Dominion of Southern America - Updated July 1, 2018

Geordie

Very interesting update, Glen.

The earlier development of antiseptic and/or sterile conditions will make a big impact. This is going to decrease mortality rates in hospital, especially in operations, and likely reduce child/infant death rates earlier than OTL too. Transporting this idea into the slums could give us the results of Dr Snow's work on cholera from a different direction.

As you say, the fortuitous discovery of antibiotics could easily have happened much earlier, and a link with gonorrhoea and VD means instant application. Have antibiotics been looked at as far as septicaemia and such?

One thing I've wondered about, as far as medicine in AH is concerned, is phage therapy:

Bacteriophages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage

Phage Therapy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy

I've been interested in them ever since doing my A-Level Biology coursework essay on the subject of antibiotic resistance. While any such resitance will take a while to develop, there is an alternative path out there - either as something to look at when resistance starts rearing its head, or for a country/scientist who wishes to go their own way...
 
Glen

Glen

Moderator
Geordie said:
Very interesting update, Glen.

The earlier development of antiseptic and/or sterile conditions will make a big impact. This is going to decrease mortality rates in hospital, especially in operations, and likely reduce child/infant death rates earlier than OTL too. Transporting this idea into the slums could give us the results of Dr Snow's work on cholera from a different direction.

As you say, the fortuitous discovery of antibiotics could easily have happened much earlier, and a link with gonorrhoea and VD means instant application. Have antibiotics been looked at as far as septicaemia and such?
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Pretty much yes to all o fthe above.

One thing I've wondered about, as far as medicine in AH is concerned, is phage therapy:

Bacteriophages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage

Phage Therapy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy

I've been interested in them ever since doing my A-Level Biology coursework essay on the subject of antibiotic resistance. While any such resitance will take a while to develop, there is an alternative path out there - either as something to look at when resistance starts rearing its head, or for a country/scientist who wishes to go their own way...
Click to expand...

A fascinating area, to be sure. Whether it will come to anything ITTL only time will tell...
 
Glen

Glen

Moderator
There were two strains of development of 'Kriegsspiel' or Wargame in Europe, the precursor to the RPG. The first developed from the chess variant Koenigspiel in the 1780s by Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig, who by the early 19th century had so modified the game as to free it from its chess origins. The game expanded the number of spaces on the board, placed indications as to terrain type, and replaced and expanded the number of pieces and their movement ability to make it a more naturalistic simulation of war (as known in the 18th century). It would become popular in Brunswick and nearby Hanover.

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Another game called Kriegsspiel was also developing in the early 19th century, this time by Lieutenant Georg Leopold von Reiswitz for the Prussian Army. Reiswitz's Kriegsspiel was the first to introduce the use of dice to represent the 'friction' of war (basically the unknown or ineffable factors influencing the fortunes of war). While the revolutionaries of the Rhineland would eschew many things Prussian after the Liberal War, one thing they retained was an appreciation and enjoyment of Kriegsspiel.

Eventually in the mid-19th century, the Brunswick and Rhineland versions of Kriegsspiel would mix and cross-fertilize, forming a robust wargaming tradition among the military and even civilian enthusiasts. In Prussia and later Prussia-Poland, while refined over time (including expansion of the use of umpires in judging the outcome of matches), it would stay more solidly the province of the Prusso-Polish military and its officers.

From the German Empire, Kriegsspiel spread to the other Western nations as a popular pastime, especially among the British and the British Southrons (several of whom had been first introduced to it during volunteer service in the Liberal War - George Turner himself was known to be an enthusiastic practitioner, even developing new rules for calvary). It became popular in Britain and France to develop scenarios for the great historical wars of history so the players could take on the roles of great leaders in history and try their luck at a replay of history, including development of a cross channel Napoleonic league and championship every year where master Kriegsspielers would refight the Napoleonic wars. Waterloo, Belgique was the site of the 1863 Franco-British Napoleonic Kriegsspiel Championship. It was the first time the competition was not held in either French or British Empire and was a sign of its increasing international appeal. It was in the course of these Napoleonic tournaments that the introduction of novel ten-sided dice pairs to generate percentages was introduced.

