Miscellaneous <1900 (Alternate) History Thread

Guatemala or Costa Rica.
Guatemala, which was the main component of the original Central American federation. Costa Rica currently has no military to speak of, and it would be hard to imagine putting something like that back together without some force involved.
 
Yeah, it was called "Muscovy"
*dodging bullets, tongue firmly in cheek* ;-)
In all seriousness though, there was a Mongol rump state in Europe - the Khanate of the Crimea lasted until Catherine the Large decided to make it the jewel in her crown, maybe as a consolation prize for knowing Russia would always be prevented from taking Constantinople. I suppose that it wasn't so much Europeanized as Ottoman-ized, though...
 
Would the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 be a good POD for USA as a Central Power? I don't want something like Timeline-191 where the CSA is still running about, because that's way different than WWI. I'd like it to be fairly similar apart from having the build up to the USA entering on the Central Powers side and the resulting consequences.
 
I imagine it would be done to death at this point, but recently YouTube algorithm sparked my interest in Roman history. Can someone point me towards a decently done "Caesar survives the Ides of March" timeline?
 
Were there any oppressed religious groups ala Puritans in East Asia? I know Christians in Japan for one.

Toying with the idea of East Asian religious colonies founded on the American West Coast in the early 18th century after the Tungning flee to the New World (heavily inspired from an old abandoned TL) and establish a fledgling dynasty of sorts in OTL San Francisco. Eventually this leads to
oppressed ethnic or religious groups in East Asia to get “inspired” and finding their home on the NW Coast (at least before they get swallowed by the Americans when they come knocking a century later)

I know this is pretty unlikely, with the vast distances and all, but it’s something to think about.
If you set it about a century later, in the mid-19th century, you could have Taiping survivors from China fleeing to start a new Theocratic State somewhere... although the W coast of North America was pretty much taken already.
 
If you set it about a century later, in the mid-19th century, you could have Taiping survivors from China fleeing to start a new Theocratic State somewhere... although the W coast of North America was pretty much taken already.
OTL a bunch of Taiping people went down to Vietnam and Siam and caused havoc, or migrated to Malaya and the rest of Nusantara. If they could be redirected to America that would be fun. Maybe something to do with the French?
 
OTL a bunch of Taiping people went down to Vietnam and Siam and caused havoc, or migrated to Malaya and the rest of Nusantara. If they could be redirected to America that would be fun. Maybe something to do with the French?
Hmmm don't know about the French. At the time of the Taiping Rebellion, they really didn't hold very much in the way of overseas territories. Nap III added a few around that time, but the big expansion (or technically re-expansion) of the French Empire didn't occur until the Third Republic. Also I think with the Taipings' rather wacky take on Christianity, they would be viewed as a disruptive element by all the major Euro powers. Now, in the USA on the other hand, where wacky takes on Christianity weren't viewed as all that unusual... who knows, maybe the idea of a Taiping offshoot setting up camp somewhere in "Gold Mountain" isn't all that far-fetched. Might've even made them more acceptable to the Americans than the other "Chinymen" that were being brought in as laborers at the time.
 
OTL a bunch of Taiping people went down to Vietnam and Siam and caused havoc, or migrated to Malaya and the rest of Nusantara. If they could be redirected to America that would be fun. Maybe something to do with the French?
The West Coast is claimed by the US, Britain, and Russia, so it's a far too aggressive action for France to make. Nobody wants a horde of Taiping refugees there, not the three countries who claim that land nor the natives.

