The Two Unlucky Soldiers

jmberry

I'm back

Interlude #2

August 14th, 1976
San Salvador, Kingdom of New Spain [San Salvador, El Salvador]

Luigi studied the effigy in the town center thoughtfully.

Dedicated to the brave men and women who served their king and their emperor and who gave their lives in the Grand War. May their sacrifices in the face of tyranny never be forgotten.

Luigi snorted. He had served in the so-called Grand War as well, but the Italian Federation had been on the "wrong" side. Still, it wasn't wise to say such things aloud. New Spanish took their role in the Grand War seriously, and while omplaining about it wasn't illegal, it sure as Hell wasn't smart. In any event, past events weren't why he was here. The woman walking across the otherside of the park was.

"Pedro." she said, using the fake name he had given himself.

"Dolores." he responded, using her clearly equally fake name. Everything about her, from her fair appearance to her subtle but distinct Ozarkian accent showed she was a foreigner in San Salvador. At least he blended in with the cabelleros. "Do you have what I asked?"

"Yes. The missile defense plans for Greater Fijia. It wasn't easy, but I got them. I'll require double the usual price. 500,000 imperial pesos."

Luigi sighed at the price, but agreed to the payment. "They shouldn't have been difficult. The Empire doesn't consider Meridonie [Australia and New Zealand] a threat. The last Technocracy on Earth wasn't deemed worthy of the victors' attention. They'll soon learn their mistake. By the way, how were you able to pilfer these plans. You don't seem to blend in that well."

"Oh, I'm actually Platinean [think Argentine]." With that revelation, she suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Luigi dead. "Did you really think someone who so obviously didn't belong in San Salvador could have infitrated an Imperial facility."

"And, quit!" shouted the director. "Seriously Maria, you need to sound more northern in your accent. And Simon, you need to visibly show rage at Italy's treatment at the end of the Grand War. And both of you need to remember this is supposed to be 1956, not 1976. Alright, everyone take a siesta, then we'll refilm this scene pronto!"
 

Darth_Kiryan

Nice to see that this timeline is still ongoing.

It is definitely one of a kind. There are not many, if any at all, timelines about the American colonies failing to gain independence. Using the Americas though as a place to dump the colonies is also a good idea. Considering that was what was going to happen anyway. Therefore Australia is practically useless...

France falling into Civil War. Rather intriguing. Napoleons death. Rather ironic that it happened at Tolouse. Interesting really...

:):):)
 

jmberry

JamesPhoenix said:
Nice to see that this timeline is still ongoing.

It is definitely one of a kind. There are not many, if any at all, timelines about the American colonies failing to gain independence. Using the Americas though as a place to dump the colonies is also a good idea. Considering that was what was going to happen anyway. Therefore Australia is practically useless...

France falling into Civil War. Rather intriguing. Napoleons death. Rather ironic that it happened at Tolouse. Interesting really...

:):):)
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Thank you. Note that Australia has a French name in the most recent post, and that the history of the continent was written by a Frenchman, so that should hint at the Land Down Under's future TTL.

As for France, Napoleon actually died at Auxonne. The original plan was to have him die at Touloun, but I felt the Law of Irony can be overused at times, so I changed it. For those who are wondering, Napoleon was always the second unlucky soldier. That said, don't count the Bonaparte family out yet ;).
 

Darth_Kiryan

jmberry said:
For those who are wondering, Napoleon was always the second unlucky soldier. That said, don't count the Bonaparte family out yet ;).
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You know, i was actually wondering that. About who the two were. I mean, i understood right from the beginning that George Washington was one, but, up until Napoleon, i kept wondering who the other was, because it just wasnt making sense to me at all.

But now it does.

jmberry said:
Note that Australia has a French name in the most recent post, and that the history of the continent was written by a Frenchman, so that should hint at the Land Down Under's future TTL.
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Yeah, i did see that - Meridonie - or whatever it is in this timeline.
 

jmberry

Part XVII

From "A History of Early Modern Britain" by Edward Langston, 1999, Dublin, Dominion of Ireland

1790 marked a time of change for Great Britain. The Tories had been in power since 1774, and had seen British power maintained and strengthened. The Whigs, meanwhile, had fractured into two coalitions after the death of Rockingham, the moderate Whigs led by the Earl of Portland and William Pitt the Younger, and the radical Whigs led by Charles James Fox.

