How the United States of American Finally Collapsed
The final collapse of the United States of America in 2004 was the death knell of Capitalism, as forecasted by Marx, Lenin, and Gorbachov. The problems of America were many: those that owned the means of production where too rich, and used their wealth to control the government to pass laws that directly affected the workers. Unions were stripped of their power, the "welfare net" was destroyed, and jobs were shipped overseas to countries that didn't care to provide satisfactory wages or even safe working environments. The greed and fear of the wealthy lead to the collapse of the system, as the rich head ate the poor legs that sustained it, the arms that defended it, and attacked their own heart, the belief in their ideas of democracy, until soon nothing was left.
The President Ronald Reagan, an actor and lunatic who sought to destroy the few small socialist ideals of the US, such as their Social Security and the unions, was the first to face the wrath of the people, being killed by Hero of the People John Hinckley Jr., who was then gunned down by the bodyguards of the corrupt tyrant. The Vice President, Herbert Walker Bush, tried to continue the policies of his predecessor, but was defeated in the election of 1984.
The next few Presidents were ineffectual: George McGovern, Walter Mondale, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., and the Christian "Televangelist" Pat Robertson lead the nation deeper and deeper to ruin, the failing of the old American system. Elections that prized speeches and personality to policies and ideas lead to a worsening government. The Congress couldn't agree on anything. The success of the Persian Gulf War, which the USSR and other nations helped participate to overthrow the dictator Saddam Hussien (and later led to the General being elected as a "war hero," though his army didn't even enter Iraqi territory until Soviet troops were already besieging Baghdad) was a short lived victory, as the economy stagnated, and the "voodoo economics" of tax cuts to the wealthy to trickle down to the poor continued to fail, but the insanity of the system led to the government of the rich, with no care for the poor and downtrodden workers, continue to cut taxes for the richest.
The Revolution began in the American province of Michigan in June 1999, as a strike by workers at the auto factory owned by the Ford family turned violent, and the National Guard that was sent suppress the fighting was fired upon by angry workers, who, due to the idiocy of their Constitution, was allowed to keep powerful weapons that could be used against the state, and soon a full scale battle broke out. Other cities, like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta also faced the brunt of riots and fighting. President Robertson, blinded by his devotion to the Christian Bible, sought to destroy the workers, and so sent in the army, a violation of "American ideals" now ignored. But the workers would not be suppressed easily. The American people, shocked at what was happening, were divided between themselves on supporting a corrupt, inefficient government or aiding the poor workers and laborers, and more and more people began to support the oppressed.
The fighting was brutal, and long. The United Nations, the one place that symbolized peace in the world, had to flee New York City as the jewel of the oppressors, Manhattan, was set to the fire. Soldiers, shocked at the conditions of the poor, and furious of their government, began to defect to the workers. The Liberals who sought to aid the poor also joined the movement, the blinding ideology of American Exceptionalism torn from their eyes, aided the Revolution. But the rich, the powerful, the ideologically blinded, the easily swayed, remained on the side of the Tyranny of Pat Robertson, who used the war to declare himself President without an election.
The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, seeing the plight of the downtrodden, sought to aid them by declaring war on the US, and landing troops and supplies and weapons to the resistance. NATO sought to respond, but without the Americans to prop them up, they were quickly defeated in battle in Germany and Italy. The US Navy, rocked by the same revolution as the American people, was unable to withstand the Soviet Navy, and they retreated, with the President and his lackeys, to the American province of Hawaii, where they remain to this day.
The fighting was long and brutal as brother fought brother, son fought son, entire families were torn apart. But by 2004, the reactionary forces of the corrupt, decadent US finally surrendered. The rich capitalists tried to flee to Canada and Mexico, but both nations, propped up by American power for so long, also faced revolution, and many were killed or retreated further, to Australia and South Africa.
The Revolution in 2004 saw the end of the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. In it's place, many nations arose. The People's Republic of Cascadia, the Union of American Socialist States in the former "Midwest" and Central Canada, the People's Republic of the South, the People's Republic of Texas, the Sovereign Socialist States of New England, the People's Republic of Quebec, and the People's Socialist State of Mexico. While wars have raged in North America ever since the failure of the USA over things like borders and resources, all the nations have agreed to hand over their nuclear stockpiles to the USSR and China for destruction, so that nuclear war will not break out. Europe was able to keep their positions as social democratic nations, but without the US, their capitalist systems will soon crumble, and they too will join the new World League of Socialist States, the successor to the failed United Nations.
NOTES: This will be a new series I will try, mostly with scenarios that I want to explore, but don't want to go into super long details of how they would go. I tried for weeks to write this article, but I just couldn't think of a good enough POD, and then how the changes would occur afterwards. So, I decided to not focus on that, and instead write a POV of the fall of America.
There are most likely a lot of problems with this scenario, but I didn't have the time to cover everything. That's what a TL on the AltHistory Wikia is for, after all. But, I know I didn't talk about Culture, Africa, the Middle East, or really explained why the US finally went for a communist revolution besides a few details. And, tbh, I feel it works best that way. This is what a through-fully indoctrinated Communist American would write about how their nation had fallen, as history is shaped by the victors to glorify the successes and increase hatred of the defeated capitalists.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy! GLORY TO THE UNION OF AMERICAN SOCIALIST STATES!
