Connections

"I had the Bell Telephone Company find him for me. They are wonderful that way. I have this disease late at night, sometimes, involving alcohol.

Kurt Vonnegut	I get drunk .. and then, speaking gravely and elegantly into the telephone, I ask the telephone operators to connect me with this friend or that one, from whom I have not heard in years." ~ Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut was a fourth-generation German-American living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much), who, as an American Infantry Scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden. In 1967, Vonnegut needed help with his memories for Slaughterhouse-Five, and decided to contact the crazy Colonel. For the sake of balance in his anti-war diatribe, if nothing else. And just taking up an open offer, after all.
Peacenik

In 1978, it was just about impossible to enter any bar in Toronto without having to endure it at least twice during the course of the evening. Oh yes, we're talking about Plastic Betrand's's crazy French song Ça plane pour moi. Even in Old Toronto, our last anglophone bastion in New France.

Ça plane pour moi	Worse, knowing it was a French rip-off version of the British queer punk anthem Jet Boy, Jet Girl. Talk about adding insult to injury, yet that was our history in this part of the world.
Play

Some of us still hoped for our own nation, New Britain. It wasn't as if there was a shortage of real estate of course. And the language barrier was absurd in one nation. It was like two dogs having a fight under a blanket. The secession vote was only twelve months away. There was still hope for us Brits. Was it possible that the majority of citizens in Ontario would vote to leave New France? Possible - yes? Likely - not a chance.

The Ambassador	In 1962, US President John F Kennedy angrily replaced the red telephone on its cradle on the Resolute Desk. Secretary Nikita Khrushchev had categorically denied Soviet participation in the deployment of nuclear missiles on Cuba. Bobby's back channel communication to Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin had the same, puzzling result. His intercom buzzed and Evelyn Lincoln said in a small voice “Mr President, the Ambassador says he would like to see you”. “And I him” replies Kennedy, starting to stand up, ready for an argument with Dobrynin, until the door opens, and the Ambassador walked in to the Oval Office.

In 1962, during the Turkish Missiles Crisis Strategic Rocket Forces Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin warned Secretary Nikita Khrushchev that some of the US ships in the Gulf of İzmir were probably carrying missiles. In fact on a recent honeymoon to Armenia he had been told by Turkish KGB Agents that the US was planning to deploy missiles in Turkey. Direct military invasion was studied in depth, and an operational plan for pre-invasion bombardment was presented by Red Air Force CINC Colonel-General Braiko. Russian overflights of Turkey airspace and minor harassment at Izmir Naval Base were also the subject of repeated diplomatic notes from Turkey. Privately, Khrushchev believed Kennedy would withdraw the weapons, after all, he had demonstrated weakness over the Bay of Pigs, Berlin and at the Vienna Conference. He had backed down on all three occasions.	Kennedy

Bush	In 1962, CIA Agent George HW started to plan the greatest conspiracy of the twentieth century – to arrange a CIA hit on the President, concealed as a KGB plot. It required an elaborate deception. The murdered US marine Lee Harvey Oswald was being impersonated by Soviet double Alek. The genius of Bush was to recruit a further six doubles who would shuttle between Mexico City, New Orleans, Fort Worth and Dallas to plant crucial evidence of a KGB plot the kill the President. The real plot to kill the President was the CIA's, and it was a punishment hit for failing to authorise air strikes on Cuba, thus abandoning their agents to Cuban Forces at the Bay of Pigs.

In 2007, using advanced techniques demonstrated on International Visit Today In Alternate History Day Rat hacks into the networks of global news agencies. RSS news feeders are intercepted, instead of publishing regular content, alternative history stories are published from TIAH.	Robbie Taylor

Force

In 1976, Jeremy Thorn said without expression "I already know the name of the man I'm supposed to see is Bugenhagen. That was the name, I've remembered it all. " "'When the Jews return to Zion '" Thorn recited in a near whisper, "'and a comet fills the sky and the Holy Roman Empire rises then all of us will die.'" Mrs Baylock listened intently in the darkness; finally, alterted by the lifeless tone, she knew something in Thorn had changed. "'From the eternal sea she rises with armies on either shore turning man against his brother until man exists no more.'"	Hallowe'en Story

