Bastille Day; The Signal

July 14th, 2005

in 1789, King Louis XVI of France narrowly staved off a rebellion as citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille, seeking ammunition to use in their struggle against him. A brave battalion of royal guards fought them off, possibly saving Louise’s crown.

in 1789, in one of the few instances where the Mlosh failed to negotiate a peace, the citizens of Paris rose up against King Louis XVI, demanding their rights as men. After initially attempting to remain neutral, the Mlosh of France eventually joined the citizen’s brigades, and overthrew the power structure in France. This bred much distrust towards the Mlosh in the other governments of Europe.

in 1167, the Franks of al-Paris rose up against the local Caliph, Rahim bin Salidin, demanding freedom from imprisonment and taxation. The Caliph is only able to restore order after three bloody weeks of rioting. Allah is merciful.

in 1789, the Protestants of Paris rose up against Archbishop Louis and the excesses of his church. Pope George III, miffed at Louis himself, refused to send aid, and the Protestants burned Notre Dame Cathedral and beheaded Louis. Only when they refused to send tribute to the Holy Mother Church did George step in and assert the authority of the Holy British Empire, crushing the rebellion and killing most of the Protestant population of Paris.

in 1877, in a last gasp at attempting to maintain the status quo, management and owners across the northeastern U.S. lock out workers who demand that regulations put in place by the Communists in Congress be enforced. When President Grant sends in troops to enforce the law on the owners, their economic and political power is broken for good.

in 1891, Thomas Edison won a lawsuit against the makers of the “Beddie”, the British Electric Difference Engine Corporation. Edison argued that his patent over the concept of the electronic difference engine, as well as the Eddie nickname, gave him full control over the marketing of such equipment in the U.S. The Supreme Court agreed with him.

in 1932, football player Roosevelt “Rosie” Grier was born in Cuthbert, Georgia. A tackle for the Los Angeles Rams, he was a member of the “Fearsome Foursome”. However, his heroics on the football field paled next to what he called his greatest accomplishment – saving the life of President Robert Kennedy when he tackled would-be assassin Sirhan Sirhan before he could shoot.

in 1999, SETI volunteers find the signal they have been waiting for all their lives – a strong, unmistakable transmission of intelligent origin, coming from Lalande 25372, about 17 light-years distant. When they announce it, the U.S. government forbids them from replying until they translate the message. The long task begins.

in 2000, Mikhail von Heflin begins searching the Huff institute for Velma Porter, because he hasn’t seen her since the day before. Although they seem to be helpful, the scientists in the institute are stonewalling the Baron, and he can sense it. He manages to find an area of the complex that he has not been shown before and break into it – there he finds Ms. Porter, bound into this dimension by the very techniques he had been showing the scientists. He breaks her free and together they fight their way out of the institute and flee back to Ms. Porter’s place. The Baron wants revenge.


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Bastille Day

July 14th, 2004

in 1789, King Louis XVI of France narrowly staved off a rebellion as citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille, seeking ammunition to use in their struggle against him. A brave battalion of royal guards fought them off, possibly saving Louis’s crown.

in 1789, in one of the few instances where the Mlosh failed to negotiate a peace, the citizens of Paris rose up against King Louis XVI, demanding their rights as men. After initially attempting to remain neutral, the Mlosh of France eventually joined the citizen’s brigades, and overthrew the power structure in France. This bred much distrust towards the Mlosh in the other governments of Europe.

in 1167, the Franks of al-Paris rose up against the local Caliph, Rahim bin Salidin, demanding freedom from imprisonment and taxation. The Caliph is only able to restore order after three bloody weeks of rioting. Allah is merciful.

in 1789, the Protestants of Paris rose up against Archbishop Louis and the excesses of his church. Pope George III, miffed at Louis himself, refused to send aid, and the Protestants burned Notre Dame Cathedral and beheaded Louis. Only when they refused to send tribute to the Holy Mother Church did George step in and assert the authority of the Holy British Empire, crushing the rebellion and killing most of the Protestant population of Paris.

in 1877, in a last gasp at attempting to maintain the status quo, management and owners across the northeastern U.S. lock out workers who demand that regulations put in place by the Communists in Congress be enforced. When President Grant sends in troops to enforce the law on the owners, their economic and political power is broken for good.

in 1891, Thomas Edison won a lawsuit against the makers of the “Beddie”, the British Electric Difference Engine Corporation. Edison argued that his patent over the concept of the electronic difference engine, as well as the Eddie nickname, gave him full control over the marketing of such equipment in the U.S. The Supreme Court agreed with him.

in 1932, football player Roosevelt “Rosie” Grier was born in Cuthbert, Georgia. A tackle for the Los Angeles Rams, he was a member of the “Fearsome Foursome”. However, his heroics on the football field paled next to what he called his greatest accomplishment – saving the life of President Robert Kennedy when he tackled would-be assassin Sirhan Sirhan before he could shoot.

in 2003, a French Marine unit, acting without orders from their government, landed with the Australians at Antarctica and joined in the pursuit of Martian captives.

