Map Thread XVIII

[wtw]

Well hey, Toledo is basically like Michigan, but REEEEEEEEEEEEE

fight, fight, fight, Wisconsin will back you as long as we get the UP

 

[GodoftheTranses]

I decided to contribute to MEGA states with MEGA West Virginia, also known as Appalachia

 

[Deleted member 100251]

Almost heaven...

 

[mikroraptor]

Novi Eboraci optimus est!

My first map was just showing colonial era claims, this one is an actual alternate history, probably diverging with a failed articles of confederation U.S.
Also we finally defeated our arch nemesis, New Jersey...

 

[TheWhereWolf]

The Sovereign Revolution-

The Year is 1967. The world has been at relative peace since the downfall of the Latin and Slavic Empires thirty years prior, ending the National Wars. The Federated Republics of America stands tall as a leader in freedom and equality since the Second American Revolution over eighty years ago but is struggling to spread its influence globally. The Imperial Brittanic Commonwealth, while smaller than its founder's had hoped for, is still holding together strong and ruling the waves and trades of the world. The Popular Empires of Europe have formed the European Commons, which they use to control the content in the name of the people from Frankfurt, Pest, Krakau and Vienna. The Brazillian Empire stands strong as the leader of South America, and with the Lusobantain Confederation by their side, stand poised to take charge of the World's economy. Similarly, the Chinese Union seeks to build its power base to restore glory to the Mandate of Heaven. Together, the World Congress is trying to maintain order in the post-colonial environment created around the world, and hopefully make the next century more peaceful than the last, though with tensions growing between members as they begin to race for the stars, who knows if this equilibrium will last.

This is the world map for my new timeline, the Sovergin revolution. Feel free to comment and ask questions about the world here or on the TL's thread (Link in Signature). I am currently open to suggestions on what country I should first go In-Depth with is. Also, attached are map showcasing International Alliances and Standards of Living around the world.

Spoiler: Standard of Living

Spoiler: International Alliances

Teal- F.A.R and close allies
Light Green - The South American Union and Lusobantian Confederation
Blue- The Imperial Brittanic Commonwealths and Associated Nations
Dark Green - Arabian Association
Yellow- Central Asian Union
Blue-Green - European Commons Core/Periphery Members
Red- East Asian Collective
Grey- Isolated/Rouge nations
Orange- Collectivist States part of the International Worker's Alliance

 

[XFE]

Crossposted from @black_0 's Periodization Game thread, a game similar to the lists of monarchs, where players list subsequent periods of history with their descriptions being placed in the footnotes.

This is my attempt at a worlda cover of our inaugural game, A History of the Soviet Union.

The PoD is Bukharin winning the power struggle upon Lenin's death, and becoming high on power as he purges any and all rivals in the Soviet leadership. Bukharin begins a period of Soviet expansionism across Eurasia, which antagonizes the entire world. A coalition of Democratic and Fascist powers allied to form an anti-Soviet coalition in the '40s, with the Soviets negotiating their way out of the war when Bukharin was deposed by the Red Army.

The surprising sanity of Red Army leadership convinced Britain and France to withdraw from the war with a negotiated settlement, which fundamentally damaged relations with the fascist powers (even causing Japan to turn away from the British)--the latter of which understandably feared and hated Marxism with a passion, and would stop at nothing to see it destroyed. Understanding the impossibility of conquering Russia on their own, the fascists begrudgingly accepted terms of peace. Molotov was put in power by the military, and proceeded to normalize relations with the rest of the world. However, he despised for percieved kow-towing to the West, and ultimately was ousted by the same Red Army that put him in power. Government power brokers Zhukov, Khrushchev and Sokolnikov formed a Troika to pursue "realist reforms" that go even further than Lenin's NEP. When Sokolinkov died, Khrushchev voluntarily gave up power to Zhukov, who would unexpectedly usher in a period of democracy, prosperity and federalism.

Under Zhukov, the Soviet Union normalized relations with the West (in particular America, which had recently emerged from isolationism). Zhukov rubbed his hands in glee as the fascists and democracies (plus China) of the world were pit against each other in a twilight struggle, with the Soviets were happy to sit it out on the sidelines. The Soviets would often receive American investment given the immense threat they posed to Germany and Japan, with "Made in Ukraine" being common in most Western households.

Zhukov died, and another troika was formed. Despite Zhukov's attempts to rein in the army, this troika fell apart when the (you guessed it) Red Army stepped in and made one of them, Dimitri Ustinov Premier. Ustinov let the Red Army take control of the Soviet Union's strategic resources, and helped crash the Soviet economy with his mismanagement of the 1982 Asian Financial Tsunami, pissing off everyone in the process. The Soviet Union was unable to take advantage of the collapse of the Japanese Empire, and since China was just as (if not more) economically wrecked, no one filled the vacumn in Northeast Asia.

