New York still has a bigger population and is more of the cultural and financial center, but Chicago's importance in politics could make it comparable.
English Canada/French Carolina: A Timeline
- Thread starter Gabingston
- Start date
Hey guys, I think I’m gonna make some fairly significant retcons to the world. There are a lot of things I’m not satisfied with, and while I had planned on waiting for my Maps & Graphics spinoff to implement retcons, my patience has run thin, so I’m inclined to do it while I’m still writing the proper timeline. I know it probably doesn’t come off well to make these massive retcons, especially when it’s not the first time I’ve done so, but alas, I’m probably going to do it anyway, though not without notifying you, my dear and loyal readers beforehand.
First, I’m planning on splitting up the multinational states like Austro-Bavaria, Illyria (TTL’s Yugoslavia) and Carpathia (TTL’s Czechoslovakia plus Southern Poland). I remember getting pushback when I first introduced the idea of uniting Austria and Bavaria, and in retrospect I think it was done mainly for the rule of cool rather than any sort of realism. I’ll also have Bavaria keep Franconia instead of it going to Prussia, along with some more minor revisions within Germany.
Illyria and Carpathia are more realistic than the other two, as they wouldn’t have had centuries of history as independent states (unlike Austria and Bavaria), but I’m still not sure whether they’re feasible. At the very least the Polish speaking part of Carpathia will join Poland rather than stay in Carpathia, since there’s nothing distinguishing the Carpathian Poles from the Poles in Poland proper. The Czechs and Slovaks are probably similar enough to keep a union together, but they may just decide to go their own ways like IOTL. As for Illyria, well, who knows whether they’ll be able to form a common national identity or if the sectarian divides between the Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Bosniaks will tear the country apart as IOTL. Thus, I will be splitting Austro-Bavaria apart and having the Polish part of Carpathia join Poland, but the fates of Carpathia and Illyria are yet to be determined.
Apart from these unions, I’ve got some more retcons to mention. First, since we haven’t had another Global War, I think it’d be realistic to make it so that the Second Global War’s peace treaty was less punitive towards the losing side and more like OTL’s Congress of Vienna, with the goal being to build a stable Europe rather than giving the victors all the spoils. For example, Wallonia will remain part of France rather than becoming a German client state, though Alsace-Lorraine will still leave. This may involve altering events from the war itself, for example there’d be no invasion far into France by the winning side. One more minor revision would be to give the Commonwealth of America a bit more land on the West Coast, making the border the 36th parallel instead of the 37th. Part of this would be to give more security to the port of San Francisco, and part of it would be to give the Commonwealth one side of the Grand Canyon.
On another note, large swaths of the world are due for revision. Africa, Arabia and Mainland Southeast Asia have basically been left unaltered, with me copy/pasting their OTL borders pre-colonialism and keeping them up to the present, which is highly unrealistic and unlikely. I’m really unsure how to revise these areas, though, as my knowledge regarding these regions of the world is lacking to put it lightly and I’m far from the most creative person (hence the use of stock words and phrases like “however”, “so” and “thus” when beginning paragraphs and the blog/vlog style conclusions to most of my updates), so if you guys have ideas regarding the direction I should take these regions in, please let me know.
Another thing I’m questioning in retrospect is bringing the Ming Dynasty back to power in China after the Qing are reduced to Manchuria. Even if the Chinese are collectively nostalgic for the Ming era and the dynasty still exists in some capacity, I can’t think of any precedent for a royal family regaining a country’s throne after centuries, though that’s probably because my historical knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. If there are any examples, please notify me. Part of the reason I chose to revive the Ming is that I couldn’t come up with a figure to found a new dynasty (pretty much everyone IRL is butterflied by this point, so no Yuan Shikai), or come up with a name (my knowledge of Mandarin in nonexistent). As with the borders in Africa and much of Asia, suggestions for the new Chinese dynasty would be most welcome.
One more quick announcement before I go, I have a new map in the works. Not just any map, but a world map in a new map template. Made by Saramello, this map is similar to the HOI4 basemaps I’ve been using thus far, but with accurate latitude (no more London at the same latitude as New York or Spain at the same latitude as Florida). It’ll be accompanying Part 150 when it comes out, but I would like to hear your feedback first before I post the map or the update. Hopefully the update will be out within this month, there’s a lot I’ve got to do, but I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.
First, I’m planning on splitting up the multinational states like Austro-Bavaria, Illyria (TTL’s Yugoslavia) and Carpathia (TTL’s Czechoslovakia plus Southern Poland). I remember getting pushback when I first introduced the idea of uniting Austria and Bavaria, and in retrospect I think it was done mainly for the rule of cool rather than any sort of realism. I’ll also have Bavaria keep Franconia instead of it going to Prussia, along with some more minor revisions within Germany.
Illyria and Carpathia are more realistic than the other two, as they wouldn’t have had centuries of history as independent states (unlike Austria and Bavaria), but I’m still not sure whether they’re feasible. At the very least the Polish speaking part of Carpathia will join Poland rather than stay in Carpathia, since there’s nothing distinguishing the Carpathian Poles from the Poles in Poland proper. The Czechs and Slovaks are probably similar enough to keep a union together, but they may just decide to go their own ways like IOTL. As for Illyria, well, who knows whether they’ll be able to form a common national identity or if the sectarian divides between the Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Bosniaks will tear the country apart as IOTL. Thus, I will be splitting Austro-Bavaria apart and having the Polish part of Carpathia join Poland, but the fates of Carpathia and Illyria are yet to be determined.
Apart from these unions, I’ve got some more retcons to mention. First, since we haven’t had another Global War, I think it’d be realistic to make it so that the Second Global War’s peace treaty was less punitive towards the losing side and more like OTL’s Congress of Vienna, with the goal being to build a stable Europe rather than giving the victors all the spoils. For example, Wallonia will remain part of France rather than becoming a German client state, though Alsace-Lorraine will still leave. This may involve altering events from the war itself, for example there’d be no invasion far into France by the winning side. One more minor revision would be to give the Commonwealth of America a bit more land on the West Coast, making the border the 36th parallel instead of the 37th. Part of this would be to give more security to the port of San Francisco, and part of it would be to give the Commonwealth one side of the Grand Canyon.
On another note, large swaths of the world are due for revision. Africa, Arabia and Mainland Southeast Asia have basically been left unaltered, with me copy/pasting their OTL borders pre-colonialism and keeping them up to the present, which is highly unrealistic and unlikely. I’m really unsure how to revise these areas, though, as my knowledge regarding these regions of the world is lacking to put it lightly and I’m far from the most creative person (hence the use of stock words and phrases like “however”, “so” and “thus” when beginning paragraphs and the blog/vlog style conclusions to most of my updates), so if you guys have ideas regarding the direction I should take these regions in, please let me know.
Another thing I’m questioning in retrospect is bringing the Ming Dynasty back to power in China after the Qing are reduced to Manchuria. Even if the Chinese are collectively nostalgic for the Ming era and the dynasty still exists in some capacity, I can’t think of any precedent for a royal family regaining a country’s throne after centuries, though that’s probably because my historical knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. If there are any examples, please notify me. Part of the reason I chose to revive the Ming is that I couldn’t come up with a figure to found a new dynasty (pretty much everyone IRL is butterflied by this point, so no Yuan Shikai), or come up with a name (my knowledge of Mandarin in nonexistent). As with the borders in Africa and much of Asia, suggestions for the new Chinese dynasty would be most welcome.
One more quick announcement before I go, I have a new map in the works. Not just any map, but a world map in a new map template. Made by Saramello, this map is similar to the HOI4 basemaps I’ve been using thus far, but with accurate latitude (no more London at the same latitude as New York or Spain at the same latitude as Florida). It’ll be accompanying Part 150 when it comes out, but I would like to hear your feedback first before I post the map or the update. Hopefully the update will be out within this month, there’s a lot I’ve got to do, but I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.
