May 3rd-5th

The state of TIAH

Today In Alternate History

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Alternate Historian's Note: It was an eventful trip, but we're finally back, and ready to post again! Today, we'll have posts for May 3rd, 4th and 5th, and will be back to regular posting tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

May 3rd, 2007

in 1891, the prosecution in General Anthony Franklin's court-martial rests its case after presenting the rather damning evidence present in the reports from the battlefield and the days leading up to it. Franklin's own diary entries about, “Getting that pompous jackanape, Simpson, and making all these rebels pay,” becomes fodder for the prosecutor. In defense, Captain David Danforth reads sections of Franklin's diary recounting his days as a young man during the Civil War, and his zeal in seeking to preserve the United States from, in his words, “traitors who would destroy everything good that we stand for.” Danforth rests his case, and the judges dismiss all present while they deliberate over night.

in 1999, as bombs begin falling on his capitol in Bern, Emperor Pierre of the Central European Empire begins to show the slightest traces of doubt that his master plan is working. The other Illuminati elite, trapped in Switzerland because of the war being brought to them by King Arthur's forces, begin plotting to overthrow Pierre and make a deal with Arthur.

In 2069, after years of Alzheimer degeneration and senility, Gerald Fitzgerald Beltane had cheated death by illegal rejuvenation instigated by his son Jeremy. Bio reads - born 1976, educated to MA degree, and secretary to the Australia First party in 2005. Retired, aged seventy in 2046 on ground of ill health; 2069 undergoes a remarkable transformation into a young man.

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

In 2000, Patricia Vasquez travelled along the Way to fulfill her secret mission to prevent the Death. Only one change in Earth's past which would render the nations sane was achievable by a single christian scientist.

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

Joseph McCarthy	In 1947, Senators Millard Tydings and Joseph McCarthy shared a late night drink together. They briefly reviewed the circumstances of the Tydings Committee. You could say without fear of contradiction that history had taken a rather unexpected turn on D-Day, 1 May 1944. In military language of course D-Day was a term to denote ..
.. the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The Battle of Normandy was planned for that day, commencing the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II. However, 1 May 1994 was more like Disaster Day and the choice of May Day was both tragically and prophetically appropriate...
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, it was evident to but a discerning few that the Western European Monarchies were living on borrowed time. Sure there had been some key moments in the past half millennia where the divine right of kings had, shall we say, wobbled? The storming of the Bastille, the troubles in the Colonies etc. The British Royal households ..	Charles Stuart
.. believed that now the modern world was fundamentally sane. The disease of republicanism had been flushed out of the body politic for good. How wrong they were. And they were just about to find out..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Man in the High..	In 1964, Philip K Dick published the counter-factual novel Man in the High Castle. Set in Japan in 1962, the once-proud nation has been reduced to a vassal of the United States with a powerless Emperor. All because some twenty years earlier Japan lost the Pacific war. The essence of Dick's masterpiece is the book within ..
.. the book, 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy', a work of fiction written by a man called Hawthorn Abendsen. It describes a world where the Japanese won the Pacific war - as a result, it has been banned by the Americans. Given his unpopularity with the world's two great powers, Abendsen is said to live in a heavily fortified home and has become known as "The Man in the High Castle". Critics panned the concept but loved the story. After all, it was predicated on the US Fleet leaving San Diego for Hawaii when Americans overwhelmingly disapproved of war in the Pacific. Today we know that Mr Roosevelt meant it when he said at Boston on October 30 1940: "I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars."
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East began in Tokyo against 28 American military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The accused were led by General of the Army Douglas “Brass Hat” MacArthur who had been seized unexpectedly in the hurried retreat from the Philippines. ..	MacArthur
.. He said he had not expected to come to Japan under these circumstances.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

May 4th, 2007

in 1891, the judges at General Anthony Franklin's court-martial return a verdict of guilty against him, strip him of his rank, and sentence him to life in prison. Franklin is stunned, and weeps openly in the court, while his attorney, Captain David Danforth, vows to appeal directly to the president himself. Unfortunately for the former general, President Harrison is quite pleased with the verdict, and instructs his secretary to ignore Captain Danforth's requests for an appointment. Meanwhile, Governor Silas Trent of Missouri, touring the state to shore up his support after Franklin's Massacre, is set upon by a drunken mob in Jasper County, and killed for his support of the federal troops.

