LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
Indeed. No reason, partly it’s laziness on my part but also I couldn’t see a better way to draw the borders after cutting out Beijing and Tianjin...
Hail, Britannia
- Thread starter LeinadB93
- Start date
Indeed. No reason, partly it’s laziness on my part but also I couldn’t see a better way to draw the borders after cutting out Beijing and Tianjin...
So, the New Caledonians iOTL are holding a referendum on independence...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/19/new-caledonia-sets-date-independence-referendum-france
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/19/new-caledonia-sets-date-independence-referendum-france
First Ministers of Puerto Rico
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
Indeed they are... Will be interesting to see the outcome. There are no such movements here, as Tonga is the one real independent island nation in the South Pacific, and it's basically a British/Commonwealth satellite/protectorate.
Anyway, I've been doing some house keeping and realised I never shared the list of first ministers for Puerto Rico:
First Ministers of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (1900–) [1]
11. 1900–1916 Luis Muñoz Rivera† (Union majority)
12. 1916–1921 Antonio Rafael Barceló (Union majority)
13. 1921–1930 Luis Sánchez Morales (Conservative majority)
14. 1930–1934 Félix Córdova Dávila (Union majority)
15. 1934–1935 José Lorenzo Pesquera (Independent)
16. 1935–1938 Santiago Iglesias (SPIA[2] minority)
17. 1938–1941 Rafael Martínez Nadal† (Conservative majority)
18. 1941–1944 Luis Padrón Rivera (Conservative majority)
19. 1944–1952 Jesús T. Piñero (Popular Democrat majority)
10. 1952–1966 Luis Munõz Marín (Popular Democrat majority)
11. 1966–1970 Samuel R. Quiñones (Popular Democrat majority)
12. 1970–1973 Melvin H. Evans (Conservative majority)
13. 1973–1976 Rafael Hernández Colón (Popular Democrat majority) (1st)
14. 1976–1982 Carlos Romeró Barceló (Conservative majority) (1st)
13. 1982–1988 Rafael Hernández Colón (Popular Democrat majority) (2nd)
15. 1988–1991 Rubén Berríos Martínez (SPIA[2]–Labour majority coalition)
14. 1991–1996 Carlos Romeró Barceló (Conservative majority) (2nd)
16. 1996–1999 Pedro Rosselló González (Popular Democrat majority)
17. 1999–2001 Victor O. Frazer (Popular Democrat majority)
18. 2001–2003 D. Orlando Smith (New Progressive minority)
19. 2003–2007 Sila María Calderón (Popular Democrat majority)
20. 2007–2010 Luz Arce Ferrer (Conservative minority)
21. 2010–2014 Juan Dalmau Ramírez (New Progressive–Popular Democrat majority coalition)
22. 2014–2017 Alejandro García Padilla (Popular Democrat–New Progressive majority coalition)
23. 2017–2020 Jenniffer González Colón (Conservative minority)
12. 1916–1921 Antonio Rafael Barceló (Union majority)
13. 1921–1930 Luis Sánchez Morales (Conservative majority)
14. 1930–1934 Félix Córdova Dávila (Union majority)
15. 1934–1935 José Lorenzo Pesquera (Independent)
16. 1935–1938 Santiago Iglesias (SPIA[2] minority)
17. 1938–1941 Rafael Martínez Nadal† (Conservative majority)
18. 1941–1944 Luis Padrón Rivera (Conservative majority)
19. 1944–1952 Jesús T. Piñero (Popular Democrat majority)
10. 1952–1966 Luis Munõz Marín (Popular Democrat majority)
11. 1966–1970 Samuel R. Quiñones (Popular Democrat majority)
12. 1970–1973 Melvin H. Evans (Conservative majority)
13. 1973–1976 Rafael Hernández Colón (Popular Democrat majority) (1st)
14. 1976–1982 Carlos Romeró Barceló (Conservative majority) (1st)
13. 1982–1988 Rafael Hernández Colón (Popular Democrat majority) (2nd)
15. 1988–1991 Rubén Berríos Martínez (SPIA[2]–Labour majority coalition)
14. 1991–1996 Carlos Romeró Barceló (Conservative majority) (2nd)
16. 1996–1999 Pedro Rosselló González (Popular Democrat majority)
17. 1999–2001 Victor O. Frazer (Popular Democrat majority)
18. 2001–2003 D. Orlando Smith (New Progressive minority)
19. 2003–2007 Sila María Calderón (Popular Democrat majority)
20. 2007–2010 Luz Arce Ferrer (Conservative minority)
21. 2010–2014 Juan Dalmau Ramírez (New Progressive–Popular Democrat majority coalition)
22. 2014–2017 Alejandro García Padilla (Popular Democrat–New Progressive majority coalition)
23. 2017–2020 Jenniffer González Colón (Conservative minority)
[1] - Known as the "Chief Minister" from 1900 to 1964.