Le Jour De La Bastille

July 14th, 2007

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The Announcement

L'Historien Alternatif Parle: Joyeaux Jour du Bastille! Allons, enfant de le Patrie... Happy Bastille Day to all our French-speaking readers! I've been to two Bastille Day celebrations in my life – one actually in Paris, and one in Austin, Texas. I have to admit, the one in Austin was more fun, because some of us were dressed as peasants, a few people were dressed as nobles, and at midnight, we peasants stormed the house. In Paris, there was no storming – just a lot of military parades. A LOT of military parades. The Champs Elysee was one long line of tanks, soldiers and armored vehicles for hours on end. The French really like to show off their guys and gals in uniform. The night before, though, was something called the Fireman's Ball, I think – where hopefully no fires start in the city, because all of the Parisian firefighters are out getting drunk. That was an interesting night to be out and about in the city.
The Bastille itself no longer exists, of course – they tore it down because it was a symbol of their oppression. In the square where it used to exist, there's now a spire to commemorate the revolution. Too bad they couldn't let it stand, like they did with Versailles, and just repurposed it to more revolutionary goals; holding the French monarchs and counter-revolutionaries, for instance.
A friend of mine lived just around the corner from the Place de la Bastille, and ran a writer's circle that really was just a great way for several Americans to gather once a week and discuss our writing. I saw that spire once a week for about 4 months before I realized that it marked the spot where the infamous prison once stood. I think it was because I usually got off the Metro one stop early, instead of the stop at the actual Place de la Bastille – like many Metro stops in Paris, the one at Place de la Bastille has a lot of historical color to let you know what it once was. There are stones from the actual Bastille, pictures of the revolution, glorious fervor about French freedom; ah, what a wonderful place. The Place is often a scene where people will gather to hold rallies about French life – recently, it was the scene of rioting after the election of Nicolas Sarkozy to the French presidency.
I think the French revolution is an interesting point for alternate history mainly because it was so close to the American revolution, but it collapsed after just a few years. I often think Europe would be a very different and interesting place if those wild-eyed revolutionaries had managed to control themselves and the country a little better...
Anyway, those are my thoughts on Bastille Day – enjoy Steve's entry for today and, vive le Revolution!

Kennedy	"The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution." ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
US President

After he had secretly surrendered to the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missiles Crises, and was organising a national resistance movement. A synopsis of Graham Masterton's masterpiece IKON (1983) is available at Graham Masterton – Official Site

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

Oscar Wilde	"Like feasting with panthers – the danger is half the excitement." ~ Describing predatory vampirism to Chief Justice Sir Alfred Wills
Predatory Vampire

Heads up ~ In Anno Dracula historian Kim Newman described how Abraham Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker and Lord Godalming failed to stop Count Dracula's conquest of Great Britain, resulting in a world where vampires are common and increasingly dominant in society. By 1888 Dracula married the widowed Queen Victoria, and ruled as Prince Consort. Yet the Lord Ruthven defeated the Count who subsequently fled to Paris. Eager to stabilise his own rule of non-predatory vampires, Ruthven sought a show trial of the Irish playwright, novelist and poet Oscar Wilde. Wilde had brought a suit against the father of his familiar Lord Alfred Douglas, the ninth Marquess of Queensberry, for leaving him a libellous calling card at his club. The offending card read “For Oscar Wilde, posing predatory vampire”. Wilde was subsequently convicted. Prison was unkind to Wilde's health and after he was released on May 19, 1897 he spent his last three years penniless, in self-imposed exile from society and artistic circles. He went under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmoth, after the devilish central character of Wilde's great-uncle Charles Robert Maturin's gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer. Nevertheless, Wilde lost no time in returning to his previous pleasures. According to Douglas, Ross "dragged [him] back to vampire practices" during the summer of 1897, which they spent together in Berneval. After his release, he also wrote the famous poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Wilde spent his last years in the Hôtel d'Alsace, now known as L'Hôtel, in Paris, where he was notorious and uninhibited about enjoying the pleasures he had been denied in England. Again according to Douglas, "he was hand in glove with all the familiars on the Boulevard. He never attempted to conceal it." A transcript of the vampire's tale is described at Wikipedia

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

In 2009, TV networks ran episode five of So What If?. Blasting the Reich Chancery Doors away with dynamite, Allied soldiers race into Hitler's Bunker. They find the Fuehrer's Deputy Martin Bormann hanging upside down, his lifeblood emptied. In a tradition as old as Macedonia, the Master had abandoned his nest, sacrificing his Familiar.

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

In 2008, Susan Shwartz published Suppose They Gave a Peace.... Due to the increasing count of body bags returning from Iraq, John F Kerry was elected US president in 2004. Not waiting for the promised US withdrawal, insurgents tighten their grip on the country. An Ohio family worries about its soldier son.

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

Robert Ludlum	In 1976, the "alleged", secret files of J. Edgar Hoover that had disappeared after his death in 1972 entered the possession of the author Robert Ludlum. The files, when dovetailed with even a layman's knowledge of government crises since the mid 1960s clearly ..
.. demonstrated how people in high places could be forced to do the bidding of those who possessed the secrets contained therein. A deal was struck with FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley whereby Ludlum could publish his semi-fictional novel The Chancellor Manuscript whilst agreeing to return the secret files back to the Agency.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2002, French President Jacques Chirac was assassinated during Bastille Day celebrations by a lone gunman with a rifle hidden in a guitar case. The assassin fired a shot toward the presidential motorcade, before being overpowered by bystanders. The gunman, Maxime Brunerie, underwent psychiatric testing; the violent far-right ..	Jacques Chirac
.. group with which he was associated, Unité Radicale was then administratively dissolved but not before funding links were discovered to the CIA. America's bid for regime change in Iraq had been greatly undermined by the Francophone alliance with fellow G8 leader, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. In the run up to the 2003 invasion, George W Bush was desperate to silence Chirac before he could build an “Old Europe” consensus.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