Even More Revisions, Plus A New Announcement
Hey guys, I think I’m gonna make some fairly significant retcons to the world. There are a lot of things I’m not satisfied with, and while I had planned on waiting for my Maps & Graphics spinoff to implement retcons, my patience has run thin, so I’m inclined to do it while I’m still writing the proper timeline. I know it probably doesn’t come off well to make these massive retcons, especially when it’s not the first time I’ve done so, but alas, I’m probably going to do it anyway, though not without notifying you, my dear and loyal readers beforehand.
First, I’m planning on splitting up the multinational states like Austro-Bavaria, Illyria (TTL’s Yugoslavia) and Carpathia (TTL’s Czechoslovakia plus Southern Poland). I remember getting pushback when I first introduced the idea of uniting Austria and Bavaria, and in retrospect I think it was done mainly for the rule of cool rather than any sort of realism. I’ll also have Bavaria keep Franconia instead of it going to Prussia, along with some more minor revisions within Germany.
Illyria and Carpathia are more realistic than the other two, as they wouldn’t have had centuries of history as independent states (unlike Austria and Bavaria), but I’m still not sure whether they’re feasible. At the very least the Polish speaking part of Carpathia will join Poland rather than stay in Carpathia, since there’s nothing distinguishing the Carpathian Poles from the Poles in Poland proper. The Czechs and Slovaks are probably similar enough to keep a union together, but they may just decide to go their own ways like IOTL. As for Illyria, well, who knows whether they’ll be able to form a common national identity or if the sectarian divides between the Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Bosniaks will tear the country apart as IOTL. Thus, I will be splitting Austro-Bavaria apart and having the Polish part of Carpathia join Poland, but the fates of Carpathia and Illyria are yet to be determined.
Apart from these unions, I’ve got some more retcons to mention. First, since we haven’t had another Global War, I think it’d be realistic to make it so that the Second Global War’s peace treaty was less punitive towards the losing side and more like OTL’s Congress of Vienna, with the goal being to build a stable Europe rather than giving the victors all the spoils. For example, Wallonia will remain part of France rather than becoming a German client state, though Alsace-Lorraine will still leave. This may involve altering events from the war itself, for example there’d be no invasion far into France by the winning side. One more minor revision would be to give the Commonwealth of America a bit more land on the West Coast, making the border the 36th parallel instead of the 37th. Part of this would be to give more security to the port of San Francisco, and part of it would be to give the Commonwealth one side of the Grand Canyon.
On another note, large swaths of the world are due for revision. Africa, Arabia and Mainland Southeast Asia have basically been left unaltered, with me copy/pasting their OTL borders pre-colonialism and keeping them up to the present, which is highly unrealistic and unlikely. I’m really unsure how to revise these areas, though, as my knowledge regarding these regions of the world is lacking to put it lightly and I’m far from the most creative person (hence the use of stock words and phrases like “however”, “so” and “thus” when beginning paragraphs and the blog/vlog style conclusions to most of my updates), so if you guys have ideas regarding the direction I should take these regions in, please let me know.
Another thing I’m questioning in retrospect is bringing the Ming Dynasty back to power in China after the Qing are reduced to Manchuria. Even if the Chinese are collectively nostalgic for the Ming era and the dynasty still exists in some capacity, I can’t think of any precedent for a royal family regaining a country’s throne after centuries, though that’s probably because my historical knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. If there are any examples, please notify me. Part of the reason I chose to revive the Ming is that I couldn’t come up with a figure to found a new dynasty (pretty much everyone IRL is butterflied by this point, so no Yuan Shikai), or come up with a name (my knowledge of Mandarin in nonexistent). As with the borders in Africa and much of Asia, suggestions for the new Chinese dynasty would be most welcome.
One more quick announcement before I go, I have a new map in the works. Not just any map, but a world map in a new map template. Made by @Saramello, this map is similar to the HOI4 basemaps I’ve been using thus far, but with accurate latitude (no more London at the same latitude as New York or Spain at the same latitude as Florida). It’ll be accompanying Part 150 when it comes out, but I would like to hear your feedback first before I post the map or the update. Hopefully the update will be out within this month, there’s a lot I’ve got to do, but I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.
First, I’m planning on splitting up the multinational states like Austro-Bavaria, Illyria (TTL’s Yugoslavia) and Carpathia (TTL’s Czechoslovakia plus Southern Poland). I remember getting pushback when I first introduced the idea of uniting Austria and Bavaria, and in retrospect I think it was done mainly for the rule of cool rather than any sort of realism. I’ll also have Bavaria keep Franconia instead of it going to Prussia, along with some more minor revisions within Germany.
Illyria and Carpathia are more realistic than the other two, as they wouldn’t have had centuries of history as independent states (unlike Austria and Bavaria), but I’m still not sure whether they’re feasible. At the very least the Polish speaking part of Carpathia will join Poland rather than stay in Carpathia, since there’s nothing distinguishing the Carpathian Poles from the Poles in Poland proper. The Czechs and Slovaks are probably similar enough to keep a union together, but they may just decide to go their own ways like IOTL. As for Illyria, well, who knows whether they’ll be able to form a common national identity or if the sectarian divides between the Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Bosniaks will tear the country apart as IOTL. Thus, I will be splitting Austro-Bavaria apart and having the Polish part of Carpathia join Poland, but the fates of Carpathia and Illyria are yet to be determined.
Apart from these unions, I’ve got some more retcons to mention. First, since we haven’t had another Global War, I think it’d be realistic to make it so that the Second Global War’s peace treaty was less punitive towards the losing side and more like OTL’s Congress of Vienna, with the goal being to build a stable Europe rather than giving the victors all the spoils. For example, Wallonia will remain part of France rather than becoming a German client state, though Alsace-Lorraine will still leave. This may involve altering events from the war itself, for example there’d be no invasion far into France by the winning side. One more minor revision would be to give the Commonwealth of America a bit more land on the West Coast, making the border the 36th parallel instead of the 37th. Part of this would be to give more security to the port of San Francisco, and part of it would be to give the Commonwealth one side of the Grand Canyon.
On another note, large swaths of the world are due for revision. Africa, Arabia and Mainland Southeast Asia have basically been left unaltered, with me copy/pasting their OTL borders pre-colonialism and keeping them up to the present, which is highly unrealistic and unlikely. I’m really unsure how to revise these areas, though, as my knowledge regarding these regions of the world is lacking to put it lightly and I’m far from the most creative person (hence the use of stock words and phrases like “however”, “so” and “thus” when beginning paragraphs and the blog/vlog style conclusions to most of my updates), so if you guys have ideas regarding the direction I should take these regions in, please let me know.
Another thing I’m questioning in retrospect is bringing the Ming Dynasty back to power in China after the Qing are reduced to Manchuria. Even if the Chinese are collectively nostalgic for the Ming era and the dynasty still exists in some capacity, I can’t think of any precedent for a royal family regaining a country’s throne after centuries, though that’s probably because my historical knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. If there are any examples, please notify me. Part of the reason I chose to revive the Ming is that I couldn’t come up with a figure to found a new dynasty (pretty much everyone IRL is butterflied by this point, so no Yuan Shikai), or come up with a name (my knowledge of Mandarin in nonexistent). As with the borders in Africa and much of Asia, suggestions for the new Chinese dynasty would be most welcome.
One more quick announcement before I go, I have a new map in the works. Not just any map, but a world map in a new map template. Made by @Saramello, this map is similar to the HOI4 basemaps I’ve been using thus far, but with accurate latitude (no more London at the same latitude as New York or Spain at the same latitude as Florida). It’ll be accompanying Part 150 when it comes out, but I would like to hear your feedback first before I post the map or the update. Hopefully the update will be out within this month, there’s a lot I’ve got to do, but I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.
