Dominion of Southern America - Updated July 1, 2018

[iddt3]

Possible possible - what resources were you thinking of?

OTL Canada. Though this US misses out on the easy access southern kill fields, that might incentivize investing more in the Canadian ones, especially if the Federalist doctrines of investment in infrastructure hold on. I also assume that there will be more investment in surveying going on in southern Canada at least.

It comes down to whether the US is going to be content depending on a foreign power for it's oil; the initial oil rush will probably still be in PA, but from there it could either move down to the DSA or up to the Canadian sources (or both).

 

[Falastur]

Basically yes.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster later down the line, but looking forward to it all the same

 

[Glen]

OTL Canada. Though this US misses out on the easy access southern kill fields, that might incentivize investing more in the Canadian ones, especially if the Federalist doctrines of investment in infrastructure hold on. I also assume that there will be more investment in surveying going on in southern Canada at least.

It comes down to whether the US is going to be content depending on a foreign power for it's oil; the initial oil rush will probably still be in PA, but from there it could either move down to the DSA or up to the Canadian sources (or both).

okay now I gotcha!

 

[Glen]

Sounds like a recipe for disaster later down the line, but looking forward to it all the same

It could very well be - only time will tell - glad to hear you are still looking forward to it!

 

[Glen]

In the 1850s the discovery of a process to distill kerosene from petroleum oil sparked interest in what were previously considered a nuisance when digging or drilling for water. Kerosene prior to this period had been provided by whale oil, a more costly alternative and more dangerous to harvest. While some hand dug wells were started in the late 1850s, the 1860 well drilled by Raymond Dell near Titusville, Pennsylvania kicked off the first major oil boom. Dell prior to this point had been disparaged even by his own family as a 'tinker and drunkard', but the hard drinking Pennsylvania Dutch Dell (an anglicization of Doell) was a visionary, and would also direct the creation of the first refinery in America for his well and others that opened up in the area. The 1860s saw oil wells drilled in the neighboring states of Ontario, Ohio, and even in the mountains of Virginia. Hugh Peters in Ontario and John Finney in Ohio were the drivers of the oil rushes there. Together, Dell, Finney, and Peters would merge into DFP Oil, the largest oil company in the United States.

 

[Beedok]

Ontario's oil actually being of use? Yay!

 

[Zuvarq]

Ontario's oil actually being of use? Yay!

Uhh... it was used in OTL too. Right?

 

[Glen]

Ontario's oil actually being of use? Yay!

Uhh... it was used in OTL too. Right?

Yes and yes. Here it is just a bit more obvious and prominant as part of the US oild boom.

 

[Beedok]

Uhh... it was used in OTL too. Right?

Not too much though. Too bad it didn't come first here like it did OTL.

 

[Glen]

Not too much though. Too bad it didn't come first here like it did OTL.

Debatable - seems there were plenty of hand-dug wells around even before that.

 

[Glen]

The Global War could be said to be responsible for launching the Age of Air Travel.

The Air Whales (the Orcas and other models) used in the Global War had had many technical problems, but they had well demonstrated the potential of air transport. Within just a few years of the war, new models of air ship, utilizing light metal alloys based on aluminum and magnesium, as well as a new type of engine, the internal combustion engine, that ran on naphtha gas (notably useful for being neutrally bouyant in its natural gas state), allowed for the use of air transit for the rich and the time sensitive. While rail and sea transport were still more economical, they could not match the speed of the great air ships. While commercial transport tended to rely on hydrogen filled air ships as they were able to carry a greater payload at less cost, the newly discovered elemental gas Solium for public relations reasons was preferred for passanger conveyances. While more expensive, it avoided the regretable explosive nature of hydrogen, which gave some potential passengers qualms. By the end of the 19th century, the skies of the world were filled with the grand sillouettes of the air ships.

 

[jycee]

The Global War could be said to be responsible for launching the Age of Air Travel.

The Air Whales (the Orcas and other models) used in the Global War had had many technical problems, but they had well demonstrated the potential of air transport. Within just a few years of the war, new models of air ship, utilizing light metal alloys based on aluminum and magnesium, as well as a new type of engine, the internal combustion engine, that ran on naphtha gas (notably useful for being neutrally bouyant in its natural gas state), allowed for the use of air transit for the rich and the time sensitive. While rail and sea transport were still more economical, they could not match the speed of the great air ships. While commercial transport tended to rely on hydrogen filled air ships as they were able to carry a greater payload at less cost, the newly discovered elemental gas Solium for public relations reasons was preferred for passanger conveyances. While more expensive, it avoided the regretable explosive nature of hydrogen, which gave some potential passengers qualms. By the end of the 19th century, the skies of the world were filled with the grand sillouettes of the air ships.

