The Madness Of King George

January 29th, 2005

in 47,372 BCE, Swikolay and her companions reach the Arabian Sea. For a few hours, the Speaker’s great-granddaughter is tempted to construct more boats, but her grandson’s story of the trip that night around their campfire is enough to convince her to stay on land.

in 1820, the madness of King George III came to an end when the rebel Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, deposed and executed him. King Arthur II claimed to be descended from the King Arthur of legend, even going so far as to forge an Excalibur to wield at official occasions. Parliament was unwilling to give up as much power to him as he was demanding, and a new civil war broke out, ending Arthur’s reign in 1823.

in 1845, more good fortune fell on author Edgar Allan Poe with the publication of his poem The Raven. Poe, the adopted son of a Virginian millionaire, was the luckiest boy at his military academy, always winning at the illicit games he started, and never getting caught running them. With the publication of The Raven in the New York Evening Mirror, he began an unbroken streak of successful novels, story collections and poems.

in 1904, geneticists on earth, having surreptitiously gained a sample of DNA from the aliens coming from the Mlosh homeworld, discover that it is 70% similar to the DNA of the Mlosh on earth. They encode this on a probe and send it to the embassy ship to let them know that they are among Mlosh cousins, but not actual Mlosh themselves.

in 1923, Kurt Weimer appoints young lieutenant Adolf Hitler head of the German Army, which is one of the last European armies still standing against the Greater Zionist Resistance. He faces the daunting task of “liberating” areas of Europe that are freer than they have ever been in their history. His abysmal failures almost lead the neo-Nazi time travelers to replace him, but their loyalty to his memory in their own timeline allows him to keep his job.

in 1947, comic genius Arthur Miller hit paydirt again with his play All My Sons, which opened to rave reviews and huge audiences on Broadway. A radio show based on the play followed, and it even became a hit television series that ran from 1954-1960.

in 1977, comic Freddie Prinze, battling overwhelming feelings of depression, checked himself into rehab. His inability to perform in his hit show Chico and the Man led to the show’s canceling, which left him looking for work when he checked himself out. He embarked on his Sober tour in the summer, and the live album of his act in San Diego went multi-platinum and gave his career some much-needed resuscitation.

in 2001, the Soviet States of America began bombing runs of cities in the People’s Republic of America, the breakaway states along the Pacific Northwest. The loss of civilian lives during these runs caused protests in both the S.S.A. and the P.R.A., but the tactic continued until the end of the war.


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Streak

	In 1996, French President Jacques Chirac said France would no longer test nuclear weapons after uproar over Pacific tests. The announcement comes a day after France exploded its sixth and biggest nuclear device in the South Pacific. The scandal had begun with the publication of the biopic expose The Web. This account was written by an Englishman, Arnold Delgrange suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Delgrange had led a failed attempt to establish a utopian colony on an island in the Pacific Ocean remote from civilization, which has suffered fall out and been cursed by the original inhabitants.
Web of Lies

As a result, intelligent and communally acting spiders had evolved on the island, acting in a manner that endangered all life in the vicinity. His companion Dr Camilla Cogent first realised that the spiders inhabiting the island chosen for the utopian experiment had evolved intelligence, it is her actions that allowed Arnold Delgrange to survive. Prior to the Delgrange mission, there had been international protests including boycotts of French products since Mr Chirac announced the resumption of testing last June. In a live broadcast to the nation, Mr Chirac said the tests mean that 'the safety of our country and of our children is assured.' He has stopped the planned programme of eight tests early in the face of the outcry at home and abroad. 'I know the decision I made last June may have provoked, in France and abroad, anxiety and emotion,' he said. 'But in an ever-dangerous world, [nuclear weapons] act as a weapon of dissuasion, a weapon in the service of peace.' France will now sign an agreement for a nuclear-free zone in the South Pacific this year, as well as the international Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which unconditionally ends all future tests. However, critics of the test programme believe France has damaged the future of the test ban treaty by encouraging nations like India, Pakistan and China to take a harder line. Moreover, they point to the species endangering threat identified by Delgrange and Cogent. Mr Chirac's popularity ratings have fallen to an all-time low for a new president since he announced his intention to reverse the three-year moratorium on testing established by his predecessor, Francois Mitterrand. During the tests at Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls, French naval vessels clashed with Greenpeace campaigners, confiscating their equipment and arresting crew members. As well as being unpopular at home, the nuclear tests have brought French relations with several other countries to an all-time low. Protests in Australia, New Zealand and other South Pacific countries have been particularly vehement, sometimes ending in violence, and Japan and several European countries have also objected strongly. Only Britain has spoken out in defence of France's right to carry out the explosions - ironic, given the citizenship of Arnold Delgrange. The tests made France the only country apart from China to test weapons of mass destruction since 1992. Yesterday's test, carried out at Fangataufa atoll, was equivalent to approximately 120,000 tonnes of conventional explosives, or six times the force of the bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.

