A New World Wreathed in Freedom - An Argentine Revolution TL

Ah so ITTL they didn't go the Prussian route? I know that the ties with the UK are even stronger but I'm somewhat surprised they went for british kit and doctrine, from what I understand almost everyone went to France and Germany (and Prussia before them) for those.
There is a more entrenched local military tradition ITTL that allows that British influence (which developed early in Platine history) to persist, though doctrine is a different issue (things have changed in that regard, since as you point out everyone was going to France or Germany for doctrine). The resemblance is more in things like the local regimental system, the color of the (modern) uniform and which small arms they prefer.
 
This TL is not dead, just sleeping! I've been working on this in my Test Thread, showing the successive Supreme Directors elected during the so-called Partisan Era for the post inaugurated by Nicolás Avellaneda in the 1870s. This covers up to the period of the TL that I have more or less written, though the list on my test thread goes all the way up to the Supreme Director mentioned in the Buenos Aires Gazette.

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What's the ethnic/racial composition of the UP in the 21st century?
Take this with a grain of salt because a) I haven't really crunched any actual numbers and b) like Argentina IOTL, the UP doesn't compile ethnic/racial statistics, but the estimates would be something along the lines of 60-63% "European", 20-25% "Native/Mestizo", 10-12% "Afroplatinean/Afrodescendent", 1-5% "Other" (East and South Asians primarily).

EDIT: Worth keeping in mind, there is some overlap between categories and the distinctions between one and the other are very fluid.
 
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I’m thinking if ITTL a more stable politically and financially UP, with a bigger bi-oceanic navy. That I suppose that’d be coupled with an earlier interest and capacity on transitions the economy towards the British/European industrial model… It would have a direct and strong influence in the formation and development of the UP’s scientific community…

As well as with the growth of the scientific awareness which’d be possible that’d be very different, bigger and more focused than OTL. Also, at least I suppose, bigger interest than OTL, from the politician and the press towards the UP’s natural recourses, the Science and specifically towards its more practical applications. Which, would have a direct correlation on the interest and consideration towards, too, to what today would be denominated as Earth Sciences.

Some time ago, thanks to watch a press interview of Leda Sanchez a PhD Geologist, I have the chance to note how widespread was the lack of knowledge not only in the geological events on the Southern Cone but specifically in the Rio de la Plata estuary history.

Also, that according to her opinion, as well as a concerning and notorious trend that shows a consistent lack of interest among the politicians through the history towards the study and development of early warning systems aimed to detect and to attempt to prevent any possible major geological events, on then Rio de la Plata estuary…

The above statements, and particularly her mentions about a couple of geological events (Tsunamis and Earthquakes in the span of a few years between their occurrences) in the late nineteenth century Rio de la Plata… This prompted me to search them and to think if aside if their damage on Montevideo and Bs. As. would be the same if, ITTL, their social and political effects might be different to OTL…

Extracted and translated from History of Seismicity in Uruguay by the Geophysical Observatory of Uruguay:

[…] On August 9, 1848, at 6:35 p.m. local time, a very important earthquake occurred with an estimated epicenter in the Punta del Este basin, near Montevideo. In addition, several aftershocks occurred in the following days and until the following September 11. The quake is estimated to have been V or VI on the modified Mercalli scale. The tremor was felt in the [Montevideo] Cerro Fortress, and it trembled and was even perceived in the City of Buenos Aires. On January 14, 1884 at 7:30 am a Tsunami hit the southern coast of Uruguay, the phenomenon lasted approximately 15 minutes and flooded part of the city of Montevideo. The weather was good, the direction of the wave was from the Patagonian coast and several people drowned on the south side of the city.

