Explain the AH Quote

[DanganMachin]

Why in the name of all that is unholy would all of Europe decide to start a godforesaken war over the succession to Iceland!?

Quote from the book on the first European War during the 19th century. Iceland, due to danish oppression appealed to join one of the European power. What no one could have expected was how from incident from incident the situation snowballed into an all-out war between the European powers.

''After the Fall of France, Belgium, the last bastion of democracy against german agression still stands battered and bruised but determined. We can only admire the belgians' tenacity and repay it with our blood, toil, tears and sweat.''

 

[TheDetailer]

''After the Fall of France, Belgium, the last bastion of democracy against german agression still stands battered and bruised but determined. We can only admire the belgians' tenacity and repay it with our blood, toil, tears and sweat.''

Winston Churchill in 1941, not long after Germany began its invasion of the Soviet Union, referring to Belgium, which has still managed to hold off the Nazis well over a year after the begging of the invasion of the Benelux in 1940, with credit being given due to troops from the Congo and Rwanda-Burundi (which soon saw those colonies collapse and declare independence) being recalled just in time, preventing the whole country from collapsing to Nazi tyranny. 1944 would prove 4 years of brutal fighting to be worth it, as the large-scale D-Day invasion would see the collapse of Nazi rule in France and the Benelux.

"...Monarcho...Socialism...How the hell did Russia become "Monarcho-Socialist"!?!"

 

[Kylia]

"...Monarcho...Socialism...How the hell did Russia become "Monarcho-Socialist"!?!"

During the Russian Civil War, both the Reds and the Whites would experience a number of fractures and breaks as assassination brought down rallying leaders on both sides - most notably Lenin and Trotsky on the red side, and Kolchak and Kornilov on the White side. The various nominally Red and White factions spent as much time fighting eachother as the other side during 1919-1923. In 1924, a former Russian noble who had long been socialistic in his symapthies, despite his birth, Vladimir, was able to cobble together an alliance of Red and White factions under the guise of a paper-thin 'Monarcho-Socialism' - it was socialist in its economics, but monarchist in it's leadership, with no real effort to try to tie the ideas together ideologically. But the chaos of the anarchic civil war, many people didn't car. Vladimir, appealing to Russian nationalism, the religiosity of the peasants, socialism for the urban workers and monarchy for the traditionalists, managed to take and hold onto Russia to the Urals (Sibera and the far eastern possessions of Russia became effectively independent) and south to Azov (the Germans and Austrians held onto the territory ceded at Brest-Litvosk), losing the Caucus and near-caucus regions to a series of small breakaway states, including a Georgia that would be dominated by exiled Red leader Josef Stalin.

Vladmir, The "People's Tsar" would lead a shaky and economically unstable regime, capable of feeding the people and pacifying the workers, but without being able to properly develop it's industry of it's resources, forcing his rump Russian state into being focused on exports of raw materials, when they managed that (which they didn't always do in order to preserve food at home).

By the time the Second Weltkrieg (1940-1946) broke out, Vladimir had passed and his son Mikael had taken the throne, his hold more secure, and Russia's agricultural sector better developed, though still lagging everywhere else. Mikael, however, would prove to be vital in helping Germany and Austria-Hungary feed themselves in the face of the British Blockades, being able to export food when even the vast grain fields of the Ukraine proved to not be enough (mostly because the Germans and Austrians leaned on Ukraine to send large numbers of able-bodied young men to the front lines against the Ottomans, who defected to the British in the interwar years).

The above quote, however, came from an American commentator in 1928, when Vladmir's regime was recognized by the United States as the legal successor to the old Russian Empire.

"My Army of Cats Will Destroy You, Mr. Bond!"

 

[Rfl23]

"My Army of Cats Will Destroy You, Mr. Bond!"

Blofeld line during his final confrontation with bond in the 1971 movie Diamond are Forever it was regarded by many to be the funniest yet worst bond scene ever the overall plot was okay but the fans really dislike how disney whonjust acquire the bond rights a year ago made the movie goofy this lead to disney dropping the bond title right after to focuss on Cinderalla V and giving back the rights to coby broccoli who in 1977 would release the beloved The Man With The Golden Gun.

