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It occurred to me that if Australia has taken possession of German territories in the Pacific, this may have far-reaching consequences for Australian defence policy and spending between the wars. It may very well be the case that there will be a substantial naval build-up in order to protect these distant territories.

That's not to say that if definitely will happen, very few Australian Governments have taken defence as seriously as they should. For the most part, they don't like spending money on it because there aren't many votes in it and the British Empire and/or the Americans are seen as powerful enough to deter potential aggressors. That said, the fact that the Japanese were unhappy with Australia receiving territory they coveted for themselves might - MIGHT - convince the Federal Government to pull their heads out of their arses, especially if the Japanese conduct an aggressive land war in Asia as they did OTL. Still, it won't be cheap and it would be difficult to justify the expenditure during peacetime.

There might be some modernisation and mechanisation of the army, but I can't imagine that it would amount to much, especially if there's a large shipbuilding program in the background. When the Second World War broke out OTL, the British Army was third in line for funding behind the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, which is one of the reasons why the British Army was so plodding and conservative compared to the Wehrmacht. How air power will be developed between the wars is anyone's guess, the First World War ended in 1917 ATL when the Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air service, was founded in April 1918 OTL.
 
The Polish Flu
From the impoverished of the Russian Empire to the businessmen of Fleet Street, from the dairy farmers in Australia and the merchantmen of Brazil, the First World War managed to change much of the world and how it would be divided among the world powers. It would be the same again nearly twenty-three years later. But before that, the next best thing occurred. A pandemic. Within the camps of the Western and Eastern Front and within the camps of the Ottoman Civil War, the Russian Revolution and even that of the Chinese Civil War, soldiers were being drained of their energies, slowly and painfully. Sneezing and coughing became more and more and more apparent, as the wounded gathered together with their nurses and their fellow men. Step by step, they all guaranteed their deaths.

The origin of the outbreak has been discovered and debunked and disputed over the course of several decades, during the Second World War and even during the conflicts afterwards. The Polish Flu received its name due to the concentration of victims in the 1917 year of the outbreak, also from Russian journalists and pro-Tsarist propagandists that contributed to the breakdown of resistance against Tsar Nicholas II. This was used, during the latter years of Tsar Nicholas II, as a "just cause" for persecution. Other areas that were seen as the origin of Polish Flu (A/H1N1) were Japan, the Black Forest in Germany, the US states of California and New York, Brazil and even Norway.

According to the Imperial War Commission's Director Howard Farage (born 8th January 1964) from 2005 to 2012, it was stated that the outbreak began in Étaples in France. That place was a hospital and a staging camp, where 100,000 soldiers would pass through the camp every single day of the fighting. It was here, confirmed by French authorities following decades of denial and counter-accusation that London triggered the outbreak, that Étaples was the start point of the outbreak in August 1916. From there, according to epidemiologists, it travelled to the Lorraine Front, transmitted from French POWs to German soldiers who were either transferred to the Eastern Front or joined up with anti-Tsarist partisans in mid-1917

The outbreak spread across Europe with the exception of Switzerland and Sweden, which implementing strong border controls as they received reports of the outbreak. With soldiers returning from the home front, the outbreak would spread. The victory that David Lloyd George fought for was being eroded as new cases came in from the Channel. 1917 was seen as a devilish year to behold, as some sectors of Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses' predicted that the world was going to be eradicated on the 22nd December that year. It was seen as better when the first outbreak ended sometime at around February or March 1918.

The second outbreak began in Australia, before spreading to Brazil (where it was a contribution to the 1917 General Strike and the later Red Rebellion), on to Latin America and Europe. It would be there that the Australian Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, would pass away on the 17th May 1918 aged 56. Billy Hughes would then succeed him to the ministry. The second outbreak lasted from late April 1918 to March 1919.

Towns and villages across the world could not deal with the pace of the spread or the severity of infection. Mass graves were made en masse, with the gravediggers and medical staff too ill to even tend to such a duty. Certain areas, such as Poland, Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Brazil, China and Mexico were the hardest hit. Regions in the Pacific were hit as well. Western Samoa (under New Zealand's control) suffered an outbreak which infected nine out of ten inhabitants! Out of this, one-third of all men, a quarter of all the women and one-tenth of the children died from the disease. In Germany, it would contribute to much of the anger against the treaty, with many German revanchists stating that the current situation was the fault of Gustav Bauer's government. Such was the dying words of a revanchist, Adolf Hitler, who passed away in a hospital in Munich during the second outbreak. His dying words, heard by several members of the German Worker's Party including Dietrich Eckart, a playwright, journalist and publicist:

In my final days, I have sought as much sleep as possible, to gain as much strength as possible for my chance to rise from this bed. But in truth, my friends, it shall not be. In my dreams, I was awarded the sight of an eagle. An eagle stained red with blood. In its talons was the tattered British flag, the tattered French flag, the tattered Spanish flag, the tattered flag of all that betrayed us. The flags were released from the talons onto a fire and the flames burned them all away and the eagle flew away. Gentlemen, the eagle is us, the blood stained eagle is Germany! Or perhaps...perhaps its leader. A man shall fly us to glory. My God, I have seen them burn...(cough, cough), I have seen them all burn. Gentlemen, my Germans, my brothers, hear me. I may not go on, but Germany must. She shall burn all in its path or she shall be consumed by the flames. She cannot endure the suffering of 1806 or 1917 ever again.
Ever again...You...Yo...must.

The men held a two minutes silence for the death of Hitler, a man who survived gas attacks and gunfire, but not the Polish flu. Eckart, an influential man, sought out a man who would rise to the occasion. Soon enough, on Christmas Day in 1920, he found his man. (3)

The Polish Flu would undergo a third and final outbreak between December 1919 and May 1920 before disappearing into history once again.


Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 5.46.52 pm.png



A scene that would not be missed by anyone that suffered during this pandemic.

As a result, between 23 and 56 million people died from the Polish Flu epidemic between 1917 - 1920, a rate that was as high or higher than the First World War.








1st Hughes Ministry (Australia) (1)

7th Prime Minister of Australia and Attorney-General (Leader of the Labor Party): Billy Hughes
Deputy Leader and Treasurer: William Higgs
Minister for Home Affairs: William Archibald
Minister for External Affairs: Josiah Thomas (2)
Minister for Defence and Leader of the Government in the Senate: George Pearce
Minister for Trade and Customs: Frank Tudor
Postmaster-General: William Spence
Vice-President of the Executive Council: Albert Gardiner
Minister for the Navy: Jens Jensen


1. Because of the quicker victory in the Dardanelles Front, there was no necessity to have a plebiscite on conscription overseas for Australia. Conscription still exists, but not in a form that compels military-trained citizens to be sent overseas. The 1917 OTL Labor split never happens, so Labor remain in power for the entire war. This will have consequences for the Australian conservative movement (since Menzies is dead in ATL) and for the Australian liberalism movement.

2. The man was known for having a broader view of foreign affairs, to paraphrase the Russian consul-general Alexander Abanza.

3. Hitler's dead. Who's the Führer?








NEXT UPDATE: The Devil Went Down To Brazil and Mexico (RIP Charles Daniels)
 
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It occurred to me that if Australia has taken possession of German territories in the Pacific, this may have far-reaching consequences for Australian defence policy and spending between the wars. It may very well be the case that there will be a substantial naval build-up in order to protect these distant territories.

That's not to say that if definitely will happen, very few Australian Governments have taken defence as seriously as they should. For the most part, they don't like spending money on it because there aren't many votes in it and the British Empire and/or the Americans are seen as powerful enough to deter potential aggressors. That said, the fact that the Japanese were unhappy with Australia receiving territory they coveted for themselves might - MIGHT - convince the Federal Government to pull their heads out of their arses, especially if the Japanese conduct an aggressive land war in Asia as they did OTL. Still, it won't be cheap and it would be difficult to justify the expenditure during peacetime.

There might be some modernisation and mechanisation of the army, but I can't imagine that it would amount to much, especially if there's a large shipbuilding program in the background. When the Second World War broke out OTL, the British Army was third in line for funding behind the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, which is one of the reasons why the British Army was so plodding and conservative compared to the Wehrmacht. How air power will be developed between the wars is anyone's guess, the First World War ended in 1917 ATL when the Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air service, was founded in April 1918 OTL.


Yes it will. It will be one of the triggers for Japan to turn to Germany. I would imagine that a future government, say during the 1920's and 30's would imagine such a forward defence. Billy Hughes will be onto it if he is re-elected.

Modernisation and mechanisation will occur.

but only for Germany and Japan............mwahahahahahahahaha
 
Hitler's dead. Who's the Führer?

If Hermann Göring can avoid getting shot in the family jewels and becoming addicted to morphine, my money's on him. Hitler's ascent was in no small part to his charisma, and a fighting-fit aviator and commander of Richtofen's Flying Circus would have the magnetism that Ernst Röhm simply didn't, and like Hitler he could appeal to middle-class nationalists and the German military in a way that Röhm couldn't. He would be a very different man to the effeminate fatso he was OTL.

Of course, this assumes that the Nazis come to power ATL as they did OTL. But the post-war resentment (particularly to the Treaty of Versailles) is still there, so if the Communists don't win out the Nazis have a real shot.
 
The Devil Went Down To Brazil and Mexico (RIP Charles Daniels)
Brazil. The only South American nation to send soldiers and relief to the Western Front. This country bled alongside its former mother colony Portugal, along with Spain, the British and French and Russian Empires, Romania, Italy, Greece and the United States with the rest of the Entente Powers. Its actions in the First World War would contribute to the further degeneration of the nation's stability.

Allow me to explain.

The First Brazilian Republic, from 1889 to 1924, was a constitutional "democracy". The " " represented the fact that the people of the country could no participate in open elections. They were pressured or induced to vote as per the wishes of oligarchs that lived in their province, with the election results being decided by illiberal means. The Presidency of Brazil was shared between the provinces of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. An American equivalent would be the President being chosen from either California or New York for a period of nearly fifty years! But I digress. As a result of removing the monarchy, the Army became the only institution that united the nation together, with the Catholic Church being internationalist in its scope within the country. The Navy, in its attempt to halt the Army's monopolisation of power, attempted to rebel in 1891 and 1893/94 and again in 1910. All attempts failed, as the nation limbered on. A nation that was oligarchic and held together by the military. The suffrage, meanwhile, was restricted as the rest of the world expanded it. In 1874, 1 million people could vote in a population of 10 million. 7 years later, the franchise was cut down to 145,296 people! Bear in mind, this was during the Brazilian Empire and it did not help them. The Republic, however, did not correct the error. In 1910, during the last naval mutiny, 627,000 people could vote out of a population of 22 million. In 1919, no more than 2.5% of the population could vote.

