Photos from Alternate Worlds II (read FAQ first)
I basically pulled a Joe Steele on Trotsky but I made him born years earlier in 1913
President Ronald Reagan shaking hands with High King Torin Oakskin of the Nortland dwarves. During the 1986 extra dimensional peace summit, following the Great Convergence of 1982. The summit would mark the beginning of US industrial and development aid with the Dwarven Nortland-Urligark Union of the planet Midgard.
John Lennon jamming in the studio with Paul McCartney (off-screen) after visiting Wings “Venus and Mars” sessions in New Orleans (1975). He would contribute guitar and some backing vocals to the album under the name “Dennis O’ Bell.” This was an integral step to the band’s reunion in the mid 1970s.
From my Surviving Byzantium TL(probably shall never goes much more than pics of this page)
In this hungarian altarpiece, Vlad III of Walacchia is conferring with Saint Nectarios of Bitola(ca 1450)
Altought Vlad Dracul was an usurper of the kingdom of his own brother, he was the last threat to the imperial byzantine role in the Balkans.
Ambitious and cruel, deposed(and allegedly killed) is brother Radu and become king with the approval of Hungary.
His war against Manuel II and Costantine XI, the last Paleologian rulers of Byzantium, was aimed, probably, to the imperial throne. Ultimately he failed, moreover, due to the Albanian prince Georgji Kastriot. Georgji was recognized Despotas of Albania and Epirus by Manuel and by Constane XI he gained a mariage with Helene. Georgji become the successor of the Paleologian dynasty to medieval roman empire.
A polish illuminations showing Vlad III sieging Bitola.
In this hungarian altarpiece, Vlad III of Walacchia is conferring with Saint Nectarios of Bitola(ca 1450)
Altought Vlad Dracul was an usurper of the kingdom of his own brother, he was the last threat to the imperial byzantine role in the Balkans.
Ambitious and cruel, deposed(and allegedly killed) is brother Radu and become king with the approval of Hungary.
His war against Manuel II and Costantine XI, the last Paleologian rulers of Byzantium, was aimed, probably, to the imperial throne. Ultimately he failed, moreover, due to the Albanian prince Georgji Kastriot. Georgji was recognized Despotas of Albania and Epirus by Manuel and by Constane XI he gained a mariage with Helene. Georgji become the successor of the Paleologian dynasty to medieval roman empire.
A polish illuminations showing Vlad III sieging Bitola.
Hey Paul isn't going to buy a high tech camera for a historic event
A picture showing two of China's 'Paramount Men' of the twentieth century together as cadets at the Whampoa Military Academy: Jiang Jieshi, effective ruler of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1944, interim President of the Federal Republic of China between 1944 and 1946, and elected President of the Federal Republic of China between 1946 and 1952; and Zhou Enlai, founder of the Chinese People's Party, war hero and General during the Second Sino-Japanese War 1932-1937, Foreign Minister under the interim government between 1944 and 1946, and President of the Federal Republic of China between 1958 and 1964.
History notes that Jiang Jieshi would become a particularly driven man - indeed, many of his acquaintances would state that he became 'almost a different person, often knowing things he had no way of knowing' - following what appears to have been a seizure in 1926*. However, he recovered quickly, albeit with some carefully-masked confusion over the following week. Whatever the case, upon becoming leader of China, he would begin to energetically and without rest pursue a number of different policies, namely: the strengthening of the government in Nanjing; the modernisation of China; the end of warlordism; the strengthening of the country's military against potential foreign invasion, in particular securing Manchuria with a large number of troops; and the division of the Chinese Communist movement. This latter would be an apparent motivator in his quiet, careful talks with Zhou Enlai beginning shortly after his seizure, the substance of which would only become apparent when Zhou led a large faction of the Communist Party in breaking away, forming the Chinese People's Party (this coming around the same time as the death of Mao Zedong from food poisoning). The foresight of Jiang's military policy would become apparent in 1931, when Japanese forces invaded Manchuria. Though fighting began at this point, 'official' war is considered to have broken out the following year when, following initial reversals, Japan fully committed to the invasion.
During the war years, Jiang would provide effective leadership to the country on the domestic front, as well as rallying support for China on the international stage - in particular from the United States, where he would quickly approach President Roosevelt upon his election, forming the beginnings of a strong personal friendship between both men as well as developing a strong Sino-American partnership. Indeed, he would use the war and the greater powers at his disposal to begin enacting a number of policies similar to Roosevelt's 'New Deal', which he would widen at war's end.
