Карты альтернативных миров

[Serafim]

 M-BAM-North-America.zip M-BAM-North-America.zip

Странная карта. У меня пеинт нет крашится вместо того что бы открывать, хотя предыдущую карту с 4 слоями переваривал нормально. 

ЗЫ. Таки заработало. 200! ДВЕСТИ МЕГАПИКСЕЛЕЙ! И это только четверть карты.

благодарю. Не заметил ничего особенного. Я такой файлик сделаю за 30 сек в Paint (увеличив изображение)

Да, таки вы правы, это только заготовка для последующей детальной работы. Но там Европа уже норм. 

А с Гиперуберроссией?)

В ней как то меньше задора что ли. Разукрасить Евразию в цвета России ума много не надо, а вот в Сверхукраине как то больше была использована творческая жилка.

[Владислав]

Немного спойлеров по СПМ  

 

[Serafim]

Галактичненько

А почему Белоруссия не в команде?

[Владислав]

А почему Белоруссия не в команде?

ушла под РФ даже плотнее чем в РИ, благо в 1996 было все еще веселее чем в РИ на нашу голову

[Serafim]

Ну нет, это никуда не годится. 

И скоро ди здесь развалится Россия? И почему Чечня не отдельно?

[Иван Ситников]

Ну нет, это никуда не годится.  И скоро ди здесь развалится Россия? И почему Чечня не отдельно?

Ну почему же обязательно развалится. Я уже наоборот вижу, что коллега (ненароком, кмк) выстраивает мир, где урезанный и более консолидированный Францией-Германией ЕС начнет более активно координировать свою политику с Москвой (которая него труба) и они будут выкручивать руки всей этой центральноевропейской гопоте в два смычка.

 

[Octagon]

M-Bam

Ну, не знаю. Выглядит задумка, конечно, эпично. Но стоит только представить, как всю эту простыню придётся закрашивать во время рисования карт…Тут и к нынешним шаблонам страшно подступиться.

[Ринн]

Но стоит только представить, как всю эту простыню придётся закрашивать во время рисования карт…

Она, очевидно, не для мировых карт.

[Serafim]

Она, очевидно, не для мировых карт.

Было бы забавно нарисовать на такой карте мир с потрясающей подробностью и проработкой, которую никто не открыть. 

[Serafim]

Пока нет идей, выложу лучшую что я видел серию карт. Единственный минус - она на английском но и так должно быть интуитивно понятно. 
Развилка в другой американской гражданской войне, по результатам которой север вышел из состава юга (сработали ИЛМ, автор сам это признает). 

Ссылка на пост с линками на оригиналы

Часть Первая

Just something I put together after reading about how some abolitionists prior to the Civil War advocated that the north secede from the union. It's ASB but I thought I'd take a crack at it;

The Mexican-American War goes differently, resulting in an easier time for the USA, and the Senate passes the Yucatan Bill, agreeing to annex the Republic of the Yucatan at the request of the republic's president (the bill failed to pass OTL). The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo is basically the same as OTL, but with the added provision that Mexico recognizes America's ownership over the Yucatan. Fast-Forward to the Compromise of 1850, with the Yucatan having been admitted to the Union as a Free State the south takes a harder stance and the Missouri Compromise Line is extended to the Pacific and the southern proposal to split California is enacted (California was after all dominated by southern democrats until the late 1850s OTL) resulting in a Free Northern California and a Slave Southern California. Texas surrenders its panhandle but keeps eastern New Mexico. New Mexico becomes a slave-territory (albeit with purely nominal slavery) and Utah a free territory. The practice of keeping slave/free state numbers equal persists and thus although southerns are largely happy about the situation, tensions in the north are escalated every time a new slave state is added.

Partisan division in the north, with the Free Soil, Liberty, and Republican parties dividing the vote results in a string of Democratic presidents friendly to the south and to national expansion. Pierre Soule keeps his mouth shut, the Otsend Manifesto never leaks out, and Spain, wracked by the Second Carlist War (it's much bigger ITTL), afraid that the United States might invade the island (unlikely but not impossible) and with no hope of support from Britain and France, accepts the $100,000,000 and sells Cuba. Cuba becomes a slave state and Northern abolitionists, perceiving the union as being dominated by pro-slavery interests, begin to seriously flirt with secession.

The Second Mexican-American War erupts after filibusterer William Walker invades Baja California and Sonora and establishes the Republic of Sonora, seeking annexation by the union as a slave state (free states are being inducted during this time, I'm just not mentioning them). Mexico is in civil war between liberals and conservatives (butterflies started the Reform War early) and so he is remarkably successful. Although Pierce initially attempts to stay out of Sonora, the governor of Southern California provides under-the-table assistance to volunteers and other filibusterers going to aid Walker. When American citizens are killed by Mexican troops however the outcry in congress forces the president to intervene. The war is brief but results in the liberal government of Benito Juarez surrendering Sonora and Baja. Juarez will still win the Reform War, but his position will be much weaker and his government less popular due to his capitulation.

The American Civil War ultimately erupts over the issue of Kansas. Admitted to the Union as a slave state to balance out Oregon in 1859 it is seen by northers as both a betrayal of the Compromise of 1850 and an attempt to ensure more support for the yet to be determined pro-southern candidate in the coming 1860 election. 17 northern states (not including the Yucatan, North California, or Oregon, all three of which remained in the Union- although fighting did occur in California) break away from the USA as the Federal Union of America.

Other butterflies happen- Peru-Bolivia is formed following Gamarra's plan (which featured a dominant Peru instead of a dominant Bolivia) and avoids war with Chile and Argentina. The Argentine Confederation is unable to properly unify and ends up fighting a disastrous later war with Chile and PB that sees Chile's claim over Patagonia recognized. Pedro II dies young of an illness and with no clear male heir to the throne the Empire of Brazil is abolished. However as a consequence the stability Pedro brought never materializes and the War of the Farrapos is a defeat for Brazil and the country is plagued by internal instability and division. In China the British and the French remain neutral, the Taiping Rebels never lose Shanghai, and the Heavenly Kingdom is going strong.

The map below shows the world in December 1859 on the outbreak of the American Civil War.

 

Часть Вторая

The American Civil War begins with a string of Union victories against the FUA as experienced southern troops smash untrained northern conscripts and General Robert E. Lee sends George McClellan's Invasion of the Great Plains (an attempt to link up with abolitionist sympathizers in the Pacific Northwest and extend the Federal Union from sea to sea) back in dismay. Fighting rages from the rebellious counties of North California to Pennsylvania but gradually superior northern industry and the replacement of several Northern commanders with more competent leaders makes a difference. The initial southern naval superiority erodes in the face of newly constructed northern ships but the decisive factor was British and French aid to the rebels- particularly British aid flowing down from Canada. In 1865 the flagging United States government under President John Breckinridge finally agrees to recognize President Thaddeus Stevens’ government in New York when Britain began to make noises about intervening militarily.

Angry and revanchist, the USA began a program of "national revitalization" led by Breckinridge and subsequently Jefferson Davis. The north had been able to break away due to its superior industry and that meant that it was time for the Union to turn away from agrarianism and focus on industrialization. Railway tracks were laid across the country and state-sponsored factories rose in Georgia, Alabama, and California. Then in 1869 the Third Mexican-American War erupted over a trifling border incident.

In 1861 a coalition of European countries had intervened in Mexico after the unstable government of Benito Juarez stopped making interest payments on its loans. Most of the countries pulled out after a short time but France remained, taking advantage of the powerful conservative movement in the country to re-establish the Mexican Monarchy under Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg. Juarez and the liberals had been effectively discredited by their capitulation to the United States in the Second Mexican-American War and when Emperor Maximilian approached Juarez about the possibility of his becoming Prime Minister (offer was made OTL, but refused), Juarez accepted. In the eyes of the USA the Mexican Empire was a French puppet and a violation of the Monroe doctrine that could not be tolerated, hence when given the opportunity Washington declared war. The Empire was backed by France and the Federal Union of America but fighting a two front war it was defeated repeatedly, and when the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War cut off French aid Juarez and Maximilian surrendered.

America was jubilant. They had established once again that despite their failure in the ACW they were yet a power to be reckoned with. The Mexican Empire was forced to cede yet more northern territory as well as land in the south that was added to the Yucatan. Belligerently the Union thrust itself back onto the world stage, annexing Santo Domingo in 1870 (almost happened OTL, didn’t pass the senate) and reducing Haiti to the status of a protectorate. In 1880 the USA finally outlawed slavery after a series of violent slave revolts supported by Britain and the North, although former slaves were expected to work off their value before becoming truly free. Crooked book keeping and high rates of interest meant that ex-slaves remained in bondage- many transferring their debt to their families when they died. Needless to say black suffrage did not exist and free blacks were strictly second class citizens. American influence in the Caribbean spread via a series of wars and interventions and America entered into the Naval Race with Britain, France and Germany wholesale- its failures at sea during the ACW having not been forgotten. Mexico was dealt with at last in 1878 when a coup by conservatives opposed to Maximilian's reforms overthrew the empire and America subsequently occupied the country and enforced a protectorate over it. In 1885 the USA and the Peru-Bolivia Confederation went to war with the Grenadine Confederation, resulting in the annexation of Panama and the outlying islands by the USA and the Quito region by PB. In 1886 a tribal uprising in Liberia prompted the Liberian to government to ask for American assistance, assistance was followed by protectorate status and in 1890 annexation. A British-backed attempt by Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador to counter US influence by forming a Greater Republic of Central America in 1896 almost triggered a war between Britain and America and ended with the GRCA forced to concede the Miskito Coast and acknowledge Washington's hegemony. In 1897 the Spanish-American War erupted over US aid to rebels in the Philippine Islands and resulted in the United States gaining most of the remaining Spanish Empire.

By 1899 the USA is a deeply racist dominant party republic with a large and growing overseas empire (they bought Alaska after a bidding war with Britain and annexed Hawaii when a wealthy group of American planters on islands appealed for annexation in 1893). The Democratic Party controls congress and the Presidency, however the Populist Party offers local opposition. Its primary allies are the Peru-Bolivia Confederation, the Republic of Brazil, Germany, and Japan. The Union has made great strides in industrializing and building up a navy but both have yet to be tested against a major adversary (unless you count Spain).

The Federal Union of America is a heavily industrialized, highly populated country whose politics are dominated by the Republican Party, with limited opposition from the anti-immigrant American Party and even more limited opposition by the Workingmen's Party of America. It's very laisse faire and is struggling with unionization. The FUA's primary ally is Great Britain.