The Constituent Assembly drafted the constitution of 1891, which was to be a series of compromises between those that wanted to limit the executive power and those that wanted to expand it among other matters. However, the real power was in the hands of oligarchs, mainly from coffee and other cash crop plantations. They supported the idea of provincial autonomy. In other words, oligarchs chose the governors and the governors chose the President. To prevent the Army from getting any ideas, these oligarchs would strengthen the Navy and the state police, even getting the police force as their own private armies.

Cash crops such as cotton, coffee and sugar were exported from the different regions, due to the fact that Brazil did not have an integrated economy. Transportation was by mule and methods of farming were poor thanks to a lack of machinery (domestic industry could not compete with foreign powers). The average lifespan of a Brazilian was twenty-eight years old, while the telegraph was not developed far enough into the country. The news would take 4 to 6 weeks to arrive.

To quote the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the life of the average Brazilian was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short".

So imagine yourself to be a well-off, literate, European immigrant who sees this for what it is: A shit way of life. A way of life that denies your right to vote freely, your right to political freedom, your access to the news, democratic participation and even trust in the authorities.

Mixed in with the outbreak of the Polish Flu that is killing people.

So, on the 16th November 1917, a man decided to do something about it. Isidoro Dias Lopes, a Brigadier-General in the Brazilian Army, launched his rebellion at Fort Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro. With 1,000 fellows, they declared the "Book of Tenetism", a manifesto of political, economic and social reform. That day, they gained several hundred followers from peasants, to middle class workers and from veterans of the First World War. João Cândido Felisberto, an Afro-Brazillian man who led the Revolt of the Lash in 1910, gathered mulatto and Afro-Brazillian officers to the cause. By the end of the month, Rio de Janerio was torn apart by Tenetist and Government forces.

View attachment 565464
A mass gathering of labour unionists who pledge allegiance to the Tenetist Manifesto


View attachment 565472

A group of soldiers that would later rise up against the Government of Artur da Silva Bernardes

The younger soldiers of the Brazilian Army, along with a large portion of veterans from the FWW, joined the Tenetist Movement. Along with labourers, socialists, European immigrants, anarchists and even foreign soldiers. The first of the fighting (November - December 1917) occurred in the south coastal regions, where a majority of the middle class resided. Provided arms by the Tenetist soldiers, these people would try as hard as they could to fight for the reform that was badly needed. It was during this time that the outbreaks of Polish Flu and fighting began to push inland as well. The Government forces happened to hold control of the airplanes and used them as much as possible to destabilise the rebellious movements.

International responses were at first unsurprised, given the infighting over the last 20 or so years within Brazil. However, something changed. This time, American journalists such as Paul Y. Anderson took notice. Following the reporting on the Times Square Race Riot and the Atlanta Horror, Anderson was tasked by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to go to Brazil. President Holmes took the matter up, as Vice-President Johnson and reform-minded members of the Cabinet started to notice. Taking a company of forty journalists, explorers and soldiers, they would arrive at Rio de Janeiro on the 2nd February 1918. The city, by this time, had been claimed by the Tenetist forces thanks to continued outbreaks of the Polish Flu and the poor rising up in revolt against the Government. Interviewing Brig. General Isidoro Dias Lopes, Anderson would write what would be the Pulitzer Prize winning 1922 novel A Profile of Brazil's Courage: Reform, Rebellion and Return. In it, he would interview fifty individuals from the Tenetist and Government forces along with providing his own perspective of things. It remains one of America's most published novels, alongside Huckleberry Finn, Uncle Tom's Cabin and It Is A Sin To Kill A Mockingbird. It remains in print to this day.

As the oligarchs raised their private armies, they faced a divided class of peasants at first. Those that were diseased and those that they abused due to the old system of things, the abusers kicking downwards so to speak. That was the case. Then the news came of Rio de Janeiro being claimed. Barreiras became alight, as Government forces bombed the working-class and middle class areas of the city on the 16th February 1918. Over 5,000 people died from the initial blasts with a further 12,000 casualties. The Tenetist movement began to appeal to the poor, as guerrilla warfare and urban warfare became a sight for Brazil. It was hoped, with the continuing violence and the downfall of the oligarchs, that the revolution would be all done and dusted.

If only. News of the revolution hit Argentina and Chile in the new year along with the rest of the continent. Hipólito Yrigoyen (President of Argentina) and Juan Luis Sanfuentes (President of Chile) had different reactions to the outbreak of fighting. Argentina sent aid secretly to the Tenetist forces, while over 17,000 Argentinians fought alongside them. Chile, on the other hand, was stepping away from what could be a powder keg. The latter suffered a severe defeat in the 1920 Presidential Election by Arturo Alessandri, a charismatic public speaker who obtained the popularity of the working class and the poor. Germany favoured the Tenetist forces, with over 9,000 German veterans fighting on their side. One of these veterans included the future Führer.

The United States would later send the Secretary of State Theodore Roosevelt to deal with the Tenetist capital at Rio de Janeiro in December 1918. It was there that the United States would begin to start pulling away support from the Government forces. No longer were the coastal, urban regions in the hands of the Government. Surrounded by hostile powers and with the Army, Navy and much of the police force trickling away to Tenetist forces, the Brazilian Revolution ended on the 8th June 1919 with news of it reaching the rest of the country by September. 200,000 - 400,000 people are estimated to have fought, with some oligarchs fighting on until January 1920. 40,000 to 60,000 people are estimated to have died in the fighting.

Assembled in Rio de Janeiro, the Tenetist movement was divided between trade unions, soldiers, sailors, the poor, middle class immigrants as well as several other interest groups. On the 16th August 1919, over 4,000 representatives, legalists and military men gathered in Rio de Janeiro along with invited individuals from America, Britain, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Spain and France.

The first draft of the Constitution of the "Second Republic of Brazil" was to start with the matter of the Presidency. The President was to be invested with the powers:
- Signing laws within ten days, becoming law.
- Vetoing the law within the timeframe, which becomes overridden by a 2/3rds majority of both Houses of the Brazilian Parliament. The veto is either a full veto or a line-item veto. The President must act on the legislation, it must either sign or veto.
- Signing treaties and negotiating agreements.
- Commander-in-Chief of the Brazilian armed forces.

The Second Republic was to entrench the separation of powers (a strong Executive, a bicameral parliament and a judiciary). The President was to serve two terms of six years, with the President to be elected by all men and women over the age of 21 by a federal election every six years on the month of August. The House of Representatives was to have one person represent thirty thousand people. In other words, 1000 people would be elected to the House, larger than the US Congress and larger than the UK House of Commons. The House of Peers was to have 10 members per province or 200 Peers. A Bill of Rights would have to following: Freedom of speech, of the press, of peaceable assembly, of the right to bear arms, of unionism and the vote. Nationalisation of lands would be entrenched in the Constitution, along with the integration of all the states and their economies. The oligarchies were to be broken up, with the Army (and Navy) remaining as the last true power in the country. The judiciary, the National Court, would be five justices all appointed by the President (ratified by 2/3rds majority of both Houses) until they each turn 70.

On the 28th October 1919, the Constitution of the Second Republic of Brazil was adopted by majority decision. It was then ratified by a Constitutional referendum on the 15th January 1920, to then take effect on the 1st February 1920. Britain changed their diplomatic stance in 1920 when the Conservatives returned to power thanks to Austen Chamberlain (in coalition with Asquith's National Liberals) to favour the new Second Republic, in the hope of obtaining better trade deals. President Holmes recognised the Second Republic and soon all nations by 1927 accepted the new status quo, in the hopes of allowing companies to enter into the Second Republic's new integrated economy.

The first General Election (August 1920) led to Brigadier General Isidoro Dias Lopes being elected as the 1st President of the Second Republic, being elected as part of the National Labour, Commoners and Democracy Front (NLCDF). The NLCDF was, ideologically, a big tent party. It supported nationalisations, foreign investment, a strengthening of the military, the unions and the downtrodden at the same time. To oppose them was the Socialist Party of the Second Republic of Brazil, built up by left-wing immigrants, trade unions linked with socialism and communism as well as anti-clerical elements. The Republican Salvation Party was a Catholic/Christian Democratic Party, supportive of welfare for the poor and for indigenous peoples as well as being against foreign intervention. The Liberal National Front was a conservative, laissez-faire party that was dedicated more towards American and British-Style governance (made up of conservative immigrants and white Brazilians). The last party to contest the election was the National Front of Brazil, an anti-egalitarian, populist, anti-communist and centralist party made up of lower-class Italian immigrants, Catholic voters, the Portuguese diaspora as well as people from the Army and Navy.

The Results for the elections were as such (1000 Seats in the House and 200 in the Peers and a total amount of voters of 26,782,119):
Brigadier General Isidoro Dias Lopes (National Labour, Commoners and Democracy Front) - 498 House Seats, 100 Peers and 13,337,507 votes
Astrojildo Pereira (Socialist Party of the Second Republic of Brazil) - 41 House Seats, 8 Peers and 1,098,067 votes
Antônio de Siqueira Campos (Republican Salvation Party) - 260 House Seats, 52 Peers and 6,963,351 votes
Artur da Silva Bernardes (Liberal National Front) - 47 House Seats, 9 Peers and 1,258,760 votes
Plínio Salgado (National Front of Brazil) - 154 House Seats, 31 Peers and 18,641,954 votes

President Lopes had a lot on his mind for the next six years, as he was introduced to a man on the 8th September 1920. John Maynard Keynes.







Mexico: A nation of cutthroats and revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries. Porfirio Diaz was the strongman of Mexican politics from 1876 to 1911 (with the exception of 1880-84). Much like Brazil, the elites of the country were willing to crush reform through violent means, in order to protect the foreign investments that they were receiving from nations such as the United States and France and Great Britain, who were more than willing to exercise their own influence. The ordinary Mexican citizen prior to the revolution was either a peasant that worked on the lands owned by agricultural elites for close to nothing or an industrial worker that had no rights, no chance to unionise and no chance to arbitrate on better working conditions.

