Love and Hatred

Bombing	In 1945, BBC News reported: Thousands of bombs destroy Dresden: 'British and US bombers have dropped hundreds of thousands of explosives on the German city of Dresden. The city is reported to be a vital command centre for the German defence against Soviet forces approaching from the east. Last night, 800 RAF Bomber Command planes let loose 650,000 incendiaries and 8,000lb of high explosives and hundreds of 4,000lb bombs in two waves of attack. They faced very little anti-aircraft fire. As soon as one part of the city was alight, the bombers went for another until the whole of Dresden was ablaze.'
Dresden

Amongst the dead was a twenty-two year old American GI, Kurt Vonnegut. A man of German descent, he had been transferred to Slaughterhouse-Five, a nearby prisoner of war camp. Vonnegut and his colleagues had been hiding below ground, but were killed when the ceiling collapsed from the shock waves of the bombing. And so it goes.

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In 1968, astronomer Paul Oswald Ahnert deciphered an extraterrestrial broadcast indicating that our quadrant of the Galaxy was under quarantine from a lethal space leprosy. At first his warnings were ignored, however reconsideration was duly given when returning Lunar Module Pilot Colonel Buzz Eugene Aldrin lifted his visor at the splashdown point, east of Wake Island on July 24 1969.

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In 1779, during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific Captain James Cook narrowly escaped death at the hand of natives of the Sandwich Islands. He had mistakenly returned to Hawaii in the season dedicated to Ku, god of war, inadvertently upset the equilibrium and fostered an atmosphere of resentment and aggression from the local population.

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In 1956, Malcolm Little received parole and was released from Massachusetts State Prison in Charlestown. A dangerous criminal, Little had avoided the draft by telling the examining officer that he could not wait to organize with other black soldiers so he could 'kill some crackers.' Incarcerated for a decade, there was a lot of catch-up to be done.

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In 1956, at the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow, Premier Nikita Khruschev revealed than Lenin was a shape-shifting Vampire. A number of strokes in the 1920s forced the undead nosferatu to possess the body of Comrade Stalin to permit him to continue his misrule. He had even maintained his corpse in a Kremlin mausoleum just in case a Dracula style exit was necessary.

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In 269, Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, in order to make them a better pool to draft soldiers from. The Christian cleric Valentius was known for his defiance of Rome, and many young couples came to him in order to wed. Valentius performed the ceremonies gladly until the local centurion told him that he would be executed after the next one. Valentius relented, but the decree was rescinded in 271 after Claudius' death, anyway, so nothing ever really came of it.

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In, 47421 BCE, Telka the Speaker is wooed by and mated with the father of her first children, the man she names Komar. She learns to count the days in a year by the anniversary of this day each year that she was with him. His love for her led him to throw himself in front of a boar that was charging her; although he saved her and killed the boar, he died from injuries he received. Telka made sure that each of her descendants celebrated this day out of her love for him.

In 498, Pope Gelasius names this day the Feast of Saint Valentine. In his honor, prisoners across the land were given a meal of ox-hearts and red wine, to signify the blood that the saint had shed while a prisoner of the pagan Romans. The traditional feast of hearts and wine continues to this day across Christendom, although the practice has spread from the jailhouse to all those who might need a prayer for more freedom.

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In 2021, a rare form of cosmic radiation enters Earth's atmosphere, concentrated in and around Chicago. 99.9% of the city only feels a slight tingling, but one man, Eddie Valens, finds his reflexes and running speed amplified tenfold - plus, he is now able to evoke feelings of love and peace in nearly anyone with but a word. Putting these two together, and donning a pink costume, Eddie takes the name Saint Valentine and proceeds to fight crime in Chicago for nearly a decade as one of the only real superheroes in the 21st century.

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On February 14, 2003, a group of high ranking Iraqi generals, fearing the disastrous effects of U:S. invasion stage a coup. They know that Sadam as a sentimental guy would be distracted at big party for his family. The succeed in killing their President and his sons. The new junta is composed of Sunni Baathists, but they extend the hand of friendship to the world community and invite weapons inspectors. What would the last half of a decade have brought to Iraq ?

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In 1965, the Soviet States of America bans the unofficial Valentines Day holiday. Comrade Representative O'Hare of Chicago, in her statement calling for the ban, said, 'No other holiday so cheapens the idea of romantic love, or saps the will to fight of our comrades in the street, as this so-called Valentines Day.'

In 1167 AUC, the Lupercalia Festival is finally made a separate holiday from the festival celebrating the founding of Rome. This festival of ritual matchmaking, popular for hundreds of years, was certainly the highlight of the 2-day celebration at the ides of February, and most Romans felt that it deserved separation from the more staid founding ceremony.