But what do you think? How do you think the United States would fall to the Red Menace? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Friday, January 22, 2016
Flag Friday: Assiniboia in French Trafalgar, British Waterloo
And for today, since this is, according to many an Alternate Historian, Flag Friday, I want to talk about some of the unique flags I made over the years for the countries in FTBW, and the brief histories I made for them. I'm not going to go into a huge amount of detail, and if you want to know more, follow the articles that I link. Going to do one a week though, so I don't overload you guys!
This is one of my favourite creations I've ever made in anything. Assiniboia is a country in North America, covering most of what is now Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the western half of Ontario. It was founded by Native groups, namely the half native/half European Metis, lead by Louis Riel, with the help of the US in the 1870s, taking over the vast Rupert's Land of the Hudson's Bay Company to make their own nation. This was to prevent Canada from stretching from sea to sea (in this TL, not only had the US been divided in two by an ATL American Civil War, but it was prevented from expanding to the west because of the British who took over half of the Louisiana Purchase in a failed War of 1812). It becomes a mixture of European settler colonies, Native and Metis confederacy, British Westminster and American Republic in government. It's biggest industry for decades was agriculture, and increasingly resource extraction and transport, the capital Winnipeg becoming a huge railroad transport centre, connecting Canada, Alyseka and the US together.
Assiniboia is a long time ally of the US, and later of the Russian colony turned republic of Alyseka, the so called "Triple A Alliance," and sided with the US in numerous wars, including the Second and Third Global Wars (ATL's First and Second World Wars), and though a small, thinly populated country, Assiniboian soldiers were identified as some of the bravest and strongest in North America. In the 1930s, as the Great Depression roared through the world, the Assiniboian government took a gamble and invited movie studios north. While it didn't solve the crisis, the combination of low taxes, cheep labor, and vast open spaces quickly made Assiniboia the premier entertainment center in the world, with over 75% of English language films in the world being made by studios headquartered in Winnipeg, Brandon, Wascana (OTL Regina) and Calgary. President Tommy Douglas lead the nation through the horrors of the Third Global War, and for years modernized the country, bringing in universal healthcare and other welfare programs, while re-orienting Assiniboia to being an independent voice in the world stage: Allied with the US, but able to work with around the world. The US relied on Assiniboian diplomats and services so much that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was often called the "US Department of State, Northern Branch."
Today Assiniboia is a wealthy, social-democratic nations member of the Organization of Sovereign Nations (ATL UN) and the Juneau Pact (anti French and Japanese Democratic alliance headed by the US and Russia), with a strong cultural and economic influence on the world, especially when the oil sands was discovered in the Athabaska region. While only having a bit less than 13 million people in the last election, Assiniboia is recognized as one of the richest and most influential "middle powers" in the world.
As for the flag: the Green background represents the vast land, agriculture, and prosperity, while the white infinity symbol has several meanings: the belief that the Metis people, and Assiniboia, will go on forever, as well as the two circles being joined represents the unification of two peoples, Europeans (especially the French and English) with the First Nations that lived in North American before hand, in peace and harmony. Mostly. Blue and Red versions of the flag are in existence, with red Metis that served with the Hudson's Bay Company as traders and trappers, with the red standing for those that served with the rival North West Territory.
But what do you think? Is Assiniboia basically my version of a "fan wank?" Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
AltHistory Scenario #17: What if the Transcontinental Railroad was Never Built?
Time for another big alternate history. And this time, let's talk about trains. Generally, American trains. Specifically, the first transcontinental railroad, the Union Pacific/Central Pacific.
Point of Divergence
President Abraham Lincoln signs a modified version of the Pacific Railroad Act, without granting any land to the Union Pacific Railroad or the Central Pacific Railroad, but granting larger bonds in turn. It was decided that the federal government, in the middle of the very expensive Civil War, shouldn't give away possibly valuable land that some day might be needed to pay off debts. Other parts of the bill as passed OTL, such as the ambiguous corporate setup, the right of way to build maintenance facilities, sidings and stations, and other assorted provisions.
Consequences
Problems began almost immediately. The cost of the railroad, estimated at an astounding $100,000,000 in 1861, began to grow out of control when construction began in 1864, as corruption and kickbacks, as well as lobbying the federal and state governments from money the federal government gave the companies. In 1867, Congressman Oakes Ames began to give stocks of the the Crédit Mobilier company formed to help construct the railway, but the railroads were desperate for cash, and wanted to push the federal government to pass the delayed Homestead Act to both give land to the railroad and to lower the price of Federal held land to settlers who were starting to flock west.
Scandal broke out in 1868 when a New York newspaper revealed the details. Republican candidate and general Ulysses S. Grant, while not connected to the scandal itself, was severely damaged when many of his close compatriots, including his running mate Schuyler Colfax and several high ranking Republicans in Congress were caught up in the net. While Grant still won the election, largely due to the new Republican Party in the Southern states readmitted to the Union, the Democrats managed to secure the House of Representatives, making it difficult for Grant to get his goals put into action, including finishing the transcontinental railroad.