Much like Brazil, the nation turned to revolution. It was after Christmas Day 1916 when President Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr would, as part of seeking retribution for attacks on American soil, continue the Punitive Expedition under John J. Pershing. What was meant to be ~7,000 men under arms became a total of 40,000 men by February 1917. These were a combination of U.S. Cavalry, horse artillery and National Guardsmen. Under orders from Secretary of War Elihu Root, the reinforcements were to find Pancho Villa and to crush any resistance to the Carrancistas (which the United States was supporting). This new activity was to be accompanied by news of the war in Europe ending and with more troops and materials returning home by July 1917.

Such intervention was a poison to Mexican-American relations, as it would be exploited in future by the strongman Luis Napoleón Morones. The sight of Americans in the north of the country became a slight, which delved into bigotry. This played into the Carrancistas and their propaganda that only they "can unite the nation and destroy the enemies of the people of Mexico". Of course, they would be receiving American and British aid, but Venustiano Carranza made sure that no one thought about it for far too long.

John Reed would write The Punitive Expedition: 200 Days That Shook The World in 1918. Here, he wrote of the American intervention to the south. Riding in the trains alongside other journalists, he witnessed the carnage of the fighting. Keeping himself safe from sniper rounds here and there, Reed would write note after note which would form the novel. He would witness gunfights between American soldiers, led by one George Patton, and those that belonged to Pancho Villa. Of course, when the news came of the raider's death, there was much jubilation. The President would use it as an example of the foreign policy America wished to take. But Reed himself would use it as an example of what America should not do.

View attachment 566936
Pancho Villa (5th June 1878 - 19th July 1917)

As the body was found by Mexican soldiers, the American intervention ended. 1,219 Americans died, in a conflict that would take the lives of 2.4 million Mexican civilians and soldiers. It would cement the rule of Venustiano Carranza, who would use the Punitive Expedition as a scapegoat. The Constitution of 1917 was drafted by radicals as well as populists. Resources vital to the nation could be expropriated, including lands that were once owned by the agrarian elitists that ruled Mexico under the "Porfirio Diaz Era" as well as holdings of foreign companies. The Constitution would also entrench 8 hour work day, the right to strike and to unionise, equal pay for women and the abolition of child labour laws and company stores. The constitution strengthened restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. Carranza would, after hearing of Zapata's death in September 1917, be the last true authority in the country.




"A Revolution is a damned thing, you know. You've got to kill the people that you hate because of historical abuses and all that, then their families if they get uppity, then their friends if they try something, then their followers to a man, then a man here and there within your own ranks if they say that the first lot of dead men have a point, then people that oppose you within your own ranks, then the people that were close to you but had that one thought that just - got them knocked off. It never ends, that's what I like. Keeps me busy you know, purging for wrong think and all that." - Norman Lovett at the Apollo, Viva la Revolution, 2007




NEXT EPISODE: TROTSKY IN THE DUTCH EAST INDIES
 
Trotsky in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies: The pinnacle of the Dutch colonial experience. Making up one-third of the annual budget of the Dutch Government, the Dutch East Indies was the pride and joy of a nation that participated in imperialism. By 1920, the situation is that the country was industrialising and the general welfare was being extended to the first and second-generation Dutchmen here as well as the indigenous peoples of all the different islands.





But the situation was not so rosy.



One by one, the people of the Dutch East Indies were being awoken to the truth. The tyranny of distance, as Geoffrey Blainey would later write of the anniversary of the revolution, "marked the peoples of the archipelago as the pyramids marked the Ancient Egyptians or the centurion marked the men of Rome". In 1914, the Indies Social Democratic Association (ISDV) would be formed by Henk Sneevliet, a Dutch-born socialist and militant trade unionist. At first, the membership numbers were 100 people. But as native East Indians were coming out of university and were adopting western-style education, they would soon understand the principles of Marxism.

The war and its effects would channel itself into the educated peoples of the Dutch East Indies, along with news of the German Revolution and the Black Sea Socialist Republic. Speaking of that, on the 20th April 1918, Leon Trotsky and 300 members of the BSSR would arrive at Batavia. It would be the 5th of May when Trotsky would meet Sneevliet. Using Trotsky's skills in oratory and organisation, the ISDV would take the name of the Communist Party of the East Indies (CPEI) along with 10,000 new recruits and an alliance with the anti-colonial Sarakat Islam (Muslim trade unionists) organisation. Having put forward a programme to initiate a revolution, Trotsky set his men in place. By August 1920, over 100,000 native Indonesians were being taught how to use weapons.

It was the news of Trotsky's presence in the Dutch East Indies that alerted Prime Minister Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck of The Netherlands in September 1918. As a result, he orders the Governor-General of the DEI to be aware of the rising communists and to begin a crackdown on any gathering of weapons or calls to incite violence. The Governor-General ordered the police to raid newspapers that the communists used to promote their work, under powers given to him legally and other "extra-judicial" means. At first, the communists fled the scene and destroyed all of the evidence. When it failed, every one of them defended themselves with their fists. Then, in November and December of 1918, they began to arm themselves. With glass bottles, bricks, rifles and pistols, they begin to openly antagonise the police and the loyalist soldiers. By January 1919, the Communist Party had 50,000 members, having merged with the Sarakat Islam and other like-minded unions as well as taking over moderate reformist groups. On the 27th April 1919, Communists storm the Governor-General's Palace and kidnap Johan Paul van Limburg Stirum. The Volksraad was to be dissolved in favour of a union of soviets, as well as land redistribution and the entirety of the Dutch East Indies to be made independent as of the 1st May 1919.

Stirum and the conservative Dutch and anti-communist citizens openly rejected the demands. Trotsky relayed the demands again. If they were not given an answer by the 20th May 1919, Stirum was to be shot. Having heard the news, Stirum attempted to escape in a state of paranoia, believing that the communists would shoot him regardless of the outcome. Fleeing into the night, he was pursued by hundreds of communists through the streets of Batavia until he was beaten to death at 4am on the 9th May 1919.

The news of the killing spread like wildfire. Citizens already antsy about the Communists were now confirming their suspicions. Pleas were sent out to the colonial army and Major-General Marinus Bernardus Rost van Tonningen assumed the powers of the Governor-General in everything but name. The KNIL, the colonial army, numbered 40,000 people against a now confirmed ~100,000 members of the CPEI. The news in the homeland spread like a bushfire, with 20,000 protestors in the streets of Rotterdam and a riot between socialists and pro-colonial citizens in The Hague between the 18th and 28th May, leading to 9 deaths and 783 arrests. The Netherlands declared war on the CPEI, as well as asking for relief on the 12th June 1919.

Portugal, having contributed to one war to preserve the peace in Europe, hoped to intervene to protect East Timor, one of the colonies in the Far East asides from Macau. The fear was confirmed when a group of 700 communists stormed the island and attempted to trigger an uprising on the 27th June 1919. All of them were either captured or killed by the local police and citizens. Prime Minister Billy Hughes of Australia, before his defeat in the July Election, relayed the message of the attack to Portugal three days later. Portugal declared war on the USEI on the 3rd July 1919. A total of 50,000 soldiers were sent in August 1919, along with 5 battleships from the Portuguese Navy. Britain also called for a total of 40,000 soldiers from Burma and India to advance to Malaysia to protect its own borders from any possible communist insurgency on the 16th July 1919. 20,000 Australian troops were sent thanks to the new Prime Minister Patrick McMahon Glynn, following his predecessor's promise and his own anti-communist platform on the 24th July 1919. A further 8,000 New Zealander troops were sent by Prime Minister William Massey, as part of his re-election campaign to "be rid of communism near our shores" on the 5th August 1919.

By the 26th August 1919, the United Soviets of the East Indies was proclaimed in Batavia. At the same time, British forces were gathering at the northern border of Dutch Borneo, the Portuguese were about to bear down upon Timor and the Australians were already landing in New Guinea. What was supposed to usher a new age for the human race instead triggered much of the same old, same old. The decade was going to end with violence, whether anyone wanted it or not.

Resistance from the first generation European and Dutch descendants came when the communists expropriated their wealth and property. The conservative citizens of society either fled overseas (if they could) or fought back by themselves or joined the nearest posting of the KNIL. Armed with whatever weapons they found, they resisted the new authorities. 10,000 people were killed this way. Other citizens were rounded up in ad hoc stockades waiting for the orders from the General Committee, the executive and legislative and judicial force in the Dutch East Indies. Trotsky and Sneevliet shared de facto "head of state" status, with Trotsky's group and Sneevliet holding equal share of the seats in the General Committee. The GC would pass more regulations as time passed, with every person working on an industry for 12 hours a day and with the exclusion of anything that would betray the hard work that was put forward. All days were to be work days. All industries were to be controlled by communist-aligned unions, all citizens had to swear allegiance to the new state and the practice of religious services was banned by the General Committee.

Until the muslims had something to say about it. Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto, a founder of Sarakat Islam, saw what was happening and urged moderation. Trotsky, having lived under the autocracy of the Tsar and the Orthodox Church and seeing the BSSR fail the first time, did not intend on seeing the socialist experiment fail again. Tjokroaminoto opposed the moves made against the muslim and religious demographics of the country. But it was hoped, among the natives that . This was around the time that the island of Timor was captured by Portugal on the 9th September 1919, with over 30,000 Indonesians killed to 7,800 Portuguese killed. The USEI began to rally its soldiers for combat. Dutch sailors and merchantmen who defected to the USEI faced off against the British off the coast of Singapore on the 15th and 16th August, to face near annihilation.

In Sumatra the trained natives, acting under the command of Trotsky's delegates, pushed through to the northern coastline, hoping to send the Dutch forces back into the sea. At Ogan River (24th - 25th September), Curup (1st - 3rd October) and Pamenang (22nd - 29th October), the Dutch faced strong opposition but all three battles were left inconclusive. Either due to the communists sustaining far too many casualties or the Dutch not being able to press on with their advances. Major-General Marinus Bernardus Rost van Tonningen, having gathered 70,000 troops from the DEI and from the homeland, prepared to face the worst. Following a severe defeat at Pekanbaru on the 23rd November 1919, he told the men:

These men are not soldiers. These men are rabble. Rabble! You are all soldiers of Her Majesty! Soldiers of The Netherlands, that is what you are. What are they but the puppets of a Russian Jew! They are nothing more than citizens. They shoot one of us, there are more soldiers. But if we shoot one of them, they cannot replace him. They cannot take a civilian out into the street and give him a gun, no. They will not be able to fight us. The might of the homeland shall be felt on their backs. And the ones that are left to shoot us will beg and cry and piss their pants the moment we start to squeeze them! So men, break them. Do not slaughter them, but pressure them! Make them feel the pain. Make them think whatever they want of us, but never forget that they must be on their toes! We are the men that hold all of these islands! We Dutchmen! We fighting men, smaller than Britain yet stronger than Goliath. We are not going to go away into the sea! We will not falter! Come December or January or February, we will remain here, just as our ancestors remained here three hundred years ago.
IN THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY GOD, YOU SHALL MAKE YOUR STAND OR THEY WILL HELP YOU FALL!

