Let Us Strive (2.0)

[imperialaquila]

This is very good. I like Hiram Revels as Governor of Mississippi. One question: Has anything like OTL's Progressive movement started? Any major strikes or union activity? What are the positions of the different parties on unions?

I'm rather interested by the situation in Europe. The independent Bavaria is going to lead to some serious butterflies, and you seem to be hinting that the Germans and Russians become allies.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Glad you're liking it

Has anything like OTL's Progressive movement started? Any major strikes or union activity? What are the positions of the different parties on unions?

I had given this matter some thought awhile back -- one thing I do remember, from the 1870's, is that the Knights of Labor NTA#135 gets more autonomy, and doesn't spend the 1880's feuding with a splinter.

After that I had some vague ideas on more labor success circa 1886 and after -- but had mostly forgotten about it until your post. Now I'm thinking I should incorporate it into the thread...

I'm rather interested by the situation in Europe. The independent Bavaria is going to lead to some serious butterflies, and you seem to be hinting that the Germans and Russians become allies.

You should see the butterflies at the dawn of the 20th Century

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

OOC: One thing of note for this post -- TTL, Parnell does not meet William O'Shea's wife.

IC: (taken from Uncrowned King by Robert Kee)

However, despite these events, the foreign news in the year leading up to the General Election of 1885 was dominated, not by Ireland, but by Berlin, and the Conference of European states deciding the fate of Africa... Little surprise then, that Parliament's best natural diplomats were swept up by [Foreign Secretary] Salisbury, wading off Italian claims to Somalia and German claims to Zanzibar; quietly pushing the purchase of the Tete Province from Portugal; and mending relations with European powers who felt cheated by the whole process. (To be fair, the last task could prove a difficult one; as the Marquis [of Salisbury] relates "We are somewhat at a loss on how we could more gently have justified our decision [to King Leopold] to support Germany's claim in the Congo over his")...

Stafford Northcote (PM 1882-85)

Following the elections of 1885, Harcourt and the Liberal Party saw a chance to form a government for the first time in 20 years -- if they could count on the support of the Irish Home Rule Party... It was at this point that Gladstone's capacity for staying on good terms with the Liberals came to bear fruit, as he pressed hard for making a deal that included the introduction of a Home Rule Bill. This would be his greatest achievement any party leader [in Britain] has ever made after being ousted...

William Harcourt (PM 1885-94)

The Home Rule Act of 1887 called for... elections in two years time... The first Oireachtas met in the early months of 1890, with one of their first acts being the selection of a Prime Minister -- the tally was, to this day, the most near unanimous decision in Ireland's history...

Charles Stewart Parnell, PM of Ireland 1890-1907

EDIT ADD (still IC): The Irish PM seek cordial relations with the royal family; for example, at his attendance at Prince Albert Victor's royal wedding [1]...

OOC (again): Well, this I think is the last update tonight; for my next post, I'm thinking either Russia (and neighbors), the Spanish Empire, or return to the US. Or something else. Any preferences?

EDIT ADD (still OOC): You know what, I think I'll go on and finish up my Africa butterflies -- ITTL, Zubayr gets taken out earlier, meaning Bornu and Sokoto maintain their sovereignty. Meanwhile, Zanzibar survives as a British protectorate, but Ethiopia, surrounded by British influence, falls into their sphere of influence as well.

Hope that helps.

NOTE TO EDIT ADD (OOC): [1] Albert Victor did not die in 1892 and his planned wedding to Mary of Teck went as scheduled.

 

[Plumber]

German Congo! Oh, and next time I would prefer to see Russia.

 

[imperialaquila]

So is Ireland independent as a Dominion?

I would like to see Russia next. I'm also curious about what Africa will look like once it's all divided up.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

OOC: OK, one more very brief post for the night; these events are a little ahead of schedule, and their repercussions are decades away, but I figured I'd get them out of the way...

