[Discontinued] A Different Sound of Silence: An Alternate 20th Century And Beyond

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Introduction & Cover
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    • AeroTheZealousOne

    AeroTheZealousOne

    Hello all.

    I've decided to finally begin work on my own timeline, having been inspired by the many great authors and timelines on this site to finally attempt to write one.

    Q: What's this timeline about?
    A: Arthur Zimmerman, at the last minute, decides not to send the infamous Zimmerman Telegram to the Mexican Government. Since it is never sent, it is never intercepted by British intelligence, and the United States is in less of an uproar to join World War I. Which they fail to do, and things get more and more interesting from here, and eventually a world situation develops that is both parallel to past events, and completely unrecognizable in other aspects.

    Q: This is another one of those U.S-centric timelines, isn't it?
    A: It sure is, but I'll definitely be covering the other happenings of the world, too!

    Q: Will you be covering pop culture in this TL?
    A: Absolutely! The butterflies won't be particularly major at the beginning, but going forward, some patterns may emerge that you're familiar with. That, and the face of music will never be the same...

    Q: Can I contribute?
    A: This is not a collaborative timeline, sorry. You can still PM me your thoughts and ideas, though! Heck, if you send me something that fits very well with this world, I might just post it and credit you for it!

    Q: Is there anything else I should know?
    A: Well, all I can say is that you're in for one hell of a ride. This world you are about to see I plan on taking throughout the 20th century and into the first fifth of the 21st century.

    Without further ado, I hereby present...


    "A DIFFERENT SOUND OF SILENCE: AN ALTERNATE 20TH CENTURY AND BEYOND"


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  • Index
    • Chapter 1: In which Arthur Zimmerman does not send a telegram to Mexico
  • Index
    • AeroTheZealousOne

    AeroTheZealousOne

    CHAPTER 1: In which Arthur Zimmerman does not send a telegram to Mexico


    January 16, 1917:

    The Great War has dragged on for over two years now, and millions lay dead in the fields and plains of Europe. The war was locked in a stalemate for quite a long time, after the failure of the Schlieffen Plan and the devolvement into trench warfare. And the German Empire needed an advantage, any advantage, to bring the war into their favor.

    Arthur Zimmerman had been sitting in his office, contemplating on whether or not he should send a particular message. This message is question was one that, if sent, could draw the Mexican government into this war on the side of Germany. While Zimmerman himself was probably not aware of how arduous the situation in Mexico actually was, seeing as they were in the midst of civil war, his decision not to send this telegram to Mexico would be one he thought about often in the postwar world. In exile, he thinks to himself a decade later "After all, if if weren't for my support of the Irish and the Bolsheviks, the Entente surely would have won that war".

    Little did he know that his actions on that very day would lay the foundations for a radically different future...

    ---

    Spring, 1917:

    Congress was not going to do it.

    While public opinion was divided over whether the United States should enter the war, Fiorello LaGuardia filibustered in the Senate, and while one American ship was sunk during March, public outcry to declare war on Germany was there, yet it wasn't something one could consider to be overwhelming. A number of people in both the House and the Senate weren't going to vote for war, and that reason, among others that the British and the French were doing fine on their own holding off the Germans in their trenches. Even with the Provisional Government in Russia considering suing for peace, the United States was torn between intervention on the side of the Allies and remaining uninvolved outside of arms dealings. Over the course of twelve weeks, the debate dragged out in the Senate, and support for President Woodrow Wilson declined. The man who kept the U.S. out of war wanted to bring them into it, and some people found this unacceptable, including figures such as Congressman Meyer London and noted socialist Eugene Debs.

    Ultimately, Congress adjourned after the resolution failed 45 to 41 in the Senate, and 215 to 208 in the House of Representatives. While these results were too close for comfort to some, the United States would not be fighting in the War to End All Wars, but aside from German U-boats, bad weather, and the limitations of Allied money, there was absolutely nothing stopping the United States from shipping more and more arms to Britain and France...


    (Any thoughts, questions, feedback?)
     
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  • Index
    • Chapter 2: In which World War I rages on, and nobody truly wins in the end
  • Index
    • AeroTheZealousOne

    AeroTheZealousOne

    Sorry for the brief delay in getting this second chapter out. This mostly focuses on the European Fronts throughout 1917, and is a bit of a shift in narrative style from the previous one.