Jousting	In 2007, federal legislators promised to review health and safety regulations in Equestrianism following another jousting fatality. A man died in a freak accident at a jousting tournament on Monday. The unnamed man died after a splinter of wood from a lance flew through the slit of his helmet and penetrated his eye. He died after a week in hospital. The accident occurred in September but the man's death has only just been made public. "We have been shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic accident," a United States Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said. "The professional event has an excellent safety record and took all the appropriate and necessary precautions and it does sadly appear this was a tragic freak accident."
Fatality

The United States Department of Agriculture perform routine inspections of horse shows including jousting events, but safety concerns are difficult to eliminate in this controversial high contact sport.

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Quebec

In 1943, the Governor General of Canada, Major General Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS, born Prince Alexander of Teck warmly welcomed Allied leaders to the Quebec Citadel. Earl Athlone was joined for a series of strategy meetings by Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The agenda was to decide the strategies of the Western Allies that would lead to victory over Nazi Germany and Japan.

Closing the conference, Athlone thanked the Allied leaders for their attendance. Of course, only Roosevelt was leaving the country. Churchill and the British Royal Family were amongst the other members of the British Government in Exile, staying at the Governor's residence at Rideau Hall, Ottawa.

In 2008, service agents at the head office of the restaurant chain Wanda's of Montreal received complaints from customer regarding abusive messages on the company's web site. "B*rfed, totally thux" was widely reported by customers as the most offensive comment.

Gromyko	In 1962, at an emergency session of the UN Security Council Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko showed photographs proving American missiles were installed in Izmir. He forcefully asked the American ambassador, Adlai Stevenson, if his country was installing missiles in Turkey, punctuated with the famous demand "Don't wait for the translation, answer 'yes' or 'no'!" in demanding an immediate answer. Following Stevenson's refusal to answer the abrupt question, Gromyko retorted, "I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over." In a diplomatic coup, Gromyko then showed photographs that proved the existence of missiles in Turkey, just after the American ambassador had said they did not exist.

In 1956, a week after his 17th birthday Lee Harvey Oswald enlisted in the US Marine Corps. His shyness and Soviet sympathies alienated him to his fellow Marines. Ostracism only seemed to provoke him into being a more staunch and outspoken communist. For his steadfast beliefs his nickname ultimately became Oswaldskovich. The Marine had subscribed to The Worker and taught himself rudimentary Russian. During his otherwise undistinguished military career, Oswald earned the Sharpshooter weapons qualification badge with a score of 212 out of 250 targets, average or slightly above average for a Marine, and far above average judged by civilian standards. Initially the KGB considered Oswald to be a potential deep sleeper agency.	Alek
He proved unreliable after his arrival Minsk, and to protect their investment, the KGB eliminated Oswald and substituted him with a Soviet double named Alek. Impersonating Oswald, Alek was ordered by Khrushchev to “return” to the United States and eliminate Kennedy before he could win the Cold War for America.

Hiroshima	In 2999, the mind cast for the next instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was re-run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience because of its oddness. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the candidate, the context was the Manhattan Project and the moment was seconds before FDR expired. Would FDR endorse a decision by a successor to drop the Bomb on the cities of Japan if it would save hundreds of thousands of American lives? FDR said in principle he would, but was concerned that successors would be trapped in the Pandora's Box logic of the bomb. MC Millenia asked FDR to explain quickly and he said that adversarial powers would doubt the commitment of future US Governments to commit ground troops, and if they did not drop the bomb, they would be forced to accept defeat.

In 2003, on this day the Cedar Fire is reported at 5:37 pm. It becomes the second largest wildfire in California history. Most significantly, it forced sasquatch to leave their native habitat. Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin had captured sasquatch on film at Bluff Creek, California in 1967 and the authenticity of that event was now unambiguously verified thirty-six years later.	Big Foot

Networking

In 2002, the Catholic Church was astonished by news that Mother Teresa, a globally beloved symbol of saintly devotion to the poor, spent her last fifty years secretly struggling with doubts about her faith. A research team led by Rev. Brian Kolodiechuk of the Missionaries of Charity Order had been examing secret letters for publication in a new biography, Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light. It appears that an unknown researcher had released the letters to the press after being shocked to read "How painful is thus unknown pain - I have no Faith".

