Mexico Ascendant: The Tale of a Failed Texan Revolution
- Thread starter theman7777
- Start date
-
- Tags
- mexico texas united states
56
56: The Indian Civil War - Part 2
When communist rebellion broke out in the North-Western Provinces in December 1956, the British authorities responded with harsh and overwhelming power. However, the largest long term impact of this show of force was simply to further anger the local populations and further contribute to the spread of the rebellion.The initial hotspots of rebellion quickly spread and formed a larger connected entity, just in time to be devastated by several British assaults. However, much of the territory that the British reoccupied wa subject to intense guerilla warfare, and urban battles drained the British manpower rapidly. Despite this, the British had an overwhelming advantage, having complete control of the skies through the RAF, as well as more advanced equipment on the ground, despite what the Workers’ Union had been sending the Indian communists.
Combat during the Indian civil war highlighted some of the major changing trends in warfare, with a greater focus on automatic assault weapons and guerilla warfare, as with the widespread introduction of anti-vehicle weapons it became much simpler to take out an expensive British tank with just a few men. The fanaticism of the Communist forces also gave them a leg up against their foes. With the British forces increasingly spread thin following their recent advance, the rebels went on the offensive, pushing back the British forces and recapturing much of the land they lost not long before.
Dark blue is territory controlled by the communists during the 2 month ceasefire
The immediate result of this British defeat was the declaration of independence from a number of Muslim Princely States along the Indus River. While both sides initially left them alone, the British came to fear that their example would lead to more Princely states declaring independence, leading to invasion of the Indus states. Some joined with the Communists despite their ideological differences, while others sided with the British, and others yet fought against both. This, combined with the continued communist victories across Northern India, lead to the rise of the Princely Federation.
The Princely Federation was the second attempt for the Princely States to avoid the two extremes of Communist rule and British rule, and to create a decentralized league of Princely States. It opposed both the Communists and the Raj, and for many Princely rulers it seemed the logical choice. Thus, it gained significant power and became the major 3rd party in the Indian Civil War.
Spoilers for upcoming updates are blurred out
Whatever happened to Subhas Chandra Bose and his Azad Hind? Do they either Bose or the Azad Hind exist ITTL?
No, everything at this point has almost completely diverged from OTL.
The states that chose to side with neither the Communists or British were quickly defeated.
I want to write more, I have just been struggling to find time and motivation. At some point I do want to expand on this timeline, and hopefully bring it to a satisfying conclusion.
Yes, there is a rail connecting the Atlantic and Pacific parts of former Canada, as well as railroads in the US and the South that connect to the Mexican lines which extend to California.
I think I briefly mention this in post 9 or something, but the Mexican government's immigration policy is much less discriminatory than the American one IRL.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Mexican culture is going to get very interesting, I imagine, with all the inflow of diverse immigrants.
I'd still love to see something along the lines of Mexican Hollywood. And if it has a good helping of Asian actors in addition to Mexican ones? Muy bien.
Which makes me think - IOTL we have Spanglish, which works because both languages come from Europe and at least in America we use a lot of Spanish words in day to day life (I had no idea "salsa" was actually Spanish for "sauce" and not just a wholly separate word). But Chinese frex is quite different. AFAIK, whereas Spanish is all about verb tense, that's not really a "thing" in Chinese.
Spanese would certainly be interesting to listen to. Maybe we should look to the Phillipines for inspiration on how a heavily East Asian colonized Mexican California might develop.
Epilogue
Epilogue - The Next 50 Years
I wanted to start by saying that I’ve always felt bad about never giving closure to the people who read this timeline and encouraged me along the way, providing me with inspiration and pushing me to improve my work with constructive criticism. While I've forgotten much of the narrative I originally intended to write, I will do my best to provide a satisfying conclusion to Mexico Ascendant. Included are some maps and other visuals that I never published, and I do remember some of the broader ideas I had for the direction of the story, so here I will dump everything I have in the hope that it will provide some closure.