in 1999, Emperor Pierre of the Central European Empire, hearing the bombs fall on his fair capitol, puts in a desperate call to his agent in King Arthur's court, instructing the spy to, “do whatever is necessary, but stop this bombing!” Prime Minister Merl Myrddin, hearing the successful news from the front, decides to celebrate with a drink at his favorite London pub, where he unfortunately lets his guard down. A drug is slipped into his beer, and he disappears into the night. At the same time, labor leaders across western Europe are casting down the CEE's puppet governments and proclaiming themselves leaders of the nations; this has the unfortunate side effect of reducing their support for Sir Lance du Lac's drive to Switzerland. The great knight is forced to slow down his advance and deal with the demands from his allies about respecting their sovereign territory.

In 2069, the Canberra Conference was forced to finally confront overpopulation problems in Australia. A decision was reached to initiate genocide by releasing a finely mutating bacteria manufactured at a secret government institute. Premier Jeremy Beltane cannot accept the decision to use the cull weapon, and has illegally rejuvenated his senile father Gerald, desperately needing his advice and guidance.

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

In 0, a single christian scientist Patricia Vasquez fulfilled her secret mission to prevent the Death by making the only change in Earth's past which would render the nations sane. Vasquez convinced Governor of Palestine Pontius Pilatus to take a principalled stand on his own convictions. Pilatus exercised political leadership, he refused the demands of religious leaders and the mob by setting Rabbi Joshua Ben Joseph free. Vasquez established the common sense precedent, decisions made under pressure were rational, logical but not sane.

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

Joseph McCarthy	In 1947, Senators Millard Tydings and Joseph McCarthy had shared a late night drink together which could by now be safely called an early morning drunk stopover. The slurred topic under consideration continued to be the circumstances of the Tydings Committee. Operation Overlord was master-minded by General Dwight David Eisenhower, ..
.. Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, effectively in overall charge of the Allied forces in Western Europe. General Sir Bernard Montgomery was commander of the 21st Army Group, to which all of the invasion ground forces belonged, and he was also in charge of developing the invasion plan. The initial attack was for five divisions by sea and three by air. That was where theory ended, and the startling truth began.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, the British Royal household awoke to somewhat of an unpleasant shock. It appeared that not all of the young people celebrating May Day had gone home peacefully. And some had brought a Goddess of Democracy statue into Hyde Park! Even since the birth of European democracy in Russia with the 1905 Duma, the Western democracies ..	Freedom
.. had pursued a containment policy. They believe in the domino theory, a 20th Century foreign policy that speculated if one land in a region came under the influence of Democracy, then more would follow. But now containment was over, the disease had finally arrived in Great Britain.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Udham Singh	In 1976, Jack Higgins published the pseudo-factual novel the ”Lion has Landed”. Set in 1940 Udham Singh prepared to assassinate the former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, a revenge attack for his authorisation of the events of April 13, 1919 in Jallianwala Bagh. Known as the Amritsar Massacre, imperial troops opened ..
.. fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children in an act of unprovoked barbarism, killing 1800 people. In the novel Singh enters Admiralty House to put his plan into action, killing Winston Churchill not realising he has murdered his double George Fowler. Critics ridiculed the far-fetched concept of Churchill gaining Downing Street, let alone surviving a car collision that killed him in New York in 1931. Such a scenario would have required him to be sober after mid morning.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1948, the publication of Norman Mailer's controversial novel 'The Naked and the Dead' was banned by President John Nance Garner . Set in the South Pacific and dealing primarily with a single reconnaissance platoon of riflemen, the novel contains several combat scenes, but focuses on the psychological portraits of the men ..	Naked and Dead
.. in the squad. The tension of the novel derives mostly from the conflict between officers and men, including the lieutenant of the squad and the men under him as well as his superiors. The novel questions the impact of high-ranking officers and their decisions on the outcomes of military campaigns. Garner's justification was that the nation had been traumatised by the horrors of the invasion of Japan. Mailer's novel would distress the 200,000+ US soldiers suffering post-combat disorders.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

May 5th, 2007

in 1891, Lt. Governor Arnold Morgan of Missouri receives the news that he is about to be promoted; he takes the oath of office and then orders a day of mourning across the state for the late governor, Silas Trent. He also reduces Missouri's cooperation in the siege of Kansas, which causes Colonel Theodore Monteith, who has been charged by the Secretary of War with ensuring the success of this endeavor, to send Major Mark Wainwright back to Missouri to convince the new governor to back the military more fully.

in 1999, King Arthur II of Great Britain orders Scotland Yard to find Prime Minister Merl Myrddin, “and spare no expense.” The worried monarch sees victory, so tantalizingly close just days ago, start to slip from his grasp. His queen, the lady Gwen Rivers Pendrake, tells him, “Do not concern yourself, my liege. You have capable men in charge of all your affairs. Sir Lance will prosecute the war, and Scotland Yard will find your prime minister. Let us relax and let them do their jobs.” Arthur wearily agrees, sending word to Sir Lance that he will be in Wales if he is needed.

