Return of the Fish Era

In 1621, at the Narragansett Bay pilgrims tied down indigenes and inserted shafts into their colons. The shafts were then removed if the indigenes agreed to help the settlers, a process known as colonisation. After almost a year on Turtle Island, misery shrouded the settlement as the pilgrims realised their crops had failed and there would not be enough food for the winter. The indigenes had refused to help the setttlers, and desperation compelled the pigrims to force the indigenes to help them by any means necessary. The most effective methods employed was colonisation.

~ variant from Guest Historian Kwame Dallas: web master of I Want to Remember.

In 2007, a fiery twenty year dispute within the progband Marillon reached a predictably explosive conclusion following Fish's concert at the 'Hobbles On The Cobbles' in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on 26 August 2007.	Marillion
The band was formed in 1979 as Silmarillion, named for J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Silmarillion, by Mick Pointer, Steve Rothery, and others. They played their first gig at Berkhamsted Civic Centre on 1 March 1980 and shortened their name to Marillion in 1981. Over the next six years they enjoyed both artistic and commercial success, and a loyal fan base with "the Web" Fan club at the core. Live musicians at heart Marillion over-toured, and by the mid-80s, lyricist and lead singer Fish (real name Derek Dick) was suffering burn-out. Also, there were some familiar alarming signs, such as appearing under the name "Fish with Marillion", always a sure sign of a schism in a progband. Their 1987 classic album Clutching at Straws was frighteningly self-referential, dealing with alcoholism, despair and depression. Shortly afterwards, Fish walked out with his lyrics which he used in his next three solo albums. If the Fish Era was over, the Hogarth era was just beginning. Trouble was, it just wasn't the real thing for fans, although it did help the live musicians of the progband continue their careers with very limited commercial success. Due to legal wrangles, the band did not speak until 1999. In the mean-time, the more photogenic performer Steve 'H' Hogarth took the lead singer's position and enabled the band to carry on performing, which ultimately was their desire and also their dispute with Fish. Seventeen years of speculation about reforming were considering nonsense given the bad feelings amongst the former line-up and because Steve Hogarth stepped in at a difficult moment. In August 2007, during Fish's concert at the 'Hobbles On The Cobbles' in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire; the "classic" Marillion line-up was reformed for a one off performance of 'Market Square Heroes'. The band had previously made it clear that this was not a prelude to a full reunion with Fish. They had a drink together after the show - and then a couple more. Then a few more. In a press interview following the event, Fish suggested this one-off opportunity could lead to a full reuion, saying that Hogarth "does a sh*t job with the band. The rest of us forged different path [artistic rather than commercial] over the 28 years". H is currently exploring solo opportunities.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Berlin Baghdad Railway

In 2010, in the Oberkommando office in Berlin, Heinrich Gimpel glanced at the report on his desk. The Berlin-Baghdad Railway was being assessed again, and Gimpel needed to make sure sufficient Reichmarks were collected. In fact, the numbers were up from 2009. No matter, the Irakis were hardly in a position to grumble; if they did, panzer divisions might roll out of the Wehrmacht bases in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and Kirkuk.

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

Madonna	In 1984, people were gasping in the audience at the MTV Video Music Awards as the career of Madonna Louise Ciccone imploded. The artist was briefly known in the abbreviated form as "Madonna" before entering obscurity. Ciccone's longtime publicist, Liz Rosenberg - "An ex-boyfriend of mine leaned over and said, 'Her career is over before it even started.' Of course, I was petrified."
Madonna wore a lascivious reinterpretation of a wedding gown -- a white bustier and a shredded white tutu -- accessorized with lace gloves, dangerously high heels, clunky necklaces and a tulle veil that didn't stay on her head very long. She started her performance dancing on top of a giant wedding cake and ended it by rolling around the stage at New York's Radio City Music Hall, humping her veil and revealing her panties to a live TV audience. "Madonna took it so much further than anyone knew she was capable of," says Rosenberg. "Everyone thought she was disgusting."
~ entry from Steve Payne

In 2008, the Olympic Committee faced a difficulty choice for the location of the 2016 Games. Applications had been received from the two most powerful nations in the world - the Germanic Empire and the Confederate States of America. The decision was for Leesburg, the regional capital of the Confederate State of Mexico. Both the Committee and the Confederate leadership were keen to embrace diversity in the early twenty-first century. Given the nationalist pressures building up in the Confederacy's central and southern America territories, it was hoped that the choice would be viewed favourably in terms of symbolism rather than expediency.