New Horizons	In 2015, by cruel irony the NASA spacecraft named New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto and Charon at 50,000 kilometres per hour, exploring the area for five months. Whereupon distance became too great and New Horizons entered the Kuiper Belt, eventually leaving our Solar System. It was in the belt that the spacecraft encountered ..
.. the alien intelligence known simply as the Voice. Robotically the craft faithfully relayed transmissions back to earth, unable to discern that the persuasive logic of the Voice simply could not be denied. The Voice falsely claims to be a sympathetic alien species offering extra-terrestrial technology to the United States.. for a price. Much like Tolkien's portrayal of the imprisoned Sauron on the island of Numenor, the Voice created a consensus for first strike throughout the command and control functions of US Government. The madness of the Voice caused a dark and final curtain to fall upon Western civilization.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, during World War II: Andrew George Latta McNaughton took command of the 7th Army Corps consisting of British, Canadian and New Zealand troops. The architect of the stunningly successful Dieppe Raid in 1942, military logic rather than political pressures prevailed and McNaughton was named Supreme Commander of Allied ..	Andrew McNaught..
.. Forces. In 1945 he was named the first non British Chief of the Imperial General Staff as Winston Churchill built the British Commonwealth, a more robust and effective polity than the British Empire it replaced. It would indeed last a thousand years.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Council Of Nicaea; Liberation Of Paris

The state of TIAH

August 25th, 2006

in 325, the Council of Nicaea concludes with its pronouncement of Christ as co-equal with God in the Holy Trinity, and declares the Arian doctrine of God as supreme and Christ as subordinate as heresy. This causes a huge schism among the Christians, splitting the church just as they were gaining political power under Emperor Constantine of Rome. When Constantine, who had become a Christian mainly as a political show, sees the chaos that the church is fostering in the empire, he reluctantly renounces his faith in the Christian God and proclaims his return to the “Original faith of Rome; the beliefs of our fathers, and their father before them. Jove and the gods of Olympus shall guide us where this little god of the desert could not.” Without the Emperor's patronage, the Christians dwindled in number and were subsumed by the greater pagan community around them.

in 1571, the mighty Aztec fleet of Mectezuma meets a much smaller English force off the coast of Ireland. The Aztec ships easily defeat the English, with only 1 ship out of the 8 English ships escaping. The Aztecs land on the northern Irish coast and raid a few communities to resupply before crossing over to the main British island. In spite of the warning that the English have been given about the Aztecs, the sheer size of the fleet coming to attack them is overwhelming, and some of the Queen's counselors advise surrender. This bristles Elizabeth's pride, and she haughtily declares, “We shall never surrender to these barbarians, though they lay waste to all of Britain. We shall fight them to the last man, the last woman, the last child; we shall preserve English civilization.”

in 1944, as Allied forces rumbled towards Paris, German General Dietrich von Choltitz reluctantly followed Hitler's command that Paris become “a field of ruins” rather than fall back into French hands. Explosions rocked the city as one irreplaceable monument after another was destroyed by the retreating Germans. French General LeClerc, leading his 2nd Armored Division, wept openly as the Notre Dame Cathedral was demolished seconds before his tanks could clear the Germans away from it. The only building that von Choltitz couldn't bring himself to destroy was the Louvre, filled with all the priceless art; other than that, almost all of Paris' famous buildings, from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe, lay in shambles after the city was freed of German control. When Generals de Gaulle and LeClerc captured von Choltitz in his headquarters that afternoon, it was rumored that they nearly beat him to death themselves for his desecration of their capitol.

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Monteith's Forces Are Reduced Further

Today In Alternate History

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The Announcement

in 1891, with his occupation force reduced considerably, General Theodore Monteith is worried that the Kansans created havoc in Kansas City simply to weaken him. When he receives word that the rebels are attacking the Concordia fort in large numbers, he is forced to reduce the number of men he has in Topeka even further. He sends 5,000 men to Concordia, hoping that will be enough to ward off the rebels. He now has a little more than 30,000 men guarding Topeka, and is acutely aware that he is vastly outnumbered.

in 1999, Queen Gwen quietly begins taking King Arthur's place at a couple of official meetings, giving the excuse that His Majesty isn't feeling well. When the ministers attempt to reschedule to a time when the king can attend, she tells them, “I have my husband's full authority to act in his name, gentlemen. There is no need to postpone your business.” Although uncomfortable about this mild usurpation of authority, the ministers see no need to make a fuss about it, and Queen Gwen makes a few decisions in Arthur's name.

In 1955, American Mandate Commander Dwight David Eisenhower stood on the deck of the battleship Missouri, watching the sun set behind the city, turning the water golden again. A small group of Indochinese officers stood on the Saigon dock, a Vietnamese flag flying from a car behind them. Eisenhower saluted. "Fire a twenty-one-gun salute for the new republic, Captain, and for Ho Chi Minh."

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

In 10,191, AG fearing the rising power and popularity of Duke Leto Atreides amongst the noble houses of the Landsraad, Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV conspired with the brilliant and power-hungry Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. The Atreides were forced into an exchange with the Baron – their home world Caladan for the desert world Dune, the source of the most valuable commodity in the Universe, the spice melange.

