Dr. Strangelove
Banned
THE ORDER VS PROGRESS WORLD
The Order Vs Progress scenario started in the now deceased Othertimelines.com forums back in April 2006 as a roleplaying wargame. I don’t remember exactly which were the main influences behind it, but I remember I suddenly found myself tinkering with the idea “Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a TL with a steampunk Cold War in which liberal democracies and successful utopian socialist states were struggling against surviving evil absolute monarchies? Also, let’s get rid from Marx and make utopian socialism the main revolutionary ideology.” So I started mixing more or less random ideas and elements and came up with a playable scenario set in January 1st 1900. Everybody said the idea was really cool and original and loved the concept of our Cold War set in a “Victorian” world.
I always wanted to turn this scenario into a developed timeline, with a nice PoD and more details into that fascinating world. In may 2006 I posted some snippets I had written to see what that could lead to. I also suggested a PoD with a victorious Napoleonic invasion of England, but at the time I didn’t have time to develop the idea and the entire Napoleon thing seemed a bit silly. So here’s why I need your help, gentlemen: I have a nice scenario, but I need a PoD and the timeline leading to this situation. So I am going to present you with a detailed setup, and I hope you help me figuring out what the heck did happen. The PoD should be between 1789 and 1830. There are some basic tenets I’d like to keep, but many details can be changed to make it more plausible:
The date is January, 1st, 1900. A new century has just started, and people hopes it will be a century of peace and understanding after mankind has suffered the bloodiest, most terrible century in history. I don’t know details but there have been TWO world wars between 1840 and 1880 and countless smallest wars that have bled Europe, Asia and the Americas white. For the entire century, two great alliances have been defined: first, we have the Alliance, uniting those countries with democratic or socialist governments (they label themselves as “revolutionaries” or “progressivists”), who espouse the ideals of the French and, to a lesser extent, American revolutions of the late 18th century. Second, we have the Axis (I’d definitely like a not-so-cliché sounding name), reuniting those countries who believe that the revolution was a big mistake and that good old absolute monarchy is the answer. These alliances existed in a more or less formal way for most of the century, but after the Second Great War ended around 1880 (how? I don’t know), they became formal alliances. Actually, they became more than that; think of them as a combination of NATO and the United Nations: a military defense pact on one side, plus an international forum on the other side. The trick being, that there are TWO of them, espousing radically different worldviews, so that they’re not compatible with each other. Imagine a world with two opposed United Nations. There are, of course, nations not affiliated to either alliance, but just like in our Cold War, every nation leans towards one or another. Coups and proxy wars are frequent. Since 1880, the world has been divided into two mutually exclusive fields, one championing the cause of Order and the other championing Progress. Despite 20 years of peace, both sides still field large armies and develop new weapons, getting ready for the next war. Everybody is convinced that peace is so fragile that the slightest mistake could spark WWIII.
Liberal republics like our USA are scarce in this world. In the Axis side, we have traditional monarchies. In the Allied side there are a few constitutional monarchies and several socialist states. This *socialism is not OTL’s scientific socialism championed by Marx. Marx went butterflied away, so this socialism has been influenced by the utopic teachings of Robert Owen in England and Charles Fourier in France. This has led to some interesting developments, such as gender equality being more prevalent in 1900 in the alliance side than in OTL.
There has been no 19th century colonialism here. The nations of Europe were too exhausted between rounds of wars to venture into Africa or Asia.Existing colonial empires were abandoned when the metropolis descended into war and strife. On the other hand, there has been a lot of emigration from Europe and North America by people who fled the constant struggles. Many Europeans have immigrated to South America, Australia, Africa, and Asia. This has led to an interesting phenomenon; almost all “uncivilized” countries have been able to pull a Meiji during the last third of the century. By 1900, almost all of the world’s states are undergoing industrialization. Europeans do not look down upon Africans or Asians: they probably come from nations roughly equal in technology.
Technology is more advanced than in OTL, especially in the military fields. By 1900, the modern armies field 1930-era tanks (they work with steam or oil), machine guns, a very developed chemical weapons arsenal, and 1920-ish battleships and dreadnoughts. Plus, the great powers pride themselves in their Airship fleets. Did you guys think this scenario would be able to ignore them? In fact, both alliances have large fleets of Airships ready 24/7 . they are TTL’s equivalent of our Cold War nuclear bombers and ICBM’s. In case war breaks out, these monsters will attack the enemy’s cities with its gas-tipped rockets. Fear of a massive chemical or biological war is as prevalent in this world as fear to nuclear war was in our world between 1950 and 1990.
These are the most general aspects. In the next post I will explain what’s up with the world’s different nations to give greater details.