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

McKinley	In 1901, on this day at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz. The bullet deflected off a button, and did not seriously injure the President. The failure of the assassination attempt was to prove highly significant in retrospect. With McKinley serving a full term, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt did not enter the White House until 1905 and was in office at the outbreak of World War I, to which he immediately committed US forces.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 2127, a terrible discovery is made in Doha, Qatar - an unknown perpetrator has stolen the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device and reversed history – again. Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani must decide on the next steps. He sips from a Starbucks Styrofoam cup, this really was great coffee. Perhaps a world without a Jihad would be – how shall we say – more hedonistically exciting as a consumer?	Mullah
~ entry by Steve Payne

Mayflower	In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America. With continental Europe ravaged by the Plague, England sought to establish facts on the ground with Colonies on the Eastern seaboard. However Spanish plague ships brought the pandemic to the New World and the Pilgrims were all dead by 1635.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1966, the architect of Apartheid, Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd was stabbed to death in the House of Assembly by Dimitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary clerk, who escaped the death penalty on the grounds of insanity, saying that a large worm in his stomach told him to kill Verwoerd. Surgeons discovered that Tsafendas had been transplanted with a bug inserted by early-21st century black abolitionist South African time-travellers.	Bug
Given a fresh hope for the future, the South African government succeeded in remaining power just long enough to obtain the time travel technology, where upon they sent their own agent back to save Verwoerd. This created a temporal loop, which required the intervention of agents from the nexus of time to intervene by introducing the super-agent known to us all as Nelson Mandela.
~ entry by Steve Payne struck by connection with the movie the "Matrix", and Turtledove's "Guns of the South"

Cleveland Speaks To The Farmers

The state of TIAH

April 11th, 2007

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in 1891, Major Mark Wainwright and his small band of soldiers reach Kansas City and slip through, thanks to the general chaos in the city. Wainwright sends a telegram back east to Washington to let his superiors know that former President Cleveland has been taken captive, as have the majority of the major's men. He adds that he will proceed on into Missouri and wait for orders at the nearest telegraph office. Meanwhile, President Cleveland is given an audience with the Farmer's Council that, with 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson at its head, has assumed control of Kansas. “Gentlemen,” he says to them, “I understand your grievances and desire for redress. I, myself, have felt the cold sting of injustice within recent years, as you well know. But, within our nation's democratic institutions, we have the means for addressing your concerns. This unlawful usurpation of state government will not end well, gentlemen. In fact, given the great power of the nation surrounding you, it can only end in your arrest or death. I implore you, therefore, to surrender the government back to the men who were duly elected to it, and give up before more blood is shed in this useless endeavor.” Although most of the council is moved by Cleveland's words, Simpson stands to answer him. “Mr. President, although you have spoken eloquently of our great institutions and their ability to right wrongs, your own history gives the lie to that. Your office was stolen out from under you by men who place the pursuit of power and their own personal greed higher than the good of the nation. We saw such men in control here in Kansas. Now they are not.” Addressing the rest of the council, he concludes, “I would recommend our methods to take care of Washington, rather than Washington's methods to take care of us.”

in 1998, the Saturday before Easter Sunday, Great Britain braces for the kingdom's decision. Catholic churches are guarded by Pendrake's followers, and the Church of England has military watching its doors. Prime Minister Pembroke pleads, “This is the Lord's day. Please do not use it as an excuse for violence.” Arthur Pendrake, for his part, lets those who would see him as king know that they must not initiate aggression, but they should not hesitate to respond to it.

