AH Title and Description Game

[ThatOneGuy]

Trotsky in Versailles

A TL where, after the Russian Revolution, Lenin is quickly shot by a Tsarist counterrevolutionary. In the chaos surrounding his death Leon Trotsky marches into St Petersburg to stop a riot but the Politburo assumes its a coup and hastily declares Trotsky interim General Secretary. Trotsky initially intended to turn down the appointment but after speaking to close confidants he decides that he would accept the position, pledging elections at the end of the War. Germany quickly reaches out to Trotsky hoping to negotiate a peace deal to allow them to divert troops to the West. Trotsky declares his intention to the Allies to accept peace terms to focus on the rapidly expanding Civil War in Russia. Desperate to keep the massive amounts of troops in Russia tied up the Allies promise Trotsky military assistance in the civil war if he stays in. While initially hesitant a military catastrophe near Moscow throws the Red Army into chaos and Trotsky accepts the Allied proposal. As German diplomats in St Petersburg are arrested Allied troops are quickly ferried into Vladivostok (American and Japanese) and Arkhangelsk (British and French). The TL then goes into detail about the various attacks by Allied troops against local anti-Bolshevik uprisings and the Greatest Train-ride on Earth, the name of the odyssey of several US companies going from Eastern to Western Russia along the Trans-Siberian, fighting rolling battles along the way. Allied help moderates Trotsky's views and by the time of the Wars end in early 1919 he is more of a Socialist seeking passive change than the firebrand revolutionary of just a year before. For suffering so much in the War Trotsky arrives in Versailles for the treaty negotiations and has all Imperial Russian territory recognized as Bolshevik land with Istanbul and the Dardanelles declared 'International Zones' under Russian protection.

14 Million to One: Another WWI TL

Go Eat a Worm!

Baked Salami: The 80s in a Nutshell

 

[LuckyLuciano]

Go Eat a Worm!

In this TL, the best case early colonization of Australia occurs, with some canoes of Lapita Kanak from New Caledonia and their dogs and chickens being blown off course and stranded in New Zealand's North Island at appx. 1000 BC. Stranded without domesticated crops, these Kanak takes to domesticating the native cabbage tree and karaka tree, having previous knowledge of cycads from breadfruit cultivation. A novel mutation even rids the nutritious karaka seeds of their poison. Eventually, they expand their agricultural pursuits to even more crops such as bracken fern and alpine rice. Their agricultural pursuits are buoyed by the continued use of pottery, a cornerstone of the Lapita culture that OTL went extinct as small islands lacked clay (New Zealand is no small island). Without the presence of Polynesian rats and pigs, the native species of Polynesia are not disrupted, and chickens give the NZ Kanak civilization a solid animal domesticate base, which is augmented with waterfowl domestication of the whio and teal. The early introduction of dogs also allows distinct dog variants to arise, with wool dogs, poi dogs, and draught dogs all being bred. Similar to the OTL Maori, the NZ Kanak take up the practice of eating and using bioluminescent worms. They became a culinary delicacy, and are farmed for use in fishing and to feed their domesticates and themselves. The use of domesticated species and the initial small population of Kanak means hunting of the Moa is at first muted. When Moa finally become extinct in the north island, it is coincidently at the same time as the Hatepe eruption in 180 AD which pushes the NZ Tanaka from the North Island to the Southern Island. The eruption becomes associated with their decimation of the Moa population, and though new South Island Kanak carry on the previous agricultural traditions, they also have a new spiritual respect for the moa and other native bird species, to the extent these new South Island Kanak take on a name roughly translating to Bird Kanaks. The Bird Kanaks live in harmony with the Moa and the diverse bird species of the island. Their culture becomes strongly intertwined with birds, to the point where the islanders begin to believe themselves on the same plane spiritually as birds. Their traditional clothes morph to include a multitude of colorful feathers. They take to taming multiple birds on the island, such as the kakapo and kiwi, not as food but merely as a religious practice. The amount of tamed birds in one's menagerie soon becomes a metric for wealth amongst the islanders. Chicken and duck farming is still present but has become a religious act in of itself, controlled by religious authorities. Moa hunts are as well controlled by religious authorities and are a highly spiritual event. However, this close contact with birds means many strands of highly virulent avian borne diseases arise, which strengthen the immune systems of the Bird Kanak. When Polynesians arrive in the 1300s, they are repelled by disease and instead of settling, they opt to trade, spreading the culture of bird worship and worm-eating, but also spreading the Kanak diseases throughout the Pacific, beefing up everyone's immune system in Polynesia in the process (NZ is considered part of Melanesia ITTL). European colonization in the Pacific diverges incredibly. When they arrive, the native diseases make colonization untenable, and they are disgusted with the practices of the men and women who dress like birds and eat worms, as well as terrified by the giant eagles. They still settle Australia, but the white population remains low with a significant Aboriginal presence, setting the stage for an apartheid government. Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia remain uncolonized well into the 19th century until their divvied up Scramble-for-Africa style. Yet just like in Africa, despite oppression, white immigration remains low, and native populations high, allowing the distinct cultures to remain and establish native-run states post-independence in the 20th century. "Go Eat a Worm!" is used derogatorily by the colonizers to the colonized, but only serves to cement worm-eating as a part of Pacific Island identity. The 21st century sees a united Bird Kanak South Island competing with an Apartheid Australia for dominance and influence in the Pacific.