December 1919 gave way to a lull, as both sides were exhausted. The USEI required as much manpower as possible to start harvesting resources for weapons and to train more of the military-age male population. The training and the industrialisation was hampered with news of planes dropping bombs on cash-crop plantations after Boxing Day. It was not until the 17th of January 1920 when one of these planes was shot down. Upon its inspection, it was discovered to be a British airplane.

In the new year, British forces under Major General Charles V. F. Townshend began to go southward through Borneo with 45,000 British, Indian and Gurkha troops. The Battle of Sarawak, from the 9th to 17th February 1920 was the first conflict between Britain and communist rebels. Suffering 1,067 casualties, the British managed to push southward 46km with over 30,000 POW's and 16,740 dead enemy combatants. For the third time this century, the British Empire had to undergo the development of concentration camps to hold the POW's in place. Despite such places being in existence, they were limited to six centres containing no more than 10,000 natives who were given humane treatment in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Despite Townshend's desire to press down on the rebels, Major General Tonningen ordered Townshend to treat the enemy with respect on the 24th February 1920. Despite what happened, the Dutchman shared the goal of the Dutch government in the homeland. This goal was to improve the welfare of all people within the Dutch East Indies, not just the white citizens. Townshend, angered at the order, communicated to British Prime Minister Austen Chamberlain and to Dutch Prime Minister Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck and demanded that he be made the commander of all forces in the region, not just the British and ANZAC forces.

On the 10th March 1920, having not advanced from his new gains, Townshend received his message. General John Monash would come from Melbourne to take command of all the ANZAC, British, Portuguese and Dutch forces, while Townshend was to be dismissed. Angered and shocked by the message from Chamberlain, he attempted to order an advance in the hopes that an attack would change the circumstances. Seeing their commanding officer in a more irascible manner, several soldiers attempted to look at the message and transmitted it along the rank-and-file. On the 15th March 1920, Monash would arrive at HQ, relieving Townshend before he could commence his attack. Angry, dejected and pissed off, Townshend would rant and rave at Monash's face for over two hours. Despite over a thousand men being witness to the event, Townshend argued that he would continue to find a way to be "at the top of the fucking chain of fucking command".

Monash said but one word. 'Leave,' as he pointed out to the car that escorted him to the base.

Charles Townshend would be dismissed from active duty, before suffering from depression and mania. He would die in 1937 in an asylum, with George Orwell's 1951 novel On the Question of Man's Health being used as the precursor to the modern mental health procedure.

Upon taking command, John Monash would begin to oversee the use of combined arms during this time. Using planes from Britain, The Netherlands, Australia and Portugal, he ordered the planes to strafe concentrations of rebelling soldiers and to bomb areas of the forest in front of the allied positions. The use of planes as support and as bombers allowed for the Gurkha and Indian forces to beat the communists at Tarakan (26th - 28th April), Apung (6th-9th May) and Sajau (20th - 22nd May). The Dutch pushed southwards at Mandah (23rd April - 1st May), Ukui (3rd - 4th May) and the Second Battle of Pekanbaru (12th May), which led to the capture of 30,000 soldiers. The Portuguese fought the Battle of Wetah Island (29th April - 1st May), where 4,000 men were killed or wounded within five hours of storming the beaches. The firepower brought to bear led to the island capitulating on the first day of the new month. Damar Island, Babar Island and Yamdena Island all surrendered between the 4th and 14th May 1920. The ANZACs managed to obtain all of western Papua by the end of May, with ships patrolling and hunting down USEI warships (of which there are few and far).

The USEI has attempted during this time to try and obtain supplies of weapons and ammunition, as was the desire of Sneevliet and the Indonesian members of the General Committee. Trotsky believed that another tactic had to be added: The motivation of the working classes to rebel. Lev Kaminev, one of the 300 followers that fled with Trotsky to the Dutch East Indies, was to take 50 men to Darwin to trigger an uprising. The plan was to divert the attention of the Australians and to trigger riots and a greater anti-war sentiment. Kaminev and his 50 men (all of them were armed) travelled in a merchant ship filled with communist pamphlets and some sugar and coffee on the 9th August 1920.

On the 17th August 1920, the boat arrived on the coast of the Northern Territory, outside of the view of the port authorities. Having spent time learning English, the men did not have the chance to develop an accent. So on Wagait Beach at 4pm, a few of the locals were bemused at the accent of these men trying to talk of Marx and of revolution. However, a dozen men were convinced to join the foreigners which was then raised to 20 when the coffee was granted to them. The boat returned to the sea with 71 people trying to trigger a revolution. Going into Darwin proper at night, the men left the boat and began presenting the pamphlets around the area. A group of 38 men stormed nearby police stations and gained more arms. Hoping to trigger a revolution was not as rosy as they thought.

Because one kilometre away was the entire 3rd Division.
Whether it was news from Wagait Beach or the shouting that the men did in the streets, but the entirety of 3rd Division marched down the streets of Darwin to see what the hell was going on. Newly promoted Lieutenant Walter R. Kinghorn was one of the first men to take cover after one of the communists opened fire, with the 20 Australians surrendering once they received news of the 3rd Division coming in. It took no more than 17 minutes for the whole affair to be over. 35 Australian soldiers were killed, with Kaminev and his 50 men all dying from their wounds hours later.

The reaction was explosive. On the 25th August 1920, the 3rd Division was shipped out in a plan dubbed "Operation Odyssey", to much fanfare from Darwin and from across Australia. As for the campaign to obtain more support, it was lacking. In The Netherlands, counter-protestors followed the anti-war marchers wherever they were. In Britain, the police would march out in force, but Chamberlain made sure that it was not heavy-handed.

With the anti-communist forces advancing through Western Papua, the communists faced their first crisis. The wavering support of moderates, social democrats and trade unionists was being affected by the absence of good news as well as the rumours. With no foreign capital coming in and with no chance of purchasing weapons, soldiers have been forced to conserve ammunition. If that failed, then more vital weaponry was shipped to Java, if it could escape the numerous Dutch and British warships coming around the islands. To control the public, further and further censorship was required, to prevent any counter-revolution. On the island of Sumatra, Major-General Marinus Bernardus Rost van Tonningen pushed 50km in, causing over 100,000 USEI civilians and soldiers to surrender to them. The island of Borneo surrendered in November following the Battle of Kalimantan, which caused over 59,000 casualties compared to the British casualties of 8,000

By December 1920, what was the USEI was based on: Java, Lesser Sunda Islands excluding Timor and Sulawesi. ANZAC forces claimed Kota Tual, Yamdena, Trangan and North Maluku during the August-September period. Portuguese and British forces stormed Maluku and the south of Borneo. In other words, the game was rigged from the start. The failure of the USEI was placed on several factors: the communist's agenda had alienated moderates within the anti-colonial struggle. Tjokroaminoto had managed to meet the Dutch on the 25th, seeking terms of surrender and wishing for a return to the peace that once was. The Dutch agreed, hoping that by not alienated muslim citizens, it would help to restore order in the country. From there, muslims began rioting against the USEI, with Trotsky countermanding Sneevliet and ordering the crushing of the riots. A total of 6,000 people would be killed or wounded in fighting between hardline communists and Islamic groups, with Christian and Hindu and other religious demographics rising up as well during the month.

With the walls closing in, orders were put forward to slash and burn cash crops such as cotton and rubber plantations, with the hope of not allowing them to be used up again. With news of these events occurring, the allied forces brought all to bear. The ships would intercept fishing boats, merchant ships and they would intern anyone on those boats. The white civilians within the USEI began clashing with one another as farmers began to rise against the orders to burn down their crops. Some even attempt to flee to the enemy lines to surrender.

On the 17th February 1921, Portuguese, Dutch and British/ANZAC soldiers advanced onto Java itself. Facing stiff resistance, the beachheads to the north, west and east of the island were held with rising casualties. Airplanes made their appearance, as the British Royal Air Force started testing its new planes on the enemy positions and within towns. The Dutch pushed hardest out of all three beachheads, reaching 15kms of Batavia itself.

Riots began to occur in the communist-held territories, with food shortages and arbitrary punishments being too much. Summary trials and arbitrary executions were beginning to pile up, as well as signs of malnutrition, starvation and a lack of ammunition to fight against the enemy. Muslims revolted en masse, taking up arms against the communist forces. Christians, Hindus and other religious minorities did the same. Much of the horror that Trotsky dealt with in Russia was repeating itself in the Dutch East Indies. On the 26th March 1921, the USEI was no more, as the island of Java surrendered and the other pockets of resistance surrendered.

Many of the communists were imprisoned for life, while those higher up denounced one another to the restored government. Trotsky and Sneevliet denounced one another while Tjokroaminoto had this to say:


The cause that I fought for was one of self-determination. By this, I mean that the Dutch East Indies ought to be, as I see it, given to the native peoples such as myself to govern. What we saw was not the control of our destiny in our hands, but in the hands of a select few. I saw Muslims, Christians and Hindus, all ordered to not pray to Mecca, not to go to church and to not deliver their prayers. The thugs that Trotsky sent around the country ordered the shutdown of all religious worship. I heard the news of a rank and file member, whose cousin was on Borneo. He said that there was a shutdown of a mosque, the cousin protested and the thug did not respond. The cousin instead decided to pray outside, when the morning rain was going on. The thug, damn his name, whatever it was, he kicks the man. An argument comes forward from the thug, who does not even speak our own language, and those that were to pray. Next thing that I am told, his cousin was beaten to death.

Tell me, dear people, if a man chooses to pray when the country tells him not to, will it be self-determination if he resists or if he complies with their order? Trotsky is not one to deliver us the word and neither would Sneevliet.



Sneevliet would surrender himself after attempting to escape into the jungle. He would be imprisoned in The Netherlands for life, never returning to the Dutch East Indies. As for Trotsky, he would escape and make his way to safety. The boat he travelled in was intercepted and escorted to Singapore. His capture would make world headlines, as well as help with Austen Chamberlain's popularity. Trotsky would be deported to Russia and sent into a prison camp deep within Siberia to die in 1949.

