The Growing Mouse: A Collaborative TL

From "A Fool and His Colony - Final Chapter"

"...The joke went that Leopold II woke up the morning of Jan. 1, 1900 proclaiming that 'I am a man without a colony now, but I shall start this new century building Belgium back up better than ever,' to which an aide replied: 'In that case, Sire, you'll have to wait another year; the 20th century won't begin till 1901.'

"Whether this is merely apocryphal - one would think that a European monarch would know that there was no year zero and the century thus didn't begin till 1901 - is unknown, but Leopold's credibility was shot. He began to plot to see what other ways he could enlarge his portfolio with overseas possessions, including... an attempt at Abyssinia which his Parliament roundly turned down. He was still in the process of trying to rebuild his military and determine who he could make his heir. Rumor had it he had an illegitimate child who he was determined to leave it to...

"Also in 1900, with the money dried up that he'd used to fund his ownproperties - money he'd obtained by exploiting the PHilippines and its people - he created the Royal Trust and gave them all to the nation of Belgium. As word spread about the atrocities his men had performed there, he also began to be ostracized by others. This led to depression that increased with the death of his wife in 1902. Asked if he would remarry now to try and produce an heir, the king reported said, "I am old and weak, and no royal house would want me. I am content to let the people rule as they may. Rumors abounded that- when he and his brother, Philippe, passed on, there could be a republic. There were also worries about Marxists..."

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"Julius Martov" - Omnipdia

"...In the absence of organized leadership among the more radical, centralized Bolsheviks, Martov's Mencheviks won out... among the possible Bolshevik leaders was Joseph Stalin, who was said to have 'despised' some of the Mensheviksdespite his Bolsheviks being the minority in Georgia; he chose to continue to try to run his own small band until he eas killed in intense fighting in early 1905 after narrowly escaping it earlier...Stalin, shortly before his death, blamed the lack of leadership by Mensheviks on the fact that revolution had not yet occurred. While Stalin perhaps unfairly blamed a lack of support for Bolshevik group among Mensheviks, it is true that many said that Martov was too good of a theoretician to be a politician...

"Martov would go on to lead the main branch of Russian revolutionaries till his death..."



"
 
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Interview with FOrmer President Theodore Roosevelt, 1922, KDKA Radio

"...When the Brownsville situation occurred, we'd already had a lot of problems in the South, townspeople blaming the Colored troops for everything; and we knew there was no evidence. I really didn't have to think twice, but the incident made me look even more closely at the military in general... I got ore of the facts like the Southerners asked me too, but I could smell a rat from a mile away with what they were saying. I wasn't about to blame the victims..."

"...The man who stood by me the most, with Taft being on the Supreme Court since 02, with McKinley having chosen HOlmes just before his murder in '01 - wasElihu Root, but he was worried about his health, he was in his early 60s. Well, look at him today, he's close to 80. Then there was Joseph Foraker of OHio, he'd been one of those urging tougher measures, like the anti-lynching laws; very basic but... still effective. I didn't know if he was too progressive for some tastes...

"I had to make a decision by earlier the following year, whether to seek a second term in my own right or not. I was starting to get ideas like a pension system for the elderly. And, part of me thought Foraker's idea - integrating the military slowly to prevent these kinds of incidents like in Brownsville from happening - could work, but I was still hesitant. I was a lot more progressive on Civil Rights than I would have been, but we'd already been enforcing the Lodge Act fairly stringently, and some of our Populist core was cracking a bit, after Bryan chose not to run in '04 and I won well over 300 Electoral votes while Wilson won just over 110. The Populists were starting to wonder if we were going too fast on Civil Rights. That Watson didn't do a whole lot of good, so they pined for Bryan to come back, and I thought, I want to make sre someone could beat him in 1908 if he did. Becasue he could steal some votes from us; he did in 1896, that's for sure... More importantly, Bryan might not go backwards - he'd be cutting off his nose to spite his face witht he support he'd gotten in the South - but he wouldn't be the kind to enforce a lot like I had.

"It wasn't till early in 1908 that I made my decision to serve a 2nd term in my own right, or deem McKinley's mostly uncompleted one to be my 'first term.' However, someone asked me, would I have the itch in 1912 if I didn't run here? Well, even if Root ran I'd be tempted since he'd probably worry he should only serve one term anyway, and I didn't know if Foraker had my national appeal..."
 
