I can certainly see this aspect being played up. German tourism in the USA between the Wars is certainly not to be understated given the "special relationship" between Germany and the United States. Given the Kaiser's affinity for both Roosevelt and the romance of the American west, the idea of Sauerkraut Westerns is perfect as I can see him playing heavy handed with post great war "Kultur." Just another enjoyable by product of the Teuto-American alliance.
TL-191: Filling the Gaps
- Thread starter Craigo
- Start date
I can certainly see this aspect being played up. German tourism in the USA between the Wars is certainly not to be understated given the "special relationship" between Germany and the United States. Given the Kaiser's affinity for both Roosevelt and the romance of the American west, the idea of Sauerkraut Westerns is perfect as I can see him playing heavy handed with post great war "Kultur." Just another enjoyable by product of the Teuto-American alliance.
Why not have Herr May make his Winnetou member of a tribe that sided with/was employed by the United States during the period of plausibly deniable border raids between the North & the South? (I remember the Comanches being mentioned by Custer as Border Reavers working under sponsorship for the US in the opening chapter of HOW FEW REMAIN).
This would allow Our Heroes to make pleas for Greater Toleration of the First Nations, while remaining poised to do their relations with the Confederate States absolutely BRUTAL harm.
This would allow Our Heroes to make pleas for Greater Toleration of the First Nations, while remaining poised to do their relations with the Confederate States absolutely BRUTAL harm.
@Historyman 14 @Allochronian --- I've always wanted to do these ones. I'll be doing the monarchs of the 19th Century one at a time.
Reputations of Pre-Secession (Pre-POD) Individuals: Monarchs of the 19th Century
^^^ Alexander II --- Russia --- Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland, he reigned from 1855 until his assassination in 1881. The first years of his reign were marked by war, corruption, and ineptitude. With the conclusion of the Crimean War he set about instating radical reforms in order to make all branches of imperial administration more efficient in order to combat the massive levels of corruption within his own government. Arguably the most famous reform of his time as emperor was the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861, an act that created many new and complicated problems for Russia despite its humanitarian goal. In the years since the emancipation of the serfs, Russia also expanded into Central Asia, conquering Turkestan and other smaller khanates in the region to prepare it for Russian colonization. This expansion put the Russian Empire at odds with the British Empire and its interests in India, resulting in the "Great Game" in which Britain saw Russia as its main land rival Asia before the outbreak of war in 1914.
Union --- Surprisingly, Alexander II strongly supported the Union cause during the War of Secession, backing the United State's desire to preserve its unity. As a rival of Great Britain in the 19th Century as part of their "great game", Alexander's support of the union cause can be seen as a way of attempting to check British influence, a by product of the ever changing european alliances and rivalries. This support did not last for long however as Russia's interests shifted further into Central Asia and Europe. Indeed, with the United States' alliance with Germany strengthening in the years after the Second Mexican War, all Russian interests in supporting them ceased as rivalries in Europe once again began to shift. As result US scholars have had a somewhat mixed view of Alexander II that has greatly been influenced by revaunchist revisionism and events that transpired after the Great War, long after his death. The tsar could be viewed in a rather favorable light as a reformer, a supporter for the Union cause, and as a potential enemy of Great Britain, which was the case for most of the 19th century until his death. Indeed, some in America that still remember him might even say he was a "good" emperor of Russia, unlike his future descendants. Over time, however Alexander II faded from the collective US psyche largely due to more recent events involving Russia, with most Americans unable to recall him despite knowing of Nicholas II or Mihkail II. By the time of the Second Great War, by which point most Americans viewed the Russians and their more emperors rather negatively, the Tsar Liberator was largely forgotten about.
