It's a TL where the assassination of FDR in the 30s leads to the US (and Canada) balkanized into multiple successor states. It's rather interesting (and painful for me, because the South is controlled by a revived CSA that is an evil fascist, racist dictatorship, but it didn't stop many of its cultural aspects familiar and welcome to me from developing, with the obvious differences. It practically tortures me)
TLIAPOT: America in the Century of Blood
- Thread starter DAv
- Start date
1928
Carter Glass
A photo of Carter Glass soon after he became President. Trying to capture the same propaganda value of William Jennings Bryan, Glass would instead flounder before the many challenges he would face as President, unable to match his predecessor's popularity.
In 1928, Carter Glass was inaugurated as the last President of the United States of America. A member of the Democratic Party his entire political life, Glass had supported Bryan's actions against Anarchists and other left-wing ideologies throughout the latter's Presidency. He had also supported the President's Progressive measures by undertaking financial reforms, most of his work with Bryan revolving around the creation of a central banking system for the country.
It was for this work that saw Bryan take a favourable view on Glass, making him his Vice-President in 1926 as his health began to fail. Although he had the best medical attention available to him, Bryan's diabetes continued to sap his energy and his age also showed as he bowed under the demands expected of him. Throughout 1927, the doctors and Bryan himself were merely delaying the inevitable and Bryan's energies were largely focused on bringing Glass into the role as President before the death of the former.
Bryan passed away in January of 1928, allowing Glass to assume the role of President. With the passing of Bryan, Glass would go onto anger many from the outset by refusing to hold Presidential elections. While Bryan had been able to cloak his actions with the Anarchist threat and his own personal charisma, Glass failed to press the case as well as Bryan had did, partly hampered by the feeling among many that the threat had passed in the last few years. Glass himself was fed F.I.B. reports that tended to overstate the threat to the Administration as those in charge had grown to enjoy their power and wished to keep it that way.
It is possible that Glass could have rode out these factors, although public pressure would have likely forced him into allowing Presidential elections sooner rather than later. It was unfortunate for Glass then, that three months into his Administration, the German economy contracted hard, leading to a chain of events that would result in global economic chaos. Having overseen the peace from the Balkans War a decade prior, Germany had continued its high military spending in the face of hostility from Russia and Britain. Such spending on land, sea and air proved to be unsustainable however, forcing the German government to finally cut back on its budget or face financial ruin.
The cuts caused great upheaval in Germany as its arms industry was forced to scale back production and cut back on workers, leading to industrial action. The government tried to alleviate the gaps in its budget by greatly increasing its tariffs, which only saw retaliatory tariffs put in place by other nations, causing the crisis to spread across the world. By August of 1928, the good times were certainly over and a deep recession had hit the world, leaving Glass as the President who had to fix it.
Glass, however, didn't believe that it was the role of the President to 'fix' the economy, wanting to stay away from measures that saw direct intervention take place. Even as more and more people lost their jobs as businesses and banks went out of business, Glass refused to do anything more than make token gestures in regards to helping those most in need during this period. As he clung to his ideals though, Glass would inevitably undermine the very small amount of legitimacy that the government had left.
The outcry would lead to anger and more people began to speak out against the government, causing the F.I.B. to crackdown even more on the protests. But the effectiveness of this was slowly wearing down as more Americans began to turn against their government. In the South, the Ku Klux Klan was helping take on the role of aiding those who had been hit hard by the recession as organisations in New York also sprung up to help others, several of them being run by Socialists looking to bring in members to their organisation.
People speaking out against the government became more common, but with the system he had inherited from Bryan, Glass was able to keep a lid on things for a few years. Come 1931 however, and the country was starting to fall apart from the pressures that were boiling under the surface. Protests against the government and its lack of action grew daily with many starting to actively turn away from it. Many state governments had started to take action on the economic front as the federal government refused to do anything and even regional alliances had started to form to help pool resources.
