Viking Hoard

Today In Alternate History

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Birthday Contest! Email us alternate birthdays for The Historian (August 14, 1965) and the Co-historian (November 22, 1967)! I have to go perform computer surgery now, so I have a small entry for myself, followed by Steve's excellent work.

“Well, it's good to know that he didn't walk here from back east,” I said. “What kind of an organization do you run, Mr. Dharne?”
He looked me up and down a couple of times before answering. “I am the spiritual leader of a small community.”
“Really?” I tried to express surprise at that, but I don't think I acted it very well, and he was clearly bemused by my attempt. “That fascinates me. I've often meant to study the religious communities of Texas, especially those that choose to isolate themselves - “
“We do not isolate ourselves.” His voice was very cold and sharp, and his followers moved closer to me. I felt very worried about myself. “The society around us forces us out. We cannot help but leave their sickness behind.”

Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky? He got an ice pick that made his ears burn
Stranglers	Whatever happened to dear old Lenny? The great Elmyra, and Sancho Panza? Whatever happened to the heroes? ~ Lyrics to “What Ever Happened to the Heroes?” - Click to Watch Sample
Punk Band

In 12400, “After the Myths Went Home” was written by Curator of the Hall of Man, Robert Silverberg – “For a while in those years we were calling great ones out of the past, to find out what they were like. This was in the middle twelves--12400 to 12450, say. We called up Caesar and Antony, and also Cleopatra. We got Freud and Marx and Lenin into the same room and let them talk. We summoned Winston Churchill, who was a disappointment (he lisped and drank too much), and Napoleon, who was magnificent. We raided ten millennia of history for our sport. But after half a century of this we grew bored with our game. We were easily bored, in the middle twelves. So we started to call up the myth people, the gods and the heroes. That seemed more romantic, and this was one of Earth's romanticist eras we lived in. It was my turn then to serve as curator of the Hall of Man, and that was where they built the machine, so I watched it going up from the start. Leor the Builder was in charge. He had made the machines that called the real people up, so this was only slightly different, no real challenge to his talents. He had to feed in another kind of data, full of archetypes and psychic currents, but the essential process of reconstruction would be the same. He never had any doubt of success.” It was a future that had been predicted by “the Stranglers” as far back as 1977. The lyrics are available at at Ottosell

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

In 1975, Dennis Weaver starred on TV as the incongruously mounted police-man McCloud in New York City. A satirical finger was being pointed at not only the British North American Mounted Police, but the increasingly outdated nature of the anachronistic British Vice royalty in general.

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

"I mention this Italian militiaman because he stuck vivily in my memory. With his shabby uninform and fierce pathetic face he typifies for me the special atmoshpere of that time. He is bound up with all my memories of that period of the war - the red flags in Barcelona, the gaunt trains full of shabby soliders creeping to the front, the gret war-sticken towns further up the line, the muddy, ice-cold trenches in the mountains. This was in late December, 1936, less than seven months ago as a I write, and yet it is a period that has already receded into enormous distance.
Eric Blair	Later events have obliterated 1935, or 1905 for that matter. I had come to Spain with some notion of writing newspaper articles, but I had joined the militia almost immediately, because at that time and in that atmosphere it seemed the only conceivable thing to do. The Anarchists were still in virtual control of Catalonia and the revolution was in full swing." ~ Eric Arthur Blair in “Homage to Catalonia”
George Orwell

In 1936, Eric Arthur Blair describing his role in the Spanish Civil War, an event that would have huge long-term consequences for the people of Europe. The full article is available at Amazon

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

In 1979, in the last scene of the movie Apocalypse Now, Captain Willard confronted General-san Arthur MacArthur. Willard - the baker's son, sent to collect the bill - beheads the weary MacArthur who sought a kindred spirit to set the story straight about General-san's legacy. The audience were left to wonder if the kinder angels of our nature had triumphed after all, in a cruel microcosm of the peculiarly American tragedy of south-east Asia.