40 Acres and a Mule for every Chinaman
or
We Built This City on Shoegaze

 

[ThatOneGuy]

40 Acres and a Mule for every Chinaman

The TL was a rather short one, made in the phase when Timelines in a Day had taken over the board. The TL chronicled the rise of Herbert Hoover in national politics. While he was from Iowa he did spend a lot of time in California and after making his money decided to go into politics. The TL follows him as he takes up the cause of granting more rights to the burgeoning Chinese-American community in California, then the entire US. In California he runs for office various times for various positions and while never winning his rising vote counts draws attention to the discrimination that faced the Chinese community. His opponents in power, seeking to undercut him, gave money to Chinatown and legitimately fought against discrimination faced by Chinese Americans. The TL ends with the Governor of California announcing in 1933 that "any Chinaman that applies will be granted 40 acres and a mule up North, like the Negroes so long ago.". This is taken up by many Chinese immigrants and births a lot of new settlements in Northern California including the new city of Chinatown, which becomes the fourth largest in California by 2019. The TL was derided for being a bit to rosy when dealing with Chinese immigration but all the same was recognized as a great TL. The author is making a sequel series Chinatown, USA to be released within the next few weeks.

14 Million to One: Another WWI TL

The Spandex Age

Baked Salami: The 80s in a Nutshell

 

[Plateosaurus]

Baked Salami: The 80s in a Nutshell

A timeline focusing on a timeline where it was Ronald Reagan who became president earlier. Noted for its very sardonic tone.

Land of Uranium and Eucalyptus

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Land of Uranium and Eucalyptus

A TL where in the 1920s a massive uranium vein was found in Australia. At first the UK and Australia note its existence but due to a lack of uses the vein is quickly forgotten about as the world moves through the Interwar Period. However mid 1930s nuclear fission was discovered and the first theories of an 'atom bomb' were beginning to be discussed. The UK suddenly took an interest in the vein and the UK military quickly took it over, nationalizing the small mine that had begun to tap into it way back in the 1920s and expanding its operations massively as the UK began flaunting its growing supply of Uranium, practically begging for major minds in the field of nuclear research to come to the UK. They did and while in public they performed rather harmless experiments in various colleges around the UK, by the end of the 1930s on the urging of many top minds in the field of nuclear science like Leo Tizard, Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein Project ARCHIMEDES was begun with the goal of looking into the feasibility of a nuclear weapon. When the 1930s ended, Nazi Germany burst its border and overran most of Continental Europe in quick order. The UK was now alone and looking for a weapon to turn the tide, a light in the darkness, and that light was going to be Archimedes. With American funding, informally through dummy organizations and black channels before 1941 and more normally after Pearl Harbor dragged the US into the war, the first atom bomb Icarus I was exploded in the Australian outback in 1943. The UK and the US then began to tap the Australian Vein of all of its riches and soon the UK had four bombs ready for delivery. Berlin, Kiel, Koenigsburg and Munich were all atom bombed on March 5th, 1944 after the Allies warned Hitler to stop his war or 'face the consequences'. The bombing horrified the German public and the German Resistance, long thought extinguished mobilized them into action throwing Germany into chaos. With his Reich at war with itself, Russians thundering through Eastern Europe and the Allies landing up and down the English Channel Hitler has a nervous breakdown soon after and vanishes* throwing the Nazi state into all out civil war. After that it was nearly a case of mopping up for the Allies.

