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Alias ASB Alternate History One Shots

Rise of Babylon
  • Alias

    Moderator
    Moderator
    As the people of Uruk celebrated their victory over the hated Gutians in 2119 BC, in another part of Mesopotamia the inhabitants of the small town of Babylon looked up at the night sky to see strange green clouds forming. As the townsfolk watched this strange phenomenon unfold they would watch as the green clouds continued to expand and to their shock it came closer and closer to the ground. Soon panic took hold of the village and people grabbed what they could and fled with their families. This would however be futile as the exodus was quickly overtaken by the green clouds which quickly a violent storm and that would swiftly consume a large swath of land. This raging storm would last throughout the night and would only dissipate upon being hit with sunlight and would reveal far more villages, cities and farmland that did not exist before.

    At its center the now city of Babylon which along with various settlements had no idea what just occurred. Only after they departed and began a rapid conquest of southern Mesopotamia did they begin to realize that they were no longer in the same region. The various city states of the region would resist but in the end this resistance proved to be futile as city after city would fall to the Babylonians. Nearby powers quickly took notice of the wars being fought and concerned by this, would form a coalition to defeat the upstart Babylonians. This coalition would however not last long as King Hamurrabi would soon defeat their armies and add the rest of Mesopotamia to his growing empire.

    At this time he would expand his armies by recruiting nomadic Amorite tribes from the west and then settling them in various areas as loyal bastions of support for his regime. Hamurrabi would then turn his eyes to the east as word reached him that the Shimashki Dynasty of the Elam region was gathering its own coalition to end the rising threat of Babylon. Hamurrabi would rally his armies and march east and what followed could only be described as a slaughter as cities were sacked, the countryside ravaged and the Shimashki Dynasty wiped out. Satisfied that eastern Mesopotamia was safe from threats to the east for at least a generation and with the survivors of this bloody campaign now providing tribute, he would march his armies back west for some much needed rest and of course celebrations in honor of all that they had achieved so far. For the next campaign season, the king would turn his attention to the north, the land of the Assyrians.

    The Assyrians would resist them like they did the Akkadian Empire would resist fiercely but in the end would be conquered. For the final campaign of his reign, Hamurrabi would march west and conquer his way all the way to Mari, by far the easiest and least bloodiest of his campaigns. Of course the last few years Hamurrabi was not solely focused upon conquest with domestic policies taking up much of his time. Previously there existed centralized state monopolies in which governments controlled international trade and redistributed goods had dominated the Mesopotamia economy. Quite different from the economy in the Babylonian kingdom where individuals were allowed to transact commerce and able to maximize their profits if their ventures succeeded and to face financial hardship or worse if they failed.

    As Babylonians with the capital would finance to export various goods via caravans to distant lands and if the traders survived potential for huge profits even after splitting it with the investors. As well royal officials part of a growing bureaucracy settled any complaints of trader fraud or losses in transit. Then was maintaining social order in the empire, which was done with written laws from Babylon being applied across the now expanded realm. King Hamurrabi would also preside over numerous legal cases involving cases from commercial disputes to crime. The record of these decisions would become what future historians would call Hammurabi's Code and the earliest surviving legal code.

    Various features included slightly better rights for women, punishments for various crimes such as theft, dividing society into three social classes among other things. King Hamurrabi secured his place in history with conquests and the state he built. History and the magical arrival of his kingdom would see him worshipped as a god and this would be encouraged by his successor and son Samsu-iluna to strengthen his hold on power after his father passed away in 2099 BC. The first four years were largely uneventful till an invasion by rebuilt city states of Elam in 2095 BC though this would be repelled and followed by a far less bloody campaign to reassert his authority over the region. With the people of Elam put in their place and set up a puppet kingdom headed by Eparti first of his name.

    At roughly the same time rebellions would break out seeking to take advantage of the invasion to break away. The state Hammurabi built however would not fall so easily with garrisons and the settled Amorite tribes suppressing many of the rebellions while King Samsu-iluna would with his returning armies brutally the remaining armies suppressing the remaining rebellions and killing the remaining rebels and their families. Loyal generals were rewarded while the Amorites took upon an ever growing role in the empire and with their culture becoming increasingly dominant across the empire and the Fertile Crescent. While there would be a few more rebellions, Samsu-iluna would maintain a firm grip over his empire for the rest of his reign. The kings that would follow him would be of varying quality but would oversee continued stability until the remaining years of the century.

    By then climate change and agricultural pollution was causing economic troubles. By 2000 BC intensive irrigation had unintentionally raised the soil salt level so high that crop yields declined and began an era of instability that would last for centuries. Though that is a tale for another time.
     