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George Bush	In 2008, the morning newspapers reacted disfavourably to President Bush's last State of the Union address. While the country has made good progress, 'we have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done.' said Bush. Final status with Richmond had been logg-jammed by years of personal rivalry with Confederate President Al Gore.
Unfinished Business

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In 2003, US President Bush put aside a troubling report from Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleeza Rice to relax by watching the game alone. Shortly afterwards Bush asphyxiated after choking on a pretzel.

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	In 1820, the madness of King George III came to an end when the rebel Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, deposed and executed him. King Arthur II claimed to be descended from the King Arthur of legend, even going so far as to forge an Excalibur to wield at official occasions. Parliament was unwilling to give up as much power to him as he was demanding, and a new civil war broke out, ending Arthur's reign in 1823.

.

In 1968, at 2am a shot rang out in the gardens of Balmoral Castle. Guards rush out to find Queen Elizabeth I holding a rifle and standing over a dying wolf. To their even greater amazement, they watch the dying wolf transmogrify into Prince Charles. Something unspeakable happened in 1946 Her Majesty says, and she has suffered the most dreadful sea change. Now it is finally over and she can get on with her life.

In 1845, more good fortune fell on author Edgar Allan Poe with the publication of his poem The Raven. Poe, the adopted son of a Virginian millionaire, was the luckiest boy at his military academy, always winning at the illicit games he started, and never getting caught running them. With the publication of The Raven in the New York Evening Mirror, he began an unbroken streak of successful novels, story collections and poems.

.

In 1958, puritan witch-hunters capture the demon Charles Starkweather ending a killing spree of 11 victims in Nebraska and Wyoming during a road trip with his under-age girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate.

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In 1977, comic Freddie Prinze, battling overwhelming feelings of depression, checked himself into rehab. His inability to perform in his hit show Chico and the Man led to the show's canceling, which left him looking for work when he checked himself out. He embarked on his Sober tour in the summer, and the live album of his act in San Diego went multi-platinum and gave his career some much-needed resuscitation.

.

In 1964, septuagenarian Chancellor Adolf Schicklgruber opened the IX Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

	In 1959, in London, England fog brought transport chaos to the Capital City. Dense fog - the worst for seven years - brings road, rail and air transport in many parts of England and Wales to a virtual standstill. The true story was later revealed by John Holman, is a worker for The Department of the Environment investigating a Ministry of Defense base in a small rural village when unexpectedly an earthquake swallowed his car and released a fog that had been trapped underground for many years.

In his account 'The Fog', Holman explained the cause of the disaster - government and military incompetence - these being the reason for the fog's existence, the fog itself being an old self-producing chemical weapon that was buried underground and released during an underground explosion caused by the military while testing arms.

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Thatcher	In 1985, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was snubbed by Oxford dons who refused her an honorary degree. The Iron Lady was generally considered the person most directly responsibile for the countries dramatic turnaround. Yet socialists/academics could not forgive her for the part she played in the Plot to Overthrow Harold Wilson in 1974.
Iron Lady

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Corrie Aquino	In 1987, in a violent coup d'etat, President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino was overthrown by a group of heavily armed rebels. Around 1,000 heavily armed troops wearing gasmasks, surrounded the building just before the attack. The rebels warned that they Aquino she had 15 seconds to surrender over a loud speaker. The rebel leaders Colonel Oscar Canlas and Chief General Fidel Ramos have formed a new military government. Following her resignation President Aquino said: 'Here was a determined attempt to disrupt the affairs of government and those of the people at large. Here was a determined attempt to overthrow the first principle of democracy, which is civilian supremacy by those specially charged with its preservation.'
Forced Out

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In 2002, in his State of the Union Address, United States President George W. Bush describes regimes that sponsor terror as an Axis of Evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea. W's determined attempts to dismantle the Axis of Evil lead to the nuclear war of 2008, forcing him to withdraw to a bunker at Camp David where he married Condoleeza Rice, dying in 2026 aged 80 years old convinced he had kept 'a charge to keep'.

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In 1947, comic genius Arthur Miller hit paydirt again with his play All My Sons, which opened to rave reviews and huge audiences on Broadway. A radio show based on the play followed, and it even became a hit television series that ran from 1954-1960.

