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Editor says, what if the Ghibelline commander Farinata degli Uberti had been a man of honour? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the September 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1260, in a battle fought by the Arbia torrent near Montaperti Castle between two factions (Florentine and the Sienese) at least nominally supporting the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, the family of the dukes of Bavaria (better known as the Guelphs) crushed their local rivals the Ghibellines.
Guelph family wins the Battle of MontapertiTheir long standing family feud had escalated when the Guelphs succeeded in expelling from Florence the last of the Ghibellines with any real power; they followed this with the murder of Tesauro Beccharia, Abbot of Vallombrosa, who was accused of plotting the return of the Ghibellines. Two years later, the Florentines, supported by their allies from around Tuscany (Bologna, Prato, Lucca, Orvieto, San Gimignano, San Miniato, Volterra and Colle Val d'Elsa), moved an army of some thirty-five thousand men towards Siena. The Sienese called for help from King Manfred of Sicily, who provided a contingent of German mercenary heavy cavalry. The Sienese forces were led by Farinata degli Uberti, an exiled Florentine Ghibelline. Even with these reinforcements, though, they could only raise an army of twenty thousand.
At a desperate point in the battle, a devious member of the Florentine army called Bocca degli Abati broke with chivalry by attacking the standard-bearer of the Florentine army. This was intended to lower the Guelphs and given the false impression of a Ghibelline victory. But after a brief struggle, the traitor Abati was killed and the day was lost1.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Guelphs, Ghibellines, Italy, Battle of Montaperti, Dante Alighieri. Editor says, in reality the Ghibellines won [1] due to act of treachery that turned the tide of the battle, which was immortalised by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem "Divine Comedy". In authoring this post, we have repurposed content from Wikipedia.
~ Would this make the Pope stronger? IIRC the Guelphs supported the Pope while the Ghibellines supported the HR Emperor.
~ What of the Medicis centuries later?
Editor says, what if Odoacer had escaped from Ravenna? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the September 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 476 AD, on this day the Germanic Military Commander Flavius Odoacer was proclaimed King of Italy.
Flavius Odoacer proclaimed King of ItalyTo depose the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire (Romulus Augustulus ) he had successfully led a revolt of Herulians, Rugians, and Scirians soldiers.
But his chief adversary was the Ostrogoth known as Theodoric the Great who invaded Italy, captured almost the entire peninsula and forced Odoacer to take refuge in the capital city of Ravenna. When the city surrendered Theodoric invited Odoacer to a banquet of reconciliation intending to kill him1. But he had already escaped, and immediately set about reassembling an army to reconquer Italy. The successor state that he managed to build was absorbed into the Justinian Restoration half a century later.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Flavius Odoacer, Odoacer, Theodoric, Rome, Roman. Editor says, in reality in reality Theodoric invited Odoacer to a banquet of reconciliation where he killed him [1]. In authoring this post, we have repurposed content from the Wikipedia and Alternate History web sites.
~ I doubt it would make subsequent history differ much.
~ What changes would this cause?
~ More powerful Byzantines, less powerful Goths. A very different medieval Italy.
Editor says, what if South Carolina had been the only state to secede in 1861? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). Please note that content has been repurposed from Wikipedia. This story was published in the September 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1948, on this day the Republic of South Carolina's Ambassador James Strom Thurmond was summoned to the White House to be curtly advised by President Harry S. Truman that the United States would not be extending the ninety-nine year lease on the disused Federal military installation in Charleston Harbour known as Fort Sumter.
Executive Order 9981 by Ed & Scott PalterThe latest diplomatic wrangle had begun on July 26th with the signing of an Executive Order which threatened the breakaway Republic's historic social structure by abolishing racial segregation in the US armed forces which had recently fought alongside South Carolina in the war against Hitler. Ironically, this unintended alliance had come about because of Fort Sumter itself.
In 1861, South Carolina had found itself completely isolated by being the only state to secede from the Union. Former congressman James L. Petigru famously remarked, "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum". Soon afterwards, South Carolina began preparing for a presumed Federal military response which was averted by British mediation combined with the persuasiveness of Vice President Alexander Stevens. As a southern politician from the state of Georgia, he was well placed to convince a skeptical President Lincoln that the signing of a ninety-nine year lease on Fort Sumter would defuse the situation and prevent the formation of a Southern Confederacy. That skepticism made way to rage and frustration when the British Ambassador arrived in Charlton Harbor to salute the raising of the new Republic Flag (pictured) - along with a provocatively large Royal Navy Squadron. And yet tempers eventually cooled because the imperative to keep the Union together, and to avoid bloodshed, ultimately carried the decisions of the day. It appeared that after all, the "better angels of our nature" had indeed prevailed.
One consequence of the solidary secession was the formation of a special relationship between Great Britain and South Carolina. In 1939 this solidarity led to the Republic joining other Empire and Commonwealth countries in a declaration of war on Nazi Germany in September 1939. Two years later the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour andd Hitler declared war on the United States. And so by accident rather than design, South Carolinians found themselves fighting alongside the Yankees and Communists in a Grand Alliance against white supremacists.
In the event it would the last conflict in which African Americans fought in segregated combat units. Because the end of the war brought renewed efforts to end discrimination in the US armed services - and a fierce reaction too. The US Secretary of the Army Kenneth Claiborne Royall was forced into retirement for continuing to refuse to desegregate the Army nearly a year after President Truman promulgated the order. Ambassador Thurmond wrongly predicted that "there's not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the n*gger race into our theaters and swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches".
And so three years after the accidental allies defeated Nazi Germany, and even as Great Britain quit India and began to dismantle her own racist Empire, a fresh dispute over the rights of African Americans brought the United States and South Carolina into sharp confrontation once again.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Desegregation, Strom Thurmond, South Carolina, America, Civil War. ~ The whole US vs. South Carolina would be like Germany vs. the Netherlands or Belgium. They'd get steamrollered.
~ 1948 would be early for a lease lasting another 12 years. Mrs Thatcher's ministers concluded the Hong Kong negotiations in 1984 .. for a lease that expired in 1997 Interesting otherwise.
~ South Carolina would have been squashed like a bug if it had been the sole state to secede. It had triee it three decades earlier duing the so-called "nullification crisis," only to be forced to back down when President Andrew Jackson sent warships into Charleston harbor.