In 2069, Premier Jeremy Beltane took a fateful decision, briefing the Southern Area Services Commander on the imminent release of the cull weapon. They agree, and choose to destroy the Institute in which the finely mutating bacteria has been manufactured. The Premier's senile father, Gerald Fitzgerald Beltane had been illegally rejuvenated by his son, desperately needing his support. However Gerald is old school and strongly agrees with the use of the cull weapon. Fooling computers with a genetic impersonation of his son, he authorised the launch codes, releasing the bacteria. Genocide sweeps the continent of Australia.

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

In 1945, low flying American and British bombers released thousands of white doves over the City of Tokyo. After several days of behind-the-scenes negotiations the Gozenkaigi (Japanese leadership) decided, in principle, to accept generous proposals for conditional surrender. John Nance Garner had only recently entered the White House following the sudden demise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The new President was the son of a former Confederate cavalry trooper, famously described by the British journalist Alistair Cooke as the last public man linking America of the Civil War and America of the Nuclear Age. Garner had the gift of perspective resulting from a genuine insight into long-term history. Japan was ready to surrender, and there was absolutely no need to be a damn-fool and usher in apocalyptic weapons to bring the war to a speedy conclusion; best to set up a beacon of liberty to whom the post-war nations would rally.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Joseph McCarthy	In 1947, Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy of Wisconsin was suffering from a rather extreme hangover having drunk more or less continuously for the past three days. The truth of his investigations however were as sobering as an icy shower. On the morning of 1 May 1944 at H-2 Hour, all eight divisions of Operation Overlord had ..
.. quite simply disappeared. Ridiculous of course, to imagine eight divisions just disappearing, but that was precisely what happened. Continuous radio transmissions had been sent by Eisenhower for many hours afterwards in an increasingly desperate attempt to locate the missing forces. The final message received was elliptic to day the very least – it sounded like 'Caves of Ice'. As he poured himself a black coffee, McCarthy started to feel more upbeat. Both Eisenhower and Montgomery were in DC and amongst the first witnesses to be interviewed – or shall we say, interrogated? - by the Tydings Committee. Fun was sure to be had. After all, why else would he be wasting his time in politics?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, by now the Goddess of Democracy had been in Hyde Park for twenty-four hours. The Security Forces were in an agony of indecision. Democracy had faltered in Great Britain almost exactly 310 years ago when King Charles II had disbanded Parliament. Both James I and Charles I had done likewise but Charles II had finished ..	Charles II
.. Parliament and therefore democracy for all time, or so it was thought. On the one hand, the forced removal of the Goddess could be seen as heavy handed. On the other, it was as insulting as a spit in the face.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Battle of the W..	In 1864, on this day began the Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The Army of the Potomac under the command of Major General George G. Meade, was pulverised by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. General Robert E. Lee started his final push to the east.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, on this day in London, a Norwegian government-in-exile was formed. A better choice of location could have been made. By September, British rule only existed in Canada, with the British Government in Exile, headed by Lord Halifax unexpected guests of the Governor General at his residence in Rideau Hall, Ottawa.	Halifax
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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And Now For Something Completely Different

August 3rd, 2007

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The Announcement

Reminder! Birthday contest coming up – yours truly, August 14th, and Steve on November 22nd. Give us alternate lives and we'll post your take on how we were really meant to live...