	"If there be God- please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul." ~ Secret Letter from Mother Theresa The purpose of the letters was unclear. However the Holy See reacted by suspending the process of beatification, the second step towards possible canonization. The full article is available at National Post

"Sixteen hours ago, a German plane dropped one bomb on an American division in Northern France. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam," which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare. It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed by those who brought war to the continent of Europe. Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists that it was theoretically possible to release atomic energy. But nobody knew any practical method of doing it.

Nazi's Experimental Nuclear Pile	By 1942, however, we knew that the Germans were working feverishly to find a way to add atomic energy to all the other engines of war with with they hoped to enslave the world. Yesterday, we found out that they had succeeded. ~ Harry S Truman, US President Having lost a race against time to defeat Nazi Germany in conventional war, committed to a land invasion before America herself was ready to respond in kind, Truman was trapped in the inescapable logic of nuclear weaponry.
Werner Heisenberg's team at Haigerloch

Missiles on Turkey	In 1962, a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21surveillance flight over Izmir takes photos of American nuclear weapons being installed. Two days later, the Strategic Rocket Forces Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin presents the photographs to Secretary Nikita Khrushchev and the Turkish Missiles Crisis begins.

In 1925, French inhabitants flee an anti-French uprising in Damascus. Just six years before, Ho Chi Minh had persuaded US President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference that the principle of self-determination applied to the indigenous people languishing in the British Empire and French Union. Sympathy for the entente powers had been soured by the acts of bad faith such as T.E. Lawrence's Arab Revolt, Balfour Declaration inter alia. As the winds of change continued to blow through the southern hemisphere, Europeans were ejected from the Middle East by the end of 1920s. But a few short years later, oil was discovered; decisions affecting the future of the world would no longer be taken in the capital cities of Europe.	Arab Peninsula

Oswald	In 1962, simply the most inexplicable network of contacts was developing. The Soviet double named Alek had arrived in Dallas impersonating the murdered US marine Lee Harvey Oswald. A group of Russian emigres including George de Mohrenschildt helped Alek to settle in. de Mohrenschildt had been close to young Jacqueline Bouvier, who referred to him as "Uncle George". He was dating Jacqueline's mother at the time of her parents divorce and had been engaged to Jacqueline's Aunt Michele. de Mohrenschildt was also very close to George HW Bush

In 2007, whilst returning to the hacked telephone line which serves as a safe "exit" from the Mesh, the group is ambushed by Agents and police officers, and Morpheus is captured in an attempt to save Rat. The group was betrayed by one crew-member, Cypher, who preferred his old life in ignorance of the real world's hardships, and made a deal with the Agents to give them Morpheus in exchange for a permanent return to the Mesh. The betrayal leads to the deaths of all crew-members except Rat, Trinity, Tank and Morpheus, who is imprisoned in a government building within the Mesh.	Cypher

Duckies

August 24th, 2007

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The Announcement

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

Alternate Historian's Note: I'm going to switch from the ongoing Porn Universe story today – maddening, I know, but I'll get back to it later. Here's something else in the meanwhile...

