Defeat of Fascism

Eric Blair	"We are in a strange period of history in which a revolutionary has to be a patriot and a patriot has to be a revolutionary" ~ Eric Arthur Blair writing in Tribune, the Labour left's weekly, in December 1940
George Orwell

World War II accelerated changes in British society that had been bubbling since 1917. The defeat of Fascism in Europe by the emerging forces of Anarchy in Catalonia offered a new alternative. And not much later, the name Britain itself would be superseded, by Airstrip One. The full article is available at Wikipedia

~ quotation by Steve Payne

A new Royal Family A wild nobility We are the family
Adam and the Ants	No method in our madness just pride about our manner Antpeople are the warriors Antmusic is the banner! ~ Lyrics to Kings of the Wild Frontier - Click to Watch Sample
Kings of the Wild Frontier

In her superb history The Sleeping Serpent (1992), Pamela Sargent described what happened next in the mid-13th Century when the Mongol hordes arrived on the steppes, poised to enter Germany and Italy. Genghiz Khan's successor Subadai received news of a royal death back home, but chose to advance at that time, establishing vast European Khanates. Four centuries later, only Inglistan and her American colonies stand between the Mongols and world domination. Khan's son Yesuntai arrives at the encampment at Yeke Geren, and quickly establishes that the American Indians are their long-lost Asian brothers who crossed the land-bridge at the Bering Straits. Yesunta determines to emulate their victories, and nomadic hegemony forms a solid chain across the Northern Hemisphere. The Inglistani and her colonies are crushed but just a few “go native” in North America and become Kings of the Wild Frontier, preserving some form of non Mongol culture outside the control of the gloal Khanate. The lyrics are available at at Cifi

~ quotation by Steve Payne

In 2021, Newsweek ran the article After Obama - could a successor President control the escalation of events following the sinking of the USS Condoleeza Rice?

~ entry by Steve Payne from

In 1976, Robert Neville lived the life of a recluse, trapped inside his fortified home. He studied the vampiris bacteria. Outside vampires and the infected tried to break in. "Come out Robert Neville" yelled his undead neighbour Ben Cortman.

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

Hiroshima	In 1945, a multi-national team continues to look for a breakthrough at Hiroshima. Matter continues to be sucked at an alarming rate through the fissure left by the nuclear explosion on August 6th. The area was fast de pressuring, and the general effect much like a hole in an air plane cabin but on a grander scale. “Any ideas today?” asks the team lead with barely disguised negativity. “How about, “ says Alan Turing, one of the British scientists “ the hair of the dog that bit you? Lets detonate another bomb to close the fissure.”
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 2127/2003, sneaked in by anti-war sympathisers in the security forces, and from behind a one-way mirror in Paddington Green Police Station, Robin Cook and Claire Short watch the two interviewees, twenty-second century fugitive Brent and first Asian QC Kim Hollis.	Paddington Green
Urgent investigations are being pursued in relation to the apparent suicide of the Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith. Already convinced that the Second Gulf War is a terrible mistake, they believe the testimonies of time travellers Brent and first Asian QC Kim Hollis.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Robert Silverbe..	In 1666, a small fire was extinguished at the bakery of Thomas Farriner in Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September. Historians disagree as to whether a great fire of London could have played a part in preventing future pandemics.
The Great Plague epidemic of 1665 is believed to have killed a sixth of London's inhabitants, or 80,000 people, and it is sometimes suggested, given the fact that plague epidemics recurred in London after the fire, that a Great Fire could actually have saved lives in the long run by burning down so much unsanitary housing with the accompanying rats and their fleas (which transmitted the plague). However, there was no great fire, and London was devastated by the Second Year of the Plague in 1667 as described by Robert Silverberg in his history epic The Gate of the Worlds.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1870, the first Franco-Prussian War reaches an unexpected conclusion at the Battle of Sedan. French forces take Kaiser Wilhelm I and 150,000 of his soldiers prisoner as the German nation is strangled at birth. In a famous picture of Napoleon III having a conversation with Bismarck after being captured in the Battle of Sedan, the Iron Chancellor indicated that he had serious doubts about the future and stability of the recently-founded German empire.	Napoleon III & Bismarck
However, he had no doubt that in the future, more robust attempts would be made, Prussian militarism could not be denied.
~ entry by Steve Payne