The Order Vs Progress scenario started in the now deceased Othertimelines.com forums back in April 2006 as a roleplaying wargame. I don’t remember exactly which were the main influences behind it, but I remember I suddenly found myself tinkering with the idea “Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a TL with a steampunk Cold War in which liberal democracies and successful utopian socialist states were struggling against surviving evil absolute monarchies? Also, let’s get rid from Marx and make utopian socialism the main revolutionary ideology.” So I started mixing more or less random ideas and elements and came up with a playable scenario set in January 1st 1900. Everybody said the idea was really cool and original and loved the concept of our Cold War set in a “Victorian” world.
I always wanted to turn this scenario into a developed timeline, with a nice PoD and more details into that fascinating world. In may 2006 I posted some snippets I had written to see what that could lead to. I also suggested a PoD with a victorious Napoleonic invasion of England, but at the time I didn’t have time to develop the idea and the entire Napoleon thing seemed a bit silly. So here’s why I need your help, gentlemen: I have a nice scenario, but I need a PoD and the timeline leading to this situation. So I am going to present you with a detailed setup, and I hope you help me figuring out what the heck did happen. The PoD should be between 1789 and 1830. There are some basic tenets I’d like to keep, but many details can be changed to make it more plausible:
The date is January, 1st, 1900. A new century has just started, and people hopes it will be a century of peace and understanding after mankind has suffered the bloodiest, most terrible century in history. I don’t know details but there have been TWO world wars between 1840 and 1880 and countless smallest wars that have bled Europe, Asia and the Americas white. For the entire century, two great alliances have been defined: first, we have the Alliance, uniting those countries with democratic or socialist governments (they label themselves as “revolutionaries” or “progressivists”), who espouse the ideals of the French and, to a lesser extent, American revolutions of the late 18th century. Second, we have the Axis (I’d definitely like a not-so-cliché sounding name), reuniting those countries who believe that the revolution was a big mistake and that good old absolute monarchy is the answer. These alliances existed in a more or less formal way for most of the century, but after the Second Great War ended around 1880 (how? I don’t know), they became formal alliances. Actually, they became more than that; think of them as a combination of NATO and the United Nations: a military defense pact on one side, plus an international forum on the other side. The trick being, that there are TWO of them, espousing radically different worldviews, so that they’re not compatible with each other. Imagine a world with two opposed United Nations. There are, of course, nations not affiliated to either alliance, but just like in our Cold War, every nation leans towards one or another. Coups and proxy wars are frequent. Since 1880, the world has been divided into two mutually exclusive fields, one championing the cause of Order and the other championing Progress. Despite 20 years of peace, both sides still field large armies and develop new weapons, getting ready for the next war. Everybody is convinced that peace is so fragile that the slightest mistake could spark WWIII.
Liberal republics like our USA are scarce in this world. In the Axis side, we have traditional monarchies. In the Allied side there are a few constitutional monarchies and several socialist states. This *socialism is not OTL’s scientific socialism championed by Marx. Marx went butterflied away, so this socialism has been influenced by the utopic teachings of Robert Owen in England and Charles Fourier in France. This has led to some interesting developments, such as gender equality being more prevalent in 1900 in the alliance side than in OTL.
There has been no 19th century colonialism here. The nations of Europe were too exhausted between rounds of wars to venture into Africa or Asia.Existing colonial empires were abandoned when the metropolis descended into war and strife. On the other hand, there has been a lot of emigration from Europe and North America by people who fled the constant struggles. Many Europeans have immigrated to South America, Australia, Africa, and Asia. This has led to an interesting phenomenon; almost all “uncivilized” countries have been able to pull a Meiji during the last third of the century. By 1900, almost all of the world’s states are undergoing industrialization. Europeans do not look down upon Africans or Asians: they probably come from nations roughly equal in technology.
Technology is more advanced than in OTL, especially in the military fields. By 1900, the modern armies field 1930-era tanks (they work with steam or oil), machine guns, a very developed chemical weapons arsenal, and 1920-ish battleships and dreadnoughts. Plus, the great powers pride themselves in their Airship fleets. Did you guys think this scenario would be able to ignore them? In fact, both alliances have large fleets of Airships ready 24/7 . they are TTL’s equivalent of our Cold War nuclear bombers and ICBM’s. In case war breaks out, these monsters will attack the enemy’s cities with its gas-tipped rockets. Fear of a massive chemical or biological war is as prevalent in this world as fear to nuclear war was in our world between 1950 and 1990.
These are the most general aspects. In the next post I will explain what’s up with the world’s different nations to give greater details.