"You know in my life i would never have thought to be a governor for an american states but well.here i am, i mean yes after the yen dropped,the soviets dropping cells in japan and the shooting down of JAL flight 351 was enough for the public to demand the american to step in but after the soviets invaded china and north vietnam we all enter into a talk and well i guess here i am atleast its better to be under the flag of the america than under the flag of the soviets"
-Governor Naruhito of The State of South Honshu interview with FOX

 

[CountDVB]

"You know in my life i would never have thought to be a governor for an american states but well.here i am, i mean yes after the yen dropped,the soviets dropping cells in japan and the shooting down of JAL flight 351 was enough for the public to demand the american to step in but after the soviets invaded china and north vietnam we all enter into a talk and well i guess here i am atleast its better to be under the flag of the america than under the flag of the soviets"
-Governor Naruhito of The State of South Honshu interview with FOX

A line from the American television series, American Empire, an alternate history science fiction series which showed a more drastic and imperial Cold War. Instances includes Japan becoming occupied in half, leading to a period of where South Honshu temporarily became a state of the United States, the latest after others like the Philippines and Cuba. The series was lauded for its depth in exploring cultural rammifications and showing how a 1950s science fiction vision would modernize, but also viewed stangely for the imperial expansion and bizarre moments in history that was noted throughout the series. The line in question referred to Naruhito, a descendent of the former empire of Japan and recourring chracter, becoming governor of South Honshu and trying to preserve Japanese cultural distinction along with the growing times within the 2000s.

"I didn't think Disney of all companies would advocate for expanding the public domain. Guess the deal with the Burroughs' estate went worse than we thought."

 

[Gen.Jurten]

"I didn't think Disney of all companies would advocate for expanding the public domain. Guess the deal with the Burroughs' estate went worse than we thought.

Commentary after the support of Disney to extending of public domains of Tarzan and John Carter, as their deal to adapt those works with the Burrough Estate fell through catastrophically that they barely avoided a lawsuit

" It is not easy being a racist when you have so many flavors of bigotry to choose from. "

 

[Alias_The_J]

" It is not easy being a racist when you have so many flavors of bigotry to choose from. "

From Batman No. 173, printed in August 1965. The quote is from a villain character called The General, a major figure in a Second Confederacy organized by the Ku Klux Klan using knowledge gained from Nazi mystics. Introduced in No. 161, The General was revealed in No. 177 to be the infamous Stonewall Jackson attempting to restart the rebellion and reinstitute slavery; the quote here was meant to imply that Jackson no longer actually believed in racial inferiority or superiority, and was only in it for his own power. This is related to the entire integrationist message of Batman at the time; that comic specifically, along with the The Bat-Man radio program, was used to mock racists is general and especially Confederate sympathizers, who were known at the time to promote conspiracy theories using data from Waffen SS experiments to promote their worldview. This was based on the highly successful run of using Superman to mock the Ku Klux Klan in 1962.

" Do not do this. Any trooper caught resting on their own intestines will face summary execution."

 

[qazse]

" Do not do this. Any trooper caught resting on their own intestines will face summary execution."

From the Ageyi (an alien race from the Alpha Yi star system) commander just before the battle of Moonha, capital of the Ageyi Empire, during the Ageyi Civil War. The Ageyi’s intestines protrude outside of their body for reasons unknown, and resting on them is considered taboo, also for reasons unknown.

“If you somehow manage to get Israel and the Arab states to make a truce so they can point their sword towards YOU, you’ve messed up. Big time.”

 

[CountDVB]

“If you somehow manage to get Israel and the Arab states to make a truce so they can point their sword towards YOU, you’ve messed up. Big time.”