A House investigation into the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads, along with Crédit Mobilier began in 1869, but by this time the Railroads were out of money, but with over a thousand miles of railway still to build. Eventually the full extent of the scandal, the number of congressmen caught up in it, and the huge damage to the Republican Party, not to mention the government and the railroad, made it political suicide to support the transcontinental railroad, despite the fact that everyone in the US still wanted one. But with the price now close to $175 million dollars, it was too expensive, and the American people were opposed to building, as one newspaper called it, a "metal string, too expensively built, not even connected, that would be easily severed by Indians, Confederate revenge seekers, Mormons, or all matter of ruffian."
The Railroad De-Investment Act of 1870 was passed by Congress, and reluctantly signed by President Grant. All federal bonds to the railroad were withdrawn, and both railroads were to be left to their own devices. Union Pacific quickly collapsed, and was broken up into smaller, regional railroads. The Central Pacific was still solvent, as it wasn't as affected by the scandals, but it didn't have the capital or resources to finish building eastward. The dream of a transcontinental railroad was dead for now.
Many smaller railroads, usually serving just a local area, state, or between two larger cities, began to be built instead. But though the original Pacific Railroad Act suggested that the railroad be constructed in the standard gauge (4 feet, 9 inches), many of these smaller railroads had a huge variation in gauges, meaning that to travel between Chicago (which is just a small city on the shores of Lake Michigan, though a major centre for the transfer of trains) to New York took a week, stopping in many other towns to switch trains that may have been delayed. Eventually there would be railroads that would stretch from east to west, but the train lines were not unified, the costs to travel and ship freight by many smaller companies were high from New York to San Francisco was ridiculously high, and there was almost no market of farmers needing machinery or supplies in the Midwest. In fact, it wasn't until the recently formed Dominion of Canada built the Trans-Canadian Railway in 1890 did the idea of a transcontinental railroad was brought up in the US again, but the memories of the scandals with the Union Pacific (and the stories of the kickbacks and bribes from the TCR in the US, and the barely profitable nature of the northern line) put that idea to rest. The failure and breakup of the TCR in 1898 seemed to prove the point in the States as well.
The US economy, while it grew, didn't grow at the exponential rate in OTL. Factories in the east had a hard time getting resources from the west, which stunted the growth of larger companies. Many factories were built in the west due to the easier access of raw materials, but it was too expensive to ship them east, either by train or by boat. By 1900, the US economy was one of the largest in the world, but it was just tied with a unified Germany, not leaps and bounds ahead. Labor policies were also different, and unions were able to work more closely with smaller, more regional corporations. The demands for better job safety and wages were, for the most part, met by the companies. The Panic of 1897, and the failure of businesses and banks threw tens of thousands out of work, lead to the state and federal governments to pass some social welfare laws to aid the people, but it would be a long time before the modern welfare system as we recognize it would be established. Only a very few companies, mainly retailers and some manufacturers like John Deere and a much smaller US Steel, were truly "national."
World War One began to change the US railway system, but it was a slow change. When the US entered the war, with Germany launching an unrestricted submarine warfare, the railway system was thrown into chaos, and unable to ship supplies, men and material easily between coasts. Congress passed the Military Railway Act of 1918, giving the US Department of War full control over the entire railway system. This helped somewhat, but the smaller engines used on more local lines, the lack of maintenance on those lines that were busy but unable to properly maintain engines and lines, and the difference in gauges hampered the war effort.
With Allied victory in late 1919 as American troops finally arrived in sufficient numbers to prevent France from falling after the 1918 German offensives, the US began to realize the huge mess that was the railway system. A committee established by the War Department, Congress, representatives of some businesses and the railways began to look into the railway system, and in 1921 came out with the landmark Wilson Report, named after the leading academic of the US, and failed Democratic candidate for President Woodrow Wilson from Princeton. In the report, it advocated for a nationalization of the railways, or at the very least the establishment of ten distinct companies overseen by the government, including three transcontinental lines and seven more "regional" carriers. A standardization of gauges, namely to the Standard gauge was also recommended, and a management of prices. The Great Depression in 1928 put a halt to this effort, though several states in the West and South had agreed to work together to buy and build up some regional lines similar to the Wilson Report.
It wasn't until 1941, with the US in the middle of the Second World War that broke out in Europe in 1938 when Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and dragged the US in when Japan attacked Hawaii in late 1940, was the Wilson Report finally enacted upon. The US government bought up the railways suggested in the report, though many had been consolidated in the 1930s during the Great Depression, and set up the Department of Railways to manage them. The modernization and nationalization of the railroads was a huge boon, and it allowed the US to gear up for war more quickly than in the First World War.
After victory in World War Two was achieved in the bloody invasion of Japan, the Department of Railways began to reorganize the railways, starting with the huge, week long "Gauge Day," when tens of thousands of miles of non-standardized gauge lines had one rail torn up, moved to be 4 feet, nine inches from the other rail, and spiked back down, turning all the major lines of the US into Standard gauge. The Department of Railways went further, forming four transcontinental lines, ten regional railways, and a huge modernization of engines, rolling stock and facilities, all under the overarching name of the Federal Railway System (FRS).