President Lincoln would have had n choice but to intervene militarily; if SC were allowed to secede, the principle of the Union as a voluntary "compact" would have been affirmed and the USA would have disintegrated, most likely not all aat once but state by state as individual states or groups of states pulled out over one grievance or nother.
~ The push of integration might start including re-integration of South Carolina into the Union. It'll be a major diplomatic stink for years to come, as it had been since the 1780s and must've been since the 1860s. Insane asylum indeed!
Editor says, what if Jim Burke's suggestion had been implemented by the ILEWG? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the April 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
In 2007, striking an impressive pose at the launch site the Mission Commander for Lunar Ark 2 Lieutenant S.D. Bob "Snake" Plissken fielded a question about his intended handling of the protocols of interplanetary diplomacy by reassuring the world's media that he would not hesitate to pop a cap in a Mlosh butt should the alien pirates be stupid enought to make a second attempt to seize the Earth's cultural assets.
Robbie Taylor's novel "Warp" is available on Lulu
Moongoogle 2Ex-special forces commando/war hero in World War III turned criminal, he returned to active duty after apprehension and coercion by the United States Police Force who needed to secure top-secret material from the ex-cities turned maximum security prisons of Los Angeles and Manhattan.
The result of the desperation of this new mission was an even greater level of coercision. Tucked behind a deck of American Spirit cigarettes in the top pocket of his space suit he has a written assurance from President Larry Sweetgrass that Plissken would become the fifth face on Mount Rushmore.
Shortly after take-off, the ark is boarded by the Mlosh who had hacked into Google and watched the press conference with not a little amusement. Alien space pirate commander M'KolKa forces the boarding tube but is immediately confronted by Ark security. "I heard you were dead", says M'KolKa, to which Plissken retorts "I heard you were taller".
Entry posted by Alternate Historian Robbie Taylor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Mlosh Source: Robbie Taylors Blog Labels: Mlosh, 1720, Robbie A. Taylor, Warp, Alien. Editor says, in 2007 Jim Burke of the International Space University in France said people should plan to preserve humanity's culture in the event of a civilization stopping asteroid impact with Earth. A Lunar ark was proposed. Subsequent planning may be taken up by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG).
Snake Plissken is a fictional character played by Kurt Russell in the Escape from.. movies.
Mlosh are the alien race of Robbie Taylor's Warp Timeline.
~ I wonder what the intergalactic sales value for cultural items of a pre-warp civilization would be. Evidently worth their time, so their must be a market for collectors.
~ Snake will win...he always wins.
~ Google has the worst sercurity in a galaxy - everyone & their dog can hack into it!
Editor says, what if the United States had mediated Cuban Independence? muses Jeff Provine on This Day in Alternate History Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the September 2010 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1869, with the "10th of October Manifesto" in 1868, Cuban planters declared independence from Spain, beginning the Cuban Revolution.
United States Mediates Cuban IndependenceEconomic crises and failure for government reforms had filled the island with distaste for their mother country. The Revolutionary Committee of Bayamo had begun in 1867, and Spain worked to suppress the insurgency. Oscar Cespedes was imprisoned in an effort to force submission onto his father (pictured) , then executed when his father refused. Rather than stymie the rebellion, Spain only fanned the flames.
A new story by Jeff ProvineMany Cubans looked north to the United States for aid, seeing their war as similar to the American Revolution a century before, and the two had long held ties. When president, Thomas Jefferson noted of the strategic significance of the island and suggested annexation, even sending agents to confer with Cuban officials. Under the doctrine of James Monroe, the US looked to turn aside European interests in the Western Hemisphere. However, the US had just finished its Civil War and was going through the costly Reconstruction of the South. President Grant's cabinet was split over possible support: Secretary of State Fish was opposed to a costly intervention (especially because it would weaken moral authority of America demanding reparations for Confederate naval support in British shipyards), while Secretary of War John Rawlins was all for it, partly because he had been given $28,000 worth of bonds that would mature if Cuba became independent. Grant remained stalwart in neutrality, though he ordered ships from the Pacific fleet to reinforce the Caribbean.
On August 14, Fish received letters from the president, who was increasingly supportive of recognizing Cuba, as well as the minister to Spain, Sickles, who said that the Spanish were ready to negotiate. He worked to keep the US neutral, but Rawlins, ill from tuberculosis, stepped over the Secretary of State to speak with Grant personally. After an impassioned pleading and admitting his bonds while using them of evidence for economic support from a revitalized Cuba, Rawlins persuaded Grant to order Sickles to draw up a treaty.
On September 3, Congress approved the Treaty of Madrid with both Spain and the United States recognizing Cuba as independent. Spain would also abolish slavery, while Cuba would pay indemnities in bonds backed by the United States, in return for US control over Cuban tariff rates. Rawlins would die of his consumption three days later, but his family was well supported by sale of his own bonds. Cuba celebrated and began heavy trade with the United States, bolstering the manufacturing industry of the North.
Annexation talks began almost immediately, but it would not be until 1883 that Cuba would become a territory of the United States, a decade after a political coup had forced elections to remove Cespedes from his presidency. Cuba would gain statehood in 1919 as the 49th state, though its government would be soon be the subject of suspicion in the Harding administration. Cuba would serve as a bastion for American influence in the Caribbean, sponsoring the annexation of another former Spanish colony, Puerto Rico, after its own war of independence against Spain in 1928. Other than the short-lived uprising of radical Communists in the 1950s, Cuba remained stalwart as a whole in the American Dream.
Entry posted by
Jeff Provine
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jeff Provine Blog Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: United States, Cuba, 10th of October Manifesto, Bayamo , Jefferson . Editor says, in Rawlins was unable to convince Grant to become more than disapprovingly neutral in the Cuban war that would eventually be called the Ten Years' War or the First War of Independence, which would be crushed fully in 1878. Two more wars would be fought, the third of which would call in America with the explosion aboard the USS Maine beginning the Spanish-American War. In victory in 1898, America would seize many of Spain's colonies, which would gradually gain their independence such as the Philippines in 1946 and Cuba itself in 1902.
~ This is going to have a serious effect on Anti-Catholicism, and may be a breach in the Color Line as well.
