2019 Turtledoves - Best Early 20th Century Timeline Poll

A Day in july: An Early 20th Century Timeline - Zulfurium


Saving Soviet Democracy - GiantMonkeyMan


Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2 - Fester


April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean - Zheng He


Promise of a Clean Regime - John_Smith


The Myth of the Twentieth Century - X_X


Iron Eagle an American Hitler - IntellectuallyHonestRhino


The March of Time - Karelian


the sun, the stars, and the sickle: a tri polar post war world :// - WaterproofPotatoes


Rosa's Reich - Red Germany - GlobalHumanism


Hakkō Ichiu. - Asami's


The Twin Vipers - BiteNibbleChomp


Eisenhower in the Pacific: Part 1 The Shoestring Warriors of Luzon - Galveston bay


Hms Invincible - Lord Wyclif


"WI: NACA Modified P-38" - EverKing


The Unwanted Clairvoyant: A Different French Strategy in WW1 - jeandebueil


Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree: a nineteen-eighty-four timeline - Roberto El Rey .


Sand and Steel: The Story of the Modern Middle East - JSilvy

 

Why is American Hitler in both this and later 20th Century?

 

Thank you, I have made a note in the cold war voting thread.

 

Might want to sticky these?

 

Since nominated authors are allowed a brief synopsis in this thread (I encourage my fellow writers to do the same here to introduce themselves to new readers), here is a brief synopsis of my work:


Munich, Germany, 1923. A fanatical and troublesome group of far-right nationalists has organized a coup attempt to take the city. They are fired upon and in the chaos their leader, Adolf Hitler is killed. Fatherless, the Nazi Party’s new leadership is taken up by the unlikely young ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, who seeks to sculpt Germany into his dark vision. His influence upon the world stage with have consequences beyond his vision, playing his role as an icon of modern evil in the strange, near mythical, saga of 20th century humanity.

 

Didn't want to be the first, but as no link to The Twin Vipers has been posted (there's one in my sig), I feel like it is time to post what I think is a pretty cool description:


The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact will always be one of the strangest products of history. Hitler and Stalin’s ideologies were completely antithetical, almost entirely centred around the submission and extermination of the other. The negotiations were conducted in bad faith, with both sides looking ahead to the time when they would be strong enough to take on the other in open battle. Hitler’s untrustworthiness was well known to everyone, while Stalin was fearful of many a threat that may or may not have existed. The agreement unsurprisingly failed, but the fact that it was signed in the first place leads to the question: what if this most unlikely of alliances held?

The Twin Vipers explores a world where an unexpected escalation of the Russo-Japanese border conflict leads to just that. While Stalin battles Japan, Hitler battles the West, and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact holds. Political suspicion ensures that they remain unwilling allies, but necessity trumps ideology. As the fury of Britain, France and Japan close in around them, they have nowhere else to go. But in this most testing of world wars, it is not the mud of the frontline or the embassies of foreign governments where the fiercest of battles are fought, but in each nation’s own offices of government. The ideas of Communism and Nazism, of Bushido and the ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ are thrown into question, as to defeat one’s greatest threat, the support of a political rival may be one’s only option.

- BNC

 

A brief synopsis for The Promise of a Clean Regime:

During the greatest conflict in human history, the question of preserving your humanity becomes a struggle that seldom leaves the mind.

A chance encounter with a German diplomat on the brink of Operation 25 offers Vladko Maček, the most popular pro-democratic Croatian politician, to take the reins of his homeland right by Hitler's side, inadvertently beating the genocidal Ustaše under Ante Pavelić by a few days.

The old man's reluctant acceptance begins a battle, both internal and external, that our world never gave us a chance to see, one that would completely change the fate of Europe and the world at large.

As it turns out, the unassuming pawns yield just as much influence on the fates of knights, bishops and kings on the chessboard of politicking, intrigue and backstabbing that is oft-hidden from the public's judgmental gaze.

 

Thank you anyone who's voted for Saving Soviet Democracy so far.

Brief Summary: The Russian Revolution is a complex and multi-faceted cacophony that has fascinated many since the events unfolded. In our history, these events and the conditions of the era propelled a single party to power and in the Civil War that followed to dominance. My timeline is an attempt to explore the potential pluralism of the revolution, to help readers develop a greater understanding of the complexities of the period, and to delve into the lost potential of this great tumultuous spectacle. It all starts with a train packed with exiled revolutionaries looking to return back to a nation undergoing political and social upheaval...

 

For the votes os far thanks for those yet to, here’s a synopsis.

Post WW1 was a troublesome time, the shortcomings of several capital ships had been exposed and new battleships and battle cruisers had to be designed & constructed plus now aircraft carriers and the tactics to which they would be employed.

The Royal Naval Air Service had been retained, but only just from the formation of the new RAF, which was another competitor now for precious Treasury funding.