However, the Tories had become complacent in their 16 years in power. Many constituents had been angered by the India Act, the heavy handed rule in North America, and the lack of voting reform. In addition, Lord North was declining in health, and would not be long for this world. The main decision, then, was who would succeed him as First Lord of the Treasury.

The main debates came down between Pitt and Fox. The two had an intense rivalry inherited from their fathers, and their arguments in Westminster Hall in the days leading to the General Election became the stuff of legends, and are now required reading for any aspiring politician.
Finally, the people voted. The voting process took almost a month, but the results finally came in. The moderate faction of the Whigs won the plurality of the seats and formed a coalition with the Tories, who gained the second-most seats, with the Duke of Portland as First Lord of the Treasury. Fox's radical faction, largely a one man show to begin with, was reduced to a curiosity in Parliament. King George begrudgingly blessed the results, and Lord North retired from politics, to be suceeded as head of the Tories by the young Robert Jenkinson, their most skilled orator at the time.

***

From "Colonial America, Vol. III, 1700-1812" edited by George Jameson, 1974, Kingston, Dominion of Caribe

One of the first acts of the Portland government was to lighten the restrictions on the American colonies. Most of the draconian policies instituted by North were repealed, save the restriction on immigrating to Southern Quebec [Northwest Territory]. Plans were even made to construct a centralized location to run the colonies as a whole at Pittsborough, the town that had grown around Fort Pitt. This sparked an economic growth in the region, and immigration to the colonies increased in the next decade. Two immigrants, in particular, immigrated to the American colonies. One was Robert Hindmarsh, one of the early founders of Spiritualism, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1795. The other was Girolamo Bounoparte, a young French Corsican who came to New York in 1799 to escape the conflict then raging in France, and whose descendents would become one of the most influential families on the planet ...


A/N: Credit for the idea of Hindmarsh imigrating to America should go to the alternate historian "Spiritualist", who first came up with the idea in 2002 or so, and who ran one of the first AH websites I ever read.
 
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Umbric Man

Umbric Man

I'm very happy Portland (and presumably Pitt)'s not only done good to America in lightening restrictions but also centralizing power. It'll be best for the long-run and allow America to work a bit better (whether it's happy with British rule or not).

Why Pittsborough as capital, though? It's in Quebec at this point in time, disputed between PA and VA, and is still a small town at the time. A coastal city like Philly or New York would be more logical. Will they relax immigration to south Quebec Province once it becomes inevitably full of whites?
 
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jmberry

Umbric Man said:
I'm very happy Portland (and presumably Pitt)'s not only done good to America in lightening restrictions but also centralizing power. It'll be best for the long-run and allow America to work a bit better (whether it's happy with British rule or not).

Why Pittsborough as capital, though? It's in Quebec at this point in time, disputed between PA and VA, and is still a small town at the time. A coastal city like Philly or New York would be more logical. Will they relax immigration to south Quebec Province once it becomes inevitably full of whites?
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I went with Pittsburg as the future capital for BNA for a few reasons. First, it's centrally located in Britain's territory. Second, it lies on the border between the Anglo and Franco spheres of culture within BNA. Third, selecting it doesn't show favoritism to one colony or another. Fourth, it's named after Pitt's dad. Also, it isn't disputed between PA and VA TTL. North's decision to strip the colonies of their western claims has been upheld by the Portland cabinet, so Pittsburg doesn't really belong to anyone right now. Until it's deemed liveable, NYC will continue to remain the main administrative center for the continent (Philadelphia has too much Patriotist sentiment).
 

jmberry

Pat XVIII

Westminster Hall, London, Great Britain
September 4th, 1795

"We should aid the people of France in their plight, not sit on our hands and do nothing!" The voice of Charles James Fox echoed across the halls of Parliament.

"Aid them? They are doing quite well without us. They routed the Royalists half a month ago, and Louis's men haven't been able to muster an effective counter since." William Pitt the Younger countered, happy to deflte Fox's position.

"We both know battle is a fickle subject to rely on, Pitt. Francis could very well decide to aid his brother-in-law tomorrow, and then the Republicans would be crushed." Fox countered himself.

