long campaign of blockade of North Vietnamese ports and pounding some railroad bridges near China. That's it. It worked in 72 and would have worked in 63, and half a million lives would have been saved.

Readers Comment Scott Palter commented on 2009-11-09 23:44:46 ~ In 1962 the Soviets still had the use of the Chinese rail net. Wouldn't have worked the way Linebacker II did.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2010-10-07 05:09:24 ~ I don't know if South Vietnam could have been saved---as I understand it, the people running it were both corrupt and seen as pro-French by ordinary folks. That said, after 1975 the Vietnamese people found out why replacing King Log with King Stork was a baaad idea...

In 1989, Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces invaded West Germany, provoking a counterattack by NATO forces and touching off World War III.Falklands Emergency Part 9 - Sunny Jim by Chris Oakley
Most of the burden for turning back the Soviet bloc tide would have to be borne by the United States, since Great Britain no longer had the influence necessary to rally America's other European NATO partners to oppose the invasion. The outbreak of the Third World War would later be seen by historians as an inevitable consequence of Great Britain's defeat in the Falklands Emergency of 1982.
Leonard James Callaghan (pictured), Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC (27 March 1912 - 26 March 2005), was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Labour Party from from 1976 to 1983. Commonly known as Jim Callaghan (and nicknamed Sunny Jim or Big Jim), Callaghan is the only person to have served in all four of the Great Offices of State: Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary. Despite this unpredecented level of experience at the highest levels of Government, Sunny Jim was considered most directly responsible for the series of events that led to 'Callaghan's Surrender'.
To be continued..

On this day in 1962, a confrontation between pro-Brezhnev and anti-Brezhnev demonstrators in Leningrad escalated into a full-scale riot, forcing Soviet authorities to declare martial law in that city. Meanwhile, in Cuba, the late Fidel Castro's old comrade-in-arms Ernesto 'Che' Guevara was sworn in as the new Cuban president and vowed to avenge Castro's assassination.	Cuban President

	Che Guevara

In 1934, Rabbi Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, New York. The spiritual leader of the Semitic-African Resistance in the northeastern United States, he led the non-violent movement through most of his life; after his wife and son were lynched in 1977, he began advocating more direct action against the worldwide Nazi movements.

In 1799, Napoleone Buonaparte names himself Emperor of Italy. Under his brilliant lead, Italy conquers most of Europe. After a disastrous winter campaign in Russia, Buonaparte's empire begins to fall apart; he is finally defeated by the Swedish in 1814 at the battle of Copenhagen.

In the period between 1788 and 2000 a cascading failure in the membrane separating alternate dimensions results in all elections in the United Soviet Confederated North American States of America Confederation Commonwealth being held at once. An astonishing 332 candidates of various political parties, ethnic groups, genders and species win the office of First Prime Presidential Chancellor Minister. Unsurprisingly, no one is really happy with the results.

In 1966, a deep-underground nuclear detonation of a small magnitude is reported by atomic energy authorities throughout the world. None of the nuclear club of nations claims responsibility, and Washington suspects a new power has emerged, possibly Israel or South Africa.

In 1918, following the outbreak of the German Revolution, a republic was proclaimed on this day, marking the end of the monarchy. The Kaiser fled the next day to the neutral Netherlands, which granted him political asylum (see Weimar Republic for details). His fifteen year exile was finally ended upon the invitation of Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, who was keen to provide a replacement for the recently diseased figurehead Paul von Hindenburg.

November 8

In 2012, on this day Comrade President Barack H. Obama tearfully thanked his campaign workers for seeing off his Capitalist opponent Mitt Romney.

America Chooses Socialism, AgainWith a few noticeable exceptions Communist candidates have occupied the White House ever since the election of Al Smith. And naturally the consensual view of government as an omnipotent provider has created a self-perpetuating majority that the Capitalists stigmatize as freeloaders seeking government hand-outs.

But it has also created an enormous Federal deficit partly because of America's ruinous generosity in helping other countries find their own path to socialism. This was acknowledged by the election headline "America Chooses Socialism" [1] in Israel Today a recognition of massive aid to the creation of the kibbutzim state.