The Royal Marines were now shouting above their place, no longer happy with manning ships guns, they were flying about in aeroplanes, driving armoured cars and playing soldiers in Russia, Somalia and other places.

The RNAS had managed to keep in their ranks Richard Bell Davis, Fredrick Bohill, Ray Collingshaw, William Dickson and Arthur Longmore among others and they with their former friends Oliver Locker Lampson MP, Murry Sueters MP, Winston Churchill and the Duke of Westminster were forming a powerful lobby group to persuade the Admiralty the future lay in naval aviation & not big gun capital ships.

The big breakthrough came with the Washington Treaty in 1922, and Admiral Madden’s plan for the Royal Marines.

They Royal Navy could turn two battlecruisers into aircraft carriers. Following the American navy with the USS Lexington and USS Saratoga, the Royal Navy chose to convert the new Invincible and Illustrious battlecruisers. Only two vessels had their keels laid permitting Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Enyncourt and his team almost a clean sheet for construction.

The story follows the hit and miss adventures of the RNAS during the life-time of the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, the aircraft employed and RNAS subsidiary units serving with the intervention forces of the Royal Marines.

 

Well, This is looking interesting. I am the author of A Day in July and would like to thank those who have voted so far.

A Brief Summary:

A Day in July takes its departure in the deaths of Lenin and Stalin during the July Days of the Russian Revolution provoking a temporary leadership vacuum within the Bolshevik Party at a crucial point in the development of the Russian Revolution. From there the effects quickly spiral out to impact the course of the Russian Revolution, the Great War and the not-so-peaceful peace to follow as the aftermath of the Great War plays out from the United States to Japan and Finland to South Africa. In the process, events in Russia lead to vastly divergent paths across much of the world, from bitter civil wars in Europe and Asia with disastrous consequences for many and questionable border divisions around the world in a desperate search for peace to political turmoil and infighting as ideologies and belief systems shift, shatter and reform into new configurations under the pressures of a fundamentally changed world.

 

Thank you to all who have votes thus dar.


Synopsis of my TL Iron Eagle:


Adolf Hitler is the greatest villain in world history, infamous for his villainy as Germany's dictator. But what if he was born in the Texas Hill Country and was later in life elected President of the United States? What would be the impact of a racist, populist president? What is the impact on Europe now that Hitler was never born in Europe and thus his political impact in Germany never occurs? Add in POD's in British, Romanian and other nation's histories for a radically different 20th century. Also examine in detail the rise of American Hitler to the highest office, one small but very crucial step at a time.

(I must admit I'm being quite vague about the nature of such changes as I don't wish to reveal even a smudge of spoilers here.)

 

Thanks for the nomination and the votes, here is a synopsis of April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean:

In April 1942, Admiral Sir James Somerville (Commander Eastern Fleet) receives detailed intelligence on an upcoming Japanese attack on Ceylon (OPERATION C). He uses this intelligence to devise an unorthodox approach for countering the Japanese incursion into the Indian Ocean. This leads to a surprising victory for the Allies creating unexpected momentum in the Indian Ocean and Burma, leading to further Allied successes those theaters and increased pressure and attrition on the Japanese.

 

I'm @WaterproofPotatoes , and I'm the author of "The Sun, The Stars and the Sickle: Alt-WWII and a Tripolar Postwar World"

In this timeline, the world is largely divided into three blocs. They are the Communist Bloc; the Liberty Bloc, led by the United States, and the nations in the American sphere of influence, such as Brazil and the Union of China, and a third. The great empires of the world have refused to quietly into the night. Britain, France and the Empire of Japan maintain their vast colonial holdings- but for how long?

How this come to pass?

The timeline itself was borne out of a discussion thread on ships and a 1922 Washington Naval Treaty negotiated differently.

This is the point of departure in this timeline. From there, the butterflies flap their wings. The United States and United Kingdom begin building massive battleships and battlecruisers, but nowhere are the effects more sweeping than in the Empire of Japan.

A more powerful naval faction tamps down bellicosity in a bid for more time to build up the fleet, which now costs Japan nearly half her budget, but even this is not enough to prevent the invasion of Manchuria. The 1932 assassination attempt on Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi is narrowly foiled, and a furious Emperor Hirohito, already under pressure from the naval faction, orders a swift crackdown on radical Army officers, and the Kwantung Army brought under control. A British diplomatic mission in 1934 began the process of renewing an old alliance in all but name.

In China, Chiang Kai-Shek renews his own alliance with Germany, a far more willing partner in this timeline. On the continent Mussolini is far more cautious about casting in his lot with Hitler.

Hitler being Hitler, WWII commences on September 1st, 1939. Six days later, another event happens which will shake the world- The Hyuga Incident.

Butterflies and boats make for interesting times, one could say.