~ It also opens the door for some startling possibilities--including a U.S. presidency for Fidel Castro, who in this timeline might well not have joinmed the Communist revolutionaries, seeing opportunities elsewhere. Certainly Cuba would not have been as vulnerable to Soviet influence if it were a U.S. state.
~ And before anyone howls: Castro would have been a native-born U.S. citizen in this timeline (assuming he were born at all, of course).
Another possible result of Cuban annexation in 1868 would have been an earlier Spanish-American War. Though it doesn't happen in the above scenario, it seems all too likely: Spain fought bitterly for years against the Cuban independence movement in our history, and would surely have resented U.S. support for a secession attempt on one of the few remnants of its fading overseas empire even in the 1860s.
~ You'd have a lot more "Hispanic" influence with one state where Spanish was, at least, co-official with English. And PR might have also become a state.
Editor says, Eric Lipps asks what if Werner Von Braun got the Mars Mission signed off? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1983, Walter Cronkite greeted the returning crew of Ares I, the manned mission to Mars launched Nov. 12, 1981.
The Ares mission had followed the profile of Wernher von Braun's 1969 mission proposal to President Richard Nixon. Nixon, seeking to cut federal spending, which had sharply escalated due to the Vietnam War, had been wavering between Ares and the proposed Space Shuttle, which was being promoted as a way to make space flight much cheaper by dispensing with expendable boosters and capsules in favor of what was intended as a fully reusable spacecraft.
Moondoggle by Eric LippsThe President was won over by von Braun in a personal meeting at which the canny German expatriate scientist pointed out that under his proposal most components of the spacecraft (pictured) would be reusable and then went on to say, "Mr. President, your predecessor John Kennedy won praise for the moon program because it was seen as moving the nation forward. If you choose to go to Mars, you can win similar praise, except from those on the left who are against you anyway. But if instead, now that we have reached the moon, you choose the Shuttle, you will be seen as taking a step backward, perhaps even as being timid in this matter". Almost anyone else might have been subjected to one of Nixon's rages at that point, but the President had known the scientist since Eisenhower's administration and respected him personally.
"Mr. President, your predecessor John Kennedy won praise for the moon program because it was seen as moving the nation forward. If you choose to go to Mars, you can win similar praise, except from those on the left who are against you anyway. But if instead, now that we have reached the moon, you choose the Shuttle, you will be seen as taking a step backward, perhaps even as being timid in this matter". ~ Werner Von Braun.As von Braun had predicted, the Ares program was popular with many Americans, though liberals tended to oppose it. Among the loudest voices raised in opposition were that of Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire, who had earlier blasted Apollo as a "Moondoggle", and Minnesota's Sen. Walter Mondale. 
But the popular imagination was caught by the plan, to the point where, even after Nixon's resignation in the wake of Watergate, his successors found it expedient to continue support. Indeed, Mondale's opposition would cost him the vice-presidential slot on the Democratic ticket in 1976; Jimmy Carter, already facing an uphill struggle, decided he did not need the added burden of someone vocally against a highly popular program. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, one of Carter's strongest rivals in that year's Democratic primaries, would get the nod instead.
By the time Ares I left Earth orbit on its way to the Red Planet, Ronald Reagan had been elected president. Reagan, who had promised to simultaneously build up the military, cut taxes and balance the federal budget, was eyeing a number of agencies, including NASA, for major funding cuts. Once again, however, von Braun had come to the rescue, forging a personal bond with Reagan by appealing to the latter's visionary optimism. As a result, Reagan agreed to maintain NASA's funding, allowing the Ares mission to go forward.
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Eric Lipps
© Eric Lipps,2007-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Beasts Source: Mars Airplane Labels: Mars, Mars Airplane, Ares Mission, Werner Von Braun, Presidency. ~ Would that it had been so!
~ And it could have been, very easily. the scenario I sketched out here is exactly what von Braun proposed; however, in our history his proposal was rejected in favor of the Shuttle, which was supposed to make space flight, at least to Earth orbit, "pay for itself." *That* went well, now didn't it?
~ Wasn't something like this the premise of Stephen Baxter's book "Voyage"?
~ As a matter of interest, if this mission is a success, not to mention it's cost, does Star Wars get ther flick? And what of the Soviets? Does this mean there's a Soviet mission to Mars or does the USSR fall apart earlier than the OTL?
~ Since there's no obvious reason why the Ares project would have made the USSR collapse earlier, it's possible the Soviets would have made a try--or, with the U.S. focused on Mars, the Soviets might have revived their moon program and, unlike us, built the beginnings of a permanent colony. (It would have to be only the beginnings by 1983.)
As for Chris Oakley's comment, yes. I read the book. Lots of people had scenarios for reaching Mars in the 1960s, '70s and '80s--von Braun had even drawn up a version, way back when, which relied on nothing more than brute-force extensions of 1940s technology. A lot of the versions are sdimilar, because all have to deal with the same physical requirements for reaching Mars from Earth, surviving on the Red Planet and then returning alive.
In 1941, on this day German U-boat U-652 fired two torpedoes at the USS Greer, forcing the American entry into World War Two.Greer Incident leads to war
The following day at a speech on Capital Hill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt described the Greer Incident as an act of piracy, announcing that "in the waters which we deem necessary for our defense, American naval vessels and American planes will no longer wait until Axis submarines lurking under the water, or Axis raiders on the surface of the sea, strike their deadly blow - first".
During the Atlantic Charter negotiations, Roosevelt had told that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that he was "determined he would wage war, but not declare it".
However US Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Harold Stark went so far as to tell Churchill that he would approve the action of any of his escort commanders who sank a U-Boat, and would even attempt to provoke an incident. It was unnecessary, the sinking of the Greer, carrying mail and passengers to Iceland forced an American declaration of war.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Crises Source: Wikipedia Labels: USS Greer, Winston Churchill, World War 2, Great Britain, Forties. Editor says, Wikipedia ~ the first USS Greer was a Wickes class destroyer in the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral James A. Greer (1833?1904). She was the first US Navy ship to fire on a German ship, three months before the United States officially entered World War II. We imagine a scenario where the Greer is sunk.
