"Bloody Rich" Dies; Gangster Kennedy Born

May 29th, 2006

in 1224, Pope Richard I of the Holy British Empire, (popularly known as Bloody Rich), died of an infection suffered when an arrow struck him in the chest in an assassination attempt. In his last words before his death at the hand of Papal Guards, the assassin proclaimed himself a protester against the cruelties of the Church; this spawned the anti-Church movement known as "Protestantism".

in 1600, Francis Bacon's play Hamlet premiered at the Globe Theater in London. The Bard of the Thames had dropped his nom de plume of William Shakespeare the year before, after a falling out with the actor who was playing his “front”. With the pretense out of the way, Bacon felt free to explore his writing even further.

in 1776, the Mlosh colony in Australia renamed the island continent Ml'Astra and declared their independence from both Great Britain and the main Mlosh population. The aboriginal population of Ml'Astra embraced the Mlosh as liberators in ways that most other human populations never did, partially due to the horrors the British had visited on them.

in 1887, the Eddie got its first competitor, in the form of the French Pascal Difference Engine. The PDE was a full ton lighter than the Eddie, a valuable selling point, as many buildings had to be reinforced before an Eddie could be placed in them. This hidden cost of owning an Eddie had made sales slower than they might have been, and spurred Edison to drive his engineers to work on miniaturizing the Eddie.

in 1903, one of Britain’s most beloved comics was born in London, England. Leslie Hope began in vaudeville, and later moved to radio and then movies and television. His radio shows and shows for the troops during World War II were credited by King George as being “as much aid as two divisions.”

in 1917, gangster Jackie Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. Son of the notorious rum-runner Joey Kennedy, Jackie parlayed his father’s reputation into a larger empire in the Boston area, running a variety of illegal activities in Beantown. His life of crime ended in 1963 when a feud with his brother Bobby ended in gunplay.

in 1947, the US government declared the war with Germany over, admitting defeat on that front, and concentrated its forces against the Japanese advance. Canadian forces surrendered to the Japanese army in Alaska, and the British government-in-exile began preparations for moving to America. A dark pall covered the world as opposition to the Axis powers was now without hope.

in 4649, Nepalese climber Tenzing Norgay reaches the summit of Chomo-Lungma, the tallest mountain in the world. As the first man in recorded history to climb the “Mother-Goddess”, Tenzing was honored across the Chinese Empire, and was even granted an audience with the Emperor, himself. Tenzing later founded a climbing school in his native Nepal and helped others reach the top of Chomo-Lungma, too.

in 1995, actor Christopher Reeve, known for his action hero roles in such films as Superman and Rambo, survived a nasty fall from his horse during a polo match. The athletically gifted Reeve used a move a stuntman in Rambo had taught him to twist during the fall to keep from landing on his head, avoiding injury.

in 2004, Marjorie Adams and 3 young friends of hers from the UCLA computer sciences department break into the Smartnet node at the college and begin snooping around. One of them, Cindy Berenson, finds a hidden file labeled Emergency Instructions and burns it to CD just before the group has to flee the room because of a security guard on the way. They promise to meet up at Adams’ place later the next evening to examine what they have found.

Timelines in today's post: the Holy British Empire, the Chinese Empire, Edison Steampunk, the Mlosh and The Smartnet Timeline

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Bob Hope to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

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The Truth Of Sacrifice

August 25th, 2007

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The Announcement

Don't forget - Birthday Contest for Steve – November 22, 1967. Send in an alternate birthday for him for us to post!

Alternate Historian's Note: Another side trip instead of one of the main stories – if you'd like to see more a main story, email us and let us know which ones you prefer!