Due to the debt situation, this time around Capitalists wrongly believed they had a better chance of regaining the White House. However, the changing demographics of America appear to have made such a scenario unthinkable for the foreseeable future. This is because the appeal of a low taxation, small government was restricted to the strata of society that had originally developed such out-moded concepts in the late eighteenth century. Marxist historians generally agree that America would not have embraced Communism without the self-evident failure of Capitalism, and the prospect - however remote - of a revisionism prevented a declining majority from forcing a non-political confrontation. An article from the Soviet States of America thread conceived by Robbie Taylor.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Soviet America Source: Wikipedia Labels: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, General, America, West Point.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, [1] Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson spent $73 million backing Mr Romney, his former primary contender Newt Gingrich, and seven other Republicans around the US amount to just one victory. Like Mr Trump, he fled Mr Romney's election night event in Boston before the candidate even arrived on stage to concede defeat. In a reflection of his anger, the front page of his newspaper Israel Today the following morning read: "America Chooses Socialism".

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-11-11 21:03:02 ~ The only problem is Obama is not a socialist but a Liberal Imperialist, backed by Liberal Imperialists. the term you are looking for is Liberal Imperialist. He is so as it is necessary to instal the Free market in other nations econoies inorder to take themover for markets nad investment.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-11-11 21:13:08 ~ MSNBC published a whole list of billionaires who made multi-million-dollar contributions to their favorite candidates. But if Israel Today really said that America had chosen socialism, it must have been meant as a compliment, since modern Israel began as a socialist country, based on the collective farms called kibbutzes.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-11-11 21:16:33 ~ It may have started like that. but that was a long time ago, but now they are mad wirth Obama for not supportingthe One State Solution of Netanyahu - and I don't mean an Israel-palestinian state.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2012-11-11 21:22:17 ~ Not sure how having Al Smith in the White House would necessarily change the 2012 campaign.... The tongue in cheek suggestion is NONE

Readers Comment Robbie Taylor commented on 2012-11-11 22:20:37 ~ Obviously, there has been a resurgence of the old Capitalists into the SSA. Good to know that the comrades haven't fallen for their tired, 18th century rhetoric...

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-11-12 00:25:15 ~ If I were feeling snarky, I'd say that OTL's Obama IS a Socialist, but I'd say, instead, he is an "Obama-ist." His list of ideas begins and ends with "It'd be keen if I were elected..."

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2012-11-12 00:25:15 ~ Obama may have been a racial fascist in his youth, but I doubt that he ever was a Leninist. This Comrade stuff is silly.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-11-12 01:24:21 ~ Richard, many Israelis opppose Netanyahu themselves. But getting back to Obama the Socialist...many people said the same thing about FDR, but in fact he saved American capitalism.

Readers Comment Jared Myers commented on 2012-11-12 02:35:32 ~ TAGLINE: "America Chooses Socialism, Again". And what's the point of divergence here from real world history? :-/ Seems uncomfortably close to real life.

Readers Comment Brian Wall commented on 2012-11-12 17:41:34 ~ Jared, you beat me to the punch! ;)

In 960, on this day the forces of the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo won a famous victory at the Battle of Andrassos.

Hamdanid Victory at AndrassosBy conducting a series of raids across Asia Minor, the emir Sayf al-Dawla had taken full advantage of the absence of much of the Byzantine army on campaign against the Emirate of Crete. But when General Leo Phokas the Younger returned, am ambush was organized in the mountain pass of the Taurus Mountains.

However due to a series of costly defeats in the previous years the increased confidence of the Hamdanid had been seriously underestimated and the ambush turned into an unmitigated disaster. Leo Phokas himself barely escaped with his life, and his army was annihilated.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Hamdanid Emirate, Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla, Leo Phokas the Younger, Byzantine.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in authoring this post we have repurpose content from Wikipedia which reports ~ coming after a series of costly defeats in the previous years, this battle broke the power of the Hamdanid emirate for good.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2013-01-04 16:07:22 ~ A much earlier end to Byzantium, perhaps.

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2013-01-05 00:48:04 ~ Possibly, but it was all in flux, a matter of lucki. Remember, Byzantium was on the rise at the time against the Bulgars, so I would have to look it up. OTL, the Emirate of Crete business was prolonged by bad luck. The Arabs on Crete were really much too aggressive. Remember, Jeff, it was the rise of the Osmanlis that ultimately did in the Paleologos Empire of Byzantium, and that was, essentially, bad luck as well. The Osmanlis were almost wiped out during a period of internecine warfare among various Turkish tribes.

In 1853, on this day Thomas "Tad" Lincoln was was born in Springfield, Illinois. He would be elected President of the United States; on the forty-fourth anniversary of his father's election to the office for a single term.

Southern Integration, Northern SecessionThe elder Lincoln, Abraham, had yielded to the South after long argument and implemented a slave code that brought slavery to New Mexico, Arizona and Cuba by the start of the 20th century.

