I see you used Unkown00's Multiverse Entente SGW victory map as a base.
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Map Thread XXI
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Yes! Sorry @Unkown00 I meant to credit you.
It never made a ton of sense to me either but I guess there have to be some neutral buffer states somewhere.
I'd say it's a weird attempt at being different, but this is one of the OG AH novels, which makes it interesting.
On the other hand, it does save me some work.
It's alright. Just remember to credit me next time you want to use my maps.
Decided to start on a "Disunited States" map, where the United States fell apart in the 1780s. What always annoyed me about such timelines is that they have a very static view on how America's course will look. They ignore cultural currents, nationalist movements, tensions with the UK and Spain, etc.
In this world, the former United States are not immune from the nationalist currents of the 19th century, and broadly coalesce along 3 distinct cultural areas that existed in OTL: the dynamic cities of New England and the Middle Colonies, the Appalachian backcountry, and the Deep South plantations of upwardly mobile slaver-conquistadors. There was a fourth center of gravity, the Tidewater plantations of North Carolina and Delmarva...but they lost over half their states to their Appalachian backcountry populations, and then got hoovered up by the Deep South successor state (though Delaware joined Philadelphia in the northern federation).
Great Britain maintained control of the Ohio River Valley, Northern and Appalachian-started wars notwithstanding. They also shut down the Southern slavery's attempts to break into the trans-Mississippi. The end result is that their North American holdings spun off into Laurentia, a sort of fusion of OTL America and Canada, a benevolent, cosmopolitan, wealthy, forward-facing, and very large country.
The blue outline represents the Anglosphere, which tends to have broad conditions of mutual free trade and geopolitical alignment. The southern federation, resolutely pro-slavery, was not invited.
I have a weak Germany because I was tired of timelines with Germany dominating Europe after an ATL WW1. But I might change my mind and have a happy, Vienna-focused German state and no wars at all. This is a happy timeline, after all.
In this world, the former United States are not immune from the nationalist currents of the 19th century, and broadly coalesce along 3 distinct cultural areas that existed in OTL: the dynamic cities of New England and the Middle Colonies, the Appalachian backcountry, and the Deep South plantations of upwardly mobile slaver-conquistadors. There was a fourth center of gravity, the Tidewater plantations of North Carolina and Delmarva...but they lost over half their states to their Appalachian backcountry populations, and then got hoovered up by the Deep South successor state (though Delaware joined Philadelphia in the northern federation).
Great Britain maintained control of the Ohio River Valley, Northern and Appalachian-started wars notwithstanding. They also shut down the Southern slavery's attempts to break into the trans-Mississippi. The end result is that their North American holdings spun off into Laurentia, a sort of fusion of OTL America and Canada, a benevolent, cosmopolitan, wealthy, forward-facing, and very large country.
The blue outline represents the Anglosphere, which tends to have broad conditions of mutual free trade and geopolitical alignment. The southern federation, resolutely pro-slavery, was not invited.
I have a weak Germany because I was tired of timelines with Germany dominating Europe after an ATL WW1. But I might change my mind and have a happy, Vienna-focused German state and no wars at all. This is a happy timeline, after all.
No Australia/New Zealand?
Also literally no changes other than North America and Germany?
Also also, did the subdivisions all have to be boxes? Even in Mexico?
More bloody civil war results in radicalism on both sides. The war marches on to 1866, but Andrew Johnson is replaced by John Sherman. The South is divided into several military districts of various occupation levels, ranging from full-on federal control of everything in places like Mississippi to lighter control in places like Tennessee. The GOP sets extremely high re-admittance measures via constitutional amendment that take decades to reach. Even in ITTL 2022 the federal government maintains veto power over congressional and state legislature maps and the CSA battle flag is banned.
As I said, it's a work-in-progress.
In OTL North America, latitude and longitude lines were often used to demarcate states, so there is precedent for it. In Mexico, I actually used the Nueces River in Texas if you notice (north of the Rio Grande, the OTL Mexicans used this as the traditional demarcation for Texas).
I could have used more rivers and basins for internal boundaries. It ends up being a lot of extra work for me, for a result that maybe one person will appreciate. Case in point: you didn't even notice the Nueces River!
So I decided to stick to mostly latitude/longitude for internal lines.
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Yes, but not in all the borders of practically every state.