In South America the continent is even more divided than ever. Chile, which was initially cautious about the PB Confederation and even fought with then against Argentina, is now definitely certainly that the PBC is Public Enemy Number One. After a bloody war instigated by the dictator of Paraguay PB annexed the isolated, backwards country in 1870, also annexing their puppet in the Chaco region in 1871. The PB alliance with America, as demonstrated by their co-operation in the war with the Grenadine Confederation is a serious cause for worry by Chile who is now started strengthening its former adversary Argentina in an effort to build a bulwark against the PBC. The Argentine Confederation once more includes Buenos Aires and Viedma, Chilean assistance in regaining those states has gone a long way towards healing their former animosity. Brazil is another danger, a close ally of the United States they outlawed slavery after America did, relying on US aid to pull their country out crisis and stabilize. Revanchist and Conservative, Brazil seeks to regain the territory of the Riograndese Republic that it lost so many years ago- it's prevented from doing so by British assistance to the RR (Britain is also helping Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela out in an effort to counter the Americans).

Back in Europe the balance of power was disrupted in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War when Otto von Bismarck negotiated a dynastic marriage between Prince Fredrich of Prussia (his father successfully prevented his marriage to Victoria ITTL) and the Archduchess Gisela of Austria. Although the marriage would not take place for a number of years as Fredrich was 35 and Gisela was 10 at the time it set the stage for the eventual union of Prussia and Austria as a united Germany. In 1871 the Second Neuchatel Crisis erupted when pro-German nationalists in Northern Switzerland launched an uprising to restore the German principality of Neuchatel and join the (now largely unified) German Confederation. When Bismarck and William I supported the rebels an incident where the Prussia, French and Swiss borders met triggered the Franco-Prussian War in 1872. The German Confederation including Prussia and Austria-Hungary were pitted against Switzerland and France. The war lasted only one year and ended with an overwhelming victory for the Germans. Switzerland was partitioned between the German Confederation and a French-speaking rump-state and France ceded Alsace-Lorraine. In 1874 Fredrich and Gisela were married, in 1880 William I died, and Emperor Franz Joseph was prevailed upon to abdicate allowing the dynastic union of Prussia and Austria and the formation of a German Empire that included virtually all of German-speaking Europe.

Tensions have been rising since then between Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece on one hand and Britain, France, and Russia on the other due to the Naval Race, the Scramble for Africa, and general competition. Russia is backing Serbian and Czech separatists in Germany. Other things that happened in Europe- different Russo-Turkish War and subsequent Congress of Berlin resulting in a largely independent Balkans with no Serbia. Romania chose to align itself with Germany rather than Russia. There was no Berlin Conference ITTL, instead colonial borders in Africa were settled by separate treaties and remain somewhat unclear. The intensification of the Scramble for Africa that occurred following the BC OTL never happened. There was no Mahdi so no Mahdist War, and Britain withdrew from Egypt like the Liberals wanted to do IOTL.

In Asia Japan overthrows the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1867 and goes full Meiji, industrializing and modernizing with help from America who wants to see a strong counter-balance to Britain and France in the Pacific. They win wars with the Taipings and Korea, extending a protectorate over Korea and the Qing Era administrators in Hanian and Taiwan. (Did I mention the Taipings won their rebellion?) A rump Qing dynasty survived under Russian protections in Manchuria, the Russians also annex Tannu Tuva and Outer Mongolia after their puppet Emperor ceded those areas to them, the Hui states of West China are equally under Russian protection. Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly Kingdom first seems like it will collapse under its own weight, splintering as the various Taiping Kings and Princes fight each other after Hong's death in 1870. However his son Hong Tiangfu (same name as OTL, completely different person) is able to defeat the warlords and centralize power in himself, constructing the apparatus of a powerful Taiping State. Tiangfu takes a pragmatic approach, normalizing relations with the west and building a powerful cult of personality around the Emperor that draws equally from Confucian values of duty and fidelity as it does from Taiping Christianity. As a descendant of god and member of the heavenly dynasty, he takes traditional Chinese emperor worship to a new extreme making it more widespread by incorporating elements of Confucianism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Tiangfu sends trading missions to Europe and the Americas to study western industry and science, he promotes industrialization and modernization in conscious imitation of Japan although he does still have catching up to do and is beaten by Japan in 1892. Britain and France gradually warm up to Taiping, first aiding its industrialization as a means of countering Russia and increasingly later as a means of countering growing American and Japanese influence in East Asia and the Pacific.

In Southern Africa gold and diamonds are discovered in 1866 and 1886 respectively in the Boer Republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, triggering a massive influx of "uitlanders'- European and American immigrants seeking riches. Said uitlanders are kept disenfranchised, to the dismay of Britain and John Gordon Sprigg intrigues in South Africa to extend British control into the lucrative Boer areas. Sprigg is smarter than Rhodes and never actually goes forward with his plans, seeing how unworkable they are, but word still reaches the Boers that Britain is making plans to potentially invade. When an aborted effort by private British filibusters to break away part of the Orange Free State fails in 1895 Fredrich I of Germany sends his congratulations to the Bloemfontein government, building ties between the Boer Republics and Germany and gravely worrying the British. The Boers exacerbate the situation further by purchasing arms from Germany as a safeguard against British aggression. British leaders began talking about annexation of the Boer Republics as necessary for the security of the Cape Colony. In 1899 Transvaal and the Orange Free State negotiate a union named the "Union of South Africa" and tensions come to a head. Negotiations in Bloemfontein break down and in September of 1899 Britain issues an ultimatum to South Africa to dissolve its union and grant equal rights to British uitlanders. The Boers refuse and Britain declares war.

At this point Germany chooses to defend South Africa and declares war on Great Britain. France and Russia, honoring a secret treaty, declare war on Germany. And America, as delineated by its own secret treaty with Germany, declares war on the Triple Entente. Worldwide the allies of the Great Powers are also drawn in.

The Great War has begun.

Блоки:

Часть Третья

The Great War rapidly spreads to engulf most of the world as the various combatants call in their allies. The only significant neutrals are Italy (at odds with both France and Germany they opt to wait and see who's winning before entering the war and end up never joining), Uruguay, Entre Rios, and Tibet. Fighting will rage on every continent except for Antarctica and it will end with the death of ten million soldiers and six million civilians.

The opening moves of the Great War heavily favor the Entente. In North America northern industry allows Federal Troops to overrun the initial Union positions and take Washington and Baltimore, forcing the United States to move its capital Montgomery, Alabama. On the long Canadian border Union forces take Vancouver and Victoria but winter and logistics prevent them from making a wholesale invasion of Canada and the reinforced lines at Winnipeg hold. In Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean the people rise- seeking to throw off American hegemony. The Yucatan, Sonora, Cuba, and Dominicana remain loyal but fires burn from the occupied Granadine Confederation all the way to Chihuahua. In the Caribbean neither the American nor Royal navies are able to gain complete control and as both vie for dominance Britain and France invade Hispaniola fighting alongside rebellious Haitians.


In South America Venezuelan troops are welcomed by Granadine locals who take up arms to fight alongside and Brazilian and Dutch forces clash with the British, French, and Venezuelans in Guiana. In the cone of South America Chile is able to hold the line against the PB Confederation however the Argentines give ground and the PBC rolls into the Pampas. Brazil gets its nose bloodied in the Riograndense Republic where it is able to hold the countryside but is stopped completely by British and Riograndense forces when it tries to take the coastal cities.

The Royal Navy is supreme in the Atlantic.

In Europe the German and Dutch armies attempt to push through Belgium and surround the French army only to have the British Expeditionary Force slow their advance to a crawl. Localized trench warfare around strong points bleeds the invading Central Powers. The war goes the best in Eastern Europe where the Germans and Romanians make substantial gains against Russia and Bulgaria is swiftly occupied. In the Middle East the British and Egyptians press into the Levant and Mesopotamia. In Africa the Boers and CP garrisons on the Dark Continent make use of Guerrilla warfare against superior Entente numbers but the Entente forges ahead.

In the Pacific naval warfare occurs on a never before seen scale as the America, Japanese, and Dutch navies clash with the British, French, Russian, and Chinese navies. The Entente has the advantage in numbers and tonnage however and they occupy the American Central Pacific islands and press ahead in the Dutch East Indies. The Taiping launch a bloody full scale invasion of Hanian but leave Korea to the Russians who find the Japanese much tougher than they bargained for. Japanese defensive lines span the Korean Peninsula and for every foot of ground the Human Bullets of His Imperial Majesty surrender they kill ten thousand of the Russian invaders.

By the new century the Entente appears to have won, but 1900-1901 see the fighting sink into stalemate. In Europe the Germans creep gradually deeper into France and Belgium, overwhelming one strong point after another, CP gains against Russia being matched by Entente gains against the Turks. Defeating the Boers, Germans, and Americans in Africa turns out to be much harder than London, Paris, Madrid, or Lisbon expected but they forge ahead nonetheless. Hanian falls but the Russians are still unable to achieve victory in Korea and the Japanese and Americans are able to keep the shipping lanes open in the Sea of Japan. The jungles of New Guinea and Borneo bloody the Entente further and, hoping to knock Japan out of the war they take advantage of general naval superiority in the Pacific to land forces near Tokyo in an attempt to take the city. 

Hawaii falls to Britain.

In the Americas the US Army stops the Federals at St. Louis and in the mountains of western Virginia and Kentucky. New York keeps pushing but they have to fight for every block of St. Louis and mountain warfare largely negates their logistical superiority. Rebels in Mexico and Central America are forced into the countryside and the US holds on in Hispaniola- they are finally starting to gain the upper hand in the Caribbean. In South America PBC troops take Parana and make small gains against the Chileans, Argentina is forced to move its capital to Buenos Aires. CB and Brazilian forces move into Venezuela and the Grenadine Confederation. In the Riograndense Republic Laguna falls.

1902 is the year that things turn around. Winnipeg finally falls to American troops allowing the USA to launch a massive flanking maneuver and by the time the North can stabilize their lines most of Minnesota and Iowa have been overrun. The Federal army in St. Louis is encircled and destroyed and suddenly the United States is advancing again. In the Caribbean the US Navy is at last able to decisively defeat the Royal Navy and the Caribbean is again an American lake. The invasion of Hispaniola is defeated and without European aid the rebels in Mexico and Central America are reduced to the status of guerrillas. American and PBC troops beat the Venezuelans back through the Grenadine Confederation. Buenos Aires falls and Argentina surrenders, not long after Chile does as well when PBC forces enter Chilean Patagonia. The Riograndese Republic is finally extinguished.