And now, something a little different – haikus based on Lord of the Rings:

The Lord of the Rings
Four hobbits in grave peril
Second breakfast missed

Hobbit wants the ring
Declares himself the Dark Lord
Frodo, nine-fingers

Five races combined
The fellowship of the ring
Doomed to be broken

Hobbits to defend
Warrior is overthrown
Peace, son of Gondor

Where is my precious?
In the darkness, he whispers
Gollum sits alone

Tom Bombadill, Oh!
Happy prankster and saviour
Not in the movie

Forgotten wizard
Servant of the hidden west
Rhadagast the brown

A moth flutters by
Wizard snatches and whispers
Gandalf is rescued

The fires of Mount Doom
A hobbit stumbles backwards
Dark Lord is no more

Thomas Edward Lawrence	"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia [modern day Iraq] into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information." ~ Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence in a 1920 newspaper article. The full article is available at Securing America
Arabist

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

In 1975, "they" had eliminated ex-Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa. Having made a payment of half a million dollars to President Richard Nixon and his attorney general, John Mitchell to secure his release from prison in 1971, Hoffa had had his union activities curtailed. Recently, he had been trying to strong-arm his way back in to a position of influence.
Jimmy Hoffa	As part of his comback plan, he had recently threatened to reveal the mob's entanglement with Teamsters pension funds -- even though he himself turned the Central States Pension Fund into the Mafia's private piggy bank. He also wanted to expand the national union agreement to encompass all transport works, placing himself in a position to paralyse America.
The White House organized the execution, naturally turning to their trusted allies, the Tralfamadorians. Kurt Vonnegut had likened the aliens to Plumber's friends. He was quite right. They were real tight with E. Howard Hunt and the White House team. And so it goes.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

We have all the time in the world Time enough for life to unfold All the precious things love has in store We have all the love in the world If that's all we have, you will find We need nothing more
Louise Armstrong	Every step of the way will find us With the cares of the world far behind us We have all the time in the world Just for love Nothing more, nothing less Only love ~ Lyrics to “All the Time in the World” - Click to Play Sample
Satchmo

Heads-up ~ Diana Brackley was a research scientist working for Francis Saxover, a somewhat eccentric private researcher. In 1960, by accident they independently discovered that a specimen of lichen sent to them for analysis had the ability to extend human life by many hundred years. Within months, they had discovered precisely how the lichen extract could substantially retard the aging process, preparing the prototype drug Antigerone. The trouble was that the lichen was in limited supply being a very slow-growing plant which grew in China. Both biochemists saw the implications of this, realising that many institutions would try to repress this knowledge and were careful to keep the substance secret. However Brackley decided that it must eventually become available to all humans and sets up an organisation designed to introduce it by stealth. Unfortunately Saxover decided to let his immediate family in on the secret, and his daughter-in-law gives away part of the secret for money. As a result criminal forces begin to take interest in both Francis and Diana. In The Trouble was Lichen investigative journalist John Wyndam foresaw the coming of a new evolutionary order and with it, a revolution. The TV advertisement for the Antigerone product featured Louis Armstrong's classic “All the Time in the World”. Neither Armstrong nor Wyndham use Antigerone, and by coincidence both died months apart in 1969. The lyrics are available at at Lyricwiki

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

In 1996, Brad Linaweaver published And to the Empire for Which It Stands. In Linaweaver's alternate Rome of 44 BCE, Gaius Julius Caesar survived the ides of march assassination by a group of senators known as the Liberatores (or "Liberators") led by Brutus and Cassius. Having escaped tyrannicide, Caesar announced at the Theater of Pompey that he would after all accept from the Senate the hereditary kingship he had planned to decline. Surpassing the world conquest of Alexander the Greater, the new Emperor built a Roma Eterna that survived twenty glorious centuries. The breakup of the “sick old man of Europe” was deferred until the holocaust of World War I, with the assassination of Procurator Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo – the shot that was heard 'round the world. Ironically, Rome had been agitating for a conflict with the Ottoman and Russian Empires as a means of suppressing nationalist fervour in the Balkans. However, the declaration of war backfired principally because of south-eastern European sympathy for the enemy. Mobilized troops used the opportunity to fan the flames of civil war, creating a patchwork quilt of successor states throughout the Balkans.

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

In 2009, the TV networks presented episode twenty-three of So What If?. The commanders of the Anglo-French forces in America Arthur Wellesley and Napoleon Bonaparte argue how best to set the clock back to 1776.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1935, Officer John Bruce of the Tank Corps revealed that the recently demised Private Shaw of the Tank Corps Regiment was none other than Colonel T.E. Lawrence, pursuing his ambition to be remembered as "a man of letters, not a man of action" by retreating into obscurity at Bovington Camp.
Clouds Hill Cottage	In early 1920, Lawrence set about the daunting task of rewriting as much as he could remember of the first version which he had allegedly mislaid whilst changing trains at Reading Station. Working from memory alone (he had destroyed his wartime notes upon completion of the corresponding parts of Text I), he was able to complete this "Text II", 400,000 words long, in three months.
Lawrence's Woodland Retreat