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IC: (taken from Wikipedia)

José "Joe" Carillo was born outside of San Francisco in 1890, to Justiniano Carrillo Pasos, an immigrant from Merida, Mexico, who had recently acquired a new ranch in the Napa Valley... and Ida Stover, who had moved across the nation to California ten years earlier from her war ravaged home in the Shennadoah Valley...

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Henry Quincy "Hank" Adams was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, son of George Caspar Adams, in 1894... incidentally making him the eldest patrilineal great great grandson of John Adams...

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

I demand a third President Adams!

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Made an edit to my last update -- had forgotten about my change in the Royal Family. (Prince Albert Victor lives...)

I demand a third President Adams!

He's kind of far down the line -- you'll notice Hank wasn't even born until 1894, and it's possible I may run into TL trouble before then...

(post consolidation below)

German Congo!

I'm also curious about what Africa will look like once it's all divided up.

[EDIT: consolidated above]

All in all, a very different Africa.

So is Ireland independent as a Dominion?

Largely, yes -- though Britain retains control over a range of issues including foreign relations, trade and coinage.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

(taken from Age of Alexander by Edvard Radzinsky)

The last decade or so of Alexander's reign saw two focuses for the Tsar's government -- "political reformism" and "industrial development". The efforts toward the former are best known for the establishment of the Duma... In such a fashion, Alexander II showed his great political acumen -- that what supporters called "reform with a strong hand", and what critics called "authoritarianism with a parliament" had no doubt preserved the Imperial Government for the modern age...

While industrialization did wonders for Russia's wealth (particularly that of their business class) and geopolitical status, it came at a price -- and few parts of Alexander's reign are as dark or controversial as the famine of 1892... Part of industrial policy was to raise consumer taxes to force peasants to sell more grain. The government had also contributed to the famine indirectly by conscripting peasant sons, sending taxmen to seize livestock when grain ran out... Grain exports were not banned until many months into the famine, and even then merchants had a month's warning so they could quickly export their reserves. And even this late ban was opposed by many in the government, with Alexander only consenting after weeks of pleading, largely from sympathetic members of his own family... [1]

Across the western border, the Austrian Empire -- now the Triple Austria-Bohemia-Hungary Monarchy -- was transforming as well, with massive buildup of the Imperial Army... This paranoia and militarization would eventually culminate in the Dragoon Revolt of 1896, shortly after the coronation of Alexander's successor... Not long following the death of his son [Alexander], Alexander himself -- after the longest reign in Russia since Peter the Great, and having lived longer than any of the Tsars or Princes of Moscow before him -- passed...

OOC: [1] Yes, this is essentially the same famine from OTL -- Russia's industrializing more than ever, and it's essentially as authoritarian, so I see it as happening TTL as well.

(Kind of wish I could have found a smaller picture, though )

 

[imperialaquila]

Very nice. It looks like the Tsars survive to the present day.

I'm interested in the "Dragoon Revolt" in Austria.

One thing that I've noticed about this TL that's very good is that you manage to pack a lot of information and tantalizing hints about the future into a relatively small amount of text. Keep it up!

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Thanks; my idea is the Dragoon Revolt is sort of Austrian Young Turk Revolt, where the military pushes itself into the center of Imperial Government.

Any suggestions for what I should do next?

 

[imperialaquila]

Thanks; my idea is the Dragoon Revolt is sort of Austrian Young Turk Revolt, where the military pushes itself into the center of Imperial Government.

Any suggestions for what I should do next?

Welcome.

I think an update about Austria and the rest of Eastern Europe would be good, then one about the US up to 1900 or so.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

(taken from Wikipedia)

Andrew K Rosewater was born April 15, 1881, to Edward and Leah Rosewater, in Omaha [1]... Edward was editor of the Omaha Bee, had a reputation for always being "aggressive and controversial", and was influential in Nebraska politics as one of the key players in the state Republican Party...

