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The state of TIAH

May 17th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: C'mon people! In 10 days, we'll hit TIAH's third anniversary. As before, that calls for a contest! Please send in your alternate versions of the Academy's beginnings (May 27th, 2004 was the date in this timeline). You can even use the fact that we lost the original day and had to restart on the 28th – whatever you can think of to provide a twist to our start. Send 'em in, and we'll print 'em! Be sure to tell us how you want your credit for the post to appear, as well as any links you want to be connected with your entry. Thanks for reading and get researching those alternate timelines!

in 1891, just after the stroke of midnight, an exhausted Allan Duggan forces his stolen horse into Colonel Theodore Monteith's headquarters in Nebraska and begs to be taken to the Colonel immediately. Although cranky about being woken up, the colonel listens with horror to what the young scout has to tell him about the battle going on in Concordia, Kansas. “Put this man in my bed,” he orders his aides, “and then let's see about getting his friends some help.” Wasting little time, he puts together reinforcements for the embattled major fighting the Kansans in Concordia, and sets them on a speed march south. During the day's fighting at the Concordia fort, Major Mark Wainwright loses another 300 men, and flies a white flag to get the attention of the Kansan commander. When the commander comes forward, Major Wainwright asks him, “Sir, what are your terms for our surrender?” The rebel volunteer ponders for an hour with his staff, then returns to Wainwright and tells him, “You'll all lay down arms, abandon this fort, and be taken into custody. Your men will be imprisoned until this is all over, but you, sir, will be executed for crimes against the sovereign people of Kansas.” The Union soldiers cry out in indignation at this last term, but Wainwright holds up his hand to silence them. He asks, “May I have some time to consider these terms, sir?” The Kansan looks over the fort, looks back at his own men, then replies, “You may have until sunset, sir.” Wainwright's staff is utterly opposed to surrender, but the major tells them, “I am tired of being the cause of death for so many of my fellow soldiers and citizens. If it saves you, I am willing to let them execute me.” This causes another outburst from his aides, which he stills. “At sunset, I will accept their terms. Gentlemen, it has been an honor serving with you.” They all stand and salute him, then leave their makeshift office to prepare their men for captivity. Wainwright takes a walk about the fort, enjoying the late afternoon; it is a fine day, cool and sunny, and he smiles and speaks with each of the men as he passes them by. As the sun makes its way down the sky, he walks back to the wall of the fort and ascends to the top wall. The Kansan commander stands opposite him, waiting for an answer. Wainwright takes one last look at the horizon, smiling faintly at the setting sun, then looks down at the rebel leader, who asks him, “Sir, your answer?” The major looks over at his lieutenants, who look away dejectedly, then says, “Sir, my answer is...” Before he can finish the sentence, a cannon balls bursts into the Kansan ranks from behind. Wainwright looks beyond the teeming ranks of rebels and sees a huge column of Union soldiers driving towards the fort. Wainwright laughs wildly and shouts to the Kansan commander, “Nuts!” His men cheer loudly and begin firing as he throw the white flag away.

In 2032, Commander Albert Raft and his astronaut crew return to Earth after forty years to discover the 20th century ended with a bang. The population of the Earth was all but destroyed in the Collapse that followed the “Five Days” of the apocalypse. All that remains are a very few “Gone Timers” such as Commander Raft, and their clones, including a clone that was secretly prepared from Raft prior from his departure. And one other.

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

In 1972, Marvin Gaye warned duet singer Diana Ross about her excessive marijuana smoking which he believed endangered wife Tammi Terrell's unborn child, Marvin Junior. Ross was unrepentant, her excessive drinking had forced her out of the Supremes five years before and it was way too late to go back now.

