In this circumstance it's probably not that likely, indeed - I did another list a while back where a Covid National Government was more plausible. I just wanted it to carry a sense of 'all crises coming at once', which is also (deliberately) why there's a January election which would clearly not be desirable.
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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State
- Thread starter Mumby
- Start date
theflyingmgoose
Well-known member
I found this very interesting, not just because there's a solid chance that if this ever happens I'm participating.
Joseph R. Biden / Kamala D. Harris (D) - January 20, 2021 - June 28, 2027
'20 def. Donald Trump / Mike Pence (R) - OTL
'24 def. Donald Trump / Elise Stefanik (R) - 319-219 EV / 51.3%-45.4% PV
Kamala D. Harris / VACANT then Peter M. Buttigieg (D) - June 28, 2027 - January 20, 2029
James D. Vance / Vivek G. Ramaswamy (R) - January 20, 2029 - August 7, 2035
'28 def. Kamala Harris / Pete Buttigieg (D) - 285-253 EV / 47.3%-48.9% PV
'32 def. Gretchen Whitmer / Nikki Fried (D) - 270-268 EV / 46.8%-50.1% PV
Gang Of Eleven (M) - August 7, 2035 - Present (As Part Of The Climate Crisis Emergency Administration)
...President Vance arrested, Vice President Ramaswamy's whereabouts unknown...
...U.S. Embassy staff in Jerusalem declared persona non grata, junta says "Tel Aviv is and has always been the capital of Israel"...
...Protecting Women's Spaces Act of 2029 voided...
...Daily Wire, remaining right wing media sphere see assets seized due to "anti-American propaganda"...
...Proposed Green New Deal provisions enacted via executive order, US Navy to enforce closure of oil drilling platforms...
...DSA North Star Caucus, STEM professionals, climate researchers among new members of the "Environmental War Cabinet"...
Comrade Izaac
Secretary General of the Alt-Historians Union
- Pronouns
- They/Them
big fan, i will note tho that Vance and Ramaswamy are both from Ohio and sharing a ticket would invalidate the electoral votes of Ohio in the electoral college
theflyingmgoose
Well-known member
Oh I forgot about that. Ramaswamy was just who first came to mind when I thought "young, fascist Republicans of the future"
If you wanted to keep the ticket, then you’d probably just have Ramaswamy discover a link to and a house in another state, like Cheney did with Wyoming when both he and Bush were living in Texas in 2000.
TheKennedyMachine
Well-known member
- Pronouns
- she/her
1989 - 1992: George HW Bush ☨ / James Marshall [1] (Republican)
1988 def. Michael Dukakis / Lloyd Bentsen (Democratic)
1992 - 1997: James Marshall / Philip Banks (Republican)
1992 def. Paul Tsongas / Bob Kerrey (Democratic)
1997 - 2001: Josiah Bartlett / John Haynes (Democratic)
1996 def. Josiah Bartlet / Philip Banks (Republican)
2000 def. Elizabeth Dole / Donald Rumsfeld (Republican)
2001 - 2001: Josiah Bartlett [2] / vacant (Democratic)
2001 - 2005: Josiah Bartlett / Robert Russell (Democratic)
2005 - 2009: Richard Martinez [3] / Rudy Giuliani (Republican)
2004 def. Robert Russell / Matthew Santos (Democratic)
2009 - 2012: Patrick Bateman [4] / Selina Meyer (Democratic)
2008 def. Arnold Schwarzenegger / Tim Pawlenty (Republican)
2012 - 2013: Selina Meyer [5] / vacant (Democratic)
2013 - 0000: George Oscar Bluth II [6] / Laura Montez (Republican)
2012 def. Selina Meyer / Tom James (Democratic)
2016 def. Tom James / Richard Splett (Democratic)
[1] The Vietnam veteran (with a medal of honor!) and two-term governor of Iowa -- Marshall proved to be a formidable foe for Vice President Bush during the 1988 Republican Primaries. Marshall came close to the Presidency -- really close, but ultimately got second place. Frustrated but determined to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency, Marshall gladly accepted Poppy Bush's offer to be his Vice President in 1988.
Regrettably short-lived -- President George Bush vomited to death in January 1992 during a diplomatic visit in Asia, and Marshall became the 42nd President of the United States.
The President's heroic actions in 1995 of singlehandedly defeating a terrorist attack on Air Force One, it seemed Marshall was bound for a second term.
Or at least, he was -- all because he made the unfortunate decision of choosing Los Angeles Mayor Phillip Banks as Vice President at the 1992 RNC, who had a nephew who was born and raised in West Philadelphia.
I'm sure we all know how the story goes...
[2] Elected as an progressive liberal Democrat after sixteen years of Republican rule, Josiah Bartlett and his liberal agenda was a welcome change for most Americans. It's a shame that his liberal legislation fell out of the spotlight when the 10/9 terrorist attacks saw the start of the War On Terror. Bartlett's invasion of Afghanistan and rumors of old Cold War intelligence operations being revived left the nation disillusioned and angered towards the once popular catholic president.
If only Haynes didn't decide to be a pedophile. You gotta wonder, you gotta wonder.
[3] Who doesn't love Richard Martinez? The charismatic and lovable Governor from Florida fought through a fierce primary campaign, but ultimately managed to come out on top, selecting former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani as his Vice President was a genius idea -- especially in the aftermath of post-9/11 fervor.
Martinez spoke big of combating a growing Axis of Evil. Rogue nations like Iraq possessing WMDs. When bombs started to rain down on the Sultan Palace, Martinez was experiencing a rise of popularity -- and was on the road for re-election.
Until Cory Baxter moved into the White House.
[4] The yuppie from Wall Street. The Senator from New York. Patrick Bateman had many names attached to him. He was the new ice cream flavor straight from the Democratic Party. Not too liberal, but not too conservative. Just moderate. Bateman's post-ironic sense of humor and love for musicians like Huey Lewis and Phil Collins made him an instant favorite of American voters.
Other voters were more reluctant, there was a something sinister about the President, that even though they could shake his hand and feel flesh gripping theirs, and maybe they can even sense their lifestyles are probably comparable with his, he was simply not there.
Nevertheless, Bateman's policies were popular. His legislation included stopping terrorism, the reduction of nuclear arms with superpowers like Russia and China, cooperation with the UN to end world hunger -- not to mention the renewal of New Deal-era programs for the poor and generate more social concern and less materialism among young people brought millions of Americans to tears. Tears of joy.
Surprising that the only reason he resigned was due to a botched hostage crisis in Uzbekistan and not because of the exposure of his dozen of crimes which may or may not include cannibalism, rape, and murder.
Oh well, at least he gave us free healthcare!
[5] America's first female President came in with strong liberal chops at a time when faith in the system was low. After crashing hard during Super Tuesday in 2008, and being placed on the ticket with Bateman, Meyer desperately attempted to push out an agenda from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Her efforts to bring in a Clean Jobs Bill had been hard-fought but ultimately abortive (due to her voting against it in the Senate), and her budget talks in 2011 led to a government shutdown, and the Families First Bill was scuppered by the Medileaks scandal (where child mortality data had been used to conduct a targeted advertising campaign).
All of this dysfunction isn't to say that Meyer was a bad president because she was a woman, Selina Meyer was a bad president because she was a bad person.
She also drone-striked a wedding that got an elephant killed. What a fucking bitch.
[6] George Oscar Bluth II's ascension to the Presidency marked the return of the average American to the White House. GOB was the eldest son of the Bluth Family -- a family whose political power tended to be 50/50 at best. His father was a rather popular real estate salesman with political connections all across the globe. He also may or may not have committed some light treason by selling houses to Saddam Hussein. Who can say. Bluth's dimwitted demeaner and gaffes made him a likeable to most, finally a President they can see having a beer with!
Bluth oversaw the second phase of the Korean War when American television host and comedian Dave Skylark assassinated Kim Jong-Un in a very hush-hush CIA operation. Kim Jong-Un shitting his pants while crying on live television was probably one of the best moments of Bluth's presidency. Americans often joke about whether or not the greenlit of the operation was really Bluth's idea, or if he was merely the puppet of his Chief of Staff brother, Michael.
One of the worst parts was Vought International. The multi-billion dollar corporation and it's private army of superheroes proved to be a headache time and time again. The Transoceanic Flight 37 tragedy ignited a new patriotic fervor in America not seen since 10/9. 118 civilians perished to their deaths over the Atlantic Ocean -- all due to the late arrival of Queen Maeve and Homelander.
The Bluth Administration and Vought International maintained a closely knitted friendship, with Vought CEO Stan Edgar having a direct line to the White House.
Just too bad that during an election season, American's Greatest Superhero was revealed to be dating a Nazi. Whoops!
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Blackentheborg
Dennis Skinner's molotov
- Location
- Grand Hotel Abyss
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sharing my entry for the last HOS challenge, because i kinda liked the concept I had going.