On June 5, 1888 at 00:20 an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale was registered; with an epicenter 14 kilometers southwest of Colonia [del Sacramento]. It was a very important earthquake, with several aftershocks that caused panic throughout the region. The earthquake was felt both in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and up to 400 kilometers from the epicenter. There are also records of a tsunami (seiche) on the coasts of Colonia, leaving the steamship Saturno stranded for a time on the Montevideo-Buenos Aires route. […] [Quote/]

Press photography from the January 1884 Notice on the event on Nature:
723549.jpg


Text from the January 1884* Notice on the event on Nature:
A SEVERE shock of earthquake, lasting two seconds, was felt at 4 a.m. on February 25 at Chios, Tchesme, and Vourla. So far as is known at present no damage has been done. An earthquake-wave, lasting about fifteen minutes, and inundating part of the town, was noticed at Montevideo on January 14, at 7-30 a.m. The weather was fine; the direction of the wave was from the Patagonian coast. Several people were drowned on the south side of the town.[Quote/]

But, specifically, the 1884 Rio de la Plata/Montevideo Tsunami waves, also might be causing bigger political and economic impact than OTL. Changes that’d caused, IMO, for a TTL, bigger intercostal ferry river and Marine traffic between the Oriental (coast) Mdeo. and the western side (Bs. As.) from La Plata estuary. But, also, I suppose that while ITTL its impact would be let felt for all of the La Plata estuary, but it might be, perhaps, even worse for TTL Mdeo.

Cause, I think that given TTL different political and military development could have caused the Montevideo colonial walls would be kept. Thus, if so, and aside that, I’d suppose, that ITTL, the 1884 Rio de La Plata Tsunami waves would be hitting on the seaside part of the walls. Which, depending on the wave's strength and how well maintained be the TTL capital city walls. Also, keeping the walls, might have led to different and earlier than OTL urban developments along the river coasts. The same ones that might have some of them, let very exposed, ITTL, to the effects of the Tsunami waves…
*Should be noted that if truly as appears there was two separated geological events (1884 and 1888) Rio de la Plate/Mdeo Tsunami (with the epicentre on the south Atlantic) and a major Earthquake that, OTL, was felt the region around Bs. As. and in Uruguay. That, at least, in some of the Argentine Press, appears to have been what seems as some chronological confusion between two separated events and some of its details/effects...
 
I’m thinking if ITTL a more stable politically and financially UP, with a bigger bi-oceanic navy. That I suppose that’d be coupled with an earlier interest and capacity on transitions the economy towards the British/European industrial model… It would have a direct and strong influence in the formation and development of the UP’s scientific community…

As well as with the growth of the scientific awareness which’d be possible that’d be very different, bigger and more focused than OTL. Also, at least I suppose, bigger interest than OTL, from the politician and the press towards the UP’s natural recourses, the Science and specifically towards its more practical applications. Which, would have a direct correlation on the interest and consideration towards, too, to what today would be denominated as Earth Sciences.

Some time ago, thanks to watch a press interview of Leda Sanchez a PhD Geologist, I have the chance to note how widespread was the lack of knowledge not only in the geological events on the Southern Cone but specifically in the Rio de la Plata estuary history.

Also, that according to her opinion, as well as a concerning and notorious trend that shows a consistent lack of interest among the politicians through the history towards the study and development of early warning systems aimed to detect and to attempt to prevent any possible major geological events, on then Rio de la Plata estuary…

The above statements, and particularly her mentions about a couple of geological events (Tsunamis and Earthquakes in the span of a few years between their occurrences) in the late nineteenth century Rio de la Plata… This prompted me to search them and to think if aside if their damage on Montevideo and Bs. As. would be the same if, ITTL, their social and political effects might be different to OTL…

Extracted and translated from History of Seismicity in Uruguay by the Geophysical Observatory of Uruguay:


*Should be noted that if truly as appears there was two separated geological events (1884 and 1888) Rio de la Plate/Mdeo Tsunami (with the epicentre on the south Atlantic) and a major Earthquake that, OTL, was felt the region around Bs. As. and in Uruguay. That, at least, in some of the Argentine Press, appears to have been what seems as some chronological confusion between two separated events and some of its details/effects...
I must admit that my knowledge of seismic events is very limited, but I had understood that the zone near the Rio de la Plata is not one with seismic hazard since it’s not a meeting place of tectonic plates. Here’s a map I found with the hazard:

C32C850D-BA90-45BE-9713-9BA46C49D568.jpeg


On another matter, more prominent South American Pacific fleets will be interesting if WW2 is anything like OTL.
 