Confederacy --- In the years after its independence in the 19th century, the Confederacy took a guarded stance against Tsar Alexander II's regime. As a vocal supporter of the yankee cause and a worrisome rival for Great Britain, the Confederates were initially uninterested in pursuing diplomatic relations with Alexander II. However, as primarily a land power that was half-way across the world with many thousands of miles separating them, Confederate officials felt no immediate threat from the Russians. Scholars and politicians from the south over time have viewed Alexander II in a fair yet critical light, particularly his emancipation of the Russian serfs. In fact, after abolishing slavery in 1882, Confederate statesmen and administrators took an interest in the consequences of freeing the Russian serfs, to see if they could gain some ideas as to how to manage a newly freed second class population, which actually ended up opening doors for diplomacy between the South and Russia just before the Great War.
@Historyman 14 @Allochronian --- here you go!
Reputations of Pre-Secession (Pre-POD) Individuals: Generals of the Seven Years War
^^^ James Wolfe --- Compared to his contemporaries, he came from a relatively humble background, unlike others of his rank that were drawn from the nobility of England. One of two sons of General Edward Wolfe, he joined his father's marine regiment and age 13. As a lieutenant by the time of the War of the Austrian Succession of 1740-1748, he saw heavy action in Flanders against the French. Recalled the England, Wolfe would also go on to fight in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, helping to put down the rebels in Scotland. Coming to the attention of his superiors Wolfe rose through the ranks. The Seven Years War of 1756-1763 provided a new opportunity for him as William Pitt promoted him to second-in-command to head up the Siege of Louisbourg in 1757, which he took. By 1759 he would lead the force that would eventually take Quebec City and defeat the Marquis de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, where he would die of his wounds at age 32.
Union --- Previously a relatively unknown historical individual to the average American, with US scholars generally overlooking him in favor of events in the more relevant American Revolution, the aftermath of the Great War of 1914-1917 soon put James Wolfe's legacy into the spotlight, which US authorities soon identified as a potential point of contention and friction if ignored. US generals and politicians were confronted with the task of both subduing Canada and ensuring Quebec's independence through a close alliance. As a hero to the Canadians and British, the man that led the way to conquering Quebec and by extension Canada, efforts were made by the US to remove monuments dedicated to him in an effort to strengthen Quebecois ties. This heavy-handed endeavor was popularly known as "De-Wolfeization" by the Americans, something that many Canadians openly and violently opposed, but was met with open praised by the Quebecois. Ultimately, Wolfe's legacy was most relevant to the US in terms of what he meant as a symbol of British and Canadian pride in a newly independent Quebec, where many monuments to him were raised. Removing him would strengthen ties with Quebec in an ever turbulent game of diplomacy and politics.
Confederacy --- James Wolfe is largely an unknown or irrelevant figure to many Confederates. Southern scholars that study him however tend to view him in a very fair and balanced manner, studying his exploits, career, and victories in Canada.
Great Britain and Canada --- James Wolfe achieved lasting fame in Great Britain and in Canada. His near legendary status as the "Conqueror of Canada" and the "Hero of Quebec", combined with his dramatic death on the battlefield in one of Great Britain's most critical campaigns of the Seven Years War, ensured that his memory would live on. Before London's annihilation by atomic weaponry in 1944 an exquisite monument was dedicated to James Wolfe at Westminster Abbey and in Canada more monuments were erected in his honor in Quebec City. During EWII, with Winston Churchill's approval, arms and SOE operators were sent to Canada to instigate an uprising against US forces. To the Canadian fighters that graciously accepted these agents and supplies they were popularly known as "Wolfe Agents" and the resistance groups these men helped form were dubbed "Wolfe Packs".
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^^^ Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm --- Born as the son of a noble, Montcalm was a veteran of many battles and saw extensive service under the French royal banner. He fought in the War of the Polish Succession from 1733-1735 as a captain against the Austrians along Rhine River and became an aide-de-camp to the Marquis de la Fare in the War of the Austrian Succession from 1740-1748, fighting the Austrians in Bohemia and in Italy, where he received numerous saber wounds while rallying his troops. By the time of the Seven Years War of 1756-1763, King Louis XV had appointed him commander-in-chief of all French forces in Canada. Although he achieved notable early victories in Canada that put the British on the back-foot, his antagonistic relationship with the French governor-general of Canada, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, would prove to be a major problem to the overall strategy of defending Canada. Despite his successes, efforts by James Wolfe to turn the tide in Canada would come to a head at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, where Quebec lay under siege. Montcalm was shot in the back by a musket ball, dying of his wounds only a day after British commander James Wolfe died. He was 47.