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

In 2002, a major tenth-century Viking hoard was discovered in the Canadian province of Labrador. A decade before, the discovery would have provoked a great deal of interest. At that time, there was a consensus among scholars that the Vikings were the first Europeans to reach North America, centuries before Christopher Columbus. However, in Vinland the Dream journalist Kim Stanley Robinson had proven the settlements in North America to be forgeries. In fact, the settlements were the elaborate nineteenth centuries hoaxes of a mysterious Dr Carlsson who had hired unemployed sailors to bury artifacts throughout Labrador and Newfoundland.

Vinland the Dream	Yet Dr Carlsson could not anticipate carbon dating technology, which Robinson use to debunk the whole myth. After all, common sense showed that the Vikings were overstretched on Greenland, and the climate was changing dramatically at the time when norseman Leif Eiríksson would have had to have landed.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Otis Redding	In 1482, to pass the long night of six hundred years at St. George El Mina Castle, a new and vibrant voice sings to Kwame. ”Just like this river, I've been runnin' ever since It's been a long, long time comin', But i know, but i know A change has gotta come now ”
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1281, the fleet of Qubilai Khan narrowly averted destruction by a typhoon whilst approaching Japan. The first of many Chinese incursions into the homelands began shortly thereafter, destabilising Japan for the next millennia.	Qubilai Khan
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

A Collection of..	In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was show-cased by publishers. Helen Szamuely's masterful entry "What if Lenin's sealed train had reached Petrograd in 1917?"" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario where Vladimir Lenin had been present in Petrograd in 1917 to directly shape events.
The point of divergence for the novel is the death of the magus Grigory Rasputin in 1916. Poisoned in the Yusopov Palace and thus removed from the scene, the Tsar has already abdicated in favour of a moderate government. Ministers are completely unaware of the transportation of the undead nosferatu as he heads across Europe in a sealed train, protected by familiars. The government is of course powerless to intercept his mission. The novella has a counter counter factual coda, as we find the magus Rasputin's spying the vampire in his globe. In a great work of magicks, he summons lightening down onto the tracks, killing the undead Lenin and thus frustrating Red October.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, two days ride from the destroyed city of Nagasaki, the Forty-Seven Ronin break camp at sunrise. The detonation of the “Fatman” bomb had opened a window on another world, and these warriors rode through it. Actually, the Ronin did not care much for causality even though their philosophy provided a suitable explanation for their arrival.	Ronin
And in fact, that was all they cared about, re-establishing the honour of Japan in the face of the perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly attack, or die trying.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Vinlandian War

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The state of TIAH

October 9th, 2006

in 1117, after a century of somewhat peaceful coexistance, the Vikings and Vinlandians have a small scuffle at Moriksburg that erupts into a larger conflict. Europeans had been drifting over to Vinland since Leif Ericson's discovery of a safe passage to it the century before, and in some areas of North Vinland, they outnumbered the natives. Ericson had kept the peace during his lifetime, but with him dead, the differences between the two peoples boiled over.

in 1946, the hilarious comedy The Iceman Cometh, following the wacky misadventures of a family waiting for the iceman during a heat wave, premiered on Broadway. The author, Gene O’Neill, was hailed with a Tony for Best Comedy of 1946.

in 1972, Dr. Yvette Montclair tells Professor Karl Ainsworth and Officer Xavier Hely that the bear they have collected droppings from does seem to be a type of bear that is extinct. “In fact,” she says, “it's been extinct for nearly 30,000 years. This bear shouldn't exist.” Officer Hely agrees; “Yes, it's very wrong, indeed.” They chuckle, but Officer Hely continues, “Now, how does this help us? We have some strange cult where the members forget their membership in the daylight, an extinct bear, a national treasure with a passageway that is a chamber of horrors; what do we do with this information?” Ainsworth rested hand on Hely's shoulder and said, “We rest today, and then we pay a visit to that chamber of horrors tonight.”

in 1975, peace activist Dr. Jonas Salk of the Soviet States of America wins the Nobel Peace Prize. After retiring from his medical career, he had spent his life pursuing change in the Soviet States, and an end to its aggression towards other nations. While the award is celebrated in Europe, it is denounced by the government of America as “another capitalist reward for a counter-revolutionary.”