Lawrence described this version as "hopelessly bad" in literary terms, but historically it was "substantially complete and accurate". That was a filthy lie. Text II was a substantial rewrite of Lawrence's capture at Deraa in November 1917. ~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

King João II of..	In 1482, a third day dawned at St. George El Mina Castle on the Gulf of Guinea. The military factory was remarkable for being the first precast building to have been planned and executed ever, in or outside Europe. Eleven ships and 700 soldiers commanded by Diogo de Azambuja had brought heavy numerated granite stone blocks ..
.. to Elmina. Azambuja’s men had set up shop and now they opened for business, that being native gold commerce for the Portuguese Crown monopoly. And the passage of twenty million shrieking African souls to the new World.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1995, Richard M. Langworth combined fiction and fact in his publication “If Weygand had lost the Battle of France”. In this somewhat far fetched scenario, the failure of the Weygand Plan causes the General to flee to North Africa with Free ..	General Maxime ..
.. French Forces. Defeated again by Rommel, he then heads south to the Brazzaville. General Maxime Weygand dies in 1965 in his exiled Congolese stronghold, buried under a boulder inscribed, "Founding Father of the movement to uproot Nazidom from the world." His mission, as the book ends, is unfulfilled.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Empress	In 1917, Tsarist representatives at the Paris Peace Conference adopted a blended approach to the concepts of possession and territorial integrity. Whilst Prime Minister Peter Stolypin legitimised the annexation of Galicia and Besserabia to the Russias, the magician Grigory Rasputin was sleeping with the Empress Alexandra ..
.. Fyodorovna at the Elysees regencia hotel. Not that the Tsar was being cuckolded, far from it. Rasputin was sparing his son's life from a terminal blood-related condition known only to the Russian Royal Household.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, Greg Bear published his masterful short story Through Road No Whither set in a world where the Allies won World War II. During the occupation of German, British officers insult a gypsy woman when asking for directions, and she arranges for the Allies' retroactive defeat.	Greg Bear
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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The Abolition of Britain

In 2007, world-famous author John Gardner died on this day at the age of eighty. Amongst Gardner's fourteen James Bond titles are License Renewed (1981), Win, Lose or Die (1989), Brokenclaw (1990), and most recently Cold Fall (1996). Gardner's genius was to modernise the character of James Bond after his creator, Ian Fleming died in 1964. In Gardner's hands, Bond is a late-20th-century-man. He smokes low-tar cigarettes and drives a fuel-efficient Saab instead of a Bentley Mark II Contintental. Actors Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton and Sean Bean paid tribute to Gardner. Without the author's refinements, their acting careers would have have taken off as a result of their portrayal of James Bond.

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

"Many of those born, raised and educated in surroundings normally associated with Tory thinking and values no longer actually share those values. Few people under the age of fifty now possess what could be described as a Conservative imagination. Their attitude towards sexuality, drugs, manners, dress, food, swear-words, music and religion has little or nothing in common with the traditional idea of Conservative behaviour. As the far-from-leftist commentator Tony Benn cackled derisively shortly before the election, ‘Clement Attlee is probably the last man left in Britain who wears a tie on Saturdays.’

Abolition of Britain	A good starting point for this era is Lord Curzon’s funeral in 1924, and a good finishing point is the startlingly different funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1950. The death of Curzon, an unchallengeable father figure, was a final farewell to a reassuring past. By travelling back to that not-very-distant time it is possible to see the extent of the changes which have overtaken us. ~ Historian Peter Hitchens explaining the rise of Anarchy in Airstrip One
Peter Hitchens

Even in the commonplace features of life, a comparison between the day before yesterday and today reveals differences which are more than a mere adaptation to the modern world. Examine school textbooks, especially on history and geography, from thirty years ago, and set them beside their equivalents today. You will find that you are investigating the inner life of a wholly foreign country. Many of these trends and tremors began long before 1965, and it is necessary to go further into the past to examine them. Some of the changes in our society began with campaigns or fashions in thought which started before the First World War. Most are more recent, finding their roots in events like the Lady Chatterley trial, the satire boom, and the mysterious birth of British punk rock music. . The full article is available at Encounters Book

~ quotation by Steve Payne

Winston Churchill	"It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of the king-emperor." ~ Winston Churchill, future Prime Minister speaking in 1930
Prime Minister

Before we knew for sure if Winston Churchill meant if when he said he would not preside over the end of the British Empire. The tragic story of Britain's brutal response to the Indian Emergency in 1945 was recounted in journalist Adrienne Gormley's Children of Tears. The leadership of the Indian freedom movement including the Indian Congress were imprisoned and executed as a resurgent post-war Churchill refused to defeat Hitler, only to be beaten by Gandhi.

