When ideology meets practicality, something's got to give. At the cost of a continuous influx of trade and support, Rhodesia and South Africa have been forced to make some embarrassing moves for the sake of keeping the alliance strong - if calling Black businessmen 'Honorary Whites' gets them nukes, they'll leap at the chance.
The Footprint of Mussolini - TL
When ideology meets practicality, something's got to give. At the cost of a continuous influx of trade and support, Rhodesia and South Africa have been forced to make some embarrassing moves for the sake of keeping the alliance strong - if calling Black businessmen 'Honorary Whites' gets them nukes, they'll leap at the chance.
As long savarkar tone done his rhetoric about Muslim I am ok with this india. I wonder will india will try to expand its power in nepal, Bhutan and sri Lanka?
I would like to see what kind of economic and industrial development will happen to Brazil and India provide support to the Resistance.
The wars go on, but I think we are seeing the cracks.
For one with the defeat of the coup attempt in Brazil, and the fall of the Somozas the RA is now reduced to citadel tactics in the Western Hemisphere. They have lost the battle for hearts and minds in Latin America and the effort of overthrowing a major nation's government has served as a reminder of how low they are willing to stoop. And its secured Brazil as a foe of the RA on the global stage long term.
And their seeming victory in Biafra gains them a new ally, but their ideology becomes strained ever more trying to reconcile their politics with their ideology.
And Ethiopia looms as the grave of the One Party State Era of Fascism.
In Southern Africa I think Portugal will be the first to break. The semitheocratic state may prove a boon to breaking the current order with the rise pf indigenous priests giving influence and voice to the locals beyond what exists in Rhodesia and South Africa.
My speculation is that Portugal is going to break from the RA with pressure from within and without. And factions will include poor settlers who want reform to end a possible forever war, local leaders both White and Native who want a deal rather than risk a war, reformers and dissidents in Portugal itself, and the royal family. So I see Portugal undergoing a version of the Carnation revolution late in Balbo's reign, which the RA is unable to contain or reverse. Timor and Guinea gain independence, while Mozambique and Angola either federate with Portugal; or they integrate on the UK model. There would still be a strong independence movent in both but many see this safer with the RA still around and the large white population fearing a Zaire situation, so for the rest of the Cool War I see the reformed empire approach holding traction.
South Africa continues to radicalize heading toward race war breaking out utterly. Ian Smith's goal of maintaining the status quo becomes more difficult between the reformers and the reactionaries who want t follow South Africa's lead. Ultimately Smith opts for reform feeling that the South African path will lead to ruin and it better to negotiate and save something. Majority rule comes but the White minority is too large to easily expel. So we get a Manjority dominated democratic government but an economy dominated by the Whites with a good deal of racial tension carrying over into the 21st century but it stops short of all out war beyond terrorist groups from both sides.
South Africa slides into madness and civil war, aided in part by radicals operating out of Rhodesia and using nuclear threats to hold off outside intervention and with the 'betrayal' of it neighbors going the leadership an apocalyptic worldview. The economy also dries up as civil war does what moral issues could not souring investors on the country.
Katanga will remain open for business; suffering a terrible reputation but for all its ups and downs maintaining its peace and relative prosperity throughout. And may get some immigration from well educated people of all stripes fleeing the upheavals elsewhere.
And as a result of such breakdowns I could see Balbo becoming ever more hardline on keeping the RA tiogether ad as a result push some allies away while undermining others credibility with their peoples. All of which along with China chanllenging leadership i the faction and the Fall of Communism leads o Balbo leaving behind an RA clearly in trouble and is sucessor will be chiose with a mind to fixing a system in decline rather than the mighty empire Balbo inherited.
I think Balbo will be regarded far less fondly than Mussolini.
For one with the defeat of the coup attempt in Brazil, and the fall of the Somozas the RA is now reduced to citadel tactics in the Western Hemisphere. They have lost the battle for hearts and minds in Latin America and the effort of overthrowing a major nation's government has served as a reminder of how low they are willing to stoop. And its secured Brazil as a foe of the RA on the global stage long term.
And their seeming victory in Biafra gains them a new ally, but their ideology becomes strained ever more trying to reconcile their politics with their ideology.
And Ethiopia looms as the grave of the One Party State Era of Fascism.
In Southern Africa I think Portugal will be the first to break. The semitheocratic state may prove a boon to breaking the current order with the rise pf indigenous priests giving influence and voice to the locals beyond what exists in Rhodesia and South Africa.