I went back in time the other day. It was quite an interesting experience. I almost prevented the birth of Hitler, and was an inch away from saving Martin Luther King. And, by the way, it was Oswald, and he was the only gunman. I can say that without fear of contradiction.
I'm not supposed to interfere, but you can't help yourself, really. After all, what's the point of going back if you're not going to try to change things? Time travel is the ultimate wish fulfillment. If you go back far enough, and you know enough, you can be a god.
Marcus had wanted to do that; be a god. He told me that he could bring a few gadgets with him, set up shop in Mesopotamia or someplace like that, and he would never have to worry about anything ever again. I reminded him that modern conveniences like hologames, running water and vaccinations might be missed by someone playing the god for the primitive locals, but he says that he could tough it out. I doubt it.
But, he's been gone for a while now, and I don't think he's coming back. The world hasn't come crashing down around us, so whatever changes he's made, I assume that they've already been taken into account in the time stream. I hope.
That's what we all hope, really. Everybody involved in the project has got to hope that we can't really change the past, at least not in a way that will destroy the present. If we can, then somebody's going to screw us all up any day now.
Maybe they already have.
There are a lot of paradoxes in this line of work, and you really just have to get used to them. I mean, if you try to grasp each set of contradictions that you bring up just by appearing in the past, you'd spend all your time sitting around confused instead of doing something. And that's not very productive.
My main area of focus is on historical accuracy in textbooks. I was the one who got to correct all the assassination buffs who’ve been living on JFK rumors for decades. That was my masterpiece; seventeen cameras along a one mile patch of road in old Dallas. Conclusive proof that the only shots came from the book depository, there was nobody on the grassy knoll, and I got a really good close-up of Lee Harvey himself squeezing the trigger. How they howled. I've now been labeled part of the conspiracy.

In 1940, the Imperial Government of Japan demanded and received the right to place Vietnam under military occupation, restricting the local French administration to figurehead authority.	Uncle Ho
Seizing the opportunity, the Communists organized the broad Viet Minh Front and prepared to launch an uprising at the war's end. The Viet Minh (short for Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh, or League for the Independence of Vietnam) emphasized moderate reform and national independence rather than specifically Communist aims. When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, Viet Minh forces arose throughout Vietnam and declared the establishment of an independent republic in Hanoi. Now the Vietnamese and the French shared the common experience of resistance to a fascist occupier. Matters had moved far ahead from the refusal at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference to hear Ho Chi Minh's case for self-determination. France quickly developed a very independent foreign policy to Anglo-America, demonstrated as recently as 2003 when President Chirac opposed the invasion of Iraq. Bizarrely, Anglo-America described the French's anti-imperialism as the views of "Old Europe". Figure that one out.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

A group of people is coming towards us. They're tourists from Saudi Arabia it looks like, on a tour of the historic landmarks of Cambridge, Massachusetts or out for the local colour. They're diminutive and neatly turned out in burqas.

Aunt Lydia	"And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their private parts and not to display their adornment except that which ordinarily appears thereof and to draw their headcovers over their chests and not to display their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands fathers, their sons." ~ Qu'ran Sura 24:31
Handmaid

"Excuse me," said the interpreter again, to catch our attention. I nod to show I've heard him. "She asks, are you happy?". I can imagine it, the curiosity: Are they happy? How can they be happy? "Yes, we are very happy, " I murmur. I have to say something. What else can I say?" The full article is available at Wikipedia

~ quotation from Margaret Atwood: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Jack Black	In 2013, actor Jack Black was selected for the role of Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11: the Temperature at which Freedom Burns. Labelled an al-Qaeda training video by group Move America Forward, the original footage had been lost when the author died in a mysterious accident on this day in 2004.
President Hillary Clinton hailed the release as highly significant. The movie was a necessary reminder of the hard fought freedoms that America had seized back under her Administration.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight David Eisenhower presented US President Harry Truman with three options to establish US ground control in the Far East. As a catalist for unopposed military occupation Ike recommended biological weapons seized from the notorious Unit 731 in Manchuria, gas or the new super weapon of napalm. Agreement on napalm was reached, and Operation Rolling Thunder authorized.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2002, in Roland J. Green' George Custer Slept Here a cavalryman's assault on Sicily and then mainland Italy delivers a radically altered outcome. Surprise landings and bombings prevent German troops from evacuating Messina at the end of the Sicilian campaign. With Custer remaining in charge of American forces, aggressive planning results in the Allies skipping a crawl up the Italian boot, and instead landings near Civitavecchia permit a result in which Rome may fall seven months early.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1814, the second war of independence ended in ignominy when Washington, D.C. was burned to the ground and the White House destroyed by British forces during the War of 1812. Arthur Wellesley immediately began the construction of the modern city of Wellington, residence of the Governor-General of the North American Union which bestrides the Potomac River to this day. It was the start of a new phase in the special relationship for Anglo-America.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1944, following the Allied invasion of France, Henri Philippe Pétain and members of the Vichy government cabinet prepared to flee to Germany where they planned to establish a government in exile at Sigmaringen. Captured by the French Resistance, Pétain revealed the degeneracy in the French state that had caused the collapse in 1940. Pétain's captors were appalled. It was an incredibly, simply incredible story. If true, Pétain was the only member of La Troisième République (French Third Republic) to emerge with honour. But could such a fantastic story be true?