With the country in a poor economic state and the people increasingly angry over the direction the government was going in, there was one spark needed to set things off. And that came in the form of Carter Glass declining to confirm whether Presidential elections would be held in 1932. He had been asked the question in February and, although he hadn't denied the actual possibility of it happening, the rumour that he was suspending elections once more was the straw that broke the camel's back. With it being spread throughout the country via newspapers, the backlash was seen throughout the country and riots broke out in many cities, including Washington DC itself.
With the police, army and F.I.B. trying to control the crowds and break the riots, their manpower was stretched considerably, leading to a gap in the President's security. Deciding to drive to the Capitol to meet with leaders of both Houses, Glass' car was recognised by a former soldier who had been driven to poverty under the Administration. Having brought his gun with him to the earlier riots, he drew it and shot three bullets into the car, two missing wildly but the other striking Glass in the head, killing him instantly.
As the assassin was gunned down by the Presidential bodyguard, it was already too late to save Glass or the tattered remains of his Administration. The news soon spread like wildfire throughout the country that the President was dead and the following chain of events only helped cement the dissolution of the country. With the downfall of federal power and the government's completely losing any sense of legitimacy, the United States of America broke into pieces.
Carter Glass had risen to power at a time when America was at a cross roads. Had he been willing to call elections from the start of his Administration, the country may have been spared what was to follow. Had he even made any attempt to help those effected by the falling economy, that too could have saved the United States. As it was, almost ever decision he made was the wrong one and would only lead to the fall of America.
Circumstances played a role in Carter Glass' failures, the economic downturn were from events far out of his control. But his reaction to them would only lead to his own, personal downfall and the decades of division of the country that he had meant to serve. He has gone down as the worst American President in history and, for some time, it appeared that he would be the last.
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I assume either Glass didn't have a vice president, or the VP tried to assume power but was unable to hold the government together.
The latter in all honesty. Especially since a certain military man decides to stick his oar in.
Aye, 1936 is a rather standard alternate history choice as well. 1940 will take some guessing though.
It would be interesting to know how many governments suffered instability; I bet Wilhelm II and his camarilla will have to moderate and enact more democratic measures such as the end of the three-class voting system.
So it means the United States will reborn in the future.
It was before the 25th Amendment, so the post of VP might have been empty.
Britain was able to weather the storm the best out of them, although still to some outcry and backlash similar to OTL. Germany saw a lot of bad stuff, especially since everyone blamed them for it and some nations acted accordingly. France was France. Russia reacted quite badly and a nativist movement formed in response. China was hit, but its government has acted better than anyone had expected and is slowly picking itself up. Japan just went really bad and is suffering a lot of political turmoil.
Yep, not going to be the most pleasant of trips there, but it will happen.
I imagine something would have been done after the Capitol Massacre, but things get out of hand before that.
Is China an Empire or a Republic? Is it stable?
If China in unstable and ultranationalists take over Japan then it might end like OTL; else, a stabler China might not be tempting for Japanese militarists.
It's a relatively stable Republic, Yuan Shikai having not managed to bugger things up as he had OTL. Still various issues to be sorted out such as an extensionof the franchise, but it's slowly gathering pace.
If the decision was made to essentially never hold elections again, you'd logically want to address the problem of never having a Vice President again, whether through an amendment or something else. Especially since the rationale for indefinite suspension of elections was a crisis where the President and Vice President were murdered.
1932
Douglas MacArthur
A photo taken of General MacArthur in the aftermath of Bloody Friday. Having hoped to have secured the position of the federal government, MacArthur's actions would instead doom it.
In 1932, Douglas MacArthur would order the first shots to be fired in what would be the disintegration of the United States of America. Having been in the military his entire adult life, MacArthur would climb through the ranks steadily, in part due to his political credentials and his willingness to tackle military reforms in the face of a seemingly hostile world. President Bryan took interest in his career and saw to it he was given some commands to help organise the army into what he thought was needed to stand against the supposed Anarchist threat.
Despite that though, the F.I.B. would be the first organisation that would get the funding needed from the government and most of the States were unwilling to put the money needed into a large, national army. As a result, although the US military was seen as professional, it was always a small force in comparison to what it could have been. One of Bryan's last acts was to promote MacArthur to the role of General before the former passed away.