The Dutch East Indies suffered 150,000 to 190,000 deaths from civilians: 4,802 Australians died, 2,912 New Zealanders died, 9,886 British died, 10,779 Portuguese died and 25,668 Dutchmen died. The communists suffered 51,000 - 64,000 deaths. The waste of lives and of resources would take decades to pay back, with the Dutch being forced into a quagmire with regards to its payments to foreign powers. One-third of the annual budget came from the Dutch East Indies and The Netherlands was close to giving up the whole empire. There was also the matter of the other nations involved, where they would have to repay their debts.



The Treaty of Rotterdam established the DEI to be in the hands of The Netherlands once again. However, to repay debts incurred during the fighting, there were several deals. The Territory of Curaçao was sold to the United States for $200 million, which was a price that the Americans could not get lower yet seemed reasonable. Western Papua was sold to Australia for $15 million (which was paid in instalments until 1970) and the western half of Timor was granted to Portugal in exchange for $3.2 million. Britain would be granted a cut of the revenue (10%) in order to pay its debts, which it would then receive 0% afterwards (which did not occur until 1966).


Meanwhile, further north, the Japanese remained absent from everything. Those that favoured expansionism and anti-Western sentiment looked to the Dutch East Indies. If it was divided once, they argued, it could be divided again.





NEXT EPISODE: FILLING IN THE BLANKS (ELECTIONS, POP CULTURE, THAT SORT OF THING BEFORE 1920)
 
All thoughts and comments are welcome and important to keeping this timeline on the straight and narrow.



If Hermann Göring can avoid getting shot in the family jewels and becoming addicted to morphine, my money's on him. Hitler's ascent was in no small part to his charisma, and a fighting-fit aviator and commander of Richtofen's Flying Circus would have the magnetism that Ernst Röhm simply didn't, and like Hitler he could appeal to middle-class nationalists and the German military in a way that Röhm couldn't. He would be a very different man to the effeminate fatso he was OTL.

Of course, this assumes that the Nazis come to power ATL as they did OTL. But the post-war resentment (particularly to the Treaty of Versailles) is still there, so if the Communists don't win out the Nazis have a real shot.


We'll see what happens.
 
Filling in the Blanks: British, Portuguese and US Elections (up until 1920)
Portugal 1918

The country had been given its due for contributing to the war, with many returned servicemen coming back with injuries as well as the fallen bodies of their comrades. It was during the Polish Flu and during the recession caused by it that led to the dissolution of the "Sacred Union", the coalition government between the Evolutionist Party and the Democratic Party. Soldiers were called back into service in order to assist health officials in maintaining the quarantine for the duration.

Bernardino Machino, then the President of Portugal, feared the events that occurred would give rise to extremist elements. On the 16th December 1917, the Communist Party of Portugal was established, with an underground network and membership of 5,000 people. These people would be from leftist trade unions and from bitter veterans of the war. It would take some time before a far-right party would arise in response. They would be, contrary to the name, akin to anarchists instead of adhering to communism in general. Many socialists that joined the CPP were anarchist in their beliefs and rejected revolutionary Marxism wholesale when the BSSR and the USEI both failed and resulted in war by 1925.

Portugal's colonial gains were a stickling point for the conservatives of the National Republican Party, who wishes to see post-pandemic immigration to increase the white populations overseas. Sidónio Pais, a conservative military officer, openly criticised the government's response to the Treaty of Versailles and stated that more should have been offered to Portugal. He personally campaigned on demanding Germany pay for the medical costs of veterans as well as granting colonial lands to veterans (the equivalent of the Australian policy under Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes and Patrick Glynn).

Machino faced calls by doves within his party to not press on colonial matters, as the French crushed the rebellions in Morocco and as the British and the Irish were staring down one another.

Then came the day. 28th April 1918

Sidónio Pais (National Republican Party) - 356,221 votes (49.54%) or 36 seats
Bernardino Machino (Democratic Party) - 129,754 votes (18.04%) or 14 seats
António José de Almeida (Evolutionist Party) - 117,442 votes (16.33%) or 12 seats
Manuel de Brito Camacho (Unionist Party) - 72,886 votes (10.13%) or 7 seats
José Carlos Rates (Communist Party of Portugal) - 5,027 votes (0.69%) and 0 seats
António de Oliveira Salazar (Catholic Centre Party) - 37,663 votes (5.23%) 4 seats

Total voters: 718,993 voters out of 900,000 registered voters
Total number of seats: 73

Pais became the 4th President of Portugal, already troubled by the sight of the united opposition, which was due to circulated newspapers revealing Pais' pro-German sentiments before Portugal's declaration of war. Such views, however, had been disavowed on advice from . The Democratic Party could form a united front with the Evolutionists and the Communists, he feared, even though the CPP were too anarchist for either Almeida and Machino to link with. It was on the 29th of April that he declared that his Prime Minister would be Salazar, which would be the first of several moves to normalise relations between the Catholic Church and the Republic. Pais also began efforts to encourage emigration to the colonies to ensure their safety as well as their integration into Portugal's economy.







1918 British Election (this is canon, if I had stated that there was a British election in 1919, it is now changed to this)

The war was won, but the peace was rocked by the rise of the Polish Flu as well as the Royal Assent of the People's Representation Act of 1918. This allowed the vote for all women the age of 30 and up and for all men 21 years old and up.

The change of leader from Bonar Law to Austen Chamberlain was marked for success when he was accosted by a journalist. "Mr Chamberlain", the man said, "what gives you a better chance of 10 Downing Street than Mr Law?" Austen replied by stating, "At least Mr Law didn't storm out and form his own party". The comment was reprinted as a joke against Lloyd George and Asquith, two men who had never forgiven one another. Along the campaign trail, both Liberal and Democratic Liberal candidates were heckling one another as the Conservatives and Labour made headway through the issues.

On the subject of Ireland, Chamberlain issued a clear message: Read My Lips, No Disunity. Irish republicans under Sinn Fein demanded independence, as the Easter Uprising failed to garner popular support among the Dubliners. The success of the war, as well as the role of Irish troops in the Dardanelles campaign fuelled unionist sentiments both in Ulster and in the Catholic regions of Ireland. With the surrender of the Ottomans, the entry of more countries into the Entente and the pressure placed on the Central Powers, conscription was hidden under the rug so to speak. Nevertheless, Sinn Fein campaigned against the Irish Parliamentary Party.

On the subject of the Treaty of Versailles, a breakaway group of Tories called the Nationalist Party of the United Kingdom (NP) campaigned on Germanophobia, class collaboration and policies that would be considered proto-Volkist according to political historians and political scientists. They declared that Germany had to surrender the historical territory of Hanover, to be resurrected as a Dominion of her own. This of course offended the Irish, but given the upper class and wealthy supporters the NP had, it was no surprise. The politicians in the election were unanimous in their support for the Treaty, excluding the National Socialist Party under H. M. Hyndman which campaigned on "no treaty, no reparations, no peace but the revolution!".

18,256,788 eligible voters
11,501,776 voters made it (63% turnout) and 707 available seats

Next election in 1923

Results:

PARTYLEADERSEATS HELDSEATS GAINEDVOTES % OF VOTES% OF SEATS CHANGE OF SEATSResult
ConservativeAusten Chamberlain2203894,562,00739.6655.02+169 SeatsMajority Government
LiberalDavid Lloyd George3361711,877,35616.3224.18- 165 Seats
Democratic LiberalHerbert Asquith115 (Leader lost seat)48,9920.420.70-6 Seats
LabourWilliam Adamson36512,664,80323.167.2+17 Seats
Irish Parliamentary John Dillion7964428,9913.729.05- 15 Seats
Sinn Fein Thomas Clarke01586,003 0.742.12+15 Seats
National PartyHenry Page Croft0289,682 0.770.28+2 Seats
National Servicemen's LeagueJames Hogge0492,8800.800.56+4 Seats
Labour UnionistEdward Carson 0331,2440.270.42+3 Seats
Scottish ProhibitionEdwin Scrymgeour015,2620.040.14+1 Seat
National Socialist PartyH. M. Hyndman0214,0020.120.28+2 Seats
Others001,600,55413.910-/+

What was meant to be a sign of revenge against Lloyd George three years earlier became an old and unfunny joke. The Democratic Liberal Party lost Asquith as well as its Chief Whip. Herbert Samuel was then elected as the leader of the DLP, which was suffering losses of members and funds to the Liberals as well as losing seats to Labour candidates.

Asquith would never muster another campaign for public office, citing his humiliation in 1915 as a result.

Sinn Fein demanded a recount following the results in the Irish seats. The results had been a vindication for unionists. Of course, Thomas Clarke and the elected members of Sinn Fein did not take up their seats in Westminster. Instead, they went to Dublin to institute their own Parliament and their own country. This did not end well for them.

The Irish Republican Army, under the command of Michael Collins, began to stock up arms alongside nationalists. The Ulster Volunteers began to crackdown on the attempted insurrection before the Royal Irish Constabulary was sent in on the 17th December 1918.

Prime Minister Chamberlain met with the Irish Parliamentary Party, to deal with the uprising. It was to be stated that only armed insurgents were to be targeted, based of the pleadings of Dillion and the IPP. Citizens were not to be harmed and neither were the elected members of Sinn Fein. The RIC were reinforced with the Ulster Volunteers and the British Army.

Hunting down only armed combatants allowed for the Unionist forces to win based of numbers alone. RIC compounds began to expand into the rural regions of Ireland, in order to prevent the spread of the IRA. With their protection and their explicit orders not to harm citizens, they were given no grief from the citizens. As news of this occurred, it was used as propaganda against the IRA. Soon the members of Sinn Fein were given the temptation of returning to Parliament without any undue punishment, a suggestion made by moderate IPP MP's against the wishes of more hardline Unionists.

Public distrust of Sinn Fein reached an all-time high in March 1919, when there was an attempt made to claim Dublin. The number of citizens hurt by IRA soldiers ended being more than that of the Unionist soldiers overall during this conflict. Irish nationalists call this the "Christmas Uprising" or "The Insurrection", whereas Unionists call this the "Sinn Fein Rebellion".