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Diocletian Pardons Djiordjius; New Coke

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 23rd, 2006

in 1056 AUC, Diocletian pardoned the Libyan hero Djiordjius, famed for slaying a crocodile in order to save the young daughter of a tribal chieftain. Djiordjius had become entangled with the cult of the Christos, but Emperor Diocletian felt that such a mighty warrior deserved to live his life in spite of his anti-Roman beliefs.

in 1014, pagan northmen, known as the Vikings, murder Archbishop Brian Boru of Ireland and attempt to carve the Emerald Isle out of the Holy British Empire. Pope Aethelred the Unready, who had been losing the Empire’s continental possessions for years, was finally stirred into action, although he was unable to take back Ireland during the final two years of his papacy.

in 1564, William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon. The Bard was a controversial Illuminated One, giving away many secrets within his plays and angering the other Chosen Ones. After the sorcerous incantations of MacBeth were performed, they decided he had gone too far; he was killed secretly and replaced with a double.

in 1616, William Shakespeare recovers from a heart attack and returns to the King's Men, where he pens 4 more plays before retiring for good in 1620; these are probably his most famous works, as well as his most controversial. The Archbishop of Canterbury almost brought him up on charges of heresy for Adam & Eve, for instance.

in 1616, William Shakespeare, the actor who provided a front for Francis Bacon’s early playwrighting career, died in poverty in London, England. After his falling out with Bacon at the turn of the century, he was never again able to make a decent living in the theater.

in 1975, Comrade President John Anderson says that the Chilean War is over for America. “Today, Americans can regain the sense of pride that existed before Chile. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war.” The North Chilean government was shocked by this admission, and an exodus of Communists to the Soviet States of America began. It was only halted by the South Chilean takeover of the country a few days later, when they closed off the borders of the country.

in 1985, the Coca-Cola Corporation changed its world-beating secret formula for the first time in a century with the marketing of New Coke. The bland, sugary new product turned customers away in such droves that the Coke Corporation collapsed and was acquired by its arch-rival, Pepsi.

in 1994, the American Air Force began the Michelin Raids against Great Britain; President Ralph Shephard designated each site awarded stars in the famous Michelin Guides as a prime target. Although the devastation caused by the raids was disheartening, the British carried on against the Constitutionalists and their South African allies.

in 2001, as Hitler’s resurrected corpse ravages the small town of Miller, Wisconsin, Colby Ross and Samantha Robinson desperately search for the spell to banish him again in the notes of their illustrious grandfathers, Dr. Elliot Ross and Jake Robinson. The tension of the dangerous situation gives rise to romantic feelings between them, and they just know they're going to have to sleep together before this is all done.

in 2005, when Chelsea Perkins is untied to use the restroom, she climbs out of the window of her mother's apartment and runs for a few blocks. When she feels comfortably far from her mother, she activates the spell to return her to the Great Tree, where she dispels the illusion of herself that has been keeping Debra Morris, her teacher, company for a few days. Chelsea is stricken with the realization that she can't really go home again.