Here are two polls regarding possible retcons:
Austro-Bavaria: https://strawpoll.com/w4nWrlXAYyA
Carpathia: https://strawpoll.com/3RnYljvAxye
Austro-Bavaria: https://strawpoll.com/w4nWrlXAYyA
Carpathia: https://strawpoll.com/3RnYljvAxye
I'm still working on the Part 150 special, but I've got a few things to work out with you guys. I haven't done a whole lot when it comes to mainland Southeast Asia, Central Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa. Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa largely exist as they did IOTL before the second age of imperialism in the late 19th Century, while I created a space filling empire (Turkestan) in Central Asia after the Russians lost it. I want to shake things up in those regions. Things don't ever stay static in politics, even in our post-WW2 world where wars of conquest have become taboo, there have still been plenty of wars. This will be especially true in the parts of the world that haven't industrialized, which Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will have not done so by 1970. I will post maps of Southeast Asia and Africa below (Central Asia doesn't have one, as it's split between my Europe and Asia maps), so you guys can take a look and suggest some potential flashpoints, though I already do have some ideas.
I think I'm going to make some retcons in Central Asia. Probably split up Turkestan into smaller states and give a bit more land to Russia.
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One minor question/poll. As of now I have the Anglo-controlled islands of the Lesser Antilles under the control of Britain, while the Turks/Caicos, Bahamas and Bermuda are part of the Commonwealth. Do you guys think it would make more sense for the Lesser Antilles to be ruled by Britain or by the Commonwealth? I might as well add independence as a third option, whether as independent islands or as part of a Antillean union. The strawpoll is linked below.
Strawpoll link: https://strawpoll.com/eJnvvwOJ4nv
Strawpoll link: https://strawpoll.com/eJnvvwOJ4nv
I know I haven't posted here in a while, but I can assure you that the Part 150 special is well in the works. Over 4,000 words and I still have all of Africa and most of the Americas left to cover. I've also got a full world map in a new map template in the works. I plan on getting both out by the end of the year.
I've been playing a lot of games on Steam lately, so that's part of why it's taking a while.
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I voted for the Commonwealth partly as a mirror of Canada almost gaining control of the British Antilles IOTL and the Commonwealth is far bigger than Canada so they might be able to pull it off.
I would say it's understandable for much of Sub-Saharan Africa to be largely left as it was IOTL up until the Scramble for Africa (or rather the analogue to it). However, it would be interesting if there are some potential unexplored butterflies.
I want to implement changes to Africa without it becoming a bunch of space filling empires. That's difficult to do when your knowledge of the region is quite limited to say the least.
I wouldn't be surprised if Islam was more widespread without the Europeans bringing Christianity. For example, Kenya and Tanzania ITTL are controlled by the Sultanate of Zanzibar, who I'm sure would try to convert the Bantu peoples of the region (that or sell them into slavery en masse). Egypt stretches down nearly to Lake Victoria too. Southern Africa will still be mainly Christian, possibly parts of West Africa as well.
It would be very interesting to see an Africa that’s substantially more Islamic than OTL, especially possibly fitting into this TL.
I remember reading that Islam only began to spread out of urban centers and the upper classes to broader population as a result of colonization in west Africa. And as a West Africa Muslim this makes sense to me as my family and many of my friends families convert to Islam during the colonial period.
So i think will Islam will be more prominent ITTL especially in cities and the ruling class. i also think native religions will prominent in the rual areas and amongst the poor.
My hunch is that Christianity will be more widespread in coastal areas with a greater European presence while Islam will dominate in the interior. Native religions will also likely be more prevalent than OTL, more so in poor rural areas as @SnolTwig mentioned.
Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm hard at work on the Part 150 special and hope to have it out by year's end, though that is by no means a certainty. I've also got a few thoughts to share regarding the TL, but I'll share those in a follow up post soon.
Two quick retcons in Patagonia:
- I'm moving the first British settlement and later Patagonian capital of Williamstown from OTL's Rawson to OTL's San Antonio Oeste. Rawson doesn't really have a natural harbor, which would be a major hindrance when it comes to maritime matters. While the harbor in San Antonio Oeste isn't great by any means, it's at least something. San Antonio is also a bit less arid. Rawson would still be the site of a town, which I've decided to name Abercamwy (a combination of Aber, the Welsh word for a river's mouth and Camwy, the Welsh name for the Chubut River, meaning twisting), but it'd likely be pretty small.
- I'm also going to change a few city names. Presently OTL's Puerto Montt is name Melipulli, which is the native name for the area. However, I've decided to change the name for the city to Dunedin. It's the Gaelic name for Edinburgh and is an OTL city in New Zealand (a German colony ITTL), so I thought it'd be a cool easter egg. I've also changed Ushuaia to Oshovia (an alternate, more poetic form of the name) and Neucen to Newenken (a more accurate version of the native name for OTL's Neuquen).
I've got a random question/poll for you guys. I've been avoiding using vertical triband flags (think OTL's France, Italy, Canada, Mexico etc.) up to this point due to their origin in the French Revolution, which doesn't occur ITTL. However, I still think it's a simple yet attractive design that could very easily come into use independently. I've found at least one vertical triband in use before the French Revolution IOTL, that being the flag of the French East India Company. I think I've gone on long enough now, so here's the poll: https://strawpoll.com/B2ZBE0XMxgJ
Part 150: The World As Of 1970
Part 150: The World As Of 1970
As we head into the latter part of the 20th Century, I feel like it would be a good time to go into the world as it stands in the year 1970, which is the point of time at which this timeline has stood for quite some time. I’ll go over all of the world’s great powers, then the different regions of the world, before finally bidding adieu to this era of history and moving on into the future. We will start this monumental post by discussing the greatest of the great powers, that being the greater Anglo-American Empire. The British had built the greatest colonial empire of any European nation, including colonizing the northern half of North America and the majority of the Indian Subcontinent. India was organized as the British Raj, a mixture of areas governed directly by the British and by maharajas who swore fealty to London. Meanwhile, the British colonies in mainland North America had become the Commonwealth of America in the late 18th Century, gradually expanding across the continent and even surpassing the mother country in influence by the turn of the 20th Century. This was true in regards to population, where Britain proper had a population of 53 million while America had nearly three times that number at 156 million* (yes, I have revised the Commonwealth’s population numbers to be lower), economics, where the Commonwealth had the majority of the Anglosphere’s GDP and culture, where multiple Commonwealth cities had grown comparable to London in size and influence. Apart from Britain and America, the Anglo-American Empire had other core member states like Australia, Patagonia and Natal, as well as the more peripheral Anglosphere countries like Jamaica and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and The Georgines in Asia. The Raj, though, had been lost, as the Hindustani Revolution kicked the Anglos out of the majority of their territory. Having already lost the bulk of their land, the Anglos would decide to cut their remaining Indian territories loose and give them independence, though they’d retain their military bases in those countries. The loss of the Raj would come to be regarded as the end of the Anglo-American Empire in its classic form, with imperial policy changing significantly afterwards. Even with that loss, though, the Anglo-Americans were still widely regarded as the top dog, though not as dominant as they once were.While the Anglo-American Empire was clearly the #1 power, second place was more unclear. The Germans, Russians and French all had reasonable claims to the #2 spot through their respective political blocs. The German states, headed by the Prussian-led Teutonia (finally gave that North German country a name), controlled the whole middle section of Europe and was the continent’s premier economic power and pioneer of military advancements. They also had the German overseas colonies in their domain as well as Neuseeland, who despite being on the other side of the world maintained strong ties with the fatherland. German companies had a worldwide presence, and German cities like Berlin and Frankfurt were some of the world’s biggest financial hubs. There were two layers to the German sphere, Mitteleuropa, which was the economic and political pact spanning both the German states and their eastern neighbors and the Deutscherbund, or German League, a body based in the former HRE capital of Regensburg that was a loose confederation of the German states. An example of the difference between the two was with residency, as residents of the Deutscherbund could move to any other Deutscherbund country without needing any sort of visa or documentation, while non-Deutscherbund Mitteleuropa residents would still need to acquire a permit for residency in another Mitteleuropa country, albeit one that was fairly easy to obtain. Outside of Mittleueropa, the Germans had influence in the Nordic countries and in the Netherlands (plus their descendant states in South Africa and New Holland) due to their shared Germanic heritage, as well as in Venice due to their iffy relations with the other Italian states. I’ve already talked about the German sphere at length in a recent update, so I don’t think there’s a need to go over all of that again in this post.
