My crossover between S.M. Stirling's Draka series and Jared's
Decades of Darkness. This scenario will be vaguely following the events of both timelines, but not exactly.
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Decades of Draka
The British may have lost the American Revolutionary War, but they did claim one prize in that disaster: the Dutch Cape Colony. This colony, renamed Drakia, becomes a refuge for the defeated Loyalists that didn't move to Canada instead. Nobody could have guessed that this war would be the foundation point for two of the world's superpowers in centuries to come.
In the Americas, the new United States expanded, but experienced significant growing pains. Thomas Jefferson, the man who made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, would die in office in 1809. Shortly afterward, the United States would be split in two, and the New England Republic would gain its independence with the aid of the British in 1811. The Americans would fail to reconquer New England in 1833, and instead turned their attention southward and westward. The Americans' fortunes were greater here, and after a series of wars in the 19th century, all of Mexico was brought under American rule. The Americans would steadily expand their reach throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and by the dawn of the 20th century, South America.
In Africa, the Crown Colony of Drakia would grow by taking in refugees from defeated factions all over the world. French royalists, French Bonapartists, and Mexican aristocracy would all find a new place in Drakia. Drakia's Indentured Labor and Master and Servant Acts allow for the practical enslavement of conquered African peoples, something that gained Drakia surprisingly little condemnation until the British attempted to ban the practice in 1815. Seeking to do unto the British as the British did unto them, the Americans supported Drakia's war for independence, which became a Drakian victory. Drakia renamed itself the Domination of the Draka, and it would model itself after its American cousin by expanding throughout southern Africa. Although their expansion was stopped in the mid-19th century by central Africa's jungles, the discovery of quinine and the invention of the machine gun in the 1860s allowed the Draka to claim the Kongo region before the European powers could do so. This led to the Draka becoming even greater rivals of the British, and solidified the Draka-American alliance against the European powers.
By the early 20th century, a series of alliances had the world poised for war. An Anglo-German alliance reigned supreme over Europe and the world, opposed on the continent by a France humiliated in the two Napoleonic wars and a Russia defeated by the Ottoman Empire after the Germans and British supported the Sultan in the Crimean War. Elsewhere in the world, the Americans and the Draka sought to topple the current order, along with the militaristic Japanese. New England forged closer ties with the British, fearing the American juggernaut. In 1910, after the death of the Kaiser, the French and Russians launched simultaneous offensives against Germany in the hopes that the Germans would be caught off guard and defeated quickly. They were not, and the attack only succeeded in triggering the global alliances and plunging the world into war. The Great War had begun.
Ultimately, the Great War would be a triumph for the Allies of the United States, the Draka, the French, Russians and Japanese. The weight of Drakan and American industry was too much for the Halifax Powers to oppose. New England was overrun, British Canada was turned into a puppet, and what remained of independent South America was turned into a series of American possessions and puppets. The final humiliation came when a joint Franco-American invasion of the British Isles definitively defeated what was left of the Royal Navy and subjected the British to American occupation. In Africa, the Draka overran the Halifax Powers' colonial possessions, eventually destroying the Ottoman and Italian empires on its own. Germany was crushed by the Allied juggernaut and broken down into its constituent pieces after what remained of the German Army was destroyed by the world's first nuclear weapons. Japan seized as much of the Pacific as it could before what remained of the British Empire sued for peace with the Allies. By 1918, the world belonged to the Allies.
Naturally, the Allies would not remain so. Just as there is only room in the sky for one sun, there is only enough room in the world for one hyperpower. The Draka and the Americans, which had been allies for decades, turned their nuclear weapons against one another. They were never used, of course, as that would mean the destruction of both empires. By 1923, a cold war was going on in earnest. The Americans had allies in France and Russia, both powers fearful of Drakan expansion, Meanwhile, the Draka had allies in the Poles and Japanese, powers who believe they can gain much in case the American system falls. American and Drakan troops are stationed all over Europe, occupation forces becoming permanent fixtures of the defeated Halifax Powers' societies.