As fun as Taiping Alaska would be, Russia was already very wary of the Chinese in the 19th century and wouldn't want such a huge Chinese settlement in Alaska.
Hmmm don't know about the French. At the time of the Taiping Rebellion, they really didn't hold very much in the way of overseas territories. Nap III added a few around that time, but the big expansion (or technically re-expansion) of the French Empire didn't occur until the Third Republic. Also I think with the Taipings' rather wacky take on Christianity, they would be viewed as a disruptive element by all the major Euro powers. Now, in the USA on the other hand, where wacky takes on Christianity weren't viewed as all that unusual... who knows, maybe the idea of a Taiping offshoot setting up camp somewhere in "Gold Mountain" isn't all that far-fetched. Might've even made them more acceptable to the Americans than the other "Chinymen" that were being brought in as laborers at the time.
The Taiping had numerous Christian missionaries of numerous denominations as advisors, and some of them supported the Taiping cause for a time like Issachar Roberts (Southern Baptist) and even stayed with them to "correct" what they saw as errors in the Taiping Christianity. Yet all of them eventually abandoned the Taiping. I doubt there is any way for the US to view Taiping refugees as anything but other Chinese labourers at best (i.e. "Yellow Panic" material) and at worse it combines the Yellow Panic with hatred of deviant sects like the Mormons. If mid-19th century Americans wanted to exterminate the Mormons for their beliefs, they'd think even worse of a Chinese sect condemned by all mainstream denominations who reveres a warlord who thought he was Jesus's younger brother.
 
Would the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 be a good POD for USA as a Central Power? I don't want something like Timeline-191 where the CSA is still running about, because that's way different than WWI. I'd like it to be fairly similar apart from having the build up to the USA entering on the Central Powers side and the resulting consequences.
Not sure if it would be good for a POD for making the US fully one of the Central Powers, but it certainly did stir some ill-will between the US and the UK (although the UK got most of what they wanted I think they viewed it as an unwarranted US invocation of "Monroe Doctrine 'rights'"...)
There's a thread on here in pre-1900 (been quiet for about a week, trying to drum up some interest in starting it back up) that posits a Spanish victory in the Spanish-American War, just three years later. Maybe the two of them could be linked, somehow?
 
You mean apart from all those old "Wild Wild West" episodes? :) The black-and-white ones were always my favourites....
I loved that show! (the movie not so much) The Adventures of Brisco County jr and Legend are also big favourites of mine when it comes to a steampunk wild west.

Anyway's how could you get a more technologically advance and wilder Wild West?
 
I loved that show! (the movie not so much) The Adventures of Brisco County jr and Legend are also big favourites of mine when it comes to a steampunk wild west.

Anyway's how could you get a more technologically advance and wilder Wild West?
Dunno, some of the technology from WWW was pretty advanced, especially from the villains...

You'd have to introduce an ASB or two, but there's always the "Cowboys & Aliens"-type-thing...

If you're not looking for something not quite that technologically advanced, keeping it within the steampunk genre, there were lots of inventors and scientists in the late 1800's who were quite "ahead of their time"... Maybe some Miguelito Lovelace type character to gather them all together somewhere in the American west?
 
Dunno, some of the technology from WWW was pretty advanced, especially from the villains...

You'd have to introduce an ASB or two, but there's always the "Cowboys & Aliens"-type-thing...

If you're not looking for something not quite that technologically advanced, keeping it within the steampunk genre, there were lots of inventors and scientists in the late 1800's who were quite "ahead of their time"... Maybe some Miguelito Lovelace type character to gather them all together somewhere in the American west?
So Nikola Tesla, Ferdinand Von Zeppelin, Otto Lilienthal, Charles Babbage and more gathered together on the wild Montana frontier... that sounds awesome! Personally I was thinking that a few things were invented slightly earlier during the early 19th century which generally lead to the rest of the century being slightly more advanced than OTL.

That and a more believable equivalent of the Frank Reade character being born somewhere in the American frontier. Playing a similar role to both Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers only several decades earlier.
 
So Nikola Tesla, Ferdinand Von Zeppelin, Otto Lilienthal, Charles Babbage and more gathered together on the wild Montana frontier... that sounds awesome! Personally I was thinking that a few things were invented slightly earlier during the early 19th century which generally lead to the rest of the century being slightly more advanced than OTL.

That and a more believable equivalent of the Frank Reade character being born somewhere in the American frontier. Playing a similar role to both Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers only several decades earlier.
Whoa! Thank you for introducing me to something I was not familiar with! Will have to check out some of the Frank Reade and Frank Reade Jr stuff if I can find it.