    Sudden Hegemonies
  • In response to the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, a fierce opponent of slavery's expansion, as President, seven slave-holdings would secede forming the Confederate States of America. Four additional states would leave the Union following Lincoln mobilizing Federal troops to protect Federal property following the CSA attack on Fort Sumter. The first major action of the war came in July 1861 when undertrained Union and Confederate forces met at Manassas, Virginia,with Washingtonians including US Congressman trekking to the countryside near Manassas, Virginia, to watch the first major battle of the American Civil War. These onlookers expected victory for the Union and a swift end to the war that had begun three months before but instead the undisciplined Union troops were routed and fell all the way back to Washington, DC and the Confederate forces, in little better shape, were unable to press their advantage.

    Despite small campaigns in Missouri, West Virginia and elsewhere, there was no more major action that year as the two sides' armies organized and prepared within their own territory for next year's campaigns. The following spring, the massive Union Army of the Potomac, the largest army in the history of the US up to that point, was dispatched to the Virginia Peninsula to move against Richmond though unfortunately it was commanded by the extremely hesitant General George McClellan. Despite holding numerous advantages, McClellan was extremely reluctant to rapidly advance during his campaign, falsely believing he was outnumbered by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary he was receiving from his intelligence reports. The Union advance was halted when the original ANV commander John Magruder built false artillery out of painted logs, and being similarly held up by subsequent ANV commander Joseph Johnston, McClellan was repulsed from the Peninsula altogether when he first met Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Further loss for the Army of the Potomac would come in the following summer where Lee defeated the Union Army of Virginia under John Pope at a second battle of Bull Run.

    In a major contrast, Union forces farther west under General Ulysses S. Grant had won several important victories, including the Battle of Shiloh, at which Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was killed in action. The Union was also winning the naval war, with the USS Monitor defeating the CSS Virginia in the world's first battle between ironclad warships, and the US Navy establishing a blockade of Southern ports which the CS Navy had no chance of breaking. Despite Union successes in these other fronts, the East was the war's primary front and in the fall of 1862 Confederate fortunes were riding extremely high, with Britain and France considering granting the CS diplomatic recognition. That fall Lee launched an ambitious invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania while in the West, Braxton Bragg led the Army of Tennessee on a simultaneous invasion of the state of Kentucky. McClellan was as in his nature extremely slow to respond to Lee's invasion, and Union intelligence failed to realize that the Army of Northern Virginia had adopted a high-risk marching order in which each division of James Longstreet's and Thomas Jackson's two corps were all marching alone.

    During this a courier was riding from Lee's headquarters to Daniel Harvey Hill's dropped a case of three cigars containing Special Orders 191 outside of Frederick, Maryland but immediately recovered them when two Confederate infantrymen saw him drop it. Had he failed to notice he had dropped the case, it would most likely have come into possession of Union forces who soon took up possession of the ground. McClellan made the unwise decision to offer Lee battle at Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where the Army of the Potomac was destroyed on October 1, 1862. With the Army of the Potomac gone, Lee would advance on Philadelphia and occupy it, while Bragg, after defeating U.S. forces at Corinth, Kentucky, conquered the state and moved it into the Confederate States by force. With the course of the war now clearly favoring the Confederate States, Britain and France extended diplomatic recognition to the Confederate States, and the war formally ended on November 4, 1862, when British Ambassador Lord Lyons visited President Lincoln in the Executive Mansion to deliver the veiled threat of the Royal Navy crossing the Atlantic to break the Union blockade of Southern ports.

    With no choice Lincoln was forced to grant diplomatic recognition to the Confederate States and accept British Foreign Secretary Lord Russell's offer of mediation between the two states and the decision would forever ruin Lincoln's reputation as a good President in US history. Ambassador Lyons following this would make the prediction that "in time, the United States and the Confederate States, still having between them a common language and much common history, shall take their full and rightful places in the world, a pair of sturdy brothers,". This however would prove to be very much an overly optimistic view of future Confederate-United States relations as there would be an undercurrent of tensions between the two countries. A tension exploited by the Republican James G. Blaine in his 1880 election campaign as he campaigned on a hardline platform towards the CSA, a stance which now appealed to the American people and combined with the public frustration over Democrat appeasement toward the CSA, were finally voted out of office after nearly twenty years of political domination. To the south, the Empire of Mexico was bankrupt and desperately needed money to pay its creditors and those primarily being bankers in London and Paris.

    The CSA proposed solving Mexico's debt crisis by purchasing the provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua for three million dollars and in return giving the Confederates their own port. In the USA, President Blaine and the other war hawks threatened war if the sale went ahead. In the CSA, President James Longstreet knew that a quick, decisive war along with intervention from England and France was the CSA's only hope for victory as unlike many other Confederates acknowledged that a protracted war with the USA would end only in defeat for the Confederate States. England and France, on the other hand, refused to assist the CSA unless they agreed to endless slavery with Longstreet agreeing to their demands. As well as he felt that slavery would likely inhibit the Confederacy's economy in the 20th century, and pledged that all slaves within the CSA would be manumitted one year after the end of the coming conflict.