Part I - India
During the Indian Civil War the communists increasingly gained the upper hand, crushing the Princely Federation, and creating a ever more desperate climate for the British. Widespread losses in India and growing insurgencies across the Empire exacerbated the slide towards authoritarianism, with the military expanding its control over both domestic affairs and the conflicts abroad. Having been pushed back to Southern India and taking heavy losses on all fronts, and without approval from the UK government, the command of the British Indian Army authorize the nuclear bombardment of Delhi, in a last ditch bid that a “shock and awe” operation would terrify the communists into surrender. On the contrary, this of course leads to the UK becoming an international pariah, and inspires mass mutiny amongst its Indian troops, allowing the total victory of the communists.I wanted to start by saying that I’ve always felt bad about never giving closure to the people who read this timeline and encouraged me along the way, providing me with inspiration and pushing me to improve my work with constructive criticism. While I've forgotten much of the narrative I originally intended to write, I will do my best to provide a satisfying conclusion to Mexico Ascendant. Included are some maps and other visuals that I never published, and I do remember some of the broader ideas I had for the direction of the story, so here I will dump everything I have in the hope that it will provide some closure.
Part I - India
In the aftermath of the Indian Civil War, the UK scrambled to further delegate their rule to local intermediaries throughout the Empire, as it was slammed with sanctions and condemned by the international community, facing widespread unrest both at home and in the colonies.
The world in the aftermath of the Indian Civil War
Part II - Africa
The American Junta was able to hold on to Liberia despite a barbaric bush war against communist insurgents by making it a full-fledged state, although the same strategy did not work for the short-lived states of Washington and Jefferson, which succumbed to their insurgencies. The American bush wars were some of the worst, as the generals in D.C. would rather napalm all of Central Africa than admit defeat, which is pretty close to what they tried to do. In the end, it was the neverending stream of America’s sons returning in body bags that forced an end to the bloodshed.
Africa in the midst of decolonization
The settler dominions of Rhodesia and South Africa held out much longer than the rest of British Africa, resulting in far greater bloodshed, but ultimately they too were defeated (only partially in the case of South Africa). Meanwhile, much of the remaining Spanish and Italian possessions had already been highly Europeanized, which made the case for keeping them easier to sell to the international community. While a number of German colonies had a high population of European settlers, the German government favored the creation of multiracial democracies that would have full control over their affairs but would retain the Kaiser as their head of state. This relationship also involved close economic ties and other forms of collaboration. Sweden also approached decolonization with a lighter touch, ultimately helping to develop industry and higher education in Bas-Kongo, before granting them independence. As a result, Bas-Kongo is one of the most developed countries in Africa by the end of the century, categorized as a high income country.
Part III - The Commonwealth
As for the official demise of the Commonwealth? It depends how you define it. Columbia left in the wake of Delhi's destruction. New Zealand exited in the 70s, and Australia in the 80s. By the mid-late 80s leftist rebels had overrun Angola, Mozambique, and Rhodesia, forming the Zambesi Socialist Republic, and were now focusing on supporting the Azanian Liberation Army’s efforts to topple the South African government, Britain’s last ally. With the South African army on the verge of defeat, British and South African military leaders issued an ultimatum: either allow the withdrawal of the military and the European population to the Cape Province, or face a repeat of Delhi. The gambit worked, and the conflict ended. However Britain gained nothing from this, as once the South African rump state had stabilized Afrikaner factions in the government and military executed a coup, forming the Cape Republic and severing ties with the UK. This obviously destabilized the uneasy peace with the ALA, with South Africa’s benefactor no longer around, however it would quickly be shown that there was a method to the Afrikaner generals’ madness, as the Cape Republic would successfully test its first nuclear weapon that same year. What later became clear was that pro-Afrikaner factions in the military had been siphoning funds for a secret nuclear program for the past 20 years, in order to shake the country’s reliance on UK forces and allow it to declare independence. South Africa’s betrayal would be the final nail in the coffin for the much-diminished British Empire. The 20 year guerilla war in Ireland reached its crescendo in the early 1990s, ending in the violent expulsion of the economically destitute UK from the bombed-out island. These days the UK remains diplomatically isolated, cut off from trade, and plagued by internal unrest. However, in the past few years in which the kingdom has been at peace for the first time in decades show some signs of improvement. The old guard of aristocrats, generals, and demagogues are dying out or retiring, giving hope for the isle’s redemption.
Part IV - The Worker's Union
The Worker’s Union too had its day in the sun, and to its credit was able to achieve remarkable things considering its humble beginnings, even if it sometimes required unorthodox methods to produce results. Geopolitically the W.U. experienced a number of shifts over its lifetime, sometimes pursuing cooperation with the capitalist powers, especially Mexico, and sometimes nearly starting a nuclear war with the American Junta. While it was able to create massive growth in its earlier days, poor economic planning and the country’s isolation from many foreign markets lead to a steady slowdown of growth. The leadership of the state grew more complacent, bureaucratic, and corrupt as the years went on, to the point where its citizens no longer saw any reason to endure it anymore. As faith in the system broke down, the system itself broke down, dissolving in the mid 90s. However, corruption did not go away alongside the central committee. A failure to properly transition to a market economy lead to oligarchy and corporate crime. Despite this, there have been significant benefits brought by opening up to the world, and the country still has a lot of potential. Ultimately, it is too soon to tell how the young Gulf Federation will fair in the new millennium.