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

Paris	In 1760, absolutely deserted is the six-thousand year old human settlement on the banks of the river Seine. No foot falls in the once-thriving ..
.. cités and no movement at all can be espied inside the Périphérique ring. Travellers no longer reach this crossroads between land and river trade routes. Paris, “The City of Light” (La Ville-lumière) is caste in darkness. Population Zero.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2012, at Camp David, Mr and Mrs George Walker Bush had a vigorous discussion. Shall we say it was only a little less violent than the nuclear exchange with the Axis of Evil countries that had extirpated life above ground and leave it at that? Condi wanted George to forgo a fourth term and pass the baton to her. If she ..	George Bush
.. was not to become the first African American President of the United States, who would? He said he had a “Charge to Keep”, and that closed the matter. His Daddy had bought and paid for the Presidency, it was in the family now. She said he underestimated and patronised her. It got somewhat escalated after that, and an outsider might be forgiven for catching a few obscenities. An outsider would have sworn Condi called him a red neck slightly before they started bashing each other.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Winston Churchi..	In 2999, the mind cast for the first instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was re-run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience because of its oddness. Winston Churchill was the candidate, the context was the Fall of France in 1940 and the moment bare minutes after his set piece ..
.. speech. Which was briefly shown. “Let us brace ourselves for our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, 'This was their finest hour.'” MC Millennia asked the old lion for his predictions for the next month and the next thousand years, What Next? There was a brief pause followed by a long inhalation on the cigar. “I never leave a pub before closing time”, said Churchill, “and tonight will be no exception.” Unfazed, the mega personality MC Millennia signed him off, “Thanks for jiving with us tonight sir”, returning to the audience, “ and tomorrow night lets see what the other guy's got to say for himself!”.
~ 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. Its 10.30am in the morning and the station is calm with just a few late workers seated on the platform. Business as usual. AEJX57B was one of eighty five new car trains introduced by the Central Line Project at a cost of £761m. ..	Steve Payne
.. This major programme of works comprised new communications systems, modification of the power supply systems, civil engineering, tunnel restoration works between Shepherds Bush and Holborn, track replacement works and a completely new control centre in west London. So far, so good. The late workers, insofar as they noticed the impact of the £761m spend at all, would have said little. Still the seats were a lot cleaner than the 1962 rolling stock that had been replaced, and sometimes those small hygiene factors could change your day. A person could eat a muffin without fear of stomach upset, for example.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Bastille Day

The state of TIAH

July 14th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: Our thanks to everybody who gave due to our recent plea – the Academy's connection to the Internet is secure. We appreciate it sincerely, and will be emailing you personal replies shortly. Now, on to our alternate Bastille Day!

in 1789, Louis Capet, a peasant who claimed to be of royal lineage, led a mob of enraged Parisians to the Bastille, a fortress in Paris, in order to gain ammunition to strike against the government of Premiere Citoyen Jacques Necker, who had been duly elected by the National Assembly that year. PC Necker had been attempting to deal with the food shortages the incompetent government of his predecessor had caused when the Royalistes under Capet began their revolution. Capet incited crowd after crowd with speeches declaring that a monarchy would be able to feed them; with a king in command, the bureaucracy would flow smoothly. Capet, of course, wanted to be that king. Necker and other members of the National Assembly attempted to quell the royalist ravings of these lunatics – the French had been a free people since the death of Charlemagne, ruled by an assembly of nobles and commoners for almost a thousand years. They had fended off English, German, Spanish and Italian kings all that time, and Necker vowed, “We will never bow to a king, not even one from France itself.” Unfortunately for the PC, sentiment in the countryside was against him, and some of the nobles from the National Assembly were swayed to Louis Capet's side, especially after Capet's peasants captured the Paris Arsenal with the weapons they secured from the Bastille. French generals, promised nobility and wealth by Capet, turned on the National Assembly and joined forces with the Royalistes, sealing the fate of French freedom. In 1792, to seal his successful rebellion, Louis Capet abolished the National Assembly and crowned himself Louis Premier, King Louis the first.

in 1789, King Louis XVI of France is assassinated when he tries to appeal to the mob storming the Bastille fortress personally. Although his presence stuns the crowd long enough for him to start an impassioned plea for their loyalty, those unimpressed by the royal personage start a cry for his head before he can finish his speech, and his personal guard are overwhelmed by hundreds of revolutionaries. King Louis was crushed under the feet of the mob, cruelly beaten to death. His broken body was carried by the peasants all the way to Versailles, where they cast it in front of the gates. Queen Marie Antoinette fled to her native Austria immediately, seeking shelter in the court of her brother, Emperor Joseph II. Joseph called up the Austrian army and ordered a march on Paris to restore Marie to her throne and seize the “dastardly miscreants who have committed regicide,” but the Austrians faced a French army that was unwilling to see a restoration of the monarchy, and were pushed back across the borders. Marie Antoinette was forced to watch as her kingdom became a revolutionary democracy, ruled by the people rather than by nobles; as time went on, and she settled back into Austrian court life, she maintained that she preferred life as a noblewoman in Austria to ruling France, and indeed, most who knew her seemed to think it was true. France, for its part, little missed her. When her son, Louis Charles, tried to return to France to build popular support for his restoration to the throne in 1821, he was murdered by a mob just as his father had been, and since then, no one from that branch of the Bourbon monarchs has set foot in France.

in 1789, at the urging of his most trusted ministers, King Louis XVI of France forces the nobles of the country to share their vast stores of food with the peasantry and commoners in order to stave off the hunger that is sweeping the land. Louis' ministers had sensed an almost revolutionary fever catching fire in the land, and knew that if the King didn't act, there might be dire consequences. The Queen herself, Marie Antoinette, long known for her charity work, handed out food from the royal kitchens at the ancient fortress known as the Bastille, winning over many hearts that had been hardened to the French nobility. The day became an annual affair in French society, and on Bastille Day, all French nobles hold an open court to share their blessings with the common folk. This sort of generosity is credited with keeping the monarchy and aristocracy of France beloved by the nation into the present day.