Union --- Like James Wolfe, Montcalm was a largely unknown and irrelevant historical figure to many Americans. Most scholars pre-secession however tended to view him in a balanced and nuanced way, the same as James Wolfe. It wasn't until the aftermath of the War of the Secession and Second Mexican War that Montcalm's memory in North America began to change dramatically, with revaunchist Remembrance scholars attempting to bash anything French. Indeed Montcalm's legacy has run the proverbial gauntlet in North American since and only began to grow more complicated with the end of the Great War in 1917. With Quebec's independence the US was highly concerned about the Quebecois government seeking to cultivate its French roots. It treaded a very delicate balance of both fostering good relations and controlling any overtures for closer ties with France. As a result US authorities in Quebec found themselves entangled in the country's search for a uniquely "Quebecois" identity, and Montcalm's connection to Quebec's history was inevitably put into the spot light again. As a result of "De-Wolfeization" in Quebec, simultaneous efforts were made to uplift Montcalm into a "Quebecois hero". Monuments once dedicated to James Wolfe were now being replaced with ones dedicated to Montcalm and other Quebecois heroes, all in an effort to foster good relations between the US and Quebec. As a result of these efforts Americans are more aware of Montcalm, but view him in a nuanced, cautious way.
Confederacy --- Montcalm, like James Wolfe, is largely irrelevant and unknown to many Confederates. Like James Wolfe, Confederate scholars tend to view him in a more nuanced way, studying his exploits, victories, and eventual defeat in Canada.
Quebec --- As a result of government's search for a uniquely "Quebecois identity" after independence, there was a flurry of research and interest directed toward Montcalm's legacy. Unlike other Quebecois heroes Montcalm was born a French noble during Bourbon rule, a man that for the most part fought in France's many dynastic wars across Europe. There was much discussion about how to view Montcalm in a newly independent Quebec, especially with the United States as a neighbor --- a neighbor with a noted history of disliking anything directly linked with France. Ultimately a sense of nationalism won out and so the Quebecois supported and even lead efforts to remove monuments dedicated to James Wolfe, so as to be replaced with ones by Montcalm, arguably a figure that did fight for Quebec's "freedom" and "independence" from a colonial power like Great Britain, which the Quebecois had no love for. Despite favorable views and easy recognition as a man that fought for Quebec, enthusiasm was tempered for political purposes related to the United States. Montcalm's legacy lives on within the Quebecois Army --- imported light tanks from the US were renamed "Montcalm" in the general's honor and were often used as infantry support vehicles against Canadian "Wolfe Pack" guerrillas.
This needs to be a thing in the TL-191 fandom. I love it!
I find New Year's Day, Union Day, Remembrance Day, Fourth of July, May Day, and Christmas to be holidays that can easily exist in TL-191. Nice explanations, Polish Eagle!
However, Thanksgiving is a bit more uncertain because in real-life, it was officially made into a holiday by Lincoln in 1863. I'm inclined to view Thanksgiving as a minor holiday with varying days of celebration and for different reasons, both in the public square and in the private one. Washington's Birthday... ehh… I see it becoming a minor holiday, albeit still being officially recognized by the USA government.
I can definitely see European holidays/traditions having more of an influence in TL-191 USA before, during, and after the Second Great War.
Perhaps Leif Erikson Day is a bigger deal of a holiday on par with Columbus Day?
@Historyman 14 @Allochronian --- #2! So old Napoleon III here is going to get a reputation analysis that's much longer than the previous ones I did, partly because I think he (and Victoria) had a significant part in helping to create the world we see in TL-191, even if they didn't really know it at the time.