Political commentary on how in the 1960s the Nasser government of Egypt and its alliance in various northern African states attempted to cause a reach into Syria through a political gambit, one that failed and would be exposed. The situation led to Israel forming a peace with its various Arabic neighbors and all of them a truce to go after the Nasser government. The Two Arabics War as it would be called would see Nasser's allies of northern Africa against the coalition of Arabic nations alongside Israel and Morocco. The war a brutal affair on both fronts as assassinations and political rebellions sprung up. The House of Saud would see assassinations creating a power vacuum and the other side responding by arming the Amazighs.

Eventually, peace was declared with the collapse of the Nasser government and a ceasefire declared. Jordan benefitted from the war as the Hashemites were able to claim the Arabic throne and thus unite most of the nation into a larger Arabic state. They also made a deal with Israel to ensure a peaceful solution regarding Palestine (which would see a fair amount of displaced former Palestinian peoples go to the US). The northern African nations would see the Amazighs get more equal footing and respect alongside other minorities such as the Coptic Christians in Egypt. Additionally, most of the "Maghreb nations would unite to become the Commonwealth of Tamazgha, or the "Russia of Africa" to create a pan-Imazaigh nation (though they were quick to align with the United States and NATO against the USSR to ensure peacr). This would lead to the Moroccan Civil War due to the growing frustrations of the Amazaigh peoples of Morocco and their want for self-determination.

The civil war was quick, seeing Morocco survive, but shrink down and the Amazaigh peoples joining Tamazgha. Tamazgha focused mainly on infrastructure development, being a nation with state-sanctioned companies to help the nation and rebuild the languages, along with acknowledging their neighbors and ensuring peace. The nation experienced some cultural shakeups as the conservative ways would be challenged and the demand for reforms grow in the 1990s, around the same time Iran's "Islamic Republic" fell a couple years after the death of Khomeini and transititioned into a secular republic.

"The Shah of Iran, desperate to curb the growing power of the Ayatollah and other prominent imams, moves to a bold, daring and innovative plan. Declaring Iran's official religion to be Zoroastrianism. A move that saw him remain in power for a few years longer, but more importantly, revive Iran's pre-Islamic faith to new heights."

 

[Tairo]

"The Shah of Iran, desperate to curb the growing power of the Ayatollah and other prominent imams, moves to a bold, daring and innovative plan. Declaring Iran's official religion to be Zoroastrianism. A move that saw him remain in power for a few years longer, but more importantly, revive Iran's pre-Islamic faith to new heights."

An excerpt from the extremely contrervisial 'History of Eranshar' historical textbook used in the western universities which both downplayed Iran's position as an Islamic power throughout the region while attempting to impel zoroastrian uprisings throughout the country. In actuality all that was accomplished was the Abrahamic and Behdin faiths uniting to expel foreign influence from the region.

Vijaynagara has as of this day expelled all foreign influence from Bharat, however it's work is not yet done while Alodia stands.

 

[CountDVB]

Vijaynagara has as of this day expelled all foreign influence from Bharat, however it's work is not yet done while Alodia stands.

Narration from the show Modern Empires, the season discussing Bharat. The episode was detailing how Vijaynagara, the capital of the Empire of Bharata, had expelled what it considered "foreign" influence from the large nation. It did this by nationalizing all of the foreign that came from investment abroad, primarily those of the British (who once backed the Mughals) along with many others. This also led to the expulsion of many Muslims of Bharatan descent (specifically, those who weren't part of the special warrior caste) to head to Bharata's neighbors, most notably Muslim Bangladesh and the Sikh state of Khalistan, mainly as stop points to other places.

However, Vijaynagara announced that it would pursue to claim the Maldives away from its patron, the Kingdom of Alodia. Once on the brink of defeat by the invading Muslim, it would bounce back and begin reclaiming the Nubian lands from the Sudanese emirates establishing, resulting in a rebirth of Coptic Christianity and serving as a bulwark for African Christianity alongside Ethiopia. Both nations would expand to Arabia as retaliation, expanding across. While Ethiopia would go down into the Somali lands and convert, Alodia went east and got some of the islands, including the Maldives, which converted to Christianity and thus, viewed as heretical against Bharat though vey wary of challenging the African power for fear of its allies coming into swarm Bharat, especially since Khalistan and Bangladesh are also very wary of Bharat.