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Death Comes To Paris; Luckiest Man In The World Is Born

December 17th, 2004

in 1538, Pope Henry VIII excommunicated Duke Alessandro Farnese of Rome after the Duke had let slip that he didn’t approve of the attitude His Holiness held towards marriage. The Duke had been a supporter of the Reborn Roman Church, and Pope Henry never forgave him.

in 1751, Jane Reddings, Generation 2359 in the Speaker’s Line, organizes the first European meeting of the Speaker’s Children. Over 400 of Telka’s descendants crowded into her estate outside Sheffield to learn of the progress being made in realizing their common dream. This meeting led to contact with counterparts across the globe, and the first grand reunion of the Speaker’s Children in 1786, at the same time the Montgolfier brothers were flying across the Parisian sky.

in 1877, the Baron Von Todt arrived in Paris, France. Mikhail von Heflin had left his native Bohemia centuries before, wandering across Europe in a vain attempt to discover the secret of his continued existence. Wherever he dwelt for any length of time, though, people close to him began to die, and he found it necessary to move again. He hoped that the size of Paris would keep him anonymous for a time.

in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright join the long line of inventors attempting to get a heavier-than-air craft off the ground. After their failure in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the U.S. government decided that the only way to fly was with lighter-than-air craft, and built an Air Force using the new dirigible technology. The huge, gas-filled aircraft revolutionized international travel.

in 1941, James Crescent, the “World’s Luckiest Man”, was born in Reno, Nevada. Over his life, Crescent won almost $10 million at games of chance. He married his high school sweetheart, had 2 lovely children with her, and was reportedly one of the most well-liked people in all of Reno. When he disappeared in 1976, the police couldn’t find anyone who harbored ill will towards him; although they did hear of a drifter answering to the name “Tolman” who had been spotted near Crescent’s house the day of his disappearance. The drifter was never found, and the crime was never solved.

in 1869, the North American Confederation’s Air-Space Command closed down Project Red Shift, a 20-year program that had been charged with finding the Mlosh home world. Since no progress had been made in that time, the ASC concluded that the world was simply no longer anywhere that they could reach.

in 1977, the most controversial band to ever appear on Saturday Night Live played their hearts out, live from New York. The Sex Pistols had been denied visas to enter the United States until virtually the last minute; they arrived in New York City with no time to rehearse before their appearance. Their foul language and on-stage antics sent the censors into fits, but it remains one of the shows highlights.

in 1992, the Community of Trade was formally dissolved. Most of its membership had been trading goods with capitalist nations for decades, anyway; this move simply acknowledged what they had all been doing already. Comrade President Sam Webb reluctantly signed the dissolution treaty, proclaiming it “the end of a century of progress among the nations”.


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Cardinal Richelieu Is Born In Paris

September 9th, 2004

in 1585, Cardinal Jean Richelieu, advisor to Pope James I of the Holy British Empire, was born in Paris. Richelieu was considered by many to be the most powerful Prime Minister the Empire has ever known; in many ways, James was just a figurehead. However, the Red Cardinal had made many enemies during his years as James’ red right hand, and on James’ death, Richelieu was deposed by James’ successor, Charles.

in 1799, the Mlosh theatrical company Grororo, loosely translated as The Rude Ones, performs before King George. Their incredibly earthy, slapstick comedy was a huge hit among British nobility, and was responsible for the birth of many copycat comedy troupes across the United Kingdom.

in 1228, Hindi poet/dramatist Harishchandra was born in India. The Rajahs allowed him much leeway due to his spectacular talent, but he finally went too far in his heresies. After the publication of Allah shall bow to Vishnu in 1252, he was seized and stoned to death.

in 1919, reactionary Socialist governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts attempted to call out the National Guard to end the Boston Police Strike. The Brotherhood of Police Officers had called the strike to protest Coolidge’s anti-labor attitudes. When the Massachusetts Guard received the order from Governor Coolidge, Colonel Samuel R. Trask of the Guard refused to obey it, and the strike eventually brought down Coolidge’s administration.

in 1943, New Reich troops began a 6-month siege of St. Petersburg. Fresh from their victory in Paris, troops pour into old Russia, and St. Petersburg is pummeled. No side truly wins the siege; both the Greater Zionist Resistance and the New Reich considered the loss of a million lives in the city a defeat.

in 1982, Princess Grace of Monaco recovers from injuries she suffered in a car accident. It could have been much worse, as her car almost toppled off of one of Monaco’s mountain roads.

in 4697, Captain Wu sends word ahead to earth that the Y’T’T’li have destroyed Yang Gao. As he broadcasts, his crew detects what appear to be several vessels following them; their point of origin apparently being Yang Gao. Wu adds on to his broadcast a warning to earth to be ready to repel invaders.

in 2003, a NASA satellite picks up strange activity from Antarctica. Jacob Sheridan is alerted, and immediately flies to the South Pole.