~ quotation by Steve Payne

In 1976, Robert Neville lived the life of a recluse, trapped inside his fortified home. As he descended into alcoholism, he suffered long gaps in memory that he could not remember. And dreams of the vampires and the infected feeding upon him.

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

Richard the Lio..	In 1189, Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionhearted") was crowned at Westminster. Alongside Philip II of France, he embarked on the Third and ultimately successful Crusade which restored the Holy Land to Christendom, elected the King of Jerusalem on 28 April 1192
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 2127/2003, from 10, Downing Street the Prime Minister of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland telephoned US President George W. Bush. It was probably the most fraught conversation between the two countries since 1776. Due to the events of the past few days, Her Majesty's Government could not either approve, nor participate in the Second Gulf War. British 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”.	Tony Blair
Perhaps W did not understand the workings of the British State, but effectively the Prime Minister could not overrule the confidential legal advice issued by the Attorney General, Kim Hollis. Which was guff, the position of Attorney General was a political appointment which meant that legal advice to the State always dovetailed with the political expediency of the moment. The internal workings of the British State were explicitly designed to pursue the national interest, regardless of the incumbents, and had done so smoothly since the Middle Ages.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Utopia Planitia	In 1976, the Viking 2 spacecraft landed on Mars at Utopia Planitia, the site for today's Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards both on the surface of the planet and in orbit. There, countless Federation Starfleet vessels are built and repaired. The Galaxy class starship USS Enterprise-D was designed and built there, as well as the Intrepid class starship USS Voyager and the USS Defiant prototype.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1997, a Vietnam Airlines Tupolev TU-134 routed from from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh almost crashed. The Tupolev was approaching the Phnom Penh airport runway in heavy rain from 2,000 meters; at this point the control tower ordered the pilot to attempt an approach from the west due to a wind pick-up. The crew then lost communication with the tower, and three minutes later the aircraft was close to colliding at low level with trees.	Tupolev Tu-134
When the aircraft approached the trees, the pilot finally realized the runway was not in sight and aborted the approach; the flight engineer pushed for full power, and the aircraft gained lift saving the lives of the 66 passengers. A relieved crew disembarked from the aircraft in sleeting rain to be greeted by French Union officials of the Indochina Protectorate.
~ entry by Steve Payne

The Super-Computer

The state of TIAH

March 4th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, suggested that it was time for a contest, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1945, author Jimmie Louise Tims was born in Huntsville, Texas. As a child, her fascination with family history led her to uncover the stories of generations of her ancestors, and her publications of the story of the Tims ancestral line, Footprints in Time, took their place beside Gone With The Wind as iconic treatments of the mythical Old South. She won the National Book Award in 1997 for her semi-autobiographical novel, Cats and Rats in Harmony.

in 1953, Cambridge biologist William Hughes pays a visit to the constabulary to speak with them about Maurice Wilkins' possible involvement in the murder of James Watson and Francis Crick. Although the police listen to him, they seem unwilling to move against Wilkins without something more than what Hughes can give them. Hughes loses his temper with them, railing, “Doesn't Miss Franklin's obvious fear of him mean anything to you?” He storms out, unaware that he is being followed from the station. That evening, in his apartment, Hughes observes a trench-coated figure from his window moments before the figure opens fire on him, breaking his window and showering him with glass. Fortunately, he only suffers minor cuts, because the bullets miss him. As he rings up the operator to ask her to send the police, he mutters to himself, “Well, at least now, they'll take me seriously.”