The late 1940s and 1950s was the heyday of the American Railway system, but almost as soon as it started, it ended. The Interstate Highway Act of 1957, promoted by President and former General Douglas McArthur as a national highway system built and maintained by the federal government, began construction. Air travel, which was mostly dominated by the federal US Air for it's early years, began to take over the transport system. While goods and materials were shipped by railway, people preferred to take the faster airplanes or go by car. By 1984, the Department of Transport (the manager of the FRS, US Air, and the Interstate Highways) was forced to scrap almost all the passenger lines, tear up old train lines, and try to adapt to new realities. But with funding from the government, the first "Eagle," a 200 mph electric locomotive was tested, and experiments to make fast, efficient and clean inter-city passenger routes proved to be a success. Expansion north to Canada and south to Mexico allowed the FRS to compete with the airlines, maybe not in terms of speed, but in comfort and reliability, to travel throughout North America.
In the 21st century, with several popular "Flying Eagles" soaring between America's great cities from coast to coast, it's hard to imagine that 140 years before, even as late as 1930, that the great American rail system that rivaled the interconnected European Union and Japan was a collection of small, barely profitable and competing railways. While the US government has cut back their social welfare system in the years since due to the high cost and bloated government, and corporations are growing larger and larger through mergers and acquisitions, all sides of the political spectrum have agreed to let the Federal Railway System continue to expand and innovate, connecting the USA together.
Plausibility
I have to give this scenario somewhere like a 3.5 on a ten point scale, with 1 being virtually implausible, and 10 being very plausible. I don't know how the US could have grown to be the super power it is today without transcontinental railways. The size and expanse of the country alone would make it nearly impossible to not have some form of interconnected railways system after the Civil War, but eventually the need for it would decline, especially passenger transport as airplanes and cars would take over. But, as countries like Japan and those like the Eurostar between the UK, France and Belgium have shown, if you provide a high speed train service between major centres, then there will be people, especially those looking for a deal, to buy those tickets instead of going on an airplane.
And really, who doesn't enjoy a train trip?
Notes
When I wrote this article I based it on he development of the British railway system: a lot of competing independent companies, different gauges, and eventually nationalization of all the major railways into one system.
I also didn't mention the Panama Canal in this article, as I didn't see the US having the resources, money, people or machinery, to build one, but still possessing the power to keep European nations from building one, Monroe Doctrine and all. If the Panama Canal is not built, then the American railways are still very important right up until the present for shipping goods from coast to coast. If the Panama Canal was built, then the all those smaller railways would have gone belly up in the next couple of decades.
But what do you think? What if there wasn't a big transcontinental railroad? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.
Choo choo! All aboard the Alternate History Express! |
President Abraham Lincoln signs a modified version of the Pacific Railroad Act, without granting any land to the Union Pacific Railroad or the Central Pacific Railroad, but granting larger bonds in turn. It was decided that the federal government, in the middle of the very expensive Civil War, shouldn't give away possibly valuable land that some day might be needed to pay off debts. Other parts of the bill as passed OTL, such as the ambiguous corporate setup, the right of way to build maintenance facilities, sidings and stations, and other assorted provisions.
Consequences
Problems began almost immediately. The cost of the railroad, estimated at an astounding $100,000,000 in 1861, began to grow out of control when construction began in 1864, as corruption and kickbacks, as well as lobbying the federal and state governments from money the federal government gave the companies. In 1867, Congressman Oakes Ames began to give stocks of the the Crédit Mobilier company formed to help construct the railway, but the railroads were desperate for cash, and wanted to push the federal government to pass the delayed Homestead Act to both give land to the railroad and to lower the price of Federal held land to settlers who were starting to flock west.
Scandal broke out in 1868 when a New York newspaper revealed the details. Republican candidate and general Ulysses S. Grant, while not connected to the scandal itself, was severely damaged when many of his close compatriots, including his running mate Schuyler Colfax and several high ranking Republicans in Congress were caught up in the net. While Grant still won the election, largely due to the new Republican Party in the Southern states readmitted to the Union, the Democrats managed to secure the House of Representatives, making it difficult for Grant to get his goals put into action, including finishing the transcontinental railroad.
A House investigation into the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads, along with Crédit Mobilier began in 1869, but by this time the Railroads were out of money, but with over a thousand miles of railway still to build. Eventually the full extent of the scandal, the number of congressmen caught up in it, and the huge damage to the Republican Party, not to mention the government and the railroad, made it political suicide to support the transcontinental railroad, despite the fact that everyone in the US still wanted one. But with the price now close to $175 million dollars, it was too expensive, and the American people were opposed to building, as one newspaper called it, a "metal string, too expensively built, not even connected, that would be easily severed by Indians, Confederate revenge seekers, Mormons, or all matter of ruffian."
The Railroad De-Investment Act of 1870 was passed by Congress, and reluctantly signed by President Grant. All federal bonds to the railroad were withdrawn, and both railroads were to be left to their own devices. Union Pacific quickly collapsed, and was broken up into smaller, regional railroads. The Central Pacific was still solvent, as it wasn't as affected by the scandals, but it didn't have the capital or resources to finish building eastward. The dream of a transcontinental railroad was dead for now.