Three Mile Island

The state of TIAH

March 28th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: I promised you a collection, and we are working on it – but real life is getting in the way. Fortunately, the worst part of the real-life problems we were having has been resolved. I have found new employment (yay!). We're going to aim for an April release for the collection, and will make more announcements about it as we draw closer to actually making that a reality. And, speaking of April, 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). My lovely Co-Historian says that if we can get 30 entrants, we can offer an ultimate winner a complimentary TIAH mug, but we only have 5 entrants so far! Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline is March 29th.

in 1979, a broken cooling valve leads to the worst disaster in American history. The valve failed to let cooling water through at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, and the plant went into a severe meltdown, releasing radiation across the entire northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Thousands died from radiation poisoning, and thousands more became ill. The wind currents even brought the radiation to Washington DC, where dozens of members of Congress were killed, as well as President Carter. Vice President Mondale, assuming the presidency, ordered an evacuation of the eastern seaboard. Canada went through similar struggles, with a huge chunk of its southeastern region bordering America becoming uninhabitable. Both countries soured on nuclear power after this, and Canada outlawed the alternate energy source, turning to solar and wind power to take its place. America took a downturn as it struggled to come back from this disaster. For the next few years, the federal government met in Kansas and struggled to deal with the millions of refugees from the east. Compared to this, the Great Depression was a minor socio-economic blip – President Mondale suspended elections and called for martial law in order to hold the nation together. He ran the nation as a virtual dictator for the next 8 years, until the radiation levels dropped enough in the east to where it could be repopulated. The area around Three Mile Island is still uninhabitable, but portions of Pennsylvania were recovered, and life slowly returned to normal in America.

Java	In 2008 James Gosling released a freeware version of the Java Engine that enabled open source software to run on the Microsoft Windows platform at faster than Windows application speeds. A number of Republicans labeled Gosling the enemy of free enterprise and proposed legislation to stop the engine from being freely distributed.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1969 Deputy Interim Prime Minister Major General Ord Wingate, DSO announced a series of measures to dampen industrial unrest in the United Kingdom. Effectively, the measures represented military control of supply routes, logistics and primary extraction in order to prevent a Second General Strike.	Ord Wingate
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Detail of Franz..	In 1854 France declared war on Russia, allying herself with Britain in the Crimean War. Whilst in theory France and Russia had a shared interest in preventing the German hegemony of Europe they were at loggerheads for the next century and a half, as the European monarchies pursued a containment policy towards democracy.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 845 the semi-legendary king of Sweden and Denmark Ragnar Lodbrok destroyed Paris. With 120 ships and 5,000 Viking warriors, he landed in modern France, probably at the Seine estuary, and ravaged West Francia, as the westernmost part of the Frankish empire was then known. Paris was also captured in this year and held ransom ..	Aella murdering..
.. by Viking raiders led by Ragnar Lodbrok. The traditional date for this is March 28, which is today referred to as Ragnar Lodbrok Day by certain followers of the Asatru religion. The King of West Francia, Charlemagne's grandson Charles the Bald, paid him a fantastic amount of money, 7,000 pounds of silver not to destroy the city. Ragnar Lodbrok took the money and also sacked Paris before being murdered by Aella. The seat of government moved to the more strategic location of Marseilles where it remains to this day. France as a result has a more Mediterranean perspective and considers North African states to be its neighbours.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Defoe Dies; Meteorites Fall On Paris

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

April 26th, 2006

in 1731, British author Daniel Defoe died en route to the moon. One of the first notable Englishmen to embrace the Mlosh, Defoe wrote 30 books about them, and even lived for a few months on the colony ship in Ireland. Although most Europeans of his time feared them, he felt that they provided “the most pure adventure ever presented before mankind,” and jumped at every opportunity to convince people of it.

in 1803, thousands of meteorites rained down on Paris, France, killing 34 people and leveling buildings throughout the city. Although excited astronomers across Europe felt that they were evidence of material from outer space, the Archbishop of Paris called the judgment of God and spearheaded the angry mobbing of the Sorbonne, which had survived the meteor shower.

in 1865, presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth is captured by Union soldiers while hiding in a farm in Virginia. Although stoically resistant to questioning at first, he soon cracks and begins giving details of a conspiracy to do away with Lincoln that reaches up to the highest echelons of American society; his testimony does what all the Confederate armies couldn't, and brings down the government of the United States.

in 1920, Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan emerged from surgery weak, but alive. A cancerous tumor had been removed from his stomach barely in time to keep him from dying. Ramanujan lived another thirty years, co-authoring papers with Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, and popularizing the teaching of special relativity in his native India.

in 1937, the German Underground’s air force, the Luftwaffe, supplies air support to Spanish fascists fighting the Greater Zionist Resistance. Employing jet designs from 1968 supplied by their neo-Nazi benefactors, the Luftwaffe was able to smash G.Z.R. positions across Spain, one of the first G.U. victories in their long war.

in 1982, the leader of the band The Clash, Joe Strummer, disappears. A month later, he is recognized at London’s Heathrow Airport, handing out flowers as a member of the Hari Krishna sect. He announces to the world that he has given up music for his new spiritual life.

in 1985, President Ralph Shephard’s Constitutionalists in Congress pass the American Future Act, which, among other things, creates a separate school system for minorities, leftists and the poor. The regular school system, which consumes almost all of school funding, is only used by children of the elite; the new schools are starved of funding and are shut down completely by 1990.

in 1986, there was an explosion at the Cooper Nuclear Power Plant in the Nebraska Soviet. Although only a few dozen people died in the initial blast and fire, thousands were killed by the radiation that was released, and much of America’s food supply was contaminated for years after. The Soviet States of America tried to keep it quiet, but the Mexican government reported the disaster to the world when radiation levels in their own country spiked.

in 2001, Colby Ross and Samantha Robinson burn everything in their grandfathers’ hidden basement in order to prevent anyone from repeating their mistake. The two vow never again to delve into the hidden mysteries of the past, and move far away from each other.

in 2005, Alma May Watson pays a visit to the Great Tree and she and Chelsea Perkins have a tearful reconciliation. Chelsea confesses to Miss Watson about her secret trip to see her mother; Miss Watson understands, but warns Chelsea, “we're the only ones who can understand you, now, dear. We're your family.” Chelsea promises to keep away from her mother from now on.

