Great Escapes

In 2007, a Canadian walking in a small Northwest Territories community stumbled across what paleontologists believe could be the carcass of a steppe bison that roamed before the last Ice Age. The remains of the beast were uncovered in the permafrost near an eroding cliff, said Shane Van Loon, who first came across the pre-historic find last week while walking along the riverbank in Tsiigehtchic, about 230 kilometres south of Tuktoyaktuk.	Bison Discovery
Scientists said the find could provide information about how the animals lived and why they became extinct. "It can tell us so much more about how those bison lived and why they lived and what they were doing on the ancient landscape," Zazula said. "We are working on the over-farming theory, although another hypothesis is traumatic change brought about when the Race quit Earth unexpectedly 20,000 years ago. The discovery of an electronic security device on the bison's limb would have caused fevered speculation just a few short years ago.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1968, at Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee a fire broke out burning Roy Orbision's home to the ground. Orbison had been planning to tour England, but was still mourning the death of first wife Claudette in a freak motorcycle accident in Gallatin just two years before.	Roy Orbison
Orbison and his parents managed to carry his three sons, Roy Jr. (b. 1958), Anthony (b. June 29, 1962) and Wesley (b. May 23, 1965) to safety in a very narrow escape.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1983, after twenty long and frustrating years of searching, private detective Henry Friend found Marilyn Monroe in a hotel lounge in Arizona. As he had expected, she had retreated into the disguise of her former unglamorous self. Overweight, and with mousy hair he flattered Monroe with references to 1950s movies. He ordered a beer and some nuts, possibly as a gesture to Joe DiMaggio. Later, he would cut her head off with a saw and return it to the mob. It was a contractual requirement for private identification. Absolutely necessary before he could collect on the fee.

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

Congolese Demo	In 1960, the army said it had taken control of the West African state of Congo just ten weeks after the country was granted independence. Control over uranium supplies was quietly and quickly re-established by Western powers, who were moving fast from political to economic forms of control over the continent of Africa. It was business as usual for the imperialists, and very good business it was too.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1996, following a decade of research the historian Ken Follett published his masterpiece The Eye of the Needle. It is 1944 and weeks before D-Day. The Allies are disguising their invasion plans with a phoney armada of ships and planes. A German spy sees the inflatable tanks, the cardboard Spitfires and the whole mock-up from the ground and got back to Germany with the information. Instead of the the Germans leaving the beaches of Normandy weakly defended, they prepared for the D-Day landings and prevented the Allied invasion forces from getting a toehold.	Eye of the Needle
The history ends with Eisenhower's famous broadcast on the BBC: Our landings have failed and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Winfield Scott	In 1847, on this day Winfield Scott captured Mexico City. Three months later, Mexico was admitted to the US as the 29th state. A national hero after the Mexican War, Scott served as military governor of Mexico City. Such was his stature that, in 1852, the United States Whig Party passed over its own incumbent President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, to nominate Scott in the U.S. presidential election. Scott beat Democrat Franklin Pierce in the general election.
After the White House, Scott remained a popular national figure, receiving a brevet promotion in 1856 to the rank of lieutenant general, becoming the first American since George Washington to hold that rank.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1922, volunteer troops of the Empire Legion quit the Anglo-French garrison at Çanakkale, the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. George Washington stood on the deck of the cruiser Galveston, watching the sun set behind the city, turning the water of the Horn golden again. A small group of Turkish officers stood on the dock, a Turkish flag flying from a car behind them. Washington saluted. "Fire a twenty-one-gun salute for the new republic, Captain, and for Mustafa Kemal."	Washington
~ variant entry by Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1812, French grenadiers entered Moscow as Napoleon completed his conquest of Tsarist Russia. The struggle for the mastery of Europe was over.	Bonaparte
~ entry by Steve Payne