In Africa the last CP resistance is beaten, through extreme measures including the use of concentration camps the British are able to defeat the Boers.

German and Turkish forces manage to hold the British at Ankara. In Russia the constant privation and string of defeats proves too much. In September of 1902 Russian liberals launch a Revolution lead by Vladimir Chernov aimed at overthrowing Czar Alexander IV and establishing a republic. The Imperial government negotiates peace with Germany- allowing a considerable portion of western Russia to be broken away as independent German puppet states- but this merely further destroys its legitimacy in the eyes of the Russian people. On the Western Front the Germans are at the very gates of Paris.

In Asia the attempted invasion of Japan is an expensive failure. When news of the Russian Revolution arrives Hong Tiangfu in Tianjing, now in his fifties, sees which way the wind is blowing. He secretly negotiates peace between China and Japan in exchange for Hanian being returned to Japanese administration then invades the Qing remnant in Manchuria and the west Chinese states. Britain and France are outraged of course, but they cannot afford to go to war with another enemy. The Russian army in Korea is trapped between the Taiping and Japanese forces and is ultimately forced to surrender. With the bulk of Russian troops in the Far East gone and with Russia proper in turmoil the Chinese make considerable strides.

The Russian Republic manages to secure control over the better part of Russian territory, except for a small area around Petrograd where the Czar remains propped up by German troops. They will eventually sign a treaty with the Taipings ceding to them all of the former Qing territory (and a little more) plus Vladivostok to Japan. The Republic will also agree to a truce with Germany but never a formal peace treaty.

In the Americas the Granadine Confederation and Venezuela are occupied and British and French Guiana finally fall. With control over the Caribbean they are able to occupy British and French possessions there. Anti-insurgency tactics in Mexico mimic those the British used against the Boers, Mexicans are interned en masse and conscripted as either forced labor or as disposable troops. With Brazilian and PBC reinforcements from South America the US Army is finally able to conclusively break the Federal lines. Washington is liberated and soon the CP forces are pushing into Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

In Europe Paris is taken by the German army and France sues for peace. They are soon followed by Britain, the FUA, and the remaining members of the Entente.

The Treaty of Rome in 1903 sees Belgium and Denmark- both completely occupied by Germany and the Netherlands- dissolved and their territories partitioned amongst the victorious powers. Bulgaria is reduced to a tiny rump state under German protection and the Ottomans receive the Levant and Kuwait. Eastern Europe is is divided into a mess of German puppets. Territories in the Pacific are mostly untouched, only the Dutch make gains there. In Africa South Africa is receives Natal and Basutoland, America gains a couple small Portuguese and Spanish colonies, and the Congo Free State comes under German protection. Colonial Borders in West Africa are also agreed to although currently they exist only on the map. In the Americas the United States keeps the British and French possessions that they occupied also annexing British Columbia up to the 54'40" line and a portion of south-central Canada as the Assiniboia Territory. Southern Ohio where the only significant pro-US sentiment exists is broken off as the state pf South Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa are also returned to the Union albeit under military occupation. Brazil gains the Riograndense Republic, the Peru-Bolivia Confederation gains a large portion of Northern Argentina. When the PBC makes some noise about annexing all of Argentina, Chile and Argentina form their own transnational union. Except for a few Pacific islands which the PBC then sells to the United States, Chile loses nothing.

Mexico is divided into four pieces to make it easier to handle, one piece is annexed by the USA the other three are still protectorates. Guatemala becomes an official US protectorate and Haiti currently has no government save for the US Army occupation.

The Great War is over but the world's troubles are only just beginning. The defeated powers are wracked with discontent while the victorious ones are either badly over-extended (Germany, USA) or deeply unhappy about how few gains they received (Netherlands, Japan). The twentieth century is already shaping to be 'interesting times' as the Chinese would say.

Часть Четвертая

The next two decades are a time of retrenchment and general discontent. In America efforts are made to relocate the Mexican populations of Chihuahua and Durango to the three Mexican Protectorates inspiring partisan resistance throughout all those areas. Similar terrorist and partisan actions simmer-low-level in South Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa and North Oregon. For the first time American blacks begin attempting to agitate for equal rights, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is labelled a subversive society and banned. Utah and Oklahoma join the Union, North Oregon, Assiniboia, Minnesota, and Iowa are shoehorned in as well. Haitian independence is abolished completely and the former country is placed under administration by the US government. However these measures don't fail to anger the American Public even more than it already has been and in 1908 Populist William Jennings Bryan (not quite the same person he was OTL) wins the Presidency- the first time since 1850 that someone other than a Democrat has held that office.

Bryan's primary support comes from the marginalized classes, rural voters, the urban poor, immigrants, etcetera and he promises to end imperialist abuses by the government and restore Christian values to the country. In some ways he is successful, the Citizen's Rights Act of 1909 considerably loosens restrictions on non-white citizens and it is during his presidency that a number of western states pass laws permitting female suffrage. American colonial policies are dialed back and Bryan speaks out in favor of preparing the Philippines and the American possessions in Africa for eventual independence. The treatment of Mexicans improves considerably. His moralist policies are unpopular amongst some however, particularly his virulent antisemitism (I told you he was different from OTL) as is his support for proposals to convert Catholics to protestantism by way of charging them a special tax. He also campaigns against homosexuality. In 1912 he is re-elected largely in thanks to the support of the labor movement who favor his push to legalize unions- which he does in 1914. Also in 1914 however, the United States goes into an economic panic. Reduced military spending by the Bryan Administration has severely hurt American industry (which is disproportionately composed of state-backed arms manufacturing) and the failure of the European economy following the World War destroys America's export market for consumer goods. The stock market falls precipitously and unemployment rises to ten million people. In 1916 Democrat Henry Ford is swept into office along with renewed Democratic super-majorities in Congress. Blaming "superstitious moralism, socialist sedition, and a conspiracy of Jewish financiers" for the economic collapse Ford- an independently wealthy industrialist- reverses most of Bryan's reforms including the Citizen's Rights Act and the legalization of unions. His presidency also sees the admission of Guatemala and Costa Rica into the Union as states- orchestrated by white and creole elites in those countries the new states are heavily corrupt and their governments controlled entirely by the Democratic Party. Democratic Party political machines also take control of the new states annexed from the FUA and Canada- the Populists will not be winning again.

In 1918 the Netherlands transfers its Caribbean possessions to the USA in exchange for American New Guinea and a small sum.

In South America puppet leaders in Venezuela and the Grenadine Confederation form a new Gran Colombia, the new state is no more independent than its constituent republics. It is hoped that the larger state will be easier to manage. The Peru-Bolivian Confederation invades and annexes Entre Rios in 1910 and subsequently reforms itself as the Confederation of South America (is it just me or does the South American Confederation show up a lot in my maps?). Not much noise is made about that since few countries ever recognized Entre Rios, there is however a international uproar when Brazil attempts to do the same thing with Uruguay in 1915. Rio de Janero goes ahead with it anyway, even at the cost of their reputation abroad.

In the Federal Union of America the defeat in 1904 and the subsequent economic crisis allows the socialist Workingmen's Party of America to take the Presidency only to have an alliance between powerful industrial leaders (who wield a disproportionate amount of influence in the heavily industrialized FUA) and the military organize a coup to overthrow them Pinochet-style. The new regime is corrupt, pro-industry, and deeply dominated just as thoroughly by the Republican party as the USA is by the Democrats.

In Europe right-wing governments rise to power in Portugal, Spain, and France, Germany is forced to cope with an increasingly violent leftist underground not only in Germany proper but particularly in their puppets and in non-German parts of the Reich. In Russia the republic goes through several different iterations of government, a 1906 split in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party sees the rise of a radical revolutionary communist movement that feels the government does not go far enough. Calling themselves the "Bolsheviks" from the Russian term for "majority" they seek to institute a government truly ruled by the masses.

Speaking of which ideologies are in the vogue! Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, Syndicalism, etc. In America the masses- outraged at the repeal of their new-found freedoms at the hands of President Ford and at the increasingly obvious corruption of the Democrats- seethe with subversive ideals. Many subscribe to various utopian ideals, some rightist. some leftist, everything from National Socialism (you know, socialist economics plus nationalism, these aren't Nazis) to Corporatism. Leftist groups are even more popular in the FUA where Technocracy has arrived and the Technical Alliance is a minor party that managed to avoid being banned by the new dictatorship. In Europe of course you have Bolshevism with its founder Nikolai Bukharin but also Tektology (real thing btw, today we call it "systems theory") that holds that one should view all social, biological, physical, and political sciences as systems of relationships. Eugenics is popular worldwide as it was IOTL during this time, ranging from beneficial programs such as encouraging women not to smoke or drink when they're pregnant and promoting exercise for children, to forced sterilization of criminals and undesirables. Esperanto is at its most popular as a neutral, international language, although the movement (as per OTL) undergoes a series of splits as its failure to catch on universally prompts attempts to reform and replace the language- Ido, Novial, and Interlingua are created. It becomes fashionable for one's utopian movement to have its own constructed language and dozens more enter existence.

In the face of heavy antisemitism particularly in Russia and America Jews start immigrating in large numbers to the British Empire. An increasingly isolationist Britain places strict limits on Jewish immigration to the Home Islands, but encourages them to move to its colonies in Africa where they need more white people anyway. The Zionist Congress still rejects the Uganda plan but by 1920 30,000 Jews have immigrated to Uganda- not as part of an organized movement but because for whatever reason they can no longer stay where they are and they need somewhere- anywhere- to go to. Most settle in cities.

In East Asia Japan and China grow closer, viewing each-other as allies against the west. In 1922 they form the Tripartite Pact with Siam as an alternative to the Entente or the Central Powers, both of which have again started gearing up for war.

As the world recovers from the devastation of the World War countries start rearming and revanchists in western Europe make plans. Germany and America are unstable and the New Entente of France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy have high hopes. The old alliance structures are still there and the possibility of a round 2 becomes more and more likely. Tensions are high in South America between Chile-Argentina and the SAC, in Asia where Sino-Japanese ambitions class with Dutch-American ones, and in Europe where Germany and Russia creak and sway in the wind.

In 1924 events in Russia come to a head. The most recent in a string of unstable governments, Lavr Kornilov is the new President of Russia and is acutely aware of how fragile his position is. Hoping to gain legitimacy and to unite the people behind him he intrigues with the New Entente and when a series of riots are harshly put down in Petrograd by the German puppet government Kornilov seizes on the excuse to declare war.