Prime Ministers of Sweden
2022-2026: Ulf Kristersson (Moderate) (Tidö coalition)
defeated Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats), Jimmie Åkesson (Sweden Democrats), Nooshi Dadgostar (Left), Annie Lööf (Centre), Ebba Busch (Christian Democrats), Märta Stenevi/Per Bolund (Green), others
2026-2028: Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats)* (Red-Greens coalition, then minority)
defeated Ulf Kristersson (Moderate), Jimmie Åkesson (Sweden Democrats), Nooshi Dadgostar (Left), Muharrem Demirok (Centre), Märta Stenevi/Daniel Helldén (Green), others
Results of the 1st North Sea War
Great Britain, Norway, Sweden defeat Russia, Latvia, regional rebel groups
- PETROCOM agreement signatories claim majority oil basin reserves
- Relations between Russia and Western Europe worsen
- Divided Russian naval power lead to eventual Ukrainian military victories in Crimea
- Resignation of Prime Minister Andersson over Orrön Energy Investment Scandal
2028-2028: Fredrik Olovsson (Social Democrats) (minority)
(replacing Andersson)
2028-2036: Mattias Karlsson (Sweden Democrats, then Sverige Först!) (Inhemsk coalition)
defeated Fredrik Olovsson (Social Democrats), Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate), Nooshi Dadgostar (Left), Martin Ådahl (Centre), others
Results of the Fall of the House of Saud
Regional rebel groups defeat Loyalist forces
- Economic recession following crude oil speculation
- Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili recognised as de-facto Saudi Head of State by the United Nations
- Seizure of the Suez Canal
- Relations between Russia and Western Europe worsen
defeated Tobias Baudin (Social Democrats), Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate), Ali Esbati/Daniel Helldén (Alliance '34), Martin Ådahl (För Oss Alla), others
Results of the 1st Water Wars
Inconclusive / stalemate
- Possession of Upper Rhine Plain groundwater maintained by Germany, weakening of European Union relations
- Zagros Mountain and Shatt al-Arab claimed by Iraq, skirmishes with Türkiye continue following Kurdish Spring
- Russia expands PMC presence in North Africa, China furthers Belt and Road Initiative
- United States of America largely withdraws from further acts of foreign intervention
2036-20??: Greta Thunberg (Left) (Klimatnöd coalition)
defeated Mattias Karlsson (Sverige Först!), Tobias Baudin (Social Democrats), Douglas Thor (Moderate), Emil Källström (För Oss Alla), Aida Badeli/Linus Lakso (Green), Jakob Forssmed (Christian Democrats), others
Results of the "Paludan Putsch"
Swedish Armed Forces defeat Nordic Resistance Movement, Swedish Armed Forces (rebel contingent)
- Rasmus Paludan, Emil Hagberg, Fredrik Vejdeland, Per Öberg and other ringleaders arrested and convicted
- Evidence of Russian state funding of pro-Putsch cells discovered
- Deterioration of relations between Russia and Western Europe, beginning of the Russian Rising (2039-present)
Results of 2nd Water Wars
Inconclusive / pyrrhic
- Saad Hussain Rizvi and Aditya Thackeray killed by bombardment
- Radioactive fallout contaminates 83% of freshwater sources in the Hindu Kush Himalaya basin, leading to the Red Famine (2038-present)
- Deterioration of relations between the United States of America and Europe
- Assembly of the Global Climate Regulatory Council
Conveners of the Global Climate Regulatory Council
2039-20//: Greta Thunberg (Swd.) [nominated by acclimation]
with Sáj Starcevich (Cnd.), Naomi Flores (Mex.), Txai Suruí (Brz.), Nicole Becker (Arg.), Tasmin Omond (GB.), Saoirse Exton (Irl.), Camille Etienne (Frc.), Luisa Neubauer (Grm.), Olivia Mandle (Spn.), Liv Müller Smith-Sivertsen (Nwy.), Ilyess El Korbi (Ukr.), Arshak Makichyan (Rus.), Licypriya Kangujam (Ind.), Ou Hongyi (Chi.), Elizabeth Wathuti (Kny.), Nkosilathi Nyathi (Zmb.), Yuka Natori (Jpn.), Claudia Hannigan (Aus.), Taitoa Wihone (NZ.), others
Vi är bäst!
Prime Ministers of Sweden
2022-2026: Ulf Kristersson (Moderate) (Tidö coalition)
defeated Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats), Jimmie Åkesson (Sweden Democrats), Nooshi Dadgostar (Left), Annie Lööf (Centre), Ebba Busch (Christian Democrats), Märta Stenevi/Per Bolund (Green), others
2026-2028: Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats)* (Red-Greens coalition, then minority)
defeated Ulf Kristersson (Moderate), Jimmie Åkesson (Sweden Democrats), Nooshi Dadgostar (Left), Muharrem Demirok (Centre), Märta Stenevi/Daniel Helldén (Green), others
Results of the 1st North Sea War
Great Britain, Norway, Sweden defeat Russia, Latvia, regional rebel groups
- PETROCOM agreement signatories claim majority oil basin reserves
- Relations between Russia and Western Europe worsen
- Divided Russian naval power lead to eventual Ukrainian military victories in Crimea
- Resignation of Prime Minister Andersson over Orrön Energy Investment Scandal
2028-2028: Fredrik Olovsson (Social Democrats) (minority)
(replacing Andersson)
2028-2036: Mattias Karlsson (Sweden Democrats, then Sverige Först!) (Inhemsk coalition)
defeated Fredrik Olovsson (Social Democrats), Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate), Nooshi Dadgostar (Left), Martin Ådahl (Centre), others
Results of the Fall of the House of Saud
Regional rebel groups defeat Loyalist forces
- Economic recession following crude oil speculation
- Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili recognised as de-facto Saudi Head of State by the United Nations
- Seizure of the Suez Canal
- Relations between Russia and Western Europe worsen
defeated Tobias Baudin (Social Democrats), Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate), Ali Esbati/Daniel Helldén (Alliance '34), Martin Ådahl (För Oss Alla), others
Results of the 1st Water Wars
Inconclusive / stalemate
- Possession of Upper Rhine Plain groundwater maintained by Germany, weakening of European Union relations
- Zagros Mountain and Shatt al-Arab claimed by Iraq, skirmishes with Türkiye continue following Kurdish Spring
- Russia expands PMC presence in North Africa, China furthers Belt and Road Initiative
- United States of America largely withdraws from further acts of foreign intervention
2036-20??: Greta Thunberg (Left) (Klimatnöd coalition)
defeated Mattias Karlsson (Sverige Först!), Tobias Baudin (Social Democrats), Douglas Thor (Moderate), Emil Källström (För Oss Alla), Aida Badeli/Linus Lakso (Green), Jakob Forssmed (Christian Democrats), others
Results of the "Paludan Putsch"
Swedish Armed Forces defeat Nordic Resistance Movement, Swedish Armed Forces (rebel contingent)
- Rasmus Paludan, Emil Hagberg, Fredrik Vejdeland, Per Öberg and other ringleaders arrested and convicted
- Evidence of Russian state funding of pro-Putsch cells discovered
- Deterioration of relations between Russia and Western Europe, beginning of the Russian Rising (2039-present)
Results of 2nd Water Wars
Inconclusive / pyrrhic
- Saad Hussain Rizvi and Aditya Thackeray killed by bombardment
- Radioactive fallout contaminates 83% of freshwater sources in the Hindu Kush Himalaya basin, leading to the Red Famine (2038-present)
- Deterioration of relations between the United States of America and Europe
- Assembly of the Global Climate Regulatory Council
Conveners of the Global Climate Regulatory Council
2039-20//: Greta Thunberg (Swd.) [nominated by acclimation]
with Sáj Starcevich (Cnd.), Naomi Flores (Mex.), Txai Suruí (Brz.), Nicole Becker (Arg.), Tasmin Omond (GB.), Saoirse Exton (Irl.), Camille Etienne (Frc.), Luisa Neubauer (Grm.), Olivia Mandle (Spn.), Liv Müller Smith-Sivertsen (Nwy.), Ilyess El Korbi (Ukr.), Arshak Makichyan (Rus.), Licypriya Kangujam (Ind.), Ou Hongyi (Chi.), Elizabeth Wathuti (Kny.), Nkosilathi Nyathi (Zmb.), Yuka Natori (Jpn.), Claudia Hannigan (Aus.), Taitoa Wihone (NZ.), others
A Crown of Iron
A History of the Kings of Italy
The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century heralded a century during which various Germanic peoples struggled for control over the Italian Peninsula. This struggle came to an end in the latter part of the 6th century, when Italy was conquered by the Lombards, who established a kingdom which was to wield power over the peninsula for two centuries. The Lombard kings were crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, which would serve as the headdress of Italian rulers for nearly 1400 years.
The Lombard rule lasted until the Franks, led by the powerful king Charles, defeated the Lombards and conquered the peninsula in 774. Charles firmly established Frankish rule over Italy, going on to be crowned Holy Emperor in Rome in 800. After Charles's death in 814, Italy remained under the rule of the Frankish emperors. However, Charles's successors were weak rulers who failed to wield effective authority over their vast empire, resulting in decentralisation and the rise of autonomous governors. This decline also affected Italy, where powerful nobles gradually increased their influence over the imperial administration of the peninsula. By 866, the emperors had effectively lost control over Italy.
The fall of the Carolingian dynasty of Francia in 907 led to the collapse of the Holy Empire, ushering in decades of strife between competing breakaway states. In 930, one of these states, the Kingdom of Provence, attempted to gain control over Italy, which at this point was effectively ruled by the Aleramici family, who styled themselves Arch-Chancellors of Italy. The Provençal army defeated and captured the Aleramici ruler.
However, they were defeated in 931 by the forces of the lord Domenico Tribuno. Having driven the Provençals out of Italy, Domenico proclaimed himself Arch-Chancellor. In 937, Domenico was assassinated by his general, Berengar, lord of Ivrea, who proclaimed himself Arch-Chancellor. However, Berengar soon faced a rebellion led by the lord Pietro Candiano, the son-in-law of Domenico Tribuno. Pietro defeated and killed Berengar in 938.
The Provençals saw the upheaval in Italy as an opportunity to once again attempt to impose their rule over the peninsula. In the autumn of 938, a Provençal army invaded Italy. However, they were defeated by Pietro at the Battle of the Sesia. Having driven the Provençals out of Italy, Pietro decided to formally declare independence from foreign rule. On 1 February 939, he was crowned King of Italy, ending centuries of foreign rule over the peninsula. Pietro I's rule did not last long, as the old king died on 14 February. However, the kingdom he created was to last for over a millennium.
Candiano dynasty (939–965)
939: Pietro I Candiano
939–950: Tommasso Tribuno
950–959: Pietro II Candiano (Arch-Chancellor of Italy, co-ruler with Pietro III)
950–965: Pietro III Candiano (Arch-Chancellor of Italy, co-ruler with Pietro II until 959)
The untimely death of Pietro I after a 14-day reign unleashed a power struggle for the throne. On his deathbed, Pietro I had anointed his relative Tommasso Tribuno as regent for his son, Pietro. However, upon the death of Pietro I, Tommasso forced his son to abdicate and seized the throne for himself. Tommasso ruled Italy for the next eleven years, but was overthrown in 950. Pietro II and Pietro III, the sons of Pietro I, subsequently became co-rulers. The new rulers did not style themselves Kings of Italy, preferring to use the title of Arch-Chancellor in an attempt to subordinate themselves to the Conradians, the new ruling dynasty of Francia. The Conradians had completed the unification of the Holy Empire by 960.
The refusal of the Franks to recognise the Candiano family as the rulers of Italy denied the Arch-Chancellors the legitimacy to consolidate their rule. The dynasty collapsed after Pietro III died in battle in 965. The death of Pietro III led to three years of chaos, during which nobles and warlords struggled for control over Italy. Ugo, lord of Tuscany, emerged victorious from the struggle in 968, defeating his rivals and unifying Italy under his rule. Ugo proclaimed himself King of Italy and founded the ephemeral Tuscan dynasty.
