The Union Forever: A TL

[Mac Gregor]

1963​

Domestic Developments​

Amid great fanfare, the 1963 World’s Fair was held in Havana, Cuba. City leaders had lobbied hard for the privilege of hosting the fair and successfully marketed Havana as a first rate American city. Some of the highlights included the American and German pavilions which touted their recent exploits in space exploration and the Wondertron, a massive roller-coaster constructed by the Dreamworld Film Company.

In May, “The Quiet Revolution: Rise of the Modern American Woman” by Dr. Harper E. Peck was published. In the book, Peck claimed that since the end of the Great War women’s economic and political clout had slowly but steadily increased in American society. Statistics showed that more women were now working out of the home, attaining college degrees, and running for political office than ever before. Peck believed that this discreet increase in affluence could be accelerated by the appointment of more women to high government offices. The Quiet Revolution quickly became a best seller and one of the most discussed books in the nation despite invoking the ire of some social conservatives.

Despite the dominance of the decidedly modern Futuro genre, the 1960s also witnessed a revival of American folk music. Spurred on by the civil war centennial celebrations, new renditions of classical American songs experienced a surge of popular support. One of the most successful folk groups was The Billy Goats whose cover of “Yellow Rose of Texas” would spend five weeks at the top of the charts during the summer of 1963.

In September, the American economy entered into recession for the first time in nine years. While Europe and Asia were mostly spared the fallout of the 1963 Latin American Banking Crisis, America’s heavy investment in the region caused it to become mired in the hemisphere’s economic woes. President Anderson, who until the crisis had enjoyed near record high approval ratings, soon found himself unable to stop the rapid fall of stock prices and the corresponding rise in unemployment.

 

[FleetMac]

Nice update Mac, I especially liked the little music aside (and the World Fair portion). Hopefully the economy can bounce back quickly, after all it's getting to be time to head to the moon IIRC. Keep up the good work!

 

[metastasis_d]

Nice update Mac, I especially liked the little music aside (and the World Fair portion). Hopefully the economy can bounce back quickly, after all it's getting to be time to head to the moon IIRC. Keep up the good work!

Indeed.

How is the world doing in terms of space investment?

 

[Mac Gregor]

Nice update Mac, I especially liked the little music aside (and the World Fair portion). Hopefully the economy can bounce back quickly, after all it's getting to be time to head to the moon IIRC. Keep up the good work!

Thanks FleetMac!

 

[Mac Gregor]

Indeed.

How is the world doing in terms of space investment?

Right now space investment is very high with obviously the Germans and Americans enganged in a spacerace with the British and Russians looking to join in.

 

[Mac Gregor]

1963 ​

Foreign Developments​

Flag of the Dominion of Malta​

Living up to his campaign promises, Prime Minister Atkinson's government granted domestic autonomy to Malta, Cyprus, Malaya, and Jamaica over the course of 1963. With their new dominion status these territories now had near complete control over their own internal affairs but like their Indian counterparts still had their foreign policy controlled from London. The move was extremely popular in the affected territories although sectarian violence in Cyprus between Turkish and Greek Cypriots was cause for concern.

In March the 1963 Latin American Banking Crisis spread like wildfire throughout the Americas when the Banco do Brasil became insolvent after years of mismanagement and the careless issuing of loans. In the following months several other high profile banks would either go under of have to be propped up their national governments. The banking crisis would dominate that year’s League of American Republic’s summit but no comprehensive agreement was able to be reached.

In the chaotic 1963 Indian general election Premier Mundakkal Mirdha’s embattled government lost power and was replaced by a new parliamentary coalition headed by Sayed Koya. The election also witnessed the rise of the rightwing National Unity Party led by Harshad Nanda which quickly became the strongest force in the opposition. The National Unity Party was modeled heavily off of Japan’s ruling Kobushi Party and promoted economic corporatism, territorial expansion, cooperation between the republic’s Hindu and Muslim citizens,and staunchly opposed western colonialism.

