The Twisted World

Although the text presented pertains to the XXth Century, the POD is in the central years of the XIXth, so I'm posting this here. Also it's going to be a bit disorganized, as I write when I have the inspiration, and about what my muse tells me. I have a pretty complete sketch of the timeline in my head, so I hope that contradictions are minor between sections.

Prologue: A view in the middle

Extracts from “An overview of the XXth Century” by Carlos Antúnez. Oxford University Press. 2001

Chapter 5. The Rise of the American Fascism

[..]Joseph D. Wilkerson III’s National Christian Democratic American Party had been a fringe movement in the years before the Big Bump of 1928, but he managed to capitalize in the inoperance of the measures that president Holman had tried to put American Economy back in track, blaming in an international conspiracy against America by ‘the heretic European Papists, and their allies the godless Jews’ [..]It wouldn’t have given him the presidency if it wasn’t by it fortuitous alliance with the Radical American Party, the most authoritarian of the parties that were born when both the Liberal and the Radical Party fragmented in the ‘20s, with a similar anti-Catholic bent, although more cradled in the traditional egalitarianism of the Radical Party [..]Both parties presented a joint ticket to the 1932 presidential elections, with Maxwell F. Heller as president and Joseph Wilkerson as vice-president.
The Heller/Wilkerson ticket got a narrow victory with a deeply divided Congress. Heller first public act was a speech in front the Capitol two days after being sworn in as the 30th president of the United States, where he was going to outline the politics of his presidency [..] the so-called ‘miraculous’ survival of vice-president Wilkerson when the bomb under the podium went off, has always ticked the suspicions in the European side of the pond, suspicions that never got a confirmation even after Great War III and the capture of Washington by the Commonwealth powers.
After assuming the presidency Wilkerson declared martial law, suspended Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights and approved a series of measures that gave effectively control of the United States of America to the NCDAP. [..]

From “The tragedy of the United States”, by Josephine Kennedy. Ed. Progreso. Madrid 1983

[..]If I had to pick the absolute beginning of the road that led the United States to become what it is now, I would pick President Lincoln's assassination in 1863 by Rebel irregulars during the evacuation of Washington D.C. Without his moderating influence, the Radical Republicans of Thaddeus Stevens wouldn't have dominated the Republican Party leading to its fragmentation, and the birth of the Radical Party. Even if the Radicals eventually mellowed down, becoming a "big business" party in their nearly half century of domination of the United States, the damage done to the balance between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, in favor of the Executive would eventually led to the Wilkerson dictatorship[..]
 
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This is good. Keep writing. I too am working on an alternate history fake non-fiction text book.

It is called "Confederate Ships To War" and is about Confederate naval buildup and eventual combat during and before World War One.
 
Good. Although this timeline doesn't have a surviving CSA. This part is short, but in a couple week sI have exams and I can't spare much time to this.


Chapter 1: A Southern Filibuster

From "American Filibusterism: Piracy, Imperialism and Manifest Destiny" by Anstazy Galka. Unpublished Thesis. Westfälische Friedrich-Universität Münster1972

[..] William Walker has been called the "last filibuster". Although this isn't true in the strictest sense, he was the last one to enjoy some degree of success. [..] After went back to the States he made contact with a group of men with similar ideas to him, known as the Knights of the Golden Circle.
Walker and Bickley, the leader of the Knights of the Golden Circle, complemented each other very well. [..]Together they decided on their next objective, a Caribbean Island owned by a third-rate European power, the island of Cuba. [..]
 
[..]If I had to pick the absolute beginning of the road that led the United States to become what it is now, I would pick President Lincoln's assassination in 1863 by Rebel irregulars during the evacuation of Washington D.C. Without his moderating influence, the Radical Republicans of Thaddeus Stevens wouldn't have dominated the Republican Party leading to its fragmentation, and the birth of the Radical Party. Even if the Radicals eventually mellowed down, becoming a "big business" party in their nearly half century of domination of the United States, the damage done to the balance between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, in favor of the Executive would eventually led to the Wilkerson dictatorship[..]

The Radicals supported the dominance of Congress over the executive not the other way around. Does the alt U.S. have a smaller Catholic population then otl? How can an anti-catholic party come to power when about a quarter of Americans were Catholics in the 1930's? How could Wilkerson have suspended the constitution?
 
The Radicals supported the dominance of Congress over the executive not the other way around.

Ok, good questions. Yes, they could be doing this OTL when they weren't in power, but ITTL they are in power for several decades, presiding over a fragmented congress (sometime in the 1870s there was 5 parties in congress, due to the splintering of both Republicans and Democrats, the situation consolidated eventually in the Radical and Liberal Parties that I have mentioned earlier) which couldn't agree on nothing, so some legislation was passed that allowed the government to rule by decree in some specific situations.

And Ms. Kennedy is an American Exile, coming from a family deeply in politics in the Liberal Party, so she isn't very objective.
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Does the alt U.S. have a smaller Catholic population then otl? How can an anti-catholic party come to power when about a quarter of Americans were Catholics in the 1930's?

The Alt US has an smaller Catholic population. Let's say that in the post war the Radicals had to do some unlikely alliances to get to the White House over and over. The net result is less Irish and German immigration and a whole lot less Italian immigration. The Catholic population is quite marginalized, due to incidents that go back to the Civil War and revitalized the Know Nothings. If you add a resurgent Catholic Mexico in the Southern border and the hostility of several Catholic European powers to the US...

How could Wilkerson have suspended the constitution?

That is a goof, now that I have read a bit more about US Constitution. I suppose that I could change it for the suspension of Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights.
 
From the article “Classic Movies reviews: ‘Walker in Havana’” in “Cinema” #45 (2004)

This month is the 75th Anniversary of the premiere of “Walker”, the last masterpiece of Alexei Sergeiev [1], the great exiled Russian director and the last great silent film. [..] Most of the negativity directed to the movie stems from the liberties taken with the story (Walker and his troops attacking boldly from their ships in the Havana Harbor at plain daylight, and confronting directly the Spanish troops, instead of the historical account of them slipping silently from their ship on New Years eve[2], and taking the city swiftly when most of the garrison was too drunk to mount any counter-attack), and its ideologically charged content (mostly introduced by the scriptwriter, her daughter Alisa, who later became one of the greatest propagandists of Wilkerson regime).[..]

[1] Roughly an equivalent of OTL Eisenstein.
[2] ITTL it happened in the night of December 31st of 1859

From “The American Civil War (1861-1869)” by Trent Rodman. St.Dennis Publishing, Montreal. 1986

Prologue: The events leading to the war

[..] Today is widely agreed that Walker conquest of most of Cuba, only served to make both sides in the upcoming Civil War to dig in their positions deeper, as it was clear on what side Walker was [..]
[..] Lincoln was elected in 1860 with 180 electoral votes over 72 to Breckenridge, 48 to Bell and only 3 to Douglas[1][..] South Carolina secedes at December 20 of 1860, followed by other six states, which form the Confederated States of America.[..]Fort Sumter is bombarded in April by Confederate Forces, this being the spark which ignited the bloodier war fought in North America for nearly a Century.
 
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I'm writing the war, and I would like to know who could be Davis sucessor in the CSA (IIRC, Confederate presidents served a single six year term), as they are still in the Civil War in 1866/67.
 
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