It wound down from the sky, a bright ribbon of plasma that was beautiful and hypnotic. People below stopped whatever they were doing to stare at it. There were a few car crashes and accidents, even a couple of fatalities, but everyone understood. This wasn't something that could be ignored. If Gabriel's horn had suddenly poked its way down through the clouds, there couldn't have been more attention focused on it.
After a couple of hours, people decided it wasn't going away. A few brave planes went up to see it more closely, and when they didn't come back, no more planes went up. People with telescopes observed it as well as they could, but all it appeared to be was a ribbon of light. Some people drove up to it, and some even went into it. Like the planes, they didn't come back.
Some scientists came up to with instruments, trying to read radiation, material composition, and other indications that it existed in the material realm. Some of them stepped into it, too. Most of the ones left behind wanted to, but didn't feel they could risk it.
Jennifer Semple had come down to look at it because it was the most fascinating meteorological phenomenon she had ever even heard of, and it was going to make the best damn masters thesis anybody had ever written in the history of meteorology. If she could write it first.
There were a lot people around, and a lot of them were scientists. The ribbon had become a Mecca for scientists. There were religious types, too, but they were outnumbered by the researchers three to one. This thing called a more secular type. Perhaps it was because, while miraculous, it gave no hint of its creator.
Jennifer jotted down a few notes and went back to her car. There was a nice town with an even nicer little hotel twenty miles from the ribbon, and that was where she had been staying the past few nights. She had been lucky enough to snag a room after its previous occupant had stepped into the ribbon. Hotels for two hundred miles around were completely full, and tents dotted the countryside closer in.
Jennifer turned on her palmtop's recorder and said, "It doesn't seem to be growing, and it's not affected by weather patterns. Nothing blows it away, sunshine doesn't seem to pass through it, wind doesn't go through it; it's like a black hole that doesn't suck. And is light." She shook her head. That was stupid. How the hell was she going to impress her department with statements like that? "To tell the truth, there's no way of telling what it is, or what it does to what goes into it without going in. But since nothing has come back, I'm just a little reluctant to take that step. But, I don't see any other realistic way of finding anything more about it."
She set the palmtop down and turned it off. Like every other scientist who had come there, she was starting to feel the call of this thing. Most had turned down the opportunity. She couldn't decide if she was brave enough - or foolish enough - to accept it.

"I believe that we are today crossing the Rubicon in the Drakia. Tonight, the Alliance for Democracy is widely expecting that I will announce the lifting on the ban on the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela. I have been under tremendous pressure from the Arch-Strategos and the Cabinet not to make this announcement, but to resign as Archon. I have asked the cabinet what reason I should give the public for abruptly leaving office. They replied I could use my health as an excuse.

PW Botha	To this, I replied that I am not prepared to leave on a lie. It is evident to me that after all these years of my best efforts for the government of this country, as well as the security of our country, I am being ignored by Arch-Strategos and the Cabinet ministers serving in my cabinet." ~ Speech on Aug. 15, Archon P. W. Botha of the Domination of the Draka
Archon

Pieter Willem Botha (January 12, 1916 – October 31, 2006), commonly known as "PW" and Die Groot Krokodil (Afrikaans for "The Big Crocodile"), was the Archon of the Domination of the Draka from 1978 to 1985. Typical of his rule was his 1985 "Crossing the Rubicon" speech, a policy address in which Botha was widely expected to announce new reforms. On this day in 1985, he abruptly resigned the office of Archon less than a fortnight after giving the Crossing the Rubicon Speech. Ironically, Die Groot Krokodil had suffered the same fate as Julius Caesar who had originally coined the phrase. The full article is available at New York Times

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

Aunt Lydia	"There is more than one kind of freedom. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy it was freedom to. Now [in the Republic of Gilead] you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it." ~ Aunt Lydia, Handmaid's Tale
Handmaid

In 1990 after the War ~ at the Commander's house in Cambridge, Massachusetts Aunt Lydia explained the themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency, against a backdrop of the establishment of a totalitarian theocratic state. Sumptuary laws (essentially, dress codes) play a key role in the form of social control in the new society. The full article is available at Wikipedia

~ quotation from Margaret Atwood: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1993, the Government of the Republic of Turkey formally requested support from the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Manfred Wörner. Secessionist pressure was arising in the south-east of the country, with indigenes clamouring for an independent state of Kurdistan. In reality, the Kurdish nation was spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey and had very little prospect of nationhood. Wörner believed that the underlying pressure came from the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. The Turkish Government considered America to be culpable. The key moment to stop Saddam had now passed. In July 1990 when Iraqi troops had been building up on the Kuwaiti border, Ambassador April Glaspie had told the Iraqi President "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait". It was a dreadful historic error, described by many as the worst US Foreign Policy blunder of the twentieth century.