On another matter, more prominent South American Pacific fleets will be interesting if WW2 is anything like OTL.
Indeed, but it aside to still might be years yo the future, (assuming that TTL butterflies wouldn't be affecting it), it'd be up to the author...
I must admit that my knowledge of seismic events is very limited, but I had understood that the zone near the Rio de la Plata is not one with seismic hazard since it’s not a meeting place of tectonic plates.
Here's another more specific maps:
1-s2.0-S0895981117304017-gr15.jpg
1-s2.0-S0895981117304017-gr17.jpg

Well, should be noted that the event that I brought and posted about, according to Nature, it appears to have had had its origins in the South Atlantic. Second, even if compared with neighbouring Latin American regions, in general the La Plata, in general, it's one of very low to low risks, of greater seismic intensity and/or major events happening.
But, it cannot be discarded cause, either in the Punta del Este Basin or even a geological event far from there, in the Atlantic South could cause consequences and, also, even a for modern standard, low-middle intensity seismic event could be devastating... Either for the Nineteenth century city infrastructure, marine traffic and/or for the unprepared population... Or even for the contemporaneous not seismic resistant ('earthquakes-proof') build infrastructure and city buildings.

Sismicidad y sismo tectónica en Uruguay by Alberto Benavídez Sosa:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...94-Texto del artículo-13074-1-10-20110601.PDF
Abstract. […] —referred to as the Rio de la Plata Region— took place the formation of a tectonic basin related with the opening of the Atlantic Ocean in an aulacogenical way. This process that involves expansion of deep materials from asthenospherical levels has been responsible for stresses in a crust with píastic flow in its lower part and with block faulting and subsidence in its brittle upper part. That depth-dependent rheology added to the local sedimentary evolution and its present stress state, allows to infer the existence of at least one seismic province in the eastern part of the Rio de la Plata Region, namely the Punta del Este Basin where sources of other tectonic earthquakes might be located in the future.
 
Indeed, but it aside to still might be years yo the future, (assuming that TTL butterflies wouldn't be affecting it), it'd be up to the author...

Here's another more specific maps:
1-s2.0-S0895981117304017-gr15.jpg
1-s2.0-S0895981117304017-gr17.jpg

Well, should be noted that the event that I brought and posted about, according to Nature, it appears to have had had its origins in the South Atlantic. Second, even if compared with neighbouring Latin American regions, in general the La Plata, in general, it's one of very low to low risks, of greater seismic intensity and/or major events happening.
But, it cannot be discarded cause, either in the Punta del Este Basin or even a geological event far from there, in the Atlantic South could cause consequences and, also, even a for modern standard, low-middle intensity seismic event could be devastating... Either for the Nineteenth century city infrastructure, marine traffic and/or for the unprepared population... Or even for the contemporaneous not seismic resistant ('earthquakes-proof') build infrastructure and city buildings.

Sismicidad y sismo tectónica en Uruguay by Alberto Benavídez Sosa:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/file:///C:/Users/Lenovo/Downloads/Nueva carpeta (8)/Nueva carpeta 9/12994-Texto del artículo-13074-1-10-20110601.PDF
I cannot claim to understand half of what you said or quoted, but I guess it’s my fault for getting myself into topics I know shit about. I’ll take your word for it
 
Take this with a grain of salt because a) I haven't really crunched any actual numbers and b) like Argentina IOTL, the UP doesn't compile ethnic/racial statistics, but the estimates would be something along the lines of 60-63% "European", 20-25% "Native/Mestizo", 10-12% "Afroplatinean/Afrodescendent", 1-5% "Other" (East and South Asians primarily).

