Recent content by Decatur

The Russians can keep troops in Germany if they choose. All they have to do is name that as their price for re-unification and write it into the Two Plus Four Treaty. The two Germanies needed permission from all four occupying powers (USA, USSR, UK, and France) before unification could happen...

My copy of Janes for World War One says differently. In 1914 Germany had the #2 navy in the world, followed by the USA and then Japan. France was fifth, only slightly ahead of Italy and Austria-Hungary.

Why would he? Under the rules of primogeniture, a niece would precede her uncle.

Without UDI, Southern Rhodesia stays a crown colony that will never get formal independence until it implements majority rule. That isn't going to change. I don't see them lasting until Thatcher or Reagan is in office. (Given that the requirement for majority rule for any colony to gain...

You could do this with a POD in the early 1780s. Say Charles Stuart accepts an offer to become king of America. He still reconciles with his daughter Charlotte and legitimates her. She ends up a accompaning him to America. Charles was in very poor health by this time, so he either dies on the...

Her uncle Ernst Augustus becomes king, and the United Kingdom is once more in personal union with Hanover

They actually DID let former SS members join the Bundeswehr when it was formed. About 4,000 tried to enlist, and 770 (including 33 officers) were accepted. AFAIK none of them reached high rank, but the fact remains that the West German did let accept SS veterans in the Bundeswehr when it was...

AFAIK, Wittman was never linked to any war crimes. He'll spend time in a POW camp, but will eventually be released. When the Bundeswehr is formed, he could be one of the very few SS officers allowed to enlist. He probably ends up commanding a panzer battalion, and is retired by the early 1970s.

The Battle of Brandywine was fought on 11 Sept. 1777. Rochembeau and the Special Expedition didn't reach the United States until August 1780, and didn't see any real combat until the siege of Yorktown. Maybe Louis-Phillipe attaches himself to the French troops storming Redoubt 10 and ends up on...

English law allowed posthumous inheritance. As matter of fact, that's what happened with Henry Tudor. Born three months after his father died, he became Earl of Richmond, not his uncle Jasper.

Elizabeth I was born on Nov. 17, 1533, making her two years and two months old at the time of Henry's jousting accident. She is heir to the throne, not Mary, who was considered illegitimate the time. There's an added complication: Anne was four months pregnant at the time of the accident. She...

By 1911 the British Army had drawn up detailed plans to deploy the BEF to France in case of way with Germany. It was the refusal of the Royal Navy to guarantee protection for the transports that led to Churchill being made First Lord of the Admiralty, with the goal of getting RN ready for war.

Postpone (or better yet, skip) the invasion of the Aleutians. Add Ryujo and Junyo to Nagumo's force at Midway. That's six carriers to three (plus the planes on Midway Island). Now, if some genius can get Shokaku's air group transferred to Zuikaku and she joins Nagumo, that gives the Japanese a...

Lincoln was a compromise candidate. Seward and Chase were far more radical than he was, especially on slavery.

If the Italians pull this off, I foresee two things: 1. The U.S. government is going to start building detention camps for Italian-Americans 2. The U.S. Army is going to be a lot more enthusiastic about invading Italy