American Dissolution

The state of TIAH

February 17th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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 1801, in only the 4th presidential election for the young American nation, Thomas Jefferson, President John Adams and Senator Aaron Burr find themselves in a three-way tie for the leadership of the small country. Ballot after ballot was cast indecisively in the House of Representatives, leading only to more rancor and entrenchment among those who wanted one of their candidates to come out on top. Thomas Jefferson urged Senator Burr, who had ostensibly been running with him to become Vice-President, to drop out and throw his supporters to the Virginian. The senator, seeing himself this close to power, balked, and campaigned vigorously for the top office. In the end, his congressional relationships carried the day, and he won the presidency, with Jefferson serving, yet again, as Vice-President. The enmity between the two men over this incident spilled out into legislation as Jefferson, in his post as President of the Senate, blocked many of Burr's initiatives out of spite. In 1803, this proved to be too much for Burr to take any longer, and he challenged Jefferson to a duel. Jefferson, the better shot of the two, emerged victorious, and assumed the office of President as Burr died on the field of honor. This caused an uproar in the dead president's home state of New York, which sent its militia to the capitol to seize President Jefferson. They were met by Virginia's soldiers, and a civil war erupted between the northern supporters of President Burr and the southern partisans who backed Jefferson. Great Britain, seeing the chance to reclaim their old colonies, jumped in on the side of the north, which then annihilated the southern states. Massachusetts alone of the northern states resisted the British reconquest of the states, but it was overwhelmed, too. In 1812, all of the colonies were placed under a royal vice-regent, and welcomed back into the United Kingdom.

Harry Turtledov..	In 1991 Harry Turtledove published the counter-history novel On the Beach, in which he posed the Dunkirk question – what if the British Expeditionary Force had escaped Guderian's panzers in 1940? The book was ridiculed as ludicrous, Allied soldiers would have had to walk along two ..
.. jetties in single file, being strafed by the Luftwaffe, to be met by fishing vessels. It was agreed that this time Harry had gone too far.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1820 the Missouri Compromise sealed an agreement between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. Contemporary historians believed that a War of the States would have been inevitable without the agreement.	The Missouri C..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Assassination o..	In 1974 U.S. Army private Robert K. Preston stole a United States Army helicopter from Fort Meade, Maryland, flew it to Washington, D.C., and hovered for six minutes over the White House before descending on the south lawn, about 100 yards from the West Wing. Preston's actions inspired ..
.. Samuel Byck to crash a passenger air plane into the White House on February 22, 1974 killing President Richard Nixon and Vice President Gerald Ford.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1871 the victorious French Army paraded though the Brandenburg Gate after the end of the Siege of Berlin during the Franco-Prussian War.	Napoleon III of..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Hoax

	In 1872, months after the French defeat at Sedan the Computer that Outsmarted Wellington was exposed as a hoax. Some sixty years before, Napoleon Bonaparte had exploited the mystery surrounding Turk II to gain a vital pschyological edge over Anglo-Prussian forces. Belgian spies had been disengenously informed that battle plans for Waterloo had been prepared by the mysterious device. Napoleon III failed to repeat the same trick, disasterously losing the Franco-Prussian War.
The Turk

The Turk was a chess-playing machine of the late 18th century. The machine consisted of a life-sized model of a human head and torso, with a black beard and grey eyes, and dressed in Turkish robes and a turban - the traditional costume, according to journalist and author Tom Standage, 'of an oriental sorcerer.' Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by the Austrian-Hungarian Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734 - 1804) to impress the Empress Maria Theresa, the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, as well as perform the knight's tour, a puzzle that requires the player to move a knight to occupy every square of a chessboard once and only once. Following the death of Kempelen, the Turk remained un-exhibited until some time before 1808 when Kempelen's son decided to sell it to Johann Nepomuk Malzel, a Bavarian musician with an interest in various machines and devices. Malzel, whose successes included patenting a form of metronome, had tried to purchase the Turk once before, before Kempelen's death. The original attempt had failed owing to Kempelen's asking price of 20,000 francs; Kempelen's son sold the machine to Malzel for half this sum. Upon acquiring the Turk, Malzel had to learn its secrets and make some repairs to get it back in working order. His stated goal was to make explaining the Turk a greater challenge. While the completion of this goal took ten years, the Turk still made appearances, most notably with Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1809, Bonaparte arrived at Schonbrunn Palace to play the Turk. Malzel took responsibility for the construction of the machine while preparing the game, and the Turk saluted Bonaparte prior to the start of the match. The Turk sat at its cabinet, and Bonaparte sat at a separate chess table. Bonaparte's table was in a roped-off area and he was not allowed to cross into the Turk's area, with Malzel crossing back and forth to make each player's move and allowing a clear view for the spectators. In a surprise move, Bonaparte took the first turn instead of allowing the Turk to make the first move, as was usual; but Malzel allowed the game to continue. Shortly thereafter, Bonaparte attempted an illegal move. Upon noticing the move, the Turk returned the piece to its original spot and continued the game. Bonaparte attempted the illegal move a second time, and the Turk responded by removing the piece from the board entirely and taking its turn. Bonaparte then attempted the move a third time, the Turk responding with a sweep of its arm, knocking all the pieces off the board. Bonaparte was reportedly amused, and then played a real game with the machine, completing nineteen moves before tipping over his king in surrender. Realising the automaton was a hoax, Bonaparte paid Malzel 20,000 francs to commission a successor device, which was announced with great fanfare as a military planning automaton.