First Nations	In 2058 and 1492 the First Nation indigenes who have entered the Bering Strait tunnel on their return to Asia have been transported back to the Turtle Island known as America c1492. The Mesh has brought them home safely, and now they can participate in the First Nation consciousness linking the Turtle Island to the Dream ..
.. time. The Mesh will ensure that they will not be troubled.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1824 the Bureau of Indian Affairs opened for business, one month after the United States War Department created the agency. The 8th President of the United States, Martin Van Buren used the Bureau as a stratagem to prevent the War of the States. By 1837 the economic tension between the Union and the Southern states had ..	Martin Van Bure..
.. narrowed in focus to the issue of the genocide of the American indigenes and the War of the States was about to break out.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Washington Loca..	In 1867 opponents of the Alaska Purchase criticise the Treaty as Seward's folly, Seward's icebox, and Andrew Johnson's polar bear garden, because it was believed foolhardy to spend so much money on the remote region. In 1945 a future US President Harry S Truman would also describe the detractors as being both completely ..
.. right and absolutely wrong.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1921 the Emirate of Transjordan was created. In 1948 territory was ceded to the State of Palestine when the nation adopted the current name of the Kingdom of Jordan.	The British Man..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Groundhog Day, Redux

The state of TIAH

February 3rd, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Obviously, we just escaped from a Groundhog Day - the time loop prevented us from posting, so we are thankful for having a Guest Historian to step in today! Sorry about that delay; one of the dangers of working at the nexus of so many alternate realities... Anyway, now that our NaNoWriMo novel, After, has been concluded, we are beginning work on a new project – a collection of several timelines with more-or-less complete stories inside them – The Fall, the Tolman timeline, the Mormon War, the Lascaux Cave story, and more – that will have After included with it. Once they're edited together, we'll put the lot up for sale on Lulu. 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. And, speaking of side projects, Guest Historian Stephen Payne has one, Crimson Kiss, available for free on Lulu. Check it out.

Sitting Bull	In 1871 the counter-history Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (BMHAWK) is published by the gifted Sioux author Tatanka Iyotake. In the what-if world of BMHAWK, indigenes were unable to summon the powerful magicks required to prevent the invasion of the fork-tongues. Literary critics in the ..
.. great Sioux nation ridiculed the fictional novel as preposterous, and henceforth Tatanka Iyotake was known by the comic name Sitting Bull.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1787 the armed uprising in western Massachusetts known as Shays' Rebellion ignites the eastern seaboard, dissolving the United States. Crushing debt and taxes fueled by a revolutionary fervor simply will not be denied even after Independence. Today, autonomous states govern the North ..	Shays Rebellion
.. American continent; every schoolchild knows that the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave was made possible by this liberating anarchy.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Pierre Laval	In 1941 Anglo-American Fascists forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1945 the Soviet Union agreed to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan. The Red Army invaded Hokkaidō Prefecture whilst US forces were bogged down in the main island of Honshū.	Hokkaidō Prefec..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Coalition of the Unwilling

Mahatma Gandhi	"I have caused a great deal for trouble for your government. But as men, we can set aside our differences for welfare of the nation."The following year, Gandhi met face to face with Churchill during the Indian round table conference -- "...I have an alternative that is unpleasant to you" he told Churchill and his clan of imperialists. " India demands complete liberty and freedom...the same liberty that Englishmen enjoy... and I want India to become a partner in the Empire. I want to partner with the English people ... not merely for mutual benefit, but so that the great weight that is crushing the world to atoms may be lifted from its shoulders". ~ Mahatma Gandhi, "Half Naked Fakir"
"Half Naked Fakir"

Before we knew for sure if Winston Churchill meant if when he said he would not preside over the end of the British Empire. Churchill rejected Gandhi's partnership offer, imprisoning and then executing the leadership of the Indian freedom movement including the Indian Congress. The tragic story of Britain's brutal response to the Indian Emergency in 1945 was recounted in journalist Adrienne Gormley's Children of Tears.

~ quotation by Steve Payne

In 1976, with fresh cunning, the vampires and the infected broke into recluse Robert Neville's fortified home, seized him, dragged him out into the street screaming.