    With backing from both countries, Longstreet went ahead with the purchase of the two Mexican provinces and on the 14th of June, 1881 C.S. forces moved into the newly purchased provinces. In response Blaine issued an ultimatum: withdraw all Confederate forces from the Mexican territories within ten days or face war. The CSA refused to do this and when the deadline passed, Blaine asked for and received a declaration of war from Congress. The new war however proved to quickly be a disaster for the United States. The United States Navy which had long been neglected by successive Democrat administrations found itself outnumbered by the French and British and quickly fled into various ports while the CSA allies initiated a blockade and began raiding key cities.

    On land the equally neglected US Army had to make due with outdated artillery and an officer corps overstretched by recent expansion of the army. There were even no plans made to defend the Northern border, which left the British free to conquer half of Maine. Eventually, after defeat on almost all fronts, and no possible prospects of victory the United States gave up. This was seen by the Confederates as a great victory and a sign of their martial prowess, rather than the US having been totally unprepared for war and fighting impossible odds. With the Second Mexican war now over, the United States had suffered two humiliations within one generation which would give birth to Remembrance, a political and cultural movement that was characterized by intense revanchism against the Confederate States, militarism, authoritarian tendencies and a need for the United States to change in order to adapt to an ever changing world.

    Some of these adaptations included a major overhaul of the U.S. Army with it replacing its volunteer force with compulsory military service and was reorganized along Prussian Army lines including General Staff style leadership. During the remainder of President Blaine improvements would be made to the US Navy with its first steel-hulled warships built which helped to stimulate the American steel industry. This naval build up by the mid 1890s saw the US Navy transformed and a force to be reckoned with in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. The US would as well end its policy of avoiding foreign alliances, allying with Germany and later allied with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire as the Quadruple Alliance. The CSA in response would begin its own military build up though it's far smaller industry and population meant it could never match the American arms buildup.

    The CSA would as well formally ally itself with the British and French and later with Russia forming the Quadruple Entente with this alliance as well allying with other countries including the Second Mexican Empire, Japan among others. As a result the next thirty plus years following the Second Mexican War would see the two power blocs have disputes of varying importance and as a result the world become an ever more tense place. Small ones between the USA and CSA and the USA and Canadaover who owned certain small islands in rivers, lakes or bays belong to along with fishing rights disputes. In a time when politics at home and internationally we're not so charged would see these disputes more quickly resolved and far more amicably but instead disputes would drag on for years and further worsening relations in North America. More contentious ones included the CS jacking up their tolls on US shipping on the Mississippi River which the US retaliated by jacking up export tariffs to the CSA on steel, coal, machine tools, industrial chemicals and other goods, seriously hurting CSA industrial growth.

    In response the CSA passed a law allowing them to set export tariffs, and retaliated by putting tariffs on cotton, tobacco, sugar, citrus and other goods. Tensions would further worsen in North America when the National Irrigation Act was proposed in the US Congress. Officially it was meant to give a boost by the Federal government to agriculture in marginal areas but in reality was a plan to divert as much water away from the CSA as possible to hurt their agricultural industry with act passed and signed into law by newly elected President Theodore Roosevelt in early 1913 and seeing relations between the two countries further deteriorate. Foreign events as well contributed to the worsening of relations over the decades such as the Nicguara, Venezuela, Philippines and Moroccan crises which among others could have seen the world plunged into a world war. By the summer of 1913 crises were becoming ever more common and the world seemed to be inching ever more closely to all out war.

    Then on August 1st, 1913 the CSA, France, Britain, Russia among other countries were replaced with their counterparts from 1917 and much had changed for those countries. The long feared war had taken place and the sheer devastation and bloodshed that took place far exceeded the worst expectations with millions having died during what the people from the future called the Great War. As the future soldiers of the Quadruple Alliance wondered what they would now do on this Earth of the past as they enjoyed the extra rations that had arrived with them, the governments of the Quadruple Alliance organized a conference to resolve the situation caused by the event and to help restore normality to the nations of the Quadruple Entente. This of course was just PR speak when in reality the USA and its allies were planning to use it to gain as much territory as possible along with various concessions from their now defeated enemies. In the fall at Versailles, as many nations' delegates and ambassadors would gather there where a new world order would be shaped. The United States would see major gains at the expense of its long time enemy with the CSA ceding the states of Kentucky and Sequoyah.

    As well, the CSA would cede the western portion of Texas, a strip of northeastern Arkansas added to Missouri, northern Virginia to the Rappahannock River, a chunk of Sonora along with the northern part of Tennessee. The CSA would as well be made to pay reparations to cover medical expenses and income that would be lost because of wounds suffered by US soldiers and to ensure veteran funds were well funded. The other major economic concession the CS had to make was the elimination of the toll on US shipping traveling the Mississippi. Massive restrictions were placed on the Confederate military with the Confederate Army reduced to 100,000 soldiers with it being banned from using barrels[1] and aeroplanes.