With the growing discontent in the country in the wake of its political repression and economic depression, McArthur saw the army being used to put down riots in extreme cases. With the F.I.B. proving to be less effective and the situation steadily getting out of hand, the army was seen more and more by the government as a hammer to smash down dissent. The logical end to that use came in the aftermath of the assassination of Carter Glass when Washington D.C. was plunged into chaos as people rioted uncontrollably.
With New York, Chicago and other major cities experiencing similar riots, it appeared as if the entire country was falling apart and that it needed a firm hand to right the ship. Acting on his own initiative, McArthur led troops into the streets of the capital and ordered them to shoot at the rioting crowds. What followed is generally considered to be the point where the dissolution of the United States became inevitable. Claiming to act in the name of the federal government, the brutal massacre of civilians proved to be the breaking point for many states as it was easy to paint the deed as a tyrannical government trying to keep control over a people who were fighting against the system oppressing them.
The backlash grew stronger as New York City was completely overtaken by the rioters and a new government proclaimed based along Socialist lines. Had this been the only one to do so, then it's possible that the United States still could have survived, but then the Richmond Declaration soon followed, the Virginian state government condemning the federal government for its oppression and calling upon all former Confederate states to rise in rebellion once more. Other southern governments followed, with the hold outs being Louisiana and Texas.
Sensing which way the wind was blowing, California followed as it tried to bring the other West-Coast states along with it. Other states were proving greatly reluctant towards putting down any rebellion by their neighbours and mass desertion soon became common as soldiers decided to return to their homes rather than continue to serve a government they no longer believed in. The nation was in the middle of collapsing and there was little that could be done about it.
Had it not been for the economic turmoil effecting the rest of the world, it is possible that America could have received some form of aid, especially from the growing connections between Canada and the other nations that would become the Commonwealth. As things were though, the American government was left to collapse on its own, killed by the hostility of its member states and apathy of those who simply didn't see it as being worth maintaining anymore.
As the country collapsed around him, McArthur did his best to try and revive it, gathering what forces he could to convince the federal government to try and smash the rebels. Sadly for him, there was little government left at this point and most forces under McArthur were deserting rather than stick around. Within two years, the government had all but collapsed as the nation turned into squabbling factions. McArthur had spent the time fighting on numerous fronts to the north and south in order to reign in the break-away nations, but to no avail.
With his country falling around him and a number of factions after his head, McArthur fled over the border to Canada before making his way to Australia to live out the rest of his life in shameful retirement. While he tried to gain a military position in his new home, his actions during Bloody Friday saw him scorned by many as the American government in the lead up to its downfall had become a byword for dictatorship.
It can be said for McArthur that those around him judged his role in America's disintegration too harshly. The root causes had come from nearly two decades of oppression and years of economic disruption that had radicalised the population. America was falling apart around McArthur's ears and it is highly likely, if not certain, that another, similar incident would have kicked off the string of secessions that led to American's downfall.
It must also be said that McArthur remained loyal to the dream of America and its institutions and never appeared to try to take what power he could for himself. Whatever we can glean from these virtues however, it is his mistakes that define him and set him down as a failure in history. In 1932, McArthur would light the fuse that would tear a nation apart for over seven decades. That is his legacy above all else, one that condemns him in the eyes of his countrymen and all others.
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1936
Huey Pierce Long Jnr.
A close up photo taken of Huey Long before making an appearance at a rally at Baton Rogue. Long would spend the 30's doing everything he could to ensure Louisiana's independence and seeking what allies he could in such an endeavour.
A close up photo taken of Huey Long before making an appearance at a rally at Baton Rogue. Long would spend the 30's doing everything he could to ensure Louisiana's independence and seeking what allies he could in such an endeavour.
In 1936, Huey Long would make his famous 'No Man A Slave' speech, irrevocably setting himself against the Confederacy. In the chaos of the fall of the United States, Long had sought to take control over Louisiana with a coalition of Catholics, poor black people and the white working class. Taking the title of Governor-General in early 1933, Long had spent the ensuing eighteen months establishing working relations with both Texas and British representatives in Jamaica in order to secure the independence of his home state.