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In 2006, in an act dripping with irony following 'lone gunman' conspiracy theories, Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney shot dead US Vice President Dick Cheney. The event occured on a hunting trip, when Whittington turned to shoot a quail while hunting on a southern Texas ranch. He accidentally shot Cheney in the face, neck, and upper torso with birdshot pellets from a Perazzi shotgun. The owner of the ranch stated that, 'Mr. Cheney got peppered pretty good.'

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In 1979, the septuagenarian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran. Deteriorating relations with the West and the Embassy Hostage Crisis ended in a catastrophic war with the United States. The rule of His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah II was established in 1981 following a two-year interregnum in the House of Pahlavi.

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In 1981, 100,000 gallons of radioactive coolant leaked into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers. Officers of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) descended upon Richmond, Virginia to meet with Confederate President James Earl Carter demanding an explanation for this outrage. The Georgia Giant refused to meet with them sensing Yankee manipulation behind the protests. Of course the United States was not sufficiently advanced to have a nuclear program of their own and the refusal of the Confederacy to share technology with their northern neighbour was the core of the dispute.

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In 1904, the defensive fleet of the human and Mlosh from earth rendezvous at the Plutonian defensive perimeter to meet the incoming fleet from the Mlosh homeworld. They now realize that they are facing an offshoot of the Mlosh, possibly bred for battle. The children of the earth brace for a hard fight.

In 1858, 14-year-old Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, claiming that the Virgin Mary had told her of its healing powers, drank from a well she dug near Lourdes, France. Unfortunately for her, the well's water was impure, and she died of an intestinal virus shortly afterwards; her mention of the Blessed Virgin's appearance was hushed up by local Church fathers.

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In 1970, Japan launches the satellite Ohsumi from its Kagoshima Space Center, joining the western powers of America, France and the Soviet Union in the heavens. Their national will to exceed soon pushes them past the other nations, and Japan lands the first human on Mars, Ryoko Kikuchi, in 1984.

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In 1988, Nelson Mandela, the symbol for anti-apartheid movements across the globe, died in his Robben Island Prison. He had been placed in solitary confinement on Robben Island after leading the other inmates in civil disobedience against the hideous conditions in the prison, and was never seen again. Bloody riots after his death overthrew the rule of the white minority in South Africa.

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In 1993, Harry Turtledove published the counter-history novel Alas Trafalgar, in which he posed the question - what if a more cautious Admiral Jellicoe had prevented the sinking of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in 1916? The outcome is that the British rather than the Germans gained the North Sea Oil windfall in the 1920s.

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In 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes and the time of languishing is finally at an end.

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	In 1990, BBC News reported: Freedom for Nelson Mandela - 'Leading anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela has been freed from prison in South Africa after 27 years. His release follows the relaxation of apartheid laws - including lifting the ban on leading black rights party the African National Congress (ANC) - by Archon FW de Klerk. Mr Mandela appeared at the gates of Victor-Verster Prison in Paarl at 1614 local time - an hour late - with his wife Winnie.

Holding her hand and dressed in a light brown suit and tie he smiled at the ecstatic crowds and punched the air in a victory salute before taking a silver BMW sedan to Cape Town, 40 miles away. People danced in the streets across the country and thousands clamoured to see him at a rally in Capetown. 'Our march to freedom is irreversible' said Nelson Mandela. Arch-Strategos Von Shrakenberg could not agree less, and he had a plan in place to stall that march as of the now.

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In 1847, the world's greatest inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Milan, Ohio. Edison's adaption of Babbage's Difference Engine became a world-transforming tool that allowed for the storage and transmission of vast amounts of information instantaneously. His work was directly responsible for the Knowledge Railroad that connects all of humanity today.

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In 1952, while his host Carl Thompson recuperates in the local hospital, Mikhail von Heflin and Velma Porter seek out Juan Escobar, self-styled hunter of the paranormal. Escobar, injured in the struggle the night before himself, is in a small motel on the north side of the town, contemplating a return to his native Mexico.