EDIT: Worth keeping in mind, there is some overlap between categories and the distinctions between one and the other are very fluid.
I would imagine there would be more European immigrants no? OTL Argentina was a destination for lots of European immigrant, and if it's more prosperous it'd probably only increase, like 85% or more
 
I would imagine there would be more European immigrants no? OTL Argentina was a destination for lots of European immigrant, and if it's more prosperous it'd probably only increase, like 85% or more
La Plata = OTL Argentina with Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia (IIRC)
 
I would imagine there would be more European immigrants no? OTL Argentina was a destination for lots of European immigrant, and if it's more prosperous it'd probably only increase, like 85% or more
Also TTL US seems to be having more problems than OTL, so we might see some of its immigration redirected here.
La Plata = OTL Argentina with Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia (IIRC)
Indeed, with portions of OTL Chile and Brazil. TTL UP controls the Mato Grosso, the region that Paraguay lost to Brazil in the War of the Triple Alianza, Atacama which gives them a Pacific Port, and a larger part of the far south that gives them full control of the Beagle Channel, plus the Falklands/Malvinas.
 
I would imagine there would be more European immigrants no? OTL Argentina was a destination for lots of European immigrant, and if it's more prosperous it'd probably only increase, like 85% or more
There's been more European immigration, but there's also a lot more indigenous and Afro-descendent population ITTL.
 
I cannot claim to understand half of what you said or quoted, but I guess it’s my fault for getting myself into topics I know shit about. I’ll take your word for it
Not, it clearly was my error. Cause I should have been more clear and concise.
Also, I shouldn't have had assumed nothing and should have had been more careful on how phrased my post and as well as in the quote selected.
First, my original goal was and still is to try to discuss the social and political effects that the Tsunami and the Earthquake, might have had TTL and if ITTL they might have caused more material damage than OTL...

In the Paper, quoted, the author was discussing a very specific geological info, on the R. de La Plata and using it to base his argumentation about that giving them, cannot be excluded the possibility that low intensity earthquakes would be happening on the next years/decades.
About the rest, was that about (low-intensity) the earthquakes the more dangerous or that might be causing more damage or destruction aren't ('only') the earthquakes. But its impact on old colonial buildings or (in the modern cities) unprepared, not designed to minimize or withstand the earthquakes.
 
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First, my original goal was and still is to try to discuss the social and political effects that the Tsunami and the Earthquake, might have had TTL and if ITTL they might have caused more material damage than OTL...
I can't comment on the geological aspect of it, but as I mentioned in our DMs, it actually makes for a convenient explanation for why (as per the Sup. Dir. list shared above) there was a sudden shift towards the Conservative Party. To think it would actually be more likely that both cities have at least some skyscrapers already, or at least multi-story buildings, meaning that you may get more fatalities and - like you say - a bigger push for quake-proofing buildings in the area, which is probably going to be funny for locals in hindsight later down the line.
I’m thinking if ITTL a more stable politically and financially UP, with a bigger bi-oceanic navy. That I suppose that’d be coupled with an earlier interest and capacity on transitions the economy towards the British/European industrial model… It would have a direct and strong influence in the formation and development of the UP’s scientific community…

As well as with the growth of the scientific awareness which’d be possible that’d be very different, bigger and more focused than OTL. Also, at least I suppose, bigger interest than OTL, from the politician and the press towards the UP’s natural recourses, the Science and specifically towards its more practical applications. Which, would have a direct correlation on the interest and consideration towards, too, to what today would be denominated as Earth Sciences.
I'm not much more versed on scientific history than I am on geology, but I guess it's just enough that I can at least speculate more freely: not only are we looking at an earlier transition towards a British/European style industrial and scientific model, I'd go so far as to say that you'd likely see early integration into that community, with the Buenos Aires and London academia having fluid ties and exchange of ideas (allowing for the fact that the prestige would flow one way, not both ways). In fact, I may have to revise my thinking vis a vis the role of "scientific racism" and "social darwinism" in Platinean society and politics, since the local elites would be exposed a lot more directly to that kind of thinking.

