Which type of character do you want? Because is difficult to find a rilevant leftie that isn't pretty old.
TLIAW: Daughters of Elysium - The European Federal Election of 2019
- Thread starter Major Crimson
- Start date
May is a backbencher and pretty obscure, Cammers is Foreign Secretary and thinking about switching to European politics and running for leadership of the Confederals.
One advantage of alt history with an 80 year old PoD is I can make people relevant!
Someone like Flavio Zanonato? Clearly left of centre but nothing radical?
I must be honest, I even forgot he existed. He can be good, yes. Other possibilities can be Pippo Civati, Federico Pizzarotti or Emma Bonino (if we can avert her cancer).May is a backbencher and pretty obscure, Cammers is Foreign Secretary and thinking about switching to European politics and running for leadership of the Confederals.
One advantage of alt history with an 80 year old PoD is I can make people relevant!
I'm glad to hear it!
Hope you continue to do so, home stretch now; about 3 or 4 chapters left.I like Civati, all very interesting but I think I'll go for him. Thanks for the insider advice!
Chapter Eight
The Oxford Union
2.57 AM
Simon and James had fallen asleep and their heads slumped together on the table in the bar. Arthur and his friends were some of the last remaining patrons, most senisble people having scuttled off home hours ago. At this point though, they were in too deep. The closeness of the race and the tension of the night had him wired; they were here till the end.
Theroux, who had been absent for a few hours; possibly given the enviable mercy of a power nap, reappeared, surprisingly content looking and sporting a brand new tie.
"Good morning everyone it is currently 3 am GMT and for those of you who have stuck with us so far we’ve got a little treat in store. It was of course the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Federation just two months ago and EBC has been assembling a little documentary to mark the occasion. Whilst not set to air in full for another week or so we’ve arranged a little preview in the wait for the Mediterranean Results. So with Charles Dance presenting, here are the first five minutes of Unity."
The screen faded to black amidst drunk but polite applause before a black and white explosion, accompanied by Beethoven’s 9th played into grainy footage of the First Soviet War.
“Europe was beset, Europe was in crisis.” Another explosion. “In 1951 the League of Nations, once a world-spanning international council was reduced to little more than a grouping of ever more isolated European countries, their Empires showing signs of crumbling."
Machine-gun fire could be heard as men in stahlhelms lept from trenches.
"For nearly two years, the German and Polish Republics had been engaged in a life or death struggled with the overwhelming power of the Soviet Union. Their forces crumbling, their Lithuanian allies fallen and the Red Army a mere 9 miles east of Warsaw, all seemed lost. It was in this moment of darkness and division that the European dream sprung to life."
A large group of men, clad in neat suits were seen shaking hands and smiling outside Buckingham Palace.
"At a conference held in London, the mighty Empires of the United Kingdom, France and Italy all agreed to join the war effort and defend European Democracy from the communist threat.
The footage cut to a snowy trench where soldiers in British, Polish and German uniform were sharing cigarettes, playing football and swapping photographs. Each man sported a patch with the distinctive ring of stars that made up the European flag.
“The Atlantic and European Democratic League was, at that time, the largest and most powerful alliance formed in human history. With the 2 million Polish and German troops that had been fighting suddenly bolstered by a further four million allies from the west the tide of the war turned almost immediately and the desperate Soviet Union was pushed back, mile by mile."
"In a similar trench, the flags of the French and German republics, held by smiling commanders shaking hands, were exchanged as gifts of friendship.
"It is incredible that not even two decades after the Rheinland War and the ousting of the NatSoc regime, French and German soldiers met again not as foes but friends devoted now to the most just of causes. These were often the same men or the sons of those that struggled against one another in 1936, whose nations had engaged in war after war. With Hitler's gamble failing, his government was swept from power and Otto Wells, the new President of Germany, devoted Germany to becoming a purely defensive power. Whilst his reduction of the size of the German military remains controversial and perhaps allowed the Soviets some of their early successes it is through this devotion to peace and security that Wells laid the groundwork for cooperation."
Urban fighting is shown as an assortment of French and German troops run through the streets of Bucharest, covered by a British machine gunner.