Quickly Europe is- for a second time in one generation- engulfed in war. Britain tries to remain neutral but is dragged in again after the FUA, seeking to exploit divisions in the USA and drum up support for the regime, invades the USA and US troops subsequently attack Canadian positions. The Tripartite Pact is spoiling for a fight, but who with is not yet clear.

One thing is certain- World War Two has begun.

Часть Пятая

In the First World War static defenses and trench warfare played a major role but in the Second World War trench warfare dominates. In Europe the trenches run from the English Channel to the Adriatic sea like a gash splitting the continent in half where young men from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Britain will fight and die against the German army. In Eastern Europe the war is more mobile but still bloody as the hard-pressed Germans smash back Russian offensives. In North America the trenches run from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic and in South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific across Patagonia. Chile tried to stay neutral but the SAC invaded anyway.

It is also a war of technology. Early aeroplanes were used in WWI but never on this scale. Poison Gas (tear gas was used in WWI), flamethrowers, tanks (no I won't invent an alt-name for tanks, deal with it), strategic bombing and more make their debut on these battlefields. The world's first aircraft carrier will see action in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Once it becomes clear that the American Navy is focused primarily in the Atlantic where it struggles to keep supply routes to the African colonies clear, the Tripartite Pact goes to war with the Central Powers. The lightening invasions of the Dutch East Indies, American Philippines, and American Pacific Islands stun US military planners who refuse to believe that a non-white power could beat them so effectively. America will eventually be forced to recognize Japanese control over virtually all their possesions east of Hawaii when it becomes clear they cannot take them back. The Philippines gains a puppet government under Japanese control while the Dutch East Indies is partitioned between Japan and China with Japan keeping the lion's share. China doesn't mind, Japan did most of the work anyway.

In the Americas the CPs do well as they did the last time. Chile-Argentina doesn't have the industry to sustain full-fledged trench warfare for long and it is only due to a titanic effort on the part of the Chilean army that they manage to hold off against the combined forces of the South American Confederation, Brazil, and Gran Columbia for a full year and a half before they finally sue for peace in early 1926. In North America massed conscription of able-bodied Mexicans, Hatians, and Central Americans serves the dual purpose of providing the US Army with large numbers of disposable troops while also ensuring that those groups will be too weakened to rise up. Terrorism has become endemic across the USA and government repression intensifies along with it.

Still Union industry has finally outpaced that of the Yankees and the US Navy can disrupt shipments of British aid from across the Atlantic (even if they can't stop them). By 1926 the FUA has been cut in half and by 1927 everything south and west of Pennsylvania is occupied. The Canadian climate is just as lethal as the Canadian military or the swarms of partisans who infest theoretically neutralized countryside. In 1929 the Americans finally break the St. Lawrence-Lake Huron Line that protects the main Canadian population centers and sweep into Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto. After five years of grueling trench warfare the FUA army has been pushed just into parts of southern New York State and with New York itself on the line and the prospect of fighting a two-front war they sue for peace. The USA has won its war and in the glow of victory President Marcus Miller pushes forward the logical extension of American expansionism and imperialism in the last 70 years- the annexation of the FUA and Canada.

Canada will never surrender and maintains guerilla and partisan armies in its cities and wilderness long after the fall of Halifax and establishment of the Canadian government in exile in London.

America is now on the brink of disaster. The privations and sacrifices of the war have inspired ever higher opposition to the state and now they have vastly over-extended themselves in the FUA and Canada. Even in the army radicalism and subversion have taken root.

In Europe The Revolution is Alive! It begins in Russia after the disastrous failures of Kornilov's offensives in the German puppets of eastern Europe. Bolsheviks rise but their civil war soon turns international as the revolution spreads to the Germans buffer states. The Germany army is focused on the Western Front where they maintain a bloody offensive for two years until the 1926 Christmas Mutiny when German soldiers begin refusing to fight. Their sphere of influence in Eastern Europe comes crashing down and soon Germany as well is in Civil War. Hungarians, Serbs, Slavs, Fins, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Poles, and more rise alongside with German Marxists and Bolsheviks. In 1927 the Coalition of Socialist Republics is formed in Petrograd between Socialist groups from throughout Europe and even beyond. By 1928 the CSR is in control of territory from the Rhur to the Ural mountains and its leaders dream of uniting Europe. Romania, Greece, Montenegro, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria fall but the Entente is able to halt a massed offensive by the Reds that pushes them out of Belgium and western Germany before it becomes too costly to sustain. A similar invasion of Sweden-Norway is also a failure but the Ottoman Empire falls to a combination of foreign and domestic revolutionaries when their armies are swept aside by the British. British-backed Islamic fundamentalists will form the Kingdom of Syria with Iraq as a British protectorate and the Kingdom of Arabia as a pro-British ally.

An undeclared war on the Chinese/Russian border ends in a stalemate when the weather in Siberia convinces Tianjing to withdraw.

An armistice in 1930 leaves the CSR as a loose Socialist Confederation with limited central authority and considerable autonomy for its member states. The two big centers of power are the Russian SR and the German SR and the long-term survival of the Bolshevist country is in serious doubt. There are multiple political factions in the member states- in some cases they even have their own political parties and in some cases those parties are even more than just fronts for the ruling party. The CSR uses a modified form of Esperanto as a lingua franca.

A German Empire in exile survives in Central Africa while more moderate revolutionaries establish a "German Republic" in Southwest Africa. In Tangikanya a junior German officer is able to amass power in the chaos and establishes his own "Kingdom of Tangikanya". The natives there are currently in full revolt.

There is a Dutch government in exile in South America.

On August 7, 1930 President Miller is assassinated by an anarchist while giving a speech and America finally falls off that cliff. Former Mexican, Haitian, and Central American conscripts who returned home veterans with military training and experience (not many returned home but enough did) lead uprisings and are soon are joined by American blacks and completely ordinary American radicals. Like OTL's Russian Civil War the Second American Civil War will feature dozens of factions and is unlikely to be short.

Inspired by the American rebels, nationalist rebels in the Confederation of South America also rise up in Quito, Paraguay, and Argentina.

I'm not happy with how I showed the different rebel dispositions on the map but I didn't want to completely ignore their presence. Consider them inaccurate but loosely representative of the situation.

Часть Шестая

The Second American Civil War stretched on for five years from 1930 to 1935. Fighting ranged from the jungles of Central America to the Tundra of
Northern Canada and it seemed to the family of nations that the Colossus of the New World was finally coming to an end.

However it was not to be.

The rebels were never able to present the unified front of the CSR and remained split into three primary groups; leftists (Communists, Socialists, and Anarchists), secessionists (Mexicans, Canadians, Yankees, and Central Americans), and rightists (conservative populists who opposed the powerful government of the Democrats). These groups fought each other as much as they fought the state- leftists opposed secession almost as much as the Loyalists and a falling out between the socialists and anarchists is attributed as one of the many reasons they lost the war. The CSR did send token aid to the rebels but it was insufficient to win and all it did was turn Americans against the left who many started viewing as puppets of foreign powers.

On the other side the government had its own advantages. They held onto most of the navy and thus were able to retain the Caribbean. They were able to retain control of most of the southern industry that had won the world wars. In Latin America they were backed by the creole upper classes who had no desire to lose their privileged position. They could borrow money and fund their war. But most importantly they had William Pelley.

Born in the FUA Pelley was a writer and an educated man who moved to the USA after the military coup. Having flirted with socialism and technocracy he built up a small following of supporters who liked his ideas of strict meritocracy and a sensible approach to government. When the war broke out he became a member of a pro-government militia and rapidly rose through the ranks. Popular and charismatic his unorthodox politics were overlooked due to his natural military skill and he was able to attract a devoted loyalty from his troops. In the war's confusion he became de facto leader of a loyalist area in the deep south cut off from Washington and it was during the experience of actually administrating that he developed the idea of Functionalism. Functionalism was at its heart the belief that government should be practical above all things, that idealism would only hurt a society and that people should be promoted on the basis of their abilities alone. A pseudo-eugenicist he preached that other races were not inferior due to their race but that they could be "made equal" with proper education and good breeding. Drawing on leftist terminology he described these people as "proletariat" and generally placed blacks and other ethnic groups in that category. He included nationalism as well, arguing that America had the resources to sustain itself completely and that the economy (which was practically dead in the water) could be fixed by government intervention.

This was too much for the Loyalist government who tried to have him arrested but most of the men under his command followed Pelley and he soon had carved out a power base that included most of the south and a number of Loyalist forces who saw no help coming from Washington and found his ideas attractive. The economy prospered in Functionalist areas due to the stability the Functionalists brought (something similar happened in Communist controlled areas during the Chinese Civil War) and his support base grew. In 1933 Pelley was powerful enough that the National Government reconciled with him and he soon came to be the main power behind the throne. He allied briefly with the rightists and a couple of the secessionist groups against the revolutionaries- playing them off against each-other only to turn on them once these alliances of convenience ceased to be convenient. (The Whites in the Russian Civil War frequently allied with nationalist groups and the Reds had a number of convenient alliances- notably their agreement with the Black Army- that they threw out of the window as soon as they could).

By 1934 the USA again controlled its heartland and it finally pushed back against secessionist rebels in Latin America who were outnumbered and almost entirely bereft of an industry to support their armies. They linked up to Loyal pockets in the Yucatan and Panama who had never fallen to the rebels and in 1935 the war ended with a joint American-Brazilian-Confederation operation that crushed the Colombian nationalists. Pelley's tactics were scorched Earth, if the local villages harbored guerrillas then he wiped out the local villages. Non-American ethnicities were re-educated and mandatory public education (which often involved sending children to schools far away from their families to eliminate foreign influences) was used to indoctrinate the young. The autonomy of the Mexican protectorates and the Greater Republic of Central America was ended so that US rule covered north America. After he became POTUS in a rigged election Pelley began rebuilding the country's shattered infrastructure, although his state planning hindered as much as it helped. Using a combination of revolutionary and nationalist propaganda the Functionalist regime tried to drum up support for the government, but the people remained cynical and exhausted by conflict. Only an omnipresent military and secret police were able to keep the people down and even then dissent was not entirely dead.

America did lose her African colonies though.

In South America the South American Confederation almost fell but survived largely thanks to Brazilian help. No longer the more powerful of the two South American allies the SAC was now clearly second fiddle behind a rising Brazilian powerhouse.