It was a state uniquely suited for such a task. As the Ku Klux Klan grew in membership during the 1920's, Louisiana was one of the few states that offered strong resistance to it in the south. With a state with a strong black and Catholic population, both demographics stood against the Klan's nativism and Protestant fundamentalism. As a lawyer who had prided himself on his standing up for the small man and making his own way, Long proved to be a natural opponent for the Klan.
To his supporters, Long's opposition to the Klan was proof of his belief in the equality of all. To his detractors, it was proof that Long had no wish to share power with any party but the one loyal to him. Whatever the fact of the matter was, Long refused to stoop to race-baiting as he entered politics, using his charisma and appeal to the common man to push himself as the natural leader of his home state. In a particularly nasty election to the governorship in 1928, Long would come out on top in the face of united opposition by the Ku Klux Klan and Louisiana's political elite.
A few months into his governorship, Long would have to deal with the ensuing economic collapse and rose to the challenge. Long would bring about public works to help build new roads in the state, greatly increase the level of education and healthcare available to the poor and instituted a high level of taxation against the rich. All these measures made him deeply popular with the common people while the elite looked at him with a suspicious eye. As the economic and political crisis deepened, so did Long's criticism of the local elite, setting up his own patronage network to help gather power into his office, breaking the networks of those organisations who opposed him.
With the Klan always trying to encroach onto his power, Long stayed in the state battling them, believing that Washington would be a dead end while Presidential elections were still suspended. Better to create a national name for himself in his home state and use that to springboard when the opportunity arose, instead.
It has been said that, as Long could not become President of America, he instead decided to become King of Louisiana. There may be some truth in this as Long's control over the state greatly increased in the final months of the Glass Administration. He blasted through legislation that concentrated power into his hands and used the National Guard liberally against his opponents, especially the Klan, who were deemed an organisation that threatened the peace of Louisiana. He even managed to get the organisation outlawed in the state.
In the aftermath of Bloody Friday, with the country falling to pieces, Long decided that Louisiana would not tie itself to the rising Confederacy and declared the state independent, giving himself the title of Governor-General. As the Confederacy was fighting off one of McArthur's last, desperate, assaults, Long realised that he would either have to strengthen his position, or see Louisiana be subsumed by the Confederacy. For a solution to this issue, he turned to Texas.
The Lone Star State, despite its own history with the original Confederate States of America, had sought its own independence. Having uncovered oil earlier in the century, the Texan political class were hoping to use this as leverage for their own independence and did not want any of it filling the coffers of a government other than the one in Austin. Sensing an opportunity, Long contacted those in Texas, offering them an alliance, effectively shoring up Texas' eastern border. Louisiana also helped with the displacement of Texan civilians who saw their livelihood destroyed from the droughts which swept through the America in the 1930's, destroying agriculture in swathes of the former country.
This would lead to mass migrations and further break down in power across the states. Without a central government coming to help them, many local governments were soon overwhelmed by this crisis and the Midwest of America descended into chaos. Only the coastal regions remained largely unaffected directly by this, although the drop in food supplies soon became apparent. Food prices greatly increased and rationing was put in place in many areas. Famine was experienced in several regions and refugees fled west or east in order to find somewhere to live.
Such a crisis served as a further breakdown in order over what used to be the United States. A more authoritarian slant began to creep through as governments tried to tackle this, particular across the south. Long's control over the government became more centralised as he looked to contain the crisis as well as secure his own power. He was given a free hand through this, in large part because the Confederacy was trying to figure out its own way to contain the crisis, as well as taking part in an ill-thought out, although successful, take over of Washington D.C.
As the crisis receded in 1936 (Although it was far from over, merely passed its worse days), the Confederacy started to put pressure onto Long to bring his state into their nation. Faced with the possibility of a hostile nation on Louisiana's borders that could lead to war, Long had a choice to make. Once again, those who believed in the man saw this as a move seeking to defend his people's independence and protect their rights against what would become an oppressive oligarchy. To his critics, it was Long refusing to cede any power what he had gained.