    The Confederate Navy would be restricted to no more than 15,000 men with strict limits on types of ships it would be allowed to operate and forbidden to operate submarines. Additional expansion in North America for the US would come with Britain ceding its colonies of Newfoundland, the Bahamas and Bermuda. Russia and Mexico would get off far better with both respectively selling to the US the colony of Alaska, Bering Island and Baja California Peninsula. The latter, though occurring due to Mexican troops stationed there, found themselves scattered across Mexico and replaced with American soldiers with a similar thing happening in the portion of Kentucky that had been held by the CSA before the event. Of course the treatment of all these nations by the USA is far better than what happened to Canada which would nearly see the entire country annexed with the exception of Quebec which became independent during the war as the Republic of Quebec.

    Besides gaining global recognition at the Versailles Conference, Quebec would gain Saint Pierre and Miquelon from France which would be greatly trumpeted by its new government despite it just being some very small islands with a very small population. For France while it would of been expected for Germany to take advantage of this situation, the event made France territorial losses likely far more terrible as German troops from the 1917 world found them across much of France Africa and Indian Ocean colonies while Italian troops and civilians from the future showed up in Algeria, Tunisia, Monaco, Djibouti, Corsica and much of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Rhône-Alpes and resulting in their annexation by Italy. Further losses in Europe would include Longwy, Belfort, the Briey Basin and the western slopes of the Vosges being annexed by Germany. In the Pacific a similar situation would play as French Indochina and it's concession territories in China would suddenly occupied by Japanese soldiers from the future while American soldiers from 1917 would be occupying France's Oceania colonies with the de facto control Japan and USA had over these colonies being formally recognized and said colonies as well ceded to them.

    France would as well see its protectorate over Morocco established in 1912 transferred to Germany. Similar to the CSA, massive restrictions were placed upon the French military while the Germans would as well copy the American approach for reparations. Then there was Russia Germany from whom would carve out the new nations of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and finally Finland and ceding districts of Ardahan, Kars and as well as the city of Batumi to the Ottomans. The latter independence only due to suddenly massive amounts of weapons appearing in the hands of Finnish rebels after the event. The United Kingdom lost some of its North American holdings along with the Sandwich Islands along with British Somaliand[2] but the most bitter of them being the independence of Ireland which successfully rebelled during the Great War. Still in comparison to other countries that exited the conference, the United Kingdom still remained a force to be reckoned with. In the Balkans Serbia was annexed by Austria Hungary while Bulgaria was restored territory it was about to lose to Romania, Serbia and Greece in the Second Balkan Wars while gaining Greek Thrace, most of Macedonia and Northern Dobruja offsetting its loss of East Thrace to the Ottomans.

    Romania would as well cede some border territories to Austria-Hungarian though its union with Bessarabia was recognized. Wrapping things up there was Belgium who found itself a protectorate of Germany with German military forces stationed on its soil and Germany purchasing the Congo from them. This of course was massively opposed by the British but exhausted and no match for the combined might of the Americans and Germans they had no choice but to accept. So with terms dictated and signatures put to the Treaty of Versailles, the Versailles Conference was concluded with a massive redrawing of the borders of North America, Europe and Africa with tens of millions of people finding themselves as now the citizens of either existing or new countries while most found themselves as subjects for a different colonial master and so ended one era and began a new one as people adapted to a radically changed world.
    ……………….
    Former Quadruple Alliance and friends


    Once mighty Russia, which had been among the great powers of Europe is a land devastated by the Great War and which continues to be ravaged by civil war as the forces of Tsar Nicolas Nicholas II battle various socialist groups and rebellions by those seeking to take advantage of current weakness of the Russian Empire to gain independence for their people. The civil war is increasingly turning in the favor of the Tsar government thanks in large part to sizable aid from the German Empire, foreign volunteers, and support from the German Air Force with Germany having a growing influence in the country. Of course even if the Tsar emerges victorious there then will be the monumental task of Russian reconstruction that will take years if not longer and during which Russian weakness will continue to be exploited by foreign nations. Such as Japan which invaded and annexed Northern Sakhalin in 1914 with Russia powerless to react beyond some diplomatic protests. The years since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles have not been kind to France as it has gone from one of the major powers of Europe to the sick man of Europe.