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

Ho Chi Minh	In 1969, Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh died in the Vietnamese capitol of Hanoi. Ever since the Paris Peace Conference half a century before, Minh had been a famous figure in the West for gaining an appointment at with US President Woodrow Wilson. Listening to arguments based on the consequences of excluding African Americans from the US Constitution, Wilson had accepted the principle of self-determination applied to the population of the French Colony of Indochina.
Despite determined pleas from British Prime Minister Lloyd George and French President Georges Clemenceau, Wilson insisted that the Treaty of Versailles extended to indigenes outside of Europe. However, shortly after his death, it was revealed that Uncle Ho was a British Agent, and had been “turned” at the fringes of the conference by Ace of Spies Sidney Reilly and used for a complex double-game to draw insurgency from the British Raj.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 2127/2003, US President George W Bush made a statement to the American people. A great debate had raged inside the governments of Britain and America. Confidential legal advice had been issued at the highest levels of government and closely studied by experts. Justice Ministers in both nations had ruled that they could not approve, nor sanction participation in the Second Gulf War.	George Bush
Anglo-American involvement in a land invasion of Iraq would be illegal due to the absence of a UN Security Council Resolution explicitly sanctioning participation by the “coalition of the willing”. Whilst he strongly disagreed, he accepted the outcome. Democracy had triumphed. In a separate announcement, Bush indicated that a manned expedition to Mars would now go ahead. Onwards and upwards, that was the key message!
~ entry by Steve Payne

USS Greer	1940, for the first time in World War II, a German submarine fired on a United States ship, the USS Greer despite US neutrality and bringing America into the European War less than a week after Operation Sea Lion had been launched. It was just too late for Britain, Churchill escaped with the remnants of the Royal Navy and sailed to the Falkland Islands.
Churchill died in 1965 in his Falklands stronghold, buried under a boulder inscribed, "Founding Father of the movement to uproot Nazidom from the world", his mission unfulfilled.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1951, the first live transcontinental television broadcast took place in San Francisco, California, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference. Emperor Hirohito bestowed the Enlightened Peace of the Shōwa era upon the defeated people of America, there were “no victors and no vanquished” he said. Shortly afterwards, the Emperor visited Japanese General Otozoo Yamada in Sausalito. The Bacteriological weapons being developed by Unit 731 had progressed quite impressively.	Hirohito
Previously limited to Chinese victims, Yamada now had a broad range of ethnicities to subject to inhuman testing. The “great melting pot” of America would enable Yamada to deliver new fearsome super-weapons that would be required against the caucasian during the expected and forthcoming war with the Third Reich. Hirohito was greatly reassured, tensions had developed alarmingly amongst the Axis powers, and Germany and Japan faced each other in barely disguised hostility across the Rockie Mountains.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 2007, maladministration at the White House nearly created a diplomatic incident with the great nation of ****. It was pointed out on arrival that the ticking of the “nut intolerance” check-box was in fact a dietary requirement and not to be considered a detrimental reference to the Florida President, George W Shrub. But you never can tell.

~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne

The Wolf At Night

The state of TIAH

January 25th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: We have a side-project that we are working on – 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. And, speaking of side projects, Guest Historian Stephen Payne has one, Crimson Kiss, available for free on Lulu. Check it out after you enjoy his entry for today, an entry of our own, and the continuation of our NaNoWriMo novel.

Adolf Hitler	In 1947 at 2am in Reykjavik, Iceland Adolf Hitler bursts into Princess Elizabeth's bedroom via the balcony. After a short delay a sharpshooting member of the Royal family enters the suite from a hidden door and fires a silver bullet into the lycanthrope's heart, killing him instantly.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1940 shortly after the visit of King George to France, Sir Winston Churchill gave a speech proposing a Federal Union between France and Britain. The proposal is accepted and on 21st May their joint forces execute the Weygand Plan. The German armoured spearhead is pinched off by combined ..	Winston Churchi..
.. attacks from the north and the south, crushing von Kleist's two Panzer Corps. In a startling and unexpected result, Franco-Britain emerges from the Battle of France as the world's first superpower.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Ojibwa chief	In 2057 senior officers of Cross-border Homeland Security in the US and Canada receive intelligence that the spirit of the north known as the Wendigo has ordered First Nation indigenes to cross the Bering Strait and return to Asia, quitting the Turtle Island known as America after 12,000 years.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1792 the London Corresponding Society (LCS) was established as a moderate-radical body concentrating on parliamentary reform in the 1790s. In reality it was a secret society full of rabid socialists who overthrew the monarchy, dismantled the British Empire and executed Queen Victoria ..	Queen Victoria
.. as it dragged the country kicking and screaming into the enlightened age of the nineteenth century.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

in 2001, after the first anniversary of the New World Order, European Union President and admitted Anti-Christ Morris Appleby is attacked by a small band of Christian militants during the televised opening of a new food center for sub-Saharan Africa. The exasperated demonic figure is sliced through the head by one of the militants before they can be captured. He assumes his horned, red-skinned form for a moment, prompting the militants to cry out to the camera, “See? See what he is?” After resuming his human form, Appleby says, “Like they didn't already know. Gits.” The militants are taken to a reeducation center, where they are lovingly and carefully taught to wait for 6 more years and not to attack any more “sinners” in the meantime.