By the time fighting ceased on the 12th April 1919, 215 Royal Irish Constabulary were killed along with 49 Ulster Volunteers and 1,002 British soldiers. This is compared to 2,157 IRA soldiers being killed and 1,563 civilians being killed. The Irish public, having fought through a war, were sick of the fighting and demanded a status quo ante. The Treaty of Cardiff stated the following:
- The members of Sinn Fein must sit in Westminster
- Status Quo Ante
- Irish Republican Army proscribed

Because of the long-standing policy of unionism, Home Rule was dropped by Chamberlain, which dug into the hearts of even moderates that condemned the violence.

It would take another war, a longer and much bloodier war for such a policy to change. But Chamberlain had sighted trouble in the East Indies and moved towards it as quick as he could.







It was a mere pro forma that the President and Vice President was nominated. However, there were changes to the platform that would mark themselves in the future. The first was an amendment that would state the order of presidential succession as: President, Vice-President, President Pro Tempore, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Secretary of State. Upon the succession of a new President, a Vice-President would be confirmed by 2/3rds majority of the Senate.

The second, the more controversial, was the introduction of an anti-lynching bill. This was meant, according to Secretary of State Theodore Roosevelt, to divide the Democratic and the American Independence Parties and their votes in the South. The foreign policy victory in Mexico allowed for the border to be protected, but it was at the cost of Mexican sentiments.



For the Democrats, the time for choosing was difficult. The fuel was there, after all. The Republicans sent aid to Europe, to then send boys for less than six weeks' worth of fighting to then intervene in Mexico. It was a choice between:
- Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Snr (the man who revealed the Armenian Racecide)
- James Cox, Governor of Ohio
- former President Woodrow Wilson
- Alexander M. Palmer (responsible for drafting the Revenue Act of 1913)
- William McAdoo
- Senator Carter Glass

In a heated vote, Palmer obtained the crucial support from Glass' delegates in return for the Vice-Presidential spot. In the hopes of smashing the AIP, the Democratic Party hoped to not stuff it up.



The AIP was a lot more professional. There was no more of the "ad-hoc" structures that permeated the 1916 campaign. The frontrunner was a Democrat turned AIP Senator from Missouri, James A. Reed. He was nominated with Thomas Dixon bowing out early and Thomas Watson being a controversial choice, having made several anti-Jewish remarks that Dixon considered alienating to the AIP's success. Reed was given the running mate of Hugo Black, a recent veteran of the Punitive Expedition, an Alabama lawyer and a rising star within the AIP's rank and file.


The President's age became a bigger issue, as Reed's professional veneer helped to reconcile with voters who were turned off by the more militant actions four years ago. The Atlanta Horror, whilst not forgotten, was starting to die down as the AIP was able to campaign there alongside Democrats. The Solid South was shattering and both sides were ready to pick at the pieces.

The Democrats were now solidified, with Marshall failing to gain any support for a third party run. Palmer stated to him that he would consider a cabinet position, but that he would not promising much. Dejected, he counted himself out for the campaign. As for the Republicans themselves, they received another controversy when Theodore Roosevelt died on the 27th October 1920. This death helped solidify the age problem that Holmes had, with rumours going around of Johnson being the kingmaker behind the throne.

With growing labor problems, wartime backlash as well as anger from Irish and German communities, the Democrats managed to retake the White House.

Screen Shot 2020-08-02 at 1.13.13 am.png


It was just a question of how to deal with the new decade coming in.








I hope that this was enough. There will be other things soon. All comments and likes are welcome. Please share your thoughts as they help make this TL realistic and worthwhile.
 
Some Ideas for events/conflicts for the Middle East in the 20s. Egypt does become independent in 1922 like in OTL, they then enter an alliance with Persia and go to war with Arabia. Egypt could lose or win gaining control over Hejaz or other regions. Persia takes control over Mesopotamia. Kurds rebel and take parts of Kurdish populated regions in the Middle East and declare a state. Rump Turkey tries to regain lost lands. Europeans like Italy, France and Greece could possibly get involved and take over areas of interest. Depending who the loser in the war. For example Italy takes control over the Holy land and Lebanon or Damietta. France receives Syria or some other part of Egypt. Greece could possibly go for Alexandria linking it with Cyrenaica or Anticoh. British would just keep Suez under their control.
 
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Some Ideas for events/conflicts for the Middle East in the 20s. Egypt does become independent in 1922 like in OTL, they then enter an alliance with Persia and go to war with Arabia. Egypt could lose or win gaining control over Hejaz or other regions. Persia takes control over Mesopotamia. Kurds rebel and take parts of Kurdish populated regions in the Middle East and declare a state. Rump Turkey tries to regain lost lands. Europeans like Italy, France and Greece could possibly get involved and take over areas of interest. Depending who the loser in the war. For example Italy takes control over the Holy land and Lebanon or Damietta. France receives Syria or some other part of Egypt. Greece could possibly go for Alexandria linking it with Cyrenaica or Anticoh. British would just keep Suez under their control.

I'll keep these in mind. Thank you for pointing that out.

Britain and France will be preoccupied with keeping the Arabs in one nation-state, with the Balfour Declaration being butterflied away. Turkey will be shattered after the Ottoman Civil War and its peace in 1922.

I'll be working on the draft for the world 1920 onwards.

TLDR for the world:
- Democrats have retaken the White House
- Home Rule has been taken off the table and Sinn Fein are not given the respect they want, so the ATL Irish War of Independence is a failure
- No one has figured out who the Führer's going to be
- WW2 is going to be far worse.
- The Tsar is still in control, albeit with a constitutional framework.
 

Emperor_Coz

Banned
To the East, to the Death, to the Struggle


1st September, 1914

With war not even a month ago, the coordination of the French and British forces was important. Together in Paris were the men who would kickstart the Allied war effort, or most of it rather:
- Field Marshal Horatio Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War.
- Field Marshal John French, Commander-in-Chief of the BEF
- Jean Viviani, French Prime Minister
- Alexandre Millerand, French War Minister
- Aristide Briand, French Justice Minister

The transcript remains in the British War Museum. It was the basis for the historical novel Gods and Generals: Volume 3, written by Peter FitzSimons:

Kitchener: Gentlemen, I thank you for your audience. I have received the notice from the President and from the French Commander-in-Chief -
Millerand: You must understand, Field Marshal, our great concern with frontline -
French: With me, you mean?
Millerand: Sir? With all due respect, the BEF is capable of holding the line -
French: No, we are not! (slams the table) The II Corps will not be able to stand against a single German corps. You must understand, Monsieur Millerand, my great concern -
Kitchener: Gentlemen, you make good points. The French do not want us to fall back to the Seine and Field Marshal French cannot stand alone. Against the Germans, he will have need of reinforcements. Field Marshal Joffre will need to press on an attack if French is to -
Viviani: Field Marshal Joffre is capable of handling his own affairs. After all, the Germans have been reinforcing East Prussia, is that not a good opportunity to -
French: I cannot attack without help from the French. Once I have endangered my men to save you and now you demand a second -
Viviani: War will make that happen to -
French: Do not lecture -
Kitchener: Field Marshal. I am of the belief that we need to cooperate -
Viviani: Is that not what we are doing already -
Kitchener: Yes, but I must be clear. As of now, the gap between I and II Corps will need closing. The BEF will need to stay for the good of the fight. The French will need to continue -
French: Of course (unintelligible mumbles). Am I given the right to fall back?
Kitchener: That is something that will occur. It will continue, but it must be in tandem with the French. The BEF will stand.
French: Of course (mouthing curses)
Briand: Gentlemen, what about the Ottoman Empire?
Kitchener: What about them?
French: Please tell (grinding teeth).
Briand: The Ottomans are neutral, yet they have closed the Dardanelles to trade -
Kitchener: But I must wonder about that. The Ottomans are neutral -
Briand: - Yet they have closed their trade and allowed German ships to acquired into their service. That as well as firing on Admiral Milne as well. We must ensure that Russia be able to reach supplies from the sea. Otherwise we would not be able to sustain pressure -
French: Sustain pressure? I have told you that the BEF is not able to hold the Germans back and here you are, stating we attack the Dardenelles -
Briand: There is a chance to do this, gentlemen. The Baltic will have the German High Seas Fleet as their protector. The Ottomans have only the Dardanelles. There is no other way -
Kitchener: Minister, it seems like a good idea, but there must be a plan in place. We cannot be serious about a campaign unless there is -
Briand: The French are retreating, the BEF is retreating, the Dardanelles is where we can -
Viviani: Minister, you will keep quiet -
Briand: The fight would be a breach of the Ottomans, yes, but it will supply the Russians. How many of us heard of what occurred at Tanneburg?
(A murmur from all men)
Kitchener: Field Marshal French will ensure reasonable movement away from the German lines. The French will continue their efforts in concert with the BEF.
Millerand: They will. The Field Marshal and the President will be glad of Field Marshal French's...change of heart.
French: I am sure that they will (murmuring).
Kitchener: That is all settled. I will telegraph the Cabinet of these efforts -
Briand: - Field Marshal?
Kitchener: Minister, what is it?
Briand: Field Marshal, will there be any consideration of my proposal?
Kitchener: (walks away)

(French and Kitchener gather in a different room)
French: What in devil's name was that!
Kitchener: If you haven't guess yet, it was cooperation -
French: - Twice they expect me to defend France. Twice, I will suffer a fate like Pyrrhus -
Kitchener: Well, you did make yourself the elephant of the room -
French: What?
Kitchener: You didn't show proper decorum to the men in the room at all -
French: Proper decorum? How dare you wear a bloody uniform while I am the Commander-in-Chief -
Kitchener: For goodness sake man, do you propose that I am usurping your authority? Heavens no, I am doing what will grant us victory the quickest. That means cooperation with the French, something that you know with Joffre -
French: Yes, yes, I am good with Joffre, but those men out there -
Kitchener: You have had it hard, my friend. Try not to take it out on those men. They are men who the public vote on, unlike us soldiering men. I may be able to retrieve some of your dignity back, if you wish -
French: - I would appreciate that (grumbling).
Kitchener: (Walks out of the room and joins the Frenchmen)

Kitchener: Gentlemen, I come here not on the state of affairs but more on a personal note. Field Marshal French may have appeared a bit, a bit bemused by what has occurred in recent times. For the sake of continued unity, he wishes for an apology for the state that he happens to be in -
Millerand: For the state that he happened to be in, is that what you are asking of us?
Kitchener: (Deep breath) I say this in the name of better relations. I have read of the problems with the BEF and of the importance of them falling back with the French. The BEF will continue, but it will not desert from the field. Is this alright?
Briand: (Clears throat) In the name of better relations, I will apologise.
Viviani: Very well then. We will apologise.
Millerand: (Deep breath) Very well. I will as well. But it will be only once.
Kitchener: Of course.
(Viviani and Millerand leave to apologise to French)
Briand: How much would a landing for the Dardanelles need?
Kitchener: It will have need of a large force. Enough to claim the peninsula and to ensure that it remains open.
Briand: I suppose you could tell me of how it would work?