In 1943, Jiang would hold a Constitutional Convention, wherein the Republic of China would ultimately give way to the modern Federal Republic. He would hold power as interim President until 1946, would win election in his own right, and would serve the single six-year term allowed under the new Constitution before retiring.
*The change many observed is what gave rise to the ridiculous modern conspiracy theory that Jiang's mind was replaced by that of someone from the future.
Peng Dehuai, Marshal of China, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 1944 and 1958, and Minister for Defence between 1958 and 1964. Peng was contacted on behalf of Jiang Jieshi by Zhou Enlai, something that led him to ultimately back the KMT over the Communists - though he would later formally align with Zhou and the Chinese People's Party. In return for his service to the central government, he would be further promoted, and given command of a major area army in Manchuria just prior to the Japanese invasion. By war's end, he would have overall command of all forces in Manchuria, and the rank of Marshal of China. He gained particular fame for his coordination of guerrilla fighting inside the occupied portions of Manchuria, and his ability to bleed out Japanese forces in protracted fighting despite (initial) material inferiority.
Though not the most diplomatic of men - indeed, in one famous telephone exchange he told Jiang Jieshi 'unless you have more ammunition, fuck off and let me fight this war' - he would continue to enjoy the support of both Jiang and Zhou Enlai, first in his effective single-handed construction of the post-war Chinese Army, and then in his elevation to Minister for Defence under the Zhou Enlai administration, and is regarded both in China and abroad as one of the most talented soldiers of the 20th century. He would ultimately die in his sleep in his home in Beijing in 1983.
Hazel Ying Lee, the world's first female fighter ace (fifteen confirmed kills over Manchuria) and post-war politician (served as Shanghai's representative to the Federal Yuan between 1948 and 1960). A Chinese-American woman, Hazel travelled to China in 1933, with a desire to aid the ROC Air Force. While in other circumstances this might not have been possible, Jiang Jieshi had used the Japanese invasion to declare the conflict with Japan a 'total war, in which all resources must be mobilised to repel the imperialist invaders'...which included the recruitment of women both as medics and in the following combat roles: pilots; snipers; and tankers. Indeed, in her later autobiography, Lee noted that Jiang 'almost seemed to have been waiting for me', with how he made a point of getting her a chance at proving her ability.
Despite sexism from certain commanders, Lee would rise to the challenge, shooting down a Japanese bomber on her second sortie. Initially flying the Curtiss F11C Goshawk, she would later graduate to the Boeing P-26, and then for the last year of the war she would pilot the domestically-produced Dongfeng J4. During the conflict, she would become somewhat of a celebrity, with both Chinese and American media reporting on her successes (American media veering somewhere between scandalised and intrigued at Chinese women fighting in the war).
Lee would ultimately command her own squadron by war's end, and would retain it until she left the Air Force in 1942, herself and her husband going into business in Shanghai prior to her entering the political arena. She and other women who fought for China would be greatly lauded by the Jiang government, and Jiang would use their successes to carefully push for greater female representation in all walks of life across China. While traditional attitudes weren't always easy to break - and, indeed, some parts of modern China remain more traditional than others - these efforts would bear fruit, with women not only continuing to enter the military, but also being increasingly visible in the workforce and the political arena, and China being for some time lauded by Western feminists as a positive example of progress (though of course, there remains work to do, as seen by the fact China's first female President was only elected in 2008).
A/N: As you clever people might have guessed, the aftermath of an SI
Jiang-SI Aftermath II
FROCS Zheng He, here pictured in 1954. The Chinese Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Zheng He was formerly the HMS Glory, built and launched during the Second Great War. However, the ship was only commissioned a month prior to the end of hostilities, and as such saw no action. While she would be retained for a few years after the conflict, reductions in the Royal Navy would see her being sold to China in 1948, becoming the flagship of the growing FROC Navy.
Though the Zheng He's initial air-group consisted of piston-driven aircraft, by 1952 these had been replaced by an air-group of eight Dongfeng J6 jet fighter-bombers, 3 J5s refit for an AEW role, and four Westland Whirlwind helicopters. She would continue to operate with a similar air-group for the rest of her service life, ultimately being decommissioned in 1972. She saw action once, during the Sarawakian-Indonesian Border Conflict of 1960, wherein she provided support to Sarawakian forces against Indonesian light surface elements.