Tuscan dynasty (968–980)
968–979: Ugo di Toscana
979–980: Waldrada di Toscana
Upon being crowned King of Italy, Ugo immediately set about consolidating his power and restoring order to the ravaged peninsula. Ugo moved the capital of his kingdom from Pavia to Florence, his base of power. Ugo reformed the administration of the realm, imposing strict penal codes to prevent chaos from happening again. Ugo's reign ended abruptly in 979, when he and his heir were assassinated by a courtier. He was succeeded by his relative, Walrada. After hearing of the demise of Ugo, the Frankish emperor launched an invasion of Italy. In response, the Italian court deposed Waldrada because she was a woman and instead enthroned the general Pietro Orseolo, the regent and commander of the Italian army, as King of Italy. Pietro established the Orseolo dynasty and fended off the Franks.
Orseolo dynasty (980–1032)
980–1009: Pietro Orseolo
1009: Orso Orseolo
1009–1032: Ottone Orseolo
The defeat of the Frankish invaders at the hands of Pietro ended the northern threat to the young kingdom. Following his victory over the Franks, Pietro launched an invasion of the kingdom of Campania, which controlled Southern and most of Central Italy. Pietro died in 1009, resulting in infighting for the throne amongst his sons, Orso and Ottone. Ottone emerged victorious from this struggle, killing his brother and assuming the throne. Ottone was an unpopular ruler. Ottone's dissatisfied subjects gathered around Poppo of Treffen, the Patriarch of Aquileia, the king's main opponent. When Ottone finally died in 1032, the court elected Pietro, lord of Cordenons, the patriarch's nephew, as King.
Cordenons dynasty (1032–1225)
1032–1054: Pietro di Cordenons
1054–1072: Niccolò di Cordenons
1072–1128: Carlo di Cordenons
1128–1138: Domenico di Cordenons
1138–1175: Tommaso di Cordenons
1175–1210: Leonardo di Cordenons
1210–1224: Sebastiano di Cordenons
1224–1225: Patrizia di Cordenons
In 1033, a year after his coronation, Pietro moved the capital of Italy from Florence to Milan, the city which was to remain the capital of the kingdom for nearly eight centuries. The early Cordenons kings are considered to have been highly competent rulers, and the realm flourished under their rule. In 1076, during the reign of Carlo, the third Cordenons king, the Italians repelled a Frankish invasion. Several wars between Italy and Campania occured in the 12th century. By the end of that century, the power of the royal court began to decline. The Alberti family, the lords of Prato, eventually rose to power. In 1224, the powerful courtier Maghinardo Alberti forced King Sebastiano to abdicate and enthroned Patrizia, Sebastiano's young daughter, as queen. Maghinardo then arranged a marriage between Patrizia and Alberto Alberti, Maghinardo's younger brother. In 1225, Patrizia was forced to cede the throne to her husband, who became the first king of the Alberti dynasty.
Alberti dynasty (1225–1400)
1225–1250: Alberto Alberti
1250–1290: Napoleone I Alberti
1290–1308: Orso Alberti
1308–1320: Tancredo Alberti
1320–1357: Maghinardo Alberti
1357–1369: Ottaviano Alberti
1369–1370: Napoleone Saliceti
1370–1394: Pietro Alberti
1394–1398: Napoleone II Alberti
1398–1400: Guido Alberti
Having deposed the Cordenons kings and enthroned his brother as king, Maghinardo Alberti effectively remained in control of the kingdom until his death in 1227. Maghinardo presided over a reign of terror, ruthlessly purging members of the old nobility, replacing them with men loyal to the new dynasty. After Maghinardo's death, King Alberto ended the purges. Alberto died in 1250 and was succeeded by his son, Napoleone I. During his reign, Napoleone repelled several invasions by the Icelandic Empire under Tumi Jarl I. The architect of these victories was Duke Ugolino Alberti. After Ugolino decisively defeated the Icelandic armies at the Battle of the Sesia in 1288, the Icelanders made no further attempts to conquer Italy. However, in order to avoid further invasions, Italy acknowledged Icelandic hegemony over the peninsula.
In the 14th century, the Alberti kings waged war against the kingdom of Campania. In 1312, the kings of Campania became vassals of Italy, but then years later they regained their independence and waged a long war against the Italians in order to regain the provinces of Lazio and Umbria, which had been taken by the Italians in 1288. In 1377, the Italians were decisively defeated by the Campanians at the Battle of Naples.
Subsequent Campanian invasions devastated Italy, leaving the kingdom exhausted and bankrupt. The Campanian advance was halted in 1390 by the general Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who decisively defeated the Campanian king, who died in battle. Following the defeat of the Campanians, Gian Galeazzo effectively became the ruler of Italy. In 1400, he dethroned the last Alberti king and had himself crowned King of Italy.
Visconti dynasty (1400–1407)
1400–1402: Gian Galeazzo Visconti
1402–1407: Gian Maria Visconti
The brief reign of Gian Galeazzo ended with his death in 1402. He was succeeded by his son Gian Maria, a sadistic tyrant who imposed a reign of terror on his subjects. In 1407, under the pretext of helping to restore the Alberti dynasty, the Franks invaded Italy and captured Gian Maria. Following the fall of the Visconti, the Franks forcibly annexed Italy into the Frankish Empire. Almost immediately, Alberti loyalists started an uprising against the Franks. The rebels, under the leadership of Ugolino Alberti, at first gained some advances, yet infighting between the rebels resulted in their defeat in 1413.
In 1418, an uprising against Frankish rule began under the leadership of Bartolomeo Colleoni, the son of a nobleman from Solza. Overcoming many early setbacks, Bartolomeo's movement finally gained momentum. In 1426, the rebels defeated the Frankish army and captured Milan after a siege. In 1428, having driven the Franks from Italy, Bartolomeo was crowned king.
Colleoni dynasty (1428–1527)
1428–1459: Bartolomeo Colleoni
1459–1460: Niccolò I Colleoni
1460–1497: Gian I Colleoni
1497–1504: Gian II Colleoni
1504: Tommasso I Colleoni
1504–1509: Tomasso II Colleoni
1509–1516: Ottaviano Colleoni
1516–1522: Gian III Colleoni
1522–1527: Gian IV Colleoni
During the reign of Bartolomeo, reforms were carried out to revitalise the Italian economy and to rebuild infrastructure. In 1459, Bartolomeo was overthrown and killed by his brother, Niccolò, who usurped the thrown. Niccolò was soon overthrown and executed by his nephew, Gian.
During the reign of Gian I, several administrative and judicial reforms were enacted. In 1471, Gian I invaded Campania and captured its capital, Naples. This effectively ended Campania as a powerful kingdom, although some smaller surviving southern states lasted for a few centuries more. Gian I also led several military campaigns in Illyria. The reign of Gian I was also considered the golden era the flowering of the Italian arts and letters. Gian I died in 1497 and was succeeded by by his son, Gian II. The deaths of Gian II and Tommasso I in 1504 marked the beginning of a crisis which was to last until the century, during which the power and prestige of the Colleoni kings eroded completely, and Italy was engulfed in chaos and civil war.
Tommasso I was succeeded by several cruel, debauched, and incompetent rulers, who did nothing to improve the country or assert royal authority. The brief reigns of these rulers ended violently, as they were assassinated as members of the Colleoni dynasty, courtiers and ministers struggled for power. The weakening of the monarchy created a vacuum that the various noble families of the aristocracy were eager to fill. One powerful and growing faction was led by Cesare Borgia, the captain of the royal guard. After defeating the Gonzaga and the Della Rovere families, his main rivals, in a civil war in 1522, Cesare became the most powerful man in Italy. In 1527, Cesare forced Gian IV to commit suicide, massacred most members of the Colleoni dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Italy.
Borgia dynasty (1527–1592)
1527–1533: Cesare Borgia
1533–1540: Domenico Borgia
1540–1546: Pier Borgia
1546–1561: Tommasso I Borgia
1561–1592: Michelangelo Borgia
1592: Tommasso II Borgia
With the usurpation of the throne by Cesare Borgia, the civil war broke out anew. Cesare's seizure of the throne prompted other powerful noble families, notably the Della Rovere and the Gonzaga, to rush to the support of the Colleoni loyalists. The Della Rovere and the Gonzaga gathered an army and under the leadership of Francesco Maria della Rovere, rose in revolt against Cesare. The figurehead of the rebellion was Niccolò Colleoni, son of Gian III, who had escaped Cesare's massacre of the dynasty and had fled to Illyria. In 1533, Francesco Maria proclaimed Niccolò King of Italy. The restored Colleoni dynasty only controlled Central Italy, as the Borgias retained control of Northern Italy and the capital, Milan. The Borgia dynasty was still recognised by the emperors of Francia as the legitimate rulers of Italy. For sixty years, the Colleoni in the south and the Borgias in the north fought a lengthy dynastic war for the throne of Italy. The war ended in 1592 when the Colleoni forces, led by signore Ferrante II Gonzaga, defeated the Borgias and recaptured Milan. Ferrante captured and executed Michelangelo, the Borgia king, and his sons, and the routed Borgia forces fled to Savoy, where they would rule until their final defeat at the hands of the Colleoni dynasty in 1677.
Colleoni dynasty (1533–1789)
1533–1548: Niccolò II Colleoni
1548–1556: Gian V Colleoni
1556–1573: Domenico I Colleoni
1573–1599: Domenico II Colleoni
1599–1619: Domenico III Colleoni
1619–1643: Domenico IV Colleoni
1643–1649: Domenico V Colleoni
1649–1662: Domenico IV Colleoni
1662–1671: Domenico VI Colleoni
1671–1675: Domenico VII Colleoni
1675–1706: Domenico VIII Colleoni
1706–1731: Domenico IX Colleoni
1731–1735: Domenico X Colleoni
1735–1759: Domenico XI Colleoni
1759–1786: Domenico XII Colleoni
1786–1789: Domenico XIII Colleoni
Although the Colleoni were restored to the throne in 1533 by Francesco Maria della Rovere, they held no real power, and Francesco Maria effectively ruled Italy as signore (lord). In 1545, Francesco Maria was poisoned by a courtier, and power passed to his son-in-law Ferrante Gonzaga. Ferrante and his successors would establish hereditary military rule over the kingdom, reducing the Colleoni kings to mere figureheads. In 1592, Ferrante II Gonzaga defeated the Borgias and reconquered Northern Italy, ending the long struggle between the Borgia and Colleoni dynasties. However, another struggle loomed. The Della Rovere family had ruled Central Italy as clients of the Gonzaga signori since 1558, but had become increasingly independent. In 1620, Ferrante II deposed and executed King Domenico III. Francesco Maria II della Rovere cited this as a pretext to declare the new king and the Gonzaga signori to be illegitimate and to refuse to subordinate himself to the court. Tensions rose over the next years until a civil war between the Gonzaga and the Della Rovere families broke out in 1627. The war lasted until 1672, ending with an uneasy peace between the two families. The Gonzaga signori retained control of the North and the royal court and the Della Rovere signori now ruled Central and Southern Italy.
