I’m interested in the idea of an atl without a U.S. civil war in the 1860s. In this scenario Missouri becomes ground zero in the battle for emancipation, with Republicans gradually gaining in strength from their St Louis stronghold, and with patronage support from the Lincoln administration...
As a first step, would a referendum put on the ballot by signatures (an initiative referendum) be allowed? I can see some state courts allowing it but not others. Perhaps if the referendum was explicitly termed non binding, merely a gauge of popular opinion, that might be a first step. I could...
I just finished Otto Strasser's Flight from Terror, his autobiography about his role in the Nazi party, his expulsion, the formation of his black front and his flight from Germany after Hitler took over. There are several inaccuracies and chronological problems in the book (Prussian Prime...
The Pennsylvania supreme court recently ruled that congressional districts needed to be reapportioned because in their overly gerrymandered state Democrats were getting around 45% of the vote or more and about 25% of the seats . But a better redistricting helped to fix this. In Massachusetts...
Not sure if this has been discussed before, but what happens if the Reichstag fire doesn't occur? I don't think it makes too much of a difference as Hitler's new regime is already suppressing its opponents to an extent, the fire merely turbo charged the move. So without the fire, a more...
I would guess that if the voters of South Carolina were actually allowed to vote on whether they supported South Carolina secession that a majority would do so, but I wonder what the final support level would be, and how close the no side would get to winning western South Carolina. The mere...
One of the ironies of Hitler's appointment to the chancellorship was that the Nazis were on the decline electorally by that point. The Lippe state elections of January 15, 1933 are often pointed to as an example of the party rebounding somewhat, but in that case they poured in a lot of resources...
In the book Lances Down author Richard Boleslavski writes about the fairly strong (at least compared to Petrograd) resistance to the Bolshevik takeover in Moscow, with white units composed primarily of cadets (iirc) actually going on the offensive at the start, but later crushed by better armed...
Was there any candidate who could appeal to the left but also make moves to lead Russia toward a compromise peace with the Central Powers? such a candidate would seem the one best able to head off a revolution.
Was there much speculation from 37-39 about who would take over for Chamberlain if he died or resigned? Did he ever mention who he would want as his successor in the time before the war started?
A messy and fought over Presidential request for a declaration of war without a Pearl Harbor. Probably passes but with lots of opposition like Mexican American war of 1840's, crystallizing and putting on the congressional record the fact of massive opposition to war on the part of big chunks of...
One of my favorite cold war themes. Here are some ways to maybe get there.
1. US forces take the bulk of Bohemia (probably not Moravia), giving more prestige to non-communist parties in the region. In the 1946 elections, Communists and Social Democrats fail to get a majority in the...
this is going to have huge butterflies in Europe. If Britain realizes that a US intervention in an upcoming war against Germany is much less likely because of this then that alters their calculations immensely. No guarantee to Poland, and perhaps it looks for a deal with Stalin.