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

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect the 1954 Robinson Crusoe to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

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So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

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Don't forget - Birthday Contest for Steve – November 22, 1967. Send in an alternate birthday for him for us to post!

A Final Note From Robbie: This is it – my last posting as your Alternate Historian. From today forward, I will be a Visiting Professor Emeritus, at most, while Steve will take over the daily duties here at the Academy as its chief Alternate Historian.

I naturally want to thank everyone who's read me regularly over the last 3 years for sticking with TIAH, and I hope you'll give RATMANifesto a look – but not till after the Labor Day weekend, because I'm going on vacation for the next 3 days. That's something that I've been a little reluctant to do since I started this page; it's going to be odd to be able to sleep late. I'll miss the routine of having a set schedule to post – but not getting up in the morning 2 hours before the crack of dawn to do it.

I hope that you will take it easy on Steve as he begins his tenure as the AH – save the hard knocks till after he's had a couple of months to acclimate himself (just kidding, Steve!) He has a lot of great ideas and will be attempting to push TIAH further than it's ever gone before, and I will certainly be following him on this journey. I hope that you will, too.

Appropriately enough, for my last posting I have an alternate history entry. Today is my sister's birthday, and I'm going to use my last day as the Big Man On Campus to send out a happy birthday to her.

So, good luck, Steve, and thanks to everybody! My entry follows this, the limey line (used for the last time here) follows that, and then Steve takes over. You will be able to reach him at althistorian@gmail.com - he inherits the email from me. I am keeping the hotmail account, though, so you can reach me with your goodbyes at althistorian@hotmail.com. And now, farewell, so long, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye.

in 1959, Gari Lynn Taylor was born in Houston, Texas, the last child of the Reverend W.D. and Peggy Taylor. A heart attack brought the reverend to an end when Gari Lynn was 2, and she grew up without a father figure. Some critics have speculated that this tragedy is what forged the strength of character that Ms. Taylor showed in her journalism and opinion writing, and the self-reliance she learned from her childhood stood her in good stead when she began her own publishing company, Slap Upside The Head, Inc. Today, Ms. Taylor's advice books on everything from child-rearing to alternative energy sources routinely top the bestseller lists, and she is a regular fixture on talk shows, famous for her earthy, home-spun wisdom.

In 1997, a telephone call was placed to the Hôtel Ritz in Paris. Codewords spoken that trigged deep-mind instructions, programmed under hypnosis by agents of the Security Services of France. An ex-pilot consumed a large amount of alcohol from a hotel mini-bar. Chauffeured two young people in a 1994 Mercedes-Benz S280 sedan (registration no. 688 LTV 75). Went into seizure as agents on motorcycles flashed bright lights into the vehicle. Crashed into the thirteenth pillar of the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel. Stole a beacon of light from a world of need.

~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne

In 2026, the editorial team set down the key themes for The World in 2027. Put simply, could the Center of International Research for the Continuance of Life on Earth (CIRCLE) solve the myriad of problems threatening humanity with extinction?

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

In 1947, the Indian Hockey team withdrew from the Games of the XIV Olympiad to be held in London, England the following year. The decision had been prompted by the Indian Emergency, after Winston Churchill's reneged on a promise to grant Independence to the Subcontinent, preferring instead to announce Dominion Status. The withdrawal was a deep source of embarrassment to the British Government. The Indian Hockey Team had won the Gold Medal in every Olympics since 1928, and in a moment, a feeling of British pride had been transformed into shame. Churchill himself was disturbed greatly by the protest. He desperately needed the Indian Divisions of the British Army to maintain Great Power status, and now he feared that he could not longer depend upon the loyalty of these fine troops.

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

In 1975, in Richard Matheson's I am Legend the bombings had spread the vampiris bacteria, killing everyone including Robert Neville's wife and daughter. The survivors of the war were the vampires, the infected, and Neville himself, trapped inside his fortified home.

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

In 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. Controversy raged for many years over the culpability of paparazzi on motorbikes who had shone bright lights into the vehicle for flash photography. Newspaper refused to publish the pictures taken after the crash. Those photographs finally emerged in 2015. They showed Diana very composed, not injured at all.

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

Master Tubby	In 2003, Master Tubby Bear was arrested in Toy Town for breach of the peace. Miss Pink had "reported a loud 'orrid noise" to PC Plod, who was unable to hear what she was saying because of a "loud 'orrid noise". In his defence, Master Tubby had stated "My Uncle Tubby bought me this drum set. Its my birthday, I'll do what I like."
The case continues.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cary Grant	In 1943, on Broadway reporters ask the British actor Cary Grant how he feels about the events since the premier of “Castle Bonny” in which he played the part of Dick Blaine. The final scene shows Dick, Laszlo and a detachment of Free British soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1943 invasion of England. In ..
.. the real world that invasion had succeeded just the day before. "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant; even I want to be Cary Grant" quipped the actor.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127/2003, a dramatic scene is played out in a deep cell of Paddington Green Police ..	Paddington Green..
.. Station. Being interviewed are twenty-second century fugitive Brent and first Asian QC Kim Hollis. Urgent investigations are being pursued in relation to the apparent suicide of the Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith. To a disbelieving audience, Hollis says the world of 2127 is most definitely not a Newt Gingrich pipe dream. First nations have risen up in Jihad after the Second Gulf War, and theyrule the roost.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Diana	In 1997, the Prince of Wales and his lover Camilla Parker-Bowles die in a car crash in Paris. Conspiracy theories on the internet abound for the next fifteen years, including the most scandalous of all. The event was no accident, but a deliberate assassination organised by the British State to prevent the Heir to the Throne ..
.. from besmirching the Royal Family at a crucial moment in its long history. The Prince had seen no reason, often being smuggled out of Palaces in the boots of cars to meet with Camilla. Republicanism was rife, the British public simply could not understand this adultery from “the Queen of Hearts”, Princess Diana who was universally adored throughout the nation and Commonwealth. The facts were never proven, yet the fires of republicanism died down as Diana and her sons occupied the thrown and ushered in a new era of change for the Royal Household.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1939, on this day the terminally ill British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned. The popular figure Anthony Eden succeeded him, a move which had been widely anticipated since he had architected the Munich Settlement two years before. “Friction between the Great Powers was understandable,” said Eden in his ..	Chamberlain
.. maiden speech “ but there was a larger picture. European powers had a shared interest and gathering forces outside the continent would, if unchecked, become a major problem in ten to twenty years time.” Actually, Eden had suffered a terrible dream in which his beloved son Simon died in a future war. As the leader of the nation, he would not suffer such a personal tragedy, he had seen what it had done to Asquith during the great war.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Points of Decision