Next up, we have the French, who, after losing the Second Global War, had gradually rebuilt their international presence over the previous half a century to yet again become a great power. They had a sphere of influence in Southern Europe through the Latin Bloc, a response to the German Mitteleuropa consisting of France, Spain, Cisalpina and Naples. The union was based in Marseille, which was both centrally located within Latin Europe and would solidify the French position as the leading power within the bloc. The French also had overseas influence through their overseas territories like the Mascarenes, dominions like Terre-Bourbon and in La Floride, who while fully independent from France still wanted strong relations with their ancestral homeland. France also had influence in Hispanic America, since those countries still had cultural and, in the case of the South American countries, dynastic ties with Spain, who were part of the French-led Latin Bloc. Three Latin Catholic states weren’t part of the Latin Bloc, those being Portugal, a traditional British ally, the Papal State, who were by this point committed to diplomatic neutrality and Venice, who were the black sheep of the Italian states and often drifted closer to Mitteleuropa. While not as militarily or industrially powerful as the Germans, the French made up for it through their cultural prestige. Paris was possibly THE premier cultural center in the world, with fashions originating from the French upper class spreading all over the world. Tourists the world over flocked to the French capital to see its famous churches, palaces and museums, among many other things. French cinema, music and literature were world famous, and French was still one of the most studied languages out there, even if English had by this point surpassed it. While some in France still wanted to reclaim their lost territories or even expand beyond that, most had come to terms with the fact that they weren’t going to get Alsace-Lorraine back anytime soon (though I’ve retconned the TL so that France keeps Wallonia). Still, the relations between France and the German states weren’t great, even if war wasn’t likely to occur in the near future.
Now let’s go to the other side of Europe to look at the Russians. The first few decades of the 20th Century hadn’t exactly been kind to Russia, with them losing badly in the Second Global War and falling into a brutal civil war shortly after. Russia emerged from the chaos under a new republican government, but with much of the country in shambles and without important territories like Ukraine and Central Asia.
Over the coming decades, the Russians would gradually rebuild and regain their status as one of the great powers, right up there with the Germans and French. Russian industrialization was a big priority of the new government, and new factories would spring up across the country. Raw mineral and fossil fuel resources would be tapped into, with mines and oil wells being established across Russia's vast territory, used for both domestic consumption and export, whether raw or refined. Russian agriculture would be modernized, with equipment like fertilizer, tractors and harvesters being produced on a large scale in factories and then sold to farmers. The republic also broke up the large noble estates and gave the land to their tenants as smallholdings, which greatly increased land ownership among the Russian peasantry (not forced collectivization like OTL’s USSR). Thus, even with scores of Russian peasants moving into cities and towns, agricultural productivity surged in mid 20th Century Russia, with the country becoming the world’s second largest food exporter only behind the Commonwealth.
I mentioned that Russia lost territories a bit ago, so I figure that I should talk about that. Between the start of the Second Global War and the end of the Civil War, Russia had lost areas like The Baltics, Ukraine, Central Asia and Sakhalin. What to do regarding these lost territories was a subject of immense debate within Russia. The more hardcore irredentists wanted to reannex all of these areas back into Russia, whether or not the local populations wanted it. More moderate irredentists were okay with letting areas like Central Asia go, but wanted to reincorporate Ukraine, which they viewed as integral Russian clay, as well as Sakhalin, which Japan opportunistically seized during the Civil War. Others were willing to let bygones be bygones and focus on strengthening Russia as it existed currently. Ultimately, the Russian leadership decided to copy the Germans and French and establish a political and economic bloc, tying their neighbors to Russia without directly annexing them. Many in Orthodox (particularly Slavic Orthodox) regions of Europe still held Russian sympathies, even if they didn’t want to be under direct rule from Moscow, and with Russia taking a less heavy handed approach than usual, it wouldn’t take long before a new Russian-led bloc in Eastern Europe was formed. The Kiev Pact, named for the Ukrainian capital where it was signed (pre-invasion spellings remain standard ITTL) would be a Mitteleuropa or Latin Bloc equivalent for the Orthodox regions of Europe, with free trade, travel and mutual defense between these countries. Russia still wanted to unify the Slavs under their banner, which would entail getting Poland, Carpathia and Ruthenia into their sphere, but that would entail a war with the Germans, which would be a huge and costly gamble.
(Side note, I had originally chosen Odessa to be the HQ of the Russian bloc over Kiev/Kyiv in order to avoid flack for using the older spelling, but it turns out that Odessa dropped an s to become Odesa, so with that in mind I don’t see a reason to not use Kiev/Kyiv).
Now let’s move outside of Europe to cover some of the other major countries in the world. First up, Japan. Japan, after centuries of isolating itself from the outside world, began to rapidly modernize towards the middle of the 19th Century, giving it a competitive edge over its East Asian peers. Japan opportunistically snatched The Kurils and Karafuto from Russia during their civil war, which created Russian resentment towards Japan but which gave Japan desperately needed coal and gas resources plus more territorial waters. They also held influence over nearby Korea and Qing Manchuria, which was solidified by the Sino-Japanese War of the 1940s and 1950s. Japan had become an economic and cultural giant of the Pacific, with Tokyo being one of the world’s largest cities. In spite of its lack of natural resources outside of Karafuto, Japan was the most industrialized country outside of the western world, having come to match or even surpass much of Europe in terms of standard of living, even with the destructive war 20 years earlier. Other countries in the Far East like Korea, Qing Manchuria and even China proper were beginning to follow in Japan’s footsteps towards industrialization, much as continental Europe had followed Britain in the previous century.
Speaking of China, they were looking to restore their status as one of the world’s premier powers. Being the world’s most populous country with a population of over half a billion and bountiful resources, everyone knew that the middle kingdom had immense potential. The ruling, still unnamed dynasty seeked to both modernize the Chinese economy, military and government where needed while keeping China’s national identity intact. Industrialization began in earnest during the mid 20th Century, first with raw resource extraction such as coal in Shanxi and iron in Hebei before China began to produce industrial products of their own. Most of this as of now was for domestic consumption, but eventually China would become a massive exporter, albeit in large part due to it being, well, China. As of 1970, though, China was still a mostly poor and rural country, with a solid majority of Chinese people living in the countryside. China’s major cities were booming, though, and political thinkers of the era expected China to be a superpower by the end of the century. Whether they would be correct is something we’ll get to at another time.
