Cinco de Mayo

[KingSweden24]

Poor Hearst - must be hard to be so young and to suddenly feel like your best days were in the past. Its pretty standard for people to dig in deeper when, to use a favorite Stephen King phrase of mine, "things get soft around the edges" - but it's rarely a good idea. I'm honestly somewhat surprised that, with Hearst's continued popularity and young age (and his ego), that he hasn't at least floated runnign for a third term. Obviously the tensions with the Confederacy offer some justification - and though the legacy of Washington is hard to overcome, what better way to show that a new generation has risen to prominence when such archaic traditions might be cast aside as the young nation reaches its maturity.

Hopefully he has a long and successful post-Presidency. Unlike Teddy in OTL, he doesn't seem to be a man of passionate hobbies and intellectual pursuits to keep him busy (though maybe he throws himself into his memoirs and shows off a new literary bent). If anyone is going to go into a post-Presidential political career, it's likely Hearst - I could see him angling for a New York Senate race or, of course, the Court (though I suspect that the Court wouldn't fit his temperment in the least). At the very least, he is certainly going to become a powerbroker and grand old man in the Democratic Party.

I’m not going to spoil anything but you’ve predicted two future developments for Hearst in here and I’ll leave it at that! (He did not have a law degree though so the Court is not one of them).

Im glad you find the take humanizing, at least. WRH was a complicated man who IOTL definitely became a big asshole in the back half of his life but many portrayals of him seem to be caricature, and I hope Ive at least avoided that.

Happy to see Al Smith and Frances Perkins enter the narrative.

Yes indeed… watch this space, because there’ll be some staying power…

 

[KingSweden24]

"...whether true or not, the fact that Paris' aggressive use of its banking industry to cultivate a vast network of loans and investments in states large and small across Europe and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere fed the impression that there was a cadre of pseudo-satellites that were loyal to its interests. This made finance appear to be just another tool in the arsenal of the Quai d'Orsay, and it was not just in other capitals that this understanding of the state of affairs took root. French foreign ministers both before and after Poincare, in part to enhance their own domestic position and prestige in a system of remarkably cutthroat backroom politics, made little effort to dissuade their counterparts that they did not indeed expect reciprocity down the line for their generous largesse.

This deeply unnerved German policymakers, who spoke of a "noose of coin" around them in private memoranda, and also served to further alienate London, which had of course made its Empire on similar approaches to global lending and was discomfited by France aping that model on behalf of a more autocratic system of government..."

- Path of Darkness: Europe's Illiberal Hour

 

[Curtain Jerker]

Ah the British. Guess they don't believe in turnabout being fair play huh?

 

[KingSweden24]

Ah the British. Guess they don't believe in turnabout being fair play huh?

When have they ever?

See: High Seas Fleet

 

[DanMcCollum]

When have they ever?

See: High Seas Fleet

Britain, the living embondiment of: "Do as we say, not as we do!"

 

[KingSweden24]

Britain, the living embondiment of: "Do as we say, not as we do!"

Quite so! Even the US has at least been more cleverly hypocritical

 

[KingSweden24]

Author’s Note:

So we’ll have a brief week-ish hiatus as I’m off on vacation (to Mexico once more, as it were). When I’m back we’ll hard charge through the rest of 1911/12 and the conclusion of Part VIII, setting us up for… drumroll… the Great American War.

My notes for the piece by piece buildup for the war are pretty dense but with so much going into Part VII, which in my view is the backbone of the story (yes I’m still inspired by The Sleepwalkers lol) my notes for the rest of the 1910s, especially that not touched by the GAW, are lighter than I’d like. Are there any requests anybody has, any check-ins they’d like to see, etc?

And as always - thanks for reading this long, complicated thing!

 

[Curtain Jerker]

Author’s Note:

So we’ll have a brief week-ish hiatus as I’m off on vacation (to Mexico once more, as it were). When I’m back we’ll hard charge through the rest of 1911/12 and the conclusion of Part VIII, setting us up for… drumroll… the Great American War.