After(cont.)
President Bush said, “I should go down and talk with Rick. He can call back the Guard, and we can head to Washingon.”
“You mean Governor Perry?” Janice was still a little shaken and red-eyed from the last couple of deaths she had witnessed. “What if he's part of all this? Then you just put yourself in his hands.”
“She's right, Mr. President.” Jake had a small bag with the few things that Kevin had been carrying on him, and was moving the three of them back to the car they had taken from the Crawford compound. “Our best bet is to get you to the resistance being led by Senator Kerry in New Mexico.”
The president's face took on a sour look. “Leading a resistance, huh? Typical.”
“He does become the president next month.” Janice tried to contain the smirk she wanted to give him.
“I guess that's why they did this now.” Bush's expression grew even more bitter. “Wanted to take control with my security double while I was still in office.”
Janice looked like she had just had a line ticced on a mental checklist. “You have a security double?”
“Yep.” He climbed into the front seat of the sedan. Jake took the driver's seat and Janice climbed into the back. “Kind of a shock when they brought him in to tell me he was going back to Washington as me. Didn't even try offering me the job.”
Janice felt compelled to ask, “Would you have taken it?”
The two of them locked eyes for several seconds before he answered her, “I s'pose not. Would have been nice to have been offered, is all.”
“Mm-hhm.”
Jake drove out of the hospital and headed towards the highway. “Wherever we go, we need to keep public and loud. As long as people know we got the president with us, we're OK. If somebody tries to get him away from us, or get us all someplace isolated, we make a loud noise. Y'all understand?” They both nodded. “We need someplace where people love the president, but probably aren't part of the coup.”
Janice picked up the small bag with Kevin's possessions. “We needed to check on his dog, anyway.”

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Last and Only Hopes

In 2026, Captain Wilder told his children that the Red Planet represented the anglo's last and only hope. Almost five centuries before, they had quit Europe, carrying a deadly plague that decimated the indigenes of the Turtle Island. However, the madness had travelled with the anglos - the First Nation genocide and then the States War. Finally, very finally, the bomb. The Earth had exploded in the inferno of nuclear war, resulting in the Million Year Picnic the Wilder Family were now enjoying.

President-elect Gore	In 2007,Mike Resnick issued "Alternate Tyrants Part 2" including the controversial short story "Y". In a thinly disguised reference to "W", the United States Supreme Court releases a decision on a disputed President election. To unite the country, the Court proposes a joint inauguration followed by the candidates sharing the presidency with each serving a two-year term.
Best practice had been established by an indecisive election in Israel during 1984 when Prime Ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres agreed to the same power-sharing formula. Without the luxury of a full-term to plan and launch an invasion of a Middle Eastern country, the Republican camp falls upon a national security pretext to delay the Democratic Candidates two-year occupancy.

Advertisement	In 1976/1767/1750, Thalmus Rasulala, Cicely Tyson, LeVar Burton and Omoro Kinte converge on Annapolis, Maryland. Somehow they must release Alex Haley from bondage and return him to the year 1976, where he must must publish “Roots: The Saga of an American Family”. According to an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette newspaper, the Africans are to be sold into slavery on October 7.

In 2000, Stephen E. Ambroke published Eisenhower Victorious: The D-Day Options. In this counter-history, the Communist insurgency in China wins through, and Chairman Mao defeats the Kuomintang. Rejecting Truman at the 1948 election, Americans turn to General Douglas MacArthur to reconquer the Pacific for good. Brass Hat dusts off his plans for Operation Downfall and plays them out in the vast interior of China rather than the Japanese Islands, supported by the launching of fifty nuclear missiles at Manchuria. MacArthur also deploys Bacteriological weapons that Unit 731 surrendered to him in 1945 to secure the amnesty of the Japanese scientists against trial for the extermination of 200,000 Chinese citizens during World War II.	What If?
Korea and Vietnam are re-united, Chiang Kai-shek re-instated in Beijing, where he meekly returns with the entire gold and foreign currency reserves had taken on his flight to Formosa. After all, the book asks, how could America use the bomb and Japan, and then permit China to be lost?