Sorry guys... you just built several thousand miles of tracks for no reason. |
The US economy, while it grew, didn't grow at the exponential rate in OTL. Factories in the east had a hard time getting resources from the west, which stunted the growth of larger companies. Many factories were built in the west due to the easier access of raw materials, but it was too expensive to ship them east, either by train or by boat. By 1900, the US economy was one of the largest in the world, but it was just tied with a unified Germany, not leaps and bounds ahead. Labor policies were also different, and unions were able to work more closely with smaller, more regional corporations. The demands for better job safety and wages were, for the most part, met by the companies. The Panic of 1897, and the failure of businesses and banks threw tens of thousands out of work, lead to the state and federal governments to pass some social welfare laws to aid the people, but it would be a long time before the modern welfare system as we recognize it would be established. Only a very few companies, mainly retailers and some manufacturers like John Deere and a much smaller US Steel, were truly "national."
World War One began to change the US railway system, but it was a slow change. When the US entered the war, with Germany launching an unrestricted submarine warfare, the railway system was thrown into chaos, and unable to ship supplies, men and material easily between coasts. Congress passed the Military Railway Act of 1918, giving the US Department of War full control over the entire railway system. This helped somewhat, but the smaller engines used on more local lines, the lack of maintenance on those lines that were busy but unable to properly maintain engines and lines, and the difference in gauges hampered the war effort.
Troops and trains kind of go together like peanut butter and jelly. Just with more bayonets. |
With Allied victory in late 1919 as American troops finally arrived in sufficient numbers to prevent France from falling after the 1918 German offensives, the US began to realize the huge mess that was the railway system. A committee established by the War Department, Congress, representatives of some businesses and the railways began to look into the railway system, and in 1921 came out with the landmark Wilson Report, named after the leading academic of the US, and failed Democratic candidate for President Woodrow Wilson from Princeton. In the report, it advocated for a nationalization of the railways, or at the very least the establishment of ten distinct companies overseen by the government, including three transcontinental lines and seven more "regional" carriers. A standardization of gauges, namely to the Standard gauge was also recommended, and a management of prices. The Great Depression in 1928 put a halt to this effort, though several states in the West and South had agreed to work together to buy and build up some regional lines similar to the Wilson Report.
It wasn't until 1941, with the US in the middle of the Second World War that broke out in Europe in 1938 when Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and dragged the US in when Japan attacked Hawaii in late 1940, was the Wilson Report finally enacted upon. The US government bought up the railways suggested in the report, though many had been consolidated in the 1930s during the Great Depression, and set up the Department of Railways to manage them. The modernization and nationalization of the railroads was a huge boon, and it allowed the US to gear up for war more quickly than in the First World War.
After victory in World War Two was achieved in the bloody invasion of Japan, the Department of Railways began to reorganize the railways, starting with the huge, week long "Gauge Day," when tens of thousands of miles of non-standardized gauge lines had one rail torn up, moved to be 4 feet, nine inches from the other rail, and spiked back down, turning all the major lines of the US into Standard gauge. The Department of Railways went further, forming four transcontinental lines, ten regional railways, and a huge modernization of engines, rolling stock and facilities, all under the overarching name of the Federal Railway System (FRS).
The late 1940s and 1950s was the heyday of the American Railway system, but almost as soon as it started, it ended. The Interstate Highway Act of 1957, promoted by President and former General Douglas McArthur as a national highway system built and maintained by the federal government, began construction. Air travel, which was mostly dominated by the federal US Air for it's early years, began to take over the transport system. While goods and materials were shipped by railway, people preferred to take the faster airplanes or go by car. By 1984, the Department of Transport (the manager of the FRS, US Air, and the Interstate Highways) was forced to scrap almost all the passenger lines, tear up old train lines, and try to adapt to new realities. But with funding from the government, the first "Eagle," a 200 mph electric locomotive was tested, and experiments to make fast, efficient and clean inter-city passenger routes proved to be a success. Expansion north to Canada and south to Mexico allowed the FRS to compete with the airlines, maybe not in terms of speed, but in comfort and reliability, to travel throughout North America.
ZOOOOOOOM!!!! |
In the 21st century, with several popular "Flying Eagles" soaring between America's great cities from coast to coast, it's hard to imagine that 140 years before, even as late as 1930, that the great American rail system that rivaled the interconnected European Union and Japan was a collection of small, barely profitable and competing railways. While the US government has cut back their social welfare system in the years since due to the high cost and bloated government, and corporations are growing larger and larger through mergers and acquisitions, all sides of the political spectrum have agreed to let the Federal Railway System continue to expand and innovate, connecting the USA together.
Plausibility
I have to give this scenario somewhere like a 3.5 on a ten point scale, with 1 being virtually implausible, and 10 being very plausible. I don't know how the US could have grown to be the super power it is today without transcontinental railways. The size and expanse of the country alone would make it nearly impossible to not have some form of interconnected railways system after the Civil War, but eventually the need for it would decline, especially passenger transport as airplanes and cars would take over. But, as countries like Japan and those like the Eurostar between the UK, France and Belgium have shown, if you provide a high speed train service between major centres, then there will be people, especially those looking for a deal, to buy those tickets instead of going on an airplane.