Reputations of Pre-Secession (Pre-POD) Individuals: Monarchs of the 19th Century
^^^ Napoleon III --- France --- Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte was first elected President of France in 1848, becoming emperor in 1852, establishing the Second French Empire. As the leader of France from 1848 to 1870 he worked to modernize the French economy and to expand France's overseas empire. During his reign he commissioned a grand reconstruction of Paris, initiated public works projects in many of France's major cities, expanded the French railroad network, modernized the French agricultural sector to reduce hunger and food shortages, established the French merchant marine as the second largest in the world, as well as undertook many other domestic projects. In foreign policy and in war Napoleon III sought to reassert French power and influence across the world. Colonial presences were established in Vietnam, Cambodia, China, and in the Pacific, while more troops were sent to Algeria and other parts of Africa to assist in colonial efforts there. He led his country to victory over the Russians in the Crimean War as part of an alliance with Britain, defeated the Austrians in an alliance with Piedmont-Sardinia in the Second War of Italian Unification, and committed troops to establishing a Second Mexican Empire with a Hapsburg on the throne. Napoleon III was ultimately defeated by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan in the Franco-Prussian War. He went into exile in England, where he died in 1873.
Union ---
Napoleon III is as common a household name as George III and Victoria --- equally as derided, ridiculed, and hated. Ever since the War of Secession ended in 1862, Napoleon III has been consistently vilified and mocked in the United States, with his legacy in interfering with affairs in North America leaving an enduring impact in the form of the US's most constant enemies --- the Confederate States of America and in particular the Second Mexican Empire. With the United States thoroughly beaten and unable to intervene in Napoleon's adventure in Mexico, the emperor was able to establish a significant French-alligned client-state in North America. Benito Juarez's liberal rebels were defeated over the course of many grueling years, with the conservatives backing Maximilian I receiving arms, funds, and troops from Europe. Even the Confederacy, exhausted as it was from two years of war with the United States, was compelled to lend military aid to Napoleon III and Maximilian I, limited as it was.
With a sphere of influence well established in Mexico and a mainland North American ally in the form of the Confederacy acting as a buffer to the United States, Napoleon III felt confident enough to pull out troops from Mexico to further bolster units across parts of his empire, especially in Algeria, Cochin-China, and the Papal States. His successful intervention, effectively smashing the Monroe Doctrine, would prove to have lasting effects for decades to come, with the United States pushed firmly out of the Caribbean and Central America, allowing for French, British, Spanish, and Confederate spheres of influence and interest to expand south. Once again, in the Second Mexican War, the United States would feel the consequences of Napoleon's actions as it tried and failed to prevent the sale of Mexican provinces to the Confederacy, with the French Third Republic applying diplomatic and military pressure to protect the Second Mexican Empire, which the French at the time considered part of their sphere of influence.
Since those wars, the people of the United States had a strong aversion to the name "Napoleon" and to anything French. In fact, ever since War of the Secession and Second Mexican War, the United States Army experienced something of an identity crisis in both style and doctrine. From the cut of its uniforms to the tactics employed in the field, US Army officials went through a proverbial period of doubt in which they questioned the influence France had on this methods of waging war --- so great was the humiliation and shock of losing two wars that a shake up in the military was desperately needed, a new direction. By the 1890s and 1900s the US Army made a deliberate effort to remove any remnant of French influence in its uniforms and kit --- gone were the dark blue uniforms, forage caps, red sashes and the like. Gone were the French-inspired Zouave regiments that were so popular in the War of the Secession and Second Mexican War. And while the lessons of the Napoleonic Wars and of Napoleon I himself were very hard to disregard (indeed the top US brass were not so foolish as to completely throw away Napoleonic tactics and doctrine over a great distaste with his nephew --- even Napoleon Bonaparte was still admired in the US for being tactical genius), US officers and men were increasingly drilled and exposed to more Prussian-influenced methods of war, methods and doctrine that were eagerly embraced from the 1880s and onward well into the 20th century. While the writings of Antoine-Henri Jomini were still taught to US officers, they were more often then not liberally supplemented by more German writings on the art of war.