"1908 Presidential Election - Omnipedia

"Republican nomination

"Roosevelt...declined to run for another term, but Elihu Root, citing his age, declined to run... Taft didn't want to step down from the Court seat he had held ssince 1902, and Foraker, while having support of the more ardent Civil Rights supporters, had differed with Roosevelt enough on railroad legislation - and his support, along with Roosevelt, of the Brownsville soldiers in declaring there was no evidence any had been involved int he shooting - that Roosevelt felt it bestif he were not chosen. James R. Garfield wanted to serve in the senate first... Eventually charles Evans Hughes, a good friend of Roosevelt's, was TR's pick.

"'[Y]ou could imagien them having a slightly cooler relationship with justminor differences, like over certain federal court apointments,' one historian said,'but that was only because, like with the railroad dispute and Foraker, Roosevelt wanted to be perfectly comfortable with whom he supported...'"

"Democratic Nomiation

"Populists tried to link thePOpulist Party with the Democrats, and Minnesota governor John A. Johnson was a leading early contender, but his health was poor, despite his planning to run for a third term as governor... Bryans support of Johnson alienated many, and when Woodrow Wilso's health was brought up as well, given another stroke in 1906, the U. of Maryland president was passed over at first in favor of Senator George Ray of Delaware.... Gray couldn't get near the 2/3 majority, though, and Wilson offered to run again to 'Give the party a name it could count on.' He did, however, choose the popular Johnson to be his Vice President, but Populist support was enough Minnesota couldn't quite be turned into a Democratic state..."

"Populist Party Nomination

"The Populists didn't have Bryan, as he was making a last-ditch effort to unify with the Democrats, who saw him as more of a loudmouth yet who was more interested in campaigning. He had gotten back into Nebraska politics, but former Fusion candidate Marion Butler was rather popular...

"...Butler had been turned down by the legislature in 1901 after one term, but the Lodge Bill, having mroe teeth, allowed a different legislature to be elected by 1906, and they put Butler back... The North Carolina Senator was selected with the hopes they would draw votes from both sides...

"Hughes won with a majority smaller than Roosevelt's but still rather sizeable, given that people had begun to tire of the Republicans.... Wilson won 93 Electoral votes, but nearly lost a couple states he was thought to be sure to win, and did lose Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama to Butler, and only won Tennessee because Butler took just as many votes from Republicans and Maryland becuase it was his home state... Butler won 80 and some said, had Bryan won, he could have taken twice that. Little did they know the shift which would be coming..."
 
From "Ones That Got Away - Baseball Superstars who Began with Other Teams"

"Rube Foster

"Foster, as some know, was scouted by John McGraw at the same time he signed Pete Hill. Foster was the older brother type - both referred to him by Sol White, whom he'd sought when the Giants were still unsure of there they would fit in the 1904 pennant race, oe which they ran away with.... McGraw rode MCGinnity and Mathrewson hard, especially McGinnity, who was in his early 30s by then. Some said McGraw thought to replace him gradually with Foster, but, while Mathewson liked Foster and reportedly learned the 'fadeaway' from him, McGraw found Red Ames growing on him...He only used half a dozen pitchers in all of 1905!"

"...Hil was first, but had they used the normal rotation we do today, it might have been Foster, who had a mind keen for owning and managing clubs and developing talent....

"McGraw wasn't too keen on helping another good National League team, but a poor one, he didn't mind. The Phillies - who had done very well a few years earlier - were quite poor by this time, and more importantly, McGraw knew Connie Mack was one of the key men in the American League. If he could strengthen the PHilies, that would hurt Mack's attendance. So, he engeineered a trade of Foster to the PHillies, where he starred for the rest of 1905 and for a few more years before being dealt...

"...Interestingly, owner Charles Taft was the brother of the Supreme Court Justice, and he saw the way thigns were going with the Republican Party 'trying to support Civil Rights in small way - sometimes very small.' He saw it as a good way to try and compete with the Athletics at the gate and with improved attendance. The Phillies improved, but they wouldn't win a pennant till after thehy'd traded Foster...

"The move did, however, convince Mack to sign John Henry Lloyd to compete with Wagner for the bragging rights of 'best shortstop in Pennsylvania - and the world.'"
 
1909: The very mild (as in, "you have to really do something bad for it to be illegal, but it could happen") federal anti-lynching law passed in the wake of the McKinley assassination is used against one member of the group that killed boxer Jack Johnson; the ringleader, who had apparently also been involved int rying to frame the Brownsvill soldiers.

