October 11th, 2005
in 1100, Pyotr ibn Alexei was named Caliph of Russ. The young Caliph, barely 17 years old, was strong in the faith, and Allah rewarded him well. He reigned for 36 years, and put half of Asia under the benevolent rule of Islam.
in 1775, General Benedict Arnold is utterly defeated at the Battle of Valcour Island in New York; the revolutionary loses all of the American ships under his command, and his ground troops are devastated. Although the delay he forced on the British did help the Patriot cause, Arnold was unable to get over the horrifying death toll, and took his own life two months later.
in 1804, Ml’Astran inventor Kylie Gulagong was born in Canberra. She is widely credited with adapting the Mlosh stun ray to work on humans, as well as dozens of smaller inventions that made life easier. Miss Gulagong was also a philanthropist who contributed much of her wealth to aiding relief organizations around the world.
in 1890, Charles Brigman rallies other Mormon rebels to him, and he makes an attack on a small company of federal troops patrolling inside Salt Lake City. Most of the men are killed, but four escape to tell Colonel Beauregard T. Jackson what has happened. Jackson decides that Brigman must be taken at all costs.
in 1923, the Weimar Republic is unable to prevent the collapse of the deutschmark, and chaos erupts across Germany. French troops poised at the border march in and take a third of the land under their control, while Russian-inspired Communists take control of the eastern part of the country. The Communists begged Russia for aid, and Lenin, in one of his final acts as leader of the great nation, sent troops into Germany to establish order.
in 1975, NBC presents a live late night comedy show on Saturday entitled, appropriately enough, Saturday Night Live. Although the comic talents of Corny Chase, Mimi Kennedy, John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd were brought into the project, no audience was found for the show, and it was cancelled in the first season.
in 1975, William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Rodham, two Yalees of strong political leanings, marry in Arkansas. The new Mrs. Clinton, a moderate Republican, convinces her more left-leaning husband to switch parties, and he soon enjoys enormous success as Republicans gain power in the south. After several terms as Arkansas' governor, Clinton successfully succeeds President George Bush in 1996, continuing Republican control of the White House another 8 years.
in 1981, a young singer from Minnesota, Roger Nelson, opens for the Gathering Moss at their concert in the L.A. Coliseum. Moss lead singer Mike Jagger is so taken with Nelson’s performance that he offers him an album deal. The album produced, Erotic City, is banned in many communities as obscene; this only furthers its sales everywhere else.
in 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev held a hopeful meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. Hope was soon dashed, as the personal animosity between the two men destroyed any hope that the meeting would be productive. At one point, Reagan put the U.S. at defcon 1 and thundered at Gorbachev that he was “ready to launch!”
in 2002, after a very long meeting with President Bush, Dr. Courtney and Professor Thomas return to Edwards Air Force base to plan. They tell their pilots to keep training while they study some of the devices that they stole from the moon base. In spite of having talked off an attack, they still appear very worried.
TIAH HALLOWEEN CONTEST - no donation required, just send us your stuff! Only 9 days left!
In order to give us a tad more time for Halloween, Today In Alternate History is sponsoring its first contest - email us up to 3 alternate history entries for October 31st, 2005. The best 10 entries will make up the entire content of the post on October 31st, Halloween day. Entries must be received by October 20th! Boring contest information was available on our Forum link below, but since the forum has been hacked, we'll email it back to you if you want to know what it is. Enter early and often!
Also, we still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!
Forum Link not working for now - Forum has been hacked! We're working on getting it back, and will let you know once it's back up.
Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?
Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can see the one I did at http://www.marktreitel.com
Still wishing...
As your humble alternate historian enters the downhill slope of the 40's, he still has his birthday wish - a contract with a publishing company like Workman Publishing to produce a page-a-day calendar of TIAH. If you are an editor for such a company, or can place us in touch with one, please fulfill this belated birthday wish!
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