[2] - Puerto Rican Section of the American International / Sección Puertorriqueña de la Internacional Americana.
[2] - Puerto Rican Section of the American International / Sección Puertorriqueña de la Internacional Americana.
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East Asian War (1937-1946); Atomic bombings of Shanghai and Tianjin
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
Here you go, a bit on the East Asian War and the atomic bombings. Hopefully it answers your questions.
Thanks to @Wayside for some of the info in the atomic bombings box and write up
The East Asian War, also called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theatre of the Second World War that was fought in Asia, over a vast area that included mainland China, the Northern Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia and the islands of northern Oceania. It was fought primarily between the Allied Powers, led by Japan and the British Empire, and Kuomintang China, along with its client and puppet states, and lasted for eight and a half years from July 1937 to February 1946.
Kuomintang China had been engaged in numerous "Wars of Expansion" with its neighbouring countries since 18 September 1931, when the Chinese invaded Manchuria. The East Asian War is widely accepted to have begun on 7 July 1937, when the Chinese invaded northern Korea and attacked the Japanese-controlled Kwantung Territory, the British possession of Hong Kong as well as British military and naval bases in the Philippines. By June 1938, China controlled Korea, Hong Kong and Kwantung and had begun an air and sea blockade against Japan, known as the Battle of Japan.
In September 1940, China officially became part of the Axis Powers, and seized French Indochina from the puppet Vichy government. By 1941, with the outbreak of the Eastern Front in Europe between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Chinese forces pushed into the Soviet Far East, Mongolia and Xinjiang, beginning the Far Eastern Front. With the occupation of Indochina, the Kuomintang government began to plan for attacks against the Philippines, the Kingdom of Sarawak and other British colonial possessions in Southeast Asia. On 8 December 1941, Chinese forces launched attacks on British Commonwealth forces in Malaya, Sarawak, Sulu and the Philippines. Chinese forces simultaneously invaded southern and eastern Thailand, and within 5 hours the Thai government signed an armistice and allied with China.
By January 1942, Malaya had fallen to Chinese forces and much of the Philippines were occupied. General Douglas MacArthur had withdrawn his forces to Singapore, beginning the Chinese siege of the island fortress that would last intermittently until the end of the war. By March, Allied forces in the Philippines had surrendered, and Chinese forces had invaded and occupied British Burma, the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in the Dutch East Indies and much of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The Chinese also launched probing air raids on Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies, as well as Port Moresby in British New Guinea and cities along the coast of Northern Australia. A planned Chinese invasion of New Guinea and Australia was defeated during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.
In late 1944 and early 1945, Allied forces launched campaigns and military landings across Southeast Asia, including Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. Reinforcements in Malaya helped break the siege of Singapore, and by May 1945 Chinese forces in Southeast Asia had been forced to retreat from major cities as the Allies secured key staging areas for the push into Mainland China. A combined British Commonwealth and Japanese Army invasion liberated Taiwan after a 123-day battle, one of the most costly battles of the war, and landings at Incheon in western Korea established bases for a planned two-pronged attack of Mainland China. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 9 August 1945 further strained Chinese forces in the northeast.
With the threat of a costly and lengthy land invasion of China, the Allies began a campaign of aerial bombings against Chinese military targets. The war culminated in the atomic bombings of Shanghai and Tianjin, and the death of Chiang Kai-shek, resulting in the Chinese announcement of intent to surrender on 21 January. The formal surrender of China ceremony took place aboard the battleship HMS Missouri in Bohai Bay on 2 February 1946. After the war, China lost all rights and titles to its former possessions in Asia and the Pacific, and its territory was jointly-occupied by the five principal Allied Powers. Constitutional changes, along with cultural and political reforms and tension between democrats and communists would eventually trigger the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War.
The atomic bombings of Shanghai and Tianjin took place during the final stage of the East Asian theatre of the Second World War, when the United Empire detonated two nuclear weapons over the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Tianjin on 8 and 11 January 1946, respectively. The two bombings killed between 575,000–700,000 people, most of whom were civilians.
