ATL Biographies

So, here's what has to be done. Write a biography of an ATL person, or an OTL person in an ATL. The POD is post-1900, and all biographies have to form one continuous ATL. So, I'll get the ball rolling:

Emperor Otto I Hapsburg of Austria-Hungary
1912-2004
Otto I was the latest in a long succession of Hapsburg rulers, son of Karl I (ruled Austria-Hungary 1916-1975). Under his watch, the Austro-Hungarian space program progressed rapidly, and Otto proved himself a vigorous and dynamic monarch, maintaining good relations with Germany and the Ottoman Empire while adopting a new Constitution in 1981. However, Otto was assassinated in 2004, at the age of ninety-two, by Serb nationalists in Sarajevo. Leaders the world over mourned his death, and he was succeeded by his son Ludwig Karl Hapsburg.
 
Alfred von Tirpitz
1846-1930
Considered the founder of the modern German navy. As head of the German Imperial Naval Office (1897-1918), he is known for the development of Germany as the third largest naval power, and for guiding the marine aspects of the Continental War. He is also believed to be a key reason the planned invasion of Belgium was abandoned, as an effort to preserve British neutrality.
 
Is there a size limit, because I already have a few short bios, and one slightly longer one, from the AHN Universe. The longer one being the story of President James Dean.
 
Fertig, Wendell, Lieutenant General, USA

Born December 16, 1900, Died December 30, 1990

Army Reservist before the war, he was stranded in the Philippines after the fall of Corregidor. He was a Lieutenant Colonel, but after he formed the American-Filipino Guerrilla Corps, he promoted himself to Brigadier General, US Army Reserves. By 1944, his forces numbered over 60,000 and tied down the majority of the Japanese occupation force who put out a $5,00,000 bounty on his head.

He was present when Field Marshall Sir Thomas Blamey's South West Pacific Forces landed in Luzon. General Walter Kreuger, senior American Army officer in the area, confirmed his field promotion to Brigadier General. Later, with the approval of Congress, President Truman confirmed his permanent promotion when Fertig was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Staying in the regular army after the war, then Major General Fertig was the first senior Army officer to step foot in Korea after the invasion. Taking command of all US forces (with the blessing of Gen. Walker), he conducted a masterful retreat to Pusan that is still taught at the War College.

After Korea, he was instrumental in getting the first Green Berets formed, and was commander of the Special Forces until his retirement in 1970 as a Lt. General. He died in a car accident.
 
Richard Jugashvili, 43rd Vice-President of the United States

Born August 4, 1938, Died April 19, 2008

Richard Jugashvili, a third-generation Georgian-Italian immigrant, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in law, and in 1968 established an unsuccessful practice in Chicago.

He was first elected to political office in 1970 as an independent in the Illinois Senate, but soon after joined the Progressive Party. In 1976, he was elected to the national House of Representatives, where he served one term before election to the Senate.

In 1980, Mark Donaldson, then a senator from Massachusetts, won the Progressive nomination for President. He selected Jugashvili as his running mate, seeking to win the votes of mainline progressives and the vital Illinois vote. The Donaldson-Jugashvili ticket won by a small margin, but following the Crash of 1984 the Progressives were voted out of office. Jugashvili was reelected to the Senate in 1986, 1992, and 1998, but was defeated in one of the most surprising upsets of the Wave of 2004.

In 2008, as the Progressive candidate for governor of Illinois, he died in a plane crash in Champaign County, Illinois.

Jugashvili married Marta Gómez in 1967. They had two sons and three daughters.
 
Gus Grissom

Born April 3, 1926

Joined the USAF in 1952, flew 100 missions during the Korean War, shooting down 3 enemy aircraft.

After Korea he became a test pilot at Edwards in 1958 before being selected as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.

His first flight in 1961 nearly ended in disaster when the hatch on his capsule blew oped, fortunately he was not hurt.

His second flight, Gemini III ended on a much better note with astronaut and capsule returning to Earth safely.

Scheduled to command Apollo I, he was injured in a car accident two weeks before the fatal fire that killed the crew on the launch pad. Wally Schirra, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were all eulogized by Grissom.

He was a leading member of the Apollo redesign team and was picked as commander of Apollo 11.

On July 20, 1969 Grissom and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Several hours later, Mission Commander Grissom became the first man to walk on the moon.

While on the moon, he was notified that he had made the Colonel's list in the Air Force and by order of the President with the advise and consent of the Congress, he was promoted to the rank while on the Moon.

Leaving NASA after returning to Earth, he returned to duty in the Air Force. He commanded a Fighter Wing in England and later a Fighter Bomber Wing in Vietnam.