***********************************************************************

26th November 1914

Having heard Briand's proposal, Kitchener drafted a war plan (known as "Kitchener's Note"). This was following the Ottoman entry into war on the 30th October. It was to start with a naval bombardment to clear any forts overlooking the region. This accompanied the start of mine sweeping, based of recent aerial evidence. Beach landings were to come later.

War Council:
Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty
Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener, Secretary of State for War

(The so-called "Kitchener's Note" gets handed from one member of the War Council to the other. Each man looks at it before handing it back to Kitchener. This is after all other business has concluded). The testimony comes from The Liberal Men. A book of Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and Herbert Asquith's trials and tribulations. Not only in the war years, but as Prime Ministers of the Liberal Party.

Churchill: It appears that the Ottomans brought this upon themselves. They wanted those two damn ships and they shot at us for it. I guess that is how they want to play now.
Asquith: Gentlemen, there is more than enough British men invested into the fighting as it is. We need to press the Western Front before it becomes deadlocked -
Lloyd George: Prime Minister, with all due respect, the front has stagnated since Ypres. What we are stating is nothing less than a backdoor towards the downfall of Germany and her allies -
Grey: - And leave the resources stretched out? Churchill, you of all people must know -
Churchill: What I know is that the Royal Navy will hold out for as long as God draws breath. We can hit the Dardanelles with 150,000 men and be in Constantinople within the year -
(Silence)
Kitchener: I have...I have not considered such a number in my plans -
Churchill: - But I have. Earl Kitchener, 150,000 men will be raised from the Empire as well as France. Given how Briand came up with the plan, it would do nothing but raise French morale. After all, they won't be facing machine guns from the sea to Alsace-Lorraine -
Asquith: - (Slaps the table) But they will be facing machine guns nonetheless. I mean, such a expedition would be monumental. Are we to copy Menelaus and the thousands of Greeks that besieged Troy? Stuck on one beach for ten years to then come up with a trick after so much death -
Churchill: (Drinks) It would be better if we made this clear. The front in Belgium will freeze. Meanwhile the Germans are making more and more gains within Russian territory. If we cannot show a supply route to Russia, then the Kaiser will be laughing when he steps inside the Winter Palace.
Grey: This will be a considerable amount of resources and manpower. What does Earl Kitchener think of this?
Kitchener: The plan would need several warships to clear out the forts and the mines. This will be before any possible landing on any shores -
Churchill: (Thumps table) - There are several old battleships that will be more than able to clear them away. I can assure the War Council here that Mister Fisher will be more than happy to furbish us the ships needed.

(27th September. Churchill and Kitchener meet Jackie Fisher, 1st Sea Lord)

Fisher: No, no, and no. I will have to resign over this -
Churchill: For the sake of the country, man, will you please consider it -
Fisher: (Shakes his head) No I will not. Kitchener, what do you hope will be done with an operation like this.
Kitchener: The operation, will lead to the capture of Constantinople. It will open up trade and supplies for the Russian Empire, no doubt -
Fisher: No doubt, no doubt at all, the both of you. But there are other ways -
Churchill: How many times are you going to bring up that G-d damn Baltic plan? We would have to skirt around Jutland and the Skagerrak to then face the German Baltic Fleet -
Fisher: - It can work, Winston, I know it can.
Kitchener: My Lord, I know it seems hard, but the ships that we can use will be able to break through to Constantinople. It is far easier to deploy ships from the Mediterranean Fleet. Them as well as older ones instead of, what, using six hundred ships -
Fisher: - And you claim that 150,000 men is any better?
Churchill: Fisher, this is something that can end this whole thing in one giant stroke. With Germany, we would have to march across Belgium, across one country to attack the other. But with this landing, we go straight for the heart of the Sultan itself. The heart of the Mohammedans themselves.
Fisher: (Grumbles), Go on then.


Fin.

The POD. Admiral Milne of the Royal Navy pursuing the German warships Goeben and Breslau. This occured on the 8th August, where in OTL, he instead guarded the Adriatic. This allowed him to catch up to the two ships as they left Donoussa. On the 15th August, the British attacked the two German ships at the mouth of the Dardanelles. Admiral Milne retreated when coastal bombardments deterred him from going further.

Because of this, the Ottomans declared the closure of the Dardanelles, mining it by the start of September. The Ottoman maritime agreement with Britain would shut down later that month. Enver Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of War, was responsible for the move. It fuels anti-British sentiment as well as given a legitimate excuse for pro-German factions within the Ottoman Empire.

Aristide Briand coming with the French Prime Minister Viviani and War Minister Millerand. He would come up with the idea of attacking the Ottomans on the 1st September instead of November. He would come up with the plan earlier because of Milne's actions. Churchill himself would demand 150,000 men given ATL's attack on Milne as well as his reading of "Kitchener's Note", opposed to ~70,000 men that he and Kitchener would agree on in OTL.

The rest of the war continues as it does in OTL. Except for two things:
The Ottomans will be on standby before they declare war the Gallipoli Campaign (dubbed Operation Illiad in January 1915), which considered earlier than OTL. Mobilising and organisation will start before December 1914.

As an Australian who sees stuff about Coronavirus and fires, Anzac Day holds meaning with me. To say that is a Gallipoli-wank will not be so accurate. It will be difficult, but I reckon it could be possible.

My other TL, Behold The Birth of a Sun, felt kind of boring despite enjoying the POD and the sort of things I could toy with. So, given what has happened, I wanted to start again.

I hope this makes more sense than Danish Mexico, King Arthur of England or Spanish Newfoundland. I suppose I could always reference one TL in this one.

Only one way to find out. Thanks.
Its so good to see a fellow Australian in aluternate history.They are all about America,or Europe,and rarely about Curtin and Japan.
 
Its so good to see a fellow Australian in aluternate history.They are all about America,or Europe,and rarely about Curtin and Japan.

God bless you man, we need more Antipodeans around here. I mean, I've got a successful Eureka Rebellion TL on the back burner that has gone up to 1972 (but it slaughtered a lot of butterflies). Anyway, I wanted to do Gallipoli because of what could happen.

If you've read through the timeline, wonderful, but I won't say much in that regard.

Japan is going to LOATHE Australia for taking the Pacific gains, but there are events coming up soon that will trigger them. As for John Curtin, he will have a great role soon enough.

Why is WW2 going to be far worse?

Its all got to do with Volkism and the Führer. It will appear soon enough.
 
Quick Update
Composition of the US Supreme Court

Chief Justice - Edward Douglass White (Cleveland appointed as an Associate, Taft as Chief Justice) - Conservative (1894 - 1921)
Associate Justice - Charles Evans Hughes (Taft appointed) - Progressive (1908 - 1948)
Associate Justice - Mahlon Pitney (Taft appointed) - Conservative (1912 - 1922)
Associate Justice - Joseph McKenna (McKinley appointed) - moderate (1898 -1925)
Associate Justice - William R. Day (Roosevelt appointed) - Progressive (1903 - 1922)
Associate Justice - William Howard Taft (Holmes appointed) - Conservative (1917 - 1930)
Associate Justice - James Clark McReynolds (Wilson appointed) - Conservative (1914 - 1946)
Associate Justice - Willis Van Devanter (Taft appointed) - Conservative (1910 - 1941)
Associate Justice - Frank Sigel Dietrich (Holmes Appointed) - moderate (1917 - 1930)

Thank you for reading.
 
A Christmas Special
Bürgerbräukeller

The pride of Munich and a jewel of Germany's drinking culture, comparable to the pubs of England and the watering holes of Australia. It was here that men were sanctified with the drop, that every glass emptied would be an affirmation of the beer that Bavaria made for decades, hell, for centuries. It would gather three thousand people here in commemoration of beer drinking.

Dietrich Eckart would be such a man. Sitting at a table with his fellow man from the German Workers' Party, he drank to bitter health. As long as Bauer was President, it was to be so.
'Adolf said that there would be someone who would rise. Someone,' said Eckart, as he drank down to the dregs. With him, Felix Graf von Bothmer pondered the future.
'We have waited and waited and what happened? We didn't get anyone for the Reichstag and we didn't get a single vote. Dietrich, I must be the one that told you this - '
' - What? What? What happened?'
'It is Drexler. The Fatherland Party is poised to take over our organisation. Hitler did not want him in charge and he'd know why. But Drexler is growing in strength, he's got men that will be able to overthrow the - '
' - Overthrow! Is that what it has come to?' Eckart managed to get himself another stein of beer. Pondering the German Revolution, he did not know what Bauer would do. If only the damned Ebert were here, instead of Bauer. What would he do?
For the next two minutes, the two men were silent. Having their ears to the crowd of people, they hear a rise. A rise in the noise.
'Dietrich. Dietrich! Look!' called out Bothmer.

Faced with a crowd of men, the two men shook hands and they proceeded to a table on their own. Looking at both of their faces, Eckart was surprised at their presence.
'I thought they were both shot down,' he said, 'I mean, with kills like them, they could be, they could be what Hitler talked about!'
'Would that be possible? We're still fighting with Drexler over the matter of the Fatherland Party and the German Workers' Party, right. How can they get anywhere?'
'We'll ask them,' said Eckart, much to the silent protest of Bothmer. Taking the final drink of liquid courage, the man stormed towards the two. With a clear line to walk through, he happened to get to them.
'Hello. What brings you two here?'
'Brazil was calling to us as well as the pay,' said the moustached man.
'The pay was not what I wanted. It was the count. I've now got it at one hundred and twenty two. The Brazilians will need to train for years before they can get anywhere near us,' said the second man, taking a swig of his stein.
'Gentlemen, I, I am honoured to be in the presence of Germany's finest. My name is Herr Dietrich, head of the German Workers' Party. I, I have a proposition, for the both of you - '
' - You were not on the ballot when I voted for you - '
' - It does not matter,' said Eckart, 'I wish to tell you. Germany has been stabbed in the back. You two won the war for us - '
' - of course,' said the moustached man, 'the Ottomans, the Austrians, they failed us at every turn. The Marxists, the fucker Bauer, he let out country turn to shit!' Slamming his fist against the table, he got the attention of a few more men. Bothmer looked and saw it for himself. When the word was said, over a hundred people were looked to the two men. Seeing how their anger was being heard, they both stood up.
'My name is Wilhelm Frankl and this is Manfried von Richthofen,' he said, 'I have seen the pain and the devastation that the Allies have brought to us all. The surrender of our land, the surrender of our soldiers and of its people to socialists, Marxists, the capitalists and the SPD! I cannot stand for it and neither should you!'