In the final year of the war, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of the Chinese mainland, preceded by a firebombing campaign that decimated coastal cities, including Peking (now Beijing) which forced the nationalist government to relocate to Tianjin. The war in Europe had concluded with the surrender of Spain on 11 March 1945, and Germany two months later on 8 May 1945. The Allies called for the unconditional surrender of the Chinese armed forces, or face "prompt and utter destruction". When Kuomintang China refused, British Prime Minister Harry Truman famously promised them "utter annihilation".
By November 1945, the Allies' Islington Project had produced two types of atomic bombs, and orders were issued for them to be used on four Chinese cities, after the British obtained the consent of California and Texas, as required by the Detroit Agreement. Five potential targets were originally selected: Guangzhou, a major manufacturing and munitions hub; Beijing, the capital with important symbolic value; Nanjing, a major industrial centre; Tianjin, a major port city and the site of military and civilian headquarters; and Shanghai, a port city with industrial and military facilities. Beijing was removed from the list for its historic and cultural significance, whilst the other four remained on the list, with Shanghai and Tianjin prioritised.
On 8 January, a British Royal Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress, nicknamed Great Artiste, dropped a Tall Man uranium gun-type bomb on Shanghai. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed instantly by the explosion and firestorm, along with numerous soldiers and government officials, including President Chiang Kai-shek, who was visiting the city to boost morale. His death triggered a brief power struggle between the military and civilian leadership of the Kuomintang, with many rallying behind He Yingqin and Soong Tse-ven in Tianjin and Nanking respectively. Three days later, on 11 January, an Old Bridge plutonium implosion-type bomb was dropped on Tianjin, killing He Yingqin and many of his supporters.
The bombs immediately devastated their targets, and planned bombings of Guangzhou and Nanjing were postponed while the subsequent chaos wracked Kuomintang China. Over the next two to four months, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed approximately 330,000 people in Shanghai and 245,000 in Tianjin; roughly a quarter of the deaths occurred on the first day, with large numbers of people dying from the effects of burns and radiation sickness, compounded by illness and malnutrition.
China announced its surrender to the Allies on 21 January, ten days after the bombing of Tianjin. On 2 February, the Chinese government of Soong Tse-ven signed the instrument of surrender, effectively ending the East Asian War and the Second World War. The bombings remain the only two instances of nuclear weapons being used in warfare in world history, and the ethical and legal justification for the bombings is still debated to this day.
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Really interesting scenario for an Axis China yet the ending seems very familiarHere you go, a bit on the East Asian War and the atomic bombings. Hopefully it answers your questions.
Thanks to @Wayside for some of the info in the atomic bombings box and write up
The East Asian War, also called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theatre of the Second World War that was fought in Asia, over a vast area that included mainland China, the Northern Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia and the islands of northern Oceania. It was fought primarily between the Allied Powers, led by Japan and the British Empire, and Kuomintang China, along with its client and puppet states, and lasted for eight and a half years from July 1937 to February 1946.
Unless Japan did an Italy in TTL WWII, I think this should be "Chinese." Also, why did Japan choose to be with the Allies? Was it out of desperation from the Battle of Japan, or were they more democratic?
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
All in good time
I was working on an election box and map but my computer crashed and I lost it all Hey, you got to have some comparisons with OTL!
Indeed
That is indeed a typo! My mistake.
Japan's membership in the Allies is partly down to a continuing Anglo-Japanese Alliance (the result of no USA to drawn Britain's allegiances in the Pacific). A more aggressive and nationalist China, with better industry than OTL, means Japan was beaten back during the Chinese Wars of Expansions from their gains after the First World War. I think prior to 1946, Japan was quasi-fascist with a government much like OTL, but the trauma of the war, specifically the siege mentality of the Battle of Japan, gave rise to democratic and cultural reforms akin to OTL post-war Japan.
I suppose when you're as big as the United Empire, you won't have as many moral quandaries to face in such a situation, and if anyone spoke up about it immediately, you could just tell them to shush it, especially when it comes to civilian casualties! Going from Hiroshima and Kokura/Nagasaki OTL to Shanghai and Tianjin TTL really is quite the leap in that regard, and I'd imagine that the debates on the bombing TTL are much more fierce than they are OTL.