We now move across the Himalayas from China into the Indian Subcontinent (though they don’t technically border each other at this point due to Tibet and Burma, but eh, close enough). Just a few decades ago all of South Asia was controlled by the British and the French, but now they are gone, replaced by a good dozen or so independent states. The largest of these was Hindustan, which fought a war against the Anglo-American empire and won their independence. The country immediately after its independence wasn’t in a great state, though. The economy, already in subpar condition before the war, was in shambles, with Hindustan being among the world’s poorest countries. The political situation was fragile as well, with the only thing Hindustan’s various factions all agreed on was kicking out the Britishers. The country was made up of a variety of ethnic and religious groups, and that isn’t even to mention the caste system. While Hindustan could stabilize and begin progressing into a modern nation-state, collapse into civil conflict was just as likely. The British had opted not to hold onto the parts of the Raj that hadn’t rebelled and instead granted independence to over half a dozen states in the region, which would retain economic, military and diplomatic ties with the Anglo-American sphere, though not directly being included. In the former French India, they had created the Deccan Federation, a union consisting of new states (in the U.S. sense) made out of the areas that had been under direct French rule, the princely states that had been French protectorates and the former Danish colony of Trankebar that elected to join the federation as a state after the Danes pulled out. As with Hindustan, the Deccan was remarkably ethnically and religiously diverse. The majority of the country spoke a variety of Dravidian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, with the north of the country speaking Indo-Aryan languages, mainly Odia and Marathi. With such linguistic diversity, French maintained a strong presence in the country as a lingua franca between the various ethnic groups, whether they be Dravidian or Indo-Aryan. Religiously, the majority of the population were Hindu, with a sizable minority of Muslims and Christians (mainly Catholic) as well. As with Hindustan to the north, keeping the country together would require wise and flexible leadership, especially in the early days.
We’ll now move over to Southeast Asia, both mainland and maritime. Maritime Southeast Asia had been colonized by several European countries, namely the Dutch, Portuguese and British (Spanish before that), while Mainland Southeast Asia had remained mostly independent (the exception being the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula). Maritime Southeast Asia had (mostly) become independent from European rule over the previous few decades, while the Mainland had seen a series of wars shake the region up over the same time period. Between Siam, Annam and the now expanded Burma, Southeast Asia was a powder keg waiting to erupt. I won’t get into detail here, but let’s say that conflicts are ongoing in Southeast Asia as of 1970 and will be discussed at a later date.
Let’s now move south to the Land Down Under, which I was originally going to do a larger segment on here before ultimately deciding to save it for a future Australasian update. Australia was the leading nation in the broader Oceania region, being the largest in both area and population and the first to be settled by Europeans. With a population of 10 million in 1970, Australia had more than half of the continent’s population, and it also contained most of the continent’s largest cities. Moving across the Murray/Artois River, the population of Terre-Bourbon sat at 1.165 Million in 1950, and would grow to 1.393 Million by 1960 and 1.711 Million by 1970. On the west coast, the population of New Holland in 1950 was 1.215 Million (I’ve lowered it slightly since I imagine German New Zealand would’ve taken some of those who would’ve otherwise gone to New Holland), which would grow to 1.463 Million in 1960 and 1.787 Million in 1970. Finally, there was Capricornia, a Portuguese colony that consisted of the north-central part of the continent. This area was a definitive backwater, with approximately 310,000 colonists calling Capricornia home in 1950. It was the fastest growing of the Australasian nations, though, with the population growing to 560,000 by 1970 (note, this has been significantly reduced from the previous update on the region, as the east coast of Capricornia has been given to Australia in a retcon). Across the Tasman Sea we got to Neuseeland, who I recently did an update on but will still add population data here. Their population was 4.52 Million in 1950, and would grow to 5.375 Million in 1960 and 6.235 Million by 1970. I was originally going to do a longer segment on Australasia, but opted to save it for a future standalone update, so stay tuned on that front.
I’ll now take a significant detour up to Central Asia. Does it make sense to go from Australia to Central Asia in my grand world overview? No, not really, but I should get it out of the way now lest I forget it entirely. So, what’s been going on in this under-discussed corner of the world? Warning: retcons incoming.
After the decline of the Mongol Empire, Central Asia was home to a variety of native states and khanates throughout the centuries. Over the course of the 19th Century, though, Central Asia was gradually conquered by the Russian Empire, either coming under direct rule from St. Petersburg or becoming Russian protectorates. The Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanates of Khiva and Kokand had been Russian protectorates, but with Russia falling apart, they took this golden opportunity to reclaim their independence. Not only that, but they would use the chance to expand their domains beyond what they were as protectorates, expanding up as far as the Central Asian lakes. In addition, rebels in the steppe were able to revive the Kazakh Khanate. The Russians would still hold onto the northern steppe due to the sizable Russian population in the region and proximity to Russia proper, but their losses in Central Asia were severe indeed.
As with Ukraine, many irredentists wanted to go on the warpath and retake Central Asia, but also as with Ukraine, the early government was more focused on rebuilding than reconquering. By the time Russia fully got back on her feet, the revanchist sentiment had faded and the Russians were willing to accept the sovereignty of the Central Asian nations. This didn’t mean that the Russians wouldn’t be involved in Central Asia, though. Russian economic investment flowed into the region once their economy was in a sufficient position, hoping to regain access to Central Asia’s land and resources without alienating them via military conquest. While most ethnic Russians had repatriated after the loss of Central Asia, a small number remained, and they would build ties between their countries of residence and the motherland. One more quick retcon, the Russian region of Tuva was part of the Qing Dynastyinto the 20th Century and was separate from Russia proper until WW2. As a result, I’ve retconned the area to become an independent country. Now, let’s move out of the cold steppes and mountains of Central Asia to a place a bit hotter, that being Arabia.
Ahh, Arabia, a land known for sand, intense heat, camels and being the birthplace of one of the world’s largest religions. The Arabs were by no means united politically, as not only was Arabia a large and harsh region, but many Arabs were nomadic herders whose primary loyalties were to their families or tribes rather than any nation state (correct me if I’m wrong). Still, the Arabian Peninsula did have some organized cities and nations, including the two most important cities in the Islamic faith, Mecca and Medina, and any state who controlled them would gain immense prestige throughout the Islamic world. The most established state in the Arabian Peninsula was the Omani Sultanate, who had been a major power in the Western Indian Ocean for centuries. The Omanis were, along with the Japanese, the only non-European colonial power, operating colonies and trading ports in East Africa, though more details on that will have to wait a bit. Muscat was a major port city and trade hub in the Indian Ocean, as it had been for centuries. To the north were the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, all of which had discovered oil and were beginning to grow rich off of exports. This applied to the Persian Gulf region in general, as the area was shown to have some of the world’s richest oil deposits, along with Venezuela and Athabasca. This was something other Persian Gulf states like Nejd, Bahrain, Iraq and Persia would also begin to tap into. On the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Hejaz controlled the Islamic holy cities I mentioned earlier, and with that lots of prestige in the Islamic world. Also in the west were the states of Asir, Yemen and Hadhramaut, who controlled the southwestern corner of the peninsula. Finally, in the north, we had Iraq and Syria, who controlled the eastern and western halves of the Fertile Crescent respectively.
Going to the northern part of the Near East, the top two powers were Anatolia and Persia. I’ve already talked about Anatolia around this time before in a duo of updates from late last year, so there’s no need to go into it here. I will talk a bit about their main rival of Persia, though. Persia was one of the world’s great ancient civilizations, with the Achaemenid Empire having once ruled over nearly half of the world’s population, a record that still stands today. Over 2,000 years later, Persia remained a prominent power in the Near East, though they were no longer the world’s behemoth. Persia in the 19th Century had been a point of interest from the Russians to the North and British to the east, and while they had been made to grant economic concessions to both powers, they were never formally colonized. Not wanting to be the plaything of Moscow and/or London anymore, the Persian Shah of the early 20th Century began a campaign to modernize the country’s military, economy and government. The military was reformed into a professional, modern force that would adopt European technology and tactics. A modern munitions industry would be created to supply said military, the first step towards Persia’s industrialization. This nascent process would only be aided by the discovery of large oil reserves in the country’s southwest, which would provide an extra boost of revenue for the Persian economy. As for the government, a Persian parliament would be created, though ultimate authority would still lie with the Shah. While Persia wasn’t likely to become the world’s premier empire again, it definitely had the potential to become a regional power in the Near East. Now let’s cross the Suez Canal and get to the Land of the Blessed Rains, Africa.