~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne.

Castle Bonny	In 1943, Head of the British Government in Exile, Lord Halifax gave his public view of Castle Bonny which premièred six days before on Broadway. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund and Paul Henreid as resistance leader Victor Laszlo, caught in ..
.. a love triangle. The rekindled romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. The final scene shows Dick, Laszlo and a detachment of Free British soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1943 invasion of England. “The truth of sacrifice runs through the whole film, ” said the Prime Minister from the Governor's residence at Rideau Hall, Ottawa “just as our forces are doing on the south coast of England". Privately Halifax considered the movie quite dreadful. He also felt quite strongly that the forthcoming Canadian winter would be more then ample suffering for himself. Minus 20, that's just too cold for comfort.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127, through the functioning of the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device, the Eurasian fugitive known as Brent arrived in the London office of Lord Peter Goldsmith on 11 March 2003. At that precise moment, confidential legal advice was being written ..	Goldsmith
.. by the Attorney General on behalf of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Tony Blair. That advice was that British involvement in a land invasion of Iraq was legal despite the absence of a UN Security Council Resolution explicitly sanctioning participation by the “coalition of the willing”. Lord Goldsmith had more pressing problems though, his wife of 33 years, Joy was about to discover his affair with the first Asian QC Kim Hollis. At gunpoint Brent seized both Goldsmith to Hollis to join him on return to 2127. Perhaps a few days in the post-Jihad world would convince the Attorney General to offer different advice, changing the course of history..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Duckies!	In 1942, S.M Sterling's classic Minceing Through Georgia portrayed Duckie Commander Eric Von Shrakenberg and his Century A Janissaries camped in German occupied southern Russia. Actually, the Duckies had put the Nazis on the run and the Eurasian War looked set to conclude very much in favour of the Domination. Trouble was through they were running dangerously low on peppermint herbal tea.
~ entry by Steve Payne: I've always thought there was a slightly sadomasochistic undertone to the over-caricatured fascists of the Draka taking over the world and skewering French peasants on stakes etc. My exagerrated satire of the already exagerrated Drakas of S.M. Stirling's novels (Marching through Georgia, Drakas, Stone Dogs etc) who are just a bit too inhumanely tough and hence “camped” up in my variant.

War of 1812	In 1814, Washington, D.C. is burned and White House is destroyed by British forces under the Duke of Wellington. Ostensibly a revenge attack for the destruction of Yorktown (modern day Toronto), the Duke wanted to stamp British authority as he turned the clock back to 1775. The new city of Victoria was built upon ruins of ..
.. DC and is of course today the residence of the Governor General of New Britain.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, an increasingly desperate American military drop the fourth nuclear bomb, “Tall Boy” on Tokyo. Surely, this would forces the Emperor of Tokyo to accept unconditional surrender as inevitable.	Harry Truman
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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May 3rd-5th

The state of TIAH

Today In Alternate History

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Alternate Historian's Note: It was an eventful trip, but we're finally back, and ready to post again! Today, we'll have posts for May 3rd, 4th and 5th, and will be back to regular posting tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

May 3rd, 2007

in 1891, the prosecution in General Anthony Franklin's court-martial rests its case after presenting the rather damning evidence present in the reports from the battlefield and the days leading up to it. Franklin's own diary entries about, “Getting that pompous jackanape, Simpson, and making all these rebels pay,” becomes fodder for the prosecutor. In defense, Captain David Danforth reads sections of Franklin's diary recounting his days as a young man during the Civil War, and his zeal in seeking to preserve the United States from, in his words, “traitors who would destroy everything good that we stand for.” Danforth rests his case, and the judges dismiss all present while they deliberate over night.

in 1999, as bombs begin falling on his capitol in Bern, Emperor Pierre of the Central European Empire begins to show the slightest traces of doubt that his master plan is working. The other Illuminati elite, trapped in Switzerland because of the war being brought to them by King Arthur's forces, begin plotting to overthrow Pierre and make a deal with Arthur.