Young socialist army officers Alexander Lebed and Vladimir Sablin led a revolt against Red Army gerontocracy in the 90s, sparking the Second Russian Civil War. Ustinov nuked Moscow to halt rebel advance, but this only hastened his defeat as the military government lost all sympathy. Lebed took the presidency and now guides a reformed Soviet Union into the future via "socialist market economy". Lebed's New Union is supposedly liberal and democratic (which comparatively speaking, cannot be denied), but the fact that general Lebed has been in power for 12 years doesn't escape the mind of many a foreign journalist. Most Russians are however rather approving of Lebed's rule (he has raised the New Union into a first-rate great power--what's not to like?) and see him as a Russian Washington, with some pushing for similar levels of fetishization. Chances are that you'll get beaten up by angry Russians if you dare go too far with your criticism of Lebed.


Some notes follow, with a considerable amount of headcanon to fill in the gaps.

Europe

• Germany came under the rule of the Nazis for most of the '30s, and soon became an aggressively expansionist militaristic state in the leadup to the Coalition's war against Bukharin. Britain and France lacked any real sympathy for the Poles, and let Germany have free rein over its conquests in Eastern Europe, believing that this would satisfy Hitler's ambitions. However, London was shocked when Germano-Italian armies drove through Budapest and Belgrade, and the Balkans went to hell.
• The Balkan War was a wakeup call for Britain and France, who turned the spear of containment towards Germany and accepted Soviet overtures for rapproachment. Germany instituted autarky in response, and things only went downhill from there. Somewhat more competent military leaders took over after Hitler, and Germany went down much the same road as the post-Bukharin Soviet Union, with the Wehrmacht's tail wagging Germany's dog. Germany soon found itself back where it started: a military dictatorship manned by a clique of generals.
• Despite having half of Europe's resources to exploit, Germany was plunged into a financial crisis in the '60s, and never caught up to the West, or even the Soviet Union, turmultous as it was. The '80s saw civilian leaders rise to power and lead Germany from xenophobic, expansionist totalitarianism to xenophobic, isolationist authoritarianism.
• Believing that Russia was in a weak spot, German leaders would also try (and fail) to end the cold war in the '90s. Instead, they received the Balkan Spring--the collapse of Germany's Balkan empire as the Ustashe-run state of Croatia fell apart, taken over by a restored Yugoslavia sympathetic to the anti-fascist cause. Lebed sent entire divisions of Russian veterans recently returned from the Civil War, and funneled as many weapons as humanly possible into the warzone. The Democratic People's Republic of Yugoslavia is the lovechild of these anti-fascist forces.
• Since then, the German empire in Europe has been falling apart. Spain fell to an invasion by the Western allies when Franco's heirs tried to build a nuclear bomb despite French protests, a socialist Government finally purged Nazism from the Netherlands, and Lebed is all too happy to give angry Belarusians old Soviet toys.

The West

• Without the butcher's bill a showdown between democracy and fascism would have involved, the Anglo-French colonial empires lasted well into the 1950s. Britain had long since begun gradual decolonization at America's urging, which netted the West some good allies. France was far less willing to let go of its empire, and fought many bloody wars across Africa and Asia.
• There was also how many independence leaders were discredited together with their socialist ideology. Kwame Nkrumah for example, was assasinated by British agents, and his home country of Ghana was handed over to the Asante monarch, who rules a strongly traditionalist, pro-British nation to this day.
• America entered the picture when isolationism ended in the '50s. America wasn't the power OTL saw, but it still rose to dominate the Western allies. It was much more willing to delegate and "pragmatically accommodate" its allies across the world, and never developed pretentions at hyperpowerdom--only superpowerdom. Still, America is the closest thing there is to a hegemon.

Asia

• China was poised to become America's right hand man and co-hegemon of the world, but the 1982 Financial Tsunami destroyed the country. The KMT let go of the reins of power and China became a strongly nationalistic, conservative two-party democracy scarred by a disconnect between the people and their leaders. The Chinese people go to the polls to choose between the conservative Young China Party and the downright reactionary KMT.
• Japan fared even worse and went full Juche when the markets crashed. The army has crushed the navy, and has shown just how trigger happy it is. China and Japan have enough nukes aimed at each other to destroy any and all settlements with more than 1,000 people.
• The "New Co-prosperity sphere" Japan finds herself in is essentially a collection of Japan and her dictatorial friends who survived the collapse of the Japanese Empire. This is more of a loose coalition which has been hemorrhaging members to China, Australia and America since 1982. One of the few battlegrounds the Sphere has seen some real success is the former Dutch East Indies, where militias sympathetic to Japan's cause have been fighting a proxy war against the rest of the world since the region's messy decolonization in the '70s.
• Manchuria and Korea broke free from Japan when they elected socialist leaders in their first free elections in 1984. Japan fought a bloody war to hold onto its continental empire, but was defeated by internal troubles. Korea swiftly fell into the Western camp, but Manchuria had grown too distinct from China for reunification. This almost caused another war, but the KMT ultimately backed down since half of China was up in (thankfully proverbial) arms as well. Both countries later fell into civil war, and Lebed intervened to bring them into Soviet orbit.
• Lebed has also stuck his hand into the Middle East, causing comparatively minor tensions with the West. The growing Arab Union and its incessant spats with Iraq and Israel is one of the foreign policy nightmares that Lebed himself somewhat regrets.