~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne

In 1945, Supreme Allied Commander General George Patton wired the President a request and also a proposal to establish US ground control in the Far East. Thirty to fifty nuclear strikes would be required to subdue irregular forces led by the maverick warlords - Mao, Jinnah, Uncle Ho plus General-san Douglas MacArthur and his Filipinos harriers. Truman fired Patton and appointed Eisenhower, ordering him to think the unthinkable.

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

Duckies!	In 2000, SM Sterling continued his dystopian exploration of the brutish main villains in the Domination of the Duckies trilogy by publishing Duckies! In a dramatic final sequence, Centurion Von Shrakenberg levels with the unnamed Janissary over a cup of herbal tea. "This d*mned war, lovey! Marching on Georgia sigh Gladys Knight - it aint, love!".
~ entry by Steve Payne: I've always thought there was a slightly sadomasochistic undertone to the over-caricatured fascists of the Draka taking over the world and skewering French peasants on stakes etc. My exagerrated satire of the already exagerrated Drakas of S.M. Stirling's novels (Marching through Georgia, Drakas, Stone Dogs etc) who are just a bit too inhumanely tough and hence “camped” up in my variant. Gladys Knight sung Midnight Train to Georgia of course.

In 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of Confederate States vs Macrosoft, Inc. calling the company negligent. Executives of the corporation had been informed of date change code flaws in the Y2k Edition of their operating system suite.
A critical update had been released on the web site at 11.15 am on New Year's Eve causing total chaos. As part of an ISO accredited continuous improvement initiative, a range of measures were taken by the management team to prevent reoccurrence. “It won’t happen again” indicated President Bert Gort.	Bert Gort
~ entry from Co-historian Steve Payne

In 2002, Roland J. Green published George Custer Slept Here. In Green's alternate world of 1943, the slapping incident never happened. Consequently General George Armstrong Custer led allied forces during the assault of Sicily and then onto mainland Italy, delivering a radically altered outcome.

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

In 1814, British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and burnt down the White House and several other buildings. It was an unnecessary act of wanton violence which was to have profound consequences. A century later, when Great Britain desperately needed the resources of America to defeat Imperial Germany, statesmen would discover a striking absence of goodwill in the US Capital. Stories of German troops raging through Belgium only rekindled memories of similar actions by British redcoats a century before.

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

In 2007, President Bert Gort of Macrosoft, Inc dropped an unguarded comment at a "smell the coffee" techfest in Cappuchino, CA. Yes, his own home PC had recently been upgraded to 4GBs with Vesta Home Edition configured on a dual boot. Gort still used the predecessor OS XeeBee for gaming, including his shoot 'em up favourite, Corporate Cops and Robbers.	Bert Gort
~ entry from Co-historian Steve Payne

Castle Bonny	In 1943, exiled British Princess Elizabeth gave her view of Castle Bonny which premièred five days before on Broadway. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund and Paul Henreid as resistance leader Victor Laszlo, caught in a love triangle. The rekindled ..
.. romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. The final scene shows Dick, Laszlo and a detachment of Free British soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1943 invasion of England. “By the end of the film, everybody is sacrificing, ” said the Princess from the Governor's residence at Rideau Hall, Ottawa “just as our forces are doing on the south coast of England".
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127, a terrible discovery is made in Doha, Qatar - an unknown perpetrator has stolen the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device - again! The leadership turn to Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani for his spiritual advice and guidance.	Brent
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Penn	In 1682, William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania. Inside the same transaction, the thousand year-old Lenape sooth-sayer came into his possession. Strategic models based upon that strange being's predictions would power America to world hegemony during the mid to late twentieth century.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, on this day Voyager 2 passed Neptune. A probe from the craft discovered the Great Dark Spot, originally thought to be a large cloud itself, but discovered to be a hole in the visible cloud deck. As the craft penetrated the deck, the probe's final, alarming ..	Great Dark Spot
.. images were transmitted back to Earth. For the first, but not the last time, Mankind was to see the terrifying alien being known simply as the Nemesis.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Winners