    CHAPTER 2: In which World War I rages on, and nobody truly wins in the end


    The Great War slogged onwards throughout 1917. No major victories were scored by either side, though the situation in Russia was deteriorating. The Provisional Government, in spite of a failure of the United States to enter the war, still wanted to fight it. And as things get worse, Alexander Kerensky finds himself unable to promise peace, let alone land and bread. There are figures, radical figures, who want to attempt to provide for the people and establish a true democracy, rather than this provisional one led by Kerensky. But until the time comes to strike against those they call "imperialist warmongers", they must bide that which lies in-between. And to help some of those radicals in biding their time is none other than Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, whose exile has been suspended to hopefully lead the working classes to victory against the Tsar (who is still out there) and other reactionary tyrants...

    ---

    Meanwhile, plans for an offensive to be led by Robert Nivelle were almost put into motion, but with the high-ranking elected officials in the United States (outside of Woodrow Wilson and a large minority of Congress) seeming to be hesitant to involve themselves in this conflict (or outright voicing opposition to it), some assumptions had to be changed. What was known is that the Germans had already retreated to the Hindenburg Line, and that Russia was having its own set of problems on the Eastern Front. What wasn't known was that the upper echelons of the German Army already knew that an offensive was being planned against them. And with all of this in mind, it was decided that this offensive had to be delayed another month and re-planned. There was no way it could, in the words of one of those involved in planning, be "done within two days, with relatively limited casualties at this stage".

    Ultimately, what would be known as the Nivelle Offensive took place beginning on the 10th of May, and ended when further advances were called off nineteen days later. The end result was both bloody and indecisive, with roughly 215,000 dead, dying, and/or missing men from France and Britain, and another 185,000 dead, dying, and/or missing German soldiers.[1] The month of June saw mass mutinies from French soldiers on top of this overall failure of the Allied forces to bring the war decisively in their favor, and Robert Niville found himself replaced by the same person he replaced back in 1916: Division General Philippe Pétain.[2]

    For the Allies, any help they can get to one-up the Central Powers is appreciated. Greece, who joins the war around the time of Nivelle's dismissal in June, is not what Britain and France were hoping for, but anything to help weaken the Ottoman Empire would, in theory, help them in return later on. The Kingdom of Greece did not have a particularly active front with either the Ottomans or in Macedonia, but depending on outside pressure, this could change for them. They needed to be really lucky, and if they all are not careful, their luck could run out in an untimely fashion...[3]

    ---

    Throughout the rest of the Summer and into Autumn, German gains on their Eastern Front weren't overwhelmingly decisive, but even more dissatisfaction with the Provisional Government was being caused. If only their gamble to send in Lenin was fruitful, their eastern front should be settled, and the German Kaiserreich could finally settle this unexpectedly long conflict once and for all. For Kaiser Wilhelm II, one of the biggest hopes for the end of October is that the Austrian breakthrough on the Italian front[4] brings that backstabbing nation to the bargaining table.

    But only time will tell, and time is very much of the essence for all of the parties involved in the greatest conflict yet known to mankind...


    [1] This is just one of many battles that has a slightly higher death toll due to various butterflies and different tactics and strategies used by both sides. Some others won't be mentioned, but you can imagine some post-1916 battles having a somewhat higher or lower death toll than OTL.
    [2] As per OTL.
    [3] Greece did, IOTL, join World War I. Their role here without the U.S. in the war could change things very slightly, though.
    [4] I couldn't find a good place in the narrative to mention this, but a notable casualty among the soldiers of Italy ITTL is Benito Mussolini, who succumbs in May to injuries received from a mortar that struck him on February 22nd of this year IOTL.

     
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    • AeroTheZealousOne

    AeroTheZealousOne

    historybuff said:
    Another great update.
    Click to expand...

    Thanks very much!

    Next one will probably skip over the Russian Revolution and focus on the War going into 1918. After that will be the peace treaty ending the Great War, and after that I'll cover the Bolsheviks (and the Mensheviks and Left SRs) in Russia, the Makhnovists in Ukraine, and the Spartacists in Germany from 1917 to 1919. Following all of that, we should finally be able to see how America is doing.
     
    AeroTheZealousOne

    AeroTheZealousOne

    TheImperialTheorist said:
    Seems to be the start of something good. Watched.
    Click to expand...

    Welcome aboard!

    And as a sidenote for everyone, I haven't had much time to work on it and I have been incredibly busy this week, so it is probably going to be a few days more before Chapter 3 comes out. Didn't mean to let anyone down by posting this, but all good things come to those who wait.
     
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