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  1. “Reactionary vs. Progressive” Religions and Modifying Doctrine

    Honestly, you could probably create a 19th-century religious movement in the US that borrows heavily from Sikhism. The degree of Orientalist Indomania among 19th century American spiritual thinkers is kind of surprising at first glance, but it was widespread--theosophy is the most well-known...
  2. “Reactionary vs. Progressive” Religions and Modifying Doctrine

    When I read this, I began to wonder if an exception might exist for marginalized Christian sects cooperating with a Revolutionary Vanguard and securing toleration for themselves that way...but I soon realized I couldn't actually think of an example of this in the Eastern Bloc IOTL. Even fringe...
  3. “Reactionary vs. Progressive” Religions and Modifying Doctrine

    Yeah, I'm gonna second this. Also, half of the ideas are already present in varying forms. Vegetarianism as a form of self-mortification is part of both Catholicism and Orthodoxy, especially in Lent--not because they believe animals have moral weight but as a form of self-denial. Service to...
  4. Union Army Coup During Civil War

    Actually, when Lincoln pulled McClellan from Army of the Potomac command, there was genuine fear in Washington that he'd turn the army on the government--and apparently a lot of his own men wanted him to. So an 1862 coup by the Little Napoleon (...darn unfortunate nickname both ITTL and IOTL)...
  5. Red Poland, White Russia?

    There was also, from what I've read, a racial element to it--since communists made common cause with anticolonial movements and in fact helped get a lot going, the post-1917 Red Scare IOTL was flavored with racist anxieties about the Yellow Peril, the Oriental hordes, etc. (which may or may not...
  6. Red Poland, White Russia?

    Honestly, I was struck by the resentment that even OTL Polish communists had for the Soviets, and thought this was an amusingly ironic scenario. The hatred IOTL, after all, was largely nationalistic--and that would still be there ITTL. That's kind of the conclusion I reached as well--you need...
  7. What if the Warsaw Pact and Yugoslavia revolted against Moscow in 1956 in solidarity with Hungary?

    Kruschev was less of a hawk against the West. He was removed from power because he wanted to start a nuclear war against China, and more importantly for the Politburo, was willing to negotiate a Soviet withdrawal from East Germany (and parts of Poland if Gomulka got uppity), allowing the Bonn...
  8. WI Napoléon II: Bourbon Hostage?

    Maybe not early in life, but on Saint Helena (presumably because there was nothing else to do), he did take it up at Longwood. Spade-in-hand at everything, along with dozens-to-hundreds of Chinese laborers assigned to assist him. Of course, knowing his drama-queen tendencies late in life, that...
  9. WI Napoléon II: Bourbon Hostage?

    Madame Royal: "How sweet! He's such a good hand with a hoe!" Messenger comes up: "Your majesty, the weekly report on the usurper: he has taken up gardening on St. Helena." [everyone goes ashen-faced at this bad omen]
  10. Protestant or Orthodox king of Poland

    The difficulty is that Poland's famous religious toleration actually receded sharply in the second half of the 17th century. The Counter-Reformation was in full swing, and there was a great deal of anti-Protestant sentiment after the Deluge (though it had been building since the beginning of the...
  11. For All Mankind (AH Tv series at Apple TV)

    Matter of taste. I personally prefer the pre-TCW Legends continuity to what came after Lucas and Filoni got into it, but it's not really good or bad. Though if you want to be cynical, Legends did get mainstreamed. Just not the parts anyone was asking for. We got big-screen adaptations/rip-offs...
  12. For All Mankind (AH Tv series at Apple TV)

    Even so, that would be taken as a dark ending--Luke turning to the Dark Side, the authoritarian government winning over the rebels. If Vader were redeemed and became Good King Anakin, people would probably not phrase it as "Luke joining the Emperor." So we still need another episode or two for...
  13. For All Mankind (AH Tv series at Apple TV)

    Luke joining the Empire implies that a few other ideas--like Luke's sister being introduced in sequel movies and Leia not being his sister--happen. Legends as we know it is totally butterflied, naturally--you can't even have the Noghri pledging themselves to Lady Vader if Leia isn't Lady...
  14. TL-191: Filling the Gaps

    Well, given Custer's close association with McClellan, and that the war ends before he has a chance to make his own name, TTL Custer is probably somewhere between "unpopular" and "unknown" when the war ends, and likely holds onto his army commission purely because so many officers went...
  15. Resources and Sources Thread Pre 1900s

    Does anyone have suggestions for a good biography of Napoleon III or single-volume history of the Second French Empire? Along the lines of Zamoyski's or Roberts' biographies of his more famous uncle, Napoleon I? Similarly, could anyone recommend the same for Oliver Cromwell and/or the long...
  16. How would an European Khanate look like?

    Hm. Now I'm imagining the Great Khan inviting mystically-inclined European alchemists to his court. Maybe they'll make their proto-chemistry experiments a bit flashier to achieve royal favor. Or perhaps the Khans might patronize European astrologers/proto-astronomers--TTL Galileo in the Khan's...
  17. What if the Sudeten Crisis became a European War?

    To be fair, I think a lot of Poles would have been quite supportive of annexing the rest of Lithuania, in a vacuum (if they didn't already have an insurgency of Ukrainians to deal with; if they didn't have much more threatening neighbors to both sides; if they didn't think this would antagonize...
  18. What if the Sudeten Crisis became a European War?

    So, Yugoslavia gets to threaten Austria while Italy bashes itself against the Isonzo for the next twenty battles. Not exactly a win for Berlin here. Poland would tell him to shove it, as they did all the times he historically made these proposals. The Polish government valued its French...
  19. Roman Optics?

    Reflecting telescopes are, in principle, something that could have been built at any point after the Bronze Age--speculum, the alloy used for early reflectors, is just a copper-tin alloy. The difficulty, which also applies to refractors, is having the math to figure out how to aim the light--you...
  20. How would an European Khanate look like?

    Who says they'd use a 2-dimensional flag at all? Seems like a bunchuk would be more their style. Perhaps dyed red/purple, with a cross (or imperial eagle?) topping it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tug_(banner)
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