In September of 1936, Huey Long made a speech decrying the old Confederacy and what it stood for. He denounced the new Confederacy and its attempts to link to the past, condemning them for trying to repeat history by creating a tyranny in the South. He promised that Louisiana would stand independent and that it would not fall to the evils that the Ku Klux Klan represented. He promised that Louisiana would be free and that it would be a place where none would be a slave.
The speech set in stone that Louisiana would remain independent and further tied it and Texas together while standing against the Confederacy. Due to the refugee crisis at hand, the Confederacy could find little time or resources to find ways to undermine Long's control over the independent state, although they would try later on. Instead, Long decided offence was the best defence and took advantage of the refugee crisis' effects in Mississippi to stir up trouble.
With the refugees coming in, the local government decided to give the farmland of black people over to whites, sometimes forcibly kicking families out of their homes. The ensuing backlash against this turned to riots, which turned into outright rebellion as Long was quick to funnel arms into the state as he saw an opportunity to either bleed the Confederacy and give Louisiana time to breath. His plan worked far beyond his wildest dreams once the murder of a British journalist in the area by Confederate forces led to backlash where the Confederacy was forced to stand down from its position.
Over the next three decades, Long would remain as Governor-General of Louisiana, despite the best attempts of his enemies to find a way to unseat him. He remained incredibly popular in Louisiana as standing up for the common man against the great and the powerful. That he managed to turn the state into a dictatorship with all power centred around him and his family did little to convince the majority in the state that he was anything but their champion and protector. He would do so until his death in 1970, when his son would take up the office in an election which was a sham in all but name.
Huey Long's legacy is heavily contested, even to this day. A hero to the common people and egalitarian standing in defiance of a system that sought to role back the clock on civil rights for ethnic minorities? Or a dictatorial fraudster who sought power and only power above else who just got lucky more times than he deserved? Debates are endless and there is enough evidence to point towards either, although the system of patronage and concentration of all political power into the hands of Long and his cohorts points largely to the latter.
Long remains an icon in America, albeit a controversial one. He guaranteed an independent Louisiana until reunification, started an alliance with Texas that would last for that long and would (Mostly accidentally) aid in the creation of an independent Mississippi. His brand of populism would also emerge as a strong political philosophy in many areas, several politicians draping themselves in the cloak of being a 'Long-ite'. Centred around direct appeals to the people, a strong executive branch and a focus on public works to benefit the populace, the ideology gained a number of adherents over the next few decades.
Huey Long would stand as a giant in an era where such figures were growing in number. He would help divide the nation further, while also giving many a sense of liberation from what they felt was their oppression. He remains a hero to many to this day and although he remains controversial, Long would offer a template for what a leader should be to some people, provided one would ignore the darker aspects.
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I hope we can get a map of what everything looks like after it all settles.
I'm imagining that if the world war breaks out, we could see the American states going after each other
I'm imagining that if the world war breaks out, we could see the American states going after each other
Would probably be best to do a map for the 1964 update really. Things would have settled enough to show the different factions enough, while the 1970's will have enough of their own chaos to redraw it afterwards.
So how many European states or other actors are selling weapons and materials to the American states? Are there communities of refugees Americans in Europe?
Most went to Canada, at first. The situation in Europe isn't the most pleasant as the 1930's drag on and some places like New York are attractive if your ideology swings that way. As for weapon selling, no one really does it at first, since the collapse was so sudden and no one really wants the US to fall due to a variety of issues. Once the government's money ran out though, they lost their market and, after that, the Confederacy and New England were the biggest, stable, states for looking into trade, although they aren't without issues themselves.
So how does Western America (everything west of the Mississippi River) turn out during all this?
If you're in Texas, relatively OK. Everything north of Oklahoma? Not so much. Thin population, ecological collapse and refugees led to mass chaos and a breakdown of government that took twenty years to even take steps close to recovering from.