In 1962, on the afternoon of September 4 US President John F. Kennedy issued a strongly worded warning to the Soviet Union based upon a draft prepared by Nicholas Katzenbach, the Deputy Attorney General, and his boss Robert F. Kennedy who recalled -Second Cuban Fiasco, Part One
"I told Ambassador Dobrynin of President Kennedy's deep concern about [the military build-up in Cuba]. He told me I should not be concerned, for he was instructed by Soviet Chairman Nikita S. Khruschev to assure President Kennedy that there would be no ground-to-ground missiles or offensive weaps placed in Cuba. Further, he said, I could assure President that this military build-up was not of any significance and that Khruschev would do nothing to disrupt the relationship of our two countries.
I reported the conversation to President Kennedy, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and relayed my own skepticism". ~ Thirteen Days - A Memoir of the Second Cuban Fiasco by former Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy (1969).
Read the conclusion in Part Two
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© Robert F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days: Memoir of the Cuban Crisis (1969).Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Second Cuban Fiasco Source: Wikipedia Labels: John F Kennedy, Cuba, San Cristobel, Nuclear War, World War 3.On this day in 1948, West Coast groceries began carrying Roswell pears on their fruit and vegetable aisles. | |
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Roswell47 Source: Wikipedia Labels: Roswell Incident, America, Meteor, Crater, America.In 1951, on this day a French army patrol in northern Vietnam found the body of Vietnamese Communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh in the ruins of Hanoi. | Ho Chi |
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original content has been repurposed to celebrate the author's genius © "When World's Collide" (1932), Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin BalmerStory Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Worlds Collide Source: Wikipedia Labels: Worlds Collide, Harry Truman, Horror, America, Disaster.| Major League | On this day in 1972 a five-man arbitration panel was set up to resolve contract disputes between MLB players and owners. |
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Curt Flood Source: Wikipedia Labels: Curt Flood, Sport, Supreme Court, Baseball, America.On this day in 1953, Canada began deploying troops to West Germany to back NATO mobilization efforts against the Soviet Union. | |
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Korea53 Source: Wikipedia Labels: Korean War, Cold War, Korea, Communism, America.On this day in 1941, the last members of Joseph Stalin's cabinet were evacuated from Moscow. | |
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Barbarossa41 Source: Wikipedia Labels: World War 2, Operation Barbarossa, Fascism, Europe of the Dictators, Axis Powers.| US President | On this day in 1938, Francis and Elizabeth Urquhart were married in Boston. |
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original content has been repurposed to celebrate the author's genius © Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: The Francis Urquhart Story Source: Wikipedia Labels: Francis Urquhart, US President, America, Ian Richardson, Politics.On this day in 1930, future President of the United States Francis Urquhart enrolled at the Philips Exeter prep school in Andover, Massachusetts. | US President |
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| Francis Urquhart |
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original content has been repurposed to celebrate the author's genius © Chris Oakley,2008-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: The Francis Urquhart Story Source: Wikipedia Labels: Francis Urquhart, US President, America, Ian Richardson, Politics.In 1985, BBC-TV started broadcasting the second series of its cult sci-fi hit 'The X-Files'. | |
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Chris Oakley
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: British X Files Source: Toronto Metro Labels: X-Files, UFO, BBC TV, British, Television.On this day in 2014 Paramount Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions issued a joint press release announcing that the feature film version of CSI, which had finished its initial worldwide theatrical run with total box office earnings of 2.1 trillion USD, would be re-released in US theaters on October 13th. The move was being made in hopes of improving the film's Academy Award prospects; it had been nominated in the Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Special Effects. | |
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Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: CSI:Crime Scene Investiga Source: Wikipedia Labels: CSI, Crime Scene Investigations, Finale, Movie, Jerry Bruckenheimer.In 1970, as word of the U.S. opposition to disaster relief for North Vietnam spreads, large-scale anti-American rioting erupts in London, Paris, Bonn and Madrid. 'Spontaneous' protests are also held in a number of Eastern European capitals, including East Berlin. | |
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Linebacker Source: Wikipedia Labels: Richard Nixon, 1968, Presidency, Presidential Election, Vietnam War. ~ Nixon would be making good sense here since the only real humane way to finish a war is to finish it by all means. As William Tecumseh Sherman put it best "War is Creuelty the crueler it is the sooner it ends".
Entry posted by Alternate Historian Robbie Taylor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: 2nd Coming Source: Robbie Taylors Blog Labels: Holy British Empire, Robbie A. Taylor, Estelle Gerard, Pope, Catholic England.Entry posted by
H2O et al.
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: 1916 Year of Peace Source: Althistory Wikia Labels: World War 1, 1914, Belgium, Flemish, Walloon.Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Crises Source: Wikipedia Labels: Greer Incident, Submarine Warfare, World War 1, Imperial Germany, America.September 3
Editor says, what if Sextus Pompeius had won the Battle of Naulochus? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the September 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 36 BC, in a brilliantly organized resurgence of Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate, the fleet of Agrippa, admiral of Octavian was decimated at the great naval battle of Naulochus.
Glorious Pompeian victory at NaulochusThe rebel General Sextus Pompeius had occupied the province of Sicily in order to strangulate Rome's grain supply. Because the city had been brought to its knees with famine, the two triumvirs Octavian and Mark Antony had been forced to strengthen their Pact of Brundisium to concentrate forces to deal with this menace. However while Antony kept his part of the bargain, Octavian did not. And yet another fleet was provided by the third triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and sailed from Africa.
Nevertheless the forces were equally matched, with both fleets comprising three hundred ships. However Agrippa commanded heavier units armed with harpax, and the sudden change in conditions strongly favoured the more maneuverable ships of Sextus. The unexpected resulted opened the way to a new framework in which Sextus Pompeius would replace Octavian as triumvar.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Pompeian, Naulochus, Second Triumvirate, Rome, Roman. Editor says, in reality the forces of the Second Triumvirate were successful. In authoring this post, we have repurposed content from Wikipedia.
~ Don't know enough about Sextus Pompeius to comment very well, but history would certainly be different.
~ With Octavian out of Roman politics, the whole Empire is changed/doesn't happen.
Editor says, what if the Byzantines had been unable to concentrate their forces at Lalakaon? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the September 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 863, the invading Arab Army of Emir Omar al-Aqta (pictured) crushed the second phase of Byzantine resistance in a titanic battle fought on the shores of the Black Sea.
