I think it would be hard because I think US citizens referring to themselves as "American" predates the country. I think they called themselves "American" in the context of the British Empire to distinguish themselves from European-born subjects. It was not a word intended to distinguish...
This question has prompted me to look into this history that I didn't know much about, and I've been very pleased that I did :D
Peroz III, son of the Sasanian king Yezdegerd III, seems like the best bet for the Tang trying to restore the Sasanids in Persia. He served as a Tang general after...
Alternatively, you could have first contact go the other way. Have Alaskan natives make it to Japan and pique Japanese interest in exploring out that way. I think ocean currents would favor Alaskan sailors making it to Asia rather than vise versa.
Whaling could also be a motivator for the...
It's for this reason that I think the only way you get to a "musicracy" is with a culture that has a very different relationship with music than Western civilization.
If you have a society where music is the primary means of conveying information, then music will play a larger role in...
More or less. Music was often tied to religious ritual or thought of as somehow divinely inspired. The ability create music should at least be seen as a form of divine favor.
Yeah, that's not a bad idea to work off of.
As Spelf already mentioned one example of an ancient story where music...
Yes. As I said, he was too timid. If he had pushed hard soon after landing, he would've captured Richmond weeks before the Confederates had a chance to amass a proper army to repel him.
True enough. Doesn't mean the Valley Campaign was anything but a sideshow though. It kept 35,000...
I would think a preliterate society would be a good place to start for this. Songs were an important way for storing social knowledge in these societies. This could give rise to a political class where song composition might become more valued than oratory. This would be particularly true if...
I actually don't agree. Arrogant? Absolutely. But McClellan wasn't nearly as incompetent as he's generally perceived to be these days. The Peninsular Campaign was overall a sound idea, and he correctly guessed that Stonewall Jackson's antics in the Shenandoah Valley were a distraction. Lincoln...
I would agree with this. I think there'd be a lot of points of contention that will take years and possibly decades to resolve. Some might never be resolved. I think that assuming war is likely over these issues, however, is not founded.
The post you were responding to was addressing your...
And thousands dead and many more left permanently disfigured. And if we are just going to look at economics, even by late 1862, prices on basic commodities had gone up considerably. By spring 1863, you had a bread riot in Richmond. And even if the war ends before that, the South is going to...
Yeah, I don't see any way for this to happen.
At best, you could have a more successful Seminole nation being too tough a nut to crack. Resulting in an independent country existing in Florida. Even that seems rather unlikely.
Very true. Had I said "language and culture are the only things they need to prevent war", I would be presenting it as some kind of a magic talisman and your argument would be valid. I didn't, so it isn't.
I don't see any reason for it to be all that different from OTL early 19th century...
I think another war is very improbable. I understand that a Confederate victory will lead to overconfidence, but I don't see them jumping at the chance for another war. Let's remember that even if the Southerners score an early victory in 1862, they will have already been economically hurt by...
You still need to limit American westward migration to some degree, but yes, you don't need to necessarily cripple the US. I'm not sure what would work for a single POD for that.