"What Madness Is This?" - A Timeline
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Is it me or does not-Stalin's early life resemble the backstory of a typical Frank Miller villain? Speaking about this, I demand alt-Uncle Frank to become a historian in TTL's future. He's deranged and outspokenly extremist enough to be a perfect intellectual in this fucked up world.
I also wonder if, even with all the R.U. propaganda, there are actual major (meaning actually dangerous) Anarchist groups operating in anglophone North America. The Southern republics appear to be pretty stable countries and with the Union's version of a police state giving East Germany a serious run for her money...
I also wonder if, even with all the R.U. propaganda, there are actual major (meaning actually dangerous) Anarchist groups operating in anglophone North America. The Southern republics appear to be pretty stable countries and with the Union's version of a police state giving East Germany a serious run for her money...
Well IOTL the Nazis seemed to totally fail at the actual definition of what an "Aryan" is, yet that didn't stop anybody from spouting fountains of BS about the "Aryan race", "Aryan purity", blahblahblah. If a group wants to hate and/or spit diatribe about something for political goals, who cares if it's accurate or not?
Hallejuah! Hallejuah! Open the doors and deck the halls, for Christmas has came early this year! The Great Monster is finally gone!
I knew people would be happy.
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Well, I guess we'll say his defect ITTL never occurred and his arm is fine. It's either that, or he gets a robot arm and starts calling himself the Claw, which I think would be a little over-the-top.
Exactly! Especially now that I've made it clear the Union politicians don't even believe in Slavic inferiority, they just use it as a tool. "A Slav by any other name would be as subversive..."
Even if the Jughashvilis hadn't been considered Slavic, they're still Orthodox.We shall see. Oh, we shall see. *nudge* *hint*
That's also a good point; American politicians ITTL not necessarily believing all the "Inferior" talk, but sticking with it for the sake of political expediency. What IS the status of race relations in the other North American countries anyway? I know the Columbian countries outlawed slavery and Louisiana is still under French control, but are non-whites accepted in those places? What of California or Alaska?
You really made an Inspector Gadget reference in 2013? Erm, I suppose that's cool, but I'd advise against using the Rupert Everett/Matt Broderick version (it sucked, and besides if you did the Nostalgia Critic would probably shoot your kneecaps off).
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Well, I guess we'll say his defect ITTL never occurred and his arm is fine. It's either that, or he gets a robot arm and starts calling himself the Claw, which I think would be a little over-the-top.
You really made an Inspector Gadget reference in 2013? Erm, I suppose that's cool, but I'd advise against using the Rupert Everett/Matt Broderick version (it sucked, and besides if you did the Nostalgia Critic would probably shoot your kneecaps off
).That's also a good point; American politicians ITTL not necessarily believing all the "Inferior" talk, but sticking with it for the sake of political expediency. What IS the status of race relations in the other North American countries anyway? I know the Columbian countries outlawed slavery and Louisiana is still under French control, but are non-whites accepted in those places? What of California or Alaska?
You really made an Inspector Gadget reference in 2013? Erm, I suppose that's cool, but I'd advise against using the Rupert Everett/Matt Broderick version (it sucked, and besides if you did the Nostalgia Critic would probably shoot your kneecaps off
They probably have segregation and a few hardline KKK-type groups around in Columbia. Other races beside blacks are perfectly welcome, and religious freedom rules the day. The most backward country as far as race relations and religious freedom go is the probably CoCaro.
I go to Cracked.com far too often, and there, IG jokes are the norm.
Michael Custer is just quite pragmatic.
He knows that he was lucky not to grow up as Ioseb Jughashvili.
He is neither an Inferior Slav nor raised by one.
Why should he care?
Stalin was not a Superior Slav.
Michael Custer is just quite pragmatic.
He knows that he was lucky not to grow up as Ioseb Jughashvili.
He is neither an Inferior Slav nor raised by one.
Why should he care?
Indeed. And evil.
Inferior Slav, again, is defined by the Union as being anyone of non-Germanic Eastern European heritage or pretty much anyone who is Orthodox. They even lump the Greek Orthodox into that crowd too, as "Slavic Balkanite Orthodoxers." They don't care if the Georgians aren't Slavic; if anything, they might consider them lower than Slavs, since Gerogia is technically in Asia or thereabouts. Asians are an even bigger no-no in the Union. I'll probably do a chapter sometime that gives the precise origin of the massive generalities made by the Union.
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Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for making me never able to un-hear that in the song now.
Just doing my part to torment my fellow human beings.
Good to see that my Dutch Reformed leanings aren't being persecuted, yet. Though in this TL I doubt the Second wave of Dutch immigration (1848-1900ish) coming to the US would have settled in the RU. Virginia sounds like a much better place to live.
This whole timeline is American Civil Religion becoming even more warped than it did in OTL. It looks like the AFC has a hint of muscular Christianity as well, which was popular in this era.
-I imagine Virginia could work, so long as you wouldn't mind humidity, summer cicadas and boiled peanuts for snack food
. Although Maryland is also a good option, since the weather there is more reasonable AND well-defended ITTL.-Good point on religion, especially since the American government has given such overt support to the Church (and pretty much flipping the bird to secularist thought in general within its borders, but that's a small-fry issue I suppose)
Virginia by 1900-1920 is probably somewhere around 18 million, with about 5 million in the Newport News/Hampton Roads Metropolitan Area and probably about 2 million in Richmond. It stretches all the way to the Mississippi, so its population is a good deal higher than OTL Virginia.
Maryland in 1900-1920 is probably about 8 million, with probably about 800 thousand to 1 million in Annapolis, and with about 4 million in the Baltimore area (Baltimore is the capitol). It's quite densely populated.
