AH Challenge: Make the above poster's PODs into a coherent TL

RULES

  1. You must post a list of at least 5 PODs, but no more than 10.
  2. The poster below you must conceive a way to link these PODs in the form of a coherent TL that covers from the initial PODs until present day.
  3. This TL doesn't have to be more than a few paragraphs. The point of this game isn't to write a large, grueling affair--it's to have a bit of fun in seeing how things might have changed if x and x happened instead of x happening.
  4. Try to keep it reasonable.
With that said and done, then, I'll post my list of PODs.


  1. Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin switch death dates. Thus, Franklin Roosevelt does not die until March 5, 1953, while Joseph Stalin dies on April 12, 1945.
  2. Adolf Hitler survives the war, and is put on trial at Nuremberg.
  3. The Morgenthau Plan is adopted at the end of World War II.
  4. The United States adopts a system of national service following World War II's end.
  5. Harry S. Truman takes office upon Roosevelt's resignation (as promised at the end of the war) on September 15, 1945.
  6. Truman delivers on Roosevelt's promise of aid to Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chih Minh.
  7. The Wagner-Murray-Dingell bill is put before a vote in Congress.
  8. The KMT wins the Chinese Civil War.
  9. The CIO and AFL never resolve their differences, leading to a significant schism in the American labor movement.
  10. The United Nations stays in San Francisco.
Have fun!
 
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With the untimely death of Stalin, the Soviet Union was struck with a leadership Crisis, with a sucession of weak leaders coming in and out of power for several years. While the country never came close to actual collapse, Soviet influence in Eastern Europe was almost destroyed. With the Soviet forces marching back from Berlin to quell dissent in the homeland, the decision to follow the Morganthau Plan became a no brainer, and was implemented soon after Hitler's execution. The execution of this hated dictator allowed a lot of the tensions between the various combatants to cool, helped by the new democratically elected governments in Eastern Europe. The victory of the KMT in the Chinese Civil War can perhaps be placed at the feet of the conflict arising in the USSR. With Truman sending aid to the Vietmanese, a Pacific Defense treaty was organised, and soon included China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Australia and the US. With equal balance in US influence across both Atlantic and Pacific, it was felt that a more Eastern orientated UN Headquarters would be needed to join the existing one in Geneva, leading the UN to remain in San Fransico. The large number of returning soldiers looking for work led to the development of the US National Service policy. However, the failure of the Walter-Murray-Dingell Bill, and the split the in US Labour partys, meant that there was some conflict between the various pro and against groups in the country.

Decolonisation began its slow spread after the War, with European Countries founding the United Nations Council for the Development of Africa, the UNCDA. This did much to help remove the sting from further European presence, though conflicts did arise in Algeria, over Suez and in the Belgian Congo. While there was some call for rationalisation of Borders, in the end the agreement was made that it would just lead to a lot of disputes.

By the mid 60s, the Soviets had recovered, but were unable to make any sort of headway in expaning their influence in Europe or the Far East. In Europe, the EEC contained just about everyone of value, though Yugoslavia remained outside the block, while the Pacific Treaty Group, now including Korea, India, Pakistan, Bengal (all of Bengal), Tibet, Burma, Siam, Punjab and Malysia, blocked expansion there. As a result, Soviet influence instead was focused South, into the Middle East.

The 70s would see great changes. The State of Isreal had been created after WWII, and now after incredibly protracted peace agreements, the final decision had been made to create the state of Isreal-Palestine, constiting of the Autonamous Republics of Isreal, Palestine and Gaza and with the capital at Jerusalem. However, though Africa was gaining increasing independance under stable regimes, Europe was becoming a place of conflicts and crises. The Death of Tito in '76 led to a destbalisation of Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia dissolved, and the German states sought reunion. In the Middle East, the Shah of Iran was deposed and a communist government declared.

The issues of the 70s came to a head in the 80s. Public opinion led to the recreation of Germany after a referendums in Belgium, Holland, Poland, Czechia. Austria, France and Britain showed that the European population were not adverse to this. With great pomp, the Federal Republic of Germany was declared, though it wouldn't be until the close of the century the France would return the Saar. Ruthenia seperated from Slovakia to join Poland, while the Soviets became increaingly agitated over their desire for Modavia and Afghanistan.

By the 1990s, however, civil war would strike the USSR and Yugoslavia. Ethnic strife tore through the Balkans, though the States of Slovenia, Kosovo and Macedonia were protected by UN peace keepers. Croatia and Serbia fought for control of Bosnia, which evetually declared itself the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a biracial state on the Isreali-Palestinian model. When Montenergo declared independance in 1996, Serbia was forced to conclude a humiliating peace. The EU thus grew to incorporate new states, though the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and the Microstates were merely economic partners, increasing federalisation not being felt attractive for them.

The USSR would fare even worse. By the end of a long and bloody civil war, numerous new republics were seen: Karelia joined Finland, Kaliningrad, Estonia, Lativia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Crimea joined the EEC, Chechyna, Ossetia, Dagestan, Georgia, Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbijan, Adyega, Adjara, Ingushetia, Cherkessia, Balkaria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Krasnodar, Nakhchivan and Stavropol formed the Transcaucasian Defence Group, Central Asia saw the appearence of Kazakhstan, Uzbeckistan, Tajikistan, Turkmeninstan, Kyrgistan, Tartarstan and Bashkortostan, and Siberia declared independance as a seperate nation, though they would eventually rejoin Russia proper.

The US would face many issues also in these years. By 2000, Social rights movements had succeeded peacemeal, due to a lack of a unifying force, and around half the states had instituted government run healthcare systems. However, the internal difficulties manifested themselves in a long isolationist phase, with the result that the US was not quite the world's sole superpower, more of a 'first among equals.'