My notes for the piece by piece buildup for the war are pretty dense but with so much going into Part VII, which in my view is the backbone of the story (yes I’m still inspired by The Sleepwalkers lol) my notes for the rest of the 1910s, especially that not touched by the GAW, are lighter than I’d like. Are there any requests anybody has, any check-ins they’d like to see, etc?

And as always - thanks for reading this long, complicated thing!

Have a wonderful trip.

Can we get a glimpse of Southeast Asia? I'm sure with German Cambodia, French Vietnam, and British Malaysia there's all sorts of intrigues in the region.

 

[DanMcCollum]

Author’s Note:

So we’ll have a brief week-ish hiatus as I’m off on vacation (to Mexico once more, as it were). When I’m back we’ll hard charge through the rest of 1911/12 and the conclusion of Part VIII, setting us up for… drumroll… the Great American War.

My notes for the piece by piece buildup for the war are pretty dense but with so much going into Part VII, which in my view is the backbone of the story (yes I’m still inspired by The Sleepwalkers lol) my notes for the rest of the 1910s, especially that not touched by the GAW, are lighter than I’d like. Are there any requests anybody has, any check-ins they’d like to see, etc?

And as always - thanks for reading this long, complicated thing!

Have fun on your vacation! My sister and husband go down to Mexico yearly and love it.

As for areas to check in on - I'd actually really fascinated by what's going on in New Orleans. It would also be interesting to see some bits about immigration in North America - we know that there are significantly more Poles, Norwegians and German-Russians in the United States, which is going to have some influence, and it would be interesting to see the impacts of French-Canadian migrations into New England and the Upper Midwest. But it would also be fascinating to look into the immigrant situation in Mexico: who's coming there, how are they organizing themselves/acculturating (if they are), how is their presense helping the industrial development of Mexico and are there are political issues stemming from them, etc. The same goes for the Confederacy, of course, though I suspect that Mexico and the US are getting more than anyone.

Finally: how's Canada doing? Their government taking a bit more of an ... uhhhh, Orange Hue ... is harming imigration, but its also got to be causing more than a little friction with Quebec, and hamperng their efforts to settle the Prairie. How is the Metis community doing there?

 

[LordVorKon]

Check-ins: Africa. I feel like we haven't really seen much from that continent other than that Congo is a horrible place run by psychotic Belgium? What's happening in East Africa? Algeria? Morocco?

Also, once the GAW gets started, maybe look at impacts of the war on neutral nations in the region (there are going to be some of those, right? ... Right?)

 

[KingSweden24]

Have a wonderful trip.

Can we get a glimpse of Southeast Asia? I'm sure with German Cambodia, French Vietnam, and British Malaysia there's all sorts of intrigues in the region.

Sure thing! I have some Vietnam content in mind specifically I need to include as it is with all the stuff going on just up north in China so I can scoot that forward

Have fun on your vacation! My sister and husband go down to Mexico yearly and love it.

As for areas to check in on - I'd actually really fascinated by what's going on in New Orleans. It would also be interesting to see some bits about immigration in North America - we know that there are significantly more Poles, Norwegians and German-Russians in the United States, which is going to have some influence, and it would be interesting to see the impacts of French-Canadian migrations into New England and the Upper Midwest. But it would also be fascinating to look into the immigrant situation in Mexico: who's coming there, how are they organizing themselves/acculturating (if they are), how is their presense helping the industrial development of Mexico and are there are political issues stemming from them, etc. The same goes for the Confederacy, of course, though I suspect that Mexico and the US are getting more than anyone.

Finally: how's Canada doing? Their government taking a bit more of an ... uhhhh, Orange Hue ... is harming imigration, but its also got to be causing more than a little friction with Quebec, and hamperng their efforts to settle the Prairie. How is the Metis community doing there?

We’ll be getting to the Whitney government in Canada before long, incidentally, but yes I can absolutely sprinkle in some additional content on some of that other stuff!

Check-ins: Africa. I feel like we haven't really seen much from that continent other than that Congo is a horrible place run by psychotic Belgium? What's happening in East Africa? Algeria? Morocco?