Day Of Infamy

The state of TIAH

January 17th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: We have a side-project that was announced over the weekend – a collection of several timelines with more-or-less complete stories inside them – The Fall, the Tolman timeline, the Mormon War and more – that will be up for sale on Lulu, as soon as we have it edited together. If you would be interested in this, or would like to suggest something for inclusion in the collection, please email me and let me know. Meanwhile, enjoy Guest Historian Stephen Payne's entry for today, followed by the continuation of our NaNoWriMo novel. Speaking of which, Guest Historian Steve Payne would like to thank both Eccles and Cheryl for pointing out that the extinction of penguins in the Northern Hemisphere in 2093 reported on January 15 is impossible given the simple fact that they live in the Southern Hemisphere. This entry has been amended and sent to the editor of Today in Alternate Geography :-) A full investigation has been launched inside the Academy and questions have been asked of Mr Payne's geography teacher!

Friedrich Paulus	In 1944 a turning point in the Great Patriotic War is reached when troops of the British Oblast accept the surrender of General Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus as the siege of Londongrad is finally raised. Within two years Tsar Alexei Nikolaevich and his British Cousins will accept the surrender ..
.. of Nazi Germany at Luneberg Heath, establishing Romanov hegemony across the continent of Europe.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1942 the 'day of infamy' pre-emptive strikes by the Axis Forces on Mers-el-Kébir and Martinique known as 'deux six un un' (2611) are avenged as the La Grande Armée Afrique shatter the British Eighth Army at Tobruk. 'The Full Monty' enters the English Language as a synonym for catastrophic ..	Charles de Gaul..
.. defeat. The gentleman in question flees westward in a staff vehicle with deputy Claude Auchinlech. Entering a sandstorm, their gyrocompasses spin out of control and they realise they are completely lost until the storm clears and they arrive in..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

George Washington..	In 1776 the defeated General George Washington is astonished by the generous ..
.. final settlement terms being offered from King George V at Buckingham Palace. Prepared for the humiliation of crushing terms for the vanquished republicans in the Colonies, rather King George V proposes a genuine partnership for Anglo-America based on local representation and self-governing taxation. 'No victors, no vanquished' chips in his shadowy adviser Ernest Shackleton by way of explanation.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1819 Simón Bolívar proclaims the Republic of Baja California, the predecessor nation to a twenty-first century mega state on the west coast. Today Spanish speaking citizens enjoy the world's highest per capita income and literacy rates.	Simón Bolívar
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

After(cont.)
Mike pulled into the parking lot of the motel and killed the engine on the SUV. “OK, let's see if we can find a way into New Mexico,” he said, tumbling out and heading to the back to get their things. Steph walked into the lobby and tried to look like a lottery winner.
“Hi,” the old woman at the counter said. “Y'all just barely made it before curfew.” She took a look at the white man outside at the SUV and the black woman in her lobby, and said suspiciously, “You gonna need two rooms?”
“Three,” Steph said, as bubbly as she could. “One for me, one for my kids, and one for my driver.”
“Your driver?” The woman looked a little relieved, as well as curious.
“I won the lottery,” Steph said, smiling and laughing, just like she'd practiced in the car. “What timing, huh?”
“Oh, my goodness,” the woman said, pleasantly flustered. “Well, congratulations.”
“Thank you.” They stared at each other for a second before Steph prompted, “My rooms?”
“Oh, yes, yes, mercy me.” The old woman took out a registry and looked for an empty. “You want 'em all together?”
“If you've got them.”
“We do. Soon's people could leave yesterday, they skedaddled out of here like the devil was chasin' 'em. Y'all are the first people to show up since then.” She looked outside. “Not that many people wanna be this close to the border with New Mexico.” She said the state's name with obvious contempt. “Figures that all them immigrants would try to take it back, you know?”
“Mm-hmm,” Steph said, non-committally. “My rooms?”
“Yes, ma'am.” The woman made a note and said, “That'll be $142.50, please.”
Steph peeled a few notes off her roll, impressing the woman, and handed them to her. “Keep the change.”
“Yes, ma'am.” The old woman surrendered the room keys and said, “They're on the other side of the building here, by the pool.”
“Thank you.”
“You're very welcome.”
Steph walked back outside and handed a key to Mike and one to Joan. “We're three together by the pool,” she told them. “Let's get into the rooms, set our things down, and then we'll get together in Mike's room to look at the map.” She looked at Mike. “Sounds like a plan?”
“You're the boss,” Mike said, smiling.