'Hear hear,' shouted the people, as the rage spread across the entire building. Then came Manfried's turn. In a drunken rage, the ace showed his hand.

'In the year 1871, our fathers and grandfathers set out on a goal. Not decided by treaties or by friendship, but a goal set on the victory of Germany over her eternal enemy. Since the days of the Roman Empire, Germany has always had the chance to grow and to conquer. We were feared, we were mighty, we were unbeaten and we ravaged the lands that did not belong to us. We grew strong and we modelled the world in our own image. We did this. But now where are we? We are nothing more but weak and sick dogs awaiting euthanasia. We are poor and beaten and bruised in our pride, in ourselves and in everything Germany stands for.
'In the year 1871, our fathers and grandfathers set out on a goal. To crush the French, the fools that believed that they were the second coming of the Roman Empire. We were the Empire! For over a thousand years, Germany stood as God's chosen race over mankind. We were the ones that changed the future of the world! We stopped the bastard Napoleon the Third from claiming our lands, as the First did so many times. In the year 1871, our fathers and grandfathers did not make the mistake at Jena or the mistake that our present government made. They conquered and they brought the French to their knees. They made the French surrender and give up their lands and they made the promise to the German people that their victories would not be forgotten.
'In the year 1871, our fathers and grandfathers did not march on Metz and Sedan thinking that their descendants would have a government sell Germany top the highest bidder! No! To think that would be unspeakable. Imagine if Napoleon did the same thing before Sedan? Our ancestors, those that fought in 1871 would have laughed. And they are laughing, ladies and gentlemen. At us.
'They are laughing at the treachery of Bauer and the socialist Marxists! They are laughing at the elected men who signed the death warrant of Germany! What makes any of you think that France and Britain and Russia won't try this again. That they will find another way of carving us up. They have taken our brothers and sisters from the Rhineland! They have taken Prussia! Prussia of all places. Our ancestors laugh at us, at how weak we are, at how we drink our sorrows whilst Prussia is in enemy hands. As of now, there is no chance for us to rise. Not now!
'I know, I know, you all believe that tomorrow shall be the day to rise. But no. There will be none of this. We cannot fight now. Our brothers are not together with us. Austria is an independent country and the Rhineland is not ours. We cannot fight. We must demand the unity of all German peoples. We must fight for the right of all Germans to be reunited. We must, after that, fight Britain and France and Russia and all those that pushed the blade closer and closer to our hearts!
In the name of God, Germany shall rise again!'

At the end of his speed, the building roared in an orgy of cheers and whoops and fists slamming tables. Rushing through their blood, the alcohol driven crowd declared their opinion loud and proud.

At the end of Manfried's speech, Dietrich walked up to him and Wilhelm.
'Will you join us?'
'Yes,' said Wilhelm, 'for a better and greater Germany.'
'Yes,' said Manfried.


It was on that day, the 25th December 1920, that Manfried von Richthofen began his journey. From an ace pilot to the Führer of the Third Reich.






Screen Shot 2020-06-10 at 10.19.18 pm.png


Manfried von Richtoften (2nd May 1892 - 1st April 1948)












SURPRISE EVERYONE!!!!!!



All comments and thoughts are welcome.
 
The Origins of the Benedict XV Society
Screen Shot 2020-08-04 at 6.33.31 pm.png


Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Gospel of John 15:13 (RSVCE)

Giacomo della Chiesa would ascend to the papacy on the 3rd September 1914 as Pope Benedict XV. Having wished for a profession in the priesthood, he obtained it against the wishes of his own father. Despite this, he obtained a doctorate in Law at the age of 21 at the University of Genoa, which was a hotbed for anti-clerical and anti-Catholic thinking following the reunification of Italy. Having reached a mature age and achieved a degree, he was given the chance to study for the priesthood. His father's only wish was for him to go to Rome and not stay in Genoa, where he could have stayed to become a local priest.

As he took on the name, he must have remembered that moment, when his father said the word Rome. At the age of 28 in 1878, he was ordained as a priest. From then until 1883, he studied at Pontificia Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici, where every Thursday was the day when students had to defend research papers often in front of cardinals and members of the Roman Curia. Having excelled in his studies, he was promoted to the diplomatic service of the Vatican in 1882, where he would resolve the Carolina Islands dispute between Germany and Spain and deal with a cholera epidemic. He would be the secretary to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro, the last man to have his papal candidacy vetoed by a Catholic monarch in the 1903 Papal Conclave. Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto would become Pope Pius X and with that, Rampolla left his post to be replaced by someone else.

It seemed that his friendship with Rampolla was going to compromise his position within the church, until he was promoted to be Archbishop of Bologna. Making his way through the diocese via micromanagement, he made sure to visit parishes regardless of how they were to be accessed. Even those that were in the mountaineer and accessible only to horses. For each visit at every parish, he would deliver one or two sermons for every day of the visit. For his acts of charity, he was austere in finances and devoted to cleanliness within churches and chapels with the enthusiasm of a Spartan towards war. In his time, he would oversee the building of new churches or the restoration of those that were standing long before he arrived as well as educational reforms such as classic education and more science courses. It would not be until the 25th May 1914 when he would be ordained as a cardinal. It would be three months before he would ascend to the papacy.

As the war started, he made it explicitly clear as Archbishop, cardinal and then Pope that the Catholic Church was to be neutral. His fervour against the fighting and in favour of neutrality would be a contribution to 1972 Man Booker Prize winning novel The Suicide of Europe by William Rees-Mogg, taking reference to Pope Benedict XV's interpretation of the First World War. Even when he was clear cut about the Catholic Church's position, the warring sides did indeed take their own interpretations and opinions into account. With Italy, Belgium and France (all Catholic majority nations) on the one side, the German Protestant circles (and later the political circles such as the Fatherland Party and the German Workers' Party) believed that the neutrality was in name only. The opinions of the French bishops did not help in the matter.

On the 28th November 1916, Benedict announced a seven-point peace plan stating that

  1. "the moral force of right… be substituted for the material force of arms,"
  2. there must be "simultaneous and reciprocal diminution of armaments,"
  3. a mechanism for "international arbitration" must be established,"
  4. "true liberty and common rights over the sea" should exist,
  5. there should be a "renunciation of war indemnities,"
  6. occupied territories should be evacuated, and
  7. there should be "an examination… of rival claims."
All of these were dismissed by both sides. Germany rejected them wholesale, while the Allies rejected them in favour of total victory. Many Italians had at that point believed that the initiative was there to achieve victory against the Central Powers. Despite his failure, the peace terms would be uttered by his future successors during the wars that would follow, announcing the Catholic Church's contributions to peacetime and to the assistance of war victims.

He was the first of the great leaders of the world to demand the repatriation of bodies from the shores of the Dardanelles following the events of Operation Iliad and subsequent campaigns. To this day, the Vatican funds crews which identify bodies by DNA and their repatriation to their homelands. In 1915, he fought for the right of POWs to not labour on Sundays or holidays as well as the return of 30,000 French and German POWs to their homelands via Switzerland in 1916. In 1916, he appealed to President Wilson and to President Holmes for the deliverance of foodstuffs to children and to starving people within Europe. In July 1917, Secretary of State Roosevelt met the Pope to assure the foodstuff's deliverance. Meeting with Secretary of State John W. Davis in January 1921, he was comforted with the fact that the program continued. It also contributed to a larger Catholic vote going to the Democrats in the 1924 election.

His legacy was also ensured by declaring Joan of Arc a saint in 1920, along with beatifying individuals such as the Ugandan Martyrs (a group of Anglican and Catholic converts killed by the order of King Mwanga II). He would die from a sudden case of pneumonia in 1922, being made a Saint by Pope Adrian V in 2017.


It would take two world wars and a lot of dead men to start change. It was in 1957, after the ascension of Benedict XVI one year earlier, that a group of British, French and Australian Catholics would form the Benedict XV Society. From its front page (updated):

It is our intention to build a world that is based on social justice and on the unity of the Lord with the Catholic Church and with all peoples of the Earth. To this end, we affirm and declare:
1. Our unflinching opposition to weapons of mass destruction, racecide, nuclear weapons, concentration camps and other inhumane weapons of war.
2. Our commitment to the right of every human being to live, to obtain a home for themselves, rights to which they shall exercise and families that shall love and cherish them as the Lord cherishes Mankind.
3. Our commitment to the Catholic Mass and to the Papacy in Rome.
4. Our commitment to charity, to give aid to the poor and disadvantaged in our neighbourhoods and in our world, that we shall live as we ought to be.
5. Our commitment to the ideals of the Gospels and of Jesus Christ.
6. Our commitment against modernity, socialism, Volkism, racism and unjust war.

The founders would be: G. K. Chesterton (British), Archbishop of Melbourne Daniel Mannix (Australia), B. A. Santamaria (Australia), Siegfried Sassoon (British), Graham Greene (British), Archbishop of Paris Maurice Feltin and Marcel Callo (both French).


The organisation would grow to 40,000 priests, workers and volunteers, with its patron being the Pope since 1961. On behalf of the Pope, there would be an ambassador that would serve for life to represent the Society. Senator John F. Kennedy became the first, from 1957 to his death in 1978, to be passed on to famed British actor Alec Guinness.






His personal motto and the motto of the Benedict XV Society: In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum. ("In thee, o Lord, have I trusted: let me not be confounded for evermore.")


I hope that this is good. All comments and thoughts are welcome.
 
Didn't see that coming--interesting choice for the Fuhrer, BTW...

Thank you for that. I was inspired by Weber's Germany: The Veterinarian Totalitarian. Also the episode "Private Plane" from Blackadder. I like Adrian Edmonson, but this Red Baron is going to soar.

By the way, Manfried in this timeline did not suffer the crash on the 6th July 1917. So, in terms of mental wellbeing and physical wellbeing, he is okay.

But we'll see how far it goes.
 
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