Announcement

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Alternate Historian's Note: Thanks for your patience waiting for today's post. I wanted to wait until after the anniversary for this announcement, because I wanted to give our anniversary posters all the attention they deserve. I know that I've hit you all with change-of-direction announcements before, so you're probably blasé about it by now. But, there is going to be a change in the direction of the site – mainly, with my contributions to it. I began this site thinking I would just use it as a place to jot story ideas, flesh out plots and characters, and possibly serialize long work. Instead, through the success of the format I initially chose, I've become the History Channel's illegitimate love child. While I enjoy writing alternate history, I never intended it to become all that I wrote. Unfortunately, because the only time that I have to write is used to put together the posts I co-write (Steve truly deserves credit as a Co-Historian), I have been unable to write anything else, except for the annual NaNoWriMo challenges, and even those were flavored by appearing on TIAH.
So, here's the deal – I'm going to finish the two timelines I'm currently writing (the Kansas Rebellion and The Return Of Arthur), which will probably take me to the end of June. From then until he decides he doesn't want it to appear here anymore, Steve's work will fulfill the alternate history quota for this site. My part of the site will be whatever I am currently writing – could be science fiction, could be fantasy, could be opinion, could even be alternate history – but it won't be in the standard format unless I get a hankerin' to write in the old style again.
I'm not going away. I even remember that I promised you a compilation of some of the site's more coherent timelines, and I'm going to use this time to work on that, too. Things are going to be different, though, and I want you all to know and have a chance to comment on them before they change. Our readers have been a big part of TIAH since the beginning, and I want to know what you think. Email me, leave a comment, write an insulting note on your own blog – whatever it takes to let us know what you think.
If you guys decide the site's no longer what you enjoy reading, then thanks for your patronage in the past, and I hope you'll look for my work (and Steve's) in the future, either on Lulu or (hopefully) in a bookstore near you. It's been a great 3 years – and I still look forward to Today each tomorrow.

May 29th, 2007

in 1891, 25,000 Union solders strike out from Concordia, Kansas in the direction of Topeka. General Theodore Monteith is at the head of the massive column of men, and he and his right-hand man, newly-promoted Lt. Colonel Mark Wainwright, have a sense of the inevitability of their final victory. Unfortunately for them, almost 50,000 Kansan volunteers are making their way towards Topeka, too, in a race to save the leaders of their rebellion from defeat.

in 1999, Doctor Archibald Mordred, the psychiatrist that King Arthur II is seeing at the behest of his queen, prescribes an experimental drug to His Majesty. “I believe that you suffer from a small chemical imbalance, sire,” the young doctor says to Arthur. “With this new drug, you will again have the confidence that led you to the throne in the first place. You will have the clear vision that will lead Great Britain to its rightful place as first among nations.” King Arthur, wary of medications after many years of Merl's admonitions against them, completely changes his mind after the first dose of the Brightol that Dr. Mordred gives him. He really does feel more his old self, and throws himself into the war and the task of governing his kingdom as if he were a man ten years younger.

Jack Ruby	"[To Earl Warren] Well, you won't see me again. I tell you that a whole new form of government is going to take over the country, and I know I won't live to see you another time" ~ Jack Ruby
Assassin

After he had ushered in a whole new system of government by preventing Lee Harvey Oswald from demonstrating his innocence, which would have revealed the CIA plot to kill Kennedy. The Wikipedia profile of Jack Ruby is available at Wikipedia

~ quotation by Guest Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1919, Uncle Alf wrote - My very dearest and most beloved sweet Geli, Hail victory! The Quartermaster General has written to me from Sweden; Germany will recover from our stab-in-the-back. The Norse Gods have brought General Ludendorff into their confidence. The strange men who burst into the ward and injected your Uncle with the madness of lycanthropy are his agents! With much love, I remain your Uncle Alf.