As with my African updates from two years ago, I’ll start in the north and make my way south. We’ll begin our journey through Africa in Egypt, one of the earliest civilizations and a region of great cultural importance to those who came after. The glory days of Egyptian civilization were long gone, though, as for most of the past 2,000 years Egypt had been under foreign rule, whether they be the Greeks, Romans/Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders or Ottomans. By this point in time, though, Egypt was a fully independent country (albeit under a dynasty of Albanian origin), stretching from the Mediterranean in the north past the Sudd swamp in the south, nearly reaching the African Great Lakes. As in ancient times, Egypt was overwhelmingly concentrated along the Nile, since the majority of the country was barren desert. The Nile Delta that fed into the Med was particularly important, with it being a major breadbasket as well as the home of Egypt’s largest cities like Alexandria, Damietta, Mansoura and the capital Cairo. Northern Egypt also had the Suez Canal, which was one of the world’s most important trade chokepoints. Originally constructed and operated by the French, the canal had been transferred to international control after the Second Global War, with the canal being operated collectively by Europe’s great powers plus the Ottomans (prior to their downfall) and Egypt. Further south the populated zone would narrow to just the narrow ribbon along the Nile, with the transition from river-adjacent farmland to empty desert being abrupt. Several large cities existed along the Nile as well, such as Beni Suef, Asyut, Luxor and Aswan. Go further upstream and you get to Khartoum, the economic and political center of southern Egypt, located where the Blue and White branches of the Nile meet. The city and its surroundings were a fully integrated part of Egypt, with most of the population being Afro-Arabs, and was the base of operation for Egypt’s activities in its southern territories. A base they would need, because there was considerable separatism in areas like Eritrea and South Sudan. These separatists were of interest to neighboring Ethiopia, particularly the Christians in Eritrea who desired either independence or to join their neighbors.
Speaking of Ethiopia, let’s give them a bit of love, shall we? As with Egypt, Ethiopia was one of Africa’s oldest and greatest civilizations, with the oldest Ethiopian kingdom, D’mt, having been founded 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. Speaking of Jesus, Ethiopia was the second country in the world to convert to Christianity, doing so in the middle of the 4th Century. The Solomonic dynasty that had ruled the country since the late 13th Century claimed to be descended from the Biblical King Solomon (as the name would imply), though whether that was actually true or just legend was up in the air. Ethiopia was more respected by the European great powers than other African states due to their Christian faith, with France in particular having developed a strong relationship with the country. The French had aided in the modernization of the country, such as investing in the rail network, and the current Ethiopian Emperor had studied in Paris. France allowed Ethiopia to use its naval base at Djibouti (though the Ethiopians did have their own port at Berbera to the southeast), and while France likely wouldn’t directly intervene in a potential conflict with Egypt, they would definitely come to bat for Ethiopia in some form.
Moving back up north, we have Libya. Libya had been part of the Ottoman Empire for a long time, but during the late 19th Century it was conquered by Italians, who governed it as a condominium (specifically between Cisalpina and Naples). The colony had seen a good number of Italians move in during the first third of the 20th Century, and the colony’s major cities were close to being majority Italian. It would be after the discovery of oil in the interior, though, that migration across the Med would really begin to pick up. Hundreds of thousands of Italians would move to Libya between the 1940s and 1960s, whether it be to the oil fields or to the aforementioned major cities, where things like oil refineries, factories and ports were located. Tripoli, Misrata, Sirte, Bangasi and Derna were all now majority Italian, and the colony on the whole was nearly evenly split between Italian settlers and local Arabs. With the influx of Italian settlers came tensions between the two populations, whether ethnic, religious or economic in nature. The Arab population would be a challenge for any future Italo-Libyan state to manage, given the natural dislike of Italian rule. Italian Libya is something I should give a proper update to in the future, but for now, we’ll move west into the Maghreb.
The three Maghrebi states of Tunis, Algiers and Morocco had all seen significant European (namely French and Spanish) intervention, first to quash the Barbary Pirates and later to establish control over the coastline. Spain conquered the Rif in Morocco, while France took over Algiers and Tunis up to the Atlas, while establishing protectorates over the rump kingdoms of the same names. During the Second Global War, however, the Arabs in these territories revolted against French and Spanish rule, sponsored by the British and Germans. French and Spanish rule in North Africa after the war would thus be restricted to a half dozen or so port cities, with the rest being returned to Morocco, Algiers and Tunis. The three states wanted said port cities back, but knew that a war against France and/or Spain would be quite difficult to say the least, so diplomacy would have to suffice. No deal of any sorts had been struck by 1970, so let’s now head south across the vast Sahara Desert into The Sahel and West Africa.
In our world, the great powers of Europe carved up nearly the entirety of Africa during the late 19th Century, but that was not the case here. European control remains limited to the coast apart from Southern Africa (we’ll get there soon), thus allowing the political situation in Africa to develop more organically. This isn’t to say that there was no European influence in the African interior, though, far from it. European weapons flowed into the African interior, as modern weaponry would give those who acquired said weapons an advantage over their opponents. This would lead to a series of wars in much of Africa beginning in the late 19th Century and continuing throughout much of the 20th. For example, the Sokoto Caliphate had created quite the empire in West-Central Africa during the previous century, much of it fueled by western weaponry they were able to acquire. Cracks were beginning to form within the caliphate, though, so stay tuned for any possible developments that may come in the future. Other West African states like Toucouleur, Futa Jallon and Ashanti also benefited from the introduction of western weaponry and technology, creating large realms of their own. Other parts of West Africa adopted western technology for other uses. For example, Benin and the Aro Confederacy were beginning to produce oil, which could be found in large quantities in the Niger Delta. Many coastal regions of West Africa were still ruled by European powers as of 1970, though mostly through native protectorates. Europeans also had treaty ports and naval bases that are too small to be represented on the accompanying world map, such as Lagos for the British and Dakar for the French. The Europeans would introduce Christianity to the region on a large scale in the latter half of the 19th Century, with Catholic and Protestant missionaries alike entering the region and spreading the gospel. Between the expansion of Islam from the Sahel and the introduction of Christianity from the coast, native faiths would be squeezed from two sides, as urban centers and the leadership either got baptized or recited the shahada. West African paganism would by no means disappear, and the Christianity and Islam that arose from conversions would often be highly syncretic, but in time native religions would be found mostly in poor rural areas.
Moving southeast around the Bight of Biafra, Teutonia had created a large domain around the equator, primarily to gain access to rubber, the means of acquiring said rubber being… questionable to say the least. With synthetic rubber being widespread by 1970, though, the need to hold on to this equatorial colony was diminished. Independence hadn’t quite happened yet, but it was likely on its way within the foreseeable future.
Crossing over the Congo River and we get to Angola, one of the oldest European colonies in Africa. The Portuguese had established their first outpost in Angola, Luanda, in 1575, and with the exception of a brief period of Dutch control. The main uses for the Angolan colony were as a waystation for voyages to the Orient and as a slave trading post, with a truly absurd amount of captives passing through Luanda and Benguela. The colony would begin expanding inland over the course of the 19th Century, enabled by advances in medicine. One big reason for this was to connect Angola to their other big African colony, Mozambique. This was made all the more achievable with the invention of the railroad, which would enable much faster overland travel than was previously available. Angola and Mozambique would be under direct Portuguese rule, while the various native entities in the interior would become Portuguese clients, allowing the Portuguese to access their territory while not directly controlling it. A trans-African railway from Luanda to Quelimane would be constructed at the turn of the 20th Century, being completed in 1907. Angola and Mozambique would gain more and more autonomy as time went on, with full self-governance well on the horizon by 1970, another dominion within the greater Luso-Brazilian Empire. Portugal also had a colony in Guinea, which was still ruled directly by Portugal due to the small size and population. Still, independence can’t be ruled out there either.