Christopher Col..	In 1493 explorer Christopher Columbus reached the Turtle Island aboard his ship Niña only to be prevented from landing. The crew suffered the melancholy of exclusion emanating from the Mesh, that irresistible group consciousness linking First Nations from the Turtle Island to the Dreamtime. ..
.. His report to the Portuguese Court was at first rejected. However not long afterwards came the return of Bartholomeu Dias from a failed rounding of the Horn of Ifriquia, the Arabic term for the region known to the Europeans as Africa. Dias' report mirrored that of Columbus and greater weight was of course given to Portugal's native son over the fair-haired Genoese Columbus.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1949 the Security Council of United Nations recommended membership for Palestine following the withdrawal of British forces two years before. Zionists led by David Ben-Gurion gain world attention for the plight of the Jewish settlers in the State. However Anglo-America had decided to ..	Zionist Press C..
.. respect Arab Unity in order to keep the Soviet Union out of the Middle East and reneged on the 1917 Balfour Declaration which promised the State of Israel.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cray Supercompu..	In 1977 the First Cray-1 supercomputer was shipped to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The modern world was getting increasingly complex and high performance computing resources were desperately needed to power the strategic models being developed around the predictions of ..
.. the thousand year old Lenape soothsayer held under the World Trade Center.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1933 the Parliament of Austria was suspended because of a quibble over ..	Adolf Hitler
.. procedure. Chancellor Adolf Schicklegruber initiated authoritarian rule by decree
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Nuts Again

June 7th, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1891, 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson sends back General Theodore Monteith's truce messenger with a one-word message: “Nuts.” Monteith prepares for a retreat out of Topeka, telling his men, “We'll be back. Have no doubt in your mind about that; we'll be back, and this will soon be over.” He manages to leave Kansas' capitol with surprisingly few casualties; most historians of the era feel that Simpson let Monteith leave without undue resistance because he wanted to preserve his own forces against any coming Union onslaught. Allowing Monteith to retreat unmolested proved a disaster for his comrades in Kansas City, where the general headed to relieve his chief aide, Lt. Colonel Mark Wainwright, who was in a hard fight in the border town.

in 1999, Leopold Turkavian, a former soldier of the Central European Empire and current assassin for the Illuminati, breaks into Queen Gwen's bedchambers in her Welsh retreat and attempts to kill her. The queen has other ideas, and fights Turkavian off long enough for her security detail to burst in and finish the man off. She tells them to be ready for more; “As the last of the Empire falls to us, their agents will grow more desperate. Take care that the king's guard watches him, as well.”

In 2003, in the West the Corporation's Source Project reached make-or-break point. Software developers built a game-world of nightmare and wonder. Evil called to evil. Windows were about to open into the world, and the Power shift dimensions. Perhaps unwittingly the Corporation would usher in the Magic Time.

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

In 10,195, AG Paul Atreides led a Fremen insurgency on Dune, terminating the supply of the Universe's most valuable commodity, the spice known as melange. The troops of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen arrived on the planet Dune for a showdown. They were supported by a coalition of the willing from the noble houses of the Landsraad; together, they must resume the supply of melange.

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

Plague spreads ..	In 1760, Yersinia pestis held court in the great continent of Europe and his mastery was absolute. His warriors Nosopsyllus fasciatus and rattus rattus had defeated the Royal families of Hapsburg, Romanov, Stuart, Hohenzollern inter alia and they ran riot in this fallen house. The great cities ..
.. of Rome, Paris and London were playgrounds for the flea and the rat and they ruled with impunity. Mighty was their demesne and silent also.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2012, Mrs George Walker Bush sensed time was on her side. W needed time to make a big U turn, he was a stubborn character who demanded a complete rethink. She was confident he would come around to the idea of passing the baton to her. Making Condi the first African American President of the United States would play well ..	Condoleeza Rice
.. with the electorate. She had checked with all 17 of them at Camp David. They were the sole American survivors of the nuclear exchange with the Axis of Evil countries that had extirpated life above ground.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Frederick Forsy..	In 1976, on this day the author Frederick Forsyth published the semi-fictional account “The Day of the Jackal”. The book depicted the events of 1974 when the Emperor Napoleon V Airport was belatedly opened by the Mayor of Paris, André Joseph Marie de Gaulle. The event was almost marred by an assassination attempt on ..
.. the Major. The assassin known as the Jackal, disguised as a war veteran, made his way to a building which faced the runway where de Gaulle presented veterans with medals. However, the Jackal failed to take into account the Gallic custom of kissing on both cheeks, expecting instead that de Gaulle would shake hands with the medal recipient. As the Jackal fired, de Gaulle simultaneously moved forward to kiss the recipient on the cheeks, causing the bullet to miss.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1994, London Underground train number AEJX57B pulled smoothly into Liverpool Street Station at rush hour. The platform could not be more crowded with humanity. And of course the train is packed like a sardine tin already. Frustrating to get squeezed and shuffled and sweat out your expensive business clothes and ..	Carriage 16A
.. still not get a seat home with your expensive season ticket. But what's this, Carriage 16A is completely empty?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

