Things that look like alternate history, but aren't

[Admiral Brown]

British Royal Marines marching unarmed under the watch of an Argentinian soldier, after having surrendered (April 1982) It looks like an ATL, but it actually happened in the early stage of the war. The picture is real.

Here's the picture:

[False Dmitri]

Madman Nazi leader crash-landing in Britain and taken to the Tower of London

[Tocomocho]

Originally Posted by Admiral Brown

An Argentinian reaction plane in the early 50ies, designed by a German scientist who escaped from Germany after WWII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulqui_II

Even the name of said German scientist looks like it was taken from a bad 60s comic strip:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Tank

[Varangian]

The attics of Gregor MacGregor .......

[Thande]

Here's an old chestnut found in 2006 by Othniel:

[Jman]

What about this? I mean honestly, check out the flag:

[Legolas]

Originally Posted by Petike

The aftermath of WWI or the more troubled parts of the interwar period sure were a golden age of modern European balkanisation gone insane : <...>

I didn't know about quite a few of these - a very interesting read, even if it's from Wikipedia You missed at least two of those strange things though - the Republic of Perloja and the Litbel.

[zoomar]

Originally Posted by Admiral Brown

An Argentinian reaction plane in the early 50ies, designed by a German scientist who escaped from Germany after WWII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulqui_II

Actually, this is a good one. The Argentines spend a lot of effort during and after WW2 to develop a full-fledged military aviation industry. Play with history a bit and one can imagine a fascist, nationalist Argentina arming itself with advanced planes purchased from Germany and locally built from indigenous designs or German expat engineers. Perhaps even allied with Germany, and tolerated after the war in the same way Italy or Spain was.

[Campbell1004]

Originally Posted by Emperor Norton I

They probably flipped the original image (and its three pictures, by the way. They just look attached.)

I got it was three pictures, I know Kennedy wasn't some sort of hydra.

[Petike]

Originally Posted by Legolas

I didn't know about quite a few of these - a very interesting read, even if it's from Wikipedia You missed at least two of those strange things though - the Republic of Perloja and the Litbel.

Immediate post-WWI history can really be surprising...

[Petike]

And don't forget our "bad ol' bloody mongolian baron" :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Ungern_von_Sternberg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3672047/Baron-Ungern-Sternberg-meteoric-nutter.html

http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/themadbaronofmongolia

Imagine a psycho like this actually conquering Eurasia - he'd be worse than the Nazis and Commies combined... And with an additional creepy quasi-religious vibe to top it all off...

Which is, of course, what happened in the ASB TL of Iron Storm, where the guy even has a slightly fictionalized counterpart. Heck, even their flags are similar (the first one is OTL) :

[The Archduke]

A minor Jewish sect expanding throughout the world, and now claiming around one third of the world's population as at least nominal adherents.

[Emperor Norton I]

Originally Posted by Petike

And don't forget our "bad ol' bloody mongolian baron" :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Ungern_von_Sternberg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3672047/Baron-Ungern-Sternberg-meteoric-nutter.html

http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/themadbaronofmongolia

Imagine a psycho like this actually conquering Eurasia - he'd be worse than the Nazis and Commies combined... And with an additional creepy quasi-religious vibe to top it all off...

Which is, of course, what happened in the ASB TL of Iron Storm, where the guy even has a slightly fictionalized counterpart. Heck, even their flags are similar (the first one is OTL) :

I think I may have made that last flag.

(I uploaded one of the versions to wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Iron_Storm_(video_game)#Flag

[Petike]

Originally Posted by Emperor Norton I

I think I may have made that last flag.

It's possible - I found it in some old obsolete flag thread here on AH.com.

[Ahura Mazda]

I small German duchy with only baltic sea coast colonizes both America and Africa...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland_colonization

[DrakonFin]

Originally Posted by Dr.FeelGood

The attics of Gregor MacGregor .......

And let's not forget MacGregor's one time collaborator, the illustrious Colonel Francis Maceroni:

http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/documen...6_Maceroni.pdf

A man who looks like bad alternate history, but is not.

[Leo euler]

How about this one:

A group of defeated Confederates, determined to keep their way of life going and to keep owning slaves, migrates to a nation in the Southern Hemisphere.

Do they come back 150 years later to become a major power? Are they a menace to the safety of the entire free world?

Well, not really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederados

The Confederados are a cultural sub-group of 10,000 to 20,000 Confederate Americans who immigrated chiefly to the area of the city of São Paulo, Brazil after the American Civil War. Many returned to the United States, but descendants of Confederados have intermarried in Brazil, live in many different cities, speak Portuguese and consider themselves thoroughly Brazilian.

Some more information:

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=552#more-552

[wilcoxchar]

A few Interwar New York Times articles I found while bored.

League is Shocked to Find Danzig Sells Mexico Arms

War on Italy Openly Declared by D'Annunzio
Ummm...yeah, so the story behind this is that Italian author Gabriele d'Annunzio was pissed at the possibility of handing over Fiume to Yugoslavia. So he decided to take over the city and declare himself dictator in the hopes that they would be peacefully annexed into Italy. When Italy refused, d'Annunzio declared war on Italy and surrendered a year after he took over.

Oddly enough, his reign over Fiume foreshadowed much of the Italian fascist system under Mussolini, with d'Annunzio even declaring himself Duce.


I'm now just having fun reading old New York Times articles.

[Leo euler]

Originally Posted by wilcoxchar

A few Interwar New York Times articles I found while bored.

League is Shocked to Find Danzig Sells Mexico Arms

War on Italy Openly Declared by D'Annunzio
Ummm...yeah, so the story behind this is that Italian author Gabriele d'Annunzio was pissed at the possibility of handing over Fiume to Yugoslavia. So he decided to take over the city and declare himself dictator in the hopes that they would be peacefully annexed into Italy. When Italy refused, d'Annunzio declared war on Italy and surrendered a year after he took over.

Oddly enough, his reign over Fiume foreshadowed much of the Italian fascist system under Mussolini, with d'Annunzio even declaring himself Duce.


I'm now just having fun reading old New York Times articles.

How clever! So basically, the idea is analogous to this?: say that you're the mayor of Toronto, but you secretly want to be part of America...so you declare war on America and hope that you are annexed?

[catboy637]

Originally Posted by Leo euler

How clever! So basically, the idea is analogous to this?: say that you're the mayor of Toronto, but you secretly want to be part of America...so you declare war on America and hope that you are annexed?

I think that, secretly, all Canadians want to be annexed by the uSA.