American Elephant

Emperor Julian

When I read the title, I thought this was going to be a question of the Americas having native elephant species. Now that would be interesting!
 

Kuamong

Emperor Julian said:
When I read the title, I thought this was going to be a question of the Americas having native elephant species. Now that would be interesting!
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Surviving mammoths would be really interesting. Could possibly be used as some sort of draft animal, although they can gore a person more than any other animal.

And in addition: Teddy in the Congo. What would be a good San Juan reference for TR?
 
modelcitizen

modelcitizen

Stolengood said:
Ahhhh... think I see now. Quite excellent. ;) :D

(By the way, did Washington ever go toe-to-toe with Nappy, in this timeline? :D)
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Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

I remembered this morning another part of the lead-up: Belgium's reactions to the Meuse "incident."

Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to, Duel, First-degree murder of prominent citizen...

Diplomatic correspondence, especially when it gets on telegraph-enabled velocity, is a treat for the press. Will the American government have a couple people who generously leak such to reporters? Does an elephant eat the finest grass his or her loving owner can provide?
 
modelcitizen

modelcitizen

Stolengood said:
(By the way, did Washington ever go toe-to-toe with Nappy, in this timeline? :D)
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It would have to be something like maybe a chess game or ....?

Even in his later years, GW is going to physically be overmatched versus Napoleon. (That's if literally thinking toe-to-toe, I don't think you meant that.;))

As for on the battlefield... How to arrange that. (Mind a blank. Not in a bad way, but, yeah.)

(A variation of a variation... )
 
Stolengood

Stolengood

Banned
modelcitizen said:
It would have to be something like maybe a chess game or ....?

Even in his later years, GW is going to physically be overmatched versus Napoleon. (That's if literally thinking toe-to-toe, I don't think you meant that.;))

As for on the battlefield... How to arrange that. (Mind a blank. Not in a bad way, but, yeah.)

(A variation of a variation... )
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I was remembering Washington being alive for 1812, and then thinking how his actively serving in the lead-up to the war that never was (the Quasi-War OTL) would egg Napoleon on if Washington stayed alive...
 
modelcitizen

modelcitizen

Stolengood said:
I was remembering Washington being alive for 1812, and then thinking how his actively serving in the lead-up to the war that never was (the Quasi-War OTL) would egg Napoleon on if Washington stayed alive...
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...A special volunteer legion of Americans detached somehow to...

Hm.

I like Napoleon, and America is doing Things That I Like in this TL, so, fighting Napoleon...

Hm.

I understand that a friendly "war games' exercise would be kind of a cop-out.

Around 1812, especially if the Yanks take Canada, one would need to be creative to figure out how to get Napoleon v. Washington...

(A variation of this variation.....)
 
modelcitizen

modelcitizen

Stolengood said:
I understand. Maybe they can come to a friendly agreement/curbstomping? :p
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After the war of 1812, America is Hot Stuff.

Napoleon sends bouquets of congratulations, etc.

To add insult to injury, Washington leads a contingent to the Mediterranean to support Napoleon in a campaign against another threat by the sneering bloodied but not bowed British Empire... So no GW-Napoleon Clash, but, an epic... "Dude, Love Your Work" bromance kind of thing?
 

SPJ

Hey I got some more stuff that you could add to you TL. After going through the book Napoleon's Buttons which is a history of chemistry I learned that originaly billiaird balls where made of ivory up until the early 20th century when the polymer Bakelite was invented which made a good substitute. In OTL the ivory business was so great for materials such as billiard balls that some in Africa practiced kidnapping locals and holding them hostage for ivory which forced their loved ones to hunt for elephants. Since Americans in your TL already see the use of ivory jewelry as a great offense then maybe you could add other tidbits like making the game of billiard balls taboo or have it outlawed even after the invention of Bakelite. Also the mistreatment of elephants in Africa could give the Americans even more reason to war with Belgium over the Congo.
 
modelcitizen

modelcitizen

Stolengood said:
So... any more progress? ;)
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The Mechanized Elephant Cavalry (MECs) are going to be a force to be reckoned with on the broken grounds of Europe come America's entry into that modern terror of a war in the second decade of the 20th century AD.

A typical MEC will have wheels that are at least twelve feet high. The wheels will resemble those found on the rear of a large agricultural tractor, except for observably increased width, something like over a yard wide.

The ground-clearance of a MEC unit will be adequate for traversing trenches and any ditches and furrows typically found in abandoned farmlands. The combination of power and aggressive approach angles front and rear will allow a MEC to make its way over a range of any obstacles that aren't knocked over or destroyed.

The armor of a MEC will be designed to shrug off machine-gun fire and provide at least some protection from artillery-delivered explosions.

The speed of a MEC will be more impressive than the acceleration...

The early MECs at least will be running on steam locomotive-type hardware, robust boilers designed to withstand an impressive amount of jostling and provide reasonably quick response for the sake of something resembling agility.

The early MECs, on a decently accommodating surface, will be able to travel at speeds upwards of twenty miles per hour. Later MECs will show improvements in speed along with improvements in onboard available power.

For a number of MECs, agility and speed will also improve with types of engines that are lighter in weight, such as internal combustion motors.

MECs will concurrently develop with divergent powertrain types. Internal combustion powertrains will develop in ways similar to tanks of otl. Steam engines will develop in ways familiar to AH fans, e.g., "steam turbines," "quick-flash boilers" and stuff like that. (The ideas in quotes were afaik taken from SM Stirling, Draka-verse I think.)

MECs will of course evolve divergently for different missions.

A MEC Africanus will tower above other MECs and carry very impressive weaponry to go with cutting-edge armor and less emphasis on passenger capacity.

A MEC Asiatic will be more "domesticated" in purpose, more passenger capacity, more cargo capacity, more recognizable to folks conversant with armored personell carriers, etc.

Number and placement of wheels will evolve divergently also. Some MECs, especially those manufactured by train-manufacturing firms (insert shoutout to "ALTO" car-owner in a dbwi "what car do you drive" thread, to be elaborated on), will have two sets of four wheels mounted on (I think) "bogeys" or "trucks" for eight articulated wheels carrying the mass of the MEC over myriad terrain.
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

modelcitizen said:
Number and placement of wheels will evolve divergently also. Some MECs, especially those manufactured by train-manufacturing firms (insert shoutout to "ALTO" car-owner in a dbwi "what car do you drive" thread, to be elaborated on), will have two sets of four wheels mounted on (I think) "bogeys" or "trucks" for eight articulated wheels carrying the mass of the MEC over myriad terrain.
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Initially your bogies will be rigid, but as technology advances, increased flexibility and articulation will develop. So each axle becomes what gets called a "kernel bogie".
 
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