T.E. Lawrence	In 1946, outside a building complex on Fürtherstrasse 22 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany Commander of the British Eighth Army Colonel T.E. Lawrence and subordinates Bernard Law Montgomery, Archibald Percival Wavell and Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck were shot on this day. They considered themselves betrayed by a group of Egyptian officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat, who secretly sided with the Germans, ridding North Africa of Britain's presence. The Egyptian officers themselves had no opinion, they were so many holes in the desert, having been betrayed themselves by Heydrich who had established a German Protectorate on the Nile.

In 1535, Jacques Cartier discovered Montreal, Quebec. Despite efforts by British to invade New France, and several referendums from federalists, Quebec remains a Francophone pocket in North America. In the famous words of Charles de Gaulle in 1967 Vive le Québec libre ! (Long live free Quebec!).	De Gaulle

The Belfast Agreement

The state of TIAH

April 10th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Well, I survived the first day at the new job, and my daughter let me sleep last night, so I feel much better today! On with the alternate history...

in 1891, Major Mark Wainwright, commander of the soldiers who had accompanied former President Cleveland to Topeka, breaks out of the camp where he and his men are being kept, and frees a dozen other soldiers, as well. Together, they sneak into the governor's mansion and attempt to spring Cleveland from his guarded room. The former president, though, wishes to stay in an attempt to negotiate with the rebel leader Simpson. “I cannot give up on peaceful solutions yet,” he tells Wainwright, “but save your men and get out of the state. Get back to Washington and tell them that I am confident that an answer to this situation can be found without further bloodshed.” The major reluctantly agrees, and he and his small group slip out of Topeka and head east. When 'Sockless' Simpson is informed of the escape, he harangues Cleveland for several minutes about honor, which the former president sits through patiently. When Simpson finally winds down, Cleveland says, “Sir, as much as you may question my honor, I am still here when I had the perfect opportunity for escape. My honor in this matter, therefore, has been put on display. Yours, on the other hand, is still a matter of debate. Now, you may continue to berate me, or we can begin working on a solution to all of our problems.”

in 1998, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues a call for all good subjects of the realm to attend their local Church of England on Easter morning. Arthur Pendrake's appeal is growing throughout Great Britain, and the queen is feeling the pressure of his popularity. Prime Minister Pembroke is also feeling threatened – Pendrake has begun speaking of a return to an absolute monarchy and abolition of Parliament. He deploys a couple of the agents that the Central European Empire has put at his disposal to destabilize Arthur's organization.

First Nations	In 2058 Russian Immigration and Customs officers are unable to find the First Nation indigenes who have entered the Bering Strait tunnel on their return to Asia, quitting the Turtle Island known as America after 12,000 years.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1629 Charles I of England dissolved Parliament, starting the Eleven Years Tyranny in which there was no parliament. During his reign and that of his son Charles II, there moments when democracy might have made a comeback, but it was not to be. The nascent British Empire was given an appropriate governance structure; effective ..	King Charles I
.. and dynamic Stuart rule was of course superior to an assembly of laypeople, a model which could not possibly work in the global superstate which survives to this day.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Washington Loca..	In 1867 Secretary of State William Seward and chairman of the Senate committee Charles Sumner published an article in the New York Herald in which they lambasted the United States Senate for blocking the Alaska Purchase. They argued that the nation's strategic interests favoured the treaty. Russia had been a valuable ally ..
.. during the Civil War, while Britain had been a nearly open enemy. It seemed wise to help Russia while discomfiting the British. Furthermore there was the matter of adjacent territory belonging to Britain (and now part of Canada). Nearly surrounded by the United States they were of little strategic value to Britain and might someday be purchased. In 1945 a future US President Harry S Truman would describe the proponents as being  both absolutely wrong and completely right .
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1998 on this day the Belfast Agreement was signed, codifying the Downing Street Declaration of 1993. The Head of the Southern Department Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern agreed that the Irish would increase their participation in the cross-border governance of north and south England.	Bertie Ahern
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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After - conclusion

The state of TIAH

January 31st, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Today we're going to conclude the presentation of After, our NaNoWriMo novel. We will then begin work on a side-project – a collection of several timelines with more-or-less complete stories inside them – The Fall, the Tolman timeline, the Mormon War, the Lascaux Cave story, and more – that will have After included with it. Once they're edited together, we'll put the lot up for sale on Lulu. 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. And, speaking of side projects, Guest Historian Stephen Payne has one, Crimson Kiss, available for free on Lulu. Check it out.