Nuclear-armed states; Weapons of mass destruction
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
Indeed. My assumption here is that the Allies accepted that any conventional invasion of China would result in an astronomical number of casualties! Far in excess of what it might have taken to invade Japan IOTL. So the higher number of civilian casualties was seen as “acceptable” to avoid the massive loss of military personnel. The fact that major Chinese cities of the period were much more populous than OTL Japan does also mean higher casualties, but the shock and awe tactic was key to their strategy.
The debates are definitely much fiercer than OTL. However, one could thing is that there was no analogue to the Cuban Missile Crisis, other than a brief standoff when the Soviets seemed to be stationing nukes near to China, Manchuria and Japan. The much higher civilian death toll of the atomic bombings means that ITTL there is a much stronger movement for gradual nuclear disarmament, led by Japan. Since the end of TTL’s Cold War, the British and Soviet nuclear stockpiles have been gradually reduced to smaller than OTL, whilst Japan and Brazil have only a handful between them, and India and China have comparable numbers to OTL India and Pakistan.
@Wolfram should find this interesting:
There are seven sovereign states that have successfully detonated nuclear weapons, and are therefore confirmed to be nuclear-armed states. Five are considered to be nuclear-weapon states under the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; in order of acquisition of nuclear weapons these are: the United Empire, the Soviet Union, Japan, France, and Brazil. Since the NPT entered into force in 1970, two states, namely China and India, that are not recognised nuclear-weapon states have conducted nuclear tests. Mashriq and Hasa are generally understood to possess nuclear weapons, but neither country acknowledges their existence, instead maintaining a policy of deliberate ambiguity. Neither country is know to have definitively conducted a nuclear test, and one possible motivation for the policy of nuclear ambiguity is deterrence with minimum political cost. States that formerly possessed nuclear weapons are the former Soviet republic of Ukraine and the Communist government of Poland, and both dismantled their arsenals after the end of the Cold War.
The original permanent members of the UN Security Council, with the exception of Brazil, are known to have detonated a nuclear explosive before 1 January 1967. The United Empire developed the first nuclear weapons during the Second World War, in cooperation with California and Texas as part of the Tube Alloys "Islington" Project, partly out of fear that the Axis Powers would develop them first. Britain tested the first nuclear weapon, code-named "Lion", on 9 October 1945, and remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war, devastating the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Tianjin. The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon ("RDS-1") in 1949, developed partially with information obtained via espionage during and after the Second World War. The Soviet Union was the second nation to have developed and tested a nuclear weapon, and the direct motivation for Soviet weapons development was to achieve a balance of power during the Cold War. Japan tested its first nuclear weapon ("Ni-Go") in 1952, becoming the third country to develop and test nuclear weapons, and its programme was motivated to have an independent deterrent against the Soviet Union, while also maintaining its status as a great power. Since the end of the Cold War, Japan has engaged in a unilateral policy of nuclear reduction, disarming 170 warheads, and has adopted a "no first use" policy. In 1960, France tested its first nuclear weapon ("Gerboise Bleue") becoming the fourth nuclear-armed state. It was motivated by diplomatic tension with both the Soviet Union and the United Empire, and a need to retain great power status during the post-colonial Cold War.
India and China, having both joined the UN Security Council as permanent members in 1971, became nuclear-armed states in 1974, the first nuclear tests conducted after the entry into force of the NPT. India conducted a test on 18 May 1974 ("Smiling Buddha"), with China testing its first nuclear device ("First Lightning") five months later on 16 October. Both countries sought to obtain nuclear weapons to secure great power status, develop an independent deterrent, and gain a level playing field with the rest of the Security Council. Although both countries have since signed the NPT, neither is recognised as a nuclear-weapon state. India has declared a policy of no first use, whereas China has stated a first strike policy, only if the Chinese Armed Forces are unable to halt an invasion or a nuclear strike is launched against China. Brazil tested it first nuclear weapon device on 27 April 1987 ("Trinidade") at the Emperor Afonso Test Range in Pernambuco, becoming the seventh country with confirmed nuclear weapons. Brazil was the last member of Security Council to become a nuclear weapons state, having maintained an option to pursue them under the NPT, however the country maintains the world’s smallest stockpile, which is estimated to be fewer than 100 warheads as of 2015. Like Japan, Brazil has adopted a "no first use" policy, and maintains a small number of deployed warheads on land- and air-based delivery systems.
