Map of the Month 10: The Grasshopper in the High Castle

[CourageousLife]

The Grasshopper in the High Castle

The Challenge
Make two maps; first, an alternate history scenario; second, an alternate history scenario imagined by a person in the first scenario.

Similar to The Grasshopper Lies Heavy within The Man in the High Castle, this contest should showcase a story within a story, highlighting the perspective of the author of the second scenario based on their existence in the timeline of the first scenario.

The Restrictions
There are no restrictions on when your PoD or map may be set. Fantasy, sci-fi, and future maps are allowed, but blatantly implausible (ASB) maps are not.

If you're not sure whether your idea meets the criteria of this challenge, please feel free to PM me or comment in the main thread.

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The entry period for this round shall end when the voting thread is posted on Monday the 9th of January.

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THIS THREAD IS FOR ENTRIES ONLY.

Any discussion must take place in the main thread. If you post anything other than a map entry (or a description accompanying a map entry) in this thread then you will be asked to delete the post. If you refuse to delete the post, post something that is clearly disruptive or malicious, or post spam then you may be disqualified from entering in this round of MotF and you may be reported to the board's moderators.

Remember to vote on the previous round of MotF:
MotF 268: Bits of This and That - Voting Thread
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[Libaton]

In this timeline, East and West swap places, with Roman Empire avoiding dissolution and China never unifying after the fall of Qin. Consequently, constant rivalry between the warring Chinese states leads them to political and technological progress, whereas Europe lags behind, staggering under the weight of imperial bureaucracy. The Roman empire goes through a cycle of civil wars and dynastic changes, much like China did in our timeline. During one of these upheavals Britain emancipates itself from Roman administration and becomes its own feudal kingdom. Meanwhile the Chinese kingdoms, most notably Han and Chu, develop their own identities and eventually become nation states.



Fast forward two thousand years, and the world is in the midst of a Second World War (called the Second All-Heavens War in this timeline). On the one side there are the Axis powers of Han, Yan and Britain; on the other, the allies: Chu, Nippon, Meiguo (Chu’s former colony), Union of Tartar Equalist Councils (a socialist republic established after the fall of the Great Khanate in the First All-Heavens War) and the United Roman Front (a temporary coalition of warring factions, among them the Spartikist Revolutionary Party and the Nationalist Party). United Roman Front puts up a desperate defense against the British invaders, at one point blowing up dikes on the river Rhenus in order to stop their advance. The British, on the other hand, commit acts of unbelievable cruelty against the Romans, whom they consider as inferior people.



The map is a British propaganda poster, aimed at boosting morale of British troops in the ending stages of the war. In fact, at this point war was all but lost for them. War in Asia was coming to an end, with Tartar forces closing in on Han’s capital, Luoyang, and Meiguan nuclear programme being weeks away from developing a new weapon of unseen potential.

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In this timeline, West and East swap places, with Roman Empire collapsing and Qin China avoiding dissolution. Consequently, constant rivalry between the warring European states leads them to political and technological progress, whereas China lags behind, staggering under the weight of imperial bureaucracy. The Chinese Empire goes through a cycle of civil wars and dynastic changes, much like Rome did in our timeline. During one of these upheavals Nippon emancipates itself from Qin administration and becomes its own feudal kingdom, unified by the Northern warrior people of Ainu [1]. Meanwhile the European kingdoms, most notably Gallia and Brittland, develop their own identities and eventually become nation states.


Fast forward two thousand years, and the world is in the midst of a Second All-Heavens War (called the Second Nations War in this timeline). On the one side there are the Axis powers of the III Gaelic Tuath, Etruscia and Ainu; on the other, the allies: Vandalia, Brittland, United Provinces of Brasil (Britland’s former colony), Oikumene of Scythian Izarchates (an equalist republic established after the fall of the Scythian Atamanate in the First Nations War) and the United Chinese Front (a temporary coalition of warring factions, among them the Izarchist Revolutionary Party and the Nationalist Party). United Chinese Front puts up a desperate defense against the Ainu invaders, at one point blowing up dikes on the Yellow river in order to stop their advance. The Ainu, on the other hand, commit acts of unbelievable cruelty against the Chinese, whom they consider as inferior people.


The map depicts Ainu territorial expansion in the decades leading up to the Second Nations War and its conquests in said war.

The dates on the map are using the Christian calendar, as I imagine it would be the most widely used in this West-dominated world.

[1] I chose Ainu to be the rulers of Nippon, because I think that the Japanese who developed the first parliamentary institutions in our timeline, would be incapable of waging such brutal wars of conquest in Asia as Britons did in Europe.

Ainu flag provided through the courtesy of @YsatNafon​

 

[NeonHydroxide]

This map shows the People's Republic of New Africa six years after the conclusion of the Southern Civil War and three years after the African People's Party consolidated absolute power over the state, establishing the one-party dictatorship which would last until the mid-1990s.

Controversial on both sides of the border was the collaboration of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) both in funding African liberation and nationalist groups before the outbreak of the civil war and in actively supporting the revolutionary government even as it took an authoritarian turn.

Some critics argue the APP regime was as bad or even worse than the white supremacist government it replaced, and suggest that the U.S. could have easily used its influence to demand human rights concessions or regime change. On the other hand, although higher profile since it was closer to home, the basic geopolitical strategy of supporting radical governments which could be ideologically relied upon to oppose U.S. adversaries was not unique; China, Cuba, and Morocco have similar stories.

In addition, it is difficult to argue that the end result has not been positive on balance. Today, the Republic of New Africa is highly democratic, increasingly wealthy, and, maybe most importantly, much more willing than most of the world's ex-dictatorships to face the crimes of past regimes and seek true justice.

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Proposals and War Aims That Didn't Happen Map Thread

Found in the Library of Congress map archive: in the late 1960s, there was substantial support within both the the State Dept and the Office of Strategic Services for an American-led intervention in the Confederate States to partition the country into black and white majority states.

Interesting to think about. It's clear what they are going for of course, in that the new 'Freedonia' would be even more dependent on the U.S. than OTL NA was, so it would give the U.S. full control of the Mississippi, plus make it basically impossible for the rump Confederacy to keep flirting on and off with London and Berlin. Obviously it's not a very pretty border but considering the alternative was a brutal civil war and a generation of Leninism maybe it would have been for the best?

Following this post, 3 users, including the original poster, were banned after this discussion thoroughly derailed the thread.

 

[RedBeret]