In 2069, after years of Alzheimer degeneration and senility, Gerald Fitzgerald Beltane had cheated death by illegal rejuvenation instigated by his son Jeremy. Bio reads - born 1976, educated to MA degree, and secretary to the Australia First party in 2005. Retired, aged seventy in 2046 on ground of ill health; 2069 undergoes a remarkable transformation into a young man.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2000, Patricia Vasquez travelled along the Way to fulfill her secret mission to prevent the Death. Only one change in Earth's past which would render the nations sane was achievable by a single christian scientist.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Joseph McCarthy	In 1947, Senators Millard Tydings and Joseph McCarthy shared a late night drink together. They briefly reviewed the circumstances of the Tydings Committee. You could say without fear of contradiction that history had taken a rather unexpected turn on D-Day, 1 May 1944. In military language of course D-Day was a term to denote ..
.. the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The Battle of Normandy was planned for that day, commencing the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II. However, 1 May 1994 was more like Disaster Day and the choice of May Day was both tragically and prophetically appropriate...
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, it was evident to but a discerning few that the Western European Monarchies were living on borrowed time. Sure there had been some key moments in the past half millennia where the divine right of kings had, shall we say, wobbled? The storming of the Bastille, the troubles in the Colonies etc. The British Royal households ..	Charles Stuart
.. believed that now the modern world was fundamentally sane. The disease of republicanism had been flushed out of the body politic for good. How wrong they were. And they were just about to find out..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Man in the High..	In 1964, Philip K Dick published the counter-factual novel Man in the High Castle. Set in Japan in 1962, the once-proud nation has been reduced to a vassal of the United States with a powerless Emperor. All because some twenty years earlier Japan lost the Pacific war. The essence of Dick's masterpiece is the book within ..
.. the book, 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy', a work of fiction written by a man called Hawthorn Abendsen. It describes a world where the Japanese won the Pacific war - as a result, it has been banned by the Americans. Given his unpopularity with the world's two great powers, Abendsen is said to live in a heavily fortified home and has become known as "The Man in the High Castle". Critics panned the concept but loved the story. After all, it was predicated on the US Fleet leaving San Diego for Hawaii when Americans overwhelmingly disapproved of war in the Pacific. Today we know that Mr Roosevelt meant it when he said at Boston on October 30 1940: "I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars."
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East began in Tokyo against 28 American military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The accused were led by General of the Army Douglas “Brass Hat” MacArthur who had been seized unexpectedly in the hurried retreat from the Philippines. ..	MacArthur
.. He said he had not expected to come to Japan under these circumstances.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

May 4th, 2007

in 1891, the judges at General Anthony Franklin's court-martial return a verdict of guilty against him, strip him of his rank, and sentence him to life in prison. Franklin is stunned, and weeps openly in the court, while his attorney, Captain David Danforth, vows to appeal directly to the president himself. Unfortunately for the former general, President Harrison is quite pleased with the verdict, and instructs his secretary to ignore Captain Danforth's requests for an appointment. Meanwhile, Governor Silas Trent of Missouri, touring the state to shore up his support after Franklin's Massacre, is set upon by a drunken mob in Jasper County, and killed for his support of the federal troops.

in 1999, Emperor Pierre of the Central European Empire, hearing the bombs fall on his fair capitol, puts in a desperate call to his agent in King Arthur's court, instructing the spy to, “do whatever is necessary, but stop this bombing!” Prime Minister Merl Myrddin, hearing the successful news from the front, decides to celebrate with a drink at his favorite London pub, where he unfortunately lets his guard down. A drug is slipped into his beer, and he disappears into the night. At the same time, labor leaders across western Europe are casting down the CEE's puppet governments and proclaiming themselves leaders of the nations; this has the unfortunate side effect of reducing their support for Sir Lance du Lac's drive to Switzerland. The great knight is forced to slow down his advance and deal with the demands from his allies about respecting their sovereign territory.