Gonzaga signori
1545–1557: Ferrante I Gonzaga
1557–1578: Cesare I Gonzaga
1578–1630: Ferrante II Gonzaga
1630–1632: Cesare II Gonzaga
1632–1682: Ferrante III Gonzaga
1682–1714: Vincenzo Gonzaga
1714–1729: Antonio Ferrante Gonzaga
1729–1740: Giuseppe Maria Gonzaga
1740–1779: Sigismondo Gonzaga
1779–1782: Francesco Niccolò Gonzaga
1782: Fabio Maria Gonzaga
1782–1786: Francesco Luigi Gonzaga
1786–1787: Giovanni Gonzaga
Della Rovere signori
1533–1545: Francesco Maria I della Rovere
1558–1574: Guidobaldo della Rovere
1574–1631: Francesco Maria II della Rovere
1631–1648: Federico Ubaldo della Rovere
1648–1687: Pietro I della Rovere
1687–1691: Pietro II della Rovere
1691–1725: Pietro III della Rovere
1725–1738: Pietro IV della Rovere
1738–1765: Pietro V della Rovere
1765–1777: Pietro VI della Rovere
1776-1777: Pietro VII della Rovere
1780–1802: Pietro VIII della Rovere
The stalemate between the Gonzaga and Della Rovere signori that began after 1672 did not mark the beginning of a period of peace and prosperity. Instead the decades of continual warfare between the two families had left the people of Italy in a weakened state, the victim of taxes levied to support the courts and their military adventures. Having to meet their tax obligations had forced many peasants off the land and facilitated the acquisition of large tracts by a few wealthy landowners, nobles, and courtiers. Because courtiers were exempted from having to pay a land tax, the more land they acquired, the greater was the burden that fell on those peasants who had been able to retain their land.
On several occasions in the 18th century, famine resulted throughout Italy, unleashing great numbers of starving and landless people to wander aimlessly about the countryside. The widespread suffering led to numerous peasant revolts between 1730 and 1770. Landless peasants accounted for most of the initial support for the various rebellions, but they were often joined later by artisans and merchants, who had been taxed out of their occupations. Some of these movements enjoyed limited success for a short time, but it was not until 1771 that any of the revolts had a lasting national impact.
Dissatisfaction against the Gonzaga and Della Rovere signori spread throughout the country. In 1771, a peasant uprising against the Della Rovere began in Abruzzo. The rebels, which became known as the Montanari, were very successful. In 1774, the Gonzaga army launched an invasion of Della Rovere territory. The armies of signore Pietro VII della Rovere were soon overwhelmed, and Pietro fled to Sicily. In 1777, he was captured and executed by the Montanari. The remnants of the Della Rovere signoria, led by Pietro VIII della Rovere, retreated into the mountains. However, after being defeated by the Montanari, Pietro VIII went into exile.
In the 1780s, the Montanieri, under the command of Nicola Gualteiri and his lieutenant, Giuseppe Pronio, conquered most of Southern and Central Italy. In 1786, Giuseppe Pronio, defied Nicola's orders and invaded the North, which was controlled by the Gonzaga signori and the titular Colleoni monarchs. His campaign was victorious, as Giuseppe defeated the Gonzaga. Francesco Luigi, the Gonzaga signore, committed suicide. However, Giuseppe soon withdrew his armies from the capital, Milan, which allowed Giuseppe Gonzaga to be proclaim himself signore. Upon hearing of this, Giuseppe ordered Michele Pezza to march north with an army. Michele's army swiftly defeated the Gonzaga forces and captured Milan. However, upon entering the capital, Michele attempted to make himself signore. Upon hearing of Michele's trason, Giuseppe marched on Milan. Upon capturing the city, he had Michele executed and made himself signore.
Meanwhile, King Domenico XIII had fled to the Frankish border, refusing Giuseppe's requests to return to Milan. The Franks soon gathered a large army and invaded Italy, seeking to remove the Montanari from power. The Franks easily drove the Montanari out of Northern Italy. The actions of Domenico XIII and the Frankish invasion gave Giuseppe the opportunity to depose the Colleoni dynasty and proclaim himself King of Italy. He did so on 22 December 1788 during a coronation ceremony in Rome. Giuseppe then immediately marched north, defeating the invaders in a series of victorious battles and driving the Franks and Domenico XIII out of Italy.
Pronio dynasty (1788–1802)
1788–1802: Giuseppe
With his conquest of Italy and his defeat of the Frankish invasion, Giuseppe had ended the centuries-long war between the Gonzaga and Della Rovere families, ended the rule of the Colleoni dynasty and reunited the country for the first time in nearly three centuries. The Pronio dynasty entered a tributary relationship with the Gustavian dynasty of Francia and gained recognition as the rightful kings of Italy from Emperor Henri III. During the first decade of Giuseppe's reign, Italy experienced an age of peace of prosperity. However, relations between Italy and Francia remained hostile, and the Franks encouraged Pietro VIII, head of the Della Rovere family, to return from exile and launch a rebellion against the Pronio dynasty. In 1792, Pietro launched his rebellion in Southern Italy.
Meanwhile, Giuseppe became increasingly paranoid, enacting a massive purge against the leading nobles of the realm. Many who had previously served under him were executed, while others became discouraged and left the regime, considerably weakening Giuseppe's grip on power. This paved the way for Pietro's successful rebellion, who marched north with the help of Cambodian military adventurers. In 1801, Pietro captured Rome, forcing Giuseppe to flee to Milan. In 1802, Pietro besieged Milan. Giuseppe escaped, but was captured by Pietro's forces and executed. Pietro della Rovere, who had already crowned himself King of Italy in Rome, was now the undisputed master of the peninsula.
Della Rovere dynasty (1802–1945)
1802–1820: Pietro I
1820–1841: Pietro II
1841–1883: Pietro III
1883: Pietro IV
1883: Pietro V
1883–1884: Pietro VI
1884–1885: Pietro VII
1885–1889: Pietro VIII
1889–1907: Pietro IX
1907–1916: Pietro X
1916–1925: Pietro XI
1925–1945: Pietro XII
Having vanquished their rivals and taken the throne of Italy, the kings of the Della Rovere dynasty ruled with absolute power. However, having conquered Italy, the Della Rovere kings were unable to stabilise it. The Della Rovere monarchy was never popular with its subjects. Pietro I and his successors leavied heavy taxes on the people of Italy, which caused widespread dissatisfaction with their rule. During reigns of the first three kings, there were hundreds of uprisings thoughout Italy. During the reign of Pietro III, the country began to decline, and Cambodian influence began to increase. A war between Italy and Cambodia in 1858 led to the occupation of Sicily and Calabria. A series of unequal treaties followed; the occupied territory became the Cambodian territory of Saisaili in the 1862 Treaty of Milan, and the 1863 Treaty of Rome gave Cambodia access to Italian ports and increased control of its foreign affairs. Finally, the 1883 and 1884 Treaties of Rome divided the remaining Italian territory into the protectorates of Aiteali and Lombadi under nominal della Rovere rule. In 1887, Saisaili, Aiteali, Lombadi, and the Cambodian Protectorate of Krek were grouped together to form Cambodian Esbanh-Barang.
The Della Rovere dynasty remained the formal kings of Aiteali and Lombadi within Esbanh-Barang until World War II. Britain had occupied Krek-Barang with Cambodian collaboration in 1940, but as the war seemed increasingly lost, overthrew the Cambodian administration in March 1945 and proclaimed independence for its constituent countries. The Kingdom of Italy under King Pietro XII was a nominally independent British puppet state during the last months of the war. It ended with the King Pietro XII's abdication following the surrender of Britain and August Revolution by the anti-colonial CLN in August 1945. This ended the 143-year rule of the della Rovere dynasty.
A History of the Kings of Italy
The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century heralded a century during which various Germanic peoples struggled for control over the Italian Peninsula. This struggle came to an end in the latter part of the 6th century, when Italy was conquered by the Lombards, who established a kingdom which was to wield power over the peninsula for two centuries. The Lombard kings were crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, which would serve as the headdress of Italian rulers for nearly 1400 years.
The Lombard rule lasted until the Franks, led by the powerful king Charles, defeated the Lombards and conquered the peninsula in 774. Charles firmly established Frankish rule over Italy, going on to be crowned Holy Emperor in Rome in 800. After Charles's death in 814, Italy remained under the rule of the Frankish emperors. However, Charles's successors were weak rulers who failed to wield effective authority over their vast empire, resulting in decentralisation and the rise of autonomous governors. This decline also affected Italy, where powerful nobles gradually increased their influence over the imperial administration of the peninsula. By 866, the emperors had effectively lost control over Italy.
The fall of the Carolingian dynasty of Francia in 907 led to the collapse of the Holy Empire, ushering in decades of strife between competing breakaway states. In 930, one of these states, the Kingdom of Provence, attempted to gain control over Italy, which at this point was effectively ruled by the Aleramici family, who styled themselves Arch-Chancellors of Italy. The Provençal army defeated and captured the Aleramici ruler.
However, they were defeated in 931 by the forces of the lord Domenico Tribuno. Having driven the Provençals out of Italy, Domenico proclaimed himself Arch-Chancellor. In 937, Domenico was assassinated by his general, Berengar, lord of Ivrea, who proclaimed himself Arch-Chancellor. However, Berengar soon faced a rebellion led by the lord Pietro Candiano, the son-in-law of Domenico Tribuno. Pietro defeated and killed Berengar in 938.