*Documents uncovered after the War would show he was killed by Himmler for weakness

14 Million to One: Another WWI TL

The Spandex Age

Wet Spaghetti

 

[BlackentheBorg]

Wet Spaghetti

Instead of buckling under pressure and deciding to forgo communism for his own invention, "Fascismo", Mussolini holds strong to his socialist roots. This pays off as the Soviet Union crumples the invading German armies and opts to set up a puppet party in hopes that Europe's Boot will one day join them. Of course, Mussolini is definitely not a puppet for the Russians. He has wants and ideas of his own.

Rubber Factory, Rubber Soul
or
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

 

[treefreak32]

The Spandex Age

In an effort to raise American spirits following 9/11, President Gore creates Patriotic American super-agents with costumes. The heroes shape the world, with one killing Bin Laden, another saving Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and another stopping the Boston Bombing. Other countries follow America's example and create their own heroes. The Spandex Age has begun.

The Blood of Angels, The Souls of Men
or
The Dead Man of Europe

 

[FBKampfer]

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

Timeline following an individual Montgomery police officer through the worst of the US's racial pogroms. Befriending an orphaned black girl after the death of his own daughter, Officer Standish comes to see his own role in the pogroms and, and the misery he's helped bring to an already struggling nation, with no benefit to any side. As Standish battles his alcoholic coping mechanism, and grapples with nihilism and near constant suicidal thoughts, his newfound friend helps urge him to find some form of redemption.

The Blood of Angels, The Souls of Men

Dealing with a Great Revival in the US and Europe in 1961, as a result of World War II and the atomic bombing of Berlin, Nürnberg, and Kyoto, resistance movements are popping up against the ever more totalitarian governments rising in the West.

As the leap to guerilla warfare is made, once loyal citizens find help in their former enemies in the Federated Soviet States, Communist Italy, and Greece.


A long walk back from the moon

Whats Eating Richard Nixon?

Robbers and Cowards

 

[BlackentheBorg]

Whats Eating Richard Nixon?

When Watergate is never revealed, Nixon is emboldened by this lucky streak and proceeds down a larger series of covert operations to benefit himself and his party. This backfires horribly when the President begins developing some major paranoia. He becomes an uncharacteristic recluse and eventually even rolls out a lot more violent responses to counter protesters and naysayers. By TL's end, the impeachment trial kicks up due to the President becoming truely unhinged.

Fear, Loathing, Ketchup and Cottage Cheese on the Campaign Trail '72
or
Seaside Woman

 

[Plateosaurus]

Seaside Woman

A TL about the history of southern California and Mexico where the main POD is that the ethnic groups which formed the Aztecs IOTL instead went westwards to the Pacific and the Gulf of California. They then disperse along it reaching up to southern California and Baja California, coming into conflict with tribes already there but manage to form a hybrid culture with them. The TL begins in 1071 and progresses over a 750-year period throughout the area and beyond, most notably the arrival of Athabaskan-speaking tribes who also go west during the 1500's, and the conquest of both by the spanish. The title comes from a translation of one of their main deities, who was said to greet the aztlans when they first saw the Gulf of California.

Lorenzodromeus: A Tale of Palaeontology and Nationalist Propaganda

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Lorenzodromeus: A Tale of Palaeontology and Nationalist Propaganda

A TL about the Great Dino Race, an explosion of paleontological findings jump started by an earlier pioneering of RADAR. The TL however focuses on two fictional people, the reluctant Soviet paleontologist Johan Petrovsky and American paleontological pioneer Lorenzo Derbish. It details how the two would come into a rivalry that would define the relationships between their nations as each unveiled larger and more complex skeletons in the name of national prestige. However it quickly became apparent to both how they were finding less and less viable skeletons to one up the other. So, they began to build new ones. This culminated in the unveiling of the Lorenzodromeus in Denver in 1949. Standing at an impressive 55m high and being a ferocious alpha carnivore it would quickly draw criticism. Such criticism would be fanned by Johan until it began to pick apart his new discoveries as fakes as well. The 'TL' ends in 1960 with both men disgraced and broke, meeting in person in Central Park to settle their differences.

14 Million to One: Another WWI TL

Dirty Cops

Every King, a Man

 

[Kloka]

A long walk back from the moon:

Buzz Aldrin remains an astronaut after Apollo 11,serving as an astronaut for long as Jerry Ross did. Ends with him commanding STS-61.

 

[Frank Hart]

Every King, a Man

A timeline where George VI, King of the British Empire, decides to abdicate after World War Two, believing that Monarchism is no longer suited for the modern world. Subsequently, almost all monarchies transitioned into republics throughout the Cold War, peacefully or violently. TTL's Belgium suffered a Yugoslavia Wars analogue in the 1970s. As of the present only Brunei, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, and Oman are monarchies, all of which are constitutional monarchies.

The Imperial Entente
or
Where Others Negotiate, We Secede
or
Five Bantustans: Land of Success and Opportunities
or
Festung Donau / Twierdza Dunaj: The German-Polish Cold War

 

[BlackentheBorg]

Where Others Negotiate, We Seceded

A short TL, later adapted for Sealion Press, following the Black Communist Rebellion during the heyday of the American Civil War. While some thought it was a noble cause to fight for the system that offered them freedom, the Rebellion wants to take advantage of the national instability and found a new workingman's republic. Although never addressed outright, multiple references are made to an 'old man with a European lilt to his voice', who'd indirectly inspired the revolution by publishing pamphlets from a dilapidated cottage in New Braunfel, Texas. While many readers thought this was Karl Marx, it turned out to instead be Adolph Douai.

Fear, Loathing, Ketchup and Cottage Cheese on the Campaign Trail '72
or
Le Epic Pwnage ROFL

 

[Kara0616]

The Imperial Entente

An alternate timeline where in the year 1922 a UFO crash lands in Japan naturally it's filled with all sorts of alien technology which Japan uses to become the most technologically advanced country in the world. Eventually The Empire starts going down the path of war and expansion deciding to completely take over the Pacific Ocean and destroy anyone who opposes them. Their army seems unstoppable with Lasers, Railguns, Mechs, Drones etc. The people of the United States thought they didn't have anything to fear until December 7th, 1941 when The Japanese Empire launched a surprise invasion completely catching the country. By 1945 America was completely taken over by Japan and absorbed into its now Global Empire all hope seems to be lost until two years later when an alien spacecraft crash lands in what used to be Roswell, New Mexico. Can a small resistance movement known as The American Freedom Rebellion or AFR use this alien technology to fight back against a seemingly unstoppable enemy?

Cellular Breakdown
or
Dying Wish

 

[BlackentheBorg]

snip

Bruh

 

[ennobee]

Cellular Breakdown

A pretty dark future history timeline by user ContraPosto that ran from March 2019 to February 2020.

It's main idea was that with smart phones becoming more and more intrusive in our daily lives and smart phone makers and providers branching out into more and more sideways venues like banking and social media, 'somewhere in the late 2020s' society will be split not only along countries, ideologies and political parties but also along the brands of cell phones and providers they use. Thus Apple users not only use an Apple Iphone, they get their phone plans through Apple Cellular Worldwide, watch Apple TV and do all their online shopping via Itunes using their 'Apple Black Bank Credit Card' . They also get their news exclusively via Apple Newsstand. As a reaction the mayor US phone services team up to form the Android Consortium, back only Android phones, support only Google Search, Google Mail and Chrome TV and push online shopping via 'GooglePay and GooglePlay'. Of course, 'With internet neutrality being all but dead after the 2024 election of President Ivanka' Google phone users only receive news and media, tv and music either owned or licenced by Google and Apple users only get the music, news and TV programming that Apple owns, controls or approves off.

Against this backdrop, the timeline follows the rise of two new cell phone 'factions' and their impact on American public life. First is the story of Amazon and Facebook both trying to make their own cell-phone-online-everything services until Elon Musk gets both to team up with 'Tesla Electronics and innovation' to become the third provider. As TeslaPhone "through their ownership of the New York Times displays an obvious left-leaning streak "(author's quote!) a conservative cabal centered around 'Presisent Ivanka's family and friends' move in to launch Patriot Net: 'a conservative alternative to the liberal media now tempting to own all our phones and conversations'. (id.) With the help of the AM radio networks, by now all broadcasting nothing but conservative talk shows, they succeed in making Patriot Phone and its associated banks, Walmart.com (!) for shopping and Fox News for... news the one and only digital platform 'true Ivanka conservatives' will ever use - and believe. However with the 2020's ending and the end of Ivanka's second term approaching fast, cracks begin to appear in the unified conservative message of Patriot News. With primary season looming and different Republicans of all stripes of conservatism lining up for Ivanka's succession, the different conservative, pro-business and religious channels that united behind Patriot-net now openly disagree on the path to follow, one even calling for a repeal of the presidential term limits to allow Ivanka to run a third time. At the same time the TeslaPhone triumvirate is pulled in two different directions by Facebook's shady record on handling fake news/misinformation campaigns and (in this TL) Bezos' ever more leftist progressive ideas.

Interspersed with that are a couple of smaller vignettes and multi-post sidestories describing life in a society where slowly one's cell phone determines one's social circle, political viewpoints and overall path in life. There is for instance a story of a man looking for work as a truck driver. Having no luck with the job postings on his Google phone, he is close to despair until during a chance visit to the County Methodist Hospital he sees an opening for an ambulance driver posted at the information wall. The job would be perfect for him but unfortunately he will have to officially apply on a recruitment app that is only available on Apple Phones, and after serious soulsearching he must admmit that he'd "rather renounce the Catholic faith and become a Methodist then to throw away (his) Google Phone to become an Apple follower"

Another story involves a newly graduated computer wizz from the FBI as she goes undercover as a content programmer in 'the only truly still unbiased cell phone company', VirginTee-Mobile to search for evidence that that company was secretly controlled by Germany to influence the 2028 elections. Though she does uncover some clues that might suggest VTM actually has political ties to Germany, she starts to get second thoughts about who and what motives are really behind her assignment. On top of that she develops a romantic relationship with German-American fellow programmer Jackie Nortrupp (the story stays deliberately vague about Jackie's gender) and finds a soulmate and mentor in Jackie's 95 year old grandfather Will. Will was born Willhelm and was three years old when his parents fled the Nazis for the freedom of Roosefelt's America. He worked his whole life as a journalist for several local newspapers and has his own views on the ethics of suppressing 'uncomfortable truths' as well as on the decline of the newspaper landscape in the late 20th century and how it lead to the present situation. This story was spread out over several posts and can be regarded as the main sideplot of the timeline.

More stories and vignettes interspersed the timeline until by August of 2019 they became the only source of new content. There was the college freshman from 'heartland USA', who never questioned his commitment to Apple he inherited from his parents until he meets a girl he can not find a profile off on his Apple social media app. There was the Wall Mart employee who finds that the Patriot-net work phone he got with his promotion to supervisor slowly starts to take over his personal life and the gaming geek who becomes a nerd and desktop computer addict once he finds on his gaming PC all the (foreign) games and websites his cell phone does not carry. Eventually more and more stories started to center around 'the breakers', a community of young hackers who 'break' or retro-engineer their cell phones to be able to reach non-provider-specific content, even if that means missing out on some of their own provider's hot games and shows.

Overall the reaction to the timeline was mixed. Readers loved the premise of the stories, that was obviously well-researched but had trouble with the often simplistic politic worldview of the author as well as him obviously overlooking the international nature of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon. As a result ContraPosto got his share of hate mail from both the left, the right and the historical nutpickers. For some weeks in 2019 the moderators had to ban several users and even delete several grossly inappropriate messages that attacked the author's sexual preference. Then in the winter of 2019 ContraPosto stopped adding new content to the timeline and in February 2020 stopped posting on AlternateHistory alltogether. Around the same time a short story appeared in print in the magazine "Science Fiction & Fantasy" dealing with a 'breaker' who went back to reinstalling the original software on his TeslaPhone so he could keep up with his colleagues all talking about the latest show on Amazon Prime (a service he uninstalled to be able to access Wikipedia Spanish). The story was billed as from 'Germany's newest Scifi sensation Wilhelm Nortrupp'. Yes, the same Wilhelm Nortrupp as the name of Jackie's Grandfather in the VirginTee-Mobile storyline.

As soon as this became public, the timeline got swamped by two pages of angry commentaries on how a German could presume to write a timeline about the U.S. American media market and if he would not better skip his simplistic ideas about American politics and society and write something about German neonazis on the internet or so. As the string of hate mails did not let up after four days, the administrators shut down the thread. User ContraPosto has since deleted his AH.com profile.



For your next assignment choose one of the following:
=> Two Gentlemen of Verona Beach
=> Good walls make good neighbors
=> Behold his majesty in all her majesty
=> An irreverent tale from the court of the empress dowager Ohwhatacutie

 

[Plateosaurus]

Two Gentlemen of Verona Beach
A TL expanding on Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juilet exploring not just the history of the city of Verona Beach, but trying to explain why then-modern day people in the late 20th century are speaking Early Modern English, starting with Britain settling in a different part of the east coast, specifically the southeast, starting with Florida.

The Dakotan Devils: A Ballad of Tasmanian Immigrants and Feral Marsupials, the rise of a new Mexico, and lots and lots of Corpses

 

[brunohusker]

The Dakotan Devils: A Ballad of Tasmanian Immigrants and Feral Marsupials, the rise of a new Mexico, and lots and lots of Corpses

A western film by director Wes Anderson made in 2017. The film is about a Kangaroo rancher named Martin McCrary ( played by Jemaine Clement) who moves his family to the town of Red Creek in the American Southwest. Rival rancher George Butterfield (played by Owen Wilson) soon organizes a gang of men known as the "Dakotan Devils" who plan on taking back the ranch because they feel that McCrary violated his contract and territorial laws by putting Kangaroos on the ranch. In the meantime hired hands from both ranches led by Diego Martinez (played by Benicio Del Toro) try to take the ranch though Martinez plans on running the whole operation. In the midst of all the commotion, Mexican Federales and local Indians get involved, and it's all up to inept territorial Governor Rodney Stoneman (played by Bill Murray) and inept sheriff Louis Gunderson (Edward Norton) to prevent trouble in the region. The film was considered one of Wes Anderson's finer films though some critics claimed he just continued rehashing his "twee ideas" onscreen


Next: The March of the Cornhuskers,

The All American Savior

The Days of King Josiah

 

[ThatOneGuy]

The March of the Cornhuskers

A sports TL about the Cornhusker Dynasty, the name of the 1990 - 2005 Cornhusker seasons. After a lucky season in 1990 the Cornhuskers snatched Brett Favre after an abysmal season by him with the Falcons. Favre would go on to become the best QB in at least modern football history, leading the Cornhuskers to victory in 5 Superbowls and into another 3. The boost made the Cornhuskers, which before had a middling reputation as an alright team, into one of the most popular in the League largely on the back of Favre. The TL ends in 2006 with Favre's retirement after a car crash screwed up his back and left the future of the Cornhusker Franchise in doubt.

14 Million to One: Another WWI TL

Dirty Cops

Do the Worm