Also, once the GAW gets started, maybe look at impacts of the war on neutral nations in the region (there are going to be some of those, right? ... Right?)

There’ll be quite a few neutrals. Spain probably the biggest and most important but all the old Gran Colombia members won’t enter the war either which will have some varied impacts

I can see what I can throw together on Africa, though! I need to return my attention to SA at some point soon anyways

 

[AristideBriand1925]

Would it also be possible to get a peak at what Italy is doing or how it’s doing? We know how well the American socialists are doing. It would be interesting to see how Giolitti handles the Italian socialists not to mention the host of other social and economic problems

 

[PariahNihil]

Author’s Note:

So we’ll have a brief week-ish hiatus as I’m off on vacation (to Mexico once more, as it were). When I’m back we’ll hard charge through the rest of 1911/12 and the conclusion of Part VIII, setting us up for… drumroll… the Great American War.

My notes for the piece by piece buildup for the war are pretty dense but with so much going into Part VII, which in my view is the backbone of the story (yes I’m still inspired by The Sleepwalkers lol) my notes for the rest of the 1910s, especially that not touched by the GAW, are lighter than I’d like. Are there any requests anybody has, any check-ins they’d like to see, etc?

And as always - thanks for reading this long, complicated thing!

Well I finally finished reading this and was hoping you would be into the Great American War by now but hey who am I to bitch lol

I'll be here waiting for the next update with bated breath! Enjoy Mexico, I've been there many, many fun times..... hehehe ....

 

[KingSweden24]

Well I finally finished reading this and was hoping you would be into the Great American War by now but hey who am I to bitch lol

I'll be here waiting for the next update with bated breath! Enjoy Mexico, I've been there many, many fun times..... hehehe ....

Welcome to the Cincoverse, glad to have you onboard! I’ll try to speed things up so we can get to the fireworks 😜

Thanks! It’s been a bit debaucherous so far…

Would it also be possible to get a peak at what Italy is doing or how it’s doing? We know how well the American socialists are doing. It would be interesting to see how Giolitti handles the Italian socialists not to mention the host of other social and economic problems

Absolutely. I’ve ignored Italy more than I should especially given how important it’ll be to the CEW

 

[username5243]

How about Japan, don't think we've heard much from them lately. Or the Philippines as well.

In Europe, maybe a look at some point at the Balkans countries if there's anything of note there. And I think we are due for a check-in with everyone's favorite royals too before the Americas explode

Would also second any look at the lesser powers in the Americas though I'd assume there's plenty of that planned already for the next couple years

 

[KingSweden24]

How about Japan, don't think we've heard much from them lately. Or the Philippines as well.

In Europe, maybe a look at some point at the Balkans countries if there's anything of note there. And I think we are due for a check-in with everyone's favorite royals too before the Americas explode

Would also second any look at the lesser powers in the Americas though I'd assume there's plenty of that planned already for the next couple years

Are the “favorite royals” residing in Brussels by chance?? 😜

TBH I’m kind of at a loss of what to do with Japan in the 1910s which is why the content there has dropped off a bit

 

[Ironshark]

what's columbia doing?

seems like they would be a bigger deal in the American game of thrones going on

 

[KingSweden24]

what's columbia doing?

seems like they would be a bigger deal in the American game of thrones going on

Colombia’s officially neutral and will remain so; since their government is basically appointed by the French Quai d’Orsay though they remain a good way for Paris to exact influence on the Bloc Sud, though

 

[PariahNihil]

Just one question right now; is that super-Mongolia the same as the khanates in Russian Central Asia or a legally separate but puppetized nation with its own sovereignty?

 

[KingSweden24]

Just one question right now; is that super-Mongolia the same as the khanates in Russian Central Asia or a legally separate but puppetized nation with its own sovereignty?

Good q! It’s the latter. It’s one of the breakaways egged on by Russia after Qing authority started collapsing in the periphery after the sack of Peking. They did much the same in Turkestan after absorbing Dzungaria in its west as an outright annexation. The Bogd Khan is in charge in Ulanbator though Russia is the 800 lb bear in the room for most decisions made in Mongolia