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Discovered

William Robinson, Jr.	In 1940, on this day William Robinson, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan. When still a child he was nicknamed 'Smokey Joe' by an uncle because of his love of cowboy movies. In his teens, this was shortened to 'Smokey'. Smokey led a successful career as a song-writer from the mid sixties until entering the church after a religious calling in 1986. Fellow songwriter Bob Dylan named Robinson as one of his favorite 'poets' (usually mis-quoting Dylan as having named Robinson 'America's greatest living poet'), and his hit ballads also earned him the title 'America's poet laureate of love'.
Songwriter

Mary Wells had a big hit with the Robinson-penned 'My Guy' (1964), and Robinson served as The Temptations' primary songwriter and producer from 1963 to 1966, penning hits such as 'The Way You Do the Things You Do', 'My Girl', 'Since I Lost My Baby', and 'Get Ready'. Among Robinson's numerous other Motown compositions are 'Still Water (Love)' by The Four Tops, 'Don't Mess With Bill' and 'My Baby Must Be a Magician' by The Marvelettes, 'When I'm Gone' by Brenda Holloway, 'Ain't That Peculiar' and 'I'll Be Doggone' by Marvin Gaye, and 'First I Look at the Purse' by The Contours.

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In 1915, the Battle of Gallipoli began when a strong Anglo-French task force including the British battleship Queen Elizabeth released huge quantities of mustard gas from the Sea of Marmara. Turkish troops along the coast of the Bosphurus l were decimated by this dastardly and cynical attack. Promising to avenge Troy, Mustafa Kemal escaped the gas just in the nick of time. General Sir Ian Hamilton and his Mediterranean Expeditionary Force marched into the capital and from the Hagia Sophia proclaimed the liberation of the City of Constantinople.

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Martin Luther	In 1546, following the funeral of Martin Luther in Eisleben, Holy Roman Empire, Johannes Bugenhagen took care of his widow and children. The leader of the Reformation, Luther did not trust the Vatican to execute the mission, but he did trust this, his right hand man the good Doktor Pomeranus. Together they introduced the Reformation in Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th century. Anyone who could read the 1484 Papal Witch-bull could figure out why; it would be local German Catholic priests that would rid Europe of the Unholy One and his progeny. It was a startling discovery for New Advent web master Kevin Knight, who as a 26-year-old publish the 1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia on the Internet. The 1922 supplement to the Encyclopedia is also in the public domain, but as of 2007 has not been placed on-line. Bugenhan and Luther would have not been surprised in the least.
Reformist

Bugenhagen was a name linked with Satan almost since the beginning of time. It was a Bugenhagen who, in the year 1092, found the first progeny of Satan and devised the means of putting to death. It was again a Bugenhagen in 1710 who found the second issue and damaged it to the point where it could summon no earthly power. They were religious zealots, the watch-dogs of Christ; their mission, to keep the Unholy One from walking the face of the earth. Second Supplement to the Catholic Encyclopedia published in 1922.

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In 1109 AUC, Emperor Constantius II shuts down the temples belonging to the cult of Christos, a messianic figure from the province of Judea. The cult's members had been attempting to destroy other religions within the empire, and Constantius felt that they would become a danger if allowed to grow unchecked.

In 1777, the Continental Congress, the organization of rebel leaders for the American revolution, promotes several rebel officers to the rank of Major General. New York's General Benedict Arnold is not among those elevated, and is quite bitter about that. He is close to resignation from the rebel cause when the Commander-in-Chief of the revolutionary forces, George Washington, intervenes personally and convinces the Congress to promote him. Arnold, grateful to Washington for this personal favor, does not let his commander down. He leads rebel forces in victory after victory, and is the battlefield commander when the British finally surrender at Yorktown; he accepted Lord Cornwallis' sword himself, a souvenir he kept above his mantel the rest of his life. When the young republic called on General Washington to lead it as its first president, Washington called on the man who had been his right arm to stand by his side. Washington and Arnold, as President and Vice-President, set the definitive example of the American executive. Although many New Yorkers would have liked to see him elevated again, Vice-President Arnold felt that his health was too poor to continue serving his country. He retired to his home state and died shortly after leaving office, in 1799.