Harry S Truman	In 1950 President Harry S. Truman announced a program to develop the hydrogen bomb. Agonisingly, the perverse result of the 1952 presidential race resulted in his passage of the technology to President-elect Douglas MacArthur, a megalomaniac who he had dismissed for requesting thirty to ..
.. fifty nuclear strikes in Manchuria to reach a decision in the Korean War.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1995 Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León authorizes a $20 billion loan to enable the United States to stabilize its economy as President Bill Clinton makes fresh attempts to lift the broken nation from the ashes of defeat in the Cold War.	Ernesto Zedillo
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Charles the Bol..	In 1951 the Duchy of Burgundy joins neighbour state France in the European Economic Community. The two French nations had previously remained independent ever since Charles the Bold's victory at the Battle of Nancy in 1477.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1876 The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations. These would finally empty in 2059 as the indigenes quit the Turtle Island known to the European Tourist as America.	Native American..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

in 2007, as Heavenly forces break down the walls of New Babylon, now-former European Union President and current Anti-Christ Morris Appleby kneels before the last Christian priest in his domain and confesses his sins. Just after he asks for forgiveness and takes Jesus into his heart, the Host bursts in on him. “My brethren,” he announces to them, “I am now one of you.”

After(conclusion)
It took a few days, but Senator Kerry and President Bush unraveled the coup as they advanced across the country and entered Washington, D.C. The generals and CIA men who were at the top of the conspiracy were thrown into jail, and Senator Kerry promised that when he took office as president the next month, they would be stuck in a jail cell for the rest of their lives. The nation's pundits found the coup the perfect example of the perfidy of the other side, no matter which side of the political spectrum they fell on.
Ordinary people tried to pull their lives back together. Jake and Mike moved into the Johnson's house across the street from Steph. Mike found the presence of a former sergeant oddly comforting, and Jake – well, Jake spent a lot of time with Janice. Janice published a book about the coup which became a major bestseller, and made her small group of friends heroes. She spent a lot of time traveling around the country, with Jake by her side, giving lectures on how the paranoid atmosphere of 2004 contributed to the near-success of the governmental overthrow.
Steph became the most popular real estate agent at her office; everyone wanted to be sold their new home or office by the agent who had saved the president. Even when she self-deprecatingly told them that she had only been part of the group, they still asked to hear about it. She didn't like to talk about it too much, because it made her think of Kevin; but she usually indulged them a bit. It really helped her sales figures.
Joan and George became the most popular kids at their schools, regaling the student body with their tales of life on the run, agents busting into their house, and dead bodies everywhere. George, in particular, embellished a few of the stories to make himself more central, but no one really took him to task about it.
Kevin's sister Rene sold his house, but took his dog. She used the money that she inherited from him to fund a scholarship for promising students of computer science. She felt that he would have wanted something for people to remember him by, if he couldn't enjoy the money himself.