Edward Rosewater, grandfather of Julius Rosewater

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(taken from The Boy President by Herman Mankiewicz)

Having won a very difficult (and close) election to become California's new governor, George Hearst expected little of his son, bit he was hoping to avoid hearing about his son getting expelled for such immature antics this early in his term. To add insult to injury, he was being told that William was hoping to come home and spend the rest of the year with his family. "God, is there no way to keep him silently occupied at least!"... Will tried his hand at the newspaper business, running his father's new paper, The San Francisco Examiner -- but it lost money so fast, his own mother fired him... And so at the fall of 1886, he found himself with lots of family money, but no prospects, and in increasing danger of being disinherited...

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(taken from the Memoirs of William F Cody)

I had thought, on returning to my family in Lawrence, KS, that I might stay only briefly before continuing west to pursue my next opportunity -- and found surprise when I was approached not long after my arrival to run for the State Legislature... I suppose it should not surprise me that I found such pleasure in campaigning for office -- I had been told for years how much of a natural showman I was, and I enjoyed the praises of an audience well enough as a performer... With my arrival, I was soon chosen to be Speaker -- and was finding that my love of politics was not consigned to campaigning... And so I went from wanderer to considering a run for Governor in the space of a year...

William F Cody (as Governor of Kansas, served thus 1887-90)

OOC: [1] Someone was born on this day OTL in these circumstances, but it was a girl, named Blanche

(consolidation)

I think an update about Austria and the rest of Eastern Europe would be good, then one about the US up to 1900 or so.

Ah -- should have clarified, "next update to fill in on the 1880's" -- my ideas are either the US or the Spanish Empire, with a war approaching between them.

AAR, I think this is my last post for tonight. Any thoughts?

 

[Whanztastic]

Governor Cody! awesome...

 

[LordVetinari]

interesting timeline.
I saw the segment you talked about awhile back, interesting.
Taking a break from mine, before getting back into it.
Keep up the good work.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

(taken from The Emperor's Voice by Peter Conradi)

The months following his operation and ascension to the throne had shown the tracheotomy to be a complete success. The Emperor's strength was returning, and was performing all such imperial duties as would be expected of him -- all those, save that required him to speak... The Crown Prince was not easily dissuaded not to cast his lot in with these critics -- while he certainly was ambitious and had a number of political differences with his father, the records also seem to indicate that he had genuine constitutional concerns with a Monarch who was unable to vocalize...

Friedrich III, German Emperor 1888-99

OOC: Yeah, it's a short update, but it was on my mind, and I don't feel up to tackling the origins of my 1887 war just yet... I'll try to get on that tomorrow...

Oh, and thanks again Whan and LV

 

[Plumber]

Since you seem to be into the Wild West, Wyatt Earp and FDR both knew Endicott Peabody, though he never introduced them IOTL.

ITTL, however...

 

[SavoyTruffle]

Ah, so it's Frederick the Silent. Certainly better than Frederick the Short(-reigned).

 

[imperialaquila]

Ah, so it's Frederick the Silent. Certainly better than Frederick the Short(-reigned).

Though it does raise significant questions about how effective he can be as a ruler if he can't speak. The German Empire will probably be more liberal than OTL, but I imagine Bismarck is still running all the important bits.

I like the people in alternate places. It's interesting seeing all these people pursue completely different careers than OTL. I assume the 1887 war is the alt-Spanish-American War?

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Since you seem to be into the Wild West, Wyatt Earp and FDR both knew Endicott Peabody, though he never introduced them IOTL.

ITTL, however...

Did not know that; I'll definitely have to think about it.

The German Empire will probably be more liberal than OTL, but I imagine Bismarck is still running all the important bits.

I was actually unsure about posting on exactly how Germany liberalizes, since I'm not sure what ground I'm on with their constitution -- but it does happen TTL.

Bismarck, however -- AIUI, Fredrick clashed with Bismarck, if anything, more than his son, so his Chancellorship is likely ending TTL as well. Am I wrong?

I assume the 1887 war is the alt-Spanish-American War?

Ah -- busted D)