And really, who doesn't enjoy a train trip?
Notes
When I wrote this article I based it on he development of the British railway system: a lot of competing independent companies, different gauges, and eventually nationalization of all the major railways into one system.
I also didn't mention the Panama Canal in this article, as I didn't see the US having the resources, money, people or machinery, to build one, but still possessing the power to keep European nations from building one, Monroe Doctrine and all. If the Panama Canal is not built, then the American railways are still very important right up until the present for shipping goods from coast to coast. If the Panama Canal was built, then the all those smaller railways would have gone belly up in the next couple of decades.
But what do you think? What if there wasn't a big transcontinental railroad? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
AltHistory Scenario #16: What if Napoleon Invaded England?
Years ago, when I was still in High School and just getting into alternate history, I began working on a Napoleonic era timeline, French Trafalgar, British Waterloo on the Alternate History Wikia. I haven't done a lot of work on it recently, but there are a couple hundred articles, and it's been recognized as a featured AH, and some of the articles have received the Sterling Awards in different categories. But I digress. Please go read it.
But I haven't really done an article for this blog on the subject, so might as well fix that!
So, what if Napoleon invaded England in 1805?
The Point of Divergence would be in 1805, which the combined French and Spanish fleet successfully drawing the Royal Navy away from the English Channel, with both the fleet in Toulon and the one in Brest managing to break out in March, and lead the Royal Navy on a wild goose chase to the West Indies. The French fleet managed to give the Royal Navy the slip, and returned to Europe by early July. Napoleon, impatient for the arrival of the fleet, is overjoyed when his navy returned, and immediately ordered the invasion of
southern England to commence with his well trained, well equipped Armée d'Angleterre crossing the channel in barges, despite their inability to deal with large waves or choppy water, but neither was a factor when the army crossed.
When the Army arrived, as individual corps in multiple locations along the coast, the British were both surprised, but prepared. Years of preparation had built defences at likely landing places, and over 480,000 men had volunteered for the army by 1804 to defend their nation, many more than could be properly armed and trained. The militia and the Regular Force provided tens of thousands more troops, but the Regular Force was very small, the militia was for local use and also not very well trained or equipped. But the 200,000 men of Napoleon's army, while less than 2/5ths the size of the British troops that would face them, had the advantage of better training, competent officers, and Napoleon himself, the unequivocal master of early 19th century warfare. Martello towers built by the British were insufficient to halt the fast moving French forces or the landings, and in many cases surrendered without firing a shot.
Napoleon himself landed near Hastings, where William the Conqueror had won his great victory in 1066, and was faced by a British force, lead by King George III of England himself. While the King was sick, and most likely completely crazy at this point, he refused to allow himself to be overthrown while he sat idly by. However, the old King, and generals who had yet to face Napoleon in Battle, were comprehensively defeated in the Second Battle of Hastings on July 27, 1805. In the next two week's, the Army of England destroyed all opposition, and in a brilliant flanking maneuver, surrounded the British Army, with few near Maidstone, and forced the commander, Prince Fredrick, Duke of York, to surrender.
King George III, Prime Minister William Pitt and the gold of the Bank of England were all rushed to the Midlands as per the pre-arranged plan, but confusion meant that some generals and officers, as well as some of the wagons of gold, were unable to get north in time, and were captured by the French. London was occupied on August 15, and Napoleon grandly installed himself in the Tower of London. The French were ecstatic at the success, while the British were sent reeling in shock at the quick actions of Napoleon.
However, the victories came at a cost. The stout English defense, even with ill trained troops and later accented by guerilla warfare, cost Napoleon over 40,000 soldiers from deaths and injuries, and the British army was starting to regroup in the north around Coventry. Even with Napoleon installed in London, Prime Minister Pitt and the King refused to surrender, though many of the MPs of the House of Commons and the House of Lords were starting to feel it was a lost cause. Napoleon took the field again in late August, and inflicted more defeats on British army. But more and more, the victories were becoming costly, and the PM and the King continued to stay one step ahead of Napoleon, rallying the nation to steel themselves for a long war.
But in late August, just as Napoleon was winning his victory Coventry, the Royal Navy that had been tricked to sailing to the West Indies returned, and hearing the news, quickly swept up the channel, destroying the ships and barges that were supplying the French. A massive battle just under the Cliffs of Dover, lead by Admiral's Horatio Nelson and Collingwood destroyed the French Fleet. Though Nelson was killed when a sharpshooter felled him, the Navy was victorious, and the Battle of Dover would go down in British Legend as the navy's greatest victory, and Nelson Britain's greatest hero.
The news of the naval battle at first didn't concern Napoleon, as his army was used to living off the land, so he could supply his troops by pillaging and raiding. But when reports of Austrian, Prussian, and Russian armies preparing to march on the French Empire, he realized that things were going to go very wrong, very quickly. He planned a new battle for September, to try to smash the remainder of the English so he can force their surrender and return to Europe. He knew they were now encamped near the city of Sheffield. His exhausted troops made the march in three days, much to the surprise of the English who were still preparing, and expecting a second army coming from Wales to reinforce them. The Battle of Sheffield on September 5, 1805, was a back and forth battle for most of the day. The French were desperate to capture the King and end the war, while the British were hardened, seeking not only to defeat the invader of their homeland, but to destroy the French once and for all.