On the anniversary of the coup, the 6 Austinites got together at Steph's place for dinner. After the fine meal, Janice raised a glass of wine. “To Kevin and Eli,” she said. The others toasted, the adults with wine and the kids with soda. After a moment of silence for their departed friends, the kids cleared off the table and went to bed while the adults gathered in the living room.
“There are days when it almost seems like it didn't happen,” Mike said, looking out Steph's window. “Everything's just the same as it always was.”
“No, it's different.” Janice plopped herself down on the couch by Jake. “A lot more people are reading conspiracy web sites.”
Steph smiled as she took a seat in her big recliner. “Who could blame them?”
“I'm getting, like, half a million hits a day,” Mike said, proudly. “You wouldn't believe the ad revenues.”
Jake shook his head. He was not entirely comfortable with how they made their money these days. “It's a little hard for me to accept that we're all making a nice livin' off of something that almost destroyed our country.”
“Almost,” Janice reminded him. “But, it didn't. We're stronger than that. That's what all these little petty wannabe dictators forget about us. We're way too attached to freedom to just let it go cuz of a fake nuke.”
“Let's not talk about it anymore,” Steph said. “I have to talk about it with clients all the time.”
“OK,” Janice said, “but you're really cutting down on my conversational repertoire.”
“Hey,” Mike said, turning back to the group, “what do you think they would've done if Kerry hadn't won the election?” He wilted a bit as Steph glared at him. “What? That's an entirely different subject.”
“I don't want to talk about alternate reality again,” Steph said. She looked over at Janice and Jake. “He talks about that all the time when y'all are off on your book tours. He comes over here for dinner, and talks to kids about this new site he found about alternate history. Now, it's finally gotten Joanie interested in history, so it's not all bad, but you should hear some of the crazy things they talk about.”
“Well, there are changes I'd make in this one,” Jake said, putting his arm around Janice's shoulders, “but this reality seems to have worked out all right.”
“There's a change I'd make,” Steph said, looking with just a slight twinge of envy at the happy couple.
“Me, too,” Mike said, looking back outside. “Of course, we wouldn't have met each other without the coup. Except for Janice and me; and you two, I guess, because of the whole married to each other thing.” He shut his mouth to contain the tumble of words.
“Life is strange,” Janice said. “You never know where it's going to take you.”
“Good places, sometimes,” Jake said, holding her hand.
“And bad,” Mike said, looking out the window again.
“Like you said last year,” Steph told them. “Interesting times.”

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Men of Peace and Good Temper

Alternate Historian says, construction work continues at the Academy. A richer story format for TIAH is being prepared for 2008. For now, we've implemented the new presentation style but not the new hyperlinked metadata tags feature which will be released 1st January 2008. Please email the Alternate Historian with your comments on the already underway developments, or better still some new ideas!

Richard Nixon	"I think some of these young people need what my father would call a visit to the woodshed." ~ Richard Nixon Before the mysterious deaths of numerous counter-culture personalities during his Presidency, including Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix..
President

In 2026, the peaceful tranquillity of the “old ones” of the planet Tyrr was briefly interrupted when they received an unexpected visit from delivery boy Benjamin Driscoll. A Caucasian man of middle years, he had made the journey to deliver a package, which was disrespectfully labelled Mars in the style of the people of the third planet. "There's your free AOL CD - party on, spiritual ancient martian doods!" he said already heading back towards Xi City.

In 1968, a fourth-generation German American was living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much). Those easy circumstances were about to change. Big time. Kurt Vonnegut was about to become unstuck in space. He had been unstuck in time ever since his capture in December 1944. As an American Infantry Scout, Hors de Combat, Vonnegut had witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany "The Florence of the Elbe" and survived to tell that tale. However, that was only the beginning of the epic voyage of this incredible human being.

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US President

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In 1881, upon the death of James A. Garfield, Vice President Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States, being re-elected twice to serve for a total of eleven years. Voted best President of all time during numerous polls, publisher Alexander K. McClure wrote, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired… more generally respected." Author Mark Twain, deeply cynical about politicians, conceded, "It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration."	Chester Alan Ar..

Lee Iacocca	In 1979, in a dramatic coup for the new elected Government of Margaret Thatcher, Lee Iacocca was appointed Chief Executive of British Leyland. Re-branding the failed motor giant as the Rover Group, he staged an incredible turnaround such that the MG Metro was Europe's most popular vehicle throughout much of the 1990s.

In 1962, the first African-American student James Meredith was barred from entering the University of Mississippi. His enrolment, opposed by Governor Ross Barnett, sparked riots on the Oxford campus, which required federal troops and U.S. Marshals, which were sent by President John F. Kennedy. Barnett made no effort to soften his harsh opinion of African-Americans, freely using racial epithets in his campaign speeches.	James Meredith
His belief that "the Negro is different because God made him different to punish him" helped earn him the endorsement of the notorious White Citizens' Council. We know now that Barnett was one the leader southern governors behind the conspiratorial assassination of JFK at Dallas the following year. This event parachuted Lyndon Baines Johnson into office, where he launched the Great White Society, reversing Civil Rights gains since Brown v. Board of Education and turning the clock back to 1954.