Crushing Arab Victory at the Battle of LalakaonThe defeat was the culmination of a series of raids deep into Asia Minor that had plundered the Byzantine Empire. And due to Melitene's strategic location on the western side of the Anti-Taurus range, a showdown was inevitable. Nevertheless, Emperor Michael III had scored a major victory at the Bishop's Meadow, but tactical errors had enabled Omar's army to survive.
Miraculously, a second chance arrived, but cruel fate intervened and he was unable to co-ordinate the huge Byzantine forces he had assembled into a single army on the field. This comprised a northern Byzantine force composed of the forces from the Black Sea themes of the Armeniacs, Bucellarians (under Nasar), Koloneia and Paphlagonia; a southern force, the one that had already fought at the Bishop's Meadow and had kept shadowing the Arab army. But due to internal divisions, the Emperor had been forced to his cede command to his uncle Petronas the Patrician, the stratēgos of the Thracesian Theme.
The command confusion created a military disaster of the first magnitude; Omar was victorious and both the Emperor, his Commander and the Paulician leader Karbeas were amongst the many fatalities. The Arab sacking of the port city of Amisos was to be a precursor to subsequent tragedy that befell the Byzantine Capital.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Lalakaon, Byzantine, Byzantium, Omar al-Aqta, Petronas the Patrician. Editor says, in reality the subsequent battle ended in a complete Byzantine victory and the death of the emir on the field, and was followed by a successful Byzantine counter-offensive across the border. In authoring this post, we have repurposed content from Wikipedia.
~ This could have led to Byzantium losing Asia Minor centuries before Manzikert, and the Empire not lasting as long.
~ Certainly a shorter empire. Could've seen more Arabic influence throughout eastern Europe, perhaps even northern Europe with the Vikings coming to trade at Muslim Constantinople.
Editor says, what if Teddy Roosevelt had been killed in 1902? muses Steven Fisher. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the February 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1902, at the Howard's Hill intersection in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a runaway trolley car rammed into the open-air horse carriage of Theodore Roosevelt, killing the President, his assistant George B. Cortelyou, Secret Service Agent William Craig and Governor Winthrop M. Crane.
John Hay
27th President of the United States
3th September, 1902 to 1st July 1905The office of Vice President had been left unoccupied since the assassination of his predecessor William McKinley. TR himself had vacated the position just a few weeks short of his forty-third birthday. And so as directed by the Succession Act of 1886, Secretary of State John Hay rose to the Presidency.
It was not his first residency in the Executive Mansion. Because the law office of his Uncle Milton Hay was next door to Abraham Lincoln's practice and Lincoln thus became acquainted with John Hay. When Lincoln won election as president, his secretary, John G. Nicolay, recommended John Hay to Lincoln as assistant private secretary. Thus, at age twenty-two he began a lifelong career in government, except for a journalism stint from 1870-78. Though technically a clerk in the Interior Department, he served as Lincoln's secretary until 1864. He lived in the northeast corner bedroom on the second floor of the White House, which he shared with his fellow secretary and Pittsfield Academy schoolmate, Nicolay.
Finally elevated to the Presidency himself, John Hay faced a series of immediate challenges, the first being a coal famine brought on by a great strike in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. But fortunately, Hay was a man of vast political experience, winning re-election and serving until his own death in July 1905.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: John Hay, Theodore Roosevelt, Premature Death, Presidency, America. Editor says, in reality Craig threw himself in front of Roosevelt and was killed and nearly decapitated.
~ And how would OTL change?
Please click hyperlink for Yahoo! Groups Discussion comments.
~ Kirk, two things come to mind for me: the establishment of national parks in the US and the Great White Fleet's journey around the globe in 1905. Both of these TR-led actions were vitally important to the direction of the nation.
~ Then there's TR's challenge to the business cartels of his period, which almost certainly wouldn't have happened under Hay.
And if the Mount Rushmore monument gets built, would Teddy Roosevelt's face be on it if he'd only served a bit over a year as president?
~ Don't know much about the guy---what I know mainly comes from Vidal's novel about Lincoln. There might not be national parks, but those and related things have become Frankensteins' monsters far beyond their original purview.
~ Panama Canal is postponed as well.
Editor says, what if the Mongols had won the Battle of Ain Jalut? (this battle is considered by many historians to be of great macro-historical importance, as it marked the highwater point of Mongol conquests, and the first time they had ever been decisively defeated in direct combat. After previous defeats, the Mongols had always returned and avenged the loss, but after the Battle of Ain Jalut they were unable to do so).
Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
This story was published in the November 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1260, on this day the Mongol Ilkhanate leader Hulagu Khan decisively defeated the Mamluk Sultanate at the Battle of Ain Jalut in eastern Galilee, in the Jezreel Valley.
Mongolian victory at the Battle of Ain Jalut The Mongol ambition had been limited to the goal of consolidating the occupation of Persia, Syria and Galilee. However the spectacular nature of the victory opened the way to a Mongol advance into Egypt.
The slaughtering of the inhabitants of Baghdad and Cairo signalled the collapse of the Mamluk State. And yet the twin cities of Mecca and Medina were spared the same fate by a treaty that respected the character of the Holy Sites being an equal part of the Mongol Muslim's heritage.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Battle of Ain Jalut, Mongol, Mamluks, Jezreel, Galilee. Editor says, in this post we explore an article on Alternate History discussion group and repurpose content from Wikipedia.
~ Egypt would've had yet another layer of culture to add to its culture and architecture.
Editor says, what if Operation High Jump ended with a mushroom cloud? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1946, on this day after the final ultimatum was ignored, the Secret Nazi base in New Swabia, Antarctica was destroyed by an atomic bomb dropped from the B-29 "Sally Jupiter" of the 509th Composite Group.
End of Operation High Jump Admiral Byrd drops the "Snow Ball" by Ed, Paul J. Adam et alThis bomb ("Snow Ball") killed most of the expendable personnel left behind and destroyed the hangars and launch facilities.
The vaunted Reichsflugscheiben had of course evacuated to the moonbase the day before.
The last survivors of the Nazi base surrendered to a British destroyer that served in the blockade patrol in the area. These survivors had to mutiny and kill their last few hard-liner leaders, in order to be able to do the sensible thing. They told their rescuers that after finishing their food stocks, and after the ensuing grisly episodes of madness and cannibalism, they were sure they couldn't get through another winter. This article is taken from the NaziUFO thread.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: NaziUFO Source: Wikipedia Labels: High Jump, Admiral Byrd, Adolf Hitler, Antartica, World War 2. Editor says, in this article were repurpose comments from Google Discussions Groups to our original article The Battle of Antarctica.