Late in the evening, the army from Wales arrived, and threw themselves into the battle, smashing into Napoleon's extended left flank. The French regulars wavered, but didn't break, but soon Napoleon realized that if he didn't pull back, he would be fully surrounded by larger, superior forces. Reluctantly, he ordered a retreat, and fell back to London. The British didn't pursue mostly because an effective rearguard convinced the commanders that it would be too costly.
Napoleon's image of all knowing conqueror shattered, he returned to London with only 125,000 men. He was now outnumbered almost four to one, but he resolved to hold the capital of England for as long as possible. But news of defeats by the Austrians in Italy and the Prussians in the Rhineland forced Napoleon's hand. He slipped away in the dead of night, taking a fast carriage to get to the coast, to a waiting boat that would ferry him quickly to France. Just north of the town of Haywards Heath, however, a British resistance band sprang up and captured the wagon, and captured Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, the conqueror of Europe.
Within days of the news, the French army nearly fell apart at the news. Marshal Ney, in charge of the calvary, tried to organize a rescue, but the fighters and their capture managed to reach Oxford, and a large military force, along with King George III and PM William Pitt, where their to sign the Treaty of Surrender. In comparison with may of the treaties, the one that was forced on Napoleon was rather reasonable: Napoleon would be allowed to return to France, and resume his title of Emperor, and the military would not be constrained by size. However, the navy would be, and would be not allowed to be more than 50% of the size of the Royal Navy, and Napoleon would not be allowed to make an alliance with Spain for 15 years, or be allowed to build a fleet or station it on any Atlantic coast. The Netherlands would be given their independence. In return, the UK would agree to 10 years of peace, and would not sign an alliance with any nation opposed to Napoleon in Europe. Further, England would officially vacate all territories that they took from France that they said they would leave in the Treaty of Amiens, and pay for all ships and cargos captured and impounded during the blockade of French ports.
Napoleon signed the treaty, and returned to France in shame, and with political opponents up in arms, many either monarchists seeking to restore the Bourbons or Republicans that wanted to end the Empire, not to mention the foreign armies nearly ready to invade France, he had to act quickly. He managed to raise a new army, with equal mixtures of veterans and new troops. By November he was marching to face the Austrians, and smashed them at the Battle of Frankfurt, before then turning north and defeating Prussia at the Battle of Kassel, where they sued for peace. Austria and Russia tried to group up together, but Napoleon managed to find and defeat the Austrians then the Russians in turn at the city of Weimar. Both nations, with only a little bit of British gold to sustain them, decided to negotiate peace. Napoleon, knowing his position back at home was precarious, agreed. The Treaty of Berlin, signed by France, Prussia, Austria, Russia and other smaller powers ended the Napoleonic Wars, with all sides maintaining the borders as it currently stood.
The invasion of Britain was a huge setback, and nearly destroyed France, while it all but ensured that French and English rivalry would continue for decades. Napoleon still harbored intentions of invading and subjecting the "island of shopkeepers," but political crisis and unrest in Paris kept him busy for years, as were plans to try to build a new, powerful French navy. When war broke out again under Napoleon's son in 1847 the French were in a much better position and able to fight toe to toe with the British, and even managed to land a force in Quebec and "liberate" it from the English. But under Napoleon's nephew, Napoleon III, the Empire at last crumbled in the 1880s, facing economic stagnation, political infighting, and military defeats in Germany and Spain. France would continue to alternate between kingdom, republic, and empire for the next 100 years, before the Fourth French Republic took power in 1974.
The war changed England as well. While the British managed to eventually throw Napoleon and the French off of Great Britain, the impact of being invaded meant that the British could never be complacent again, and solely rely on the Royal Navy as they had for decades. A large standing army was maintained since 1807, and when European nations began to introduce Conscription, Britain followed suit. They also decided to embrace European Alliances, at first with Austria and Prussia, the Prussia and Russia, and then Germany and Austria, and finally, at the outbreak of the War of 1909, it was Germany and Austria, leaving France and Russia outmatched.
But what do you think? What would have happened if Napoleon invaded Merrie Olde England? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.
But I haven't really done an article for this blog on the subject, so might as well fix that!
So, what if Napoleon invaded England in 1805?
Forward! And we shall capture... uh, Brighton? Manchester? |
southern England to commence with his well trained, well equipped Armée d'Angleterre crossing the channel in barges, despite their inability to deal with large waves or choppy water, but neither was a factor when the army crossed.
When the Army arrived, as individual corps in multiple locations along the coast, the British were both surprised, but prepared. Years of preparation had built defences at likely landing places, and over 480,000 men had volunteered for the army by 1804 to defend their nation, many more than could be properly armed and trained. The militia and the Regular Force provided tens of thousands more troops, but the Regular Force was very small, the militia was for local use and also not very well trained or equipped. But the 200,000 men of Napoleon's army, while less than 2/5ths the size of the British troops that would face them, had the advantage of better training, competent officers, and Napoleon himself, the unequivocal master of early 19th century warfare. Martello towers built by the British were insufficient to halt the fast moving French forces or the landings, and in many cases surrendered without firing a shot.
