I am guessing the war being only being fougbt on frontier and doesn't impact much on mainland.
However, at the advice of Chancellor Wels, Hitler's sentence was overturned by a presidential order, which was signed by President Hindenburg on 3 July.
Nope, same Wels. If I'd made up some random guy and named him Wels for no reason, that would've been pretty cheeky of meJust now started reading this and...wow. Otto Wels is the one behind the commutation of Hitler's sentence? I'm guessing he'll live to regret that - if he lives long enough to have the opportunity.
(Unless this is some other Wels, but I'm assuming it's him since the SPD are the largest party at the time.)
I found it interesting
I'm also curious about what part of 1984 style warfare will be debuted... perhaps floating fortresses?
The Senate held a thin 52-seat majority for the Socialists, while the Republicans took 34 seats and the Democrats, 15. The House was 232 Socialist, 152 Republicans and 51 Democrats. In each house a thin majority, but a majority nevertheless.
That's actually a very good point. With some of the electoral ratios in this timeline I took about an hour calculating them out, but it was a lot harder to decide the exact numbers for the U.S. elections, considering how ossified and convoluted the Senate electoral system can be. I might just incorporate your suggestion, if it's okay with you.Just a mathematical note: you had the Socialists at 18 Senate seats after the 1934 midterm election. If Wikipedia is accurate, there were 32 Senate seats contested in 1936 plus another 4 through special elections, so the Socialists would have to win 34 of the 36 seats to get from 18 to 52. Of the 36 contested, at least six are in Southern states that you have sticking with Garner: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia.
While this isn't impossible, especially if local scandals or inept campaigns trip up the Democrats in those states, maybe a more realistic path would be to have them get close to a majority (which would take a total of 48 in this era before Alaska and Hawaii join) and a few Democrats or Progressive Republicans defect to their ranks. For that matter, 47 plus the support of the Farmer-Labor Senator from Minnesota would give them effective control of the Senate with Long there to break ties.
That's actually a very good point. With some of the electoral ratios in this timeline I took about an hour calculating them out, but it was a lot harder to decide the exact numbers for the U.S. elections, considering how ossified and convoluted the Senate electoral system can be. I might just incorporate your suggestion, if it's okay with you.
They will try to fight WW2 for long as possible?"Our reason for fighting this war need not be to end it as soon as possible. This war may be our opportunity to spread the Revolution to the rest of Europe. If we allow the fighting to continue for long enough that the rest of the continent will be plunged into chaos and war--then, and only then, will Europe be ready for the socialist order."
They'll get the west involved, then they'll keep the war going on easy mode until Germany and Italy have overrun the French, Czechoslovakians, Yugoslavians, etc. Then, when most of Europe is in the hands of the fascists, the Russians will conquer the entire Axis Empire, from France to Poland to Norway, and assimilate them all into the socialist system. In other words, in the eyes of the Voyindel men, this war is, for now, not meant to conclude--it is meant to be continuous.They will try to fight WW2 for long as possible?
Honestly, is that clear enough? That's essentially the entire point of this update, and I want to make it very obvious.They'll get the west involved, then they'll keep the war going on easy mode until Germany and Italy have overrun the French, Czechoslovakians, Yugoslavians, etc. Then, when most of Europe is in the hands of the fascists, the Russians will conquer the entire Axis Empire, from France to Poland to Norway, and assimilate them all into the socialist system. In other words, in the eyes of the Voyindel men, this war is, for now, not meant to conclude--it is meant to be continuous.
I'll edit the post to clarify that a little bit more.
Yes this is clear enough.Honestly, is that clear enough? That's essentially the entire point of this update, and I want to make it very obvious.
Great. I only hope the rest of my readership will agreeYes this is clear enough.
So that war in nineteen-eighty-four would be this war continued,right?
But This TL is special for me because it was The primary source centric TL. Also, I can wait two years for this TL..No, in fact, the war in 1984 will be a different war. And on that note, I would like to announce that I will be commencing a relatively brief break from posting new updates.
Why I'm taking a break:
1. This TL has gotten somewhat difficult for me to control. This is mostly due to my long-ass writing style, but a lot of times I set out to cover a certain sequence of events in a single entry and I end up taking two or three entries to do it. So far, my policy has been to plan out ten or so entries, write those, then plan the next ten. That doesn't seem to be working. This time, I'm going to make a definitive outline for at least half of the rest of this TL, and then start writing out the individual entries. For that I need time--lots of it.
2. I need to get all of my ideas straight and done with. Sometimes I can't help but vacillate from idea to idea as I forge the path to 1984, and that's OK now but it will get dangerous as I continue working toward the fixed outcome.
3. I honestly need a bit of a break from regular writing. My schedule is set to busy up a lot in the next few months and I need some more free time (a lot of these entries take several hours in total to write so it takes a significant part out of my time).