"Islam's spread in the east was halted by the Buddhist Pashtun peoples, who pushed back and expanded northward in retaliation."

 

[qazse]

"Islam's spread in the east was halted by the Buddhist Pashtun peoples, who pushed back and expanded northward in retaliation."

The Pashtuns were able to stop and repel the Muslims using gunpowder, an invention unknown to the Muslim world at the time.

"It's me, President Chenny. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan at at war. Yes, again. And you have to break them up. Again."
"*sigh* Do I have to babysit everyone in this stupid region!?"

- From a phone conversation between US President Dick Chenny and Afghan President Samsor Qambrani

 

[Kylia]

- From a phone conversation between US President Dick Chenny and Afghan President Samsor Qambrani

Timeline where the Taliban never took over (The Monarchy wasn't overthrown until 2002 in a peaceful referendum and thus the communists never overthrew the Republic), and after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the US gave a great deal of military and economic aid to Afghanistan to help them stabilize the region - Afghanistan ended up being the 'Policeman of the Stans' as some people called it. President Qambrani, who was president of Afghanistan from 2002 until his death from a stroke in 2012 (being reelected in 2008) was called on to stop Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from fighting prolonged wars three times in his tenure - twice at the request of President Dick Cheney (2005 and 2007) and once at the request of President John Edwards (2010).

"General Bonaparte, report,"
"Your majesty, it is my great pleasure to support that the forces your wife rallied against you have been defeated - both the traitors here in France, and her Austrian allies. Marie Antoinette is my prisoner, at least, however."

 

[CountDVB]

"General Bonaparte, report,"
"Your majesty, it is my great pleasure to support that the forces your wife rallied against you have been defeated - both the traitors here in France, and her Austrian allies. Marie Antoinette is my prisoner, at least, however."

A report coming from near the end of the French-Austrian War. While tensions over the failures of the French monarchy have been rising over, a massive shock came from how Marie Antoinette betrayed her husband, Louis XVI, deeming him an ineffective ruler and hoping to have the French throne occupied by a Habsburg. However, this betrayal and rise to the war between Austria and France actually helped Louis XVI's reputation significally as other nations, including the young US, sent forces and however methods to help. While most of the hatred of the monarchy went to Mare, it also helped Louis XVI grow more confident, but also humanize him to the people. Rather than see him as a tyrant, they viewed him as a well-meaning man who was unsure of how to deal with a changing world and surrounded by untrustworthy scoundrels.

The war ended with a brutal Austrian defeat and France solidifying itself. While Louis XVI remained on throne, he would begin the transition from a monarchy to a republic, with help from various reformers and liberals, including his friend, General Napoleon Bonaparte. France would undergo various liberal reforms along with turning many of the former imperial colonies into client states such as Haiti, becoming republics. Louis XVI would go on to marry a commoner woman and become the "Last King of France" upon his death. Meanwhile, Austria's defeat caused a heavy imbalance of power in the Holy Roman Empire, causing it to splinter and form the Germanic Wars, which lasted 30 years. Many former elecorates solidfied their power, resulting in three Geman states of Hanover, Brandenburg-Saxony and Bavaria alongside the smaller Austria. Bohemia would annex Silesia and Moravia while the Dutch would take the Austrian Netherlands. Hungary would liberate itself and Transylvania would become a Turkish vassal before liberating itself alongside Moldovia and Wallachia to form Rumania years later. Italy would also undergo a change, resulting in the Two Siciles asserting itself while the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom would annex the Kingdom of Sardinia, resulting in the "two Italies." The Two Sicilies embraced its cultural difference, having Neapolitan and Sicilian as the two official languages and after being snubbed by Rome, would become a haven for Italian protestants.