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

Joseph McCarthy	In 1947, Senators Millard Tydings and Joseph McCarthy shared yet another late night drink together. Tail gunner Joe had been dropping rather indiscreet hints for most of the whole evening. As the bourbon started to take effect, the slurred hints were reducing in subtlety. A red faced Tydings whirled around knocking McCarthy's ..
.. vase of bourbon over and grabbed his collars. Wild with anger, Tydings screams in his face – 'Do you mean to tell me that you already know the perpetrators of this heinous crime?' 'Why yes', replies McCarthy ' and he has convicted himself by his own guilty countenance'. Tydings falls backwards towards the bar, gasping with shock.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, strikes are widespread throughout Europe and particularly in Great Britain. The armed crackdown has united the labour movement and the student's union with strong support from the general population. The House of Stuart is in serious trouble and it appears that more than a compromise is going to be required before the crisis is over.	Picketing
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Richard Nixon	In 1973, during the Watergate scandal, hearings began in the United States Senate and are televised. The conspiracy by President Robert F Kennedy's to fake the break-in at the Democrat Headquarters was unravelling fast. However, it was too late for Richard M Nixon who had the misfortune of having the Presidency stolen from ..
.. him by the Kennedys twice.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1902, between the islands of Kythera and Crete the archaeologist Spyridon Stais found the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project was established by Cardiff University, the National and Kapodistrian University ..	Antikythera mec..
.. of Athens, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, X-Tek Systems UK and Hewlett-Packard USA, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and supported by the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece. Their research demonstrated that the device accurately predicted the Syzygy, the alignment of all 10 planets on the same side of the Sun in 1982. For the first time, all of humanity could see the counter-earth postulated by Galileo through deductive logic in 1610 and obviously known about by the Ancient Greeks as evidenced by the Antikythera mechanism.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Revolutionaries

	In 2007, British politician and statesman, diplomat and businessman George Patrick John Rushworth Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, KBE, DSO, MC, PC, FRS died on this day. Jellicoe was the only son but sixth and youngest child of First World War naval commander, the anti-hero of Jutland, Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe by his wife Florence Gwendoline (died 1964), second daughter of Sir Charles Cayzer, 1st Bart., of Gartmore, Perthshire. Jellicoe was the one of the longest-serving parliamentarians in the world, being a member of the English Bundesrat for 68 years (1939-2007).

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	In 1741, Benedict Arnold V was born in Norwich, Connecticut. A general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, he heroically commanded the American fort at West Point, New York. Arnold was considered by many to be the best general and most accomplished leader in the Continental Army. Without Arnold's early contributions to the American cause, the American Revolution might well have been lost. The hero in the Battle of Saratoga, Arnold's actions persuaded the French, who had been skeptical of the colonists' chances, to intervene in the war on the American side. This alliance tipped the balance and ultimately helped ensure the American victory.

On the battlefield at Saratoga, a lone monument stands in memorial to this man, the inscription reads: 'In memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental army, who was desperately wounded on this spot, winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution, and for himself the rank of Major General.' Another memorial to Arnold resides at the United States Military Academy. That the plaque recognises a contribution indelibly tarnished by his betrayal of the Crown.

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In 1958, Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) under the inspired leadership of the Arab Nationalist Abdul Gamel Nasser. By 1980, the entire Middle East and its oil reserves would be controlled by the UAR making a showdown with the Western World inevitable.

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In 1974, 44-year-old Samuel Byck assassinated U.S. President Richard Nixon. The revelations of corruption that followed destroyed the Imperial Presidency and today the position of US Head of State is a ceremonial role. The self-evident failure of American Foreign Policy with the Fall of Vietnam set a new course for America, and Capitol Hill ensured that the executive focused exclusively on domestic concerns.

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	In 1732, rebel general George Washington was born in the Virginia colony. Despite serving with honor in His Majesty's war against the French and Indians, Washington turned traitor to the Crown when the American colonies rebelled in 1774. Washington was captured in Yorktown when Lord Cornwallis defeated the rebels after the French failed to reinforce them.