On September 11, Britain became the third country to reach space with the launch of its first satellite Drake 1 from an airbase in Queensland, Australia.

The war in the Dutch East Indies continued to spread with attacks on the islands of Java and Sumatra increasing throughout the year. Tensions between the Netherlands and Japan also increased with the mysterious sinking of the frigate Hr.Ms. De Ruyter off of the coast of Borneo which the Dutch government claimed was carried out by a Japanese submarine. Although Tokyo denied being involved, Japan continued to provide military aid to the rebels and openly called for the Dutch to “quit Asia”.

In the wake of the signing of the Turin Pact, Germany created its own international organization on October 16, 1963. Styled as the Association of European States (AES), it consisted of ten other nations besides Germany including the Low Countries, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark-Iceland, Bohemia, Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia. While the AES member states contained a variety of governments and cultures the association was viewed as more conservative and monarchial than its Franco-Italian rivals. Not to be outdone, in December the Russians quickly established an even more conservative affiliation with their longtime allies of Serbia-Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece which became known in the West as the Orthodox Council.

 

[Beedok]

Yay, Canada still gets to be #3 in space!

 

[Lalli]

Very intresting. Some kind of earlier international Financial Crisis and almost three-sided cold war. What side UK and USA will choice?

 

[FleetMac]

Wow, that's a quick turnaround on updates. Bravo! Oh, and FYI I think you meant Banco do Brasil, but otherwise nice updates; the events in Indonesia look ominous to say the least. And it looks like some more sectarianism is rearing its ugly head in Europe again...

 

[Beedok]

I wonder if Poland will ever be united.

 

[naraht]

Bulgarian Med-coast

Can someone please point me to where in TTL the Bulgarians ended up with a Mediterranean coast (keeping Greece and Turkey from having a land border)?

 

[Mac Gregor]

Very intresting. Some kind of earlier international Financial Crisis and almost three-sided cold war. What side UK and USA will choice?

Well the UK is really in favor of making sure no one nation gains to much power on the continent so they are fairly happy with the situation but doesn't want to see an actual war. Anglo-Russian relations have thawed a bit since the British withdrew from India as the Great Game no longer really matters but their is still some mutual distrust. Germany is a big economic rival so they don’t want to see them become to dominant. The UK doesn't really have a problem with France and Italy so they are happy with them being a counterbalance. The U.S. is closest to the Turin Pact ideologically, but really doesn't get involved in European affairs.

 

[Mac Gregor]

Wow, that's a quick turnaround on updates. Bravo! Oh, and FYI I think you meant Banco do Brasil, but otherwise nice updates; the events in Indonesia look ominous to say the least. And it looks like some more sectarianism is rearing its ugly head in Europe again...

Thanks FleetMac. And yes you were right about Banco do Brasil. Thanks for the help.

 

[metastasis_d]

The move was extremely popular in the affected territories although sectarian violence in Cyprus between Turkish and Greek Cypriots was cause for concern.

Pretty damn cool; it would be very interesting if it sticks.

On September 11, Britain became the third country to reach space with the launch of its first satellite Drake 1 from an airbase in Queensland, Australia.

Awesome! More space!

Tensions between the Netherlands and Japan also increased with the mysterious sinking of the frigate Hr.Ms. De Ruyter off of the coast of Borneo which the Dutch government claimed was carried out by a Japanese submarine.

So... as the author... did they do it?

Although Tokyo denied being involved, Japan continued to provide military aid to the rebels and openly called for the Dutch to “quit Asia”.

I suggest the gum.

In the wake of the signing of the Turin Pact, Germany created its own international organization on October 16, 1963. Styled as the Association of European States (AES), it consisted of ten other nations besides Germany including the Low Countries, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark-Iceland, Bohemia, Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia. While the AES member states contained a variety of governments and cultures the association was viewed as more conservative and monarchial than its Franco-Italian rivals. Not to be outdone, in December the Russians established an even more conservative affiliation with their longtime allies of Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece which became known in the West as the Orthodox Union.