President Hughes isn't quite as feverishly pro-Civil Rights, but continues with what Roosevelt did in trying to integrate a few Army units on a "very experimental basis." Hughes argues that the Navy, which had been integrated since the 1790s, was seeing a few black soldiers in the wake of Garfield's attempts to draw more black sailors and the success of one of those integrated ships in the Spanish-American War, said ship having been based in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

However, Hughes goes no further, merely agreeing with Roosevelt's actions. Meanwhile, hsi focus on labor, just as he did in New York, causes more and more Populists to become disenchanted, for despite their agreemnt with some Progressive ideas, they don't feel near enough attention is being paid to the rural American or to the farmer.

This is where Williams Jennings Bryan begins to make his move. A shrewd campaigner, Bryan has seen that the GOP clearly won the hearts of people while his Populists were just too small in 1896 and 1900. However, someone who wans't bryan had come very close to voertaking the Democrats in 1908, which made Bryan giddy.

Bryan immediately announced he would take backt he reins of the Populist Party - Butler could be his Vice Presidential nominee, perhaps, as that could draw Republican votes given the Fusion ticket, he would have to see. He announced he would be trying to organize the party to draw a large number of others without the baggage the Democrats seemed to have.

1910:With people tired of the GOP after so long, Bryan's Populist candidates - who had consistently been a popular third party int he House and usually had 1-2 senators - win huge in the midterms. While Champ Clark becomes the new Speaker, witht he help of some of those Populists, the Democratic Party is becomign more and more split between Clark - who would normally be the frontrunner for the 19112 nomination - and Wilson - who continues to control things and has the support of the more racist elements who feel Clark is "too soft" on what they see as encroachment into their "way of life."

Two years early,, people are already seeing that 1912 will be a very interesting U.S. election.
 
From An Alternate history discussion board, 2018:

Poster 1: Wouldn't that have been cool if Portugal and Belgium had stayed in personal union? But, what would their capital have been? Or their country name? Portium? Or Belgigal?

Poster 2: Dude, this wasn't the 1600s. A personal union there isn't going to be the same as one between, say, England and Scotland. They weren't going to become one country.

Poster 3: We get questiosn like this all the time. And, it's not the weirdest. If you go back to Leopold I's older brother instead of his father'sline, you could have ended up with Edward VII of Britain as King of Belgium, but no way was Germany or France going to allow that - and frankly, the British didn't want it, either.

POster2: No, without territory on the continent they were very happy tto just keep the balance of powers going; now, had they kept Hanover thigns *could* have been different, but not likely.

POster 1: Portugal and Brazil seemed to do fine under one monarch for a while.

Poster 2: Well, it wasn't even supposed to be that way; the Belgian Parliament had asked Carlos I to let his younger son, Manuel, become their king while his elder son ruled Portugal after his death; who knows, had they not done this, Manuel might have died in that assassination attempt, too.

Poster 4:There was a connection through Saxe-Coburg, too, with Leopold I's dad or grandfather, Ernest, through his mother I think.

Poster 2: Yes, that's one of a few reasons, the other being that Portugal's economy was going downhill. His second son quickly married a German to try to bring Belgium closer to Germany, since the Germans were pushign that, but she ultimately had no offspring, so the uprising which took place just hastened the end of the monarchy, just like in Portugal.

Poster 3: Had Portugal gotten rid of its colonies in the 1890s as some thought they would, could the monarchy have been saved?

Poster 2: Doubt it; you'd still have the revolts. Plus, remember, they were bolstered for a couple years by that railroad from MOzambique to Angola. No, nothign good was going to happen there. They were a drain, yes, but the country just couldn't let them go - although the rumors of Belgium taking them over might have been true if Parliament hadn't been so jaded by what Leopold II had done tot he PHilippines. Maybe they'd have bought Portugal's colonies then.

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zfrom "A Fool and His Colony"

"...This, then, was the bitter end of Leopold II, though he didn't live to see the eventual decline of his nation; he had hoped to have an illegimiate child on the throne, and he even begged Manuel, once the agreement was made, to marry his daughter after he legitimized her...he never seriously considered making one of his daughters Queen, or her offspring, and while it was heavily discussed in Parliament - and might have gone through had the Portuguese situation not presented itself - it was eventually voted down. What would eventually occur would throw Europe ito chaos..."

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From "Assassination of Manuel of Belgium"

"Manuel had escaped assassination in POrtugal only to find it happening in Belgium in sprint of 1914. His wife would go on to marry again and have no children, so in the end he would not have continued the kingdom anyway. but what happened afterward was chaotic..."
 