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In 1847, the Donner and Reed families, settlers from Illinois heading west to California, take up their journey again after wintering at the Sierra Nevadas. They had reached the mountains in October, but decided against trying to cross them because of the possibility of being trapped there over winter. Although it was an unpopular decision, the settler's leader, George Donner, had felt intimidated by the mountains and was not ready to challenge them until spring was at least close at hand.

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Stephen R. Donaldson	In 1968, Stephen Reeder Donaldson languished in Vietnam. By inclination a conscientious objector, he had been compelled to serve in the armed forces. Much later, and after dropping out of his Ph.D. program and moving to New Jersey in order to write fiction, Donaldson made his publishing debut with the first 'Covenant' trilogy in 1977. That enabled him to move to a healthier climate. He now lives in New Mexico. Donaldson's two year compulsory military duty would be the deep undercurrent of his escapist fantasy writing. In 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever', the protagonist was a leper struggled with disempowerment in a Land he did not really believe in.
Unbeliever

'Hellfire' retored Covenant. 'You've got it backward.' He threw his words like stones at a fals image of himself. 'They coerced me into coming. It wasn't my idea. I haven't had a choice since this thing started.'With his fingers he touched his chest to remind himself of the one choice he did have. 'Unwilling,' Mhoram replied gently, 'So there is good reason for calling you 'the Unbeliever'. Well, let it pass. We will hear your tale at Council tomorrow.' ~ Vespers

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In 1981, although he had come into office expecting to reinstate the backing of the United States government for several anti-communist regimes that the Carter administration had dropped support for, President Ronald Reagan changes his mind after viewing the reports of the violence of the military government in El Salvador. 'We can't put the prestige of America behind that,' he says of the Salvadoran military. Without US aid, El Salvador's revolutionaries win the struggle 4 years later, and President Reagan extends the hand of the United States in friendship. It is gratefully accepted, and this action is often credited as keeping El Salvador out of the communist bloc.

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	In 1997, BBC News reported - 'China's reformist Deng Xiaoping dies: China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping has died at the age of 92 after suffering from failing health for several years.' Doctors believed that over-excitement about visiting the newly reacquired Hong Kong was the tipping point. Deng Xiaoping had spent lavish amounts of money on clothes and travel arrangements and was extremely excited about the defeat of the British Empire.
Deng Xiaoping

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28 Days Later	In 2001, BBC News reported : Foot-and-mouth scare at UK abbatoir - A five-mile exclusion zone is placed around an abbatoir in Essex after a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease is detected. It was too little, too late - the Rage was now entering the blood stream of the population as the country descended into madness.
The Rage

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In 1961, BBC News report: 1961: Lumumba rally clashes with UK police - Police battle with supporters of the murdered Congolese premier outside the Belgian embassy in London. Agitators were in the pocket of the Belgian government in an attempt to make the situation in the Congo look less contrived when in fact events had been carefully staged managed. Extreme measures had been taken to murder Patrice Lumumba and bring Mobuto to power. His kleptocracy was a great cover for the continued supply of uranium to Western Europe.

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In 2002, NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe began to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system. David Bowie was right, there really were Spiders on Mars.

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In 1939, Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling became the first local, non-German force to attempt conquest from within. The coup d'etat failed, but that was only the beginning of the troubles for the Axis powers. The Allies start taking up strong military positions early in southern Norway, and northern Norway too. Norway takes out huge loans from the US for an emergency buildup. Norway begins its buildup around October 1st, 1939 and France takes up positions around October 7th, 1939.