In 2069, the Canberra Conference was forced to finally confront overpopulation problems in Australia. A decision was reached to initiate genocide by releasing a finely mutating bacteria manufactured at a secret government institute. Premier Jeremy Beltane cannot accept the decision to use the cull weapon, and has illegally rejuvenated his senile father Gerald, desperately needing his advice and guidance.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 0, a single christian scientist Patricia Vasquez fulfilled her secret mission to prevent the Death by making the only change in Earth's past which would render the nations sane. Vasquez convinced Governor of Palestine Pontius Pilatus to take a principalled stand on his own convictions. Pilatus exercised political leadership, he refused the demands of religious leaders and the mob by setting Rabbi Joshua Ben Joseph free. Vasquez established the common sense precedent, decisions made under pressure were rational, logical but not sane.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Joseph McCarthy	In 1947, Senators Millard Tydings and Joseph McCarthy had shared a late night drink together which could by now be safely called an early morning drunk stopover. The slurred topic under consideration continued to be the circumstances of the Tydings Committee. Operation Overlord was master-minded by General Dwight David Eisenhower, ..
.. Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, effectively in overall charge of the Allied forces in Western Europe. General Sir Bernard Montgomery was commander of the 21st Army Group, to which all of the invasion ground forces belonged, and he was also in charge of developing the invasion plan. The initial attack was for five divisions by sea and three by air. That was where theory ended, and the startling truth began.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, the British Royal household awoke to somewhat of an unpleasant shock. It appeared that not all of the young people celebrating May Day had gone home peacefully. And some had brought a Goddess of Democracy statue into Hyde Park! Even since the birth of European democracy in Russia with the 1905 Duma, the Western democracies ..	Freedom
.. had pursued a containment policy. They believe in the domino theory, a 20th Century foreign policy that speculated if one land in a region came under the influence of Democracy, then more would follow. But now containment was over, the disease had finally arrived in Great Britain.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Udham Singh	In 1976, Jack Higgins published the pseudo-factual novel the ”Lion has Landed”. Set in 1940 Udham Singh prepared to assassinate the former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, a revenge attack for his authorisation of the events of April 13, 1919 in Jallianwala Bagh. Known as the Amritsar Massacre, imperial troops opened ..
.. fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children in an act of unprovoked barbarism, killing 1800 people. In the novel Singh enters Admiralty House to put his plan into action, killing Winston Churchill not realising he has murdered his double George Fowler. Critics ridiculed the far-fetched concept of Churchill gaining Downing Street, let alone surviving a car collision that killed him in New York in 1931. Such a scenario would have required him to be sober after mid morning.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1948, the publication of Norman Mailer's controversial novel 'The Naked and the Dead' was banned by President John Nance Garner . Set in the South Pacific and dealing primarily with a single reconnaissance platoon of riflemen, the novel contains several combat scenes, but focuses on the psychological portraits of the men ..	Naked and Dead
.. in the squad. The tension of the novel derives mostly from the conflict between officers and men, including the lieutenant of the squad and the men under him as well as his superiors. The novel questions the impact of high-ranking officers and their decisions on the outcomes of military campaigns. Garner's justification was that the nation had been traumatised by the horrors of the invasion of Japan. Mailer's novel would distress the 200,000+ US soldiers suffering post-combat disorders.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

May 5th, 2007

in 1891, Lt. Governor Arnold Morgan of Missouri receives the news that he is about to be promoted; he takes the oath of office and then orders a day of mourning across the state for the late governor, Silas Trent. He also reduces Missouri's cooperation in the siege of Kansas, which causes Colonel Theodore Monteith, who has been charged by the Secretary of War with ensuring the success of this endeavor, to send Major Mark Wainwright back to Missouri to convince the new governor to back the military more fully.

in 1999, King Arthur II of Great Britain orders Scotland Yard to find Prime Minister Merl Myrddin, “and spare no expense.” The worried monarch sees victory, so tantalizingly close just days ago, start to slip from his grasp. His queen, the lady Gwen Rivers Pendrake, tells him, “Do not concern yourself, my liege. You have capable men in charge of all your affairs. Sir Lance will prosecute the war, and Scotland Yard will find your prime minister. Let us relax and let them do their jobs.” Arthur wearily agrees, sending word to Sir Lance that he will be in Wales if he is needed.