July 16th, 2007

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The Announcement

Co-historian's note: Mr Taylor is temporarily out of commission and may provide an intriguing story from this timeline tomorrow by way of explanation.

In 1945, at 5.30am the world's first and last atomic bomb exploded at the Alamogordo air base, New Mexico. Power equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT was generated and the surface of the desert surrounding the point of the bomb's detonation was fused to glass for a radius of 800 yards. Horrified, the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer added his name to the list of seventy scientists who would submit a petition to President Truman the very next day. The petition urged Truman not to use bomb unless the terms of surrender had been published and refused. Understanding that conventional bombing could kill 125,000 people in Tokyo, they believed Truman's horror logic was self-defeating. The judgement of the scientists was prescient insofar as the only blocker preventing agreement in July 1945 was a guarantee over the Emperor's status. Oppenheimer had been committed to the democratic left ever since the Spanish Civil War. As soon as Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, he started work on separating uranium-235, the fissionable component of an atomic bomb, from natural uranium. However his conviction had been stolen in a moment of utter destruction. By way of explanation, Oppenheimer also added a small note beneath his signature "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". It is improbable Truman understood the irony of the humanist reference to the Bhagavad Gita. Oppenheimer had redefined the democratic party philosophy to embrace the people of Asia, excluded most famously by Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference.

~ entry from Steve Payne

Peter Tsouras	"On 15 April 1942, King George VI awarded Malta the George Cross, the highest civilian award for gallantry in the Commonwealth, normally awarded to individuals: "to honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history". President Franklin Roosevelt, describing the wartime period, called Malta "one tiny bright flame expunged in the darkness" ~ King George VI and President Roosevelt
Analyst

Tsouras, a senior analyst of the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center brought together a number of experts in the Mediterranean war to show how the fall of Malta in 1942 and the consequences that followed which forced Halifax to make peace with Hitler. The review of this alternate historical masterpiece is available at Amazon.com Review

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

In 1999, in Center Lovell, Maine driver Bryan Smith was distracted by an unrestrained Rottweiler named Bullet, moving in the back of his 1985 Dodge Caravan. As a result, he struck the author Stephen King who was walking on the right shoulder of Route 5. As the dying author slips into unconsciousness, he hallucinates he is climbing to the top of a Dark Tower. Reaching a door marked "Stephen" he realizes to his horror he has reached the Tower countless times before. He is sucked through the door only to be teleported back in time to his birth in Portland Maine 1947. Before he does, he seizes the Horn of Eld. Perhaps this cycle of King's journey will present him the opportunity to make different decisions and possibly break the cycle and find salvation. After all, Ka is a circle.

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

In 2009, TV networks ran episode seven of So What If?. Following Diana's withering attack on the Heir to the Throne, British Agents assassinate the Queen of Hearts in Paris. Charles still manages to terminate the monarchy by marrying Camilla Parker-Bowles. This spit in the eye for Diana's memory turns the British Public against him disastrously. In 2009 the perennially upbeat lawyer Anthony Blair became the first elected President of the United Republic of Great Britain.

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

Bill Clinton	In 1998, on National Woman's Day President Bill Clinton is repeatedly asked about allegations that he had sex with a woman, Monica Lewinsky. Standing alongside the First Man Albert Gore, Clinton repeated his denial - “I have not had sex with that, or any other woman”. Public opinion was torn on whether to believe the President, ..
.. and the long national nightmare known as Womangate continued.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2186, post graduate students used the Sadat-Hussein time dilation device to affect a most odd social science project. The principals from the original series of Star Trek were sent to "The City on the Edge of Forever" and hypnotised to act out the scenes featured in episode 28. DeForest Kelley saved Joan Collins ..	Joan Collins
.. from dying, sparking a chain of events throughout the time line, changing history. In the altered time line, Collins, a passionate believer in peace, spearheaded a movement which delayed the entry of the United States into World War II, would have set into motion a chain of events which ultimately would have led to a Nazi victory in World War II. Torn between Nazi Victory and the love of Joan Collins, William Shatner chose the latter.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

George IV	In 1783, grants of land in Canada to American United Empire Loyalists are announced. A grateful King George IV was pleased to offer rewards for the suppression of the troubles in the Colonies.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, the Atomic Cold War began when the United States successfully detonated a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The secrets of the Manhattan Project were well known to the Nazis. The reaching of parity between the two hostile nations ensured that the hot war petered ..	Trinity Test
.. out to be replaced by a long Cold War. The reality of Mutually assured destruction frustrated Hitler from his favour first strike stratagem.
~ 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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