June 8th, 2007

in 1891, Lt. Colonel Mark Wainwright's forces in Kansas City receive good and bad news – the bad news is that General Monteith was forces to abandon Topeka, Kansas to the rebels. The good news is that Monteith is on his way to Kansas City. This news quickly spreads through the streets in the border town, and rebels begin abandoning the town in droves. Wainwright almost has the town under control by the time that Monteith arrives to mop up. The general arrives very determined to return to Kansas' capitol, and wants Wainwright to spend his every waking moment in planning to make it happen. “That city will be mine, Mr. Wainwright.” The colonel vows, “I shall expend all my resources to make it so, general.”

in 1999, an assassin attacks King Arthur II of Great Britain as he rests in his Welsh retreat with Queen Gwen. His Majesty is stabbed several times by the man that everyone assumes is sent by the Central European Empire's vestiges, and is flown to London just before lapsing into a coma. Queen Gwen goes on television to announce to the nation, in a tear-filled voice, that “no matter what these villains may do, no matter the atrocity that they perpetrate on those we love, we shall never rest, we shall never relent in our holy task to bring them to justice, and to cast them down from the command of nations.” Her stirring words rally the nation and send her personal popularity soaring. She is now in effective command of the country, and she pursues the war against her old masters ruthlessly, scouring them from the face of Europe wherever they are found.

In 2003, planes fell out of the sky, metal wings were replaced by leather and the lights went out for good. The Source Project had invited something catastrophic into the World. The Magic Time had begun.

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

In 10,195, AG on the Planet Dune, Paul Atreides led an assault by Fremen mounted on giant sand-worms. House atomics were detonated to blast through the sand-wall and enter the desert capital, Arrakeen in a surprise attack on the House of Shaddam Corrino IV. Surging into the city to defeat the coalition of the willing, the Messiah found that the nuclear detonation had transported the Fremen back at least 20,000 years into unrecorded human history. They arrived at a different, yet no so different point in their distant past. The Fall of Baghdad, 2003 was being fought out by the noble House of Hussein al-Tikriti and the noble House of Bush.

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

Zanzibar Leopar..	In 1760, the brisk merchant's trade off the coast of Tanzania is undeterred by the depopulation of Europe. Far from it, the world's oldest marketplace at Zangi-bar (Zanzibar City) had never been busier. Equidistant from the Turtle Island, the Far East and the Gulf of Arabia, Zangi-bar was uniquely positioned as the trade ..
.. hub of the modern world. Hailed throughout Africa as an economic leopard, London's loss was most definitely her gain.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2012, at Camp David there had been a further episode of bashing between the third term US President George W Bush and his Secretary of State and second wife, Condoleezza Rice. The Battle of the Bushes had moved back out of the trenches into a rapid war of movement. W had offered Condi the Vice Presidency during his fourth ..	George Bush
.. term. She could be the back seat driver that Dick Cheney had been to date. “Honey, its a fine offer” he said just before she bashed him over the head with an executive toy from the Resolute Desk.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Steve Payne	In 1959, the USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail. The Missile would land by deploying an internal parachute upon arrival. It has been attempted by various organisations in many different countries, with varying levels of success. The collection of philatelic material ..
.. used for (and depicting) rocket mail is a specialist branch of aerophilately known as astrophilately. Until the late 1950s, the idea was treated with derision due to the cost of the schemes and numerous failures. However the 1957 Dropshot War with Russia and China had rendered radioactive many parts of the continental United States, seriously inhibiting conventional forms of transportation. Perversely, astrophilately was an idea whose time had come around, mostly as a result of the nuclear missile.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1994, at West Ruislip depot British Transport Police inspect London Underground train number AEJX57B. At issue is the simply inexplicable emptiness of Carriage 16A at rush hour. Well, not quite empty. Just a single catatonic passenger. He become prime suspect #1 about three nanoseconds after the British Transport ..	Passenger #1
.. Police found him. The appearance of a radical Muslim cleric is against him and already whispering has started about how long he will go down for. Twenty-fours was the right answer, but it was a bet nobody would have dreamed of taking at that point. After all, he was being taken to Paddington Green, the most important high security police station in the United Kingdom.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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