The Provençals saw the upheaval in Italy as an opportunity to once again attempt to impose their rule over the peninsula. In the autumn of 938, a Provençal army invaded Italy. However, they were defeated by Pietro at the Battle of the Sesia. Having driven the Provençals out of Italy, Pietro decided to formally declare independence from foreign rule. On 1 February 939, he was crowned King of Italy, ending centuries of foreign rule over the peninsula. Pietro I's rule did not last long, as the old king died on 14 February. However, the kingdom he created was to last for over a millennium.
Candiano dynasty (939–965)
939: Pietro I Candiano
939–950: Tommasso Tribuno
950–959: Pietro II Candiano (Arch-Chancellor of Italy, co-ruler with Pietro III)
950–965: Pietro III Candiano (Arch-Chancellor of Italy, co-ruler with Pietro II until 959)
The untimely death of Pietro I after a 14-day reign unleashed a power struggle for the throne. On his deathbed, Pietro I had anointed his relative Tommasso Tribuno as regent for his son, Pietro. However, upon the death of Pietro I, Tommasso forced his son to abdicate and seized the throne for himself. Tommasso ruled Italy for the next eleven years, but was overthrown in 950. Pietro II and Pietro III, the sons of Pietro I, subsequently became co-rulers. The new rulers did not style themselves Kings of Italy, preferring to use the title of Arch-Chancellor in an attempt to subordinate themselves to the Conradians, the new ruling dynasty of Francia. The Conradians had completed the unification of the Holy Empire by 960.
The refusal of the Franks to recognise the Candiano family as the rulers of Italy denied the Arch-Chancellors the legitimacy to consolidate their rule. The dynasty collapsed after Pietro III died in battle in 965. The death of Pietro III led to three years of chaos, during which nobles and warlords struggled for control over Italy. Ugo, lord of Tuscany, emerged victorious from the struggle in 968, defeating his rivals and unifying Italy under his rule. Ugo proclaimed himself King of Italy and founded the ephemeral Tuscan dynasty.
Tuscan dynasty (968–980)
968–979: Ugo di Toscana
979–980: Waldrada di Toscana
Upon being crowned King of Italy, Ugo immediately set about consolidating his power and restoring order to the ravaged peninsula. Ugo moved the capital of his kingdom from Pavia to Florence, his base of power. Ugo reformed the administration of the realm, imposing strict penal codes to prevent chaos from happening again. Ugo's reign ended abruptly in 979, when he and his heir were assassinated by a courtier. He was succeeded by his relative, Walrada. After hearing of the demise of Ugo, the Frankish emperor launched an invasion of Italy. In response, the Italian court deposed Waldrada because she was a woman and instead enthroned the general Pietro Orseolo, the regent and commander of the Italian army, as King of Italy. Pietro established the Orseolo dynasty and fended off the Franks.
Orseolo dynasty (980–1032)
980–1009: Pietro Orseolo
1009: Orso Orseolo
1009–1032: Ottone Orseolo
The defeat of the Frankish invaders at the hands of Pietro ended the northern threat to the young kingdom. Following his victory over the Franks, Pietro launched an invasion of the kingdom of Campania, which controlled Southern and most of Central Italy. Pietro died in 1009, resulting in infighting for the throne amongst his sons, Orso and Ottone. Ottone emerged victorious from this struggle, killing his brother and assuming the throne. Ottone was an unpopular ruler. Ottone's dissatisfied subjects gathered around Poppo of Treffen, the Patriarch of Aquileia, the king's main opponent. When Ottone finally died in 1032, the court elected Pietro, lord of Cordenons, the patriarch's nephew, as King.
Cordenons dynasty (1032–1225)
1032–1054: Pietro di Cordenons
1054–1072: Niccolò di Cordenons
1072–1128: Carlo di Cordenons
1128–1138: Domenico di Cordenons
1138–1175: Tommaso di Cordenons
1175–1210: Leonardo di Cordenons
1210–1224: Sebastiano di Cordenons
1224–1225: Patrizia di Cordenons
In 1033, a year after his coronation, Pietro moved the capital of Italy from Florence to Milan, the city which was to remain the capital of the kingdom for nearly eight centuries. The early Cordenons kings are considered to have been highly competent rulers, and the realm flourished under their rule. In 1076, during the reign of Carlo, the third Cordenons king, the Italians repelled a Frankish invasion. Several wars between Italy and Campania occured in the 12th century. By the end of that century, the power of the royal court began to decline. The Alberti family, the lords of Prato, eventually rose to power. In 1224, the powerful courtier Maghinardo Alberti forced King Sebastiano to abdicate and enthroned Patrizia, Sebastiano's young daughter, as queen. Maghinardo then arranged a marriage between Patrizia and Alberto Alberti, Maghinardo's younger brother. In 1225, Patrizia was forced to cede the throne to her husband, who became the first king of the Alberti dynasty.
Alberti dynasty (1225–1400)
1225–1250: Alberto Alberti
1250–1290: Napoleone I Alberti
1290–1308: Orso Alberti
1308–1320: Tancredo Alberti
1320–1357: Maghinardo Alberti
1357–1369: Ottaviano Alberti
1369–1370: Napoleone Saliceti
1370–1394: Pietro Alberti
1394–1398: Napoleone II Alberti
1398–1400: Guido Alberti
Having deposed the Cordenons kings and enthroned his brother as king, Maghinardo Alberti effectively remained in control of the kingdom until his death in 1227. Maghinardo presided over a reign of terror, ruthlessly purging members of the old nobility, replacing them with men loyal to the new dynasty. After Maghinardo's death, King Alberto ended the purges. Alberto died in 1250 and was succeeded by his son, Napoleone I. During his reign, Napoleone repelled several invasions by the Icelandic Empire under Tumi Jarl I. The architect of these victories was Duke Ugolino Alberti. After Ugolino decisively defeated the Icelandic armies at the Battle of the Sesia in 1288, the Icelanders made no further attempts to conquer Italy. However, in order to avoid further invasions, Italy acknowledged Icelandic hegemony over the peninsula.
In the 14th century, the Alberti kings waged war against the kingdom of Campania. In 1312, the kings of Campania became vassals of Italy, but then years later they regained their independence and waged a long war against the Italians in order to regain the provinces of Lazio and Umbria, which had been taken by the Italians in 1288. In 1377, the Italians were decisively defeated by the Campanians at the Battle of Naples.
Subsequent Campanian invasions devastated Italy, leaving the kingdom exhausted and bankrupt. The Campanian advance was halted in 1390 by the general Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who decisively defeated the Campanian king, who died in battle. Following the defeat of the Campanians, Gian Galeazzo effectively became the ruler of Italy. In 1400, he dethroned the last Alberti king and had himself crowned King of Italy.
Visconti dynasty (1400–1407)
1400–1402: Gian Galeazzo Visconti
1402–1407: Gian Maria Visconti
The brief reign of Gian Galeazzo ended with his death in 1402. He was succeeded by his son Gian Maria, a sadistic tyrant who imposed a reign of terror on his subjects. In 1407, under the pretext of helping to restore the Alberti dynasty, the Franks invaded Italy and captured Gian Maria. Following the fall of the Visconti, the Franks forcibly annexed Italy into the Frankish Empire. Almost immediately, Alberti loyalists started an uprising against the Franks. The rebels, under the leadership of Ugolino Alberti, at first gained some advances, yet infighting between the rebels resulted in their defeat in 1413.
In 1418, an uprising against Frankish rule began under the leadership of Bartolomeo Colleoni, the son of a nobleman from Solza. Overcoming many early setbacks, Bartolomeo's movement finally gained momentum. In 1426, the rebels defeated the Frankish army and captured Milan after a siege. In 1428, having driven the Franks from Italy, Bartolomeo was crowned king.
Colleoni dynasty (1428–1527)
1428–1459: Bartolomeo Colleoni
1459–1460: Niccolò I Colleoni
1460–1497: Gian I Colleoni
1497–1504: Gian II Colleoni
1504: Tommasso I Colleoni
1504–1509: Tomasso II Colleoni
1509–1516: Ottaviano Colleoni
1516–1522: Gian III Colleoni
1522–1527: Gian IV Colleoni
During the reign of Bartolomeo, reforms were carried out to revitalise the Italian economy and to rebuild infrastructure. In 1459, Bartolomeo was overthrown and killed by his brother, Niccolò, who usurped the thrown. Niccolò was soon overthrown and executed by his nephew, Gian.
During the reign of Gian I, several administrative and judicial reforms were enacted. In 1471, Gian I invaded Campania and captured its capital, Naples. This effectively ended Campania as a powerful kingdom, although some smaller surviving southern states lasted for a few centuries more. Gian I also led several military campaigns in Illyria. The reign of Gian I was also considered the golden era the flowering of the Italian arts and letters. Gian I died in 1497 and was succeeded by by his son, Gian II. The deaths of Gian II and Tommasso I in 1504 marked the beginning of a crisis which was to last until the century, during which the power and prestige of the Colleoni kings eroded completely, and Italy was engulfed in chaos and civil war.
Tommasso I was succeeded by several cruel, debauched, and incompetent rulers, who did nothing to improve the country or assert royal authority. The brief reigns of these rulers ended violently, as they were assassinated as members of the Colleoni dynasty, courtiers and ministers struggled for power. The weakening of the monarchy created a vacuum that the various noble families of the aristocracy were eager to fill. One powerful and growing faction was led by Cesare Borgia, the captain of the royal guard. After defeating the Gonzaga and the Della Rovere families, his main rivals, in a civil war in 1522, Cesare became the most powerful man in Italy. In 1527, Cesare forced Gian IV to commit suicide, massacred most members of the Colleoni dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Italy.
Borgia dynasty (1527–1592)
1527–1533: Cesare Borgia
1533–1540: Domenico Borgia
1540–1546: Pier Borgia
1546–1561: Tommasso I Borgia
1561–1592: Michelangelo Borgia
1592: Tommasso II Borgia
With the usurpation of the throne by Cesare Borgia, the civil war broke out anew. Cesare's seizure of the throne prompted other powerful noble families, notably the Della Rovere and the Gonzaga, to rush to the support of the Colleoni loyalists. The Della Rovere and the Gonzaga gathered an army and under the leadership of Francesco Maria della Rovere, rose in revolt against Cesare. The figurehead of the rebellion was Niccolò Colleoni, son of Gian III, who had escaped Cesare's massacre of the dynasty and had fled to Illyria. In 1533, Francesco Maria proclaimed Niccolò King of Italy. The restored Colleoni dynasty only controlled Central Italy, as the Borgias retained control of Northern Italy and the capital, Milan. The Borgia dynasty was still recognised by the emperors of Francia as the legitimate rulers of Italy. For sixty years, the Colleoni in the south and the Borgias in the north fought a lengthy dynastic war for the throne of Italy. The war ended in 1592 when the Colleoni forces, led by signore Ferrante II Gonzaga, defeated the Borgias and recaptured Milan. Ferrante captured and executed Michelangelo, the Borgia king, and his sons, and the routed Borgia forces fled to Savoy, where they would rule until their final defeat at the hands of the Colleoni dynasty in 1677.