    With the massive casualties during the Great War, loss of sizable and economically valuable territory combined with high emigration has subjected France to population decline and economic instability. This malaise has helped fuel the rise of the far right and far left as they find greater success at the ballot box while they regularly fight on the streets with the expectation of the Third Republic to be replaced with a new republic in the next few years by a government of their respective views. Though many people do not believe a Fourth Republic will be able to solve the problems of the nation or restore France to its former glory as nihilism and pessimism has taken hold among a growing portion of the French people who have either bitterly accepted the fate of their country or are making plans to eventually leave their broken nation for a better life elsewhere. Shortly following Versailles revolts began breaking out in Mexico as various dissidents and surviving rebels funded and armed by the United States fought the government in Mexico City for control of the country. Against well funded and armed rebels, the Imperial government progressively lost more and more territory to the various rebel groups while refugees fled north through Confederate territory seeking a better life in the US.

    Seeing the writing on the wall after nearly four years of civil war, Maximilian III and his family along with the elites and supporters of the Imperial governments fled Mexico with the wealth of the nation and leaving the rebels to rebuild a broke and war torn Mexico. With the US having secured a government favorable to its interests, American business men have begun investing in the country taking the place in the Mexican economy formerly occupied by British and Confederate investors. As well, American banks are providing loans to fund the reconstruction of Mexico though such loans carry high interest rates. While the new government promises a bright future for the country, some Mexicans can't help but wonder if they are simply trading one uncaring elite and it's foreign backers for a new set of uncaring elites and foreigners backers. Britain, unlike many of its allies, was not devastated but definitely exhausted by the lost war.

    Losing said war and the economic conditions after said war saw making sizable gains largely at the expense of the Liberals who combined outnumbered the Conservative Party. With the support of the Liberals, the first Labour government would be formed and would decide on a policy in the words of Ramsay MacDonald "To show itself fit to govern." As a result policies such as nationalisation, the 'capital levy' taxation and public works programmes to alleviate unemployment were either played down or ignored altogether in order to not alarm voters already jittery over the civil war in Russia and recent socialist uprisings in the CSA and cause fears the party would dismantle the country and advance the cause of socialism. The one of the earliest accomplishments of the first MacDonald Ministry would be the Representation of the People Act 1914 which extended the franchise in parliamentary elections to men aged over 21, whether or not they owned property, and to women aged over 30 who resided in the constituency or occupied land or premises with a rateable value above £5, or whose husbands did and resulting in a sizeable increase the number of potential voters in future elections and the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1914 would soon be passed as well, allowing for women to be elected to parliament. There was also the Housing Act which would see government subsidies to build public housing homes at affordable rates for low-income families and a much needed source of temporary jobs before a new economic boom fueled by private capital pent-up over three years of war was invested into the economy.

    While the shipbuilding industry was flooded with orders to replace merchant ships destroyed during the war. More minor achievements were the various improvements that were made in benefits for pensioners and the unemployed along with a slight strengthening of worker rights. The funding for the housing subsidies and expansion of benefits would come from a reduction of the British military budget to a size somewhat smaller than what it was before the Great War with the generals, admirals and various opponents of the government of course reacted negatively to this to the reduction of the military size to smaller than what it was before the Great War. The public on the other hand supported this and was not in the mood at the time for massive military spending and especially during a recession and following a lost war. With strong public support and a booming economy would see them take a gamble with a snap election on May 30th of 1915.

    The election would see Labour make gains at the expense of the Conservatives and Liberals though mainly the latter and still reliant on them to pass legislation but showing growing support for Labour. It would be a rather well timed election as near the end of the summer Britain economic boom fizzled out plunging the country into recession once more. The next year would see a rebellion in Northern Ireland which left them in an unenviable position either supporting the rebels or not with both having risks. Feeling an international incident or worse not to be worth it the United Kingdom and so stayed neutral though opening its borders to those fleeing Northern Ireland i.e. Irish Protestants. Much criticism was directed at the government and they took a beating in polling but having recently seen their popularity rise as the British economy is buoyed by a new global economic upswing powered by the United States and Germany.

    In the present the UK while there is to a certain extent a longing for Pax Britannica, times are good. The International situation is largely stable besides countries such as France, China and the CSA though calls for independence in India are on the rise while the Germans and Americans plans to expand their carrier fleets has seen an expansion of the Royal Navy budget in order to construct the new Ark Royal class of aircraft carriers. [3] Japan a rising power before the event has found itself in the present with a sizeable expanded empire as first soldiers and civilians replaced Europeans in French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies while further expansion coming in 1915 as border skirmishes with Chinese troops would see the outbreak of a short Second Sino-Japanese which was a disaster for China as its armies would be smashed by Japanese forces and further destabilizing for China was the sudden death of Yuan Shikai which saw the beginning of the army fragmenting while a growing number of regions broke away from the central government. The failing Republic of China seeing the war loss would sign the humiliating Treaty of Tanggu which saw Japan annex Hainan and a number of coastal territories while China was forced to recognize the independence of Tibet, Inner and Outer Mongolia territories and the puppet regimes Japan established in Manchuria and a demilitarized zone extending 100 km south of the Great Wall from Beijing to Tianjin was to be created, with the Great Wall itself under Japanese control. No regular Chinese military units were to be allowed in the demilitarized zone, but the Japanese were allowed to use reconnaissance aircraft or ground patrols to ensure that the agreement was maintained. Public order within the zone to be maintained by a lightly-armed Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps.