In Asia Hong Tiangfu finally dies at the age of 98 and is replaced by his son Hong Tianguang. Tianguang claims to be the reincarnation of his grandfather and his tutelage further shifts Taiping Christianity away from its Christian roots. The Chinese and Japanese borders with Russia are oft disturbed by skirmishes and counter-skirmishes as part of an undeclared war between the Tripartite Pact and its northern neighbor. In Japan the military has gradually grown to dominate politics in a similar manner to OTL (albeit without the wars with China).

In Africa the former American colonies are now the Socialist Republic of Guinea, the Republic of America (in Liberia), the American Empire (the result of the German backed dictator in American Equatoria going a bit crazy), and the Republic of Saint Thomas in Sao Tome and Principe. The Republic of America is a functioning liberal democracy, Guinea is a popular dictatorship similar to OTL Cuba.

None of these countries are recognized internationally (except for Guinea by the CSR) and following a coup in the Congo Free State the only recognized countries in Africa are Ethiopia and the German Empire in exile. This will set a precedent of countries not recognizing independent African states.

In Europe Britain, France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal form the Anti-Communist Alliance to hold back the red tide of the CSR. They work hard to drive wedges between the bickering members of the coalition to limited effectiveness. The anti-communist alliance isn't fascist but it is very right wing. Britain in particular is sliding further and further to the right in response to burgeoning nationalist movements in Africa and India. Inspired by the success of rebels in Tanganyika insurgencies simmer in British Africa but it is the very large, highly educated Indian Independence Movement that is the most worrisome. When state sponsored persecution of Jews (who overwhelmingly supported leftist movements during the Civil War) drives most of American Jewry to leave they overwhelmingly end up settling in British Africa where they form a middle class of bureaucrats, teachers, and skilled workers. 30% of the population of Uganda is Jewish.

In the Middle East a crisis quickly develops in the Kingdom of Syria when a charismatic religious leader claims to be the Mahdi- the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule before the day of judgement and cleanse the world of evil. He successfully takes over the country but then troublingly his followers begin to spread his word to nearby states. In Egypt the Mahdi's message finds receptive ears in a populace unhappy with the monarchy's corrupt and ineffective rule, similarly Arabian Sunnis who dislike the Wahhabist practices of their kingdom's ruler and Iraqi Sunnis who dislike their Shia king. This puts the Mahdists in direct confrontation with the British who are the protectors of Iraq and when Egyptian Mahdists enter Libya with the Italians as well. In the end it is only the outbreak of the Third World War that saves the Mahdi.

That another world war was coming was clear to everyone and it is likely that their immediate preparations for that eventuality hastened it. A war between the Coalition of Socialist Republics and the Anti-Communist Alliance looked inevitable and the Tripartite Pact was still a wildcard. America had not yet recovered from its Civil War or the preceding world wars but Pelley was looking hard to find an enemy that he could unite his still restive people against.

The spark came in 1944 and it came in Greece. Greece had been an unwilling member of the CSR, its Bolshevist government installed more by invasion than revolution during the Second World War, and it is the most fertile ground for intrigues by the ACA. In December 1944 anti-communist Greek rebels take control of Athens and Attica and announce the restoration of the Kingdom of Greece. The ACA responds to the Kingdom's call for aid, the rest of the CSR to the Greek Socialist Republic's call for aid. It turns out that the revolutionaries can stop squabbling when they see themselves as under attack. World War Three has begun and the tired world sighs and gets back to business of killing each other.

This war will be the first with a significant neutral bloc.

Thoughts? I was afraid that I stretched plausibility a bit with this one, hopefully my explanations for Pelley's success make sense. His ideology isn't as popular as he himself is and he's a skilled military leader who is able to divide his enemies and thus conquer them. I'm not as satisfied with this update as I have been with the previous ones- possibly because I've moved out of the realm of doing cool things with OTL stuff and into the realm of inventing my own things.

Часть Седьмая

In the face of the Anti-Communist Alliance the constituent states of the CSR attempt to close ranks and face the capitalist threat. This is, however, easier said than done. Each Socialist Republic operates its own military with its own leadership and protocols and efforts to create a united chain of command dissolve into disputes about precedence and ideology. Anarcho-Socialists will not take orders from Marxists who will not take orders from hardline Communists. In the face of such disarray the Reds are defeated again and again and Alliance forces pass deep into Europe, overrunning Germany, Hungary, Romania, and the Balkans. In the North Petrograd is under siege by Sweden-Norway.

In America Pelley makes a surprising decision- not to go to war. The United States is still devastated by the previous two world wars and by the civil war and the national economy is yet extremely weak. The Functionalist Regime is unstable and it is feared that another war could lead it to collapse. In South America the SAC follows Washington's lead and peace prevails in the New World. America's economy booms as a result, exporting civilian goods to the ACA whose economies are devoted to war and lending money to those same governments. A debtor nation in 1944, the USA will be a major creditor by the time the war is over. Pelley also begins repairing relations between America and western Europe- particularly Britain- as they are America's primary trade partner and the CSR is viewed very negatively across the Atlantic. In 1946 the Society of American Nations is formed with the USA, SAC, Gran Columbia, Brazil, and the Dutch government in exile as members and with Iceland and South Africa as observers.

It was widely anticipated that the Tripartite Pact would- seeing the CSR's weakness- invade Central Asia and Siberia and open up a second front against the Bolsheviks. Nothing could be further from the truth. Judging that the Alliance is winning and therefore is the superior threat, the three Asian powers declare war on the Alliance. The Chinese, Japanese, and Thai forces expected to cut an easy swathe through South Asia but were surprised. French Indochina fell quickly however Britain was determined to hold on to India and the Indians themselves were largely uninterested in becoming a vassal of China. Fighting in the jungles of Burma and the peaks of the Himalayas the Indian Army put up a tremendous fight largely bereft of tanks, planes, or heavy equipment (which the British had devoted to fighting in Europe). It was during this time that India industrialized (something Britain had resisted since it allowed India to escape its dependence on British imports) to support the war effort and the Raj's borders became a killing field. It was war of a sort that the Tripartite Pact had little experience with and they spent the lives of three million soldiers in frontal assaults on Anglo-Indian positions. At sea the Allied navies held their own again the IJN and after defeating a disastrous attempt by the Japanese to invade Australia even took control of the waters around the East Indies and cut off Pactist shipping.

It was after a visit to Japan that Emperor Hong Tianguang- impressed by Japanese war measures and by the state's promotion of self-denial to the civilian population- first conceived of an ideology that would later supplant the remnants of Taiping Christianity in China. Drawing heavily on the Buddhist concept of Anatman ("not-self") that the self-was an illusion combined with Christian ideas of communalism and the Confucian Li system of propriety Hong promulgated ????? (translated often by westerners as "Death Worship" but perhaps better rendered as "Obliteration of the Self"). The Chinese population is encouraged to totally commit itself to the war. All styles of clothing are military; all education in schools is of a military bent, as are all songs, movies, and books. Village associations keep track of whether or not members of communities have purchased sufficient war bonds this month or whether there are people holding back items made of metals that could be better used in the war effort. Anything and everything that does not in some way contribute to the nation and to the fight is eliminated. There are no luxuries or often even ordinary amenities for the (common) people because the self is nothing and the nation is everything. And of course the Emperor is worshiped as divine. (The insane war measures taken by Japan during World War II IOTL were very similar- they had slogans such as “100 Million with One Spirit”, “Away with Frivolous Entertainment”, and “Electric Power is Military Power”.)An OTL North Korean laboring under Juche would find ????? very familiar.

In Europe the war is gradually turning around. General Mikhail Voroshilov of the Russian Red Army is able to manage a series of spectacular victories against the Alliance and is able to finally weld together the disparate CSR militaries into a single fighting force. In 1946 he is given leadership of the Rusian Socialist Republic and later that year he finally amalgamates the different CSR constituents (those not overrun by the Alliance) into the Eurasian Union of Socialist Republics. The EUSR has numbers and increasingly industry as mass conscription puts every able-bodied man and woman either into a factory or a uniform. In 1947 Voroshilov goes on the advance and Europe burns. Both belligerents rush new designs of tanks and aircraft from the factories to the front as air superiority shifts from one side to the other and strategic firebombing devastates cities across the continent. New mixtures of gas (including nerve gas) are deployed onto the battlefield and for the first time biological weapons; strains of bubonic plague and typhoid are used. In Scandinavia the Red Army is advancing steadily down the peninsula, in Central Europe the line is stalled in Germany.

Then on October 1st, 1948 the paradigm shifts.

The first atomic bomb is dropped by the Red Army Air Force onto Alliance lines near Berlin. They will continue to use more bombs as soon as they are built, about one every four months. With this new weapon the EUSR forges ahead through Germany into France and Italy. Rome and Paris burn, as do Madrid and Lisbon when the fighting gets close enough. It requires two years and a total of eight atomic bombs (counting the first one) before Great Britain finally deploys its own atomic device on enemy lines near Malaga. Despite this Voroshilov presses ahead to destroy remaining Alliance pockets in Spain and Portugal before at last agreeing to an Armistice. No formal peace agreement will ever be hammered out, but the EUSR is left with all of mainland Europe except for Gibraltar and Malta and the Channel islands are returned to British hands. The border in the Middle East returns to its pre-war status, an alliance of British and Madhist forces having effectively beaten back the Reds. Europe is wrecked, with a death toll even higher than OTL's World War II and many of its major cities incinerated by atomic fire. Russia is clearly dominant in the EUSR, the fighting barely passed into its borders and its cities spent most of the war out of bombing range. Voroshilov's new regime is highly centralized with power focused in his hands as Chairman and any dissent ruthlessly suppressed. His ideology is "Neo-Bolshevism" a "more perfect form of Bolshevism" since old Bolshevism resulted in a weak state incapable of resisting the capitalist powers. It is functionally identical to OTL Stalinism.

The treaty that ends World War Three in Asia leaves both sides bitterly unhappy. In exchange for withdrawing from the portions of northern India they had overrun the Pact receives the part of Burma still held by the British and retains occupied Indochina. Chinese puppet regimes are established in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Burma. Japan's only gain is the Solomon Islands. By 1950 the world is at peace.

Some Two Million Europeans fled Western Europe to escape the Eurasian invasion, many went to Britain or the Americas (Chile has a large French community) but a million and a half of them went to Africa. The French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese governments in exile preside over their shaky colonies where the natives- sick of high taxes and conscription to support the world wars, angry about the confiscation of their land to give to refugees, and agitated by Socialist ideas- are most definitely restless. British India is very bad, the Indian Nationalist movement ITTL is more inclined to bombings than it is to hunger strikes and the Indian people feel that they held off the Pact on their own with only token British help- they don't need Great Britain.