Colleoni dynasty (1533–1789)
1533–1548: Niccolò II Colleoni
1548–1556: Gian V Colleoni
1556–1573: Domenico I Colleoni
1573–1599: Domenico II Colleoni
1599–1619: Domenico III Colleoni
1619–1643: Domenico IV Colleoni
1643–1649: Domenico V Colleoni
1649–1662: Domenico IV Colleoni
1662–1671: Domenico VI Colleoni
1671–1675: Domenico VII Colleoni
1675–1706: Domenico VIII Colleoni
1706–1731: Domenico IX Colleoni
1731–1735: Domenico X Colleoni
1735–1759: Domenico XI Colleoni
1759–1786: Domenico XII Colleoni
1786–1789: Domenico XIII Colleoni
Although the Colleoni were restored to the throne in 1533 by Francesco Maria della Rovere, they held no real power, and Francesco Maria effectively ruled Italy as signore (lord). In 1545, Francesco Maria was poisoned by a courtier, and power passed to his son-in-law Ferrante Gonzaga. Ferrante and his successors would establish hereditary military rule over the kingdom, reducing the Colleoni kings to mere figureheads. In 1592, Ferrante II Gonzaga defeated the Borgias and reconquered Northern Italy, ending the long struggle between the Borgia and Colleoni dynasties. However, another struggle loomed. The Della Rovere family had ruled Central Italy as clients of the Gonzaga signori since 1558, but had become increasingly independent. In 1620, Ferrante II deposed and executed King Domenico III. Francesco Maria II della Rovere cited this as a pretext to declare the new king and the Gonzaga signori to be illegitimate and to refuse to subordinate himself to the court. Tensions rose over the next years until a civil war between the Gonzaga and the Della Rovere families broke out in 1627. The war lasted until 1672, ending with an uneasy peace between the two families. The Gonzaga signori retained control of the North and the royal court and the Della Rovere signori now ruled Central and Southern Italy.
Gonzaga signori
1545–1557: Ferrante I Gonzaga
1557–1578: Cesare I Gonzaga
1578–1630: Ferrante II Gonzaga
1630–1632: Cesare II Gonzaga
1632–1682: Ferrante III Gonzaga
1682–1714: Vincenzo Gonzaga
1714–1729: Antonio Ferrante Gonzaga
1729–1740: Giuseppe Maria Gonzaga
1740–1779: Sigismondo Gonzaga
1779–1782: Francesco Niccolò Gonzaga
1782: Fabio Maria Gonzaga
1782–1786: Francesco Luigi Gonzaga
1786–1787: Giovanni Gonzaga
Della Rovere signori
1533–1545: Francesco Maria I della Rovere
1558–1574: Guidobaldo della Rovere
1574–1631: Francesco Maria II della Rovere
1631–1648: Federico Ubaldo della Rovere
1648–1687: Pietro I della Rovere
1687–1691: Pietro II della Rovere
1691–1725: Pietro III della Rovere
1725–1738: Pietro IV della Rovere
1738–1765: Pietro V della Rovere
1765–1777: Pietro VI della Rovere
1776-1777: Pietro VII della Rovere
1780–1802: Pietro VIII della Rovere
The stalemate between the Gonzaga and Della Rovere signori that began after 1672 did not mark the beginning of a period of peace and prosperity. Instead the decades of continual warfare between the two families had left the people of Italy in a weakened state, the victim of taxes levied to support the courts and their military adventures. Having to meet their tax obligations had forced many peasants off the land and facilitated the acquisition of large tracts by a few wealthy landowners, nobles, and courtiers. Because courtiers were exempted from having to pay a land tax, the more land they acquired, the greater was the burden that fell on those peasants who had been able to retain their land.
On several occasions in the 18th century, famine resulted throughout Italy, unleashing great numbers of starving and landless people to wander aimlessly about the countryside. The widespread suffering led to numerous peasant revolts between 1730 and 1770. Landless peasants accounted for most of the initial support for the various rebellions, but they were often joined later by artisans and merchants, who had been taxed out of their occupations. Some of these movements enjoyed limited success for a short time, but it was not until 1771 that any of the revolts had a lasting national impact.
Dissatisfaction against the Gonzaga and Della Rovere signori spread throughout the country. In 1771, a peasant uprising against the Della Rovere began in Abruzzo. The rebels, which became known as the Montanari, were very successful. In 1774, the Gonzaga army launched an invasion of Della Rovere territory. The armies of signore Pietro VII della Rovere were soon overwhelmed, and Pietro fled to Sicily. In 1777, he was captured and executed by the Montanari. The remnants of the Della Rovere signoria, led by Pietro VIII della Rovere, retreated into the mountains. However, after being defeated by the Montanari, Pietro VIII went into exile.
In the 1780s, the Montanieri, under the command of Nicola Gualteiri and his lieutenant, Giuseppe Pronio, conquered most of Southern and Central Italy. In 1786, Giuseppe Pronio, defied Nicola's orders and invaded the North, which was controlled by the Gonzaga signori and the titular Colleoni monarchs. His campaign was victorious, as Giuseppe defeated the Gonzaga. Francesco Luigi, the Gonzaga signore, committed suicide. However, Giuseppe soon withdrew his armies from the capital, Milan, which allowed Giuseppe Gonzaga to be proclaim himself signore. Upon hearing of this, Giuseppe ordered Michele Pezza to march north with an army. Michele's army swiftly defeated the Gonzaga forces and captured Milan. However, upon entering the capital, Michele attempted to make himself signore. Upon hearing of Michele's trason, Giuseppe marched on Milan. Upon capturing the city, he had Michele executed and made himself signore.
Meanwhile, King Domenico XIII had fled to the Frankish border, refusing Giuseppe's requests to return to Milan. The Franks soon gathered a large army and invaded Italy, seeking to remove the Montanari from power. The Franks easily drove the Montanari out of Northern Italy. The actions of Domenico XIII and the Frankish invasion gave Giuseppe the opportunity to depose the Colleoni dynasty and proclaim himself King of Italy. He did so on 22 December 1788 during a coronation ceremony in Rome. Giuseppe then immediately marched north, defeating the invaders in a series of victorious battles and driving the Franks and Domenico XIII out of Italy.
Pronio dynasty (1788–1802)
1788–1802: Giuseppe
With his conquest of Italy and his defeat of the Frankish invasion, Giuseppe had ended the centuries-long war between the Gonzaga and Della Rovere families, ended the rule of the Colleoni dynasty and reunited the country for the first time in nearly three centuries. The Pronio dynasty entered a tributary relationship with the Gustavian dynasty of Francia and gained recognition as the rightful kings of Italy from Emperor Henri III. During the first decade of Giuseppe's reign, Italy experienced an age of peace of prosperity. However, relations between Italy and Francia remained hostile, and the Franks encouraged Pietro VIII, head of the Della Rovere family, to return from exile and launch a rebellion against the Pronio dynasty. In 1792, Pietro launched his rebellion in Southern Italy.
Meanwhile, Giuseppe became increasingly paranoid, enacting a massive purge against the leading nobles of the realm. Many who had previously served under him were executed, while others became discouraged and left the regime, considerably weakening Giuseppe's grip on power. This paved the way for Pietro's successful rebellion, who marched north with the help of Cambodian military adventurers. In 1801, Pietro captured Rome, forcing Giuseppe to flee to Milan. In 1802, Pietro besieged Milan. Giuseppe escaped, but was captured by Pietro's forces and executed. Pietro della Rovere, who had already crowned himself King of Italy in Rome, was now the undisputed master of the peninsula.
Della Rovere dynasty (1802–1945)
1802–1820: Pietro I
1820–1841: Pietro II
1841–1883: Pietro III
1883: Pietro IV
1883: Pietro V
1883–1884: Pietro VI
1884–1885: Pietro VII
1885–1889: Pietro VIII
1889–1907: Pietro IX
1907–1916: Pietro X
1916–1925: Pietro XI
1925–1945: Pietro XII
Having vanquished their rivals and taken the throne of Italy, the kings of the Della Rovere dynasty ruled with absolute power. However, having conquered Italy, the Della Rovere kings were unable to stabilise it. The Della Rovere monarchy was never popular with its subjects. Pietro I and his successors leavied heavy taxes on the people of Italy, which caused widespread dissatisfaction with their rule. During reigns of the first three kings, there were hundreds of uprisings thoughout Italy. During the reign of Pietro III, the country began to decline, and Cambodian influence began to increase. A war between Italy and Cambodia in 1858 led to the occupation of Sicily and Calabria. A series of unequal treaties followed; the occupied territory became the Cambodian territory of Saisaili in the 1862 Treaty of Milan, and the 1863 Treaty of Rome gave Cambodia access to Italian ports and increased control of its foreign affairs. Finally, the 1883 and 1884 Treaties of Rome divided the remaining Italian territory into the protectorates of Aiteali and Lombadi under nominal della Rovere rule. In 1887, Saisaili, Aiteali, Lombadi, and the Cambodian Protectorate of Krek were grouped together to form Cambodian Esbanh-Barang.
The Della Rovere dynasty remained the formal kings of Aiteali and Lombadi within Esbanh-Barang until World War II. Britain had occupied Krek-Barang with Cambodian collaboration in 1940, but as the war seemed increasingly lost, overthrew the Cambodian administration in March 1945 and proclaimed independence for its constituent countries. The Kingdom of Italy under King Pietro XII was a nominally independent British puppet state during the last months of the war. It ended with the King Pietro XII's abdication following the surrender of Britain and August Revolution by the anti-colonial CLN in August 1945. This ended the 143-year rule of the della Rovere dynasty.
Last edited:
- Location
- Op een dag, Nederland.
- Pronouns
- she/her & ne/nem
I honestly love this series so so much.A Crown of Iron
A History of the Kings of Italy
View attachment 79842
The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century heralded a century during which various Germanic peoples struggled for control over the Italian Peninsula. This struggle came to an end in the latter part of the 6th century, when Italy was conquered by the Lombards, who established a kingdom which was to wield power over the peninsula for two centuries. The Lombard kings were crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, which would serve as the headdress of Italian rulers for nearly 1400 years.