    In the present it is a prosperous time for the Japanese Empire as the resources and agriculture from its various colonies fuels its industrial growth and helps to feed a growing population on the Home Islands while Japanese conglomerates have invested in the recently gained territories and satellite states of Japan. To expand its various colonial holdings has seen an ongoing expansion of the Japanese navy now a respected force by the world[4] and to a lesser extent the army though such sizeable expansion may come to a temporary halt due to the sizable expenditures and pressure it's putting on Japanese finances though Japanese leadership despite all it has gained in the last 30 year still craves further territorial expansion and looks toward divided China for future territorial expansion. The there is the Confederate States of America once of the two major powers of North America is now a humiliated and unstable with a failing economy further crippled by reparations, hyperinflation and the US dams that arrived during the Event that has been an ongoing blow to CSA agriculture while increasingly bloodier streets fights between various political factions further destabilizes the CSA. As well the US zealously collects reparations owed via occupying Confederate ports and Confederate mines in border areas further damaging the Confederate economy. The rights of Confederate Blacks have been further massively restricted as retaliation for the socialist revolts during the Great War and which the Confederates blame for their defeat which ignores that they were slowly losing the war against the US.

    As well Black communities finding themselves terrorized by vigilante groups with hangings, lychings and fire bombing of Black churches and homes setting regularly new horrifying records. All these factors have seen Confederate Blacks fleeing the country in ever greater numbers for the US though very much not welcomed by Americans and as well joined by growing numbers of Confederate Whites and Latinos seeking a better life who are equally unwanted. Recognizing that the CSA will not survive to the end of the decade has seen the state governments of Texas, Cuba, Sonora and Chihuahua secretly negotiate with the US for assistance post independence from the CSA and for assuming some of the CSA reparations and protection from the CSA assuming it will be even capable of offensive against the future secessionists. For the people of the CSA the only certain thing is how uncertain their future will be.

    ………………
    Former Central Powers and friends

    The United States like much of the world would enter recession due to countries with strong economies such as the United Kingdom and France along with smaller economies replaced with their future versions who had been exhausted by the war and or having suffered extensive damage from it. The United States, unlike many countries, would far easier weather it as the federal government funded massive programs of reconstruction of lands it annexed during the war, and construction of a national road system as well is ongoing to better connect America and its various new continental territories while also making troop movements far easier. A policy of settling American families and soldiers from 1917 in order to Americanize them and while there are varying levels of resistance to American settlement and occupation it is simply delaying the inevitable. As change comes to Americas new lands, change has as well come to American politics as the defeat of the CSA and its allies has seen the ever growing recedance of the political ideology of Remembrance and recognizing this fact President Roosevelt has convinced the Democrats to pass a number of social welfare programs in order to take some of the wind of the Socialist Party sails. Funding for these programs initially came from cuts in the US military budget though it remains well funded to deal with various threats foreign and domestic while continuing to invest in the development of weapons and technologies from the future and recently has seen the navy begun to expand in response to a Japanese naval build up.

    The US since the demobilization of first 1917 and then 1913 soldiers resulted in a surplus of labor and further enlarged by the ever growing number of immigrants from the Confederate States of America and and to a lesser extent Mexico and together would see the US embroiled by labor strife and in response helping to boost the Socilaist Party in number of midterms elections though by 1915 the number of strikes would move closer to their historical average. Despite this the Democrats remain the dominant party of the US and recently bolstered by a new economic prosperity that began in early 1916 with President Rooselvelt easily defeating Senator Eugene Debs for a second time. The United States of America now reigns as the dominant power of the Americas with Canada gone and the CSA crippled the US is now looking forward to a new era of prosperity. With the Event and Treaty of Versailles Germany is now the master of Europe and its colonial empire in Africa vastly expanded with the addition of Belgium Congo and most of French Africa. In Eastern Europe investments made back dating back to 1913 are finally starting to bear fruit as what future historians will call the Golden Years.