In 2069, Premier Jeremy Beltane took a fateful decision, briefing the Southern Area Services Commander on the imminent release of the cull weapon. They agree, and choose to destroy the Institute in which the finely mutating bacteria has been manufactured. The Premier's senile father, Gerald Fitzgerald Beltane had been illegally rejuvenated by his son, desperately needing his support. However Gerald is old school and strongly agrees with the use of the cull weapon. Fooling computers with a genetic impersonation of his son, he authorised the launch codes, releasing the bacteria. Genocide sweeps the continent of Australia.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1945, low flying American and British bombers released thousands of white doves over the City of Tokyo. After several days of behind-the-scenes negotiations the Gozenkaigi (Japanese leadership) decided, in principle, to accept generous proposals for conditional surrender. John Nance Garner had only recently entered the White House following the sudden demise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The new President was the son of a former Confederate cavalry trooper, famously described by the British journalist Alistair Cooke as the last public man linking America of the Civil War and America of the Nuclear Age. Garner had the gift of perspective resulting from a genuine insight into long-term history. Japan was ready to surrender, and there was absolutely no need to be a damn-fool and usher in apocalyptic weapons to bring the war to a speedy conclusion; best to set up a beacon of liberty to whom the post-war nations would rally.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Joseph McCarthy	In 1947, Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy of Wisconsin was suffering from a rather extreme hangover having drunk more or less continuously for the past three days. The truth of his investigations however were as sobering as an icy shower. On the morning of 1 May 1944 at H-2 Hour, all eight divisions of Operation Overlord had ..
.. quite simply disappeared. Ridiculous of course, to imagine eight divisions just disappearing, but that was precisely what happened. Continuous radio transmissions had been sent by Eisenhower for many hours afterwards in an increasingly desperate attempt to locate the missing forces. The final message received was elliptic to day the very least – it sounded like 'Caves of Ice'. As he poured himself a black coffee, McCarthy started to feel more upbeat. Both Eisenhower and Montgomery were in DC and amongst the first witnesses to be interviewed – or shall we say, interrogated? - by the Tydings Committee. Fun was sure to be had. After all, why else would he be wasting his time in politics?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, by now the Goddess of Democracy had been in Hyde Park for twenty-four hours. The Security Forces were in an agony of indecision. Democracy had faltered in Great Britain almost exactly 310 years ago when King Charles II had disbanded Parliament. Both James I and Charles I had done likewise but Charles II had finished ..	Charles II
.. Parliament and therefore democracy for all time, or so it was thought. On the one hand, the forced removal of the Goddess could be seen as heavy handed. On the other, it was as insulting as a spit in the face.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Battle of the W..	In 1864, on this day began the Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The Army of the Potomac under the command of Major General George G. Meade, was pulverised by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. General Robert E. Lee started his final push to the east.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, on this day in London, a Norwegian government-in-exile was formed. A better choice of location could have been made. By September, British rule only existed in Canada, with the British Government in Exile, headed by Lord Halifax unexpected guests of the Governor General at his residence in Rideau Hall, Ottawa.	Halifax
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Visions

Jesus	In 2005, the Ghost Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come shows Ebeenezer Scrooge a wonderful vision of the far future. In Central Texas Ebeneezer Scrooge witnesses the unbounded joy of the man RAT and his CAT at the arrival of Little CAT. RAT tells Scrooge that something was missing in this harsh world, but now it is finally fulfilled. Scrooge says he understands, he really does.
Is Love

.

In 4548, the Theater of the Celestial opened in the nominally-Oueztecan controlled land of the Pomo people, in the city of Huitotanango. The great spectacle of Chinese theater soon developed a following on the continent, and theaters were opening up across Ouezteca.

In 1912, the Nouvelle Revue Francaise rejects A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, an abysmally awful novel by Marcel Proust. He published the work himself in 1913, but after it met with little success, he committed suicide in his small apartment in Paris, France. The work has since been viewed with a less harsh eye, but it has still never garnered much critical acclaim.

In 1942, comedian Leslie Hope entertained U.S. troops stationed in Alaska. Although the audience loved him, Hope felt that comedy in the middle of a war was inappropriate, and never performed for soldiers again.

In 1944, Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower decorates young Private Eddie Slovik with a Purple Heart and recommends him for a Medal of Honor. Slovik, a young thief in civilian life, had been on the verge of desertion when his unit was attacked in France; he fought off thirty Germans single-handedly, saving the barracks where his men were stationed.