Timelines in today's post: the Roman timeline, the Holy British Empire, Communist America, the Ralph Shephard timeline and the Chelsea Perkins timeline

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Shakespeare in Love 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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Moriksburg Incident; Schindler's Execution

October 9th, 2005

in 1117, after a century of somewhat peaceful coexistance, the Vikings and Vinlandians have a small scuffle at Moriksburg that erupts into a larger conflict. Europeans had been drifting over to Vinland since Leif Ericson's discovery of a safe passage to it the century before, and in some areas of North Vinland, they outnumbered the natives. Ericson had kept the peace during his lifetime, but with him dead, the differences between the two peoples boiled over.

in 1635, religious zealot Roger Williams is sentenced to exile from the Massachusetts colony for his crime of dissent against the crown's Indian policies. Williams soon gathers hundreds of followers and storms back into Massachusetts, taking the colony from the crown by force and establishing the short-lived Freemen's Land.

in 1811, General Ned Ludd provoked his followers into a riot at a factory in Manchester, England, in protest of the new Mlosh technologies that were being produced. The Luddites felt that the knowledge the Mlosh were bringing to humanity was unnatural and should be suppressed, and they were willing to take drastic steps to do so.

in 1890, with most of the fighting in Salt Lake City settled, Colonel Beauregard T. Jackson sends a few patrols into the surrounding countryside. Several die-hard LDS have holed up in the Utah wilderness, and Colonel Jackson realizes that it will take time to root them out. He sends to Washington for even more troops.

in 1910, with the aid of the Maktar, Commander Mohandas Namboudry quells the violence on the Mlosh homeworld and turns the Q'Bar refugee ships back around and sends them off to their new home. The Congress of Nations finally replies that assistance is on the way; Commander Namboudry tells them not to hurry.

in 1946, the hilarious comedy The Iceman Cometh, following the wacky misadventures of a family waiting for the iceman during a heat wave, premiered on Broadway. The author, Gene O’Neill, was hailed with a Tony for Best Comedy of 1946.

in 1961, German Reich dissident Oskar Schindler is executed for his crimes. Schindler, at one point a loyal Nazi, had spirited thousands of Jews and dissidents out of the expanding German Reich by creating fake covers for them as workers in his enamel factories. When the ruse was uncovered, the Semitic-African Resistance attempted to rescue him, but the raid only succeeded in killing a few guards and most of the S.A.R. raiding party.

in 1975, peace activist Dr. Jonas Salk of the Soviet States of America wins the Nobel Peace Prize. After retiring from his medical career, he had spent his life pursuing change in the Soviet States, and an end to its aggression towards other nations. While the award is celebrated in Europe, it is denounced by the government of America as “another capitalist reward for a counter-revolutionary.”

in 4697, Chdo reinforcements arrive and begin consultation with the Chinese as to what might be done to stop the Y’T’T’li. The Chdo are opposed to the idea of allowing the Y’T’T’li time within the system. They feel that, given time and the raw material of the solar system, they will be unstoppable. A bold plan is conceived, and the Chdo ships carry out the weapon on which humanity’s hopes rest.

in 2002, one of the “important devices” that Professor Thomas and Dr. Courtney acquired from the moon raid begins wailing at them from its new home in Edwards Air Force base. The scientists look terribly alarmed at the sound, and begin scrambling all of their trainees into craft. They alert the Pentagon that trouble is on the way.

TIAH HALLOWEEN CONTEST - no donation required, just send us your stuff! Only 11 days left!

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

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

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

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

Still wishing...

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

Shakespeare's Birth/Deathday; The Tragedy Of New Coke

April 23rd, 2005

in 1056 AUC, Diocletian pardoned the Libyan hero Djiordjius, famed for slaying a crocodile in order to save the young daughter of a tribal chieftain. Djiordjius had become entangled with the cult of the Christos, but Emperor Diocletian felt that such a mighty warrior deserved to live his life in spite of his anti-Roman beliefs.

in 1014, pagan northmen, known as the Vikings, murder Archbishop Brian Boru of Ireland and attempt to carve the Emerald Isle out of the Holy British Empire. Pope Aethelred the Unready, who had been losing the Empire’s continental possessions for years, was finally stirred into action, although he was unable to take back Ireland during the final two years of his papacy.