Promoted to Brigadier General in 1974 and Major General in 1980 before retiring in 1989.

At the age of 75, he was on United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. Cell phone records and the Flight Data recorder indicate that after taking control of the aircraft, he was unable to bring it out of the nose dive that the terrorists had put it in. The last words on the tape were "Looks like we won't make it this time Hotdag", an apparent reference to fellow former astronaut Gordo Cooper.

He was buried with full military honors at Arlington and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.

His widow was able to successfully lobby Congress and the President awarding the Presidential Unit Citation to the "Flight 93 Militia.
 
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Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg

5 March 1871-15 January 1930

A major Figure in the German Civil War (1921-1933), as the co-leader of the Communist Party with Karl Liebknecht, the Communists were the leading force in the left wing of the Republican forces. Luxemburg founded the Spartakusbund the military arm of the KPD and lead the female arm of the paramilitary through the war, Rosa was killed by Freikorps member Reinhard Heydrich, who shot and killed her during the street fighting in the 4th battle of Dresden.
 
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Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (30/05/1934 - present day)

Selected for the First Cosmonaut Group in 1960. First flew aboard Voskhod 2 on 23/11/1964, where he conducted the first spacewalk, for 14m, 27s.

Flew again on Voskhod 7, on 14/06/1966 where he set an endurance record of 22d, 6h, 11m, 47s.

Played key role in design of Soyuz spacecraft, which first flew unmanned on 07/09/1966. First manned flight on 12/06/1967, piloted by Vladimir Komorov for 2d, 18h, 33m, 08s.

Orbited Moon as Commander of Soyuz LOK-4 on 21/12/1968.

Landed on Moon as Commander of 2nd Soviet Manned Lunar Mission (Soyuz LOK-8) on 11/1969. Landed within 40 metres of target area in Sea of Fertillity. Spent 62h, 11m, 57s on Lunar Surface. Lander and Orbiter sent in seperate launches.

Was part of ASTP, when Apollo 19 docked with Salyut 4 on 04/07/1976.

Retired in 1991.
 
St. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kerensky: 1881-1970


“The Father of the Soviet Union,” Aleksandr Kerensky was born in Simbirsk (renamed to Kerensk in 1967) in the Russian Empire. Educated in law at St. Petersburg University, he quickly became a champion defending the rights of political revolutionaries during the early years of the reign of Nikolai II.

In 1912, he won election to the Fourth State Duma, also known as “The Long Duma,” where he quickly rose through the ranks of leadership due to his powerful oratory and legal skill. As a primary leader among the Socialist Revolutionaries, Kerensky was a thorough and effective counterbalance to the autocratic hand of Tsar Nikolai, and slowly but methodically grew the power of the legislative body. Despite the power held by the Tsars at this time, Kerensky was consistently able to manipulate and outmaneuver the uncertain and ineffective Nikolai, winning reforms for due process rights and severe limitations on the death penalty. During the unrest that surrounded the Tsar's push for rapid industrialization during the 1920s, Kerensky was hailed as the voice of the working man within the government.

The pace of political modernization changed drastically after the death of Nikolai II. His successor, Alexei III, was sickly and unable to maintain any degree of control of those within his court who sought to undermine the Duma. As the economic depression, exacerbated by the ongoing civil war in Germany, led to food shortages in the cities, Kerensky supported the St. Petersburg strikers. When the Tsar's inner-circle attempted to prorogue the Duma in February 1933, Kerensky refused, famously stating that “two-hundred thousand striking men shall determine this government's authority, not one detached noble.” With the military refusing to act against the masses and the capital paralyzed, Alexei abdicated. During the following year, Kerensky was the principal power player in St. Petersburg, as a chief member in the leadership of both entities now in control of the Russian Empire: the moderate Provisional Government and the socialist St. Petersburg Soviet.

The St. Petersburg Soviet soon assumed supremacy among the two competing powers, as Kerensky and his colleagues began work on creating the Constitution of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless the process was nearly disrupted when exiled German Communist radicals attempted to overrun the Soviet with the aim of creating an extremist Communist state. The attempted coup encouraged Kerensky to adopt the controversial measure of keeping a figurehead monarch, inviting Cyril Romanov to become the first Constitutional monarch of the Soviet Union in 1934.

Kerensky remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, governing from its formal creation in 1934 until his retirement in 1963 at the age of eighty-two. He died at his home in St. Petersburg on June 11, 1970. Kerensky was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1987.


(OOC: Didn't go into detail on his time as PM as I didn't want to dominate much more of the Russian timeline than I already had.)
 
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