The North was also irritated at the Southern mode in keeping the Slave State delegation the size of the Free States by the measure of splitting themselves. Texas was now five states (North, East, Central, South and Pecos) and Florida, Alabama and Georgia now came as North and South States. Abraham Lincoln had gone down to defeat by John C. Breckingridge of Kentucky. Horace Greeley had been the next Republican President elected in the wake of a corruption scandal. And the third Republican President had been Ambrose Bierce of California.

Thomas "Tad" Lincoln had won the Presidency largely because Democratic President Alton B, Parker had gotten mixed up in a stockyards scandal yet got nomination for a second term anyway. Lincoln acquired 50.85 percent of the popular vote, and scored surprise electoral vote wins in Virginia, Tennessee, North Alabama and Cuba.

In the address he made to an audience in Chicago on election night, "Tad" Lincoln said: "My father, Abraham, did predict that this country could not endure half slave and half free, but we know that the weight of office and the principle of compromise brought slavery some additional land and more Slave State senators by the division of Southern states.

How can we outlaw child labor or provide a decent subsidy to the colonization programs which elderly slaves are entrusted to? How will a modern road system be financed when half the Senate approves gravel roads smoothed by local slaves? When will labor unions be recognized under federal law?

Friends, I see the solution as Secession. We, the non-slave states. ought to separate from the Slave States which have a malign influence in our daily affairs. With our own Congress, we shall have our own majority to do what comes natural to us, unhampered by the slaveholders.

And to my supporters in Virginia, Tennessee, North Alabama and Cuba, who voted for me knowing what I thought of slavery, I welcome you to the new Union I propose to form. Any state that is within twenty years of emancipation by the plan they have adopted may join the new Union I suggest".

Entry posted by Guest Historian

Raymond Speer

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Tad Lincoln Source: Wikipedia Labels: Abraham Lincoln, Tad Lincoln, America, Civil War, North.

Readers Comment Mark Taylor commented on 2013-04-04 15:37:43 ~ What next?

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2013-04-04 16:14:19 ~ I take it that Tad didn't have the "problems" he had in OTL? IIRC there was something or other wrong with the boy---I don't know what, but people did comment on it.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2013-04-04 19:05:20 ~ I'm sorry, I just can't see Old Abe deliberately extending slavery when he had always sought to contain it.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2013-04-11 23:07:21 ~ If breaking up states to gain more senators became a thing, it'd happen every four years, just like folks tampering with voting hours and IDs.

In 2012, on this day President-elect Mitt Romney announced that due to family reasons his running mate Marco Rubio was standing aside and instead Paul Ryan would take his place as Vice President.

Waiting in the WingsDuring the Presidential campaign, both Ryan and Rubio had sought re-election in their respective seats. A budgetary policy wonk, Ryan offered a great deal in terms of executive support; but the Romney ticket had desperately needed to attract Latino voters in order to secure the White House.

Meanwhile, Rubio intended to pursue his Senate career and focus on the people of Florida. In private, both Romney and Rubio had enjoyed a relationship strained by flip-flops immigration policy. Because in order to secure the nomination, Romney had been forced to prematurely adopt hard positions that would have lost him the General election. Only Rubio's tacit approval as a running mate, permitted some form of mindset changing direction to be made by the GOP Leaderships. Of course cynics suggested that in fact Ryan had been waiting in the wings all long and Rubio had actually been uncomfortable with Romney from the very beginning. But of course he had kept his family in his hometown after being elected to the U.S. Senate, preferring to commute to Washington from his West Miami home.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, Ohio, Disparate Impact, Provisional Ballot.

Readers Comment Chris Oakley commented on 2012-11-08 16:11:09 ~ It wouldn't have taken much to make this scenario reality...

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2012-11-08 19:09:45 ~ Except that it isn't clear that Marco Rubio would have helped the ticket enough to make Romney the winner And if Rubio had "stepped aside" this early, prior to the meeting of the Electoral College, there might have been some constitutional problems as well.