I did though. It was just not worth mentioning when pretty much all of "Laurentia" was boxes as was northern Mexico between Texas and California/Nevada.
"All the subdivisions being boxes" was a mild exaggeration and mostly referred to "Laurentia" (much of Mexico was left in its non-boxy self anyway).
Not necessarily, it's actually just an alternate map of Europe in present times.
Well, here's an old map I did, with a few corrections, and a new setting description:
After the Last European War, in which the USA essentially gassed to death the inhabitants of every European city above “large town” status, the US and China were essentially the Last Great Powers Standing, the Soviet Union having been gutted in a previous war with the Germans and their eastern European allies. Nearly two centuries later, the split remains and the rest of the world has essentially been organized into two blocks centered around the two Powers. The US has absorbed Canada and a by now firmly Americanized/USA-ized and English-speaking Latin America, and made client states of the remaining bits of the British Empire in Australasia and South Africa. China, meanwhile, has absorbed much of Asia into a confederation of sincized nations, including the eastern parts of the former Soviet Union,, while allying with the independent nations of India, Africa and the Middle East.
Although it may look like an even split or even one favoring the Chinese-dominated Asiatic Confederacy, in fact the Americans have the economic and cultural upper hand. The world is actually pretty closely integrated economically, and heavily dominated by American business and popular culture. American investment in Asia and Africa is massive, and there are plenty of American factories and enterprises even in China proper. US products and Asian knockoffs thereof, American movies, American fashions, American televisor shows, and even American slang are an integral part of Chinese everyday life. Even the Chinese ideographic writing system has been largely displaced by the western Alphabet. While the Chinese have made some efforts to promote their own culture (chopsticks and, for some reason, the pigtail are back, and much is made of the Chinese literary classics), in many ways this a largely superficial show for purposes of national ego-flattering.
Still, some fairly fundamental differences remain. China is a one-party dictatorship, with the Nationalist Party holding a monopoly on power as firmly as the Communists of our world, with the Assembly of Party Delegates holding ultimate legislative control. (The office of the Presidency varied in power: sometimes the President being a large powerless sacral ruler in the mode of Japanese Emperors, while some strong-willed individuals occasionally succeeded in parlaying their symbolic importance into near-dictatorial powers)
America has maintained the forms of democracy, but in fact is little more democratic than China, being essentially a self-perpetuating oligarchy propped up by religion and the cult of the Superior Man. (The worship of the rich and powerful and successful has reached its logical conclusion, and that fact that someone is rich and powerful is taken as unarguable evidence of their personal and moral superiority and status as one of God’s elect. Indeed, the worship of the Capitalist has infiltrated religion, with God often metaphorically portrayed as the Supreme Boss and Ultimate Employer, his Love being his munificence towards His Employees).
Still, the US system has some benefits for the common man: the point of great wealth is power and social status, not consumption, and many of the US’s ruling oligarchy are often quite aesthetic in their tastes. They’re actually more willing to reward the working class for their labors in the name of social peace and to demonstrate their semi-godly nature than the rich of certain other American-dominated realities, and most industrial workers in the American Continental Federation can afford not only their own car but their own airplane as well.
Indeed, the average Chinese worker is rather less well compensated than the American one. This is not only a matter of China being somewhat less developed than America: it’s simply that the Chinese government has different priorities, not being so much into the gospel of wealth as the promotion of culture and education. The old enthusiasm for examinations remains, although nowadays to join the Party one is exhaustively tested in knowledge of modern sciences rather than the Confucian Classics (including a solid grounding in the social sciences, which is at least more useful than a knowledge of theoretical mathematics).
(Alas, the sheer amount of information testing for positions in government or academic positions leads to a great deal of rote learning and regurgitation of memorized facts rather than actual creative scientific thought, and China keeps up with the Americans technologically but does not surpass them).
American religion is varied: aside from old-fashioned fundamentalism, a weird sort of “Behaviorst Christianity” (not really any odder than the Christian Objectivism popular with some types OTL) is popular among those with intellectual pretensions, denying traditional religion, but interpreting some of the more esoteric concepts of physics as proof that physical energy itself was a manifestation of the divine, and that force, speed, change, action were the divine working itself out through the physical world, a philosophy of action for the sake of action, movement for the sake of movement, in which the constant motion and frenzied economic action of American society demonstrated the power of the Cosmic Will in American affairs. Although often bitterly at odds with more traditional religious thinkers over dogma, both were in fundamental agreement in that American society and the workings of power within it were in line with divine desires: whatever is, is right.