"Desperate and growing increasingly paranoid, Stalin and the leadership of the USSR struck out at southern and northern Europe, dragging Finland and Romania into the war."
A parade in the red square, miles and miles of men and tanks, moved slowly past the steely eyes of Josef Stalin.
"Stalin’s 1952 declaration that he would achieve “Communism on one Continent” was meant to frighten and bully the neutral countries of Europe into submission, to break their spirits and send them scuttling into the shadows."
The camera cut to a large group of soldiers with mismatching helmets, uniforms and weaponry, raising a European flag.
“It did the opposite. With a bravery unknown to the world before or since, the smaller countries of Europe devoted themselves to the League and many would pay the Price. Not only did Europe suffer nearly ten million military and civilian casualties during the seven-year struggle-“ Arthur noted that the nearly 25 million dead soviets were left off the list, “but many members of the alliance fell to Soviet control. Romania, Bulgaria and Greece all fell into the Soviet sphere as the fighting ground to a halt in 1955, Europe had been irrevocably bound together. The European Commonwealth was formed as an economic and political Union soon after and, within 15 years, that union had grown into the federation we know today.”
The screen cut immediately to a waving European flag, Ode to Joy playing faintly on the piano and as the face of Europe’s many Minister-Presidents flashed up and then faded one by one; Ullsten, Steger, Pimentel, Mitterand, Kalousek and finally Merkel. As they vanished from the screen and only the pale blue flag remained, golden letters sparked into existence.
UNITY
Fifty Years of Europe
Fifty Years of Europe
The camera cut back to Theroux who seemed genuinely quite moved. “Wonderful, well you can catch the rest of that on EBC 1 at 7 pm next Wednesday. For now, however, the Italian and Spanish results have come in so it's over to Victoria in our digital parliament to map out how things are going.
Cohen, smiling and still in the centre of her massive CGI room, looked a little downtrodden but nevertheless tapped at the slab in her hand and smiled at the camera. “Thanks Louis. Well just before these results came in the room looked like this.”
Flying in from the ceiling, the animal figures fell into place with two massive clumps of purple and black taking up the vast majority. Above the wolves the number 167 floated ominously, whilst 155 poised over the bulls.
“For all intents and purposes, neck and neck. Of course, coalitions are important and thanks to Minister-President Merkel’s speech and Mr Fillon committing his Council Ministers to the Vigilant we can see two coalitions emerging of roughly equal size. The “Popular Coalition” of the Cooperatives, Christians, Democrats, and Left-Ecologists would be more than a little rag tag but they all have a common enemy in the Vigilant and, if they stay together, would be the largest grouping in Parliament. Meanwhile the Confederal-Vigilant “Justice Coalition”, as Mr Fillon refered to it in his speech, would nearly match their numbers with half the amount of parties. An impressive feat no doubt, nevertheless the Popular Coalition still had the edge – until now.”
Tapping confidently at the little screen before her, Cohen stood unflinching as more animals descended to fill out the ranks. We had the Italian result 7 minutes ago and the Spanish results have literally just come in and the leave the total like this:
VA - 226
COOP - 189
CPP - 72
CON - 70
LE - 54
DEM - 53
MSF - 25
COOP - 189
CPP - 72
CON - 70
LE - 54
DEM - 53
MSF - 25
"As you can see, the Vigilant are doing nearly as well as our exit poll said whilst the Coop are doing worse and everyone else a little better. This is a very strong performance for the Vigilant and they are the largest party by a significant margin however if we look at our coalitions-"
The animals all shifted colour (bar the Red Bears in the corner) as the Wolves, Eagles, Doves and Bees transitioned to a bright pink and the Lions and Bulls faded to an incredibly dark navy.
POPULAR 368
JUSTICE 296
"The edge does go to the Cooperatives and their allies. Now, this is where things get complicated, whichever individual party wins the most seats gets the first opportunity to build a coalition and if the Vigilant remain the largest and can get enough right-leaning members of the CPP to abstain, we could see at least a temporary Justice minority government. If the Coop can take back the lead, however, everything changes.”
Arthur and his friends were all staring, mouths agape. It was sheer insanity.