When the Franco-Prussian War first broke out in 1870, many Americans at the time were surprisingly and very keenly interested with events that would unfold. Indeed, when reports of French defeats in the field were sent back to the United States and printed in the news-papers, many Americans felt a sense of vindication as Napoleon III was finally "getting what he deserved". General George Custer was quoted at the time saying, with enthusiasm, "Lil' Boney got the licking of his life. I hope he puked at the taste of blood n' iron his mouth."
Indeed while Victor Hugo, one of Napoleon III's most vocal critics, resorted to calling him "Napoleon le Petit" in his pamphlets, Americans grew attached to nicknaming him "Little Boney". Hardly anyone in the United States mourned his death in exile 1873. Thanks to George Custer a popular soldier's song was written about Napoleon III for US soldiers to sing to while on the march and was even adopted by grade school teachers in the decades to come as a pseudo nursery rhyming song. It was titled "Little Boney Was A Phony" and it was sung to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw".
In the decades since scholars in the United States have consistently viewed Napoleon III and his reign in a very consistent, very negative light, at times outright refusing to view his regime in an objective way. While Napoleon III's domestic programs were surprisingly beneficial for France, it is ultimately his foreign policy and military choices that are passionately attacked and criticized by Americans, completely ignoring his domestic successes in France. This was the case even when Napoleon was alive and would remain so after his death. Political cartoons from the time consistently portrayed him as a womanizing, mustache-twirling villain and the average American routinely ridiculed and lampooned him, seeing him as a derogatory icon for everything French. In fact political cartoons from the Great War addressing the French Mutinies of 1917 generally portrayed the French "poilu" as looking suspiciously like a cartoony version of Napoleon III.
Even after the Second Great War, with France and Mexico defeated, Napoleon III would continue to be viewed negatively by the US scholars and citizens, with only passing references to his more successful efforts to modernize France during his reign.
Confederacy ---
Like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Queen Victoria, Napoleon III was as much a household name as his uncle was --- that is to say he was equally respected, well regarded, and perhaps even admired, if not for his military decisions or his scandalously amorous nature, then for his sound decisions in helping to build up France as a great European power. Since the end of the War of Secession in 1862, Napoleon III has been well-liked and honored by Confederates. Although neither as revered as a legendary figure nor as lionized as the Confederate's most acclaimed heroes, Napoleon III's place in Confederate history is one of absolute importance in helping to ensure the country's independence at a time when it was most needed. Not only had Napoleon III helped to ensure the Confederacy's independence, but he also helped to prop up one of the Confederacy's closest long term allies --- the Second Mexican Empire. Indeed, thanks in part to French emperor in helping to break the spell of the Monroe Doctrine, the Confederacy was also able to expand its sphere of influence in the years to come, indirectly helping the country to become a major regional power in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
By 1863 the Confederacy's independence was formally consolidated and with British and French recognition it was made into a nation. With the United States soundly defeated the Confederate government could finally get to the business of nation-building rather than waging a costly war. Thanks to Napoleon III's policies in negotiating free trade deals with Britain and other allied european countries, Jefferson Davis' administration set about reaching similar trade deals with France, to which Napoleon III seemed more than happy to negotiate for. However there was a rather significant issue to contend with, one that both countries were bound to discuss --- the ongoing war in Mexico, which Napoleon III found himself entangled in. Powerful as the French Army was at the time, it was stretched thin across three continents and the war in Mexico to help prop up Maximilian I was growing more costly by the day. It was in these first days as a new nation that the Confederacy would be truly tested in the arena of politics, diplomacy, and war.