~ "Sounds like a job for Superman!" (pause) " Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" (pause) "Look there! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Superman" (pause) "Strange visitor from another planet, who disguised as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way!" (pause) "And now a word from our sponsors..."
~ From the Moon, the Nazis could easily bombard Earth with rocks untill all submitted to the will of the Fuhrer.
~ Good point from Mr. Oppen. If they have space technology, it'd be just a few steps to organize some kind of rail gun for iron-rich meteors. The Blitz worldwide.
Editor says, what if the stain of slavery had been removed at the birth of the nation? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the March 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1783, on this day at his lodgings in the Hotel d'York in Paris, the British Member of Parliament David Hartley signed a treaty agreement that sold the territories of the Thirteen Colonies for cash and bought the liberty of five hundred thousand enslaved African loyalists using future trading tarriffs to be collected by the City of London.
The Treaty of Paris is Signed
Co-written by Scott PalterWith both parties favouring a neutral location, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay had not been invited to the Embassy at 44 Rue Jacob. And to remove any scintilla of celebration from the inauspicious treaty signing location the British delegation then departed, refusing to pose for a never-to-be-completed painting by the artist Benjamin West.
If the British continued to harbour resentment towards their "former colonists", then perhaps the patriots could take some satisfaction from the settlement. Because not only had the last vestiges of hated British authority been removed, but also the legacy issue of slavery which otherwise would surely have left a pernicious stain in the revolutionary fabric of the new nation. Certainly Franklin knew this best of all. Not only had he published abolitionist tracts for half a century, but he had been there to console Thomas Jefferson when his more idealistic statements were struck from the Declaration of Independence.
Even if the British had turned against slavery more quickly than expected, the "national interest" was a driving force in policy making. Of course the British desperately needed additional labour resources to commercial exploit the sugar islands and refill the Treasury's woefully depleted coffers. And over the next few years as the freedman were transhipped to the Caribbean, European immigrants arrived to take their place (albeit as paid workers) on the cotton plantations of the south. After all, when the Contintental Congress commissioned Messrs Adams, Franklin and Jefferson to design a seal for the United States, they produced a national emblem only depicting Americans of English, Scottish, Irish, French, German and Dutch Extraction.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Treaty of Paris, America, Great Britain, Independence, David Hartley. ~ Wouldn't striping the Colonies of their slave labour ensure economic ruin?
~ Would the British give a damn about blacks? They practiced slavery quite happily at the time in the Carib, and many people defended/had no problem with it.
~ Cash? What cash? The American colonies were in dire financial straits by war's end, heavily indebted both individually and collectively and desperately short of "specie" (gold and silver). About the only way they could have raised serious money would have been by selling off all their slaves, and Southerners, in particular, would rather have remained British subjects than do that.
~ Makes no sense. British anti-slavery efforts did not seriously get under way until after Napoleon. What national seal are you referring to? And it is doubtful that the slaves of the Deep South were or were not Loyalists.
~ Continuing from Mr. Braungart's thought of economic depression in the South with greater build in the North, we'd see a much earlier influx of Carpetbaggers, perhaps even enough to build up factories for the industrial revolution, not leaving the South behind by the 1850s.
Editor says, what if Mongke Khan had lived? muses Jeff Provine on This Day in Alternate History Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the September 2010 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1259, after over a month of illness, the leader of the Mongol Empire, Mongke Khan, had recovered enough to leave his tents and review his troops.
Mongke Khan RecoversMost Khans moved northward during the summer heat, but Mongke had decided to stay and see out the siege of Hechuan in southern China. He had been wounded by shrapnel in August, which had hardly fazed the Khan. However, while injured, his nurses had given him tainted water that produced a "blood plague" of diarrhea (what modern scholars believed was cholera).
A new story by Jeff ProvineWhen he had regained himself, Mongke called for doctors and priests to determine what had caused the plagues. "Bad water" was the final decision, and Mongke demanded better organization for all Mongol camps. He later went on to start a medical school in China to determine what had been "bad" about the water, and it was there in 1325 that germ theory was developed, which gave the Horde a powerful upper-hand in its later conquests.
Mongke spent much of his illness pondering the future of his empire that had already seen its share of internal warring. He had kept up good feelings with Batu in the west, but it was not difficult to imagine the Mongol forces being split. Electors needed to be better defined, leading Mongke to create an addition to Genghis's Yassa defining whose influence was significant and rules in case of a split vote. Later in his career, Mongke would use this law as a basis for a stronger support system among the princes to create something of a parliament for internal rule while the Khan worked to further the ancestors' goal of world conquest.
Mongke died in 1287, seeing his empire grow by the decade. His brother Hulagu Khan had defeated a combined force of the Mamluks and Franks at Ain Jalut and conquered Egypt, opening the gateway to Africa. Kublai had moved into Southeast Asia and dominated the islands of Japan on his third invasion attempt. Further Mongols had marched into Central Europe, where they had turned back in 1248 at the death of Güyük Khan. The battles there had been bloody as the Mongols struggled to adapt to the wetter weather and denser populations, but the Horde had always excelled at adaptation. They soon traded their bows for Arabic midfa (small cannons), eventually creating the precursor to the musket. By Mongke's death, the Mongols were approaching the Pyrenees Mountains.
His brother Kublai was elected after Mongke's death for a short reign that ended in 1298 with the Khan's death after a long illness. He had vouched for his son Temur to become Khan, but the elective princes distrusted his gluttony and drunkenness and chose a distant relation, Gentu. Conquests continued, wrapping up the whole of the Eastern Hemisphere in a Mongol Empire that stretched from the Forest Kingdoms of Ghana to the Scottish Highlands to the ice-block villages of the Arctic to the islands of Oceania. Strict organization kept the empire in line with severe penalties such as death for allowing a traveler to starve. In exchange for obedience, the people were marginally free to worship and seek employment as they chose.