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Alexander	In 1974, Soviet authorities executed Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Two days before, Mr Solzhenitsyn was arrested in his wife's Moscow flat and taken away for questioning by the Soviet secret police, the KGB. His charge, under Article 64 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, was punishable with death by firing squad or a minimum of ten years in prison along with confiscation of property.
Solzhenitsyn

Solzhenitsyn had been under investigation for six weeks after his novel Gulag Archipelago depicting life in the labour camps was published in the West. He had already spent a total of ten years in prison under Stalin for his dissident writings.

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Pope Henry's Marriage Annulled; Cats Debuts

October 7th, 2004

in 1528, Papal spokesman Cardinal William Catesby declared the marriage of Pope Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled. The Holy British Empire was quite surprised to learn that the Pope and his wife had never consummated their marriage.

in 1885, Danish physicist Niels Bohr was born. Bohr was one of the saner faces of Richard Tolman’s parallel universe cult, and often spoke with reporters about the scientific basis for the cult’s beliefs prior to his disappearance in 1958.

in 1896, Elijah Poole was born in Sandersville, Georgia. Poole was an early leader of the Semitic-African Resistance, and was responsible for recruiting Malcolm Little, one of the most forceful and charismatic of the S.A.R,’s leaders in the 60’s and 70’s. Poole was lynched by American Bund members in 1960.

in 1949, Communists in the eastern half of Germany secede and form the Democratic People’s Republic of Germany. They hold the capitol, Berlin, and this prompts several of the “White” governments of Europe to send military force into Germany to bring them back in line with the rest of the capitalist continent. With aid from the Soviet States of America, though, the People’s Democracy is able to survive. Berlin remains the capitol of both Germanies, and is partitioned into a capitalist half and a communist half. It becomes the scene of much struggle over the years, including the wall that was constructed there, decried by Comrade President Rosenberg in his famous “ich bin ein Berliner” speech.

in 1955, Beat poet Alan Ginsberg read what he felt was his personal masterpiece, Howl, before an audience for the first time at the Six Gallery in San Francisco. What he thought would be a major literary turning point turned out to be a dud, and he soon returned to marketing, publishing small poems on the side.

in 1969, Pete Best turns down an offer of $1 million to perform a concert in New York City from promoter Sid Berstein. “I’m done with all that,” Best told Berstein. Fans who had become hopeful the legend would tour again were crushed.

in 1982, composer/producer Andrew Lloyd Webber of Jesus Christ, Superstar fame opened a new musical on Broadway. It was based on, of all things, T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and titled, simply, Cats. The show flopped; apparently, Webber had overestimated his ability to put just anything in front of the theater-going public.

in 4697, the outermost planet, Ming-Wang-Xing, is overrun by Y’T’T’li who begin converting it into material for their ships. Chinese and Chdo ships start asteroid bombardment of the planet in order to destroy the Y’T’T’li there, but the cybernetic aliens are able to burrow deep into Ming-Wang-Xing’s mantle and begin constructing a device of unimaginable destructive power.

Papal Marriage Annulled; Nixon-Kennedy Debate

October 7th, 2005

in 1528, Papal spokesman Cardinal William Catesby declared the marriage of Pope Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled. The Holy British Empire was quite surprised to learn that the Pope and his wife had never consummated their marriage.

in 1890, Captain Phil Ulrich leads his troops across the desert of Utah Territory towards Salt Lake City to reinforce Colonel Beauregard T. Jackson. The desert takes many of his men, but is the quickest route to the capitol, and Captain Ulrich avoids several Mormon ambushes with this daring, if foolhardy, detour.

in 1896, Elijah Muhammed was born in Sandersville, Georgia. Brother Muhammed was almost single-handedly responsible for the surge in African-American acceptance of the light of Islam, through his disciple Martin King. Their efforts brought nearly 30 million Americans to the brotherhood of Islam.

in 1910, Congress of Nations Commander Mohandas Namboudry maneuvers his orbital warships into a cover over the capitol city of the Mlosh homeworld and begins using what transports he has to evacuate non-combat personnel, with the warships providing cover for them until they can get away. The Q’Bar ships are outgunned, but have a numbers advantage at the beginning, and the situation looks dire for the C.N. and the newly-arrived Mlosh.

in 1949, Communists in the eastern half of Germany secede and form the Democratic People’s Republic of Germany. They hold the capitol, Berlin, and this prompts several of the “White” governments of Europe to send military force into Germany to bring them back in line with the rest of the capitalist continent. With aid from the Soviet States of America, though, the People’s Democracy is able to survive. Berlin remains the capitol of both Germanies, and is partitioned into a capitalist half and a communist half. It becomes the scene of much struggle over the years, including the wall that was constructed there, decried by Comrade President Rosenberg in his famous “ich bin ein Berliner” speech.

in 1960, Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice-President Richard Nixon debate for the second time on television, this time on matters of foreign policy. Kennedy made his famous declaration that Castro was a communist, and that, “Today, Cuba is lost to freedom.” When Castro signed a trade and security agreement with the Eisenhower administration the next week, Kennedy was humiliated, and doubts about his competency in international affairs became certainties.