Many point this as the formation for much of Europe, with Rumania, Hungary and the larger Bohemian now Second Moravian Empire becoming new players and got their gain in the wars against the Ottomans, resulting in new nations and events, such as the founding of Bulgaria and later its conquest of Constaninople in the late 19th century while Serbia expanded into western southern Europe. Many become constitutional monarchies or republics as a result of the events. The German states would become two major competitors with Hanover merging with Brandenburg as a protestant German state and Catholic Bavaria annexing Austria (Prussia becoming a client state of Russia and converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, along with gaining a Russo-Germanic culture seperating it over time).

"I didn't think anything could break the Catholic faith in Spain, but it looked World War II did just that and then some. Looks like we're in for massive changes."

 

[TheDetailer]

"I didn't think anything could break the Catholic faith in Spain, but it looked World War II did just that and then some. Looks like we're in for massive changes."

US President Harry Truman (1945-1953) to General Dwight D. Eisenhower about the recent post World War 2 (1939-1945) War crime trials for the fascist nations of Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain, with the Toledo Trials in Spain, in particular, shocking the Spanish Public over not only the horrible war crimes committed against the minorities in Spain (which successfully managed to secede in post-war elections), political opponents, and natives in the African colonies, but also how many people within the Catholic Church in Spain were complicit in these acts, which included ratting out those who confessed to "crimes" like being non-right wing or not being Hetrosexual, while they were perfectly fine with stuff like racism, mass murder, and the burning of villages. Another infamous moment would be the exposure of several pedophiles within the church, who abused many children under Franco's iron fist, which, combined with the hypocrisy of spreading the queerphobic myth of LGBT people being child predators, caused many riots which ended up with those who were suspected of being complicit in the child abuse shot, stabbed, hung, set on fire, or killed in other horrible ways, along with the destruction of their homes, churches, and far-right meeting places.

Spain, alongside Italy, would experience political upheaval, partisanship, and violence, peaking in the 1970s, until eventually recovering, joining the EU, and experiencing an economic boost thanks to culture and tourism. Like the crimes of Germany, Italy, and Japan, the Spanish have had many films, books, and other media made about their own crimes, the most famous in the form of Guillermo Del Toro's 2006 dark fantasy film Pan's Labyrinth.

"The world's two biggest religions, Christianity and Hinduism, would heavily influence the course of World History during the 2nd Millenium, with them both continuing to remain the two most followed religions as of the present day."

 

[CountDVB]

"The world's two biggest religions, Christianity and Hinduism, would heavily influence the course of World History during the 2nd Millenium, with them both continuing to remain the two most followed religions as of the present day."

A summary from an English history textbook going over Christianity and Sanātana (often called Hinduism by westerners) and their influence throughout into the outside world, along with their cultural outlines and many various subgroups. The rise of Christianity created a universal cultural groundwork in much of Europe and northern Africa; it cemented its role and legacy during the Arab Invasion, following an extinct branch of Christianity known as Islam. While it took the Byzantines and Sassanids working together to defeat them, the Sassanians were crippled and the Zoroastrian faith confined to Persia itself along with Mesopotamia and Khorasan regions. The Byzantines meanwhile annexed the Hejaz region and assimilated the Arabs. While Islam ceased being an individual faith, many of the reforms and developments from Islam such as charity and the empowerment of women were brought into Christianity and spread across Europe and northern Africa, even after the Germanic invasion and Slavic invasions. However, Christianity grew and evolved into various branches as the old kingdoms spread, going across the great desert into the lush lands in central Africa and forming new Christian churches there. They all remain united in the basic tenants of Christianity: a monotheistic faith venerating an all-powerful god and his only son, the benevolent savior figure in Jesus Christ along with his death, rebirth and that of his second coming with salvation and judgment day.