With the conclusion of the war the Tripartite Pact forms the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, including the three Pact members and their puppet governments.

In the Middle East the Mahdi fought alongside the British during the war, eventually dying in battle against the EUSR. After his death his Empire collapsed as his three lieutenants (Khalifas) fought amongst themselves. All three maintain their own Khalifates, one based in Egypt with a Cyrencian vassal, one controlling Arabia and South Syria, and a particularly weak one ruled by the Mahdi's son in North Syria. Alawaite, Druze, and Lebanese states carved themselves out of North Syria during the fighting, the Alawaites and the Lebanese rely on British aid but the Druze survive by their wits and a heavily militarized population. There is an Egyptian rump state in the Sudan.

Also a Swedish government in exile in London with nominal authority over Jan Mayen and Bouvet Island.

Часть Восьмая

The Third Interwar Period is hardly an improvement over the war itself. In smoldering Europe Voroshilov consolidates his power, purging socialists and communists who fail to adopt Neo-Bolshevism fast enough. By resettling ethnic groups he hopes to break up potential resistance blocks and make the acceptance of a "Pan-Eurasian" identity easier. The modified form of Esperanto used by the CSR as a lingua franca is revamped, its vocabulary deliberately circumscribed to make expressions of dissent difficult. Eurasian culture is basically Russian culture toned down with token additions from other groups and a heavily scientific worldview (read “religion=bad”).

In Africa the European empires in exile begin to shake themselves apart. Resentful natives rebel against their overlords, carving out independent countries where they can or sometimes just descending into Warlordism. When Gabon and Cabinda are lost the American Empire moves into Gabon with tacit German approval, even as the Germans face their own problems in the north and east. Much of French West African and the Sahara are in the hands of rebels, Communists in Guinea and Nationalists in Morocco also make themselves heard. Angola and Mozambique are similarly troubled; in rump-Egypt Sudanese communists overthrow the monarchy and establish a Socialist Republic. British colonies are troubled by guerrillas but they hold fast- they still have the motherland to draw on and much larger white populations than OTL. Most of the European governments in exile practice S?par?, basically a French take on Apartheid where non-whites cannot vote and have their rights severely restricted. Most also prohibit Jews from voting, expelled from Eurasia and America many of them came to Africa where they number 2% of the population in the exilarchies and 5% of the population in British Africa (36% in Uganda).

The British Empire in South Asia is not so lucky as its empire in Africa and when India's millions rise under Rajendra Patel they find that not even the nuclear destruction of Delhi can save the Raj (the nuclear taboo does not exist ITTL, it's just seen as a big bomb). In the aftermath of the Indian War of Independence British influence on the Asian mainland is lost. Persia descends into 5-sided civil war, the Khalifate of Mecca answers the call of Mahdist rebels in Yemen, and with British protection no longer reliable Yemen and the Trucial states form a union to better resist the Khalifate. Incidentally South Syria breaks away from the Khalifate of Mecca during this time and immediately falls into civil war between those who want a theocracy and those who don't. The war will spell the final end for the long-suffering Zionist community in the region. A nationalist revolution in Iraq throws out the British-supported monarchy and goes on a conquest spree.

This able to happen because Britain itself is in chaos, the bloody failure in India after a string of bloody failures and defeats with the British population devastated demographically by the world wars leaves support for the government at an all-time low. When an anarchist assassinates the King a group of right-wing officers suspend the government in the name of public safety and install a *fascist regime. The dictatorship (it's still technically a monarchy but General Moffet has yet to allow the Prince of Wales to be crowned) draws on fear of the Neo-Bolsheviks across the channel and subversive elements within the population build support, but it's yet shaky. The Brotherhood for Socialist Revolution is founded by Emmanuel Goldstein, a moderate revolutionary who differentiates his ideology from the EUSR by claiming that it is a distinctly English form of socialism. Many who would shrink at Bolshevism or Neo-Bolshevism find the relatively down-to-earth nature of English Socialism much more palatable. Meanwhile what's left of the Empire and the Commonwealth stick close to Britain, even with Moffet in charge they have too much to lose by breaking with the homeland.

The Union of India is both very decentralized (the only way to get the Hindus, Muslims, etc. into the same country willingly) and heavily industrialized (a consequence of the Third World War). After the destruction of Delhi it was decided to have three national capitals instead of one, Lahore, Calcutta, and Shimla. Patel's government is strongly anti-Chinese and turns away overtures to join the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. This is due both to memories of the last war and China's behavior during the Indian War of Independence, they supported bids by the Princely rulers of Kashmir and Sikkim to be independent of India and bullied Bhutan into joining the GEACPS.

In 1952 William Pelley dies (foul play is suspected) and traditionalist elements in the government attempt to restore the one-party rule of the Democratic Party prior to Functionalism. Their government lasts only six years before a former protege of Pelley's named Robert Flag overthrows them. Flag's "Functional Socialism" is much more left-wing than Pelley's regime and he dubs his coup a revolution, establishing a state-planned economy along Technocratic lines. The Proletariat class is not so overwhelmingly black or brown anymore, being 85% of the population most of them are white. Still people clamber over each other to be registered as proles- it might as be as good as being a member of Flag's "Final Class" (the class that he claims will replace the Proletariat as the Proletariat replaced the Bourgeoisie and as the Bourgeoisie replaced the Aristocracy, so far it consists only of Flag and the top leadership) but it’s a lot better than being labeled an enemy of the revolution. Unlike his mentor Pelley who cast himself in propaganda as a stern fatherly figure, Flag strives to more familiar and likeable and is labeled by the state media as "The Big Brother of the American People".

Worried by the threat of Britain's Nuclear Arsenal (America detonates its first nuke in 1960, China and Japan are still working on one, as is India) The EUSR begins planning for the invasion of Britain almost as soon as the Third World War is over. In 1963 Voroshilov finally gives the go-ahead. The hope is to storm over the Channel and remove his last enemy in Europe quickly, he reasons that the British atomic bombs will hit only targets in the still restless Western and Central Europe- the Red Army Air Force will stop any bombers that try to get past that and rocketry is not yet advanced enough to let Britain reach further east than Germany. Russia at least will be unscathed and the non-Russians further weakened. Simultaneous to the invasion of Britain is an invasion of North Africa- Voroshilov hopes to finish off the Entente powers for good.

Unfortunately for him America is not willing to remain neutral. Flag might not be close to the British but he has no desire to see the EUSR increase its power and America has been recovering from the Second World War long enough. The other members of the Society of American Nations join the USA and once it's clear that America is serious about going for the EUSR the GEACPS goes to war with them as well. Voroshilov it seems has bitten off a little more than he can chew.

World War Four has begun.
 

Часть Девятая

The Fourth World War will be one of those wars that no one actually wins. The EUSR manages to control the channel and invade Britain, only for a mutual nuclear exchange to devastate southern England and France (small, Hiroshima style bombs as both sides want the territory). This allows a joint American-British force to defeat the first invasion; however Voroshilov keeps trying, landing again in Southern Ireland and on the Northumbrian coast. As this is going on GEACPS is pressing deep into the EUSR in Siberia and Central Asia. The Chinese and Japanese have numbers but the huge expanse of Siberia means that they face continuous resistance by Eurasian partisans and logistics are a serious problem. Central Asia goes much better. The Red Army is successful in taking the remaining British possessions in the Med and has a string of victories in North Africa, however the demands of a three front war prevent them from capitalizing on their wins and they do not push into West Africa.

The war in the west is brutal, both Britain and the EUSR are at Total War footing and small atomic devices pepper western Europe (the entire war will involve the use of 46 atomic bombs in the west and 72 in the east, most tactically) as conventional troops dig into each-other in the British isles. The American and Royal navies combined however are too much for the Red Army Navy and by late 1964 the Eurasian invaders are cut off.

The winter of 1965 is particularly bad- exacerbated by the smoke and dust thrown up from the limited nuclear exchange- and the Red Army takes advantage of it to strike back at the GEACPS forces with atomic bombs and a conventional counter-attack. Chinese and Japanese lines collapse in Siberia (there is a reason invading Siberia during a mild nuclear winter is a bad idea) and pockets of East Asian holdouts are encircled and destroyed. The Chinese army in Central Asia is cut off but manages to break out of the lines encircling it and retreats into China proper. Voroshilov tries to follow up on his victory by invading China itself, however his men only penetrate a short distance into Mongolia and Manchuria before a GEACPS nuclear and conventional counter-attack drives them out. China and Japan still have numbers after all.

World War Four is the shortest World War yet, lasting a little less than three years and ending in 1966. Crop failures and fear of the devastating power of nuclear weapons bring both sides to the table, as does the fact that they have already managed to rack up a body count bigger than World War Three with nothing to show for it and no apparent promise of victory. The EUSR cannot conquer the British Isles (their invading force is wiped out after they lose the ability to resupply them) or successfully invade East Asia, while the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere cannot successfully invade Russia, and neither America nor Britain is in any shape to try and liberate Europe. Peace negotiations are primarily a return to status quo, except in the Mediterranean and North Africa where the EUSR gains territory.

The biggest effect of the war is that the EUSR remains on a war footing even after it's over in order to better handle the devastation in Western Europe and food shortages. Since Eurasia is still on a war footing China and Japan remain on a war footing, with emphasis on????? still universal. Japan has its own version of ????? called Daishi. In 1967 Hong Tianguang dies of a heart attack brought on by his opulent lifestyle and China is put in crisis- Hong has no surviving sons and his daughter is unsuitable (because she's a woman, she’s unsuitable because she’s a woman).

The ink on the peace treaty is scarcely dry when Goldstein and his Brotherhood (with the tacit approval of Robert Flagg) overthrow the British military dictatorship and proclaim a Union of the British Isles along English Socialist lines. American troops remain stationed throughout the islands for protections and “Big Brother” Flag is able to pressure Goldstein into ceding the British islands in the South Atlantic to America- an act which Goldstein resents. The British Empire subsequently collapses as colonial governments are unwilling to remain loyal to the new regime.

