alternatehistory.com

Ok, so the old incarnation of my TL basically died on it's arse a while back, mainly because of a combination of lack of time, lack of research and lack of motivation. So, hopefully, after some changes, this version will last.

I: Prolouge

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Georgia was screwed. She couldn’t remember why she had chosen Modern History as one of her subjects, but she was regretting it. Yawning as she collapsed into her chair, it only just began to dawn on her how genuinely fucked she was for tomorrows test. She couldn’t remember one lesson where she had actually paid any attention to Mr McClintock. Most of the time she was either doodling in her book or looking across the room at Justin… Justin Tate… Justin Tate and his hot body… Justin Tate and…

She slapped herself across her face “You fucking idiot George! Get him outa your head NOW! It aint gonna happen!” her subconscious berated her. But she sighed anyway as she kicked off her shoes, it was still nice to dream after all.

It felt like an effort to unzip and sort through her bag and even more so as she threw both the thick, tattered textbook and her even more worse for ware notebook onto her cluttered desk. Switching her little desk light on, she quickly scanned the cover of the textbook.

A World Turned Upside Down

A History of the 1860’s

Aiden .K. Buchanan – Jennifer Holsworthy

“Oh joy” she thought out loud. From the little she had gleaned from class, the test was going to be multiple choice and all about the First World War, which had started in 1861… or was it 1860? She couldn’t remember, which was an indication of how badly she needed to study up. What she did remember was that before class had ended she had written a little reminder somewhere in her notebook telling her what pages to look at. Sorting through the unkempt mess of her less than perfect handwriting and the multitude of doodles and scribbles, she eventually found it, scrawled next to a love heart drawn in pink highlighter.

Pg. 3 – 19 on causes. Pg. 20 – 40 on rest.

She moaned, she had a lot to get through. “But first things first, time to get something to drink.” She thought. Skidding across the polished wooden floor in her socks towards the kitchen, she could overhear a foreign, yet familiar, female voice emanating from the holovision in the living room. It was, of course, the voice of the local newscaster, which meant that her dad had arrived home some time in the ten minutes since she had got home, and was in all probability sprawled on the couch, pipe in hand, just beginning his evening ritual. This was confirmed when, upon reaching the kitchen, the thick odour of cannabis smoke filled Georgia’s nostrils and when she noticed the little green tin on the kitchen bench.

General Lee’s
finest
Virginian Pipe Cannabis
Product of the Commonwealth of Virginia, C.S.A

It read in big gold letters, printed over the top of a silhouette of a man on a horse who was, presumably, General Lee. “Hey, that sounds familiar” Georgia thought as she reached up for a glass, thinking she remembered that name from class. As she began to pour herself a glass of vanilla milk, she briefly tuned into the voice of the newscaster.

“… and in other international news today world leaders have condemned what was labelled by the assembly of the IPO as an “unwarranted act of aggression on the part of the Chinese Government” after reports confirmed that Chinese Mecha and Tank battalions were moved towar…”

“Boring…” she yawned as she placed the little bottle of vanilla essence back in the pantry and began to take her tasty concoction back to her room and away from the stink of the kitchen. Of course, she’d smoked before at parties (in secret) and enjoyed it, but her old, balding, lethargic father sitting on a couch for hours on end stinking out the house annoyed her somewhat.

Once again, she sat back down in her chair and began the unenviable task of studying. As per her note, she turned to page three of the textbook and began to examine it. What confronted her was a large map of the world labelled:

The World, January 1st, 1860.

“Oh boy…” This was already confusing her. But she pressed on and began to read the first paragraph.

The Origins of the First World War

Few people on the 1st of January 1860 could have begun to comprehend the unprecedented and monumental changes that, by January 1st 1870, would make their world completely unrecognizable. The advent of the world’s first modern, total war, and the impact of events such as the Second American Revolutionary War, the sagas of German, Italian and Scandinavian unifications, Polish Independence, the rapid decline of the Qing dynasty and more drastically shaped the world of the next few decades and indeed up until the present day…


[1]

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(Taken from “Bertie and Willy: Two Royals and the Road to War” Smith and Ward Press, London, 2005)

“By all accounts, the Prussian court was immensely relived. The eighteen-year old mother had for months refused to allow court physicians to examine or even talk to her about the pregnancy, possibly a stubbornness she learned from her mother Queen Victoria. In any case, the high expectations riding on the birth of Friedrich Victor Wilhelm Albert Hohenzollern - soon to be known as Willy to distinguish him from his father - seamed to have been vindicated. Albert, the Prince Consort, was in particularly happy about the birth of a healthy heir to the Prussian throne as it fitted within his plan for a liberal united Germany [2]. It had been his and Queen Victoria’s hope that any heir to the Prussian throne produced by Victoria and Friedrich could be crafted into a model modern, liberal monarch and stand opposed to the Conservative Prussian military elite that dominated the Kingdom. Sadly - for Germany and the world - it was not to be the case.”


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[1] Sorry if tht was a tad confusing, but i had fun writing it :D
[2] As in the old timeline, this is the POD, which is that Wilhelm II isn't born a breach baby. Although most of the immediate changes are the result of butterflies, this will have quite an effect down the track.
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