Sanātana meawhile was a slower but more gradual route. The Gupta Empire began centralizing and developed differently as a result of feeling threatened by the growth of Christianity, leading to Hinduism undergoing streamlining. However, the various Sanātana offshoots all share the same core beliefs such as the 4 objectives of human life (dharma/ethics, artha/prosperity, kāma/enjoyment and moksha/liberation), the endless cycle of life/rebirth known as samsara, the ascension called nirvana and the system of karma. While Sanātana had a wide assortment of deities, many cultures that adopted the faiths substituted many of the smaller gods with their own (with the triple deity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva having accepted across all of them). Sanātana became more widespread when it would be adopted by the Mongol Empire who spread it across Central Asia, the Urals and into China, with the Mongol deities and the Chinese deities taking the place of the Vedic deities, but openly called themselves followers of Sanātana.

Both faiths would spread across the undiscovered plains through various means; from how Chinese explorers discovered a vast continent south of Nusantara and explored various islands. Western Europe meanwhile would spread the Christian faith across into the North and South Atlantean continents that was seperated from Afro-Eurasia. The indigenous peoples of Appalachia would adopt the the Christian faith along with the people with the Amazon jungles while the Aztec Empire and the Inca Empire organized their pantheon into the Vedic sturcture and became a new breed of Sanātanists. While they are the dominant faiths, other faiths exist such as other polytheistic faiths, Judaism, Zoroastrianism in greater Iran, Buddhism and Taoism in China surviving and so on.

"The power of the Rashidun Caliphate weakened when the Coptic Christians of Egypt defied them and pushed back against them, all while becoming more aggressive in spreading their faith across northern Africa."

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

"The world's two biggest religions, Christianity and Hinduism, would heavily influence the course of World History during the 2nd Millenium, with them both continuing to remain the two most followed religions as of the present day."

The first sentence of a textbook for history, by Mahmad Idrissou. In this world, Islam did and does exist, but instead of successfully conquering from Makkah and Medina, the new "cult" was chased down and persecuted by Christians and pre-Muslim Arabs (Zoroastrians etc.) alike. A significant number of followers could be gained in Egypt and other parts of North Africa, but these states remained Christian or were soon forcibly reconquered.

Persia was conquered and vassalised by a much greater and longer-lasting Chalukya Empire in 823-831, finally spreading Hinduism to the Middle East. Egypt was the next state o fall to the Chola-Persian onslaught, giving rise to Nilotic Hinduism, Nile Hinduism or Neo-Gangaism in 927 - bascially still Hinduism, butprojecting the sacred qualities of the Ganga river onto the Nile. The few remaining Muslims, persecuted by Nile Hinduist Egypt and the Christian exarchates etc. alike, did not see respite as Hinduism - albeit briefly - spread west to Morocco and Mauritania, and into southern Spain and Portugal (Tacha Kingdom, 981-1153). In conflicts with Christianity, Nile Hinduist explorers (and some following subsets of it, like Tacha Hinduism focusing on the Tejo river) explored and found the New World, and were eager to colonise the areas where they landed in OTL Georgia and Florida.

Colonies and the influence of Hinduism grew and grew and grew, despite the original Chalukya Empire falling into civil war in 1240 and the Rashtrashya Dynasty rising to unite India again in 1269. Many of the vassals went their own way, but from Egypt westwards, Nile Hinduism was firmly ingrained - and over time, as the colonies developed, Vishishipa Hinduism based around the Mississippi River developed (first written about in 1307). In the 1220s, Muslims for the first time managed to build a stable nation south of the Senegal River.

Christian states were the others to develop major colonies, and conflicts - hot and cold, dynamic and static - between Christian and Hindu states continue to this day. Despite all attempts by Christian scholars and rulers to use distinctions between the sacred rivers as dividing lines, Hindu scholars (and most experts) classify the different river-based offshoots as one large Hinduism, divided up into Ganges Hinduism, Nile Hinduism, Vishishipa Hinduism, Mekong Hinduism, Yangsha Hinduism, Kshatra Hinduism (based on the Amaon) and "Lake Hinduism" or "Majji"- the latter sometimes classified as its own religion.