Mashriq is widely believed to have developed nuclear weapons throughout the 1960s and 70s, but has not acknowledged its nuclear forces. In response to Mashriq's nuclear weapons program, Hasa began its own programme to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. The government of Hasa is believed to have used espionage to gain intelligence from the Indian and Chinese nuclear weapons programmes throughout the late 1970s and 80s. Hasa is believed to have gained its first functioning nuclear weapon in the late 1990s, with many believing defectors from the dissolution of the Soviet Union smuggled a nuclear weapon into the country. Mashriq is a party to the NPT while Hasa is not. Both countries engage in strategic ambiguity by refusing to confirm or deny a nuclear weapons program or arsenal, and this policy of "nuclear opacity" has been interpreted as an attempt to get the benefits of deterrence with minimal political cost. Independent estimates suggest that Mashriq and Hasa have approximately 20 and 10 intact nuclear weapons respectively. While numerous states have pursued nuclear weapons research, including California, Texas, Argentina, and Egypt, most discontinued these programmes during the 1970s and the Cold War. Only two states have possessed nuclear weapons before voluntarily surrendering control of them; Poland and Ukraine, both of which inherited Soviet nuclear weapons at the end of the Cold War, which were transferred to the Soviet Union in 1996.
Iran and Nigeria are the only known countries to currently be pursuing nuclear research, with the potential to develop nuclear weapons. Iran's nuclear weapons programme dates back to the 1960s with the Cold War alliance between the United Empire and the Shah of Iran, receiving basic nuclear facilities and beginning to develop civilian nuclear power. Iran has repeatedly asserted that its nuclear research is exclusively for peaceful purposes, and there is no conclusive evidence that Iran has made any attempt to produce nuclear weapons since 1993. However, since the 2013 military coup, some intelligence agencies believe that Iran has resumed its alleged nuclear weapons design work, supported by its Soviet and Chinese allies in CSTO. Nigeria has publicly pursued nuclear research since the 1974 military coup, although originally for peaceful purposes since 1990 Nigeria has allegedly pursued practical military applications for their nuclear technology. In 2000 President Ali Saibou publicly declared Nigeria's nuclear weapons programme, with the goal of "resisting white colonial imperialism". The imposition of sanctions against Nigeria limited their weapons programme, and the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War and the subsequent Commonwealth military intervention has effectively halted their development of nuclear weapons. However concerns remain about the security of Niegria's enriched uranium and its nuclear research sites.
Since the end of the Cold War, global nuclear stockpiles have been reduced, with many nuclear warheads being decommissioned and dismantled and their fissile material recycled for use in nuclear reactors. From a high of nearly 70,000 active weapons in 1985, as of 2015 there are some 12,000 nuclear warheads in the world. Several Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties have been signed between the United Empire and the Soviet Union, reducing the use of strategic offensive arms and limiting the number of deployed nuclear warheads. Both countries have agreed to continue to reduce their arsenals with the signing of the fifth Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 2012, Japan has pledged to unilaterally disarm its nuclear arsenal by 2050 and Brazil maintains its small nuclear arsenal as a deterrent.
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LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
All in good time
Suffice to say; the ███ secured a plurality, but as always were short of a majority. They beat out the ███ and the ███ to the largest party in the Imperial House, and the ███ formed a minority government supported by a Confidence & Supply agreement with the ███ and the ███.
The parties are blocked out for me. I'm always in for a supriseAll in good time
Suffice to say; the ███ secured a plurality, but as always were short of a majority. They beat out the ███ and the ███ to the largest party in the Imperial House, and the ███ formed a minority government supported by a Confidence & Supply agreement with the ███ and the ███.
Alright, now you're just teasing us.All in good time
Suffice to say; the ███ secured a plurality, but as always were short of a majority. They beat out the ███ and the ███ to the largest party in the Imperial House, and the ███ formed a minority government supported by a Confidence & Supply agreement with the ███ and the ███.
I knew there were some nuclear developments OTL in former Yugoslavia, what with the Vinča Institute of Physics, the Zagreb Ruđer Bošković Institute and the Ljubljana Jožef Stefan Institute, and with the latter two of the three, we also had the Krško Nuclear Power Plant... I can only assume that the brain drain Yugoslavia had with its scientists as a result of Atoms for Peace (alongside CERN) and poor project management, as well as the state not being as involved, doesn't occur to Serbia TTL for a variety of reasons, but that we largely see similar developments for the end of Serbia's nuclear programme.
I'm definitely interested in some of the non-nuclear WMD states. Like, is South Haiti developing mustard gas or something?