Hitler Marries; Andersonville Liberated

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE: we have our second anniversary coming up on May 27th, and we would like to have another contest. For our second anniversary, send us up to three of your own alternate histories, and we will publish the best - no limit on how many will end up on the final page! We would like to see as many of you enter this as possible, so please - think 'em up, write 'em down, and send 'em on to us at rat4cat@gmail.com! Help us celebrate our 2nd year of existence in style! Oh, and if you're like Sean and we owe you an appearance in TIAH - email us!

April 29th, 2006

in 1429, a young French peasant girl who had convinced the French Dauphin that God had sent her to liberate Orleans led French soldiers against the British besieging the town. When the British cut her army to pieces and captured her, they put her on display as proof of the lunacy of the French cause. The young girl, Jean D'Arc, was then imprisoned in a British nunnery, where she spent her days asking God why he had abandoned her.

in 1915, a minor mutiny on one of his ships causes Admiral Esteban Rodriquez to rethink his report on the Kainku. Crew that had been in contact for several days with the aliens had refused orders and almost caused the ship to crash into the Kainku world below them. Admiral Rodriquez decided to stay and investigate further.

in 1945, German Reich Fuehrer Adolf Hitler marries his niece, Angelika Raubal. Although his neo-Nazi benefactors do not approve of the union, he is quite insistent on it, so they give it as little publicity across the Reich as they can. When he kills her in a jealous fit over her affairs two years later, that is hushed up, as well.

in 1969, Comrade Edward K. Ellington received the Medal of Freedom for his lifetime of work popularizing the communist lifestyle abroad. As a composer and musician, Ellington was allowed to travel to the European monarchies that didn’t approve of the Soviet States of America and speak freely to his audiences about life in the S.S.A.

in 1988, one of Hollywood’s happiest couples wed. Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson have defied Tinseltown’s jinx on marriages and are still in wedded bliss today, almost 20 years later. Their two sons, Burt Jr. and Quinton Reynolds, have even appeared with their parents in shows like Cannonball Run.

in 1992, under intense pressure, the jury hearing the case against the officers who had beaten Los Angeles motorist Rodney King found all the officers guilty as charged. Although the officers protested, the rest of L.A. breathed a sigh of relief at the verdict. Even though the sentencing was exceedingly light – 2 years was the maximum time any of the officers spent in jail – the black community felt that they had finally been given justice.

in 1997, the Andersonville death camp, an old Civil War prisoner camp that had been reopened by the Constitutionalists, was liberated by British and Egyptian forces. Hardened soldiers wept openly at the plight of the men, women and children who had been forced to live in this camp.

in 2005, dimensional rips caused an outbreak of the plague at the Alternate History Academy, delaying its regular posting of important events in history that never occurred today. Although steps were taken to seal such rifts, they opened again the next year and caused another break of plague. The Academy is still working on sealing such holes.

in 2005, Chelsea Perkins meets Debra Morris at the Council of Wisdom and together they run into Alma May Watson. The three young women had lunch together and went for a walk about London, ending up the day in a small shop called Druid's Grove. The proprietor, Patience Redding, seems a little surprised by Chelsea, almost as if she recognizes the young American.

Timelines in today's post: the GZR, the Mlosh, Communist America, the Ralph Shephard timeline and the Chelsea Perkins timeline.

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Previously

Heribert Illig	In 1711/2008, as postulated seventeen years before by Heribert Illig, compelling new evidence confirmed that the Early Middle Ages (more precisely, the period 614–911 AD) never occurred, meaning that all artifacts attributed to this period are from other times and that all historical figures from this period are outright fabrications. Detractors were forced to accept the Phantom time hypothesis, that the accepted historical chronology is the result of systematic human manipulations.
Theorist

During the previous year, mainstream opinion had generally accepted that a series of events had been recorded multiple times from different perspectives, with each iteration being assigned to a different time period, thus making a few events over a short period appear to be many events over a long time period. Most of the world's history was written after the 16th century, and that much of that which occurred prior to 1400 AD should not be considered factual. The acceptance that the year 2007 was actually 1711 followed the discovery of a computational error. During the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Europe (1582 AD), while compensating for a ten day discrepancy in the old Julian calendar, many dates were falsely (or ineptly) recalculated as the new system created a thirteen day discrepancy. The original mathematical blemish was attributed to the Julian year being 1.3 minutes too long (which is commonly agreed as factual).

