So I'm trying to get back into AltHist...

[Nikephoros]

...but I can't seem to bring myself to come up with an idea for a timeline.

My AH interests have seemed to peeter out

[Nikephoros]

Anyways, I'm getting sick of all the Axis (Even the Democratic Germany ones tend to have some form of "Axis") and Central Power wanks (In all their myriad forms) over at AH.com.

So a reversal of one of those would be a good idea. By that I mean, a more realistic take on what would happen if the Axis or Central powers won (Or if the USSR and Germany made an alliance, or the Italy joins the CP ones either). No white-washing of Nazi Germany, or any wanking.

Of course, my preference is actually Medieval/Renaissance, but I see an injustice that needs corrected.

[CSW]

Well, the thing is, I have a 1918 German win scenario. But most fanboy TLs are more about wish fullfillment (I do that too, I admit it) and good TLs are stories rather than chronicles. Stories take time, and need a sense of place and characters worthy to carry it. My 1918 scenario is pretty bleak, the Germans win but are faced with the disintigration of Austria Hungary, the need to deal with the Bolshiviks AND communist insurgency in France, along with the blow up of the Ottoman Empire into several petty warlords. There's also the issue of the of the military dictatorship. Eventually the Germans undergo a liberal revolution that breaks the power of the Junker, and Prussian militarism, but ends up in a sea of Fascist states and an America that wants NOTHING more to do with European affairs. I'm just not sure where the wanking starts and plausibility ends.

[Mostlyharmless]

Anyways, I'm getting sick of all the Axis (Even the Democratic Germany ones tend to have some form of "Axis") and Central Power wanks (In all their myriad forms) over at AH.com.

So a reversal of one of those would be a good idea. By that I mean, a more realistic take on what would happen if the Axis or Central powers won (Or if the USSR and Germany made an alliance, or the Italy joins the CP ones either). No white-washing of Nazi Germany, or any wanking.
One question is whether history matters. For example, fifty to seventy years after an Axis victory, will the world look the same or very different? We can be happy that any scenario involving rapid economic growth will create a shortage of oil but should we expect Feminism? A Marxist would say yes because having women in work raises company profits.

[Bulgaroktonos]

I've always wanted to do a United Kingdom of Great Britain and France TL, or a Leveller Republic TL....

[Das Legio]

*admits ignorance*

What exactly IS the Leveller Republic?

[Bulgaroktonos]

During the British Civil War, there was a faction of the New Model Army called (by their opponents) Levellers.

Essentially, they were serious revolutionaries, advocating the elimination of the House of Lords, universal male sufferage, yearly or bi-yearly election of parliament, rule of law, religious tolerance, natural rights of man, and a host of other reforms and ideas that were way ahead of their time.

While they weren't very organized (with many different views and goals), and never coordinated, they had what seems to be substantial support in the period following the First Civil War. I always thought at TL in which the Levellers take power and establish the Republic of Great Britain or something would be interesting...

[boynamedsue]

During the British Civil War, there was a faction of the New Model Army called (by their opponents) Levellers.

Essentially, they were serious revolutionaries, advocating the elimination of the House of Lords, universal male sufferage, yearly or bi-yearly election of parliament, rule of law, religious tolerance, natural rights of man, and a host of other reforms and ideas that were way ahead of their time.

While they weren't very organized (with many different views and goals), and never coordinated, they had what seems to be substantial support in the period following the First Civil War. I always thought at TL in which the Levellers take power and establish the Republic of Great Britain or something would be interesting...

That is a very interesting topic. Some levellers also had a pretty radical stance on the distribution of land and wealth, and British socialists view them as part of their pre-19th century "holy trinity" (with the revolting peasants Wat Tyler and John Ball, and Tom Paine).

If we are looking at that period, another interesting grouping was the Diggers: A pacificist Christian political cult who refused to recognise private property and set up a commune at St George's Hill. A spreading of that brand of Anarcho-Christianity to either Holland, the Americas or the Cape would create some very promising butterflies.

[MNPundit]

Anyways, I'm getting sick of all the Axis (Even the Democratic Germany ones tend to have some form of "Axis") and Central Power wanks (In all their myriad forms) over at AH.com.

So a reversal of one of those would be a good idea. By that I mean, a more realistic take on what would happen if the Axis or Central powers won (Or if the USSR and Germany made an alliance, or the Italy joins the CP ones either). No white-washing of Nazi Germany, or any wanking.

Of course, my preference is actually Medieval/Renaissance, but I see an injustice that needs corrected.

Well asked an AH Challenge at that other place yesterday. The question was how the Hanseatic League could become a modern state by 21st century standards. No one answered however. :(

[Bulgaroktonos]

Well asked an AH Challenge at that other place yesterday. The question was how the Hanseatic League could become a modern state by 21st century standards. No one answered however. :(

I think the problem with the Hanse was that they did not have the same war-fighting capacity.

It wasn't that the Hanse weren't any less modern than the other states around them (personally, I think that political actors are best understood as points on a relative continuum rather than a series of benchmarks, as that implies destination rather than organic evolution), it was that the Hanse were less effective at doing what states are designed to do; fight.

Because of the reliance on individual protection, and occassionally group support, the individual cities were vastly less capable of fighting off their wealthier competitors. I say it is a function of the fact that they were too geographically spread out, and the logistics for mutual support in a timely fashion did not exist. If you can delay the rise of increasingly powerful central administrations capable of substantial resource extraction, then the league might survive long enough, particularly on the coasts to reach the point where rapid oceanic travel could be affected, providing mutual support.

[Rick Deckard]

Anyways, I'm getting sick of all the Axis (Even the Democratic Germany ones tend to have some form of "Axis") and Central Power wanks (In all their myriad forms) over at AH.com.

I get the feeling the alternate history genre would not exist if it wasn't for the flood of World War II and American Civil War focused works.

[WKL]

I get the feeling the alternate history genre would not exist if it wasn't for the flood of World War II and American Civil War focused works.

For the English speaking world maybe.



But hey, IMO, the reason we have so many of those TLs is because people are always more interested in history that's directly related to them over history of a foreign nation that indirectly affects them.

Unless of course there's a epic game based on that foreign nation like Dynasty warriors which really spawned more English TLs in that period of Chinese history than any other pre-modern Chinese period.

[MNPundit]

For the English speaking world maybe.



But hey, IMO, the reason we have so many of those TLs is because people are always more interested in history that's directly related to them over history of a foreign nation that indirectly affects them.

Unless of course there's a epic game based on that foreign nation like Dynasty warriors which really spawned more English TLs in that period of Chinese history than any other pre-modern Chinese period.
It's not about Foreign Nations it's about Global Power Structure. America has been a major player in the global power structure for years and was a rising power before that. The Security Council still represents the balance of power achieved after WW2 and many powerful countries participated then and now. Certainly Japan, Russia, Germany, Britain, the US and China are all economically and politically relevant to this day.