My speculation is that Portugal is going to break from the RA with pressure from within and without. And factions will include poor settlers who want reform to end a possible forever war, local leaders both White and Native who want a deal rather than risk a war, reformers and dissidents in Portugal itself, and the royal family. So I see Portugal undergoing a version of the Carnation revolution late in Balbo's reign, which the RA is unable to contain or reverse. Timor and Guinea gain independence, while Mozambique and Angola either federate with Portugal; or they integrate on the UK model. There would still be a strong independence movent in both but many see this safer with the RA still around and the large white population fearing a Zaire situation, so for the rest of the Cool War I see the reformed empire approach holding traction.
South Africa continues to radicalize heading toward race war breaking out utterly. Ian Smith's goal of maintaining the status quo becomes more difficult between the reformers and the reactionaries who want t follow South Africa's lead. Ultimately Smith opts for reform feeling that the South African path will lead to ruin and it better to negotiate and save something. Majority rule comes but the White minority is too large to easily expel. So we get a Manjority dominated democratic government but an economy dominated by the Whites with a good deal of racial tension carrying over into the 21st century but it stops short of all out war beyond terrorist groups from both sides.
South Africa slides into madness and civil war, aided in part by radicals operating out of Rhodesia and using nuclear threats to hold off outside intervention and with the 'betrayal' of it neighbors going the leadership an apocalyptic worldview. The economy also dries up as civil war does what moral issues could not souring investors on the country.
Katanga will remain open for business; suffering a terrible reputation but for all its ups and downs maintaining its peace and relative prosperity throughout. And may get some immigration from well educated people of all stripes fleeing the upheavals elsewhere.
And as a result of such breakdowns I could see Balbo becoming ever more hardline on keeping the RA tiogether ad as a result push some allies away while undermining others credibility with their peoples. All of which along with China chanllenging leadership i the faction and the Fall of Communism leads o Balbo leaving behind an RA clearly in trouble and is sucessor will be chiose with a mind to fixing a system in decline rather than the mighty empire Balbo inherited.
I think Balbo will be regarded far less fondly than Mussolini.
Well, Rhodesia’s ideology was more about racial classism that racial hate. Their idea was “We don’t hate blacks, but we won’t give them proper rights until they’re wealth and educated enough under the guidance of the white man”. It wasn’t a pure racism like South Africa. I assume that maybe Rhodesia could have a better in the future if they don’t adopt a more racialist ideology.
I do not know how much of the Alliance is built on commodity exports but what happens when the prices drop?
Man, Angola is going to be a strange place going forward. On the one hand, highly religious, with being a good catholic being the way to join the successful in-group for so long. On the other hand, the native dances mixing and combining with already fully-formed Samba and the general jolly attitudes that one can ascribe to stereotypical Angolese and Brazilians both giving it a vibrant nightlife.
The KKK. Too racist for Rhodesia. This got a laugh out of me. They really were a spectacular group of morons.
Israel had top Jewish scientists, Italian backing and possibly a degree of consent from Britain as well. South China had vast resources to throw at the problem and probable Italian aid. While India also has vast resources, they were not kept up-to-date technologically in the early-mid 20th century and it seems unlikely they managed to catch up all by themselves. OTL, India got some soviet aid in building their nukes (unless I am mistaken), I am assuming in this timeline the technical advice was British and/or American?
So, what were they out to accomplish? If they had killed the pope, this would have reunited the Catholics and possibly all Christians against all forms of radical Islam. At the same time, a pope, being an elected official who would be lionized were he to die a martyr, is inherently expendable.
This is a massive propaganda coup to the British, at the time when the BBC was used to only ever performing on a world-beating level OTL . This combined with taking out Bin Laden really seem to be cementing their status as the Good Guy faction in this timeline. At the same time, with the Labour party getting rid of the radical wing and Britain wanting to keep their black majority African possessions close, the positive things like the British Empire unilaterally deciding to stop the slave trade will probably get expensive feature-length coverage (and possibly a somewhat sanctimonious series about it, complete with villainous Italian smugglers trying in vain to evade the RN) rather than being swept under the rug, while the negative points of the Empire might easily be downplayed.
In this timeline, I can see the Republicans putting their Grand Old Party cognomen in a lot more places. They have remained more or less on the same grounds - free market and rights of the individual - far more clearly than OTL and their chief rival for the now is a newcomer.
The thing is, Fascism is very much about going 'my country is the best place'. The more countries that are in a fascist alliance and the more diverse their cultures, the more likely they are to have a massive falling out over irreconcilable differences were there not to be an external enemy. Once the soviets implode, the democratic nations may well cause the RA to fall apart via detente. If Italy ever has a massive disagreement with Turkey or China now, I can definitely see Portugal and Thailand quietly leaving the alliance. Greece leaving would presumably be a bit more noisy, but possible if Italy and Turkey really go for one another's throats.