Thomas Edward Lawrence	I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time. I do not see his like elsewhere. I fear whatever our need we shall never see his like again. King George V wrote to his brother, 'His name will live in history'. That is true. It will live in English letters; It will live in the annuls of war; it will live in the traditions of the Royal Air Force and in the legends of Arabia. ~ Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) survived his 1935 motorcycle accident. In 1940, Churchill convinced Lawrence to go back to North Africa. Lawrence found Rommel and "turned" him by appealing to his sense of honour as a brother officer. Following his return to Great Britain, Churchill paid Lawrence this generous tribute - as described by Susan Schwarz in the secret history Loose Cannon. But Lawrence had been turned himself- twice. Churchill also returned the disturbing letters to John Bruce of the Tank Regiment from his make-believe Uncle that had been used as leverage to make Lawrence take the mission. The full article is available at LawrenceOfArabia.co.uk.
Arabist

In 2008, David E. McGeek Chief Information Officer of Pappy's Texas Barbecue Chicken, Inc. laid down a new IS Strategy for systems integration with the newly acquired subsidiary, Wanda's of Montreal. The market leading Enterprise Resource Planning System Macrosoft, Inc.'s Great Plane had been chosen by the newly enlarged group. An exciting XML bill of materials feature would synergise lard-based menus. It was a real win for the customer said McGeek.

McGeek

Nicholas II	In 1918, Tsar Nicholas Romanov II abdicated after the Russian Revolution, and a Republic was proclaimed. Anti-russian sentiment was strong inside the Anglo-German alliance following the Great War. Politicians in both Berlin and London blamed Russian chauvinism for turning the assassination at Sarajevo into a World Crisis. In particular the British Prime Minister Lloyd George had just won an election with the slogan 'Hang the Tsar!' and less than a year later, Sultan Abdulhamid II of Turkey handed over the Romanov Family for execution in St Petersburg.

In 1918, following the outbreak of the German Revolution, a republic was proclaimed on this day, marking the end of the monarchy. The Kaiser fled the next day to the neutral Netherlands, which granted him political asylum (see Weimar Republic for details). His fifteen year exile was finally ended upon the invitation of Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, who was keen to provide a replacement for the recently diseased figurehead Paul von Hindenburg.	Berliner Tiergarten

Nuclear Detonation	In 1966, a deep-underground nuclear detonation of a small magnitude is reported by atomic energy authorities throughout the world. None of the nuclear club of nations claims responsibility, and Washington suspects a new power has emerged, possibly Israel or South Africa.

In 1965, “the Butcher of Rhodesia” Ian Henderson received a telephone call he was expecting from London. Operation Quartz had been brought forward by a fortnight.	Ian Henderson

Cannons

	The Soviet 'Burya' spacecraft exploded in orbit, instantly killing all six cosmonauts aboard. The blast was quickly ascertained to be an act of sabotage, the result of a bomb planted on the vehicle. Soviet Premier Gennady Zyuganov quickly denounced the attack, pointing the blame squarely on the Hungarian Resistance. In the months after the incident, military crackdowns and political arrests by Soviet occupation forces in Hungary intensified. In 2003, the Burya accident file was reviewed by an independent investigation which concluded that the explosion was the result of a malfunctioning heating coil control circuit, and that sabotage played no part in the disaster.
Burya

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Hari Seldon	In 926 Foundation Era, the ninth Seldon Crisis occured. Should the leaders of the Foundation make the wrong decision at these major turning points in the future, or be corrupted to the point of not being able to carry out the mission, the plan to create a new Empire would fail. After each Crisis was predicted to have been successfully concluded, a Vault opened and a hologram of Hari Seldon explains the significance of the Crisis they have just endured.
Psychohistorian

The ninth crisis was a whole lot different, shall we say. Of a temporal nature, neither the political/military forces of the First Foundation, nor the cerebral powers of the Second Foundation were able to face up to the crisis. That was why Seldon had placed a panic button in the plan, the Third Foundation.

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In 1971, British spaceflight Commander's wife Mrs Bert Smith yelled at reporters on her lawn in Welwyn Garden City. 'Wait until my husband comes back' she said more optimistically than she actually felt.