In 1745, on this day the five thousand man Jacobite army invaded England. But it took a woman to save the forty-five rebellion from abject failure.
This article is a reversal of the Jackie Rose story Hard Man which focuses on Captain Francis O'Neill

Hard Woman saves the Forty-Five RebellionSince they had stepped ashore at Modart in the Outer Hebrides, hopes had built up rather quickly. Most recently 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

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Jacobite, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Hanover, 1745, Forty-five.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, in this article we repurpose content from Scotland.com, Wikipedia and Jacqueline Riding's article "Charlie will come again" published in the April 2011 Edition of History Today Magazine.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-11-08 13:02:09 ~ Captain O'Neill was a real Irish rebel, as an officer in Lally's French-Irish Brigade. So if he had done so much to put his Prince on the throne, two different things might have happened: 1.Once he had become King Charles III, the Bonnie Prince Charlie would have given the Irish their indepence, about 200 years early. 2. He would have insisted on keeping Ireland, thus starting an Irish rebellion against; him.

Readers Comment Jeff Provine commented on 2013-03-13 17:42:31 ~ Interesting thought on Irish Independence under Charles III. It would've been hard to give up control once he grabbed it. Maybe an Irish parliament at least?

In 1861, Confederate negotiators James Mason and John Slidell narrowly escape Federal arrest on the British mail packet RMS Trent but unfortunately their steam-powered exo-skeletons fail and Yankee sailors from the USS San Jacinto fish them out of the sea. A cursory inspection of their Dixie-logoed Head bags soon confirmed the sinister nature of their secret mission: to travel to London to seek diplomatic recognition for the Confederacy.

The Mason and Slidell SkankInfuriated by the combination of American disrepect and the humiliation of British technology failure Queen Vic pens an angry letter to Union Prez Abe Lincoln (pictured). Fortunately, Bert the Prince Consort was able to exert a moderating influence and when his missus wasn't watching he made a single character change in the opening sentence of the letter from "p*ssed" to "dissed".

Nevertheless, tensions continued to rise and lighter than air dirigibles were placed on standby in Britain and France. This international crisis soon threatened to escalate the American Civil War into a general conflict between the Steam Club of Great Nations. But after several weeks of tension and loose talk of war, the crisis was resolved when the Lincoln administration released the envoys and disavowed the actions of Charles Wilkes, the Captain of the USS San Jacinto. No formal apology was ever issued. Mason and Slidell resumed their voyage to Britain but failed in their goal of achieving diplomatic recognition. And nine months later at Antietam, Bob Lee's men were overwhelmed by Union soldiers equipped with fully functioning steam-powered exo-skeletons.

Entry posted by Todayinah Editor

Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Trent Affair, James Mason, John Slidell, Civil War, America.

Todayinah Editor Editor says, explanations of slang used above, Skank, disreputable conduct; dissed, disrespected.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-06-02 23:00:27 ~ I might add that Prince Albert was chairman of the British anti-slavery society. He was thus very unlikely to give aid and comfort to the Confederacy, and his grief-stricken widow would have felt the same way.

Readers Comment Eric Lipps commented on 2012-06-02 23:02:36 ~ Er . . . "skank"? Disreputable conduct

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-06-02 23:05:50 ~ Nope. Makes no differrent. It's a very funny story. There is a counter-factual countr-factual and history returns to its correct course. The British Peace Committee's Co-Chairs are a very nice couple called Albert and Vickie Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As opposed to the War Party lead by the Prime Minister, Palmerston, who are utterly serious about Intervention in the American Civil War. 125,000 men have already been sent to Canada. They discover to their horror Palmerston has sent a diplomatic dispatch which amounts to an ultimatum and has to be rejected by Lincoln thus leading to war, Palmerston "forgetting" to tell the Sovereign first. A leading member of the Peace Party, Sir William Harcourt, is dispatched as Commissioner to get it back, but when he arrives at the Americal minister's house, the messenger has already left for the Atlantic Mail from Euston for the packet from Liverpool. Sir William manages to get the messenger and dispatch back as the Atlantic Mail is pulled up and thye messenger's private car shunted off and put on the next express South. The seriously ill Prince Consort personally rewrites the dispatch himself. Palmerston is carpetted and given a minutes as to what parameters his has in foreign policy. The above is what actually happened. Palmerston is dished off his Intervention and cheap cotton.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-06-02 23:45:40 ~ Yes, and he didn't care less. He WAS Anglo-Irish, hence the song. As they said in Germany "Sich der Teufel hat ein Sonne, Den ihr er dicher Palmerston" In Vienna they had a ball one time when the news arrived he had had to resign. You see he was the former head of the British secret service, which he had been for many years till 1828, then retained control or influence over it as foreign secretary and prime minister, and even when he was in opposition.