Interlude:

All right, everyone, what happens? World War a couple months early? Germany and France could both end up trying to support troops and clashing, after all. Or something else?

Also, I've shown the U.S. will stay out - Britain might, too, now. But will Russia be stronger? Or will it just be a regional war?
 
I always wondered besides the Balkans, any world war would happen if Russia try something against the ottoman or something wrong happens in eltass Lothringen
That's what I keep hoping people will come up with. I'm tempted to leave it hanging here for a bit. :) Though I'll get us up to through the teens in the U.S..
 
Could a mod add some threadmarks please;this collaborative timeline is growing but my messages to the OP went unanswered, they may be too busy with school, work, etc.; or maybe jsut don't have a computer right now.

Additional threadmarks would be Philippines, Belgium, United States, Early Civil Rights, James A. Garfield, maybe some others. (Yes, we still could have some fleshing out ofthe Garfield Presidency) William Jennings Bryan, too, perhaps more than Garfield since you could argue his Presidency is filled out enough. Or just Popoulists.
 
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From "The Mouse That Roared - A Life of William Jennings Bryan"

"...The candidacy of Marion Butler on the Populist ticket in 1908 put Bryan in a quandary despite his excitement over them nearly overtaking the Democrats for 2nd spot in the Electoral College. Bryan knew Butler was no huge friend of blacks, but quite a few Southern Populists wre quite against the even nascent Civil Rights which had grown popular, especially in the North. Indeed, Butler had called for a 'freeze on all Civil Rights legislation, both for and against.'"

"Bryan had seen which way the wind was blowing when he began to run in 1908; he saw that he had little hope of getting the Democratic nomination. Perhaps if it had been someone other than him, or perhaps if the Minnesota Governor had been healthier he could have struck a deal. However, he now had to find a way to draw voters from both parties to himself.

"his first step was to promise Butler any position in his cabinet if he didn't run himself; Bryan knew that the North was still not likely to vote for a Vice President form a former Conferate state. He also knew Champ Clark, the House Speaker, would be the favorite going into the Democratic convention....He decided to continue Butler's call for a moratorium on any Civil Rights acts, but also, as a nod to his possible GOP supporters, vowed not to move to repeal any such legislation.

"Charles Evans Hughes was an average President at a time when - without a greatman like TR - it was unlikely that any Republican could have won after 16 years of power. But, the Democrats were not the party that had grown the most in the 1910 midterms..."

From "Careful what YOu Wish For"

The Democrats were painted as a party of doom. Woodrow Wilson was highly ridiculed, and most begged him not to run. However, he chose to try for a third straight time, since Champ Clark and supported by Tammany Hall and Wilson by the eastgern Establishment...the Convention dragged on and on...delegates could tell no matter who won - and it was going to go more than the 61 ballots of 1896, it appeared - nobody was going to be happy."

"Cxonservative Party" - OMnipedia

"The Conservative Party is a party formed in 1912 by several Republicans and Democrats who sought to break away from both of their parties after the nomination of Hughes and the withdrawal of Wilson from the race, as William Jennings Bryan had secretly uged his supporters to allow Clark to win so he could hammer him for the backing of Tammany Hall, which Bryan would paint as 'A return to the disaster that was David B. Hill... their nomination of Charles Fairbanks as a 'harsh statement against the leftist policies of the Progressives of our Party.'" To bridge the gap with Democrats, they chose Judson Harmon of Ohio to be Fairbanks' running mate, though Wilson was promised a spot in the cabinet..."

"1912 Election" - Omnipedia

"Bryan won a slim majority of the Electoral College - just like McKinley had in 1896 - for a few reasons. First, conservatives in both parties migrated toward the Fairbanks/Harmon ticket, partly thanks to Bryan's attacks on Clark and Tammany Hall. A popular theme was 'Fairbanks - the real successor to McKinley,' knowing that McKinley was seen as having brought eh country out of its last Depression. Second, Hughes was uninspiring in some ways, as his Presidency wasn't seen as very notable, and some said that - by replacing Iowa's Jonathan Dolliver (who had died during Hughes' term) with Hirman Johnson - Hughes was pushing toward a third term for TR with Roosevelt leadign fromt he sidelines. (TR had pressured Dolliver to accept the VP post, but hadn't been in as much control and Johnson was far more of a Progressive). Third, Bryan captured Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, breaking the Democrats' hold on the so-called "Solid South" for good....