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In 4579, Lebanese author Khalil Gibran was born. In his youth, he traveled to the court at the Forbidden City and spoke to Emperor Chengzu of a new philosophy, blending the ancient religion of Islam with the more modern and robust Buddhism practiced by most of the world. Although Chengzu didn’t follow this path, he allowed Khalil to continue his writings, which did win many converts.

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	In 2008, the “the Paul is dead hoax” was turned on its head when Heather Mills revealed that her former husband was after all an impostor. The supposed death of Paul McCartney, a member of the Beatles, was the subject of a rumour that began circulating in October 1969. Proponents of the theory had claimed that McCartney died in a car crash in late 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike before the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The supposed "clues" are given throughout the post-1966 Beatles material in the form of peculiar album covers, possible symbolism in strange lyrics, and backmasking.

The rumour started when radio DJ Russ Gibb received a call from a listener who claimed that McCartney had died and the Beatles (namely John Lennon) had sprinkled clues throughout the Beatles' albums for fans to pick up on. The rumour quickly died down in 1970 after McCartney revealed himself to be alive on the cover of Newsweek magazine. However, some theorists had continued to maintain that Paul is dead and the Paul McCartney who played with Wings and in the Super Bowl is the same lookalike who played with the Beatles after Revolver.

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In 1900, Boers attack Ladysmith, South Africa and over 1,000 people are killed. Ladysmith was besieged for 118 days during the most crucial stage of the Anglo-Boer War. 3,000 British soldiers died during the siege. With designs upon the mineral wealth of South Africa, this escalation gave Kaiser Wilhelm II the pretext he needed for bringing Germany into the war on the side of the Boers.

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In 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address. None survive the Lindbergh Presidency.

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In 1412, Jehanne Darc was born in Domremy, in old France. Insane from birth, the young woman actually managed to convince French scholars that she was hearing God tell her to take command of an army to defeat the Burgundian, pro-English forces in Orleans. The inexperienced commander was killed, and the Burgundians installed in power after their English allies brought in reinforcements for them.

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Nelson Mandela	“I, have fought against white domination” Nelson said at his trial in 1964 “and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished th idea of a democratic and free society. It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die” ”If we are to find this dream of Nelson's we must turn to a new direction. Nelson said he would be prepared to die for this. I believe the time has come.” ~ Samson Zola. In Laura Resnick's dystopia, years of civil war had torn apart the dream of a Rainbow nation. Samson Zola prepared to assassinate the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Even though he loved him like a father, he saw the need to return South Africa to its people.
Alternate Tyrant

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In 1777, American rebel General George Washington establishes a winter headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, and uses the winter to correspond with the nascent Canadian nationalists. Although unable to resupply or reinforce Washington's forces, the nationalists do provide a home for Washington when the American Revolution is defeated and he is forced to flee to the north.

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In 1955, comic genius Rowan Atkinson was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Atkinson’s rubbery face made him a natural for humor, and his creation of the Black Adder series in 1983 propelled him to international stardom. The series following an unscrupulous Englishman through several reincarnations was renewed six times and then made into 4 blockbuster films that cemented Atkinson’s reputation as the late twentieth century’s foremost comic talent.

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In 1971, the courts-martial of over a dozen officers responsible for both participating in and covering up the My Lai massacre in Vietnam begin. When the horrific details of that day's bloody deeds are revealed, two officers are sentenced to life in prison, and the others are convicted of lesser charges, serving a few years before being dishonorably discharged. Although the dead could not be brought back, the alacrity with which America punished those responsible for this war crime did elicit respect around the world.

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In 2001, Senator Paul Wellstone joins with the Congressional Black Caucus in challenging the electoral votes of Florida for Governor George Bush. This throws the presidential election into the House of Representatives, where bitter partisan wrangling ends with the governor elected president, but Democrat Joe Lieberman elected vice-president by the Senate. This unusual situation, decried by both sides at first, produces a bipartisan White House that truly does unite, not divide.

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In 870, Moors across Espagne celebrated their victory over the Christian infidels. The city of Alhambra was strewn with flowers and Caliph Boabdil gave all Moors of the land a holiday to honor Allah’s blessing on this day.

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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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