But it is fun to think how much more of a scientific community the United Provinces might have, spared decades of civil war and with liberal education institutions established and operating freely from as early as the late 1820s. It even makes me wonder if I haven't been a bit too kind to the Apostolic University of Córdoba, and whether it wouldn't experience a similar revolt against its 16th century curriculum before the turn of the century...
 
I can't comment on the geological aspect of it, but as I mentioned in our DMs, it actually makes for a convenient explanation for why (as per the Sup. Dir. list shared above) there was a sudden shift towards the Conservative Party. To think it would actually be more likely that both cities have at least some skyscrapers already, or at least multi-story buildings, meaning that you may get more fatalities and - like you say - a bigger push for quake-proofing buildings in the area, which is probably going to be funny for locals in hindsight later down the line.

Well, about the possible effects of the seismic, I'm basing my suppositions on some assumptions to estimate a bigger impact on TTL... 1) That, ITTL Montevideo and Colonia, at near of the turn of the century, still would have intact and more or less well maintained their citadels and city walls. Causing, it, that might be formed and developed new urbanizations and even new towns along the Oriental/Uruguayan coasts.
2) That Bs. As, even if TTL wouldn't be the government seat and the capital city, still would grow more or less according to the OTL patterns. And, finally, that the ferry an marine traffic across the Rio de La Plata, in comparison to OTL, I suppose that ITTL, would be a greater trade and goods and persons transport demand to attend and that it might have had cause to it and tenfold growth...
In fact, I may have to revise my thinking vis a vis the role of "scientific racism" and "social darwinism" in Platinean society and politics, since the local elites would be exposed a lot more directly to that kind of thinking.
Well, IOTL, conditions, there were a certain local version of it, that had been accepted and widespread among, at least a certain part of the more conservative elite...
But, I think that the extension and inclusion, educational first towards social sectors and ethnic groups, that OTL were excluded and later to address and include to the new immigrant waves...
Also, I think that it aside, to favor the social mobility, its possible that it might cause a major demand for more and better (either public or private confessionals or seculars) universities and/or technical schools.
Allowing for a better and bigger circulation of ideas through the TTL UP society... Which, IMO, more probably, to cause an earlier, stronger and widespread secularism and as well as to an earlier agitation for and clear delimitation and more complete separation between the Church and the State.
But it is fun to think how much more of a scientific community the United Provinces might have, spared decades of civil war and with liberal education institutions established and operating freely from as early as the late 1820s. It even makes me wonder if I haven't been a bit too kind to the Apostolic University of Córdoba, and whether it wouldn't experience a similar revolt against its 16th century curriculum before the turn of the century...
Well, IOTL, as you surely are aware, on matters of University 'students' revolt' and University curricula and organization reform/modernization and Cordoba, for us Latin-Americans, both are synonymous.
So, If you are thinking or suggesting that in this political and social condition would allow or trigger an earlier 'Manifiesto Liminar' and/or a widespread than OTL, student movements pushing or revolting for reform, then I agree, on its, TTL, feasibility...
 
Personally I still think that assuming all changes are positive is both bad from a writing perspective and unrealistic. The UP would still be settlee country full of people stroking themselves while thinking of Europe's and later on their own "grandeur". I don't think widespread education or acceptance of the minorities will be that big if a deal. Even minorities having more power due to the ethnic composition of the UP (eg Parsguay and their demographics) will only have a partial effect due to the federal nature of the country and how most people only give so many fucks and an ethnically native/Amerindian/whatever you call it from Paraguay won't carr much about championing the rights of, say, the Mapuches when working on their own voters is better, plus the fact that minorities can be and are racist towards other minorities.

Having said that, a more "modern" education wouldn't be unbelievable though it would still be modelled after the European institutions with all that entails. What could be interesting is if the ethnically native power players basically decided to make their own higher learning institutions to sidestep the issue.
 