China is theoretically secular, Chinese traditional religion and Buddhism having largely gone by the wayside. Confucianism as a secular philosophy still survives, combined with a more spiritual philosophy, influenced by Positivism, in which human life and society is seen as a form of art.
( It is probably true the Chinese - particularly well-off Chinese - are better at enjoying life than modern Americans, in spite of greater levels of wealth among the American masses. American society has been in some ways increasingly neurotic since the Last European War: unable to process their massive guilt for what they had done, Americans turned defensive, unable to take criticism, increasingly self-righteous and quick to put blame on others. Self-criticism by the late 23rd century is almost a lost art among Americans).
Europe west of Russia has been swallowed whole by the Americans, the surviving rural populations undergoing a process of often forced Americanization and American settlement, and new states carved out of the continent with a fair degree of disregard for former historical or ethnic boundaries. East of the chemical dead zone, a Russian rump state managed to avoid outright annexation, but is very much of an American economic and political puppet, a culturally exhausted and dependent people, fearful of the Asian colossus to their east and alienated from their historical roots. The remnants of the British Empire in Australia and South Africa are more independent, but remain essentially America’s poor relations and yes-men. The Chinese block, on the other hand, is more diverse, even within the Asiatic Confederacy, which is less Sinicized than the American Continental Federation is Americanized/USA-ized, central Asians, Japanese, and SE Asians remaining fairly culturally distinct. Meanwhile, the black African and middle eastern states remain to some extent their own thing, while India is more powerful relative to China than the old Anglo colonies are vs the Americans, if still rather dependent on the more developed Chinese economically.
(Culturally, India is probably more alien to China than China is to the Americas, but common historical scarring at the hands of predatory western capitalism and colonialism and a desire to prevent American cultural hegemony keeps them fairly close allies).
Technology has progressed slowly in this world compared to ours. There are no true computers, and nuclear energy has failed to be developed (although some remarkably awful chemical and biological weapons have been). Fossil fuels remain dominant, increasingly coal as the last of the oil runs out. The League of Nations still exists, but in vestigial form: it eventually broke into “Eastern” and “Western” branches and ceased its function as a neutral, global forum. One good thing it did do before it faded into irrelevance was establish international control over the exploitation and development of fossil fuels, to prevent any one power from monopolizing access to energy sources and by doing so precipitate warfare. These institutions still more or less function, but the discovery of colossal new coal deposits below the Antarctic ice, which are widely predicted to become the number one fuel source for the planet in the next century, threaten to put an end to this: for there are many in the American government who see this as an opportunity to gain a permanent upper hand over the Chinese…
Glad to hear you're unnerved! I thought about whether to reverse the UCS or not, and decided it went better with the notion of a "weird reversal."
Well, it was hard to say how far to go with the role reversal stuff. The fact that Japan, unlike OTL, is post-colonial and socialist certainly argues we aren't doing a straight switch here: OTOH, with Olaf being a UK lefty, this could be seen as his wish fulfillment for the OTL UK.
I went with the peace thing here, unlike an earlier version I did elsewhere: the Yangtze confederation/Germany is grumpy and with a bit of a chip on its shoulder, but it hasn't undergone a disaster like OTL's world war and certainly isn't *Nazi. Japan has a fair bit of an entente cordiale thing going with North China/the French, but it is hampered by the North Chinese right-wing political parties, which look at Japanese socialism with a great deal of suspicion.
The war in Europe will principally be New Nippon and North China against the United Kingdoms, I think: Japan may not even directly participate, not having any real skin in the game.
No nukes yet! Will New Nippon develop a nuke to force a United Kingdoms surrender? I dunno.
I'm having trouble finding when the story was written: it was first published posthumously, although it certainly seems to be a late 30's or maybe early 40s story.
2. Say, for example, are the Japanese and the Councilliar Union by any chance allied or aligned in their goal of - presumably - world proletarian liberation? (or do their respective ideologies and goals differ enough to render mutual entente a non-feasibility?). On that note, what exactly are their goals, anyway? (The Japanese seem to be against colonialism at least in principle according to both the map and history, but then it's not like OTL Reds haven't had their own share of hypocrisies, and it's a "Japanese People's Empire" to boot! Socialized collective imperialism, where the income and wealth gathered from plundering people abroad is fairly shared and distributed among local Japanese?)