EDIT (after seeing - and thus heavily inspired by - the above post): Although Christianity and the several river-based types of Hinduism are the main religions - with Hinduism dominating even over Christianity - several other religions are followed too: Judaism has lasted through the times, as has Islam (but some consider it a Hinduist branch/sect/cult in Western Africa). Buddhism in Southeast Asia still has followers, but most importantly, Scandinavia and a majority of peoples in the Baltic and *Russia have remained polytheists. The same applies to many indigenous peoples of Central Africa, the Kshatra region (i.e. OTL Amazon rainforests),...

"Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Unity Movement?"

 

[CountDVB]

"Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Unity Movement?"

A question asked by a manager in Wal-Mart to a prospective employee which would spark a massive movement. The Unity Movement was born in the early 2000s and classified as a cultural movement based on the teachings of Unitarian Universalism mixed with communal socialism. The movement gathered traction among young people in the early 2000s and the internet subculture, but was initially deemed as an odd phenonmeon or at worst a cult. However, the question within the Wal-Mart led to a lawsuit over prosecution.

While the lawsuit ruled in favor of Wal-Mart (if due to technicality), this caused mass protests of young adults and students over what they saw as an attack on them and over the practices of being hired. The Unity Movement protests became much larger and followers much bigger when the Great Recession hit the United States. Newly elected president McCain' dismissive attitude toward him and lackluster handling of the economy led to the Unity Movement to form its own third party on the Unity Party, getting many former Democrats and Republicans. 2012 would see Howard Hawkins be elected as President of the United States (having been asked to be their candidate despite being affiliated with the Green party) and the Unity Party getting a supermajority in the House and a growing stronghold in the Senate to ramn extensive economic, political and social reforms. It would herald the Second American Progressive Era.

"The power of the Rashidun Caliphate weakened when the Coptic Christians of Egypt defied them and pushed back against them and in response to the Muslms, became more proactive and aggressive in spreading the Christian faith across northern Africa."

 

[British Biscuit]

"The power of the Rashidun Caliphate weakened when the Coptic Christians of Egypt defied them and pushed back against them and in response to the Muslms, became more proactive and aggressive in spreading the Christian faith across northern Africa."

Excerpt from an early entry on the itcouldhavebeen counterfactual blog. Started in 2007 by Boston resident Eugene DeBeer, the blog revolved around taking popular legends or myths that have been largely discredited as historical accounts (e.g.: the Legend of Atlantis, City of Ys, Kingdom of Shambhala, etc.) and coming up with historical scenarios that (while did not occur in reality) could have occurred realistically (i.e.: without divine or alien intervention) to match the mythical account as closely as possible. The quoted post for example discussed multiple situations that could have given rise to something akin to the mythical Kingdom of Prester John -- these included a Coptic Reconquista of North Africa, Genghis Khan converting to Christianity, Kingdom of Aksum avoiding collapse, etc. While not very widely known, the blog gained popularity among amateur historians and enthusiasts, especially after DeBeer started including video travelogues/mini-documentaries involving him going to historic sites and locations to discuss their potential (counter)history. Tragically, while traveling to Mexico to film part of his "Counterhistory of Biblical Mormonism", Eugene DeBeer was killed by a Mormon "people bomb" attack for putting their canonical accounts into question.

"You remember about the Survival of the Fittest? Guess what — we lost!"
-Charles Darwin, 96 years old, addressing the British Parliament at the end of the Great War* in 1905

* — an earlier, ATL version of WW1, obviously.

 

[qazse]

"You remember about the Survival of the Fittest? Guess what — we lost!"
-Charles Darwin, 96 years old, addressing the British Parliament at the end of the Great War* in 1905

From a speech by British statesman Charles Darwin concerning the country's defeat in the Great War. The British were considered to be the premier great power at the beginning of the war - this was ended by a combination of German naval might, Russian land might and Austrian air might.

"Amazingly, despite all the odds, the bravery and courage of the Polish Home army was not enough - the Nazi Generalgouvernment was able to subdue them after six or so months of fighting."

- The Florida Herald, August 1964