 

[Planita13]

This is the flagship map for my California timeline, where a massive lake in Southern California doesn't dry up and sticks around to the modern day (with some help).

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California, officially the Republic of California (Spanish: Republica de California), is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. It’s capital and cultural center is San Gabriel on the shores of the Gran Lago, while its largest city is Los Angeles and the surrounding metropolitan area. The state is bordered by Eureka to the north, Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Sonora to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Gulf of California to the east of the Baja California Peninsula. It is the eighth largest state by area and the fifth most populous U.S. state. It has an estimated population of 16,587,961 in 2018 and a total area of 114,326 square miles. Due to the geographic breath of the state, north and west-central California has a mild Mediterranean climate while south and east central California has a hot, arid desert climate.

You can find the thread for my timeline here.

 

[Drex]

Minor nitpick: the capital of Mojave would be "La Encruciajada" instead of "El Encrucijada" given Encrucijada is a female word.

 

[Planita13]

Minor nitpick: the capital of Mojave would be "La Encruciajada" instead of "El Encrucijada" given Encrucijada is a female word.

Thank you for pointing that out, its fixed now

 

[Ivoshafen]

I heard you boys like HOOSIERWANKS

 

[VigilantSycamore]

So, I did make some edits to my previous map, although I haven't finalized them yet. In the meantime, I made something that has nothing to do with that. Behold, a self-indulgent Polwank! At least I think it's a Polwank, I'm not sure where the line is drawn. Anyway, here it is:

(The idea is that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth didn't go into a decline, and eventually became fully democratic. This map is set sometime in the early 20th Century, after a WW1 equivalent)

 

[Analytical Engine]

So, I did make some edits to my previous map, although I haven't finalized them yet. In the meantime, I made something that has nothing to do with that. Behold, a self-indulgent Polwank! At least I think it's a Polwank, I'm not sure where the line is drawn. Anyway, here it is:

View attachment 460256

(The idea that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth didn't go into a decline, and eventually became fully democratic. This map is set sometime in the early 20th Century, after a WW1 equivalent)

I suspect this Poland will into space.

 

[VigilantSycamore]

I suspect this Poland will into space.

Oh, definitely

 

[Peppe]

View attachment 460180
Politically or financially important states are colored, and their less important neighbors are numbered. States outside the confederation are named on the map.
The black squares in Wallonia are Namur (northeast), the old capital, and Orleans (center), the new capital.

Based off Augenis's "Switcheroo" AH vignette, which switches France's and Germany's experiences (focusing specifically on the 1800s). Read it, it's a fun premise.

After the final defeat of Emperor Friedrich Hohenzollern's revolutionary German armies, the great men gathered at the Congress of Arles resolve to set the world right again--but some aspects of the old world are simply irreparable. The Holy Roman Empire of the French Nation, defunct since the Archduchy of Burgundy's self-promotion to Imperial status, is therefore officially replaced by the French Confederation. Despite its name, the Confederation is only a loose bond, and the mess of kingdoms, empires, duchies, margraviates, bishoprics, counties, and free cities that make up the Gallic lands are all effectively sovereign. As the upstart militarists of the Wallonian Kingdom move to overturn the status quo the Burgundian Empire represents, France appears to be in for a rough century...

What are the nations without numbers on them?

 

[Wendell]

I decided to contribute to MEGA states with MEGA West Virginia, also known as Appalachia

[IMAGE]

You should add the Black Belt to your map.

 

[KolyenuKS]

Map of the Federation of American States (commonly called Greater Virginia) after the Great American War (dates are years that the states were entered into the nation.)

 

[LostInNewDelhi]

What are the nations without numbers on them?

The colored nations with no numbers are the important ones, their names are assumed to be obvious to the TTL viewer. Their names are in any case listed on the full list of members to the right, but with one mistake--I forgot to include Anjou, the orange one, in the full list.

 

[KolyenuKS]

I heard you boys like HOOSIERWANKS

Is the blue France?

 

[B_Munro]

Crossposted from @black_0 's Periodization Game thread, a game similar to the lists of monarchs, where players list subsequent periods of history with their descriptions being placed in the footnotes.

Interesting, although the way the USSR switches back and forth between Bad Russia and Good Russia kinda makes this feel like "timeline by committee."

the spear of containment

Containment isn't a spear, it's more of a wall. Well, a wall with nails in, maybe, but not a spear. Spears are for stabbin'.

 

[B_Munro]

This is the flagship map for my California timeline, where a massive lake in Southern California doesn't dry up and sticks around to the modern day (with some help).

First rate! My only quibble would be that California's Great Lake deserves a more unique name than "big lake."