I don't want to have to list what happened to every single part of the British Empire (if you want details about a specific area then ask) but here are the major bits; a UK/BE based in South Africa that crowned the Duke of York King (the Prince of Wales couldn't make it out of Britain in time to avoid being disappeared) and is currently at war with the Republic of South Africa (SA has US backing), the African League which is a military alliance of S?par? (Apartheid) states that includes all the former British colonies in East Africa, the Pacific Commonwealth composed of Australia, New Zealand, and the British Pacific Islands (is afraid of both America and GEACPS- the Commonwealth is the world's second largest democracy after India whose democratic-ness is up for debate), and the Republic of England in Ghana.

The European empires-in-exile in Africa continue to disintegrate, exacerbated by the loss of North Africa.

In the Middle East the Iraqis defeat the Khalifate of North Syria. In Arabia the Khalifate of Mecca and the Union of Oman begin the undeclared Sand War- a war characterized by tiny bands of soldiers fighting unimportant skirmishes in the uninhabitable desert of South-East Arabia. It started when Oman discovered that Mecca was trying to take advantage of the emptiness of the region to sneak infiltrators in through there. Said infiltrators would try to reach more populated territory unnoticed where they would help organize and train Mahdist groups.

Map is of 1967.

Часть Десятая

The next 14 years from 1966 to 1980 are the end of one era and the beginning of another. The increasingly tri-polar nature of the world solidifies as the superpowers prepare for the next inevitable showdown. Fear of nuclear weapons is enough to make them hesitant about going to war but ultimately it will not be enough to stop them.

The crisis in China is resolved by a simple expedient. Rather than have China be ruled by a woman or allow the Chinese Monarchy to cease a dynastic marriage of huge proportions is arranged between Crown Prince Osahito of Japan and Princess Yong'an of China. The Chinese leadership supports the move as they feel that their large population will allow them to dominate any union while the Japanese leadership supports the move as they feel that the fact that the Emperor will be Japanese will allow them to dominate any union. To make the marriage more acceptable the last vestiges of Taiping Christianity are done away with and its surviving elements absorbed into ?????. The resolution of one crisis however is the progenitor of another. Siam, the third and weakest of the former Tripartite Pact (now GEACPS) members is still a constitutional monarchy independent of China and Japan. It is extremely clear to the Siamese leadership that a union between China and Japan would reduce their country to powerless insignificance within the GEACPS and so Bangkok announces that it is withdrawing from the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

The "Siamese Rebellion" (1967-1970) serves to further bind together China and Japan as their armies fight together to crush Siam and also other rebel groups who take advantage of the chance to rise too. Burmese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Tibetans, Koreans, Indonesians, and Filipinos launch their own revolts with arms and support from Eurasia and America. Still the outcome is never in doubt. China and Japan have better numbers and better weapons and it is too soon after the last war for either of the other powers to intervene. Guerrilla resistance will survive in the Himalayas and Indochina for some time but it has no hope of winning independence. The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere is abolished following the end of the Siamese Rebellion, and replaced by the Confederation of East Asia. Eastasia is administered from its primary capital in Tokyo with even the token autonomy enjoyed by its former puppet states removed entirely.

In 1970 Mikhail Voroshilov dies, he is succeeded by his son Aleksei Voroshilov as chairman and president of the Eurasian Union of Socialist Republics. Aleksei furthers his father's development of a cult of personality around himself to the point of incorporating religious elements into the reverence of the elder Voroshilov's memory and his own present rule.

In America Robert Flag (Big Brother to the populace) becomes increasingly unstable and the growing harshness of his regime reflects that. A minor Mexican uprising is brutally put down and the propaganda of the Department of Information becomes stranger, removing any mention of Flag’s real name in favor of his moniker. Ever willing to draw inspiration from foreign sources, Flag is fascinated by the Eurasian efforts to curtail dissent by manipulating the vocabulary of the Eurasian Constructed Language and so commissions the creation of a similar American conlang. Unlike Eurasian which is primarily based on Esperanto, "Newspeak" is founded on English and is promoted amongst the members of Flag's "Final Class". He is similarly impressed by the Japanese Shiso Keisatsu (they existed OTL in Japan during WWII) and creates the Thought Police as the enforcement arm of the feared Department of Community. Class divisions increase as only members of the Final Class are allowed to join the Functional Socialist Party and even among them there is a demarcated split between inner and outer party members.

With the war's end the Trans-Oceanic Pact is formed, including America, Britain, Iceland, South Africa, and the members of the Society of American Nation. The Pact (referred to colloquially as "Oceania") is a combination military alliance and currency union in which the citizens of one member do not require passports to travel to the territory of another member. Newspeak is used as the TOP's language of government and diplomacy although it is still only spoken by a small fraction of the population. Flag immediately begins working to consolidate his control over the other Pact members, the first to agree to a unified military and to fully adopt Functional Socialism are Gran Columbia, Iceland, and the Netherlands-in-exile which are already puppets of the United States. They are followed by South Africa after the Boers begin heavily losing their war with the British Empire in exile and are forced to choose between surrendering their sovereignty to America or being wiped out by the British. An influx of Pactist troops after South Africa agrees to Flag's demands are sufficient to turn the war around and soon the Republic of South Africa includes most of former British South Africa. In 1971 Chile, the last holdout against Flag in the Americas, falls to the South American Confederation and the SAC- a Frankenstein conglomeration of different nationalities on the verge of coming apart under its own weight- subordinates its government and military to America. Resettlement of troublesome ethnic groups (and outright extermination of some of the more troublesome) helps to stabilize the state.

World War Five almost breaks out in 1973 when Eastasia almost launches an invasion of the Pacific Commonwealth and the Commonwealth joins the Trans-Oceanic Pact in a desperate bid to avoid full occupation. War is prevented and the invasion recalled but Pactist troops are permanently stationed in Australia and New Zealand and in 1975 this military detachment orchestrates a coup against the democratic government of Australia that sees an affiliate of Goldstein's English Socialist Party take power. Unlike the original English Socialists the Pacific branch are much more willing to listen to what Washington tells them and soon the PC too is little more than an American appendage. In 1976 an American backed military coup in Madagascar sees the establishment of a rival French government in exile along Functional Socialist lines. Madagascar is quickly occupied when a counter-coup threatens to overthrow the new government and the island is made part of the new Union of Oceania- composed of America and its integrated republics and ruled by Big Brother (Robert Flag). The Union of Oceania is still just one member of the Trans-Oceanic Pact, with Britain and Brazil being the only other remaining members, and in 1977 Emmanuel Goldstein tries to pry Britain out of the Pact before it too is consumed.

His attempt is a failure of course, what with tens of thousands of American troops stationed in the islands and a new British government under a triumvirate of three much more pliable English Socialists- Aaronson, Jones, and Rutherford- is installed. Their tenure is short lived however when they make minor objections to Britain's integration into the Union of Oceania (they don't want to see their power reduced) and the three are arrested, charged with various crimes, convicted, released, and then finally rearrested and executed. Surprisingly Goldstein escapes, his Brotherhood for Socialist Revolution going back underground with the intention of someday launching a new revolution. A revolution which- Goldstein declares in a speech recorded in a secret location- "will spread even to America and the entire world". He is named Public Enemy Number One, the Brotherhood becomes top priority for the Thought Police and- with the lack of a conventional enemy to fight- the primary demon of American propaganda.

Eventually the pressure in Britain will grow too great and Goldstein will flee to Former British East Africa to be taken in by sympathetic local revolutionaries.

Later in 1977 Brazil, seeing the writing on the wall, allows itself to be integrated into the Union of Oceania and the Pact is dissolved. Big Brother Flag (growing more insane by the day) has built his empire.

As all of this is going on a vicious Cold War is raging between the superpowers. Anxious to avoid a devastating nuclear war they invest heavily in espionage and military technology and waging brutal proxy wars in the only parts of the world not under the control of one or the other of the superpowers. Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia bleed as arms and volunteers are funneled in to make trouble wherever possible. Regimes fall to be replaced by new regimes which fall to make way for yet new ones. The Congo disintegrates and the white separe regimes are beset by revolutionary tides. In Uganda the Jewish communities (who make up 40% of the population) launch a revolution against the Anglo Christian 1% that controls the country’s politics and economy. The success of the Democratic Republic of New Zion inspires similar uprisings by Jewish minorities in neighboring former British colonies where they number between 5% and 11% of the population. In India the never very centralized to begin with government collapses and the country descends into twelve-sided civil war.

Things fall apart, the center cannot hold, and mere anarchy is loosed across what remains of the "Free World".

In January of 1984 after twenty-five years of undisputed control over America and seven years of undisputed control over Oceania Robert Flag dies. One of the dictator's last acts in office is abolish the old names of Oceania's various regions, making North America "North Oceania", South America "South Oceania", Australia "New Oceania", and the islands of Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Madagascar, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Greenland, the North and South Islands of New Zealand, Tasmania, the Falkland Islands, Jamaica, and the Big Island of Hawaii, Airstrips One through Fifteen respectively. Flag's cause of death is unclear but it is rumored among the ranks of the inner party that Big Brother's descent into madness prompted his assassination. His seclusion towards the end of his life and insistence on only dealing with Inner Party members allowed the truth of his death to be covered up while a new leader was chosen and that their leader is dead is kept secret from all but the most powerful- even most Inner Party members are unaware.

Oceania relied heavily on the fear and awe inspired by Big Brother to function, its regional differences having never entirely been smoothed away by the formation of the Union and the Party leadership (in America the Funsoc Party, in Britain Ingsoc, in Gran Columbia and the SAC Natsoc, but it is all the same party) quickly fractures into factions along territorial lines. In order to prevent full-on civil war (a war that would certainly draw in Eurasia and Eastasia) the fiction is maintained for the Proles and the Outer Party that Big Brother is still alive and in control. Still Oceania is on the verge of collapse when a handful of Party members seize on a desperate solution to preserve the country. A minor incident when Eurasian "volunteers" fighting for the Conseil Des Travailleurs Fran?ais fired on Oceanian "volunteers" fighting for the Coalition of Western Republics in West Africa is blown out of proportion and "Big Brother" delivers a speech that Eurasia has attacked Oceania and the country is now at war. It is an obvious ploy but the factions in the Party leadership breathe a sigh of relief and go along with it- they have no desire for a civil war that would see them as puppets of Eurasia or Eastasia at best or dead at worst. The fight to see who will replace Big Brother is temporarily shelved as World War Five begins in 1984.

Below is a poorly spelled map because I neglected to proofread it until after I had finished with the key and correcting mistakes is hard in paint and I do not feel like going through and making corrections.
 