In 1956, BBC News Reported Jubilation as allied troops leave Suez. Crowds of Egyptians have poured onto the streets of Port Said to celebrate the withdrawal of American, British and French forces from Egyptian soil. Yesterday's troop departure follows pressure from the Soviet Union to escalte the armed occupation of the region which followed President Abdel Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal. The demonstrations reached a peak this afternoon when a small detachment of the Egyptian Army marched into Port Said greeted by well-wishers waving the national flag and pictures of President Abdel Nasser. Shouting "Long Live Nasser" and "Down with [President] Thurmond [British prime minister] Eden and [French PM] Mollet", demonstrators burned American, British and French flags. King Hussein of Jordan has sent a message to President Nasser praising the "heroism" of the people of Port Said.

In 1972, ten thousand people are feared dead after a two-hour earthquake rips through the Nicaraguan capital, Managua. Fifty years after the Tunguska Impact Event, the embedded singularity was still creating havoc for the Earth's tectonic plates.

Violent End

In 1973, on this day British Socialist Harold Wilson made a broadcast from the independent offshore radio transmitter on Radio Caroline. He welcomed the statement from US President James Earl Carter called for progressive change in Fascist Europe following the assassination of General Franco, who was killed in a car bomb attack in Madrid three days before.

Wilson described Franco as a monster who had destroyed socialism and anarchy in its infancy during the Spanish Civil War. Reference was made to the censored work of journalist Eric Arthur Blair who had said - 'We are in a strange period of history in which a revolutionary has to be a patriot and a patriot has to be a revolutionary'. That revolution had been betrayed, said Wilson shortly before the transmission ended abruptly.

Violent End

In 1974, British Prime Minister Enoch Powell died in hospital after a 2lb bomb was detonated at his home in Victoria, London the previous evening. There are reports the front door is broken, glass smashed and the front room is damaged. The bombing is almost exactly twelve months after the assassination of Spanish Caudillo by a car bomb on 20th December 1973.

A number of independent broadcasts from offshore radio transmitter on Radio Caroline have linked the two events in which prominent Fascist leaders were killed. The political map of Western Europe has undergone rapid change in recent years, as anti-fascists attempt to turn the clock back to 1936. It has been alleged that both assassinations represent many years of hard work in Spain. The Agency's job had been to find a drastic and odd resolution to a political situation reminiscent of a deus ex machina. They wanted to build "the World that Hitler never made". At any cost.

Alive	In 1972, the last survivors were rescued from Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known less formally as the Andes flight disaster. The Uruguayan government confirmed reports of cannibalism and was forced the sixteen passengers into a US witness protection program to hide their identity.

In 1948, seven former European leaders sentenced to death by hanging at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. Amongst them are Major General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and Lord Louis Mountbatten. During the trial, the two had written Scapegoats of the Empire of the Sun. In a remarkable episode, the book was smuggled out of Japan, taken to Port Stanley in the Falklands Islands for the safe-keeping of the Head of the British Government in Exile, Winston Churchill.

Churchill

Kerry

In 2008, outgoing US President John Edwards pardons his former boss, John Kerry for the Swift Boat scandals that forced Kerry's subsequent resignation. In particular, the damning statements by former US Marine Jack Smith that Kerry had thrown someone else's medals at the front steps of the U.S. Capital on April 22 1971.

In 1948, as seven European leaders are sentenced to death by hanging at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East were executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Winston Churchill sympathised by confessing his ignorance of the weakness British Imperial defences, saying bitterly: "I did not know. I was not told. I should have asked." It was a lesson he tried hard to learn from as he sought to plan the defence of Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, where he and the remnants of the British Royal Naval had fled to in 1942.