in 1968, the movie industry, in an effort to stave off government censorship of films, adopted a voluntary system of ratings between G for general audiences and X for adult fare. Unfortunately, many filmmakers opted not to join the voluntary system, and it soon collapsed from lack of use. President Nixon’s Film Censorship Board then took over the task of keeping Hollywood clean.

in 1982, composer/producer Andrew Lloyd Webber of Jesus Christ, Superstar fame opened a new musical on Broadway. It was based on, of all things, T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and titled, simply, Cats. The show flopped; apparently, Webber had overestimated his ability to put just anything in front of the theater-going public.

in 4697, the outermost planet, Ming-Wang-Xing, is overrun by Y’T’T’li who begin converting it into material for their ships. Chinese and Chdo ships start asteroid bombardment of the planet in order to destroy the Y’T’T’li there, but the cybernetic aliens are able to burrow deep into Ming-Wang-Xing’s mantle and begin constructing a device of unimaginable destructive power.

in 2002, Professor Thomas and Dr. Courtney take the 3 best pilots they have been training and place them at the controls of their extra craft. The rest of the pilots are split between the 5 craft they now have, and Dr. Courtney leads them off earth and towards another system; they are going to make another raid to gather more supplies.


TIAH HALLOWEEN CONTEST - no donation required, just send us your stuff! Only 13 days left!

In order to give us a tad more time for Halloween, Today In Alternate History is sponsoring its first contest - email us up to 3 alternate history entries for October 31st, 2005. The best 10 entries will make up the entire content of the post on October 31st, Halloween day. Entries must be received by October 20th! Boring contest information was available on our Forum link below, but since the forum has been hacked, we'll email it back to you if you want to know what it is. Enter early and often!

Also, we still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

Forum Link not working for now - Forum has been hacked! We're working on getting it back, and will let you know once it's back up.
Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?

Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can see the one I did at http://www.marktreitel.com

Still wishing...

As your humble alternate historian enters the downhill slope of the 40's, he still has his birthday wish - a contract with a publishing company like Workman Publishing to produce a page-a-day calendar of TIAH. If you are an editor for such a company, or can place us in touch with one, please fulfill this belated birthday wish!

Royal Romance

The state of TIAH

April 2nd, 2007

Digg this

in 1998, Arthur Pendrake, while organizing a group of labor unionists and teaching them strike-breaking tactics for the coming takeover of Britain, meets a young woman named Gwen Rivers and is smitten with her. Miss Rivers seems equally taken with the dashing pretender to the throne, but Pendrake's shadowy adviser Merl cautions against a romantic entanglement until after the throne has been secured. “You don't need the troubles that go with a public courtship, Arthur,” Merl tells the would-be king. Arthur, however, is reluctant to put his feelings on the back burner until after the revolution. “A king needs a queen, Merl. And, I'm not going to stand for an arranged marriage. Every monarchy in history treated marriage as part of the chess game; move your pieces over here, align them with that one there, and you have an ally or you defuse an enemy. It never worked. So, I'll choose my own queen, provided Gwen is agreeable.” Merl reluctantly agrees to stand aside and let the relationship continue, but he still harbors grave misgivings about their future. Which was wise, because the Central European Empire had a few plans and arrangements of its own heading north to England at this time.

George Bush	In 2008 both the forty-first and forty-third US Presidents, father and son travel to a US base in Nevada to inspect the Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) that has finally been recovered from Iraq. Its none too soon, al-Qaeda may have been subdued, but both North Korea and Iran are becoming major threats to global hegemony. ..
.. And Bush41 is now 85 years old. Even if he is still jogging, he has not got forever to influence events. Still, at least they can cut the window-dressing about Weapons of Mass Destruction since the WMD is now in safe hands.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1945 Hugh Trevor-Roper was ordered by the British government to investigate the circumstances of Adolf Hitler's death and to rebut the claims of the Soviet that Hitler was alive and living somewhere in the West. The ensuing investigation resulted in Trevor-Roper's most famous book, 1947's The Last Days of Hitler, ..	Martin Bormann
.. in which he traced the last ten days of the Fuehrer's life. Now in 1983 he was uniquely qualified to comment on the authenticity of Bormann Diaries, allegedly the private thoughts of Hitler's deputy and intimate from the earliest days of the Nazi Party in Munich during the early 1920s. But there was a catch...
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Armenian Holocaust..	In 1915 the tragic month of April saw the beginning of the forced mass evacuation ..
.. and related deaths of hundreds of thousands to over a million Armenians, during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire. Today, the Republic of Turkey rejects the notion that the event constituted a genocide and instead claims that the deaths among the Armenians were a result of inter-ethnic strife, disease and famine during the turmoil of World War I. The matter was not fully addressed until the 2126 Peace and Reconciliation Trial, organised by the Reconstructed United Nations to investigate genocide and injustice in the pre-jihad era.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1917 on this day U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asked the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. Wilson had refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1916, so the Senate failed to ratify the declaration and America stayed out of World War I.	Woodrow Wilson
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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