Even minorities having more power due to the ethnic composition of the UP (eg Parsguay and their demographics) will only have a partial effect due to the federal nature of the country and how most people only give so many fucks and an ethnically native/Amerindian/whatever you call it from Paraguay won't carr much about championing the rights of, say, the Mapuches when working on their own voters is better, plus the fact that minorities can be and are racist towards other minorities.
You seem to forget that not only Paraguay but all Alto Peru (Bolivia) and parts of Peru, are part of the UP. Without mention that the OTL 'Dessert campaign' was butterflied, so ITTL incorporation and colonization of the Patagonia to the UP, would be done in a radically different way to OTL... Also, you seem to assume, very little or null internal emigration and/or that the minorities or the Natives/Amerindians, would all of them stay in their own regions. When, I think that would be larger than OTL, either rural (seeking new lands) or urban emigration and that it would affect the UP demography and, of course electoral policies...
 
RE Native rights: you're both right in a way; there is a very marked difference - both in political power and cultural acceptance - of the tribes that make up (visible) parts of the local elites in major Platine provinces (Collao and Paraguay) and the tribes that were conquered during the second half of the 19th century, primarily the Mapuche. While it's true (and I said as much in the corresponding update) that the Desert Campaigns weren't quite as extensive or murderous as OTL, the impact is still pretty disastrous on the local tribes. Patagonia ITTL probably has a similar history of native boarding schools with ghastly mass graves as Canada and the US IOTL.
 
26 - The United Provinces and the Great War
Chapter 26 - The United Provinces and the Great War
r08MEmI.png

When news of the outbreak of war first reached La Plata, the government paid it little mind: tensions had been running high for years now, and some even suspected that the declaration may yet remain a formality while the great powers negotiated. They had heard of the ultimatums of course, and there had even been rumors of mass mobilizations soon after, but the general consensus was that war was too expensive and too risky for any of the involved powers to really accept it.

But soon the ultimatums escalated, the demands became too unreasonable, and soon war was the only option: what had started as a petty argument over a minor squabble in a peripheral theater suddenly activated the criss-crossing web of alliances in Europe, and by the end of 1914, tens of thousands lied dead on the freezing mud of northern France and the Russian plains. As the new year began, the realization that this was a new kind of conflict was beginning to set in.

As the optimism of the pre-war period recedes, so too do many of the things that prop up the Platine boom: easy credit from London dries up, along with orders for Platine industrial goods as the British reorient their imports from consumer goods to the raw materials it needs to feed its population and war machine. To make matters worse, there is also a sharp drop off in British, French and German industrial exports, severely disrupting Platine supply chains and sending prices soaring.

The recession that follows is as biting as it is sudden, with hundreds of thousands of jobs destroyed in a matter of days and thousands of factories going silent for the first time in years. But as the machinery of war kicked into overdrive in Europe and the war expanded to the Alps and the Caucasus, it breathed new life into the Platine economy, fueled by the old world’s insatiable appetite for Platine grain, meat, oil and steel. The cities of Collao and the Paraná basin are soon booming again, with whole ramshackle neighborhoods springing up overnight.

Although those involved have little inkling of its significance, this would represent a sea change in the Platine economy, as the British share of the Platine market would never recover its pre-war heights. While some of that share is occupied by an influx of American capitals and products starting in 1915, the war proves to be a golden opportunity for the industrialists and financiers of Chuquisaca and Buenos Aires. Some of the country’s largest corporations, like BAC and Compañia Uruguay, trace their origins to the spree of mergers and acquisitions sparked by the Great War.

But just as the great corporate titans of the United Provinces trace their origins to the upheaval of the Great War, the same is true for the Platine labor and student movements, both of which expanded at breakneck speed during the war and would take on a whole new dimension at the war’s end. Union membership exploded with the influx into the industrial cities of the littoral and Collao, and as the 1914-15 recession gave way to a 4 year boom that would swell the ranks of the Platine middle class, the subsequent influx of new students to the university system kicked off a wave of new student unions.

But as Platine society convulses in the Great War’s shadow, the Platine military is reacting with horror at the reports trickling back from its volunteers serving in Europe. Those volunteers came in two varieties in 1916: pilots from the recently-founded Naval Air Wing serving in the French front, and Italian descendents serving in the Alpine meat grinder against Austro-Hungarian forces. Both described campaigns that sent shockwaves up the line of command as the realization that long standing military doctrine has been rendered obsolete in the short time since the war began.