The Lombard rule lasted until the Franks, led by the powerful king Charles, defeated the Lombards and conquered the peninsula in 774. Charles firmly established Frankish rule over Italy, going on to be crowned Holy Emperor in Rome in 800. After Charles's death in 814, Italy remained under the rule of the Frankish emperors. However, Charles's successors were weak rulers who failed to wield effective authority over their vast empire, resulting in decentralisation and the rise of autonomous governors. This decline also affected Italy, where powerful nobles gradually increased their influence over the imperial administration of the peninsula. By 866, the emperors had effectively lost control over Italy.
The fall of the Carolingian dynasty of Francia in 907 led to the collapse of the Holy Empire, ushering in decades of strife between competing breakaway states. In 930, one of these states, the Kingdom of Provence, attempted to gain control over Italy, which at this point was effectively ruled by the Aleramici family, who styled themselves Arch-Chancellors of Italy. The Provençal army defeated and captured the Aleramici ruler.
However, they were defeated in 931 by the forces of the lord Domenico Tribuno. Having driven the Provençals out of Italy, Domenico proclaimed himself Arch-Chancellor. In 937, Domenico was assassinated by his general, Berengar, lord of Ivrea, who proclaimed himself Arch-Chancellor. However, Berengar soon faced a rebellion led by the lord Pietro Candiano, the son-in-law of Domenico Tribuno. Pietro defeated and killed Berengar in 938.
The Provençals saw the upheaval in Italy as an opportunity to once again attempt to impose their rule over the peninsula. In the autumn of 938, a Provençal army invaded Italy. However, they were defeated by Pietro at the Battle of the Sesia. Having driven the Provençals out of Italy, Pietro decided to formally declare independence from foreign rule. On 1 February 939, he was crowned King of Italy, ending centuries of foreign rule over the peninsula. Pietro I's rule did not last long, as the old king died on 14 February. However, the kingdom he created was to last for over a millennium.
Candiano dynasty (939–965)
939: Pietro I Candiano
939–950: Tommasso Tribuno
950–959: Pietro II Candiano (Arch-Chancellor of Italy, co-ruler with Pietro III)
950–965: Pietro III Candiano (Arch-Chancellor of Italy, co-ruler with Pietro II until 959)
The untimely death of Pietro I after a 14-day reign unleashed a power struggle for the throne. On his deathbed, Pietro I had anointed his relative Tommasso Tribuno as regent for his son, Pietro. However, upon the death of Pietro I, Tommasso forced his son to abdicate and seized the throne for himself. Tommasso ruled Italy for the next eleven years, but was overthrown in 950. Pietro II and Pietro III, the sons of Pietro I, subsequently became co-rulers. The new rulers did not style themselves Kings of Italy, preferring to use the title of Arch-Chancellor in an attempt to subordinate themselves to the Conradians, the new ruling dynasty of Francia. The Conradians had completed the unification of the Holy Empire by 960.
The refusal of the Franks to recognise the Candiano family as the rulers of Italy denied the Arch-Chancellors the legitimacy to consolidate their rule. The dynasty collapsed after Pietro III died in battle in 965. The death of Pietro III led to three years of chaos, during which nobles and warlords struggled for control over Italy. Ugo, lord of Tuscany, emerged victorious from the struggle in 968, defeating his rivals and unifying Italy under his rule. Ugo proclaimed himself King of Italy and founded the ephemeral Tuscan dynasty.
Tuscan dynasty (968–980)
968–979: Ugo di Toscana
979–980: Waldrada di Toscana
Upon being crowned King of Italy, Ugo immediately set about consolidating his power and restoring order to the ravaged peninsula. Ugo moved the capital of his kingdom from Pavia to Florence, his base of power. Ugo reformed the administration of the realm, imposing strict penal codes to prevent chaos from happening again. Ugo's reign ended abruptly in 979, when he and his heir were assassinated by a courtier. He was succeeded by his relative, Walrada. After hearing of the demise of Ugo, the Frankish emperor launched an invasion of Italy. In response, the Italian court deposed Waldrada because she was a woman and instead enthroned the general Pietro Orseolo, the regent and commander of the Italian army, as King of Italy. Pietro established the Orseolo dynasty and fended off the Franks.
Orseolo dynasty (980–1032)
980–1009: Pietro Orseolo
1009: Orso Orseolo
1009–1032: Ottone Orseolo
The defeat of the Frankish invaders at the hands of Pietro ended the northern threat to the young kingdom. Following his victory over the Franks, Pietro launched an invasion of the kingdom of Campania, which controlled Southern and most of Central Italy. Pietro died in 1009, resulting in infighting for the throne amongst his sons, Orso and Ottone. Ottone emerged victorious from this struggle, killing his brother and assuming the throne. Ottone was an unpopular ruler. Ottone's dissatisfied subjects gathered around Poppo of Treffen, the Patriarch of Aquileia, the king's main opponent. When Ottone finally died in 1032, the court elected Pietro, lord of Cordenons, the patriarch's nephew, as King.
Cordenons dynasty (1032–1225)
1032–1054: Pietro di Cordenons
1054–1072: Niccolò di Cordenons
1072–1128: Carlo di Cordenons
1128–1138: Domenico di Cordenons
1138–1175: Tommaso di Cordenons
1175–1210: Leonardo di Cordenons
1210–1224: Sebastiano di Cordenons
1224–1225: Patrizia di Cordenons
In 1033, a year after his coronation, Pietro moved the capital of Italy from Florence to Milan, the city which was to remain the capital of the kingdom for nearly eight centuries. The early Cordenons kings are considered to have been highly competent rulers, and the realm flourished under their rule. In 1076, during the reign of Carlo, the third Cordenons king, the Italians repelled a Frankish invasion. Several wars between Italy and Campania occured in the 12th century. By the end of that century, the power of the royal court began to decline. The Alberti family, the lords of Prato, eventually rose to power. In 1224, the powerful courtier Maghinardo Alberti forced King Sebastiano to abdicate and enthroned Patrizia, Sebastiano's young daughter, as queen. Maghinardo then arranged a marriage between Patrizia and Alberto Alberti, Maghinardo's younger brother. In 1225, Patrizia was forced to cede the throne to her husband, who became the first king of the Alberti dynasty.
Alberti dynasty (1225–1400)
1225–1250: Alberto Alberti
1250–1290: Napoleone I Alberti
1290–1308: Orso Alberti
1308–1320: Tancredo Alberti
1320–1357: Maghinardo Alberti
1357–1369: Ottaviano Alberti
1369–1370: Napoleone Saliceti
1370–1394: Pietro Alberti
1394–1398: Napoleone II Alberti
1398–1400: Guido Alberti
Having deposed the Cordenons kings and enthroned his brother as king, Maghinardo Alberti effectively remained in control of the kingdom until his death in 1227. Maghinardo presided over a reign of terror, ruthlessly purging members of the old nobility, replacing them with men loyal to the new dynasty. After Maghinardo's death, King Alberto ended the purges. Alberto died in 1250 and was succeeded by his son, Napoleone I. During his reign, Napoleone repelled several invasions by the Icelandic Empire under Tumi Jarl I. The architect of these victories was Duke Ugolino Alberti. After Ugolino decisively defeated the Icelandic armies at the Battle of the Sesia in 1288, the Icelanders made no further attempts to conquer Italy. However, in order to avoid further invasions, Italy acknowledged Icelandic hegemony over the peninsula.
In the 14th century, the Alberti kings waged war against the kingdom of Campania. In 1312, the kings of Campania became vassals of Italy, but then years later they regained their independence and waged a long war against the Italians in order to regain the provinces of Lazio and Umbria, which had been taken by the Italians in 1288. In 1377, the Italians were decisively defeated by the Campanians at the Battle of Naples.
Subsequent Campanian invasions devastated Italy, leaving the kingdom exhausted and bankrupt. The Campanian advance was halted in 1390 by the general Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who decisively defeated the Campanian king, who died in battle. Following the defeat of the Campanians, Gian Galeazzo effectively became the ruler of Italy. In 1400, he dethroned the last Alberti king and had himself crowned King of Italy.
Visconti dynasty (1400–1407)
1400–1402: Gian Galeazzo Visconti
1402–1407: Gian Maria Visconti
The brief reign of Gian Galeazzo ended with his death in 1402. He was succeeded by his son Gian Maria, a sadistic tyrant who imposed a reign of terror on his subjects. In 1407, under the pretext of helping to restore the Alberti dynasty, the Franks invaded Italy and captured Gian Maria. Following the fall of the Visconti, the Franks forcibly annexed Italy into the Frankish Empire. Almost immediately, Alberti loyalists started an uprising against the Franks. The rebels, under the leadership of Ugolino Alberti, at first gained some advances, yet infighting between the rebels resulted in their defeat in 1413.
In 1418, an uprising against Frankish rule began under the leadership of Bartolomeo Colleoni, the son of a nobleman from Solza. Overcoming many early setbacks, Bartolomeo's movement finally gained momentum. In 1426, the rebels defeated the Frankish army and captured Milan after a siege. In 1428, having driven the Franks from Italy, Bartolomeo was crowned king.
Colleoni dynasty (1428–1527)
1428–1459: Bartolomeo Colleoni
1459–1460: Niccolò I Colleoni
1460–1497: Gian I Colleoni
1497–1504: Gian II Colleoni
1504: Tommasso I Colleoni
1504–1509: Tomasso II Colleoni
1509–1516: Ottaviano Colleoni
1516–1522: Gian III Colleoni
1522–1527: Gian IV Colleoni
During the reign of Bartolomeo, reforms were carried out to revitalise the Italian economy and to rebuild infrastructure. In 1459, Bartolomeo was overthrown and killed by his brother, Niccolò, who usurped the thrown. Niccolò was soon overthrown and executed by his nephew, Gian.
During the reign of Gian I, several administrative and judicial reforms were enacted. In 1471, Gian I invaded Campania and captured its capital, Naples. This effectively ended Campania as a powerful kingdom, although some smaller surviving southern states lasted for a few centuries more. Gian I also led several military campaigns in Illyria. The reign of Gian I was also considered the golden era the flowering of the Italian arts and letters. Gian I died in 1497 and was succeeded by by his son, Gian II. The deaths of Gian II and Tommasso I in 1504 marked the beginning of a crisis which was to last until the century, during which the power and prestige of the Colleoni kings eroded completely, and Italy was engulfed in chaos and civil war.