"Bryan got consistent support from Butler and Thomas E. Watson, who told a biographer bluntly that 'I am a politician. Had Wilmington gone differently, I'd have been attacking blacks, but because of the lay of the land, I continue to support the uniting of poor whites and blacks against the rich.' In this way, he argued, 'The Populist Party is the true champion of McKinley, not Fairbanks and his ilk.'"

From "The Mouse that Roared"

"Bryan held views similar to Watsons...refusing to go against any of the advances that had been made, but ensuring that no further moves would be made 'unless absolutely necessary.' Conservates, seeing his stance, sometimes stayed home rather than support any of the candidates, because they weren't supporting 'the truth South.' Indeed, Bryan would not only keep the U.S. out of war, but - aside from the Federal Income Tax and other things - he would mostly retain the status quo on a lot of things, harkening back to the old States' Rights Democrats who suported a weaker Presidency, though nothing ever came of the single, 6-year term idea..."

From 1912 Election" - Omnipedia

"Bryan: 35.9% of the vote; Hughes; 33.6; Clark: 18.5%; Fairbanks: 9.3%; the rest scattered among a few cnaidates."
 
From the book "The Rise of the Constitution Party," Richard Cheney, 1996

"The Conservatives had done well despite not having a lot to go on except for beign Big Business... Fairbanks was an ironic choice given that many of them were Northeasterners who had, first, rejected Tammany Hall, second, supported McKinley's 'The business of America is business' attitude, and third, opposed the stricter Democrats who wanted more segregation while at the same time opposing the Populists. It could be said theyw ere more known... for what they were against.

"The heyday of the party was in the Roaring Twenties, when Frank Lowden won election in 1920 over Leonhard Wood for the Republicans, Oscar Underwood for the Democrats, and Charles Bryan for the Populists... PresidentGarfield'sson had famously said that, 'I do not choose to run in 1920, because I think the country is tired of Progressivism... Vice President Calvin Coolidge had narrowl been selected over James M. Cox, who was promised a job at State, where he performed rather well... Lowden was most famous for articulating the concept in 1917 that 'one should never mistake a labor problem or any other type for a ace problem - Brownsville taught us [10 years ago] that there are evildoers who will try to divide, rather than unify, our country...'

"State Secretary Cox won in 1928, but when the Depression hit, he was sunk; he still polled slightly better than Democrat John Nance Garner in 1932, though, with Republican James R. Garfield and his Progressive policies helping lift the nation out of the Depression witht he help of Northern Populists like Governor Franklin Roosevelt, who had been promised a role at Treasury to unify the groups and who helped provide a lot of Garfield's ideas such as the CCC, Social Security expansion after Bryan got it passed in 1914, the FDIC, and so on... Roosevet would go on to win the White House in 1940 but, ironically, Garfield would outlive him by 4 years..."

"The Civil Rights Act of 1935" - Omnipedia

"The 1935 Civil Rights Act, pushed gthrough as part of the New Deal legislation, was designed to enforce intgegration in stgate offices in the South, eliminate poll taxes and other thigns which hampered voting, and do other thigns which strengthed the Lodge Act... It did not address equality in housing or int he private sector, that wouldn't come till the lae 1940s and early 1950s, but it was seen as a huge step in the right direction by Garfield and his Kansas Vice President, who was also instrumental in helping to win over Northern and Western Populists, as was Governor Roosevelt, who...led a group away from the Populists, who were led by Huey Long, who was accused of not only being too far Left but also of being too corrupt..."

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Okay, I've laid some groundwork for the United States through the '40s, I've got Europe maybe having World war One break out differently with the U.S. not involved and maybe not Britain - who knows, if therre's a Belgain conflict and Germany wants to push its way into getting access tot he coast, though, the British might jump in fast.

But, that's up to others - Russia might not have lost the Russo-Japanese War, it might be a draw, it might not happen.

We do know there's no Lenin, no Stalin, and the Mensheviks who favor less Party control, are the dominant group among the far left. But, is martov enough of a leader to unite them? Will Trotsky and he spit? Will there be so much chaos somethign else happens in Russia?

This is all for the rest of you to post about. I've made things a bit better for minorities in the U.S. (probably 2 millin or so fewer people in the US, too, in 1915 with less immgrants), no second Klan forming, people see blacks in entertainment like baseball and there will be black heavyweight champs, too, just not Jack Johnson's power. It's a bit more like the late 1940s for several secades from 1900-1935 but it's probably the best that could be hoped for, anyway.

Still, if nobody else wants to continue this, and it ends here, I'm satisfied. I didn't start it, but I got it to a logical point where others can fill int he gaps.
 
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