 

Keynes Cruisers Volume 2

Imagine a world where the American turn to austerity in 1937 never happened. As a genuflection of towards political realities, President Roosevelt had to send most of the economic support funds through the military instead of the New Deal civilian agencies. This led to an earlier mobilization of the American economy for war and a far smaller recession of 1938. By December 7, 1941, the US Navy had an additional aircraft carrier, nine cruisers that were mainly built for economic reasons and three additional destroyer squadrons. Earlier mobilization also led to greater exports of war materials that made Great Britain more secure in the summer of 1940 leading to larger and better equipped forces in North Africa and Malaya.

In Volume 2, Midway Island is a backwater, Bataan still holds, and the US Pacific Fleet has had to throw out War Plan Orange. Italy is holding on with its finger nails while Thailand is looking for an out. The Eastern Front is still as fierce and as violent as ever as armies clash and fleets prowl the waves.

 

WI: NACA Modified P-38

Synopsis

In June of 1941 an Army Air Corps test pilot, 2Lt. Guy L. Putnum, was killed when the pre-production Lockheed P-38 he was flying, YP-38 #39-699, became locked in a high-speed dive and crashed into the forests of Presque Isle, Michigan. The P-38's chief designer, the famed Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, immediately reached out to the Army pleading with them to perform high-speed tests in the full-scale NACA wind tunnel. The Army initially denied this request, only permitting the tests to take place the following December and January. The result of these tests, published in the NACA Memorandum Report "Full-Scale Wind-Tunnel Investigation of Buffeting and Diving Tendencies of the YP-38 Airplane" in March 1942 revealed that the problems arose as a result of the change in air-flow properties at near Sonic velocities causing what was then called a "Compressibility Dive" but is now known as "Mach Tuck" and proposed several modifications to the aerodynamics of the airplane to delay the onset of these effects. However, by that time, it was too late--the United States was at War and no reduction in production would be accepted that could allow the modifications to be implemented.

This on-going Timeline, which started as a technical discussion of the possibilities, takes a look at what may have happened if the Army had agreed to Johnson's request in June of 1941 allowing the NACA report and recommendations to be implemented before the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Follow along with all of the people involved, historical and fictional, as the full ramifications of this decision are felt throughout the War. At times an in-depth look into the technologies, engineering, and knowledge of the day--replete with references to the actual tests and reports from the US Army Air Forces, NACA, and others--this timeline shows how a mere six-months in development can impact the lives of the individuals who strapped Lockheed's Lightning to their backs...and those who came nose-to-nose with it is the bloody skies over the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Pacific.

The main Narrative is cleanly Threadmarked but the inter-narrative discussion really sets this beyond the central story with many of our members providing insightful and at times personal additions to the premise.

 

The March of Time
Seven years, 123 chapters, 540 pages.
Starting from the Battle of Taku Forts, this TL explores the events of the first decade of the 20th century.
China, Ottoman Empire, Czarist Russia and the Nordic countries feature in this history-book type TL, that currently deals with the Dissolution War of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway.

 

‘The Peerless Air Ministry’ an accidental time line by Sonofpegasus

From a PoD posted by Perfectgeneral, a time line has grown, unplanned, unstructured and total inexplicably written by Sonofpegasus. The TL was started with just a single paragraph in reply to the suggestion that Sir Phillip Cunliffe-Lister remaining as the Air Minister in 1936, might provide the impetus for an exploration of how in a different version of reality the British Air Ministry might have acted and changed the course of the conflict. The authors’ primary aim has been to fashion a highly plausible story which was firmly rooted in the political, social and technological constraints of the period.

From small changes and historically missed opportunities, the seeds of a burgeoning crop of butterflies have grown. Like the caterpillar that nibbles at leaves and grows, so has this story line developed, also like the caterpillar it has at times been dormant in it’s chrysalis, as it transforms to reappear changed and ready to fly.

So far, the story had covered just five years and has grown to some eighty five thousand words and is currently deeply enmeshed in that first defining moment of the RAF, The Battle Of Britain. All that follows will be influenced directly by the conflict currently being explored, explained and enhanced at the hand of Sonofpegasus.

As the story progresses it has become more difficult to write consistently due to the lack of planning and very ad hoc way in which the story was conceived, so I apologize for the inconsistent posting but as some kind hearts on the forum have requested this story be continued beyond the suggested date in the PoD of 1939, then I will continue to write, as and when I can, towards a logical conclusion for both the story and the authors writing.

For those who have voted for TTL, I thank you for your approbation as there are far more accomplished and erudite times lines written by incredibly skilled authors for you to choose. I was gobsmacked at the Turtledove nomination and my wife is not so amused as after initial disbelief there is renewed enthusiasm from me and then hours of frenetic research and writing as the to-do list grows ever longer and ignored.

 

Co-prosperity sphere by CountofDooku

 

Not hard to know who’s getting this.

 

I guess I shouldn't feel bad that fester is beating me since I am the one who nominated his TL.