Upon the discovery of the Western Hemisphere in the seventeenth century by explorers crossing the Bering Sea, Mongols launched a new wave of conquests (aided by the spread of smallpox) that filled their coffers with gold. Much of the wealth went into art, which in turn furthered scientific development that revolutionized the empire with networks of first telegraph lines, then radio waves, then satellite links. While much the same, society came under its own revolutions in the Empire with election of princes and an end to slavery.
The Mongol's next invasion would be of nearby planets, setting foot on the Moon on the 800th anniversary of Genghis Khan's birth. Using it as a light gravity-field launching ground for missions to Mars and Jupiter, research and mining facilities spread out through the Solar System. With the Terrestrial Planet Finder probe, the Empire's next step of conquest is soon to be found among the stars.
Entry posted by
Jeff Provine
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jeff Provine Blog Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: Mongke Khan, Mongol, Empire, China, Mongol Empire. Editor says, in reality, Mongke Khan died of his illness on August 11, 1259. As with all deaths of a Khan, the Mongol princes returned to elect the next, causing Hulagu Khan to leave the Middle East with the majority of his army. On September 3, 1260, the Mongol army under the Turkish general Kitbuqa would suffer defeat in an ambush by the Mamluk Egyptians at Ain Jalut in Palestine. While the defeat was on the outskirts of the empire and not influential to the Mongols, it gave the West great hope in proving that the Horde could be defeated. After Kublai Khan's reign (won from his brother Ariq Boke in civil war), the empire would begin to splinter into its many conquered lands, which were forever changed by their Mongol overlords.
Comment from Jane Gutter on Facebook: yay for mongols on the moon!
~ Mongols vs. Sioux? I'd love to see that!
~ The Mongols would have had to undergo a significant cultural reformation to have become progress-minded enough to build a high-tech civilization. Still, I suppose it's possible: who would have predficted our world based on the state of Western civilization in 1259?
~ It would definitely be a change, but perhaps could work with their sense of free-enterprise and open trade. Once a technological revolution came along to show that technology could be profitable, proto-capitalism might take off. I like the idea of Mongol corporation heads dueling.
Editor says, what if Oliver Cromwell accepted the crown? David Atwell's series can be read in full on the Changing the Times Web Site in Part One and Part Two.
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In 1658, on this day Richard Cromwell was proclaimed the King of England immediately after the death of his father; the thirty-two year old monarch would be faced by two immediate problems.
The first was the army, which questioned his position as commander given his lack of military experience.
The second was the financial position of the regime, with a debt estimated at ?2 million. Unable to resolve these problems, Cromwell's enemies dubbed him Tumbledown Dick or Queen Dick for his indecisive character.
The Royal House of Cromwell, Part 2 - Richard IV (1658-1660) by David AtwellRichard was never ready to become King. Furthermore, Richard was the target of constant plots & had to be saved on several occasions thanks to Oliver's supporters in the government, Parliament &, more importantly, the New Model Army.
After only two years he abdicated from the throne on the eve of an invasion by Charles Stuart "The Pretender". He would establish the Richards line of the Royal Family of Cromwell.
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David Atwell
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: House of Cromwell Source: Wikipedia Labels: House of Cromwell, Great Britain, Republic, Puritan, Revolution.In 1960, on this day Republican Congressman John Lindsay of New York took to the House of Representatives floor to blast the Eisenhower administration for not being more efficient in getting federal help to the survivors of the Jamaica Bay hurricane. Lindsay's speech stunned President Eisenhower and outraged Vice-President Nixon, who considered it a personal insult, but it won the Congressman a great deal of admiration among his fellow New Yorkers as a man ready to go the extra mile to get their city what it needed to recover from the storm. | Republican Congressman |
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| John Lindsay |
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Chris Oakley
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Jamaica Bay Source: Wikipedia Labels: New York, Hurricane, America, 1948, Disaster.| Japanese Troops | On this day in 1941, Japanese troops in Russia's Siberian territory captured the industrial city of Magadan. |
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| entering Magadan |
Entry posted by
Chris Oakley
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Barbarossa41 Source: Wikipedia Labels: World War 2, Operation Barbarossa, Fascism, Europe of the Dictators, Axis Powers.On this day in 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed into law a Congressional bill providing for the establishment of a new US federal bureau intended to assist state and local authorities in dealing with natural disasters such as the July 6th Roswell asteroid strike. The new bureau, formally known as the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), would function as an independent agency until it was absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security in 2002. | US President |
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| Harry S. Truman |
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Chris Oakley
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Roswell47 Source: Wikipedia Labels: Roswell Incident, America, Meteor, Crater, America.Entry posted by Alternate Historian Robbie Taylor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Pete Best Source: Wikipedia Labels: Pete Best, Robbie A. Taylor, Beatles, Sixties, Mersey Beat.| Tammi Terrell | In 1982, Marvin Gaye finally came to terms with the death of Tammi Tyrell after a year of reconstruction in Oostende, Belgium. Still upset over Motown's hasty decision to release In Our Lifetime, he negotiated a release from the label and signed with Columbia Records in 1982, releasing Midnight Love that year. The album included Marvin's final big hit, 'Sexual Healing' (sample (help·info)). The song gave Gaye his first two Grammy Awards (Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, Best R&B Instrumental) in February 1983. The following year, he won a Grammy nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance again, this time for the Midnight Love album itself. |
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| Marvin Gaye Jr. |
In February 1983, Gaye gave an emotional performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the NBA All-Star Game, held at The Forum in Inglewood, California, accompanied by a drum machine. In March, 1983, he gave a sensational performance in front of his old mentor and label for Motown 25, performing 'What's Going On'. |
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor Play the tune
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Personalities Source: Wikipedia Labels: Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell, Death, Music, Motown.Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Inventions Source: Wikipedia Labels: Utopia_Planitia Fleet Yards, Galaxy class starship USS Enterprise-D, Mars, Intrepid class starship USS Voyager, USS Defiant prototype.Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Ho Chi Minh, Chiang Kai-shek Crossover, Vietnam, Viet Cong, America Triumphant.September 2
Editor says, what if the great lion Aslan had not bounded out of the Lewisian imagination? Part 4. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1939, on the eve of World War Two, three school girls Margaret, Mary and Katherine were evacuated from London; their destination was "The Kilns" in Risinghurst, [the home of C.S. Lewis] three miles east of Oxford city centre.