On the topic of Nuclear Weapons, does Turkey have A Nuclear Program or are they too focused on keeping a leash on the Middle East to even think about it?
I would think they would be all for their development seeing as they have a large border with the USSR, and any deterrent against such an enemy even if they have been weakened greatly would be embraced with open arms.
Also, have they caught any blowback from the anti-islamism that seems to have briefly taken over the world or has their brutality against the Arabs distanced them from it?
I would think they would be all for their development seeing as they have a large border with the USSR, and any deterrent against such an enemy even if they have been weakened greatly would be embraced with open arms.
Also, have they caught any blowback from the anti-islamism that seems to have briefly taken over the world or has their brutality against the Arabs distanced them from it?
India has a lot more money than OTL and a lot more Anglo-American involvement - no Pakistan also helps.
One may ask what was the purpose of taking the Israeli Olympic Team hostage? Because no one wanted them dead and that increased their chances of a negotiated settlement. Same here - Balbo knew if he messed up he was facing an uprising when fingers start pointing about how the Pope was given such shoddy protection - and he got through by sheer luck.
Turkey made a deal with Italy to have the latter's missiles stationed there - no need for a nuclear program. No Red Cuba = the Missiles stay in Turkey. This makes the smaller Fascist nuclear arsenal in some ways even more terrifying to the Soviets than the Western stockpile.
Anti-Islamism hasn't really caught on ITTL - the Ikhwan, Muslim Brotherhood and ISA were all primarily Arab movements so the RA are hard at working telling people that they are basically Pan-Arabist insurgencies with Salafist Islam being 'Arab Islam' as opposed to more enlightened 'Turkish Islam', 'Iranian Islam' or 'Pheocenian Islam'. The handful of Albanian, Libyan and Turkish Islamists were massively downplayed by Roman Alliance media to divide international Islam into 'Arabic Islam' and 'Civilised Islam'. The latter is defined as peaceful and pleasant with multiple mighty empires and kingdoms to its name, while 'Arabic Islam' is every negative word you can throw at it. There are too many Muslim nations in the RA to even joke about taking any form of fight to the Islamic religion. As before, 'Arab' basically means any country in the Middle East not in good books of the Roman Alliance - the Lebanese are Pheocenians, the Yemenese are Sabans, the North Egyptians are Copts.
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It’s nice to see that Israel has softened its anger towards Muslims, especially once the sheer, unremitting horror of the Grand Mufti got out. Hopefully this means that Israel will someday mend bridges with the Muslim world, assuming the Lehi don’t screw it up.
Also, wow, Rhodesians calling out the Klan for being too racist? Talk about everyone having standards.
Finally, I hope Brazil can recover from the brain drain and the aftermath of the coup.
Also, wow, Rhodesians calling out the Klan for being too racist? Talk about everyone having standards.
Finally, I hope Brazil can recover from the brain drain and the aftermath of the coup.
Bookmark1995
Banned
It just shows the sheer opportunism inherent in authoritarianism: we'll give whatever status you want as long as you have money and your nationality doesn't spit on us.
This is why Indians are being kicked out of the country, but Chinese and Katangese are given a handshake and a friendly smile.
This dynamic (casual racism vs active racism) pops up in Guns of the South. You know, the book where time-traveling Afrikaners give the Confederacy AK-47s.
In the book, while most Confederates aren't the most enlightened people, very few of them actually go out of their way to actively degrade and humiliate them. Even Nathan Bedford Forrest, who in the book summarily executes escaped slaves, does free some slaves every know and then. The Afrikaner time-travelers, by contrast, are actual Afrikaner Nazis who go out of there way to humiliate and brutalize their own slaves.
The atrocious behavior of the AWB actually pushes several characters away from supporting slavery. It also challenges paternalistic nation that slavery protects the slave.
Rhodesia is a nation built on paternalism, and letting the white sheets torment natives seriously challenges that idea.
Fuck Rhodesia's politics... but holy crap they had a great national anthem. Cool militaty gear too.
Much like in fiction, the bad guys always get the good theme music and leitmotifs.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Hey, don't knock the post-apartheid anthem of South Africa. That's pretty fucking epic.
Map of World - 1970
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You're right but he was talking about the year I said the map was in which I just fixed.
Well, when I posted it, it said 1966 and the ISA was still around in Central Arabia until 1969.