Readers Comment Jackie Rose commented on 2012-06-02 23:56:48 ~ More evidence of what Victoria would have done, or not done, comes from a very well-researched source called "Gone With the Wind." Rhett bluntly gives Scarlett all the reasons why the South can't win...including the fact that, "England will not come in on your side, because that fat Dutchwoman on the throne does not believe in slavery." A "Dutchwoman," of course, meant a German...and like Prince Albert, most Germans were very anti-slavery.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-06-03 00:13:19 ~ Yes, this is the division. Albert and Vicki are violently anti-slavery and Albert regards Lincoln as a progressive, but there is a strong War Party lead by Palmerston who are absolutely serious about and really, really intend to Intervene in the American Civil War, hence Southerners being convinced they will.

Readers Comment Eric Oppen commented on 2012-06-03 05:30:22 ~ Very steampunk story!

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2012-06-03 21:57:19 ~ Steampunk is not my thing, usually. As a purist, I blow a boiler (so to speak) at stories in which a cravat is the wrong style and color, but what the heck. Regarding the death of Prince Albert, he didn't linger slowly, he died of typhus, I believe. Regarding Richard's suggestion that Palmerston sent 125,000 troops to Canada -- that would have been utterly impossible at the time. I believe the actual number of British troops in British North America to have been about 4,000, scattered from Vancouver to Newfoundland, perhaps doubled over the next few months. British intervention in the US Civil War would have been a naval war, but within a year, it would have been impossible, as Britain did not have an ironclad navy. By 1863, a US war against Britain would have been a sideshow. All of BNA would have been occupied, without serious disruption of the effort against the Confederacy.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-06-03 22:15:35 ~ Palmerston did send the 125,00 troops to Canada. An irinclad navy was being built, hence the quarrel with france.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-06-03 22:29:54 ~ I think the first task would have been the retaking of New orleans, but as I say Palmerston was dished by the Royals, the peace party and the rioting cotton operatives of Lancashire with their slogan "No War for Slavery".

Readers Comment Stan Brin commented on 2012-06-04 09:53:35 ~ There is a difference between 125,000 and 125,00 -- This was the 1860s, still an age of small wooden ships, even if they had steam engines. Most still used paddlewheels. No one had ever sent army of 125,000 men overseas. My sources say that at the most, Britain had roughly ten thousand trained troops in North America during the Civil War. Once the Rebs were on the run, the Limies would have been a walkover. An invasion of British North America would have taken some time to prepare, perhaps sixty days, but the Federals would have been able to advance on several fronts simultaneously, from Maine, Vermont, New York, and across the lakes. In fact, at the time, there was no practical way to reach what is now Winnipeg other than through St. Paul, Minnesota -- The Union Army would simply sail north on the Red River and across the Great Lakes at its leisure.

Readers Comment Richard Roper commented on 2012-06-04 10:53:57 ~ My sources say an army of that size had already been quietly assembled by Palmerston - hence the outcry in Britain by those opposed to the war. Meanwhile British warships on the China and Far east stations were moving eastwards to Vancouver for an attack on the West Coast. The War Party were absolutely, absolutely serious abount iIntervention in the ACW. The Rebs were very far from being on the run. After palmerston had had his had smacked the army was brought hom.e

Readers Comment Robbie Taylor commented on 2012-06-12 03:33:57 ~ Once the iron dirigibles were deployed, of course, there was no stopping the Mad Scientist's Brigade of Wichita...

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•	Plessy v. Ferguson
•	Malcolm X
•	Council of Pisa
•	Happy Endings 24
•	President Seward II
•	Breckinridge dies
•	President Seward
•	Fed Lost Cause 8
•	Mayor for Life
•	President Fonda
•	Fed Lost Cause 10
•	Madeleine Albright
•	Fed Lost Cause 7
•	Fast Heinz
•	Lewis and Clark
•	Fed Lost Cause 6
•	The Candyman
•	Fed Lost Cause 9
•	PM Beckett
•	Ellsberg Sentenced
•	PM Halifax
•	FBI Dir Burns
•	Fed Lost Cause 5
•	Sic semper tyrannis!
•	Lavoisier Survives
•	Monty in Berlin
•	Ethiopia Falls
•	3-term Truman
•	Fed Lost Cause 2
•	Orson Welles born
•	Happy Endings 23
•	The Oyster
•	Happy Endings Part 22
•	49th State, Redux
•	Birth of Flashman
•	Lake Peipus
•	Mission STS-51-L

A Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today.
Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility.

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A Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today. Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility.

Quick Links

Selected threads

Archive Navigator

Editor's Postbag | Feed

A Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today.
Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility.