AHC#1 - Equip a North American Native American tribe or nation with the right stuff.

[balthasargettysburg]

I like your selection, but I am hoping for a number of historically specific details to make the posited scenario "breathe"

1) a ruling house, by name or identification, to express the reality of such a culture, hopefully with identifiable leadership
2) a guiding philosophy or strategic underpinning as a guide to this culture (a la the Ghost Dance cult of Tecumseh ).
3) If the key event is merger or exchange between Washo and Anasazi, then detail the merger (forced unification? Dynastic formation?)
4) Cultural and material specificity. I absolutely LOVE your environmental and economic vision, but warfare methods, technology, and ideology (religion? Basic popular philosophy?) These seem lacking. Were these people (for example) at the point of Spanish contact, expansionist or pacifist, divided, uniited, or what? And how did they fare with the onslaught of European diseases and vices?

 

[balthasargettysburg]

I like your selection for its policy aspect (intermarriage with whites buys disease resistance. This would be a philosophy requiring some form of organization and leadership) but a POD dependent on what seems like pure luck (avoiding one particular strain of a disease) is not what I'm really hoping for.

 

[balthasargettysburg]

Did the Mixtecs enjoy material advantages over the Aztecs In terms of war doctrine, methods, armaments or morale? AND did they practice human sacrifice in any sort of frequent manner?

 

[balthasargettysburg]

Aztec reputation and historical success suggest I should require you to produce a contrafactual application of a noncontrafactual military advantage besides an emphasis on defense before declaring your flag the winner. Also, posit a culturally acceptable Mixtec reason for severely restricting the practice of human sacrifice within their domain. In my view the practice itself makes a British alliance impossible in any century.

 

[balthasargettysburg]

Please congratulate the Mixtecs on rising to the challenge of a hostile world in fine fashion.

Please congratulate twovultures on his measured, thoughtful, and substantive role as their Most Excellent Advocate.

(I liked how he dodged the military prowess question. A top-notch civilization never reveals their true strengths or overexplains themselves!)

Thank you for playing.