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Given the popularity of the Napoleonic Wars in historical kriegsspieling and in 19th century speculative fiction, it was only a matter of time that Kriegsspielers began to put on wargames in the alternate histories of speculative fiction (non-Napoleonic examples include adaptations of the popular works Plato's America, Course of Human Events, and later A Loyal North). However, most Kriegsspielers by this time were starting to experiment with their own completely fictional scenarios. In this same spirit of innovation came the development of the first rules for using individual fighters instead of military units, in part to also incorporate scenarios involving Western American themes, and even some more fantastic versions based off Gothic and Vampire literature. Though some saw this as a throwback to chess, the rules if anything were more complex than the original kriegsspiel ones, including the ability to generate individual statistics for the individual fighters. In the post Global War world, both modern Kriegsspiel and their Individual Battle Games had become popular, even in the United States (maybe especially so since most had been spared the horrors of war and could revel in the imaged 'glory' of battle). By 1900, people could even play as the Roosevelt brothers fighting against Prusso-Polish Vampires. Simplified versions of both types of games became available for children as well.
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Glen

Glen

Moderator
Falastur said:
battle_06.jpg


Waterloo? What is this Waterloo?
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Waterloo, Belgique was the site of the 1863 Franco-British Napoleonic Kriegsspiel Championship, of course. It was the first time the competition was not held in either French or British Empire.
 
Glen

Glen

Moderator
Glen said:
Waterloo, Belgique was the site of the 1863 Franco-British Napoleonic Kriegsspiel Championship, of course. It was the first time the competition was not held in either French or British Empire.
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I liked my tongue-in-cheek response so much I decided to edit it into the post. Thanks for pointing it out!
 

Falastur

Glen said:
Waterloo, Belgique was the site of the 1863 Franco-British Napoleonic Kriegsspiel Championship, of course. It was the first time the competition was not held in either French or British Empire.
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Ah of course, how stupid of me. Apologies.
 

stevep

Glen

Good update. Something like war-gaming most people would never think of including in a TL but it would definitely develop.:)

Steve
 

twovultures

Donor
Now that was an absolutely hilarious update:D

I've been thinking of going back into wargaming recently, though the prices always give me a pause.
 
Glen

Glen

Moderator
stevep said:
Glen

Good update. Something like war-gaming most people would never think of including in a TL but it would definitely develop.:)

Steve
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Thanks, Steve. As the update shows, the parts were already in place for this, it just needed a push. Nice thing about RPGs really is that they just need some imagination.
 

Arrix85

While I can appreciate this cultural updates, which help flesh out TTL, I cannot help but wonder if the ATL is over when it comes to historical events. If I recall correctly you didn't post anything post-Global war.

To be clear: I'm perfectly fine with the TL being "over". It's not mandatory to reach present day.
 
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stevep

Arrix85 said:
While I can appreciate this cultural updates, which help flesh out TTL, I cannot help but wonder if the ATL is over when it comes to historical events. If I recall correctly you didn't post anything post-Global war.

To be clear: I'm perfectly fine with the TL being "over". It's not mandatory to reach present day.
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Of course not. As long as it reaches say 2200 AD, or shall we make it 3000AD for a nice round figure.:p:D

Steve
 
Glen

Glen

Moderator
Arrix85 said:
While I can appreciate this cultural updates, which help flesh out TTL, I cannot help but wonder if the ATL is over when it comes to historical events. If I recall correctly you didn't post anything post-Global war.

To be clear: I'm perfectly fine with the TL being "over". It's not mandatory to reach present day.
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Au contraire, mon ami! First I would point out that we are in fact posting several events in the decade after the Global War. Second, while some of these posts have been for color or opportunity, several of them in fact are laying the groundwork for the next several decades or even century, even if it isn't obvious now. If you look back over the timeline you will see these pauses as history thus far is sort of 'filled in' followed by a rush forward on critical events of the next era. While not mandatory, I fully intend this timeline to reach the 21st century at least.
 
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