The Choice To Stand

The state of TIAH

March 18th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, suggested that it was time for a contest, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). My lovely Co-Historian says that if we can get 30 entrants, we can offer an ultimate winner a complimentary TIAH mug, but we only have 2 entrants so far! Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline is March 29th.

in 1834, the Friendly Society of Agricultural Laborers, a non-violent union formed merely to encourage English farm workers to hold out for a living wage, is charged with violating a law against naval mutiny, and 6 of its leaders are rounded up for deportation to an Australian penal colony. The other FSAL members, outraged at the absurdity of the charge, gather at the courthouse where the men are held and smash the building to pieces. The magistrate in charge of carrying out the order is beaten severely by the mob and then burned alive. When the military is called out to restore order, the majority of them switch sides and join the FSAL. Before the summer, all of the English southern coast is in rebellion, and overtures of assistance to the crown are made by France and Prussia. King William refuses foreign aid, declaring, “England shall not cry for aid merely because some rabble threaten a village or two.” By the fall, though, the FSAL sacks London, capturing King William and several of his cousins and putting them to death. A frightened Parliament strikes a deal with the FSAL – they will abolish the nobility, in exchange for the retention of power. They also agree to full elections the following year, with a regular election schedule to follow. George Loveless, leader of the FSAL, is voted Prime Minister by the cowed MPs, and the nervous former farmer begins the work of reorganizing one of the most powerful empires in Europe along more democratic lines. He battles rebellious former nobles and the machinations of royalists and foreign powers for 10 years as the leader of England and hands off a thriving, growing democracy to his successor. “I merely wanted the ability to make a living as a farmer,” he says as he exits public life. “But when the great powers of the world are aligned against you, you must either stand as a free man, or bow as a slave. I believe that the world is better for our choice to stand.”

Mayan Officer	In 1988 a Boeing 727 jet liner operated by the national airline of Colombia, Avianca almost crashed into the side of the mountains at Cúcuta near the Venezuelan border. The spiritual beings on the mountain took the corrective action required to prevent the death of of the 7 crew and 136 passengers aboard. The form of that ..
.. action later became apparent; when the Boeing set down in Cartagena-Rafael Nunez Airport, the survivors were greeted by partially dressed flight traffic officers of the Mayan Empire.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1922 in India Mohandas Gandhi is found guilty of civil disobedience and sentenced to six years in prison where he dies. The consequent rebellion dissolves the British Raj. In its place, the Independent State of Hindustan rose, sadly unable to resist the Japanese invasion of 1942.	Gandhi
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Oil Embargo Cri..	In 1974 the Oil crisis concluded when most OPEC nations ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan. The price of the settlement was massive western investment in the new State of Palestine which was emerging from the Ramadan War known to the defeated Jewish Nation as either Yom Kippur War or simply 'The Catastrophe'.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1913 King George I of Greece was assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki. As the first monarch of the new Greek dynasty, his 50-year reign was characterized by territorial gain and political coming-of-age as Greece established her place in pre-war Europe. On 9 November 1912, Greek forces annexed the ..	George I
.. second largest Greek city of Salonika and just a few days later, King George rode in triumph through the streets. Just as he did in Athens, the King went about Salonika without any meaningful protection force. While out on an afternoon walk near the White Tower, he was shot at close range in the back by Alexandros Schinas. Schinas was tortured in prison, confessed that he was a Turkish agent and six weeks later fell to his death from a police station window. Outraged, the Greek Government and her allies in the Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria) declared war on Turkey initiating a series of diplomatic disasters and misadventures that would lead to the outbreak of First World War.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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