Before we get to South Africa, let’s go further east for a second. Here, the big player was the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which had grown beyond its coastal holdings to encompass much of East Africa. Much of this was for the slave trade, which even well into the 20th Century was still a major part of Zanzibar’s economy (keep in mind that Oman, the parent nation of Zanzibar, only abolished slavery in 1970 IOTL, so slavery continuing to this point ITTL is, to quote Joe Rogan, entirely possible). Most often the capture of those who were sold into slavery was done via intertribal warfare and raids, with those on the losing side being shipped off to Zanzibar and Mombasa to be sold into bondage. Despite Western pressure, the peculiar institution survived to 1970 in the sultanate, though calls to phase it out were growing, though it hadn’t yet come to a head. On a less depressing note, the interior of the country was known for its abundant wildlife and spectacular scenery, which was drawing ever greater numbers of tourists, in spite of the aforementioned slavery issue.
Moving west from Zanzibar, we get to the African Great Lakes and the native states that surround its shores. These states such as Buganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Karagwe were being increasingly influenced by the Zanzibarians to the east and Egyptians to the north, notably in the introduction and spread of Islam. Gradually these kingdoms would convert to Islam in order to gain greater trade ties with Zanzibar and Egypt, though there would be a lot of syncretism. These states would form the southern frontier of the Dar-al-Islam in Africa, with areas further south having been converted to Christianity by the Europeans. The line between Christianized and Islamicized areas of Sub-Saharan Africa ran along the West African coast to Cameroon, before cutting across the Congo to Lake Tanganyika, then down to Lake Malawi before cutting across to the Indian Ocean (I may need to make a map on that). Thus, the main difference between OTL’s religious makeup in Africa and TTL’s is that East Africa is mostly Muslim ITTL rather than a mix of the two, as well native religions not declining to the same extent, particularly in less accessible areas. Now, to wrap up the Africa segment, we’ll move into the southernmost part of Africa to cover the two most Europeanized countries on the entire continent, those being South Africa and Natal. While much of Africa had been colonized or influenced by the great powers of Europe, these two countries were the only two that had seen a large enough influx of European settlers to remake the demographics of those areas, which would come with some quite messy implications.
I’ll begin with Natal, the smaller and younger of the two European settler colonies in Southern Africa. Established in the early 19th Century as a supply depot for voyages to India, the Orient and Australia, Natal had become a legitimate destination for settlers from the motherland, though very minor when compared to America or even Australia. The British had turned the native Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa and Mpondo kingdoms into protectorates, while ruling large swaths directly. Within directly controlled land the British would establish farms and plantations, often at the expense of the native populations. Some of these were smallholdings farmed by individual families, while many of them were large estates worked by native or Indian labor. Meanwhile, cities like Port Natal, New London and Richards Bay had become modern cities that wouldn’t be out of place in Australia, at least the White parts wouldn’t. Politically speaking, the country of Natal was organized as a confederation, with each of the constituent states having large degrees of self-governance. The aforementioned native kingdoms became states within the union, along with Natal proper. Maintaining the union would be a tough task, considering the ethnic and economic tensions within the country, but at the very least it wasn’t as much of a tinderbox as the final African country we have to discuss…
South Africa was the largest and most influential country in Africa south of the Equator, and it wasn’t hard to see why. Originating as the Dutch Cape Colony, South Africa had gained its independence during the Dutch Civil War of the mid 19th Century. From there, they’d expanded across the highveld and deserts to encompass most of the southern tier of Africa. This expansion had involved a lot of conflicts with the various native groups who’d previously inhabited the land, with the South Africans ultimately subjugating the natives. The western half of the country would become majority Dutch-speaking, whether White Afrikaners, Cape Coloureds or post-independence European (mainly Germanic) immigrants. The eastern half, though, would remain majority Black, with the White minority gaining control over the land and economy via the conquest. Blacks were restricted to menial labor, whether as fieldhands in rural areas or dirty work in cities. In cities, Black and White areas were strictly separate, with modern neighborhoods that wouldn’t look out of place in Europe or North America located right next to shantytowns that often lacked amenities like water or electricity. While few White South Africans wanted complete equality for Blacks, there was nonetheless a divide over the policies they should pursue regarding said population. More liberal Whites, who largely lived around the Cape or in Goudenberg, found a lot of the status quo policies regarding the Black population overly punitive and likely to cause more trouble than it was worth, and viewed uplifting (read:westernizing) the natives as a better course of action. If they can’t secure the loyalty of the Black population, then at least make sure they aren’t angry enough to start a revolt. More hardline Whites, who lived mostly in the interior, were extremely harsh towards the Black population, wanting to make sure they knew their subservient position. Any Black protest, much less violent rebellion, would be swiftly quashed, with the tension bubbling underneath the surface until it inevitably erupted again. These issues would become more and more prescient as time went on as the Black population increased, and a breaking point seemed like it could be on the horizon. Whether that’ll actually be the case is yet to be seen, as we’ve now got to move across the South Atlantic to South America, as we’ll make our way north to finish the update back where it started.
We start our journey north through the Americas at the very southern end of the twin continents, that being the former British colony of Patagonia. Beginning with the foundation of Williamstown in 1832, Patagonia had grown over the past 140 or so years to become another jewel in Brittania's crown, though by no means the biggest one. By 1970 the now independent country had a population of 3.1 Million, quite small due to the late foundation and generally harsh geography. Nearly 1/4th of the population were Patagonia’s Mapuche natives, who had sided with the British against the Spanish in the First Global War and thus had been given an autonomous region within the Patagonian colony, named Araucania. Now, things hadn’t all been peachy keen for the Mapuche in the century since that war, violations of Mapuche land rights were rather commonplace and frequently ignored in the late 19th and early 20th Century (especially since the Mapuche heartland between the Andes and Pacific was among the best land in Patagonia), but they definitely had it better than, say, the Aboriginals in Australia or most of America’s native tribes. I plan on doing a Patagonian update in the near future (and I need to get this update out by New Year’s), so I’ll hold off for now. Now begins the final segment of this update, that being Latin America. We’ll start in the south and work our way north, so that means beginning with the two southernmost Latin American countries, those being La Plata and Chile.
Now, I already covered Latin America at length in a series of recent updates, so I don’t need to spend too much time talking about it here, but I’ll give it a little bit of time for completion’s sake. The countries of La Plata and Chile covered what had been the southern frontier of the Spanish Empire, as Spain had little reason nor ability to expand further south than the Rio de la Plata or Chilean Central Valley until the 19th Century. By that time, the British were beginning to become more involved in the region, and through gaining the Mapuche as allies they’d be able to secure Patagonia for themselves. Thus, La Plata would not expand south of the Pampas and Chile would be limited to the area north of the Biobio and Laja rivers. Still, even without Patagonia, La Plata was a very large country, stretching up to 1,400 miles north to south and 800 miles east to west. The aforementioned Pampas happened to be some of the world’s most fertile and productive farmland, producing goods like grain, beef and vegetables in copious quantities, and the Parana River it shared with Brazil was still a natural artery that most countries would love to have. Buenos Aires was a thriving city of millions, while Santa Fe, Cordoba and Mendoza were nothing to scoff at. On the other side of the Andes lay Chile, which had initially been planned to be part of either La Plata or Peru before being split off due to its geography, separated from La Plata by the Andes and Peru by the Atacama. While the distance between the peaks of the Andes and the shores of the Pacific was only 50 to 100 miles, Chile stretched 1,100 miles from north to south. The north was bone dry, though with very rich deposits of copper, while the south had a mediterranean climate similar to Spain or Italy. Santiago, the capital of the country, was easily the largest city, with a population of two and a half million by 1970. Other major Chilean cities included Concepcion, Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Antofagasta. Though they weren’t up to the economic level of Europe, La Plata and Chile were two of the more economically developed countries in Latin America, with a higher degree of urbanization and a larger middle class than their neighbors, which will be a convenient segue to move up north towards said neighbors, Peru and Brazil.