Since 1961, the FROC Navy has maintained a fleet built around 2-3 carriers, transitioning to domestic-built models in the 1980s, which together with the Air Force allows power projection across the Asia-Pacific region.
Lyuh Woon-hyung, First elected President of the Republic of Korea 1940-1948. While the Second Sino-Japanese War had been primarily concerned with repelling the Japanese invaders, the Chinese government had also worked to supply older weapons - as it gained newer ones from America and others - to Korean resistance groups, the better to stymie the Japanese invasion. This would see the Korean peninsula becoming engulfed in fighting, which in turn forced the Japanese to dedicate units to Korea that should have gone to China, and all the while Japan lost money and support on the world stage. Ultimately, following the attempted coup in 1937 and the outbreak of civil war and major unrest (both leftist and rightist) on the Home Islands, the Japanese were forced to call large portions of their forces home, effectively abandoning Korea. The Republic of Korea would be declared shortly thereafter, though Japan did not recognise it - or officially end their war with China, though a de facto ceasefire prevailed - until 1945.
Despite Japan not initially recognising that they had lost Korea, President Lyuh was able to get a number of other nations to recognise his. China would be their main local supporter, with both ultimately becoming founder-members of the Association of East Asian Nations, while America would also prove to be a reliable trading partner. Gradually, Korea would stabilise, while the seeds for the rapid economic growth that began in the mid-1950s would be lain at this time. While both the hard-right and hard-left would slam President Lyuh for his centre-leftist policies, the moderate approach was what the fledgling nation needed most, while it would also see the foundations for a stable welfare state laid in Korea, mirroring developments in China.
Poster art depicting nightlife in Shanghai. From the 1920s, Shanghai had been a vibrant, alternative city, home to Shidaiqu music and other avant-garde developments. It had also been home to...issues with corruption, especially in the old Shanghai International Settlement, and to less-than-legal enterprises.
Both before and after the war with Japan, Jiang Jieshi had sought to crack down on extralegal activities within Shanghai, in particular to combat the growth of organised crime and the narcotics trade. However, in something that struck many as odd, an effort was made to do so while not losing the alternative character of Shanghai. Much of this, it would later transpire, was because Jiang saw opportunities for new art forms arising - as indeed became the case, with the growth in popularity of Shidaiqu and other offshoots, the firm establishing of the Chinese film industry within Shanghai, and the city becoming somewhat of an 'artist's haven' in general.
Today, while Shanghai is a major financial and manufacturing hub, and home to the world's largest container port, it remains one of the more liberal and alternative cities within the Federal Republic.
Jiang SI Aftermath - III
Potala Palace, Lhasa, Autonomous Province of Tibet. Tibet joined - or re-entered, depending on who one talks to - China in 1950, during Jiang Jieshi's elected term in office. Though publicly, the President was extremely vocal in his desire to see China reunified, interviews with some of his colleagues - as well as certain materials coming to light - indicate that he had been unusually ambivalent about the prospect of including Tibet in this process, and had considered some form of alliance or protectorate arrangement. It was only, in the end, the strategic position occupied by Tibet in relation to China's water supply, together with a fear of more nationalist political opponents using this as a wedge issue, that led him to begin talks with the Dalai Lama aimed at the territory's incorporation.
While China as a whole enjoys a federal system of government, with the day-to-day running of individual provinces being left up to their governors and assemblies, Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia gained a considerable number more concessions than many other provinces, courtesy of Jiang, and their inhabitants are considered part of the 'Many Races Under One Union' ideal that the Federal Republic emphasises (originally Five Races Under One Union, the Jiang administration widened the concept greatly). Additionally, as part of Jiang's efforts to preserve the country's natural life, a major natural reserve was declared over a wide area of the Tibetan Plateau.
While the provinces in question continue to enjoy autonomy, there has been friction of late. In Tibet, for instance, many traditionalists feel that the large numbers of domestic and foreign tourists who come to Tibet every year - and the springing-up of industries to cater for them - is causing an undermining of their culture and that Lhasa in particular is turning into a 'theme park'. As well as this, the development of infrastructural links between the provinces in question and the rest of China have led to a rise in people from other parts of China living and working there, something that some fear is leading to erosion of traditional culture. How true this is, only time will tell.
