You don't have to be an apologist for him.
I'm not, I'm just telling the truth as I've come to see it, and this is coming from somebody who's been more than willing to critique some of his more outlandish moves over the years: if you'd like, you can go back through the archives and see what I wrote.
Here, I'll even provide an example-
Gwendolyn verch Tallis said:Solo,
I must admit that I'm quite perplexed by this latest development: why, exactly, would you have Germany elect such a truly insane man to be their Chancellor? I at least understand the general idea of human stupidity sometimes being quite powerful, but surely enough people would have found out about his extreme anti-Semitism to have rejected him wholesale?
To which he responded, initially:
Solo said:Gwen, I must say that while I do honestly respect your opinion, I'm afraid it's much more than just that. A further response will be forthcoming shortly.....
And you can go from there.
Sure there's been some nightmarish TLs (remember the spin-off from Solo's about that slaveocracy ruling the world from southern Africa?)
TBH, though, even Solo himself said that was way too Grim-Dark for his taste. As was that copycat TL about Spanish Florida somehow becoming a semi-Dirigist Blood-and-Family type half-dictatorship modelling itself on ancient Rome and conquering not only most of Meshica but much of Arucania as well.
but I don't think that excuses having some guys on horses pllunder the most powerful peoples in the world but a backwater somehow escapes and then conquers most of the world.
That was a fair bit problematic in terms of believability, yes, I agree. (And also, totalitarian Kampuchea and marital rape not being illegal in most Western countries until the 1990s?)
I mean sure, part of alternate history is about stretching believability, but by the time he got to dividing up Africa between a handful of countries the size of a Chinese province it was pretty obvious he had an axe to grind.![]()
In regards to the bold, though, not really, not against Africa anyway. (I should also point out that quite a few of the African states were somewhat weakish IOTL, prior to the mid 20th century; granted, things turned rather better IOTL than ITTL, but I should note that one of the areas that got hit the hardest is an area of Africa which he is somewhat fond of IOTL)
OOC: I decided to RP as a female poster this time, just to change things up. Funny thing is, it's also been a long while since I've created ATL posts from scratch-gotta try that more often!