    In the west Germany would swallow Luxembourg with nearly its entire population replaced by 1917 Prussians and likewise the long troublesome Alsace-Lorraine found most of its population replaced while territories annexed recently from France were undergoing extensive Germanization as Germans from both Earths via a number of various financial incentives would be settled there. For some of these settlers they would be replacing portions of its former populations who had either never returned or departed after being given a choice to leave or become German citizens. Attempts to expand the German population in its greatly expanded African holdings have been largely a failure and a drain on the German treasury. Combined with its various rivals weakened and crippled has seen Germany downsize its army military while the German navy has seen limited expansion besides its submarine force though with the recent economic boom Germany will soon begin building a new class of aircraft carriers following their usefulness having been demonstrated during the Northern Ireland Rebellion in 1920. Further growth of the German navy beyond that though is mired in debate as the recent naval arms race and its sizable cost is still well remembered and for now a major naval expansion is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

    That may change in the coming years as Germany looks forward to a brighter future. In contrast a far from certain future plagues what was Austria-Hungary as following the death of Franz Joseph I his nephew Franz Ferdinand quickly moved for restructuring of the constitution to weaken the autonomy of Hungary and replace the Dual Monarchy with a singular one which naturally did not go over well in Hungary as rebellion quickly spread. The Serbians who had been fighting insurgency for these last few years would also take advantage of this civil war and likewise would rise up while smaller rebellions broke in a number of other regions. The new emperor would move quickly to put down these uprising while Germany would provide support to Ferdinand who would emerge victorious but at an immense cost in lives and economic damage to many parts and so by late summer had restored control over the country though insurgencies still rage in various parts of the country. While Ferdinand has achieved his greater control it has come at the cost of the stability and long term viability of his country and if the emperor is not careful he may risk setting off the powder keg his country is now and German support may not be guaranteed.

    …………………
    [1] Barrels are what people in TL-191 call Tanks.

    [2] Somaliand loss because of Italian troops replacing British troops present there

    [3] A completed USS Remembrance arrived in 1913 which spurred some of the naval powers to convert certain ships into aircraft carriers.

    [4] The 1913 world was informed about the Battle of Three Navies where the Japanese Navy acquitted itself well.
    ……..
    So this has been something I've been working on a while. Add bunch of ASB stuff and to Turtledove TL-191. So some similarities but a lot of differences from how things were post Great War. Didn't include Italy or the Ottomans but might in the future. Also ended up being a lot longer than I planned.
     
    Peace for the moment
  • In August of 1914 years of tension finally gave way to war with an Anglo-French invasion of the German protectorate of Togoland alleging it was in response to attacks by German troops, though what proof was offered of this is now suspected by historians to have been faked. So on the basis of a lie began the devastating Great War which would rage for over four years between the Central Powers and the Allies and bring unprecedented devastation and killing. The Central Powers would see their greatest success against the Russian Empire who despite some victories greatly mismanaged their war effort and so by 1917 with growing uprisings and countless failures Tsar Nicholas II would abdicate in October of that year. Before beginning his Siberian exile he appointed his brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, to become the new Tsar of Russia. Under the new Tsar the various rebellions along with the Bolsheviks would be crushed with their leaders such as Lenin and Stalin sent to gulags in western Siberia.

    While Russia successfully crushed the revolutionaries it was still losing the war against the Central Powers and was eventually forced to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ceding all claims on multiple territories in Eastern Europe and sparking the First Russian Civil War. For Germany and its allies however the morale boost from Russia leaving the war was short lived as Britain and France made steady progress on the Western Front till finally seeing the writing was on the wall and so requested a ceasefire and the war coming to an end in October of 1918. As one of the preconditions to peace talks Germany was forced to abolish its monarchy and became a parliamentary democratic state. In June of 1919 the Treaty of Versailles would be signed and officially end the Great War while establishing new borders and schedules for reparations. The next month would see the establishment of the European Trade Organization which would distribute economic aid and assist various member states to rebuild far quicker than they otherwise would have while also assisting in the negotiations of numerous trade deals.

    Soon to be among its members was Germany, a decision not popular among many in France but begrudgingly accepted German membership in the ETO as otherwise trying to leave Europe's largest economy out would slow down the European recovery from the war. Such aid was critical in helping to stabilize a then unstable Germany and resulted in the beginning of a period of economic prosperity from 1923 to 1929 known as the Glückliche Zwanziger Jahre or The Golden Years. This would hit a bump in the road with the London Stock Exchange crashing and a recession in the United States but economic damage from the latter was partly limited due to President Hoover vowing to veto Smoot-Hawley Tariff on October 28th. This combined with William C. Durant, members of the Rockefeller family and other financial giants buying large quantities of stocks to demonstrate to the public their confidence in the market the next day resulted by the end of that trading day later known as Green Tuesday, with the Dow Jones recovering a large part of its losses. For Germany the avoidance of a far deeper recession and an increase in government spending with the most notable example of this being the beginning of the Autobahn saw a limit on the gains of radical political parties such as the KPD and NSDAP and the formation of a new Grand Coalition government that oversaw a steady German economic recovery.

    German relations with its fellow European countries would deepen in the early 30s with the establishment of the United European Defence (UED) , an European intergovernmental military alliance and a security component of the ETO. This came as a result of growing concerns that Russia, which had totally isolated itself since 1921 and was building up its strength to reclaim lost territory and make new conquests. Such was the paranoia that the Treaty of Versailles provision limiting the size and armaments of the German military was revised allowing for a larger and more powerful German armed forces and which gave a temporary but sizable boost to the popularity of the government of the time. By 1938 there was a growing desire for info on what was going on in Russia and so in June of that year German Federal Intelligence agents were sent into Russia. The agents snuck through an undefended and crumbling portion of Russia's Red Wall and to their amazement they discovered ghost towns and abandoned villages near the border.