Er, no, it's a Empire because it has an Emperor. That was a sort of little bit of whimsy on my part, that the Japanese have a socialist revolution but still revere their (holy but largely political impotent) emperor to the extent they keep him around after the revolution as the head of state. I suppose a pure republic would make more sense, but it's less fun.
I'm going with an interpretation of Japan as socialistic but still fairly democratic (the actual revolution may have been messy, but it has avoided a descent into Stalinist or Maoist dictatorship) because, one, I'd consider that what Olaf would _want_ and because the behavior and description of the Japanese characters simply doesn't make sense as representative of a totalitarian dictatorship (nor does the bit about the enviable social conditions.) People can have issue with the notion that a full blown socialist state can avoid dictatorship and crapsack conditions, but it's Stapledon's story, and I'm trying to stick fairly close to what he appeared to be doing.
Since the Councilliar Republics seem to be an USSR-equivalent, my first guess is that there's a serious ideological conflict, but then I don't know how well informed (or how delusional) Olaf was about the OTL USSR at the time this was written. My general assumption is that Japan is currently more interested in perfecting Socialism in One Country rather than pushing for a world revolution.
3. I'm curious about the Federation of New Nippon or Japanese USA here. They seem to be a imperialist to an even greater degree than the OTL one, outright controlling large swathes of land in Europe and elsewhere. How are relations with the home islands - are close cultural ties perhaps strong enough to bridge what are fundamental differences in ideology - or say, the other East Asian nations which still practice colonialism, which might be a better fit? Being colonized west-to-east instead of east-to-west, and with no easy early access to the Atlantic, did it ever have a history of slavery like the OTL USA? (Of course, it could be that instead of Africans, southeast Asians are the target
I'm assuming a lack of slavery. I'd assume New Nippon doesn't think too much about current-day Japan - what would the US think of a UK that went no-bones-about-it Socialist in the 1920s? (See, "Fight and Be Right"
). But on the other hand, there might be more continuity than OTL here: New Nippon seems to consider itself the natural successor to the Japanese empire abroad. Perhaps it became independent rather later than our USA?Yeah, it's definitely more aggressive and more imperialist than our USA. But then Olaf didn't seem to think very highly of the USA: look at the role it plays in his "Last and First Men", for instance.
I was going for a "Turkey" equivalent there, with the islands being sort of like the Near East, but without the OTL Islamic conquests of the Balkans. Perhaps not the best idea? SE Asia as the Balkans, Nanzhao being sort of an Austria (multiethnic and shambolic), and the alt-Soviet Union being seen as half-east Asian and half "barbarian" rather than half-European: Europe is a more restricted concept than Asia after all! The Sinicized (conquered and/or puppetized, but not suffering from heavy ethnic replacement as OTL) native American states are seen as very dubiously part of the East Asian world if at all.
The Maori are another successfully modernizing non-East Asian power: I suppose if the UK is lead-up-to-WWII Japan, the Maori state is more "plucky little Japan" before WWI.
Very nice. I particularly like the Kentucky-Tennessee based western state. That's not something you often see in early AH but my understanding is that there was very real fear in the early US of that region breaking off.
Here's what Disneyland could've been
1. The Resort Hotel District
A lushly landscaped Resort Hotel District includes a newly renovated
Disneyland Hotel and three new themed hotels that celebrate
California's most famous architectural landmarks.
2. Disneyland Center
Located around a dramatic six-acre lake that recalls traditional
California waterfronts, Disneyland Center offers a variety of retail, dining
and entertainment activities for guests and area residents alike.
3. Disneyland
The Magic Kingdom will continue to delight guests with new and exciting
attractions planned as part of the Disney Decade.
4. Disneyland Plaza
As the pedestrian and transportation hub of The Disneyland Resort,
Disneyland Plaza is distinguished by extensive landscaping and
spectacular fountains.
5. Garden District Improvements
A series of landscaped walkways, promenades and streetscapes
interwoven throughout the Commercial Recreation Area will create an
enjoyable pedestrian experience for both guests and area residents.
6. Disneyland Drive
West Street between Ball Road and Katella Avenue, becomes
Disneyland Drive, a gently curving, tree-lined boulevard--the "Main
Street" of the new Resort Hotel District.