Wow, what a quick chain of events! Supranational unions seem to be the order of the day; if war never comes to fruition I imagine they stick around.

If this really does turn into a cold war analogue, the spy novels/films will be amazing. As will the alternate history!

 

[traveller76]

India post War

I can see the post war India working on food security with investments in agricultural technology and infrastructure. They may also stockpile food and promote self sufficiently in case of another war. As for the military, I can see them working on developing their own arms industry and building a large army/air force. The economy may be focused on small industry/small farms in order to promote village life as an ideal. Less central planning except in strategic industries like petroleum/steel/arms.

As for the political world, it may be more chaotic since there is not a one party rule like the Congress. You will see more vibrant elections and see several nationalist parties clamoring for making India the next regional power. Support for a non-aligned anti-colonial movements may be high.

 

[MasterSanders]

Things look perilous for the Democrats, this time. It will be interesting to see if the Republicans can get their act together in order to win the White House in 1964.

Folk making an appearance. Nice.

A slower, but still arising feminist surgency. It will be interesting to see whether this is a general cultural trend, or a an ideological movement as OTL.

Nice to see the Commonwealth holding together. I hope it stays that way.

Latin, Teutonic, and Slavic blocs? Well, that escalated quickly. This should make for some interesting intrigue and diplomacy for the next few decades.

Brits in space? Approve.

India is looking interesting. It will be interesting to see if a non-sectarian, national corporatist regime arises out of this.

With every update, I'm reminded why I love this TL.

 

[Mac Gregor]

Can someone please point me to where in TTL the Bulgarians ended up with a Mediterranean coast (keeping Greece and Turkey from having a land border)?

Bulgaria recieved that territory from the Ottoman Empire following the Great War. It is discussed on page 89.

 

[Mac Gregor]

So... as the author... did they do it?


Wow, what a quick chain of events! Supranational unions seem to be the order of the day; if war never comes to fruition I imagine they stick around.

Yes, the Japanese sunk the ship on purpose. They know that the Dutch don't have the resources to retaliate.

I think there is some confusion over these alliances. They aren't really supranational unions and none approach anything like OTL's EU. Furthermore the different alliances ITTL vary in their scope and the degree that they integrate their constituent nations such as the Orthodox Council which is basically an empty shell (I changed the name from Orthodox Union so this is more apparent). Also I know it seems that these organizations were created very suddenly but they are really just formalizing alliances and spheres of influence that have existed for years if not decades. I will go over them in more detail soon. Cheers!

 

[Mac Gregor]

I can see the post war India working on food security with investments in agricultural technology and infrastructure. They may also stockpile food and promote self sufficiently in case of another war. As for the military, I can see them working on developing their own arms industry and building a large army/air force. The economy may be focused on small industry/small farms in order to promote village life as an ideal. Less central planning except in strategic industries like petroleum/steel/arms.

As for the political world, it may be more chaotic since there is not a one party rule like the Congress. You will see more vibrant elections and see several nationalist parties clamoring for making India the next regional power. Support for a non-aligned anti-colonial movements may be high.

Excellent points traveller76. I think food security will be a top priority in light of the recent famine. Does anybody know how much food TTL's India would be able to produce?

 

[Mac Gregor]

Things look perilous for the Democrats, this time. It will be interesting to see if the Republicans can get their act together in order to win the White House in 1964.

Folk making an appearance. Nice.

A slower, but still arising feminist surgency. It will be interesting to see whether this is a general cultural trend, or a an ideological movement as OTL.

Nice to see the Commonwealth holding together. I hope it stays that way.

Latin, Teutonic, and Slavic blocs? Well, that escalated quickly. This should make for some interesting intrigue and diplomacy for the next few decades.

Brits in space? Approve.

India is looking interesting. It will be interesting to see if a non-sectarian, national corporatist regime arises out of this.

With every update, I'm reminded why I love this TL.

Thanks for the support!