    This led to the belief that the Russians were experimenting with either biological or chemical weapons of course which was incorrect though they would never learn the truth as on May 1st 1939 Germany along with eight of its allies found themselves transported to another world. Germany, Finland, Romania and the Baltic countries would quickly figure something had happened with the latter countries who have borders with Russia now having a giant energy wall blocking travel across the border while the Red Wall was now gone. While for Germany it was the sudden appearance of bases, ships, aircraft, vehicles and German soldiers that are part of an alternate German military known as the Wehrmacht. As well for the newly arrived Germany they gained a portion of the now gone German industry for steel along with for manufacturing of weapons and partially built ships along with blueprints and various information related to them along with the gold and foreign currency reserves of the Reichbank of the now gone Germany. Though by far the greatest inheritance from the gone Germany was the annexed Austria and Sudentland along with the rump Czech protectorate.

    For the Czechs, the Event would have seen their sovereignty restored in the sense that German troops would have departed Weimar Germany would not have continued the occupation. Unfortunately for them the Event would see nearly the entire non-German population of the protectorate swapped with Germans from NSDAP Germany ending any hope of an independent Czech state and with Germany annexing the protectorate in June leaving the remaining Czechs and other minorities with the choice of either staying and accepting the new status quo or emigrating. Of course it was not all positives for Germany as the weaker global economy and the far higher tariffs in numerous countries quickly had a negative impact on German exports in Europe and elsewhere while the economies of its allies from other Europe would be likewise affected by this new economic reality. A short but painful recession would afflict the ETO countries though economic growth would resume in the last three months of the year on the back of increased miltary spending, the establishment of new German military bases in most UED members and in the specific case of Germany the main factors being an in increase in arms and steel exports and the expansion of the Autobahn into Austria and Czechia and while German unemployment was still slightly above 9 percent at the end of the year but on a clear downward trajectory. As the economic recovery takes hold, life is good and improving and while the far right is expected to make gains in the 1940 election, there expected to be minimal outside of Czechia.

    For the German military it is a transformative time as the Reichswehr absorbs a good chunk of the Wehrmacht with officers viewed as too closely aligned with the NSDAP government discharged and also being used as an opportunity to rid itself of deadwood and promote talented officers. The Reichsmarine has found its size greatly increased and a boost to its funding to fund the replacement of a number of aging ships and some additional warships of the Baltic while the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte is actively expanding the number of its fighter planes and bombers while finally the Reichsheer now numbers 900,000 men and rapidly mechanizing while experimenting with the blitzkrieg theories of the former Heer. For Poland where once there was a fear of war over Danzig with Hitler Germany, they are now finding themselves buying Germans arms and receiving growing investments and loans from ETO countries especially which is especially important for the Central Industrial District which had formerly been lacking the funds to be fully operational along with funding for sorely lacking infrastructure while the Polish government debates the pros and cons of joining the UED though there is not a great sense of urgency with the energy wall that separates it from the USSR. Speaking of the USSR it's reaction to the UED being very negative to say the least with it beginning the biggest military build up in its history as Soviet spies are dispatched to gain as much possible information about the UED countries while continually adjusting the rapidly created war plans for a future war with the UED. In the British government there is relief with the replacement of Hitler Germany with a rational one and with the Czechs mostly replaced with Germans and while unfortunate for the Czechs overall it is a new status quo they have accepted.

    The French approve of a bulwark against the Soviets but are far less pleased with it being led by Germany and there is tension due to the new Germans refusing to make any reparation payments and so sanctions are placed upon Germany but they are rather weak to avoid any economic blowback on France and it was mainly implemented so as to be held up by the current government that they were standing up to the new Germans. Across the Atlantic in the USA, FDR has announced that he will not run for a third term, throwing open the race among the Democrats for who will be their candidate in November. FDR having seen the US economy stabilized during his presidency and the implementation of the New Deal policies along with the recent growth of American exports to Europe almost entirely due to the ETO has him feeling confident that historians will look positively upon his presidency. Of course with unemployment currently hovering around 17 percent and likely to remain high for the next few years, the recent 1937 recession along with various controversies surrounding the New Deal and other policies he pushed, the positivity might not be as extensive as he hopes. For most of Europe these are generally good times if your not say living in Albania or Spain and for now peace holds in Eastern Europe though that is in largely due to the Soviets and the UED unable to march their armies across the borders but for how long that lasts along with the current European peace is uncertain.
    ………
    The isoted Germany and it's allies are from the Resistance series and a bit AU from that timeline
     
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