The tales of horrendous casualties for meagre gains send the military leadership reeling, but the news that trickles down to the general population is far more sanitized: the Platine press treats the war as a distant and epic tale of hardship and struggle, with pulpy accounts of individual acts of heroism become instant best sellers across the country. As inconsequential as those acts of heroism are in the grand scheme of the war, readers can’t get enough of them.

It would take formal Platine entry into the war for the reality of the carnage at the front to penetrate into the public consciousness, followed soon after by an uptick in popularity of memoirs written by returning Platine volunteers as the sense of general malaise and disillusion caused by the Great War spread to across the United Provinces. Ironically, it was the very popularity of the war stories that started the United Provinces down the path towards a war against Germany, as those tales tended to accompany news of U-Boat attacks against ships plying Platine wares, leading to a formal declaration of war by mid-1917 alongside other New World allies of the Entente like the United States, Colombia and Brazil for similar grievances over unrestricted submarine warfare.

Arriving too late to slow the collapse of the Russian war effort, which would buckle in the face of a concerted German offensive in the summer and fall of 1917, the impact of New World soldiers on the Western Front would only be slightly more pronounced. The soldiers arriving at the French front would be little more than fresh stock for the meat grinder, more valuable for their supplies than their enthusiasm, but the Platine mountain regiments from the Collao would find themselves thrown into the thickest of the fighting as Italy’s Isonzo campaign reached a crescendo.

zaKj8ks.png

When the first Platine troops arrived in Genoa and made their way to the front, they were forced to adapt quickly to an indecisive high command and a fraught supply line. But they brought with them two valuable advantages that would prove decisive in short order: traditionally stationed in the Andes, their traditional use of coca leaves to stave off altitude sickness made them valuable scouts and lookouts in the Austrian Alps, while Platine emphasis on autonomy at the squadron level meant that the isolated units were able to respond quickly to changing circumstances.

A daring German raid attempting to infiltrate behind Italian lines was turned back on the brink of success as Platine units sounded the alarm and fought back, and with the German attack repulsed, the Austrian lines would soon collapse when faced with a similar push the next day. Although unable and unwilling to press their advantage further into the Tyrolean Alps, the defeat would be a harbinger of even more problems for the Central Powers: troops liberated by the collapse of the Russian war effort suddenly had to rush south to shore up Habsburg defenses, while German plans for a spring offensive in the West had to be adapted due to the sudden need to send troops south.

By the spring of 1918, the position of the Central Powers was quickly growing untenable: German efforts were spread too thin by their need to sustain not just their own defenses in Northern France, but the wholesale assumption of the leadership of the Alpine front as well. With the certainty that the scales would only tip further in favor of the Entente as time wore on, Germany was forced to act despite finding their advantage in troops on the Western Front far smaller than they had originally envisioned, and thus began the Kaiserschlacht.

But by June of 1918, the offensive had not just ground to a halt, it had been repulsed, and soon the Entente’s counteroffensive was pushing past German trenches nearly 2 years old. Even the formidable Hindenburg Line would be breached before the summer was out, and as the Italian front threatened to collapse just as spectacularly, the Central Powers capitulated before the Entente’s armies could storm across the borders of Germany or capture Vienna.

On November 1st, 1918, the war officially comes to an end with an armistice signed at Versailles. As celebrations break out across the globe, including a tremendous parade in the streets of La Plata, the Entente gets to work on designing the post-war world.

TThsP9r.png
 
Patagonia ITTL probably has a similar history of native boarding schools with ghastly mass graves as Canada and the US IOTL.
That still would be similar enough to OTL, 'Dessert Campaign' and especially this last bit, IMHO; it seems not consistent, with TTL UP's institutional framework and particularly with the what appears a very different attitudes and policies towards the Natives, applied elsewhere in the UP... But, of course, as OP, is up to you to establish and determine this TL's change and extension with respect to OTL.
 
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