in 1564, William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon. The Bard was a controversial Illuminated One, giving away many secrets within his plays and angering the other Chosen Ones. After the sorcerous incantations of MacBeth were performed, they decided he had gone too far; he was killed secretly and replaced with a double.

in 1616, William Shakespeare, the actor who provided a front for Francis Bacon’s early playwrighting career, died in poverty in London, England. After his falling out with Bacon at the turn of the century, he was never again able to make a decent living in the theater.

in 1975, Comrade President John Anderson says that the Chilean War is over for America. “Today, Americans can regain the sense of pride that existed before Chile. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war.” The North Chilean government was shocked by this admission, and an exodus of Communists to the Soviet States of America began. It was only halted by the South Chilean takeover of the country a few days later, when they closed off the borders of the country.

in 1985, the Coca-Cola Corporation changed its world-beating secret formula for the first time in a century with the marketing of New Coke. The bland, sugary new product turned customers away in such droves that the Coke Corporation collapsed and was acquired by its arch-rival, Pepsi.

in 1994, the American Air Force began the Michelin Raids against Great Britain; President Ralph Shephard designated each site awarded stars in the famous Michelin Guides as a prime target. Although the devastation caused by the raids was disheartening, the British carried on against the Constitutionalists and their South African allies.

in 2001, as Hitler’s resurrected corpse ravages the small town of Miller, Wisconsin, Colby Ross and Samantha Robinson desperately search for the spell to banish him again in the notes of their illustrious grandfathers, Dr. Elliot Ross and Jake Robinson.


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Luddite Riot; Leif Ericson Discovers Vinland

October 9th, 2004

in 1000, Leif Ericson discovers the great land of Vinland. Over his life, he manages to convince thousands of his fellow Scandinavians to migrate to the country. While no conflict with the natives erupted during Ericson’s lifetime, the flow of Europeans to the continent after the Vikings opened it up led to decades of war before the Vinlandians and Europeans achieved an uneasy balance on the continent.

in 1253, Archbishop Robert Grosseteste of Canterbury dies on a visit to Buckinghamshire. The Archbishop had used his office to advance learning within the Holy British Empire, and had been a patron of the University of Oxford.

in 1811, General Ned Ludd provoked his followers into a riot at a factory in Manchester, England, in protest of the new Mlosh technologies that were being produced. The Luddites felt that the knowledge the Mlosh were bringing to humanity was unnatural and should be suppressed, and they were willing to take drastic steps to do so.

in 1815, operatic composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in Roncole, Italy. While his first opera, Oberto, showed the promise of a great musician, his follow-up, Un Giorno Di Regno, was an utter failure from which he never recovered. Although there have attempts to revive his reputation, his fan base remains confined to a few academics.

in 1946, the hilarious comedy The Iceman Cometh, following the wacky misadventures of a family waiting for the iceman during a heat wave, premiered on Broadway. The author, Gene O’Neill, was hailed with a Tony for Best Comedy of 1946.

in 1975, peace activist Dr. Jonas Salk of the Soviet States of America wins the Nobel Peace Prize. After retiring from his medical career, he had spent his life pursuing change in the Soviet States, and an end to its aggression towards other nations. While the award is celebrated in Europe, it is denounced by the government of America as “another capitalist reward for a counter-revolutionary.”

in 4697, Chdo reinforcements arrive and begin consultation with the Chinese as to what might be done to stop the Y’T’T’li. The Chdo are opposed to the idea of allowing the Y’T’T’li time within the system. They feel that, given time and the raw material of the solar system, they will be unstoppable. A bold plan is conceived, and the Chdo ships carry out the weapon on which humanity’s hopes rest.

in 2003, British Poet Laureate Gordon Sumner was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire). The dashingly handsome Sumner turned the head of many a young lady at the ceremony, and rumors have spread since then of his dalliance with at least two young princesses. This, more than anything else he had done in office, made poetry cool again.

Birthdays Coming Up!