Ma Bufang, Ma Clique Warlord, Governor of Qinghai (officially) until 1946, 'power behind the throne' of the Governors of Gansu and Ningxia until his death in 1975, Minister for Economic Affairs between 1946 and 1952, KMT Presidential hopeful in the 1951 elections (though did not secure the nomination), and Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Hejaz between 1952 and 1957.
Despite his disagreements with Jiang on several issues - including his working with former Communists, his concessions to Tibet and other areas - General Ma was a close ally of the KMT, providing major support for Jiang and his establishment of a new government in exchange for effective recognition of the Ma family as the official provincial authorities in their territory. This was despite Jiang - as some of his old confidantes would reveal in decades to come - disliking the warlord and seeing him very much as a necessary evil in securing control over China. Indeed, the Ma family and their rule over Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia are seen as highly contentious in modern China. While Ma Bufang was greatly responsible for the modernisation and industrialisation of the provinces run by his family, and for expanding education and literacy widely - especially for girls - his family also effectively ran their territory as a state within a state, with actual democracy in gubernatorial elections being largely a sham and with 'problematic' political elements being quietly suppressed. Likewise, the Mas would ruthlessly suppress Wahabism, impressing their own Yihewani brand of Islam as the 'sanctioned' Islamic faith for the Hui.
Following the death of Ma Bufang, the Ma family would - in a mix of a less competent succeeding generation, more overt corruption and greater government crackdowns on same - gradually lose power over the course of the 1980s, though they continue to cast a long shadow, and have left a contentious legacy.
Nguyễn Thái Học, founded of the Nationalist Party of Vietnam, and first President of Vietnam following the French withdrawal in 1947. Học, initially an advocate of violent revolution, is now known to have been approached by Chinese agents in the late 1920s, who encouraged him to pursue a more careful, moderate approach, aimed at winning hearts and minds among the populace and raising Vietnam's profile abroad.
During the course of the 1930s, Học and his party would gain sufficient support to organise a series of highly damaging labour strikes, costing the French colonial government large sums of money and provoking a thoroughly vicious clampdown...which Chinese and other media sources made a point of publicising abroad, especially in the United States. This led to the movement gaining in support among ordinary Vietnamese...which in turn meant that the desire for armed uprising grew sharply, helped by China slipping captured Japanese weapons and ammunition across the border.
Armed rebellion would break out at the same time as the Second Great War, at a time when France lacked forces to send to put the rebellion down. Likewise, Britain would lack troops to assist, while the mood in India was such that sending Indian troops would have been...inadvisable. As such, by the time the war in Europe had ended, guerrilla forces were in de facto control of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia...and China strongly urged France to negotiate, offering themselves as a neutral intermediary.
Học's time as President was largely indifferent, proving a better revolutionary than leader. However, his government would manage to stabilise Vietnam, and would see the beginnings of modernisation (though it would be subsequent governments who saw this through, with help from China), and he is remembered as one of the principal founders of the modern Vietnamese nation.
A/N: So some evidence that despite the SI's best intentions, some stuff went better than others.
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Chiapas is one of the most well-known members of the ISAN, alongside Kurdistan and East Ukraine.
(My idea of a far-left, libertarian socialist alliance in the modern world. Part of a bigger, more ambitious, and kinda crazier timeline.)
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Wow, I didn't realize until looking him up that Jiang Jieshi was Chaing Kai-Shek. I thought Jiang was some sort of random obscure Chinese politician/fighter.A picture showing two of China's 'Paramount Men' of the twentieth century together as cadets at the Whampoa Military Academy: Jiang Jieshi, effective ruler of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1944, interim President of the Federal Republic of China between 1944 and 1946, and elected President of the Federal Republic of China between 1946 and 1952; and Zhou Enlai, founder of the Chinese People's Party, war hero and General during the Second Sino-Japanese War 1932-1937, Foreign Minister under the interim government between 1944 and 1946, and President of the Federal Republic of China between 1958 and 1964.