What to expect from "Part Two"
1. A faster pace for the timeline. I've been at this for seven months now and made close to sixty entries, and I've only covered about sixteen years from the point that the action began. I want to advance the timeline at a much faster pace, because at this rate it'll be two years before we get to 1984. And I don't want that. Thus, after this the TL will move at a significantly faster pace, time-wise.
2. More focus on Britain. After all, 1984 is a book about Britain, and it's essentially the only country for which we actually know anything about the backstory, so I think it only makes sense for Britain to be the primary focus of this TL in the future.
3. Fewer primary sources. I generally like writing in primary sources but it's starting to get rather clunky and grueling. I've already been doing this for a while, but I guess I primary source style and focusing on novelistic-type narratives and descriptive, Wikipedia-like entries.
4. A new name. I haven't liked the name "Before 1984" in a while. It seems unoriginal and obvious, so I'm changing the name to "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree: A 1984 Timeline".
5. A different thread. The more I work on this, the more I feel it belongs in the After 1900 forum, since up until this point this TL hasn't been very 1984-centric yet (another thing I will be changing). It will also help to increase the traffic on the TL, something that I want to have. So when I start posting again, it'll be in a new thread in the After-1900 section.
6. More balanced examination of all countries. The timeline will be focused more on Britain overall, but outside of Britain I will spend a more-or-less equal amount of time reporting on events in future Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia.
I'm setting myself a deadline for new postings: December 13, 2017, ideally, December 25 at the latest. Writing this is usually the highlight of my day, and I have every intention to finish this timeline. I just need a break for a little bit.
But before I go, I have a few shorter posts to tie you all over until I come back, which I will post over the next few days. Here's number 1:
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam.
Vasya Denisovich grabbed another crate.
One. Two. Three. Fo--
The shell slipped from Vasya hand and fell to the floor with a loud bang. Pretending not to notice the heads turned in his direction, he picked up the stray shell, stacked the rest into the box, hammered it shut, and shoved it onto the conveyor belt. He grabbed for the next box.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Se--
The room was cut by the shriek of a whistle. "General workers' meeting in fifteen minutes!" yelled the foreman across the factory floor.
Vasya kept in a groan. He hated these meetings; they were called at least once a week, sometimes twice, and they were almost always the same: the local Party bellower would step up and announce the newest "victory" on the front, and everyone was supposed to clap and cheer and praise General Secretary Trotsky for pushing back the fascists. They only lasted a few minutes, but they were some of the most grating minutes of the day. Before the war the meetings usually focused on whatever new tract Stalin had cooked up, but since the war started Stalin was scarcely mentioned in the meetings.
The front had hardly moved since the war started, yet every little skirmish that ended with a few more dead Germans than Russians was hailed as if Berlin had surrendered. Vasya was sure everyone else knew it was absurd, but it was a dangerous mark of suspicion not to stand and cheer, so no one dared stay quiet for fearing of alerting one of the Party supervisors who stood glaring in the corners of the factory. And since Vasya was trying for a Party membership--he knew it was the only way to give his children more to eat--he made sure to shriek with especially heightened force.
As he filed into the meeting room with a few hundred colleagues, he found a wall to lean against and cleared his throat:
"Comrades," began the Party man who was standing on an overturned shell crate, "we have a new ally in the fight against fascism! The British and French, previously so indifferent to the fascist menace, have declared war on the beasts of Germany, Sweden, and Italy!"
As Vasya reflexively cheered at the new allies, he couldn't help but marvel at the nerve the Party had. Not seven days before, this same man had denounced the British and French as collaborators with the fascists and capitalist hives. Now, he expected his audience to celebrate them as allies. But he would rather partake in this hypocrisy than risk antagonization by Party thugs.
As he cheered rhythmically with his comrades, he was reminded of the vicious attacks he had leveled unconsciously at Stalin. He started to wonder if Stalin would ever again be as prominent a figure in the Party's routine boasts.
I'm not going to stop using primary sources, not at all. I'm just going to continue to integrate both primary sources and narrative/summative sequences into my posts, as I've been doing for some time now, because I think it makes the story more cohesive and it's an easier means of communicating ideas.But This TL is special for me because it was The primary source centric TL.
That really warms my heart, having you say that. It really does. But I want to bring this to a close within two years for a few reasons: first, around two years from now I'll be pursuing a new, history-related course in my life, and I want this project to be completed by then so that I can put it on my resumé to prove my immense interest in history.Also, I can wait two years for this TL..
I am okay with reading very long books or Getting off track. As I would get the details for them.Second, I counted a few days ago and I'm already up to nearly 30,000 words. Sure, it's well written (if I should so flatter myself), but it's long--and I'm worried that new readers will be turned off by the excessive length. This is my project, and I want as many people as possible to read it--and for that I need to make it more concise in some places.
Third, it will keep me from getting off track. For example, the November Putsch was originally supposed to be three, maybe four posts long. It took me more than two months. I don't want that to keep happening, and if I don't try and create a sort of framework for it, I risk going off on more tangents like that.