I'm not sure about the Union. I'd guess they have somewhere around 40 million.
All this information will be finalized in a future chapter about population booms. The Republican Union encourages families to have as many children as possible to raise the population numbers and become future soldiers.
I promise they will go down (not telling when). And the answer to that is: a LOT. A whole heck of a lot.
Are you going to look at pop culture (sports, technology, etc.) ITTL?
I'd like to see that (yes, I like That Wacky Redhead).
Really, I wouldn't mind living in Virginia (try living in South Texas in the summer. Thank God air conditioning was invented) ITTL.
Take it through to today, please.
I'd like to see that (yes, I like That Wacky Redhead).
Really, I wouldn't mind living in Virginia (try living in South Texas in the summer. Thank God air conditioning was invented) ITTL.
Take it through to today, please.
Oh, I have more ideas for pop culture than I can describe, and I do indeed plan on carrying this through to present day if not the future.
Preview of pop culture:
Very nice cultural update, Nappy, I can't wait for more (updates in general included)!
@Unknown, you're preaching to the choir about South Texas (been living in San Antone the past six-odd years), including a whole summer one time without A/C...miserable seems a pretty mild way of putting it
@Unknown, you're preaching to the choir about South Texas (been living in San Antone the past six-odd years), including a whole summer one time without A/C...miserable seems a pretty mild way of putting it
Napoleon III does anything to achieve "peace in our time." Read on to find out:
Read on to find out:
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
Custer, 62 in 1901, had been reelected unopposed in 1897, and 1903 was fast approaching, and he knew he had to solidify his popularity once more. "Victories are the opiate of the people," he wrote in his personal diary. He knew he needed to expand again, and he saw a prime target in France's old rebellious colony of Louisiana. In fact, he had seen it as a prime target since he took power in 1891, and had been busy ever since, undermining France, or the Tripartite Empire as it was properly called, and promoting Americans to move into and populate Louisiana to win it over.
And in 1901, it came to a head. Rioting had broken out with Americans and pro-Americans massacring Imperial soldiers guarding the New Orleans city hall, and the elderly governor, Pierre Beauregard, French hero of the First Louisiana Rebellion, was killed in the crossfire. Days later, Louisiana had broken out in full-fledged revolution. And this time, it would end far differently than the first.
Custer immediately mobilized the army and marched them to the Mississippi, ready to cross over at a moment's notice. Then, as Custer himself said later, "I played the greatest bluff in the history of this country." He announced he was going to give support to the rebels, which were mostly Protestant, and that it was time for the "Imperials to leave." He demanded Napoleon III withdraw all troops from Louisiana and peacefully hand over the reigns of administration to him. Napoleon III, who had already withdrawn French peacekeepers from Finland that had been there since Napoleon I, was perceived as weak and afraid of war. Napoleon III, since taking the Imperial throne, had tried to secure world peace at whatever cost. Now, he was faced with the tenacious bluster of a warlike Custer, who was threatening to "destroy all French holdings in North America" if his ultimatum was not agreed to.
Finally, after two weeks of intense stand-off and immense bloodshed in the colony, Napoleon III sent his ambassador to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to discuss a possible treaty. In the Treaty of Pittsburgh, France sold the entire colony of Louisiana to the Republican Union for 1 billion dollars and received a promise of much lower taxes when using the Panama Canal. It is noteworthy that Prussia helped force this agreement on France, further kicking Napoleon III in the shins and testing his resolve. The Prussian Empire did not fear the Union at this point, and was far more concerned about France's globe-spanning empire. Upon the signing of the treaty, Napoleon III said in a speech in Paris that "the Empire has secured peace in our time."
On August 1st, 1901, French troops withdrew from Louisiana to Canada, and thousands of Yankees marched across the border in the largest peaceful territorial exchange in at least 100 years. Protestant Louisianans lined the streets of New Orleans as General John Pershing marched his men through the city in triumph, confetti flying through the air and Union and Manifest Destiny Party flags whipping in the wind. Blacks, formerly downtrodden, sang songs likening Custer to a god and called him "Saint George," coming to set them free from the persecution of the largely-Catholic Knights of the Golden Circle, which had led the First Rebellion. Popular songs had lyrics such as "It'll be a hallelujah day, when Billy Yank comes marching South a-way."
Pith-helmeted Union troops march through New Orleans
Thus, at the expense of a billion dollars, Custer doubled the size of the Republican Union overnight. Custer later mocked Napoleon III as an "idiot weakling" for going along with it. The reaction in the Union was unbelievable, and there were huge parties that didn't stop for over five months as jubilant crowds of citizens cheered Custer's name like roaring thunder. Auld Lang Syne was sung in the streets all across the nation at huge "Annexation Celebrations."
For the first time, the Union had beaten a super-power, and they had done it without firing a shot. Custer's next piece of business to accomplish was the "de-Papistizing" of the new half of the country, and the name of Louisiana was changed to Lewisiana. The region as a whole would be broken up later into numerous new states.
MDP flags are flown outside Pittsburgh to announce the signing of the treaty to the excited crowds
Custer speaks before a crowd of soldiers about to go off to secure Louisiana
Propaganda aimed at the Union's now much more substantial black minority
Now we're talking. What could be next? The unification of Holland and the Rheinbund with the soon to be formely French lands north of Bavaria and east of the Rhine? Scotland, Wales, and Ireland fighting over who should get Mann? A revolt in India? The Portuguese try to unify with Lisbon? Anything is possible when there is blood in the water.
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A revolt in India could be interesting. I'll have to consider that.
Happened against the British OTL, so I see no reason it couldn't happen against the French ITTL.