Although initially reluctant to aid Napoleon III in any adventure in Mexico, the Davis Administration found itself in delicate balance. Conflict with Benito Juarez's Mexican republican rebels was bound to be costly, in the aftermath of the War of the Secession, when the borders Confederacy were new and still in the process of being defined, the potential of the rebels to exploit an opportunity use Confederate or United States lands as safe havens was a high possibility. In fact, Davis' fears were confirmed later in 1863 and 1864 when it was discovered that Mexican rebels were armed with smuggled US rifles and using the border with Texas as a safe haven to escape French pursuit. In a complicated waltz of politics, diplomacy and military maneuvering, the Davis Administration was able to cooperate with Napoleon III in helping to clamp down on conflict in Mexico, even if the efforts were fairly limited in scope. Trade between France and the Confederacy would be accepted, while both countries cooperated militarily to fight the rebels in Mexico, applying pressure on the United States to stay out of the conflict. Confederate troops in the western theater along the Mississippi River, overjoyed at having done their part to fight for their homes, soon found themselves with marching orders to head for Texas with the possible intent of making incursions into Mexico to aid the French. Orders from Richmond passed through the country and out west to Pro-Secessionist units from New Mexico, Arizona, and even California to head for Texas and liaison with other friendly units. These troops, having no state or territory to call their home out west, were allowed to march east under close supervision by US soldiers. These men would help form the very first units of a newly independent Confederacy and would help secure the new border between the Confederacy and Mexico.
One French officer commanding a battalion of French Foreign Legionnaires helping to patrol the Confederate-Mexican border said that, "These Confederates, as they insist being called, are just as ragged and disheveled as the Mexicans we fight. They barely have a uniform to speak of, their faces are unclean ill-groomed, and their firearms are poorly maintained. And yet I am amazed at the discipline and sense of purpose these troops have. Most of the seniors officers I have had the privilege of speaking to have had much experience fighting Mexico before and junior officers are highly motivated, seasoned by battles in their recent civil war. Ragged as these men are, they are without a doubt an army to be reckoned with."
The conflict between the Mexican rebels and the Confederates was largely an undeclared war of varying intensity, but one that helped the Confederate government in attaining an air of legitimacy by cooperating with Napoleon III. With the defeat of Benito Juarez's rebels in Mexico after several more grueling years, Napoleon III grew highly appreciative of the Confederates, allowing for a renegotiation of certain trade deals to be more mutually beneficial. As a result of this Confederate officials gained more experience in international affairs and in diplomacy, helping to establish deep ties France and building up a trade network with Europe at large. As the years passed Confederate officials grew more convinced of the follies of the Monroe Doctrine --- Napoleon III's intervention and the Confederate's cooperation with them had proven that entanglement with Europe could be beneficial.
With the start of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, only 8 years after the Confederacy's independence, Napoleon III found himself on the losing end of a titanic struggle for dominance against the Germans in Europe. Confederates of all classes were keenly interested in the events of the war, hoping for a French victory and despairing when the French emperor was taken prisoner after the Battle of Sedan, plunging some Confederate business into financial uncertainty due to investments in France, especially in Paris. With the Fall of the Second French Empire and the creation of the Third French Republic, a peculiar historical episode occurred. With the defeat of Napoleon III's army at Sedan and new call for the formation of new regiments and armies was made by the Republic to continue the war. Experienced units from Algeria and Africa that were not previously called upon to fight were rapidly shipped to Metropolitan France to fight the Germans. Among these units were the vaunted regiments of the French Foreign Legion and within these regiments consisted a rather large contingent of Confederate men. Some were experienced soldiers that fought in the War of Secession, some were drawn by a desire to help France, while others were merely destitute or desperate men seeking adventure or escape from Confederate law back home. In any case these men would see action in France fighting the Germans some of the most pitched battles of the war, retaking the City of Orleans, fighting at Coulmiers and in the Loire, and helping to violently put down the Paris Commune in 1871.
One French officer of the Legion noted during the Loire Campaign that he could hear the Rebel Yell during an attack, saying that, "We were engaged in heavy fighting with the Germans over a rail line, which the enemy used for cover. Our regiment went into the attack, bayonets fixed, I with my sword drawn, and we advance under heavy fire. Bullets flew to my left and to my right, and swear I could reach out and touch a hundred more. Over the din of battle I heard a shrill cry from the Confederate contingent of our regiment. It cut into the frigid air, a wild and defiant shout, as if damned madmen cried out at once in a display of strength to laugh in the face of death. It spread like a disease through our ranks and instilled in me a sense of renewed vigor and determination. We fell upon the Germans in wave of glinting steel. Some broke and fled, others surrendered, others fought on for dear life, their ears filled with that haunting, terrible cry. When it was all over I spoke to another officer who commanded the Confederate contingent - 'these Americans or Confederates, I don't care what they call themselves!' - he said - 'They sound like some bloody Tuaregs with that yelling! Scares the hell out of Prussians though!'"