“At this point, anything could happen.”
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Europe depends on the British Isles, eh?
Still loving this. The documentary was great world-building.
Still loving this. The documentary was great world-building.
Read the narration in Dance's voice and it felt awesome.
So, who collapses first; PopularFront Coalition or Justice?
I mean, neither are stable coalition. I can see the Cons splitting over such a coalition since I doubt they are all comfortable with an alliance with fascists...
So, who collapses first; Popular
I mean, neither are stable coalition. I can see the Cons splitting over such a coalition since I doubt they are all comfortable with an alliance with fascists...
I'm really glad you're enjoying it and thanks, still more on the way!
Read the narration in Dance's voice and it felt awesome.
So, who collapses first; PopularFrontCoalition or Justice?
I mean, neither are stable coalition. I can see the Cons splitting over such a coalition since I doubt they are all comfortable with an alliance with fascists...
He does have a badass voice. Both are going to be awfully shaky, winning here could even be a poisoned chalice that gives the opposition the chance to hit back hard at the next election.
Because it is not important
(Says the French guy)
Aww France is very important and also our next update! I have no idea why its small :/ I size the whole document up to size 4 but for some weird reason, France has refused to change. I'll fix it
Ah damn I meant to adress the PoD here but forgot. I've added a short bit in there to explain, nothing mindblowing but:
"In a similar trench, the flags of the French and German republics, held by smiling commanders shaking hands, were exchanged as gifts of friendship.
"It is incredible that not even two decades after the Rheinland War and the ousting of the NatSoc regime, French and German soldiers met again not as foes but friends devoted now to the most just of causes. These were often the same men or the sons of those that struggled against one another in 1936, whose nations had engaged in war after war. With Hitler's gamble failing, his government was swept from power and Otto Wells, the new President of Germany, devoted Germany to becoming a purely defensive power. Whilst his reduction of the size of the German military remains controversial and perhaps allowed the Soviets some of their early successes it is through this devotion to peace and security that Wells laid the groundwork for cooperation."
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I've loved this TL so far, but I find the premise of the Soviet War to be highly unlikely. Stalin was never a gambler and never started a war he wasn't sure he could win. I can see him bullying around the Baltics and Finland, but Poland had defeated the Soviet Union once before and their combined power with Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania would be far too dangerous for Stalin to contemplate. Especially after seeing France's willingness to intervene in Germany and the disastrous consequences for the dictator there.
If you could replace Stalin with another Soviet leader, or place the blame on something like Poland intervening in Romania to prevent Soviet takeover and the situation spiraling out of control I could buy it.
Also I'm interested in how the war ended. How could they justify a negotiated peace after that many deaths? Also I don't think anyone else has noticed Leningrad is the Soviet capital. Was Moscow nuked? Were the Soviets about to finally break through Euro lines and the Europeans responded with a nuclear barrage? That could cause a negotiated peace. Especially if Stalin and Molotov died.
If you could replace Stalin with another Soviet leader, or place the blame on something like Poland intervening in Romania to prevent Soviet takeover and the situation spiraling out of control I could buy it.
Also I'm interested in how the war ended. How could they justify a negotiated peace after that many deaths? Also I don't think anyone else has noticed Leningrad is the Soviet capital. Was Moscow nuked? Were the Soviets about to finally break through Euro lines and the Europeans responded with a nuclear barrage? That could cause a negotiated peace. Especially if Stalin and Molotov died.
Maybe a bald man with a goatee turned up one day, talking about controlling the past, present and future?
Sorry it probably wasn't awfully clear but the war started over Lithuania, and an alternative (delayed) Soviet Occupation of the Baltic, as the Poles had pledged themselves to Lithuanian independence having seen Estonia and Latvia fall. It's also worth pointing out that the USSR of 1950 (whilst considerably weaker than their OTL equivalent) is nothing like the USSR of 1922 and have gone through various reorganisations that Operation Barbarossa interrupted IOTL. Nukes are involved in the ending of the war and you're not too far off with that guess, more detail is coming I promise. When its over (should be 2 or 3 more chapters) I'll put up a timeline of events and "World of" description. Hope this helps!
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