History notes that Jiang Jieshi would become a particularly driven man - indeed, many of his acquaintances would state that he became 'almost a different person, often knowing things he had no way of knowing' - following what appears to have been a seizure in 1926*. However, he recovered quickly, albeit with some carefully-masked confusion over the following week. Whatever the case, upon becoming leader of China, he would begin to energetically and without rest pursue a number of different policies, namely: the strengthening of the government in Nanjing; the modernisation of China; the end of warlordism; the strengthening of the country's military against potential foreign invasion, in particular securing Manchuria with a large number of troops; and the division of the Chinese Communist movement. This latter would be an apparent motivator in his quiet, careful talks with Zhou Enlai beginning shortly after his seizure, the substance of which would only become apparent when Zhou led a large faction of the Communist Party in breaking away, forming the Chinese People's Party (this coming around the same time as the death of Mao Zedong from food poisoning). The foresight of Jiang's military policy would become apparent in 1931, when Japanese forces invaded Manchuria. Though fighting began at this point, 'official' war is considered to have broken out the following year when, following initial reversals, Japan fully committed to the invasion.
During the war years, Jiang would provide effective leadership to the country on the domestic front, as well as rallying support for China on the international stage - in particular from the United States, where he would quickly approach President Roosevelt upon his election, forming the beginnings of a strong personal friendship between both men as well as developing a strong Sino-American partnership. Indeed, he would use the war and the greater powers at his disposal to begin enacting a number of policies similar to Roosevelt's 'New Deal', which he would widen at war's end.
In 1943, Jiang would hold a Constitutional Convention, wherein the Republic of China would ultimately give way to the modern Federal Republic. He would hold power as interim President until 1946, would win election in his own right, and would serve the single six-year term allowed under the new Constitution before retiring.
*The change many observed is what gave rise to the ridiculous modern conspiracy theory that Jiang's mind was replaced by that of someone from the future.
Yeah, that was who it was
Should probably have made that clear...
American and Kurdish soldiers meeting in 2018, not long after the official liberation of Rojava from the Syrians. Kurdistan, the official leading country of the International Socialist Alliance of Nations (ISAN), and proud follower of the ideology of Libertarian Socialism, while having positive relations with America, has also made it clear that they are not fans of their capitalist-liberal ideas, and continue to advocate for a world where the workers control the means of production, and the capitalist system is replaced by that of socialism. Regardless, the DC-Erbil relationship has been an odd, but successful experiment.
Soldiers of the Zapatistan People's Republic of Chiapas in a public event in 2014, 20 years after its independence from Mexico. Chiapas, which was one of the few territories that didn't break away from Mexico during its revolution and balkanization in the 1910s and 20s, would see a resurgence in calls for independence in the 1980s and 1990s, with nostalgia for the sacrifice, honor, and bravery of the Zapatistas led by Emiliano Zapata, alongside feeling threatened by the dominant capitalist world order led by the Liberals, Social Democrats, and other similar-ideological nations. The short uprising in January 1994 would secure its independence a few months later, after negotiations with Mexico. The libertarian socialist republic is famous for its emphasis and celebration of indigenous peoples and agrarian socialism, with it's biggest impact on popular culture in the form of a few hit songs by left-wing American rock band Rage Against the Machine.
Chiapas is one of the most well-known members of the ISAN, alongside Kurdistan and East Ukraine.
Statue of Nestor Makhno, an anarchist military leader and fighter during the Russian Civil War, located in the Eastern Ukraine capital of Hulaipole. Inspired by the success story of Chiapas, alongside the other non-socialist independence movements around the world from the 1990s to the 2010s, anarchist sentiment and support would gradually grow throughout the former area of Makhnovia, especially with the problem of corruption within the former Sovie/Eurasian state, which eventually blew over during the Orange Revolution of 2004, where the anarchists would see their chance and declare a new people's revolution in the former anarchist area. Unlike Chiapas, the uprising would not be quick, with many attempts to reconquer the land, although after several months it would become clear that the people would not bulge. In 2005, the Free Territory of Eastern Ukraine, consisting of most of Southeastern Ukraine, centered around Hulaipole. Relations between the two Ukraines would remain tense and unlikable until 2014, where an official 'reconciliation treaty' was signed. Like Erbil and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the small town of Hulaipole has become a hotspot and almost pilgrimage for the world's Far-Left, with tourists covered in head to toe with black and red visiting museums, statues, and historical landmarks.
(My idea of a far-left, libertarian socialist alliance in the modern world. Part of a bigger, more ambitious, and kinda crazier timeline.)
Wow.
Also for a moment, I thought that was Oliver North in the first pic.
Memes made during the 2009-11 H1N1 pandemic.