"Francis! The Holy Roman Emperor?! He has clearly shown no interest in aiding Louis, why should he change his mind now?"

"Then we should aid Louis! Britain knows what happens when Republicanism runs rampant. Do we want to see a French Cromwell arise? No! We should aid the Royalists, and put an end to this tyranny of the masses in Paris!" Robert Jenkinson, of the Tories, interrupted both men. Fox would have none of that.

"Are you mad, Jenkinson?! The Bourbons have always been our enemies, as have the Valois before them and the Capets before the Valois. This is our chance to end that cycle and make France an ally instead of an enemy."

The Sergeant-at-Arms finally shouted over all of them. "Enough! This matter will be put to a vote. All in favor of sending aid to Paris, aye or nay?" The nays carried. "All in favor of sending aid to King Louis, aye or nay?" The nays carried even stronger. "The nays have both. Britain will remain neutral for the time being."

***
Paris, Republic One (De Facto), Kingdom of France (De Jure)
September 11th, 1795

Citizen Maximillien Robespierre woke up to the sound of men knocking on his office door. Wiping away sleep, he opened the door to see four Republican gaurds and an officer. Before he could say anything, the officer spoke.

"Monsieur Robespierre, you are under arrest for crimes against the state. A warrant for your arrest has been issued by First Citizen Danton. You will come with us."

The next weekor so was something of a blur for Robespierre. Danton had gotten paranoid as the civil war dragged on, and believed Robespierre had been building up a power base to make a claim for power (This was true, but Danton didn't actually know that). Robespierre was tried and convicted in a mock trial. Had he known that his name would become synonomous with mock trials, he probably wouldn't have been mollified. On September 18th, Maximillien Robespierre was sentenced to death. On the twentieth, he was executed by guillotine.

***

September 21st, 1795
Vichy, Kingdom of France

Louis-Joseph looked around the battlefield. The Republicans had been forced to flee, thanks to the loyalists' flanking manuever. Louis-Joseph couldn't help but feel pride.
"Someday, this town will be celebrated. Someday, when people think of the victories of France over her enemies, Vichy will always be first."
 

jmberry

Part XIX

"The Average Kingslander is half-horse, half-gator, and all wild!" - Common Kingslander boast in the late 18th and early 19th century

***

The people who settled Ohio [Kentucky] and Upper Canada [The Northwest Territory] were mostly respectable men, immigrants from Europe and the Northeast who purchased land grants from the Colonial Administrative Office in New York City. Those who settled in Cumberland [Tennessee], Kingsland [Northern Mississippi and Alabama], and the Floridas [Florida, Southern Alabama and Mississippi] were more often than not criminals, potential in the cases of Cumberland, Kingsland, and East Florida, actual in the case of West Florida. It was in Kingsland and Cumberland that many bitter veterans of the First American Insurrection settled, and it was in this wilderness that names like Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and Davy Crockett first made their mark.

The typical British North American of the final years of the 1700s lived in a strange land. The colonies he knew were mainly slender fringes of civilization along the Atlantic, everything else was a mystery. West of the Mississippi was a misty land of legends, filtered back by frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone, a North Carolinian who had now taking up residence in Santo Carlos, where the Missouri flowed into the Mississippi. Americans had heard all sorts of rumors about the wilderness, like the story that it contained the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, or another lost tribe - of Welshmen.

***

With the end of the insurrection, many Americans were left aimless. Some continued to fight on even after Wayne's surrender and the victory of the Whigs in Palriament. The defeat of Colonel Daniel Shay outside of Springfield, Massacusets in 1795 marked the final end of armed resistance. After armed rebellion proved unfruitful, many Americans turned to a new focus - religion. Many new ways of viewing Christianity appeared in North America in this period. The followers of John Wesley, the Reformists, attempted to reform the Anglican Church and end its various excesses. Mennonites quickly gained numerous converts, and an Anabaptist fringe movement, the American Baptists, soon gained a large following in Georgia and the Carolinas. The same year Shay was defeated, a philosopher named Robert Hindmarsh set up shop in Philadelphia. Within a few years, he had converted numerous people to his belief system, Spiritualism. Negative sentiment soon caused most of the Spiritualists to move west into the Ohio watershed, where they encountered those who still felt America should be an independent country. It wasn't long before the two groups started merging ...
 