Culturally and even architecturally the Confederacy owed a lot to Napoleon III. Inspired by the buildings and construction projects undertaken during his reign, many francophile Confederates attempted to emulate the styles of the French, particularly in the "Napoleon III Style" in both architecture, decoration, and furniture. Confederate businessmen, city planners, plantation owners, and in general well do citizens that could afford to travel abroad were awe struck by the broad streets and exquisite designs they saw in Paris and in other major French cities that were renovated by Napoleon III's chief city planner Georges-Eugene Haussmann. The style emphasized a combination of French Renaissance and Baroque styles to create a certain harmony that communicated opulence, splendor, grandeur, power, and exotic decoration. For interior designing and furniture, the rule was this - leave every space excessively decorated. Confederates public buildings and structures attempted to emulate the buildings seen in Paris, with architects and city planners wanting make structures that spoke the greatness of the Confederacy and communicated to the viewer a sense of legitimacy, authority, and opulence. Indeed, many city halls, libraries, movie theaters, opera houses, train stations, hotels and museums in the capitals throughout the Confederacy took on these styles, especially in Richmond, Virginia. In the decades to follow with the rise of the Freedom Party, Jake Featherston even grew to admire the architectural style he saw emulated in Confederate buildings. Although not one for gaudy opulence that was particularly loved by Confederate upperclassmen, Featherston recognized a need to create public works that emphasized the greatness of the Confederacy and of his regime. For that he looked to the styles most loved by Napoleon III and with his chief architects evolved the style into something unique "confederate". Indeed, it could be said that for a time in the aftermath of the Second Mexican War the Confederacy was obsessed emulating anything French when it came to interior designing and public works.
It could be reasonably concluded that Confederate scholars view Napoleon III in a very positive and fair light, though not without a fair bit of criticism as to certain choices he made during his reign as emperor. In particular Confederate scholars have studied and admired his domestic policies far more than his foreign policy choices, although when speaking about his intervention in the War of Secession and in the war with Mexican republicans it is almost universally agreed upon that he made a wise choice. His efforts to modernize France, to renovate Paris and the rest his major French cities, to embark on free trade deals with allies, to expand and consolidate a railroad network, and to modernize agriculture and all been studied with great interest by Confederates, especially in the years after independence where the new nation looked to its allies as examples on how to form a functional and successful state. In fact, it could be said that you would find more scholars sympathetic to Napoleon III in the Confederacy than actual French scholars in France. His numerous wars, however, are looked upon with more caution and criticism, especially his wars with Austria and Germany. Even his decision during the Mexican Adventure have been called into question however, and it is suspected that his negotiations with the newly formed Confederacy to be more involved with the war in Mexico may have stemmed from his desire to shore up his colonial possessions in Algeria in a time when the French Army was stretched thin across the world. His handling of the Franco-Prussian War has, of course, also been criticized, but his eventual abdication on the battlefield as opposed to an abdication from revolution or capitulation via unpopularity has been curiously interpreted by Confederates as "tragic, regretful, yet honorable". Some in Confederacy, especially those in the upper classes with more conservative leanings, regretted his passing in exile.
Napoleon III's reputation across the decades since his passing remained fairly consistent and unchanged even during Featherston's administration. Even during the Great War propaganda posters showing off the close cooperation between the Entente powers often portrayed a French "poilu" in a rather stoic and heroic way, facial hair and features vaguely reminiscent of that of Napoleon III. In contrast, Wilhelm II, the Kaiser of Germany at the time, was almost universally portrayed as a barbaric hun with a spiked helmet and club, with a small, smiling, hunch-backed gremlin with glasses that was undoubtedly meant as a caricature of Teddy Roosevelt trailing just behind him, a kind of lackey and slave. Ultimately however, like is reign and his empire, all that he worked for would be eventually destroyed by war.