The School Girls, the Dark Lord and the WardrobeThat house was owned by a fellow of Magdalene College, Jack Lewis. Shortly after their arrival, he sketched out a few thoughts in his diary: "This book [the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe] is about four children whose names were Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter. But it is most about Peter who was the youngest. They all had to go away from London suddenly because of Air Raids, and because Father, who was in the Army, had gone off to the War and Mother was doing some kind of war work. They were sent to stay with a kind of relation of Mother's who was a very old professor who lived all by himself in the country".
The high fantasy concept of that book had been forming for over twenty-five years. Because at the age of just sixteen, he had sketched out a mental picture of a faun [Tumnus] "carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood" meeting Lucy, a character he now connected with one of his young guests.
At one desperate impasse when solo efforts to develop the novel were failing abysmally , Lewis had turned to an academic colleague. John Tolkien had also made no progress whatsoever in developing an initially promising concept ("In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit"). Realising that their authoring skills were woefully inferior to their powers of grand envisioning, they embarked about the failed collaborative project The Witch, the Hobbit and the Wardrobe. That was during the early days of the General Strike, a transformative milestone event which would change both of their lives.
Because Tolkien soon drifted off into the fringe of right wing politics. The financial crisis brought him to power as the head of an artistic-political movement. His demagogic leadership was one of the chief reasons why Margaret, Mary and Katherine had been sent out of harm's way before the air raid sirens started. And the glimmer of the spark of an idea for a new central character in the Lewisian imagination: a Dark Lord arising in Narnia.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Personalities Source: Wikipedia Labels: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Lord of the Rings, Fantasy. Editor says, in the Encyclopedia of Fantasy John Clute and John Grant note tLtWatW "was clearly written in haste, beginning as a romp". Theses ideas are explored in "The Magical Worlds of Narnia A Treasury of Myths and Legends" by David Colbert (2005).
~ So will Lewis' story have three girls as the children in it? Stay tuned for Part 5:-)
~ The Chronicles would be different. Which girl would betray her sisters to the Witch?
~ EEK! :o
~ One pipe to rule them all, one pipe to find them...
~ If Lewis' works become a hit, it might bring him back to being uncomfortably close with Chancellor Tolkien.
Editor says, what if Cleopatra and Antony had won the Battle of Actium? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
This story was published in the November 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 31 BC, on this day the decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic was fought on the Ionian Sea at the Battle of Actium.
Battle of ActiumThe combatants were the combined forces of Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt (pictured) set against a fleet commanded by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa on behalf of Gaius Octavius Thurinus. The allied victory at Actium marked a defeat for both Octavius and Cleopatra.
The undisputed victor was Anthony who went on to win the war, and as the first emperor, ruled both the Roman world and also Egypt from Rome.
Very much the junior partner in political and military terms, Egypt needed a powerful Roman army to keep Cleopatra on the throne. The alliance did not survive the Final War of the Roman Republic and in despair, Cleopatra killed herself by inducing an Egyptian cobra to bite her.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Actium, Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Rome, Octavius. Editor says, in this post we explore an article on Yahoo! Answers and repurpose content from Wikipedia.
~ Anthony wins. Takes Rome. Now what? Cleopatra in Rome as Queen doesn't work and he's not about to try moving the capital to Egypt [also won't work at this stage] so its replace Octavian with a new man in Rome and...then what?
~ So no matter who wins the Roman civil war, Egypt loses? One reason Egypt stayed independent for so long was b/c no Roman politiican would authorize anybody else to conquer it...it would make the person who conquered it overwhelmingly powerful and wealthy. That said, a Rome under Anthony would be...interesting...in the sense of the Chinese curse.
~ Anthony was a great showboater, but he most likely wouldn't cure Rome's ills like Octavian did. It'd end up being a much weaker Rome.
Editor says, what if America had been forced into an anti-Communist alliance with Imperial Japan? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the October 2010 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1945, the formal cessation of hostilities in World War Two was marked on this day by the counter-signature of the Treaty of Tokyo by US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu.
Genzai Bakudan Part 2The Allied delegation had arrived onboard the USS Missouri, the American battleship named after the home state of the absent US President. Because Harry S. Truman had followed diplomatic protocol, opting out of attendance after Emperor Hirohito had declined to attend, instead both chose to send a high-ranking representative.
Of course if the Imperial Japanese Navy had succeeded in destroying the US Pacific Fleet with its experimental nuclear weapons, then the USS Missouri would also have been missing. Because less than three weeks before, both Governments had conducted demonstration detonations of their respective atomic bombs. Although the US programme was far more technologically advanced, Allied Scientists had been fooled into believing that Japan had sufficient capability to turn an Allied Invasion into a military disaster.
In a key note speech he delivered at the ceremony, Allied Supreme Commander Douglas McArthur spoke of the development in apocalyptic terms: "Men since the beginning of time have sought peace.... Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door".
Inside of five years, that prediction would be put to the severest test (as would any doubt that conventional warfare had been superseded by atomic weapons). As the UN Supreme Commander in Korea, MacArthur would lead an international force which included troops from Imperial Japan. Facing defeat at the hands of the Chinese Communists, a desperate MacArthur would request authorisation for the detonation of thirty to fifty nuclear weapons on Chinese Military bases in Manchuria. There could be "No Substitute for Victory" warned Brass Hat.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
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Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Genzai Bakudan, Japan, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Japan. ~ MacArthur would have still gotten a big fat NO just like in the OTL.
~ I'm assuming that in this timeline Japan has no postwar "peace constitution"--which opens the door on some ugly possibilities later on. But I've written elsewhere how unlikely I think it is that Japan could have had even a primitive A-bomb by 1945.
As for MacArthur, I agree with David Atwell: if Truman wasn't willing to let the General send troops into China, how likely would it have been that he could have gotten the OK to lob dozens of A-bombs onto Chinese territory?
~ Without its "peace constitution," Japan would probably be resting up and getting ready for "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Sequel."
~ If there is a peace treaty there is no Occupation. If there is no Occupation MacArthur retires at the end of WW2. And a peace with invasion out would have seen a US admiral not Mac there for the signing. Mac was there because he was going to be occupation commander.
~ Truman was definitely one to slow down MacArthur, though pushing through the Japanese may be enough to lob a few bombs in all-out war to prevent American deaths. Fill in the gap: what leads to war in Korea?
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© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