Часть Одиннадцатая

Contrary to everyone's fears World War Five did not involve the use of nuclear weapons, Oceania elected to wait until Eurasia went nuclear first (they had no one with the authority to order a nuclear first strike anyway) and fortunately Eurasia did the same. About two months into the war Eastasia invaded India, hoping to absorb the highly populated and industrialized region and both Eurasia and Oceania promptly declared war on it. Fighting raged back and forth throughout Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria, parts of Siberia, and the Pacific islands. Protected by its oceans and the world's most powerful navy most of Oceania was safe from attack, protected by its vast expanses of land and the world's largest air force Eurasia could defeat any invasion of its soil eventually, and with the world's largest army Eastasia can crush any advance into China proper with numbers alone.

As a consequence the above-mentioned fringe areas traded hands again and again as no one was capable or willing to invade anywhere that was actually important. At first friendly states in Africa and South Asia were propped up by occupying powers and puppet states erected over the native population, but as Oceanian puppets were overrun by Eurasia and Eurasian puppets were overrun by Oceanian, and ditto for Eastasia they quickly stopped bothering. The native countries of the Disputed Territory have been wiped out, crushed, plowed under, and seen their fields sewn with salt. Most of the surviving inhabitants are corralled up in cities or huge camps, used as forced labor to extract resources or mass manufacture basic war goods. Of course the superpowers' control is not total, as the territories keep switching hands and plenty of small villages and resistance fighters survive off in out of the way places. You even have the occasional petty warlord- and of course there are the refuge states of Antarctica.

The year is now 2013 and World War V has been going on for 29 years. The alliances have changed many times since the early free for all, but each superpower is too powerful individually for even an alliance of the other two to defeat them. No one appears to be winning and there is no end in sight.

The government of Oceania is still administered in secret by powerful members of the Inner Party with long dead Big Brother's face plastered up on every building. There are three major factions- the Northern Faction based in New York and controlling the old United States, the Southern Faction based in Lima and controlling South America, and the Outer Faction a disparate alliance of local party leaders in Australasia, the British Isles, Iceland, and South Africa. The divisions are very emphatically along national lines, the Southern Faction uses Spanish and Portuguese when it doesn't use newspeak and deeply resents efforts by the Northern Faction to force American culture on them, the Northern Faction wants to defeat the other factions and control all of Oceania, and the different Outer Faction leaders quite like being de facto rulers of their own little fiefs and fiercely resist efforts to centralize control. The only thing preventing a civil war is the knowledge that a divided Oceania would certainly fall to Eastasia and Eurasia and that would benefit no one at all. The other rising power in the hierarchy is the military, there being no Oceanian leadership capable of putting into place a single strategic plan the country's military has been operating autonomously for a very long time. So far the Thought Police have been able to catch the more independent minded soldiers but only at the cost of building up a major resentment to the TP in the Oceanian officer corps.

Unlike Oceania where the proles are generally kept ignorant but otherwise left alone Eurasia strives to control every citizen with mixed results. The country is Russian dominated in all but name but Russians only make up a third of the total population. So far brutally repressive measures by the military (Eurasia is run by its military, the civilian positions like Chairman that Voroshilov used to occupy have become mostly powerless prestige posts) have kept all those Germans, Spainiards, Kazakhs, Fins and others down but it's hard. A common tactic is to deliberately bomb schools and hospitals within their own territory and then blame the attacks on Oceania or Eastasia (whoever happens to be the enemy at the time). It won't make non-Russians love Eurasia, but it will make them hate the enemy more than the state (since the "enemy" killed their kids and family).

In Eastasia "Two Billion Hearts Beat as One!" in devotion to the Emperor and commitment to victory in the war. ????? keeps the masses in line and while resentment still simmers in Indochina those not Chinese or Japanese are very much in the minority. However the country is not as united as its propaganda claims. Unknown to the adoring populace the Emperor (Son of Heaven and the Sun made Flesh, descendent of Amaterasu and god, etc.) is only a figurehead and his court in Tianjing is riven between two factions; Japan and China. The Japanese leadership fears their culture is being drowned in a flood of Chinese influence and the Chinese leadership resists what they perceive as an unfair amount of power being concentrated in the hands of the Japanese (who are after all the smaller partner). Both countries struggle for dominance within their union, neither able to triumph over the other. As in Oceania and Eurasia, Eastasia requires the continuation of the war or it is feared it would fall apart.

Of course even if their respective leaders wanted to win such a thing is impossible. Each superpower has an arsenal of nuclear weapons (both fission and fusion) larger than America's ever was OTL and powerful enough to destroy all life on Earth several thousand times over (America's arsenal peaked at around 30,000 warheads). If anyone were seen to be winning the conventional war an un-conventional war would soon ensure that no one did or ever could.

As mentioned there is still resistance to the superpowers, the Brotherhood for Socialist Revolution was finally eradicated when Oceania captured Emmanuel Goldstein in East Africa during the war's opening stages (a fact kept carefully buried) but there is a newBrotherhood- this one inspired by state propaganda and entirely unrelated to the original. Grown out of the Australian pro-democracy underground, the Australian Brotherhood is very quiet and devoted more to passive resistance than anything else. Their members memorize great works of literature that have been banned or censored by the state and run underground schools that teach critical thought and democratic ideals. They also preserve works of art and objects of symbolic value. If the occasional Brotherhood member asks about carrying out violent actions against the state they are told that the "military wing of the Brotherhood handles that, but your work is much more important" and they usually aquiesce. After all the news is full of reports of the Brotherhood carrying out acts of murder and sabotage so clearly the struggle is being well represented.

The Australian Brotherhood's leaders are aware that the "Other Brotherhood" does not exist, but they keep it from their followers for fear of demoralizing them. Preserving culture is important and it keeps them from being noticed by the watchful eye of the state.

The biggest threat to the balance of power however is not the different resistance groups (most more violent than the Brotherhood) but something far more insidious. Technology has stagnated and unlike in OTL where improved science increased the production of resources whenever we though those resources might be becoming exhausted, serious resource shortages have become endemic. For a long time this hasn't been a problem (who cares if the Proles have no standard of living to speak of?) but it's beginning to impact military and industrial production and that is a problem. Holes in the ozone layer caused by the unrestricted use of CFCs (these are banned in OTL because of how destructive they are) plus severe pollution and much more severe Global Warming are causing crop failures and petroleum shortages mean that the fight over who controls the Middle East has reached a new level of intensity.

The Earth seems to be cruising for a Malthusian Catastrophe.

Map below shows the world in 2013, an Eastasian offensive into Eurasia and South Asia is about to crest and fall back on itself, a Eurasian offensive is picking up steam in Africa, and an Oceanian offensive is just beginning in the Pacific.

Часть Двенадцатая (добавлена сильно позднее, ИМХО лишняя)

Civil war in Oceania and Eastasia allow Eurasia to "win" but everything fell apart pretty quickly afterward and the map shows the world right before Japan decided to launch nukes at everyone, triggering a massive three-sided nuclear exchange.

 

[Дельфин]

"1984-й"? Одобряю. Особенно то, что прописана вся развилка, а не как часто бывает, лишь формально обозначена. Жаль из-за своих малых лингвистических знаний не могу оценить "буквенно-таймлайновую часть".

[Владислав]

Добавил ассоциацию с ЕС на карту торг. блоков

 

[Tar-Mairon]

[Tar-Mairon]

Ымперия, над которой не заходит Солнце.

[Кыр]

Ымперия, над которой не заходит Солнце.

Задумка интересная. А каков таймлайн? И если можно карту по-крупнее скинуть для детального ознакомления.

[ImperialGuarder]

Карты никак не связаны между собой

Карта 1

 

Карта 2

730 год

Изменено 14 Aug 2016 пользователем ImperialGuarder

[Serafim]

Вдохновлено СПМом. Ультимативно крутой вариант Украины с развилкой после развала СССР. 
К 2025 году население 60-62 миллиона. ВВП ППС около 2 трлн(примерно 12-14 место). Есть свой блок, есть свой таможенный союз, есть верный союзник и младший брат в лице не слишком успешной демократической Турции. Есть Кубань и несколько построссийских стран, есть газ пописят из Азербайджана и Туркменистана.

Так же в этом мире есть индо-пакистсанский конфликт, который вытягивает инвестиции из Индостана и перераспределяет по другим рынкам, в том числе и украинским. А еще есть саудо-иранская война на территории Ирака и много где еще, в следствии чего цены на нефть и газ взлетели до небес. В купе с кучей границ которые теперь отделяют Европу от Сибири энергия в ЕС и США очень дорогая, что на руку Украине которая угорает по долгосрочным контрактам и потому цены для нее по прежнему низкие. Таким образом ЕАЭП получает +5 к промышленности. 

Такие пироги.

[Tar-Mairon]

Ультимативно крутой вариант Украины с развилкой после развала СССР. 

Господи, он опять достал миелофон! Остановите это!!1*адын*

Но вообще мне очень понравилось. Единственное... не хватает картам с Великой Украиной какой-то масштабности. Чтобы войска в Индонезии и флаг на Плутоне.

[Serafim]

Господи, он опять достал миелофон!

А я и не убирал

Единственное... не хватает картам с Великой Украиной какой-то масштабности. Чтобы войска в Индонезии и флаг на Плутоне.

Ну к 25 году при развилке в 90-х такое не получится. Тут либо надо в далеком прошлом все менять, либо дату в будущее двигать. В общем вы предложили вам и карты в руки.

ЗЫ. Вспомнил что как то пилил ФБП карту с Украиной, у которой были колонии и на Луне и на Марсе и даже войска в какой то африканское стране стояли. 

[Epicurus]

Добрый день.

Строго не судите.

Изменено 22 Aug 2016 пользователем Epicurus

[Владислав]

Добрый день.

мощная работа, особенно если для первого раза, но есть некоторые замечания:

перепутаны Гвинея-Бисау и Казаманс; Эфиопия - первоначально ахмарское государство, так что они не будут от него отказываться

И да, если есть какое-то описание к карте - это +100 к крутости

[Каминский]

Строго не судите.

Для первого раза неплохо, хотя есть конечно ряд нелогичностей.

[Serafim]

Добрый день.

Масштабная работа! Для первого раза 10/10. Если есть некое описание то вообще здорово. 
Особенно радует Африка и ЛА. 

[Каминский]

И вновь очередная мега-карта от полюбившегося автора. На этот раз Мега-Турция:

http://orig04.deviantart.net/0330/f/2014/221/1/4/greater_future_turan___turkey_map_by_schrodinger_excidium-d7uarcp.png

 

[Serafim]

Умеет, могет

но у Турции нет выхода к тихому океану, так что не такая уж она и мега.