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

Marshall	In 1947, US President Harry S Truman spoke candidly with the Joint Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff General of the Army George Catlett Marshall, Jr., US Army. The plan for Operation Overlord2 was to spring the eight divisions from the Caves at Hamelin and launch a surprise attack on the Fuehrer in Berlin. The old team was ..
.. back together again for D-Day2, General Dwight David Eisenhower, General Sir Bernard Montgomery, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay. And more significantly, Montgomery's glamour and the vial formerly owned by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Roosevelt had said that he could not sleep when Marshall was out of Washington, and he was right : Marshall was an absolute brick. Did he believe in the plan, enquired Truman. Hell, yes! replied Marshall.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, the security situation in the capital and major cities of Great Britain and Europe deteriorated very rapidly. The British Army stalled at the repressive measures ordered by the coup leaders. In Whitehall, labour movement leaders stood on top of tanks which refused to intimidate the protesters. The coup leaders called ..	Tank Protests
.. a meeting for that very evening. From outside they could hear the protests. To shut out the noise, far too much alcohol was drunk. Some insane orders were issued, then changed, then re-issued. It was madness.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Porsche 928	In 2001, he hung up without saying goodbye and replaced the telephone carefully back in the cradle. His boss had received the report dispassionately and his job was done. It was a quarter of midnight as he entered the car park and started the car.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1867, the Austro-Hungarian agreement called Ausgleich ("the Compromise") was born through Act 12, which established the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a dual monarchy; on June 8 Emperor Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary. The logic of shared sovereignty saved the Austrians, and by the second decade of the twentieth ..	Austro-Hungary ..
.. century the Habsburgs were ascendant. Just about the only nation that were not represented in the polity were the Jews who were considered non-citizens. Anti-semitism peaked during the 1930s under the dynamic and aggressive Chancellorship of Adolf Schicklegruber as he established the modern Mittle-Europa.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

May 30th, 2007

in 1891, Union scouts return to General Theodore Monteith with reports of massive troop movements along the Kansas borders. “They know where we're headed, Mark,” he says to his aide, Lt. Colonel Mark Wainwright. “And, damned if they aren't going to fight us for it. You know what this means, don't you?” Colonel Wainwright nods and says, “Plan B.”

in 1999, King Arthur II joins his prime minister, Kay Ector, on a mission to New Zealand to convince the island nation to contribute aid to the war effort. The presence of the king in the British delegation sways New Zealand's parliament, and they throw all of the resources they can spare into helping oust the last remnants of the Central European Empire's stranglehold on the world. The Kiwi troops join Sir Lance du Lac's Round Table Corps, and become the spearhead for clearing out the CEE's Asian possessions.

Douglas MacArthur	"By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder--infinitely prouder--to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and life. And while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still. It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle but in the home repeating with him our simple daily prayer, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" ~ Douglas MacArthur
General

Before deploying super-weapons on the Korean Peninsula. Bacteriological weapons from Unit 731 had been surrendered to MacArthur in 1945 to secure the amnesty of the Japanese scientists against trial for the extermination of 200,000 Chinese citizens during World War II. These were used alongside the hydrogen bomb in order to re-unite the Peninsula and retain American hegemony over south-east Asia. The Wikipedia entry on Unit 731 is available at Wikipedia

~ quotation by Guest Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1919, Uncle Alf wrote - Dear lovely Geli, So good to hear from you at last! When I got your letter, I first and foremost kissed the postage stamp, knowing it had touched your sweet lips but two days before. Hail victory! General Ludendorff has departed Sweden and will meet your Uncle Alf in Munich; together we will lead a German recovery from our stab-in-the-back - the Norse Gods have assured us. I remain your Uncle Alf.

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

Guderian	In 1947, General Hans Guderian spoke privately with the US President. 'I understand everything, but this' says Harry S Truman. Why did you come to America after you've won? Guderian replies, I had no choice, no choice at all. The vial started to incant Christabel. 'I don't understand says Truman..'
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, on this day occurred the final act of the fall of the House of Stuart. Lieutenant-General Sir Peter de la Billiere arrived at Downing Street with a splitting hangover headache. Number 10 was strangely quiet. He entered the Cabinet Office to find a beaming Peter Tatchell sitting behind his desk. The coup was over. ..	Peter Tatchell
.. The Republic was only just beginning.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Car on fire	In 2001, he pulled out of the hotel car park onto the main road. It was still stiflingly hot as the electric window lowered; he lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply, starting to perspire. A motorbike shot past, then another, then two more. Brilliant lights flashed inside the car, he was blinded. He lost control. The car hit ..
.. a water hydrant and flipped over, caught fire, finally exploded.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1995, the counter-history Napoleonic Options is published in paperback. The book contained detailed examinations by ten leading military each presenting different scenarios that might have changed the course of the American War of Independence. Perhaps the most controversial was James Lucas' Operation Whiff of ..	Napoleon Bonapa..
.. Grapeshot: Napoleon's European Strategy, in which the Little Corporal never fought in North America at all. The title was chosen from Bonaparte's clearing of the National Convention in Paris 1795 when he later boasted that he had cleared the streets with a "whiff of grapeshot" (musket balls fired in cloth bags from the cannon, a devastating anti-personnel munition), although the fighting had been vicious throughout Paris.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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