We’ll begin in Peru, a land of wonders both natural and man made. One of the New World’s cradles of civilization, Peru had been one of the most populated and advanced areas of the Americas before the takeover by the Spanish. Even though it’d been over four centuries since Pizarro’s conquests, that heritage survived in Peru to the present. Peru was an uber diverse country in many ways, from its geography to its wildlife and finally its people. Everything from recent European immigrants to pure Amerindians could be found in Peru, often in close proximity. Peru, though, was one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, as industrialization was still in its early stages at most. Many areas, particularly rural ones, didn’t have modern amenities like running water or electricity, and provision of these services was made all the more difficult by the rough terrain. I’m very crunched for time right now, so I have to move on, though I promised to return to Peru someday. Now, however, we’ll cross the Amazon into South America’s largest country, the tail that had come to wag the dog, Brazil.
The analogy of a tail wagging the dog would be a pretty apt descriptor of the role Brazil had come to play within the broader Lusitanian empire. With its mother country of Portugal being but a small sliver of land along the Atlantic Ocean, Brazil had long come to overpower its country of origin. It was clear to everyone in Portugal by 1800 that Brazil would eventually become the senior partner within the Portuguese Empire. Thus, the Portuguese crown would grant Brazil self governance early in the 19th Century, with Rio de Janeiro becoming the capital of the new realm. Brazil would grow massively over the 19th and 20th Centuries, taking in millions of European immigrants and expanding deep into the jungles and savannahs of the interior. Cities were popping up across the interior, bringing people away from the coast towards the center of the continent. This was made possible by improvements in road and rail networks as well as fertilizer greatly increasing agricultural productivity in the Cerrado. This was an ongoing process as of 1970, one which would continue throughout the remainder of the 20th Century, which I shall return to in a future Brazil-related update. In other matters, Brazil was a cultural powerhouse, probably second in the New World only to America. Rio hosted the Olympics in 1956 and the country on whole hosted the Prix du Monde in 1962, two events that would show off the country on the world stage. Brazilian art, cuisine and festivities would begin gaining a greater and greater presence overseas, which would lead to a growth in the country’s international tourism sector. As I mentioned a bit ago, I’ll discuss more of this at length in a future update, but I don’t have the time right now, so let’s move up to the northern coast of South America for a bit.
There were only two non-Romance speaking countries in South America. Those were English-speaking Patagonia at the southern end of the continent and the Dutch-colonized Suriname. Suriname was among the least populous countries in the Americas, with only a million or so residents, overwhelmingly concentrated along the coast. Outside of the capital Paramaibo and the secondary city of Stabroek, there wasn’t really a whole lot to say about Suriname. It’s no wonder that this may be the first time I’ve ever talked about the country at all. The main economic driver of the country was production of tropical cash crops, which had first been worked by African slaves and later by Asian indentured servants. This, combined with the Amerinidian, White and Creole populations made the country surprisingly diverse in spite of its small population, whether it be on an ethnic, linguistic or religious basis. The other defining characteristic of Suriname was the vast Amazon rainforest that made up most of the country. The Surinamese Amazon was populated by a mix of Amerindians and Maroons, the latter being descendants of escaped slaves. Suriname in fact was the most forested country in the world, and much of the interior was set aside for natural protection. There isn’t a whole lot more I can say about Suriname for now, for we shall now move west across the jungle to New Granada.
Now, I’ve already gone over this country in an update from a little over a year ago, so I’ll try to keep it brief here. New Granada, comprising the northernmost part of South America, had become a regional economic power thanks to the large oil deposits that had been found around the Maracaibo Lake and Orinoco River. New Granadan oil was now being exported both to neighboring countries and to destinations further afield like The Commonwealth and Europe. Apart from oil, New Granada was also famous for producing a lot of coffee, being one of the largest exporters of the caffeine bean, along with neighboring and previously discussed Brazil. From coastal Cartagena to mountainous Quito, New Granada was home to some of the most picturesque colonial era cities in all of Latin America, and the capital Bogota was fast becoming a bustline alpine metropolis. New Granada was still well behind countries like La Plata economically, to say nothing of Europe or The Commonwealth, but only time will tell if New Granada’s future had good fortune in it.
Finally, we return to the continent from which this update commenced, North America. We’ll begin in the Caribbean before moving to the mainland to wrap it all up. There were - independent countries in the Caribbean, Cuba, Quisqueya, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Cuba and Hispaniola were Spanish colonies that had become independent republics, Quisqueya comprised the former French colony of Saint-Domingue and spoke a French based Creole language. Jamaica had long been a British colony and spoke an Anglo Creole tongue, while Puerto Rico was a mainly Hispanic country ruled by the British crown. Other, smaller islands were still ruled from Europe (or in the case of the northernmost islands, The Commonwealth), though autonomy was either in place or on the horizon. The Caribbean’s economy, historically dominated by cash crop production, was beginning to reorient more towards tourism, though agriculture was still a big share of the economy at this point in time. Now let’s return to the mainland to cover the final three countries we’ve yet to discuss.
Well, not quite. You see, the British did still maintain a mainland holding in Belize, which had gained some autonomy but hadn’t yet had any further decisions made regarding its status. That was likely to come in the next few decades, so we’ll get back there eventually. Going south, we get to Guatemala, the country that spanned Central America from the canal in the south to Chiapas in the north. As with Peru, Guatemala was a very indigenous influenced country, with the Incas swapped out for the Mayans. While their civilizational heyday had been long gone even before the arrival of the Spanish, their culture lived on all these centuries later, with many Guatemalans speaking Mayan dialects as their mother tongue. Also like Peru, Guatemala was by and large a very poor country, especially in isolated rural areas. Still, its access to the Panama Canal in the south did provide an important economic boost, and there were proposals to build a second, fully Guatemalan canal through Lake Nicaragua, though the practicality of it was questioned.
Finally, we have the last two countries in this world tour, Mexico and Florida. I’ve made extensive updates on both of them recently enough to where I don’t feel the need to discuss them at length here (and I need to get it out ASAP), but I’ll give them a little bit of attention. Mexico and Florida, while not having a global reach like their neighbor to the north or Europe’s great powers, were definitively middle powers, with Mexico being the most populous Hispanic country and Florida not being too far behind their mother country of France in terms of population. Mexico and Florida were also becoming more and more politically and economically intertwined. Any sort of border disputes had long since been ironed out, and trade between the two countries was important to each one’s economy, particularly along the border (though not as important as each country’s trade with the Commonwealth). Mexico and Florida had signed a nonaggression pact with each other (not like war between the two was likely to occur in the first place) and citizens of the two countries in border regions regularly moved back and forth between the two. I’m certainly going to do updates on both countries in the future, so I’ll wrap it up here.
I started writing this timeline in my senior year of high school after abandoning two previous projects. Over that time, much has happened both in my life (graduation, employment etc.) and in the world at large (which we should all be familiar with), but this TL has been a constant and something I can pour my effort into on a consistent basis. While this gigantic update of nearly 9,000 words may be the end of one chapter of EC/FC’s story, rest assured that there are still more to come in the future. Admittedly, the end of this update could’ve been better, but I wanted to get it out by New Year’s, so I didn’t really feel like I had enough time. I have also produced a full world map using a new map template (thanks, @Saramello), which I will post after the update. I wish you all a Merry belated Christmas (though it is still within the twelve days) and a very Happy New Year.
*EDIT 1/16/2024: The original population number for the Commonwealth in this update was 176 million, but I lowered it further to 156 million. I would like for this to be the last population-related retcon, but I can't really promise anything at this point.
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