7. WESTCOT Center
A totally new theme park inspired by Walt Disney World's EPCOT
Center, WESTCOT Center provides dramatic showcases of foreign
lands and themed pavilions that explore the wonders of the human body,
the delicacy of our natural environment and the expansiveness of new
horizons where we "Dare to Dream the Future."
8. Convention Center
The Convention Center will continue to host regional and national
conventions and its visitors will benefit from the added entertainment
and dining options provided by the Disneyland Resort.
9. Internal Circulation
Complementing a network of pedestrian walkways, this sophisticated
system of moving sidewalks, elevated people movers and an expanded
monorail system will transport guests throughout the Resort.
10. Transportation and Parking Management Plan
Developed in conjunction with the City of Anaheim, this innovative plan
allows motorists to exit the freeway directly into the two new public
parking structures without traveling on city streets, thereby reducing
traffic congestion.
Planned as the Disneyland counterpart to Epcot Center at Walt Disney World, WestCOT was an ambitious Disneyland expansion project dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture. The park was represented by SpaceStation Earth, a larger version of Spaceship Earth featured at Epcot Center. It was announced in 1991, however due to budget constraints, the project was canceled in 1995 and it's planned site later was used for Disney California Adventure, which opened 2001. The planned Resort Hotel District did see the light of day and opened as Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.
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Religious Divisions of Al-Andalus in 1908
Religion in Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus is a predominantly Sayyida Muslim country with sizeable Christian and Jewish minorities. It is the most populous Muslim country in Europe and, along with Persia, is the third- or fourth-largest in the Muslim world, after the Delhi and Mamluk Sultanates. Al-Andalus is a non-secular state with Sayyida Islam as the official religion, though the rights of religious minorities are respected as a separate and protected class.History
Of the three faiths which today make up Al-Andalus, Christians have been there the longest. The faith first spread here with the Romans, who called the land Hispania. The Arian Goths further propagated the Christian faith, they shifted to the Latin rite around 360. In 711 the first Moorish and Arab armies arrived and they brought with them Sunni Islam. While many Jews lived on the peninsula before the Muslim conquest, they only came in significant numbers together with the tide of Islam.In 1492, the Emirate adopted Sayyida Islam, establishing a clear separation from the authority of the Sunni caliphs in the distant east.
Geographical Distribution
South from the lands of Al-Qila to the strait at Al-Jazira, the majority of the population professes Islam. Christians mainly live in the mountainous region of Galisiya, Asturyas and especially Al-Nabra and Qattalun. They are also concentrated in some numbers on the eastern coast of Al-Xarq and Braqra as far south as the ports of Qulumriyah and Balansiya. Urban demographics differ, as a higher concentration of Jews reside in many of Al-Andalus largest cities and towns. Most pronounced is the Jewish population in the capital Qurtuba where one may almost find a Jew for every Muslim.Religious adherence largely corresponds to ethnic lines; Arabs and Moors practice Islam, Hebrews follow Judaism, but Mozarabs are typically either Muslims or Christians.
The Dhimmi
Dhimmi refers to the Jews and Christians of Muslim countries. The word literally means "protected person", and refers to the state's obligation to protect their rights as religious minorities. They are typically laden with an extra tax, called Jizya, and excluded from military service. Dhimmi rights and advantages have historically been upheld throughout Andalusian history, giving them an enviable position amid the world of Islam. Persecutions have been far and few between, but they are not unheard of. In 1066, a mob in Garnata massacred much of the local Jewish population, and many Jews were driven out of the country as they were held responsible for the Buebonic Death in the mid-14th century.
I like this and am curious about where you will go with it. But we need to talk about the box provinces in *Canada
I have seen the other criticisms and your response to it. I actually like the idea but it could use some tweaks for plausibility.
OTL most American states and Canadian provinces are rectangular-ish or at least have several long straight line borders, aligning them to a grid is plausible. But I really recommend you take a look at a population density map of Canada and the western US and decide which ones should be merged into larger rectangles. I am especially looking at some near my home in northern Ontario that will have a population of about 2 000 people and 10 000 Moose (I exaggerate but not by much). The province between Lake Superior and the Hudson Bay, and the one that is roughly “East Manitoba” around Lake of the Woods are both empty wilderness, and in a TL where the south side of those lakes is part of *Canada they are only likely to be more ignored and out of the way
Again, I’m not trying to bash your work. I like the map! Just constructive criticism
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