Well, of course they were. Otherwise this wouldn't be AH.

 

[Glen]

Well, of course they were. Otherwise this wouldn't be AH.

Indeed - though really all I have done here is give them a slightly earlier start. This is close to OTL just part that we forget due to the overlap of heavier than air conveyance here there will be some more separation thus a clearer dirigible age - but it will not last forever - though maybe a bit more than OTL.

 

[Falastur]

Indeed - though really all I have done here is give them a slightly earlier start. This is close to OTL just part that we forget due to the overlap of heavier than air conveyance here there will be some more separation thus a clearer dirigible age - but it will not last forever - though maybe a bit more than OTL.

Glen - I think jycee was less commenting on the idea of there being airships, and more commenting on your statement (or, heavy indication) that airships TTL are going to become as numerous as the stars. Well maybe I'm exaggerating, but your comment "the skies of the world were filled" does seem slightly like that (especially with a pic of an airship flying over the Pyramids, where I can't imagine many air route need to pass by...)

 

[Glen]

Glen - I think jycee was less commenting on the idea of there being airships, and more commenting on your statement (or, heavy indication) that airships TTL are going to become as numerous as the stars. Well maybe I'm exaggerating, but your comment "the skies of the world were filled" does seem slightly like that (especially with a pic of an airship flying over the Pyramids, where I can't imagine many air route need to pass by...)

The author occasionally engages in hyperbole.

Actually it would - remember that the Ottoman Empire is a going concern.

 

[Glen]

The first transatlantic cable was laid in 1855 between British County Kerry, in Ireland, and the US state of Newfoundland. This provided the shortest route across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America. The project in the United States was mostly supported by the Federalists who had traditionally been pro-British as opposed to the Democrats who had traditionally favored the French, though this point of division between the major American parties was fast vanishing in the wake of the Entente between the British and French Empires forged in the fires of the Liberal War. This first link between the US and the British Isles was nicknamed 'The Harp Line' after the traditional symbol of the Harp for both Ireland and Newfoundland which had a large Irish-American population. While a more formal message between the King of England George the Fifth and President Benjamin Hull Kays has been noted historically as the first message sent, local legend in both Ireland and Newfoundland claim that an earlier 'test' message was sent - Erin Go Bragh.

The transatlantic cable was a huge boon to the tiny and poor state of Newfoundland. As a terminus, its infrastructure, long neglected, was greatly expanded, bringing it truly in contact with the rest of the nation.

While not the first nor the last submarine cable laid, the first connection between the old and new world was perhaps the most important and symbolic. The British Empire would go on to be the greatest developer of submararine cable telegraphy in the 19th century. British telegraph interests developed their main station in the southwesternmost portion of Great Britain, at Land's End. At it's peak it would host 15 cable connections.

 

[Falastur]

The author occasionally engages in hyperbole.

Actually it would - remember that the Ottoman Empire is a going concern.

Yes but where are those airships sailing to? The only vaguely sensible place they might go via the Pyramids is Cairo-Nairobi - which one suspects would be a fairly irregular route - and for such a slow type of transport you'd think they would hug the coastline incase something went wrong and the airship went down days from civilisation in disease-infested land.

I may be being a little too practical here for your flight of fantasy, I will admit...

 

[Glen]

Yes but where are those airships sailing to? The only vaguely sensible place they might go via the Pyramids is Cairo-Nairobi - which one suspects would be a fairly irregular route - and for such a slow type of transport you'd think they would hug the coastline incase something went wrong and the airship went down days from civilisation in disease-infested land.

I may be being a little too practical here for your flight of fantasy, I will admit...

I suspect that that is a passenger liner that specifically takes the longer way round to give their wealthy patrons a view of the pyramids during the trip, Falastur.

 

[Glen]

I suspect that that is a passenger liner that specifically takes the longer way round to give their wealthy patrons a view of the pyramids during the trip, Falastur.

I should also point out that that is an undoctored picture from OTL - so guess there are reasons....

 

[Glen]

The Durrani Empire had allied itself with the British Empire in the Grand Game against Russia, and in the Global War the strategy clearly paid dividends. While Durrani would gain no terrritory from the Russian Empire, was rewarded by the British with full recognition of their claims to Balochistan, and Persia for its perfidity with Russia against the British and the Ottomans were required to honor those Durrani claims as well.

Banner of the Durrani Empire