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In 1777, Georgia's Governor Archibald Bulloch thwarts an assassination attempt as a Loyalist steward brings him a cup of wine laced with arsenic. When he accidentally spills the cup, the enraged Tory tries to strangle him, but Bulloch wins their struggle. The governor then uses the near-total powers he had been granted by Georgia's rebel government to rally the state's colonists and send them into war for the rebel cause. Bulloch is such a successful leader in the revolution that he maneuvers himself into the newly-created office of president of the new nation after the revolution, and influences the writing of the constitution to give himself powers similar to his near-complete control of Georgia. The other states chafe under his presidency, and the formerly united states dissolve into regional war in Bulloch's 5th year in office. The wars end when Bulloch is shot dead by a member of his staff, Thomas Paine, who had been planted close to the president in order to get the opportunity to kill him. Another Constitutional Convention is called to rewrite the document that had granted so much power to the president, and a tripartite government is born from the ashes of Bulloch's dictatorship in 1797.

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In 1632, Galileo Galilei's Dialogue Concerning the Two Counter-earths was published. By deductive logic Galileo had postulated the existence of a counter-earth, a same sized planet rotating on the far side of the sun since 1610.

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In 1994, Aldrich Ames and his wife were charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union. Whilst directing the analysis of Soviet intelligence operations at the CIA's Europe Division / Counter-intelligence branch he had access to the identities of U.S. Sources in the KGB and Soviet military. The information Ames provided led to the compromise of at least 100 U.S. intelligence operations and to the execution of at least 10 U.S. Sources. Ames was sentenced with the death penalty since his betrayal resulted in several CIA assets being killed and he was executed two years later at the US Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania

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In 1998, the deadliest series of tornadoes in Florida's history provides the impetus for Vice-President Al Gore to begin a study of climate change. Already an environmentalist, Gore was alarmed at the massive changes in the climate that many scientists were predicting could soon become irreversible. He runs for the presidency with a passion and urgency that moves the nation, and sweeps in a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives to aid him in his work. The Senate is split evenly, so his vice-president, Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, is more important than any VP in decades. With Gore's skills and commitment, the warming of the earth was slowed, and Wellstone continued his former boss' work when he was elected president in 2008.

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In 1991, US President George HW Bush threatened Iraq with land war, giving Iraq until 1700 GMT the next day to pull out of Kuwait or face the full force of the allies. It was an incredible volte-face from the American 'green light' for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait given by Ambassador April Glaspie. The magnitude of that error did not become clear until the 18th January. Israel joined the Gulf War after Iraq attacks Tel Aviv and Haifa with Scud missiles. Saddam Husssein had succeeded in provoking the Israel leadership both through these bombings, and also by establishing linkage between Kuwait and Palestinian nationhood.

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	In 1997, a sheep named Dolly was cloned by scientists in Edinburgh and hailed as one of the most significant breakthroughs of the decade. The sheep's birth was heralded as one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the decade although it sparked ethical controversy. Scientists in Scotland cloned a ewe by inserting DNA from a single sheep cell into an egg and implanted it in a surrogate mother. Within twenty years, cloning would become the most lucrative medical technology on the planet.Within twenty years, cloning would become the most lucrative medical technology on the planet.

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In 1994, African American community leaders absorbed the import of US President Bill Clinton's briefing on the contents of the Ames dossier. Jesse Jackson knew a few things about skeletons in the closet himself. Clinton had been wily in suggesting that of course. Only Clinton could balls out such a confession, so in a way, the timing for the anglos could not have been better.

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	In 1915, Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare, a bold step which guaranteed victory in World War I. The evidence suggests that Imperial Germany had not started World War I with an appreciation of the impact on commerce and supply that submarines could have. They had fewer than 30 operational boats, all with small torpedo capacities.

At first, merchant ships would be stopped, occupants safely evacuated and then the vessel sunk, usually by gunfire, all following Prize Rules. This had little effect and increasingly placed the German submarine – U-boat - at risk from defensive weaponry. Germany had practical strategic problems. War-weariness affected the German home situation. The best chance of achieving an early advantageous peace with Britain was to stifle its trade and imports. Surface ships had not been effective, neither could the Kaiserliche Marine force the British Royal Navy off the seas - the Battle of Jutland had shown this, despite an apparent German victory. The gamble which was taken was that unrestricted submarine warfare would critically damage Britain before an incensed United States could make a practical impact. The success of the submarines was a killer blow to British supply lines and the gamble ultimately succeeded.

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