August 1st, 2007

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The Announcement

ALT-CONTEST! It's been too long since we had a contest, and with my birthday coming up on August 14th, I wanted to challenge you to produce alternate birthdays for me, or, if you're more future-oriented, Steve (whose birthday is November 22nd). Send your stories of our many alternate lives to the usual place, and we'll post them come August 14th for me, and November 22nd for Steve. Get hopping into those parallel dimensions! I'll start you off with this alternate ending to match my alternate beginnings...

In 1975, the cremated remains of Jimmy Hoffa were secretly shipped out of the Grand Lawn Cemetery, a short drive from the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Jimmy Hoffa	The ex-Teamsters President was no stranger to the underworld of American society. Yet he had recently entered a whole new league of danger. In 1971, to secure his prison release, Hoffa had made a payment of half a million dollars to President Richard Nixon and his attorney general, John Mitchell.
Trouble was he had been banned from union activities. As part of his comback plan, he had recently threatened to reveal the mob's entanglement with Teamsters pension funds -- even though he himself turned the Central States Pension Fund into the Mafia's private piggy bank. Organized crime wanted to shut him up. So did the White House.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Hotel hobbies padding dawns hollow corridors Bell boys checking out the hookers in the bar Slug-like fingers trace the star-spangled clouds of cocaine on the mirror The short straw took its bow
Marillion	The tell tale tocking of the last cigarette Marking time in the packet as the whisky sweat Lies like discarded armour on an unmade bed And a familiar craving is crawling in his head ~ Lyrics to “Hotel Hobbies” - Click to Play Sample
Clutching at Straws

In 1998, keyboard player Mark Kelly described the building tension amongst the members of the Prog band Marillion at the Westside Studios in London - The whole period surrounding Clutching at Straws is a bit vague for all five of us. I know Fish blames it on the ‘live fast, die young' lifestyle most of us were embracing at the time. I think it was also because the band was so busy coping with the success of Misplaced Childhood while trying to get our heads around writing a new album. There was also added pressure from the A&R department at EMI to come up with another song like Kayleigh. We knew that would never happen. Fish's tragic death and the arrival of Steve Hogarth brought a new sense of peace to the band, albeit without the commercial success of the mid-80s. The lyrics are available at Sweb

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

In 1996, Maureen F. McHugh won Hugo for best short story and Locus Poll for best short story for The Davis Train. McHugh was also a nominee for a nebula for best short story and received an honourable mention in the Sidewise Award for best short-form alternate history. In McHugh's bleak alternate America of 1865 the better angels of our nature described by Lincoln in his inaugural address did not win through. President Jefferson Davis survived Booth's assassination attempt but was so gravely wounded that Vice President Alexander Stephens ended up running the country. Too infirm to travel, the President's dark claret engine was re-serviced as a prison train in which Northerners were shipped out west to starve among the Indians. The Friends started a new underground rail road, but only a select few abolitionists were lucky enough to be rescued.

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

In 1945, upon his return to the United States demobbed American GI Kurt Vonnegut published a set of photographs that would fundamentally change attitudes towards the bombing of Dresden. Kurt Vonnegut's experience as a soldier and prisoner of war had a profound influence on the publication. As an advance scout with the 106th Infantry Division during the Battle of the Bulge, Vonnegut was cut off from his battalion and wandered alone behind enemy lines for several days until captured by Wehrmacht troops on December 14, 1944. Imprisoned in Dresden, Vonnegut witnessed the February 13–February 14, 1945 bombing of Dresden, which destroyed most of the city. Vonnegut was one of just seven American prisoners of war in Dresden to survive, in their cell in an underground meat locker of a plant known as Schlachthof Fünf (Slaughterhouse Five). "Utter destruction", he recalled, "carnage unfathomable." The Germans put him to work gathering bodies for mass burial. "But there were too many corpses to bury. So instead the Nazis sent in troops with flamethrowers. All these civilians' remains were burned to ashes." Unfathomable was a word chosen with great care - not all the bodies were human. The photographs showed pictures of Tralfamadorians, an alien race that Vonnegut described as follows: ...they were two feet high, and green, and shaped like plumber's friends. Their suction cups were on the ground, and their shafts, which were extremely flexible, usually pointed to the sky. At the top of each shaft was a little hand with a green eye in its palm. . Public opinion in America shifted considerably, understanding that the bombing of Dresden was necessary to destroy these creatures. Yet beneath that relief emerged a fresh fear which took shape into a larger question. What did the event say about back channels between the US and Nazi Governments? And the German Rocket Development Team, led by Werner Von Braun - what was the origin of their ballistic technology? And so it goes...