While the two superpowers are very close in power, the Americans are the richer and more secure. Having two major oceans to protect them, the Americans can spend less on their ground forces and invest more in naval and air power. America is a presidential republic, although the system is so corrupted and controlled by moneyed interests that the average citizen really has no say. That's not to include the various second-class citizens in American society, such as those in the occupied territories or those unfortunate enough to be born in a discriminated race, as they cannot vote. While not as brutal as their Drakan counterparts, the Americans do have a system of de facto slavery, where members of certain groups (particularly blacks and those from the former Halifax Powers) must carry "internal passports" and live in company towns owned by America's political elite. Life in the occupied territories is even worse, as the American military tries to root out resistance and make a profit on whatever it can loot.
America's allies in Europe aren't so bad. The Third French Empire is under a Bonaparte again, and is busy "Francifying" the portions of its empire that were once under the Germans. This can lead to students who speak German in class being beaten by their teachers, but many German families have been kicked out and sent to the German states, so it doesn't happen too often. The Russian Federated Empire is a strange Frankenstein-esque state which is actually rather tolerant of its minorities by necessity. Most decision-making power is in the Duma, although the Tsar still has the final say. Some Russians cynically note that Russia is one of the freest nations on Earth, which should say something about the state of mankind.
The Draka are enjoying the spoils of war a bit too much. The Drakan "master race" has expanded their "serfdom" system to all of their conquered territories, creating a massive slave class. A loyalty program has been established for the serfs, to divide them against one another and to encourage compliance, although at the end of the day, a serf is a serf. Drakan neo-paganism, informed by racial supremacism, is imposed upon the conquered peoples, although this has led to a seemingly endless guerrilla conflict with Islamic terrorists. Those communities that attempt to throw off Draka rule are mercilessly destroyed from the skies by the Draka's air patrols, although the Americans continue to risk arming rebellious Draka serfs (just as Draka agents operate in Brazil).
The Draka's allies are much better than they are. The Poles see the Draka as allies of convenience, a tool to use against the Russian bear now that the German wolf has been defeated. Poland is a kingdom, and a good deal of Polish identity is dependent on monarchy, culture and Catholicism, but in truth the power lies in the High Chancellor of the Polish Parliament. The Japanese, on the other hand, eye British and Chinese territories in Asia, but realize that without outside assistance they will be defeated and will likely provoke American hostility. Still under a militarist government, the Japanese government is looking for some sort of victory somewhere, and the people are getting fed up with all of the "glorious victories" against Asian guerrillas.
The Chinese and the "Restored" British Empire stay away from the Protracted Struggle, but know they will be dragged in should the war turn for the worst. The Chinese dictatorship venerates the resistance against Japan and proclaims that China will get its revenge against the foreign invaders one day, but for now it must stay vigilant within its borders. The Restored Empire is, practically, several nation-states welded together in a military alliance, as the British Parliament in Sydney has practically no control outside of Australia apart from the military bases. Desires for autonomy and conflicts between trade rights threaten to tear the Empire apart, but with the external threats so great, they will always stick together.
It is the year 2004. Networked computers only exist in government buildings, military bases and the homes of the powerful. Surveillance drones hover in the skies and cameras monitor the streets, feeding information to security forces that are increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence for enforcement. Most families have television sets provided for them by the government, but only so they can have their daily dose of propaganda and be monitored in their own homes. Telephone conversations are always recorded, and all mobile phones have tracking chips built into them.
About three hundred people live on Mars on a permanent basis, about a thousand live on the Moon, and another thousand are housed in orbital stations. Most arlacs and planes are equipped with high-powered laser weaponry, and the ease of missile defenses has led to increased nuclear proliferation (the Americans and Draka each have over a hundred thousand nuclear ICBMs) and the creation of orbital railguns, and even the establishment of space forces that man "space battleships" armed with a thousand nuclear warheads each. These systems are increasingly placed under the control of artificial intelligence programs, the stability and loyalty of which is called into question by both Washington and Archona. But it is likely that mankind would persist. Both the Americans and the Draka have established continuity of government stations throughout Antarctica, the bottom of the ocean, in orbit, and even in the Asteroid Belt. And in a few decades, the first generation ship will arrive in the Tau Ceti system, much to the surprise of the lizardlike denizens of that star system.
A couple ideas re alt-country borders for South America and Africa have been stolen from Diamond and SRegan.