You are very right about Thanksgiving in OTL. For my article I quoted from President Mahan's outstanding Henry Cabot Lodge narrative found in post #1382 (link below for your reference) which specifically describes the modern creation of Thanksgiving celebrations in 1914.
BL: Thanksgiving had long been a regional new England holiday, and even if we did not consider President Mahan's work canon on par with Craigo's (as I do!) I do not think it that far of a stretch to see TL-191's Roosevelt pulling an analogous move similar to OTL's Lincoln.
I do agree with your thoughts on Washington's birthday. Was a federal holiday long before the point of divergence but I don't see it being actually celebrated much outside of the federal workforce.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/tl-191-filling-the-gaps.148857/page-70#post-10984157
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These were very good either way. Thanks for the doing them! The new holidays here were especially fun to read.
I think it should be that after the Great Wars, Remembrance Day evolved into a fusion of OTL Veterans and Memorial Day, commemorating those who served and died for the United States.
With how prevalent the Remembrance Ideology was in the United States, it could indeed be a major US holiday - a super "Veterans'-Memorial Day", one where it is readily observed and taken rather seriously. Seeing as there were two devastating wars that took place on the continent, this version of Remembrance Day be seen as a day of healing perhaps? Instead of one of anger and revenge.
You know, I know its not technically canon for TL-191, but I do imagine that Black-Americans or Black-Confederates joined the US Army and fought at the front. I don't know, I just feel like that would be a thing even in this timeline. Would be nice at least. I know they fought as guerrillas and scouts, but I mean as part of the actual US Army, like the USCT from the Civil War.
Only issue I see is in TL-191 the USA's black population is considerably smaller than OTL given no "Great Migration" as we saw in our own timeline. The books also make it pretty plain that US Blacks were not admitted into the regular US. Army until 1944. In "The Grapple" Flora Hamburger pushes for the admittance of US Blacks into combat positions after the discovery of Camp Determination, but it is not until "In At The Death," as the war was drawing to a close, that President La Follete issued an executive order barring discrimination in the armed forces on the basis of race. He also pledged to introduce civil rights legislation into Congress to protect all blacks under U.S. jurisdiction. The first time we see direct reference to Blacks being accepted into the US Army is page 171 of "In at the Death" when Maj Moss and Capt Cantarella are informed of the new policy after their liberation in the spring of 1944.
The books are pretty clear that black citizens of the USA did serve in the Navy as cooks and in other support roles, but before President La Follette's 1944 executive order I don't see there being enough political pressure (or even the population to support) entire units comprised of African Americans on par with OTL's USTC. US Blacks did serve the US Army in non-combat roles like Cincinnatus Driver (who admittedly did see combat during logistical operations gone wrong), and Confederate Blacks did fight alongside the US Army in an auxiliary/scouting role, but this is very different than dedicated combat units.
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If he wanted it, he could, he could be both Grant and Eisenhowher(well Ironwher is there too) ITTL, dunno if he wanted, he did was political but was mostly a career militaryman...is 50/50(i remember of irony the other thread use adenaer photo as old morell)
Alterwright, I've really been enjoying your posts on the reputations of pre-POD historical figures, as well as your post on German soldiers in the American West. I thought it was very interesting how the different biases amongst those in different nations have shaped the collective national views of different historical figures.
Speaking of pre-POD historical figures, what are the portraits on the money of this world's United States and Confederate States? I think it the book it mentioned John Adams was on a US dollar coin, but what about the other units of USA and CSA currency?
Speaking of pre-POD historical figures, what are the portraits on the money of this world's United States and Confederate States? I think it the book it mentioned John Adams was on a US dollar coin, but what about the other units of USA and CSA currency?
Become president? Yes.
He already is in my headcanon.
Pull a Grant? No, he pulled an EISENHOWER.