The dawn of the 20th Century therefore sees a situation where there are domant conflicts in the Balkans and Russia, the still present urge for political reorganisation among the African nations, though there at least a democratic route may become viable, worries over the fate of the nuclear stockpiles of the USSR, a US wracked with domestic crises and a Middle East where a communist Iran could start a chaotic war in the one area which is still prone to ethnic and sectarian violence.
 
The most problematic bit, in my opinion, is an implementation of the Morgenthau Plan. It was just utterly unrealistic and unfeasible to begin with.
 
Not bad, not bad at all. :cool:

Any other takers? I think this actually has the potential to be a relatively entertaining thread, so if anyone has a few PODs to contribute, it would really be worthwhile, even simply for entertainment value. :D
 
These are not arranged by date.

1. Lincoln survives Booth's assassination attempt
2. Lincoln as a Senator
3. US-Germany Cold War
4. Republican Party remains the progressive leftist party
5. America sides with Germany in the Great War equivalent (Note: ACW must go as OTL.)
 
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Or do we have to keep this post 1900? If so:

1. America sides with Germany in the Great War (ACW going per OTL)
2. US-German Cold War
3. White Russia
4. Red America
5. Ethiopia gets a port
 
These are not arranged by date.

1. Lincoln survives Booth's assassination attempt
2. Lincoln as a Senator
3. US-Germany Cold War
4. Republican Party passes Civil Rights
5. America sides with Germany in the Great War equivalent (Note: ACW must go as OTL.)

Well, technically they sort of did. First there was all of the civil rights legislation after the Civil War which was passed by an overwhelmingly Republican congress. Then, if you want to look at something more recent there was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which, though bi-partisan, attracted a greater percentage of Republican votes (82% in the Senate and 80% in the House) than Democrat votes (69% in the Senate and 63% in the House). So in a way, you could say that the Republican Party passed Civil Rights.
 
Well, technically they sort of did. First there was all of the civil rights legislation after the Civil War which was passed by an overwhelmingly Republican congress. Then, if you want to look at something more recent there was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which, though bi-partisan, attracted a greater percentage of Republican votes (82% in the Senate and 80% in the House) than Democrat votes (69% in the Senate and 63% in the House). So in a way, you could say that the Republican Party passed Civil Rights.

You know what I mean, the GOP stays the leftist party.
 
These are not arranged by date.

1. Lincoln survives Booth's assassination attempt
2. Lincoln as a Senator
3. US-Germany Cold War
4. Republican Party remains the progressive leftist party
5. America sides with Germany in the Great War equivalent (Note: ACW must go as OTL.)
John Wilkes Booth gets sick and doesn't go to the theatre that day. However, Vice President Johnson is killed in his own assassination attempt. Lincoln manages to peacefully re-unite the Union, and goes along with his plan. However, he faces increasing opposition from the Congress. In 1866, his wife begins going to therapy to cope with her own depression.

After finishing his term, he was forced to stay involved in the Union Party as the Radicals regained the White House via Ulysses S Grant. The Democratic Party collapsed, with the former War Democrats siding with the moderate and liberal Republicans in the Union Party, while the Peace Democrats sided with the radicals of the Republican Party. In order to further combat the Radical's power, Lincoln easily won a Senate seat in the next Senate election (forgot the year). The Union and Republican Party's had nearly equal control of Congress, and finally in 1870 they passed a bi-partisan bill to grant various rights to the slaves.

Things continued largely as normal until 1894 when Venezuela disputed the border with British South America (one year ahead of OTL). Eventually the Franco-British bloc forced America to back down. This made British-American relations go to an all time low. In 1899, a border dispute in Africa descended into all out war, and placed the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire against the French Republic, British, and Russian Empires. In light of recent events, America sided with the Central Powers, mostly to get back at the British for the Venezuela Affair.

(That's all I got. I have no idea how plausible that is. But hey, I tried ;))
 
If by some stroke of luck that was even remotely plausible, I have only two points:

1. Airplanes (or equivalent) by the 1840s (not necessarily for military use, just have them "invented")
2. British-German-Portugal alliance VS Franco-Austro-Russian alliance in a WWI type scenario (America isolationist though). And have it result in a moderately united Europe.
 
(That's all I got. I have no idea how plausible that is. But hey, I tried ;))

Better than what I had originally posted for that one. I had the whole world under varying red flags by the time I got to 2009. :p
 
Here's one: France stops being so stubborn and grants Indochina self-governance.

Put Japan under the rule of a European power.

Have the events of the Chinese Civil War (or result thereof) result in an independent Tibet in 2009.
 
1) Thirteen members of an Australian independence movement are imprisoned for treason
2) Hitler dies of war wounds, 1914
3) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) includes Poland in the guarantees of independence
4) Japanese seize Vladivostok, annexing the region to their Korean territories
5) Britain splits India (before 1940), administering predominantly Muslim territories seperately from predominately Hindu regions
6) Portuguese Civil War: Portugal goes Red
7) American oil tanker destroyed by hostile forces while transiting Suez Canal

Roughly chronological order, but feel free to swap things around if it makes more sense that way. :D
 
1) Adlai Stevenson wins in '52.
2) 1945 - Trinity Test fails - Invasion of Japan
3) 1969 - Apollo astronauts stranded on moon
4) 1963 - JFK Survives Dallas - Jackie does not
5) 1979 - Three Mile Island goes Chernobyl
 
Um, I think you guys messed up. You're supposed to do the above posters list in a mini-TL before posting your own points.
 
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