Warlord America?

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What if as the government in this TL,increasingly aristocratic,overlooked the lower class people as well as immigrants,who formed Mafias and self-defense groups in the vitys? Would that be plausible?
 

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It would require total collapse of the American government and armed forces, which would require something massive and unprecendented.
Standing US armed forces were tiny before the Cold War.
Triple the number of dead from the Spanish flu and bring on the great depression 10 years earlier.
Why triple the flu-victims? Why not just the earlier and/or bigger depression?

But to me, it seems strange that after such a harsh time as the Great Depression, there weren't extremist risings or attempts against the goverment. Somehow, I think that the U.S. had a stroke of luck with their institutions during that time; certainly a weaker country would have fallen into civil unrest,
There was the Business Plot, though how serious the attempt was is disputed.

Sometime ago I actually had an idea about how to make "Nazis in America" plausible which may also serve to answer the OP challenge:

Basically, the Business Plot goes through and manages to oust the president with the help of the military in Washington, but not everyone, even in the military, recognizes the legitimacy of the new government with various factions in different states coming to prominence as the faces of opposition to the government, resulting in a prolonged mufti-sided civil war (this is where the warlords can come into it) that devastates large parts of US infrastructure. Eventually the Washington government allies with Nazi Germany and receives German "advisers" and military aid to help in their civil war in exchange for providing the Reich with natural resources.
You know when I saw this threads title the first thing I tough off was this right here. :D:cool: This actually could be a good example of what a Warlord America would look like, its really the only example of such a scenario I know off. Not sure how plausible it is thought, the guy who made only said that "Black Friday was far worse". Still, a good example none the less. :cool:
Amelia Earhart as a warlord? :eek:

How could that happen?
 
What if as the government in this TL,increasingly aristocratic,overlooked the lower class people as well as immigrants,who formed Mafias and self-defense groups in the vitys? Would that be plausible?

In order to create US-War Lord Era you need
1. Establish Dictatorship rule in US. Then make it stand some 20 year stable until that Dictator dead. The rule should be very repressive and based on military.
2. After Dictator's death, his lieutenant's will wage for power. Make them not strong enough to unite others. Now you have War Lord Era.

In general, in order to have War Lords, the country must be very autocratic and centralized. Economy must be centralized. The money should be collected to Central Government and then distributed to regions. Central Government should tightly control the regions and must did intervene regions affairs constantly. Sooner or later regions interest and Central Government interests will diverge. When Central Government collapse there will be a lot regions with different interest, so they will wage war each others.
 

Deleted member 67076

In order to create US-War Lord Era you need
1. Establish Dictatorship rule in US. Then make it stand some 20 year stable until that Dictator dead. The rule should be very repressive and based on military.
2. After Dictator's death, his lieutenant's will wage for power. Make them not strong enough to unite others. Now you have War Lord Era.

In general, in order to have War Lords, the country must be very autocratic and centralized. Economy must be centralized. The money should be collected to Central Government and then distributed to regions. Central Government should tightly control the regions and must did intervene regions affairs constantly. Sooner or later regions interest and Central Government interests will diverge. When Central Government collapse there will be a lot regions with different interest, so they will wage war each others.
So like... Have America go communist like in Reverse Cold War, but make it a brutal Stalinesque dictatorship for 20 or so years. And after the dictators death, have his lieutenants carve up their own territories. Would that work?
 
Forgive me if i'm ignorant, but wouldn't a highly decentralized government allow for warlords compared to a centralized one?
 
So like... Have America go communist like in Reverse Cold War, but make it a brutal Stalinesque dictatorship for 20 or so years. And after the dictators death, have his lieutenants carve up their own territories. Would that work?

Better not be Commie state, because communism is ideology and it could be uniting force. Rather make Capitalist Dictatorship, who wants to use all the wealth for his own ambition. Bringing ideoligy is not good for War Lord creation. War lords often fight for wealth and power not for ideology.
 
It would not be as difficult as you might think. The United States is a very stable nation with generations of unity, but like any system it can be broken and its people made to choose other options if they feel the circumstances warrant it.

-Create a reason for trade to seriously slow down (plague, war, famine, etc.)

-Discredit the government as a means of relief or better still make it part of the problem (Soldiers on film shooting into peaceful demonstrators repeatedly, stealing food from citizens to feed themselves, etc.)

-Hardship and poverty so desperate that people trade loyalty for food and survival on a medium to large state level, whoever has the food has the votes as it were

-Motivate the people one way or another to believe that their local situation is worse for reasons of someone else's making, like the other guys have hoarded the food meant for us and eat well while our kids go hungry. Or as Machiavelli would say, "distract from domestic problems with foreign adventures"

*For extra play, create a local religious backlash and insist that "outsiders" are heathens or a threat to the (local) faith and turn some people xenophobic

-Obtain or create proof of mismanagement and plutocracy elsewhere while building yourself as the honorable/reasonable/only sane alternative and limit communication as much as possible

-Watch the US shatter into 10-25 nation-states that eventually coalesce into 5-10 larger ones (perhaps with the Rockies, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio/Potomac Rivers and Ohio/Pennsylvania state line serving as new national boundaries)
 
It would not be as difficult as you might think. The United States is a very stable nation with generations of unity, but like any system it can be broken and its people made to choose other options if they feel the circumstances warrant it.

-Create a reason for trade to seriously slow down (plague, war, famine, etc.)

-Discredit the government as a means of relief or better still make it part of the problem (Soldiers on film shooting into peaceful demonstrators repeatedly, stealing food from citizens to feed themselves, etc.)

-Hardship and poverty so desperate that people trade loyalty for food and survival on a medium to large state level, whoever has the food has the votes as it were

-Motivate the people one way or another to believe that their local situation is worse for reasons of someone else's making, like the other guys have hoarded the food meant for us and eat well while our kids go hungry. Or as Machiavelli would say, "distract from domestic problems with foreign adventures"

*For extra play, create a local religious backlash and insist that "outsiders" are heathens or a threat to the (local) faith and turn some people xenophobic

-Obtain or create proof of mismanagement and plutocracy elsewhere while building yourself as the honorable/reasonable/only sane alternative and limit communication as much as possible

-Watch the US shatter into 10-25 nation-states that eventually coalesce into 5-10 larger ones (perhaps with the Rockies, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio/Potomac Rivers and Ohio/Pennsylvania state line serving as new national boundaries)

You want to divide country and create new states. It is not War Lord Era, it is more of fall of Empire, when there is no sense to be single entity.
War Lord Era is not everyone wants independence. It is every one wants to be one entity and everyone believe it is best way. However no one have enough power to unite rest and become New Boss.
 
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So we're creating a sort of Japanese Middle Ages scenario where everyone thinks they should be Shogun but no one has the power to enforce it nationwide?

I also figure WarLords like those in China are de facto nation-states anyway, just united by history and a common writing system (in some cases speaking vastly different languages!)
 
So we're creating a sort of Japanese Middle Ages scenario where everyone thinks they should be Shogun but no one has the power to enforce it nationwide?

Not really. In Edo Period there was stable system. It is more like Chinese War Lord Era. I think In the end one will win war, because general public wants united country.

I also figure WarLords like those in China are de facto nation-states anyway, just united by history and a common writing system (in some cases speaking vastly different languages!)

Not really nation-state, more of rebel region. Generals doesn't follow Central Government will, but recognizes Central Government. Also they just take all tax for themselves not for Central Government.
 
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