Napoleon himself landed near Hastings, where William the Conqueror had won his great victory in 1066, and was faced by a British force, lead by King George III of England himself. While the King was sick, and most likely completely crazy at this point, he refused to allow himself to be overthrown while he sat idly by. However, the old King, and generals who had yet to face Napoleon in Battle, were comprehensively defeated in the Second Battle of Hastings on July 27, 1805. In the next two week's, the Army of England destroyed all opposition, and in a brilliant flanking maneuver, surrounded the British Army, with few near Maidstone, and forced the commander, Prince Fredrick, Duke of York, to surrender.
The Grand Old Duke of York isn't exactly well known for his
military prowess...
|
However, the victories came at a cost. The stout English defense, even with ill trained troops and later accented by guerilla warfare, cost Napoleon over 40,000 soldiers from deaths and injuries, and the British army was starting to regroup in the north around Coventry. Even with Napoleon installed in London, Prime Minister Pitt and the King refused to surrender, though many of the MPs of the House of Commons and the House of Lords were starting to feel it was a lost cause. Napoleon took the field again in late August, and inflicted more defeats on British army. But more and more, the victories were becoming costly, and the PM and the King continued to stay one step ahead of Napoleon, rallying the nation to steel themselves for a long war.
But in late August, just as Napoleon was winning his victory Coventry, the Royal Navy that had been tricked to sailing to the West Indies returned, and hearing the news, quickly swept up the channel, destroying the ships and barges that were supplying the French. A massive battle just under the Cliffs of Dover, lead by Admiral's Horatio Nelson and Collingwood destroyed the French Fleet. Though Nelson was killed when a sharpshooter felled him, the Navy was victorious, and the Battle of Dover would go down in British Legend as the navy's greatest victory, and Nelson Britain's greatest hero.
Nope, not going to let Nelson survive in this timeline either. |
Late in the evening, the army from Wales arrived, and threw themselves into the battle, smashing into Napoleon's extended left flank. The French regulars wavered, but didn't break, but soon Napoleon realized that if he didn't pull back, he would be fully surrounded by larger, superior forces. Reluctantly, he ordered a retreat, and fell back to London. The British didn't pursue mostly because an effective rearguard convinced the commanders that it would be too costly.
Napoleon's image of all knowing conqueror shattered, he returned to London with only 125,000 men. He was now outnumbered almost four to one, but he resolved to hold the capital of England for as long as possible. But news of defeats by the Austrians in Italy and the Prussians in the Rhineland forced Napoleon's hand. He slipped away in the dead of night, taking a fast carriage to get to the coast, to a waiting boat that would ferry him quickly to France. Just north of the town of Haywards Heath, however, a British resistance band sprang up and captured the wagon, and captured Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, the conqueror of Europe.
Within days of the news, the French army nearly fell apart at the news. Marshal Ney, in charge of the calvary, tried to organize a rescue, but the fighters and their capture managed to reach Oxford, and a large military force, along with King George III and PM William Pitt, where their to sign the Treaty of Surrender. In comparison with may of the treaties, the one that was forced on Napoleon was rather reasonable: Napoleon would be allowed to return to France, and resume his title of Emperor, and the military would not be constrained by size. However, the navy would be, and would be not allowed to be more than 50% of the size of the Royal Navy, and Napoleon would not be allowed to make an alliance with Spain for 15 years, or be allowed to build a fleet or station it on any Atlantic coast. The Netherlands would be given their independence. In return, the UK would agree to 10 years of peace, and would not sign an alliance with any nation opposed to Napoleon in Europe. Further, England would officially vacate all territories that they took from France that they said they would leave in the Treaty of Amiens, and pay for all ships and cargos captured and impounded during the blockade of French ports.
Why has no one made a Grumpy Napoleon meme yet? |
The invasion of Britain was a huge setback, and nearly destroyed France, while it all but ensured that French and English rivalry would continue for decades. Napoleon still harbored intentions of invading and subjecting the "island of shopkeepers," but political crisis and unrest in Paris kept him busy for years, as were plans to try to build a new, powerful French navy. When war broke out again under Napoleon's son in 1847 the French were in a much better position and able to fight toe to toe with the British, and even managed to land a force in Quebec and "liberate" it from the English. But under Napoleon's nephew, Napoleon III, the Empire at last crumbled in the 1880s, facing economic stagnation, political infighting, and military defeats in Germany and Spain. France would continue to alternate between kingdom, republic, and empire for the next 100 years, before the Fourth French Republic took power in 1974.
The war changed England as well. While the British managed to eventually throw Napoleon and the French off of Great Britain, the impact of being invaded meant that the British could never be complacent again, and solely rely on the Royal Navy as they had for decades. A large standing army was maintained since 1807, and when European nations began to introduce Conscription, Britain followed suit. They also decided to embrace European Alliances, at first with Austria and Prussia, the Prussia and Russia, and then Germany and Austria, and finally, at the outbreak of the War of 1909, it was Germany and Austria, leaving France and Russia outmatched.
There. Did it. NOW MAKE IT POPULAR!!! |
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