Part V - The American Junta
The American Junta ended through gradual liberalization in the later part of the 20th Century, in part due to the humiliating and costly military defeats in Africa. While it is still far from a full democracy, the 2nd American Republic has made significant strides of late. The economy still is skewed heavily in favor of monopolies and well connected businesses due to the Junta’s corporatist policies, but that too seems to have benefited from increasing political liberalization.
Part VI - Mexico Ascendant
The world as it stands at the end of the millennium
I plan to answer any questions or clarify anything about what happened/is happening/will happen, so anything you're curious about or that wasn't covered in the narrative itself I'll be happy to give an in-depth response.
Attachments
@theman7777, may I give you ten important questions:
- How did the fallen or declining United Kingdom became a sort or type of pseudo-North Korea thing? How did Mexico viewed the country and how did the British had treated them in terms of that? Does the United Kingdom have shared its history of bad human rights record even when it comes to colonial wars? Did the British escapees can often tell horrified stories on how the declined British Empire treated them harshly?
- As of now, what internet and technology of your TL would look like? Is there any sort of things like the OTL Internet exists?
- Is there any possible that the Gulf Federation with internet equipped military can able to perform cyberattacks on neighbors?
- How did the Indians ended up like OTL China in terms of economic development? Are there any tech companies that is based in India? Who are the figues behind the transformation of the country into something like OTL superpower that are able to find their ways to compete against Mexico?
- Is there any international organization that looks like the OTL United Nations can handle and investigate human rights violations especially in Japan, India, and other countries?
- Can lunar mining possible at the time as of now?
The idea for what ended up happening to the UK kinda stemmed from the question of "what if one of the colonial powers tried to do everything they could to avoid giving up their colonies," since OTL decolonization was relatively peaceful considering how things could have been much worse. Mexico, alongside most democratic countries avoids much of a relationship with the UK, Britain's only partners are states with no regards for human rights or ones that are similarly pariahs. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "Does the United Kingdom have shared its history of bad human rights record even when it comes to colonial wars?" But there is no doubt that British escapees have plenty of bad things to say about the empire.
The equivalent to the internet is really still in very early stages, but a more robust space race stemming from a more multipolar world has lead to a number of advances that are ahead of OTL.
Not right now due to the level of internet technology, but certainly in the future.
I would say that India was actually better than OTL China, because while it had a number of economic problems & failed policies in the first decade of the regime, it never had some of the disastrous economic failures of Mao's China. India did experience a sort of cultural revolution, designed to target things like the caste system & religion, however it wasn't as politically self-cannibalizing compared to China, since it was undertook with different political motivations. Going into the late 70s India found itself increasingly at odds with the Workers' Union and the rest of the Communist International, and thus increasingly deviated from communist dogma when it came to economic policies. This allowed it to gradually increase trade with the capitalist world and vastly grow its industry as a result.
There are some organizations attempting to fulfill that role, but part of the reason why there is so much messed up stuff TTL is because there isn't really a UN equivalent, thus allowing regimes to get away with all sorts of abuses.
It is being developed in 1999, expect it to be implemented by around 2010.
Russia was devastated by the end of WW2, and the pro-Allies government that followed the occupation was ineffective and experienced widespread resistance amongst the population, from a variety of different political standpoints. Their greatly diminished territories resulted in them lacking the ability to project much power internationally, and the global community keeps them at arms length due to a long string of right-wing governments.
Glad for the updates.
Any particular thoughts on pop culture in this world?
It is hard to describe due to the high degree of divergence from OTL, but in a general sense Mexican film, music, television, etc is popular around the world, particularly in the Americas, with Brazil having a similar reach but to a lesser extent. In Europe, Germany is the center of pop culture, particularly pop music, and more broadly German is the most popular 2nd language in other European countries. In Asia Japan is dominant due to China's less of a desire to exert soft power & more conservative culture, but India is increasingly challenging the dominance of Japan. Turkish culture is pretty dominant in the Islamic world, for obvious reasons.