Mountbatten

Enochian Code

June 12th, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1891, the Farmers Council meets for the last time in Topeka, Kansas. Thaddeus Elridge is more than ready to dissolve the council and return to fight in the south. “This man has promised us Heaven and given us only Hell,” he thunders at 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson. “It is high time we stopped listening to his golden words and started fending for ourselves. I, for one, will deal with the Union.” He led about half of the council out of the chamber, a dissolute Simpson weakly calling after them to “hang together, lest we hang separately!” His invocation of Benjamin Franklin does nothing to sway Elridge's faction, and even those left in the council with him, with a couple of exceptions, withdraw their support. The Kansas rebellion has broken.

in 1999, through a spy in Prime Minister Kay Ector's staff, Queen Gwen learns that the prime minister is making contingency plans to get rid of her. She truly admires Ector's abilities, and doesn't want to just kill him. She decides to utilize the aid of her recently acquired ally, Walton Ray Thermopolous, whose specialty in the Illuminati had been turning liabilities into assets. Thermopolous accompanies Sir Kay on a brief junket to Greece, where he traps the prime minister in a small villa for some extensive brainwashing.

In 1994, the Envoy's crew of eight married scientists began a two hundred and fifty eight day space flight. Captain Michael Brant M.S., Cmdr D.F. Reserve was in Command and his primary objective was to found a human colony on Mars. His secondary objective involved Mary Jane Lyle Smith, a power technician who required anti-nausea medication for the later phase of the journey.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1945, in the devastated city of Tokyo an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to the peace and reconciliation mission led by General-san Douglas MacArthur. Alongside the Blessed One was the ghost of a burnt Japanese child; a teddy bear's arm trailed on the scorched ground.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1999, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Sir Michael Jackson reluctantly complied with an order from his boss General Wesley Clark. Dubbed "Macho Jacko" by the British tabloid press, NATO troops blocked the runways of the Russian-occupied Pristina Airport, to isolate the Russian troops there. By complying with General Clark's order, there was a chance the British troops under his command could have come into armed conflict with the Russians; doing this without prior orders from Britain could have led to his dismissal for gross insubordination. On the other hand, defying Clark would have meant disobeying a direct order from a superior NATO officer (Clark was a four-star general; Jackson only a three-star). Reputedly saying "I'll start World War III for you", the point became irrelevant when the American government prevailed upon the Hungarians, Romanians, and Bulgarians to prevent the Russians from using their airspace to fly reinforcements in.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Caucasian Map, ..	In 1760, medical science could safely be described as primitive throughout the post-pandemic world. The twenty-fourth century scientists who finally answered the Caucasoid question (CQ) were greatly advanced by comparison. Less than one hundred years later, CQ would become a routine academic examination question for ..
.. fifteen year-old molecular biology pupils. Put simply to those kids, the question was thus. a) Where did the Yersinia pestis enterobacteria originate? b) Why was Europe the only continent to be depopulated? c) What was the great secret that enabled the seven stowaways to survive the plague, and resettle the continent? During the 2498 matriculation examinations in New Rome, 98% of fifteen year old pupils answered all three questions correctly. After all, the answer was obvious. Once you knew it. For those seven stowaways who only had to consider part c) it was not necessarily obvious. Had they not of had days of nothing else to do, adrift in the Atlantic, they might never have seen the common sense answer for themselves. Things would have turned out a little different had they not.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King receives a most unusual telegram from the British Government in Exile. It is a diplomatic request for entry into Canada for medical attention to be given to the former British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain who was dying of cancer in South Africa. King sends ..	Mackenzie King
.. a message through diplomatic back-channel at the German embassy. How would Herr Hitler respond to acquiescence for such a request?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Guest Historian	In 2126, passengers of the London Underground train number AEJX57B arrived on the last leg of their world tour, in Sydney Shanty Town. The fallen Western Civilization that had emerged out of the post-Jihad epoch of the late twenty-first century was truly shocking to these late twentieth century commuters. They were witnessing ..
.. a degree of suffering they had only seen on Bob Geldorf's televised tours of Africa, and this time, the starving were their fellow Europeans.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, at Chequers the British Heads of State and Government were simply unable to accept the repulsion plan proposed by Aleister Crowley. Sensing this, Minister of Defence Winston Churchill adopted a different tactic to gain acceptance. Naval Intelligence Officer Ian Fleming and others proposed a disinformation plot in ..	Ian Fleming
.. which Crowley would help an MI5 agent supply Nazi officials with faked horoscopes. Those horoscopes based on the Enochian Code would suggest false information about an alleged pro-German circle in Britain. This proposal really troubled British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley and King Edward VIII. Even after an endless supply of cigars and brandy the night before they still had not managed to achieve a state of mind where they could authorise the plan. And what if it was a trick to bring a pro-German circle to power?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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