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In 1979, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran has the leader of the Islamic revolutionary movement against him, the Ayatollah Khomeini, assassinated along with several other religious leaders in the country. The nation erupts in chaos, and the Shah is killed by his own guards the next month. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, with U.S. blessing, carves out a large chunk of western Iran for his own, while Turkey, the Soviet Union and Pakistan take over portions of the rest of the country.

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In 1901, reactionary dictator Fulgencio Batista of Cuba was born in the Oriente Province. Although the Socialist comrades of the island nation treated him well, Batista was moved to join the battle against the rightful Cuban leaders because of the corruption of his youth in the capitalist slums of Havana. The Soviet States of America initially supported him in his revolution, but turned against him when he revealed his true stripes at the end of the 50’s.

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In 1570s, African slaves were increasingly seen in Britain. Their use fell into three main categories. The majority were as household servants, while others performed the role of prostitutes or sexual conveniences for well-to-do Englishmen and Dutchmen or as court entertainers. Based on these job roles, you might well wonder why there was a fear that the Africans might be taking jobs away from English citizens. Its a good question.

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In 1909, Ernest Shackleton's expedition find the magnetic South Pole where the team are sucked into the powerful vortex. Multidimensional energies fold space and time, sending them to the court of that most shrewd of monarchs, King George IV of Great Britain just minutes before the entrance of a most surprising guest. Defeated General George Washington, arriving from the Colonies to sue for final settlement terms. Shackleton convinces George IV to avoid substantive discussions until he can brief him fully on his 1776.

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In 1412, a powerful and influential Florentine family the Medicis are made official bankers of the Papacy. The Medici Bank remained a vital power broker in Western Europe until the conclusion of the Great Patriotic War in 1946. A decision was reached in the struggle for mastery in Europe as the Romanov established their political hegemony, replacing the papacy with the Orthodox Church which dominates the continent until this very day.

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In 1976, A&M Records released the worst disaster of their history, Frampton Comes Alive. The double-LP live recording of former Humble Pie guitarist Peter Frampton performing in San Francisco was savaged by the critics and ignored by fans still angry over his leaving the band. Virtually the entire pressing of the album ended up in remainder bins around the world.

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In 1962, the following notice was published ~ with due respect to sworn testimony of God-fearing citizens, -
Mr Alan Greenspan is found guilty as charged of usury,-
by magistrates of this good parish of New York City, -
persuant to Holy Scripture, Luke 9:25 refers, -
For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?,-
on this day of our Lord, 1962. Not the potter, but the potter's clay. Amen.

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Richard Nixon	In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon ordered a halt to American bombing in North Vietnam following peace talks in Paris. The decision came after Dr Henry Kissinger, the president's assistant for National Security Affairs, returned to Washington the previous day from France with a draft peace proposal. Representatives from North and South Vietnam and the United States had been at the negotiating table and reports from Paris said that progress had been made with compromises on all sides.
President

It was Nixon's greatest achievement in office. Whilst many political issues remain to be resolved, the secret plan announced during the 1968 Presidential election appeared to have worked – a show of strength to force a peace settlement. Although attacks against the North halted, air assaults continued for a short time against communist forces in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

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In 1809, the Peninsula War reached a decision at the Battle of La Coruña when 16,000 British troops under Sir John Moore were defeated by an equal number of French troops under the command of Marshal Soult. The British faced two overwhelming setbacks with Sir Arthur Wellesley recalled to face a Court of Inquiry and Spanish allies smashed by Napoleon. Victorious, Soult expelled British forces from the Iberian Peninsula, a catastrophe from which the anti-Napoleonic alliance never recovered. The struggle for the mastery of Europe was over as French hegemony was firmly established across the continent.

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	In 1997, Princess Diana angered government ministers after calling for an international ban on landmines. Her comments - made during a visit to Angola to see for herself some of the victims of landmines - were being seen as out of step with government policy. The Junior Defence Minister, Earl Howe, described the princess as a "loose cannon", ill-informed on the issue of anti-personnel landmines.

Eight months later, a mysterious car accident in Paris changed all that. Following the death of her husband and lover Camilla Parker-Bowles, Diana was propelled into the position of Regent to Prince William. It was a platform from which the Queen of Hearts was able to deliver an international ban as a gift to the world on the eve of the millennium.

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