Arachnid

What is happening to the American Indians in these new Colonies? In OTL the British were a lot nicer than the American's, with continued British rule is the pace of movement into "Indian" areas slowed?
 

jmberry

Aracnid said:
What is happening to the American Indians in these new Colonies? In OTL the British were a lot nicer than the American's, with continued British rule is the pace of movement into "Indian" areas slowed?
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The British were, on average, nicer than the colonists, but that really doesn't matter. As Canada, India, and Australia proved, the British really only aided the natives when it benefited their interests. With the French out of America, and the colonists pacified, the British really don't have a need to continue supporting American Indians - and are, in fact, giving Muskogee and Creek land to convicts. Indeed, Canada's policy with Amerindians was worse than the US's at times, so things don't really look good.
 

jmberry

Here's a map of the world, c. 1795

2US.png
 

jmberry

Part XX

A/N: All excerpts from TTL's Encyclopedia Britannica come from the 1980-1981 edition unless otherwise noted.

From the Encyclopedia Britannica
French Civil War
Sleeping War (Guerre du Sommeil)
The period in the war lasting from the Battle of Vichy in 1795 to the Battle of the Allier in 1797. The Sleeping War is so called because little action took place over the course of those two years. During this time the Royalist faction solidified its hold over the Massif Central.

Allier River, Battle of the
A battle fought between Royalists and Deucolours [French Republicans] on March 14th, 1797 near the village of Chatel-de-Neuvre. The Deucolour forces attempted to attack the Royalist forces by crossing the Allier River, which had been swollen by snow melt. Complicating matters were the Royalist artillery positions near the St Laurent Chapel, overlooking the crossing. The battle has been called by contemporaries a slaughter, where Deucolours were cut down by rifle fire and cannonade and force to abandon the position, allowing South France to become fully Royalist.

Battle of Unverre
A battle between Royalists and Deucolours fought on August 17th, 1797, near the village of Unverre. A small Deucolour force encountered a Royalist Army marching towards Brou and attempted to force a battle at Unverre. Though the battle was fiercely fought, the Deucolours were eventually overwhelmed by superior numbers, allowing the Royalists to take Brou and open the way to Paris.

The Bernadotte Coup
A coup by General Bernadotte on July 7th, 1797, against the Republic One government. Bernadotte declared himself the rigthful ruler of France, naming himself "Marshal of France" and marching on Paris from his base in Reims. This badly divided Deucolour forces between the loyal Dantonists and those who followed Bernadotte, the Marshalists. Bernadotte was stopped by Dantonist forces at Fere-en-Tardenois on the 22nd, and captured and killed execution style on the 29th, by which point Royalist forces were already approaching Paris from the east.
 
Herr Frage

Herr Frage

Well the French Civil war seems to be winding down. The Republicans are fracturing and their leader is going crazy. I wonder will Danton burn Paris just to deny it to the royalists? Either way with the capital lost the Republicans have lost the war. Combined with their military losses this will reducve them to guerillas in fairly short order.

Speaking of military losses, nice touch with Vichy. i expect you to have that phrase used at some point.

North America has potential, Prince Maddoc's bands descendants were mentoned.

Rebellion is brewing anew across the mountains. Will Jackson, Crockett and the like convert to Robert Hindmarsh's creed? A Second American Insurrection as some sort of nationalist holy war?
 

jmberry

Umbric Man said:
Just very happy this thread has new life in it. :D
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Thanks. I think collaborative TLs are going out of fashion on this board, so I'm going to focus on this and my other TL for the forseeable future now.

Herr Frage said:
Well the French Civil war seems to be winding down. The Republicans are fracturing and their leader is going crazy. I wonder will Danton burn Paris just to deny it to the royalists? Either way with the capital lost the Republicans have lost the war. Combined with their military losses this will reducve them to guerillas in fairly short order.

Speaking of military losses, nice touch with Vichy. i expect you to have that phrase used at some point.

North America has potential, Prince Maddoc's bands descendants were mentoned.

Rebellion is brewing anew across the mountains. Will Jackson, Crockett and the like convert to Robert Hindmarsh's creed? A Second American Insurrection as some sort of nationalist holy war?
Click to expand...
Just wait and see on all accounts
 
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