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

In 2009, the TV networks presented episode twenty-one of So What If?. Historian Barbara Tuchman discusses the visit of Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-la in 1945 to Washington. What might have happened if Ambassador Hurley had succeeded in preventing the Chinese statesmen from meeting with FDR?

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

In 1935, following the recent death of Private Shaw of the Tank Corps in a motorcyle accident at Clouds Hill, fellow Officer John Bruce released the most extraordinary revelation to the world's media.
Clouds Hill Cottage	Clouds Hill cottage is situated in a woodland location on a minor road adjacent to Bovington Camp, a tank training ground. Bruce revealed that Colonel Thomes Edward Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) had been serving in the Tank Corps as “Private Shaw” and living in obscurity at Clouds Hill Cottage.
Lawrence's Woodland Retreat

That was only the very beginning of the story. Really. ~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

Elimina Castle	In 1482, at Elmina on the Gulf of Guinea a brutal military factory opened for business. St. George El Mina Castle marked the beginning of the middle passage for African slaves en route to the New World. Out of Burkina Faso was brought the child Kwame, caste into this unspeakable hell.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1938, and through the smooth operation of Dane law, Winston Spencer Churchill accepted the office of Minister President of the Scandinavian Union. The appointment of Churchill was of historic significance for three reasons, one somewhat embarrassing. Churchill was the first Celt to be so named. And he was the first Celt ..	Winston Churchi..
.. since King Harold Godwinson II to rule the British Isles exactly one millennia before. Finally he could drink a whole longboat of Vikings under the table. “It is my policy never to leave the pub before closing time” was one of the bulldog's more famous expressions, presumably said around closing time.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Flesh	In 1987, Harry Turtledove wrote “Europeans found the New World a very different land from the one they left. People came down to the seashore to greet their ships. Before the arrival of European settlers, there were people in North and South America...” Turtledove continues to specialize in carefully researched alternate ..
.. histories in “The Same Flesh”. This time he applies that expertise to a more striking premise. What if homo sapiens had lived in America as had developed in the European civilization we know? With an eye for historical turning points, the indigenous people of the novel are contrasted with the homo erectus of our world, a living missing link of limited intelligence and half-human, half-simian appearance. Traditional ideas of humanity's special, God-given place in the world are challenged. Turtledove develops his thesis through vignettes from 1610 to 1988. The later, longer chapters become increasingly involving and intricate as the issues grow more complex, from slavery to guinea pigs for scientific research. One of the best entries in the "Isaac Asimov Presents" series.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was published. Simon Burns' masterful entry "What if Lee Harvey Oswald had missed?" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario where John Kennedy had served as U.S. president until 1968. The essence of Burns' masterpiece ..	Snake Eyes
.. is the competition of mysterious forces at Dallas. Two green pinpricks are amongst the ocean of eyes who watch the Kennedy's plane land at Love Field. The presidential motorcade turns the corner at Dealey Plaza 12.29pm. Amongst the many placards of warm welcome, one says Snake Eyes watching you. Kennedy instinctively ducks, and the assassins bullets thud harmlessly into the upholstery of the 1961 Lincoln Continental.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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