I read a lot of Jules Verne when I was a kid... one of the "Robur" books (I think "Master of the World") had a geographical tie-in near where I grew up... but the mountain he referred to doesn't really exist :)
 
Whoa! Thank you for introducing me to something I was not familiar with! Will have to check out some of the Frank Reade and Frank Reade Jr stuff if I can find it.

I read a lot of Jules Verne when I was a kid... one of the "Robur" books (I think "Master of the World") had a geographical tie-in near where I grew up... but the mountain he referred to doesn't really exist :)
Yeah I was really into Jules Verne as a kid too. There's also the other similar dime store character Tom Swift from the 1910's if you're interested. Also since you're a fan of the WWW may I suggest the Brisco County, Jr and Legend, since both were similar sci-fi westerns.

Anyways you just gave me an idea for a pair of alternate history figures/characters. The first being a European nobleman or aristocrat that was born with a malformed hand that he replaced with a prosthetic he based off of the iron hand of gotz von berlichingen. Eventually visiting the Americas and falling in love with the west where permanently moved to, creating his own combination mansion, laboratory and observatory. After making his fortune providing advanced prosthetics for crippled veterans of the American Civil War.

While the second figure is the closest you can get to a real life Tom Swift/Frank Reade, being born to a family of German or Dutch immigrant farmers just west of the Mississippi. Having just barely avoided fighting in the American Civil War, making his first patent at the age of 14. After that he taught himself various subjects while exploring all over the world with the fortune he made. Before returning back to states where he became a pioneer in several industries including aviation, manufacturing Steam cars a few decades early. Acting as both his worlds equivalent to both Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers.
 
Yeah I was really into Jules Verne as a kid too. There's also the other similar dime store character Tom Swift from the 1910's if you're interested. Also since you're a fan of the WWW may I suggest the Brisco County, Jr and Legend, since both were similar sci-fi westerns.

Anyways you just gave me an idea for a pair of alternate history figures/characters. The first being a European nobleman or aristocrat that was born with a malformed hand that he replaced with a prosthetic he based off of the iron hand of gotz von berlichingen. Eventually visiting the Americas and falling in love with the west where permanently moved to, creating his own combination mansion, laboratory and observatory. After making his fortune providing advanced prosthetics for crippled veterans of the American Civil War.

While the second figure is the closest you can get to a real life Tom Swift/Frank Reade, being born to a family of German or Dutch immigrant farmers just west of the Mississippi. Having just barely avoided fighting in the American Civil War, making his first patent at the age of 14. After that he taught himself various subjects while exploring all over the world with the fortune he made. Before returning back to states where he became a pioneer in several industries including aviation, manufacturing Steam cars a few decades early. Acting as both his worlds equivalent to both Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers.
Yeah, ol' Gotz was an interesting character...
Hey, why consider them alternate possibilities? The 2nd could be the protégé of the 1st....
 
Yeah, ol' Gotz was an interesting character...
Hey, why consider them alternate possibilities? The 2nd could be the protégé of the 1st....
That could be fun. I'm picturing the "Iron Count" being the closest you can get to a real life Miguelito Lovelace or Dr. Doom. Gathering up the best and brightest minds of the world in his experimental Utopian town out in the rockies. With the farmer's son heading there after his first patent or two became a protege of the "Iron Count", develping some new industrial techniques while there. Accelerating technological advancement to the point that by the turn of the century things look more like the 1920's and even 30's in terms of technology and industry. Even though there hasn't yet been any mass societal shake up like the great war... yet.

Of course all of this lead to the wild west being a very interesting place after the civil war.
 
So testing the waters on this idea

OIP.FzKCrAYe18R6YRIAeBerSQHaGG

The Van Dyke model F steam carriage, first unveiled on July 4 1976 at the Washington D.C Centennial celebration by the Van Dyke Machinery company. It quickly gained national attention practically overnight for its surprising speed and affordability, capable of an average speed of over 30 miles. Earning it's inventor the young Joshua Van Dyke, a former protege of Albert the "Iron Count" national fame and more importantly the attention of potential investors. The following decades would be marked by the growing popularity of not just Van Dyke's steam carriages but also his steam cycles, airships and other inventions. Something that would forever change the American west and the world.
 
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