Tommasso I was succeeded by several cruel, debauched, and incompetent rulers, who did nothing to improve the country or assert royal authority. The brief reigns of these rulers ended violently, as they were assassinated as members of the Colleoni dynasty, courtiers and ministers struggled for power. The weakening of the monarchy created a vacuum that the various noble families of the aristocracy were eager to fill. One powerful and growing faction was led by Cesare Borgia, the captain of the royal guard. After defeating the Gonzaga and the Della Rovere families, his main rivals, in a civil war in 1522, Cesare became the most powerful man in Italy. In 1527, Cesare forced Gian IV to commit suicide, massacred most members of the Colleoni dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Italy.
Borgia dynasty (1527–1592)
1527–1533: Cesare Borgia
1533–1540: Domenico Borgia
1540–1546: Pier Borgia
1546–1561: Tommasso I Borgia
1561–1592: Michelangelo Borgia
1592: Tommasso II Borgia
With the usurpation of the throne by Cesare Borgia, the civil war broke out anew. Cesare's seizure of the throne prompted other powerful noble families, notably the Della Rovere and the Gonzaga, to rush to the support of the Colleoni loyalists. The Della Rovere and the Gonzaga gathered an army and under the leadership of Francesco Maria della Rovere, rose in revolt against Cesare. The figurehead of the rebellion was Niccolò Colleoni, son of Gian III, who had escaped Cesare's massacre of the dynasty and had fled to Illyria. In 1533, Francesco Maria proclaimed Niccolò King of Italy. The restored Colleoni dynasty only controlled Central Italy, as the Borgias retained control of Northern Italy and the capital, Milan. The Borgia dynasty was still recognised by the emperors of Francia as the legitimate rulers of Italy. For sixty years, the Colleoni in the south and the Borgias in the north fought a lengthy dynastic war for the throne of Italy. The war ended in 1592 when the Colleoni forces, led by signore Ferrante II Gonzaga, defeated the Borgias and recaptured Milan. Ferrante captured and executed Michelangelo, the Borgia king, and his sons, and the routed Borgia forces fled to Savoy, where they would rule until their final defeat at the hands of the Colleoni dynasty in 1677.
Colleoni dynasty (1533–1789)
1533–1548: Niccolò II Colleoni
1548–1556: Gian V Colleoni
1556–1573: Domenico I Colleoni
1573–1599: Domenico II Colleoni
1599–1619: Domenico III Colleoni
1619–1643: Domenico IV Colleoni
1643–1649: Domenico V Colleoni
1649–1662: Domenico IV Colleoni
1662–1671: Domenico VI Colleoni
1671–1675: Domenico VII Colleoni
1675–1706: Domenico VIII Colleoni
1706–1731: Domenico IX Colleoni
1731–1735: Domenico X Colleoni
1735–1759: Domenico XI Colleoni
1759–1786: Domenico XII Colleoni
1786–1789: Domenico XIII Colleoni
Although the Colleoni were restored to the throne in 1533 by Francesco Maria della Rovere, they held no real power, and Francesco Maria effectively ruled Italy as signore (lord). In 1545, Francesco Maria was poisoned by a courtier, and power passed to his son-in-law Ferrante Gonzaga. Ferrante and his successors would establish hereditary military rule over the kingdom, reducing the Colleoni kings to mere figureheads. In 1592, Ferrante II Gonzaga defeated the Borgias and reconquered Northern Italy, ending the long struggle between the Borgia and Colleoni dynasties. However, another struggle loomed. The Della Rovere family had ruled Central Italy as clients of the Gonzaga signori since 1558, but had become increasingly independent. In 1620, Ferrante II deposed and executed King Domenico III. Francesco Maria II della Rovere cited this as a pretext to declare the new king and the Gonzaga signori to be illegitimate and to refuse to subordinate himself to the court. Tensions rose over the next years until a civil war between the Gonzaga and the Della Rovere families broke out in 1627. The war lasted until 1672, ending with an uneasy peace between the two families. The Gonzaga signori retained control of the North and the royal court and the Della Rovere signori now ruled Central and Southern Italy.
Gonzaga signori
1545–1557: Ferrante I Gonzaga
1557–1578: Cesare I Gonzaga
1578–1630: Ferrante II Gonzaga
1630–1632: Cesare II Gonzaga
1632–1682: Ferrante III Gonzaga
1682–1714: Vincenzo Gonzaga
1714–1729: Antonio Ferrante Gonzaga
1729–1740: Giuseppe Maria Gonzaga
1740–1779: Sigismondo Gonzaga
1779–1782: Francesco Niccolò Gonzaga
1782: Fabio Maria Gonzaga
1782–1786: Francesco Luigi Gonzaga
1786–1787: Giovanni Gonzaga
Della Rovere signori
1533–1545: Francesco Maria I della Rovere
1558–1574: Guidobaldo della Rovere
1574–1631: Francesco Maria II della Rovere
1631–1648: Federico Ubaldo della Rovere
1648–1687: Pietro I della Rovere
1687–1691: Pietro II della Rovere
1691–1725: Pietro III della Rovere
1725–1738: Pietro IV della Rovere
1738–1765: Pietro V della Rovere
1765–1777: Pietro VI della Rovere
1776-1777: Pietro VII della Rovere
1780–1802: Pietro VIII della Rovere
The stalemate between the Gonzaga and Della Rovere signori that began after 1672 did not mark the beginning of a period of peace and prosperity. Instead the decades of continual warfare between the two families had left the people of Italy in a weakened state, the victim of taxes levied to support the courts and their military adventures. Having to meet their tax obligations had forced many peasants off the land and facilitated the acquisition of large tracts by a few wealthy landowners, nobles, and courtiers. Because courtiers were exempted from having to pay a land tax, the more land they acquired, the greater was the burden that fell on those peasants who had been able to retain their land.
On several occasions in the 18th century, famine resulted throughout Italy, unleashing great numbers of starving and landless people to wander aimlessly about the countryside. The widespread suffering led to numerous peasant revolts between 1730 and 1770. Landless peasants accounted for most of the initial support for the various rebellions, but they were often joined later by artisans and merchants, who had been taxed out of their occupations. Some of these movements enjoyed limited success for a short time, but it was not until 1771 that any of the revolts had a lasting national impact.
Dissatisfaction against the Gonzaga and Della Rovere signori spread throughout the country. In 1771, a peasant uprising against the Della Rovere began in Abruzzo. The rebels, which became known as the Montanari, were very successful. In 1774, the Gonzaga army launched an invasion of Della Rovere territory. The armies of signore Pietro VII della Rovere were soon overwhelmed, and Pietro fled to Sicily. In 1777, he was captured and executed by the Montanari. The remnants of the Della Rovere signoria, led by Pietro VIII della Rovere, retreated into the mountains. However, after being defeated by the Montanari, Pietro VIII went into exile.
In the 1780s, the Montanieri, under the command of Nicola Gualteiri and his lieutenant, Giuseppe Pronio, conquered most of Southern and Central Italy. In 1786, Giuseppe Pronio, defied Nicola's orders and invaded the North, which was controlled by the Gonzaga signori and the titular Colleoni monarchs. His campaign was victorious, as Giuseppe defeated the Gonzaga. Francesco Luigi, the Gonzaga signore, committed suicide. However, Giuseppe soon withdrew his armies from the capital, Milan, which allowed Giuseppe Gonzaga to be proclaim himself signore. Upon hearing of this, Giuseppe ordered Michele Pezza to march north with an army. Michele's army swiftly defeated the Gonzaga forces and captured Milan. However, upon entering the capital, Michele attempted to make himself signore. Upon hearing of Michele's trason, Giuseppe marched on Milan. Upon capturing the city, he had Michele executed and made himself signore.
Meanwhile, King Domenico XIII had fled to the Frankish border, refusing Giuseppe's requests to return to Milan. The Franks soon gathered a large army and invaded Italy, seeking to remove the Montanari from power. The Franks easily drove the Montanari out of Northern Italy. The actions of Domenico XIII and the Frankish invasion gave Giuseppe the opportunity to depose the Colleoni dynasty and proclaim himself King of Italy. He did so on 22 December 1788 during a coronation ceremony in Rome. Giuseppe then immediately marched north, defeating the invaders in a series of victorious battles and driving the Franks and Domenico XIII out of Italy.
Pronio dynasty (1788–1802)
1788–1802: Giuseppe
With his conquest of Italy and his defeat of the Frankish invasion, Giuseppe had ended the centuries-long war between the Gonzaga and Della Rovere families, ended the rule of the Colleoni dynasty and reunited the country for the first time in nearly three centuries. The Pronio dynasty entered a tributary relationship with the Gustavian dynasty of Francia and gained recognition as the rightful kings of Italy from Emperor Henri III. During the first decade of Giuseppe's reign, Italy experienced an age of peace of prosperity. However, relations between Italy and Francia remained hostile, and the Franks encouraged Pietro VIII, head of the Della Rovere family, to return from exile and launch a rebellion against the Pronio dynasty. In 1792, Pietro launched his rebellion in Southern Italy.
Meanwhile, Giuseppe became increasingly paranoid, enacting a massive purge against the leading nobles of the realm. Many who had previously served under him were executed, while others became discouraged and left the regime, considerably weakening Giuseppe's grip on power. This paved the way for Pietro's successful rebellion, who marched north with the help of Cambodian military adventurers. In 1801, Pietro captured Rome, forcing Giuseppe to flee to Milan. In 1802, Pietro besieged Milan. Giuseppe escaped, but was captured by Pietro's forces and executed. Pietro della Rovere, who had already crowned himself King of Italy in Rome, was now the undisputed master of the peninsula.
Della Rovere dynasty (1802–1945)
1802–1820: Pietro I
1820–1841: Pietro II
1841–1883: Pietro III
1883: Pietro IV
1883: Pietro V
1883–1884: Pietro VI
1884–1885: Pietro VII
1885–1889: Pietro VIII
1889–1907: Pietro IX
1907–1916: Pietro X
1916–1925: Pietro XI
1925–1945: Pietro XII
Having vanquished their rivals and taken the throne of Italy, the kings of the Della Rovere dynasty ruled with absolute power. However, having conquered Italy, the Della Rovere kings were unable to stabilise it. The Della Rovere monarchy was never popular with its subjects. Pietro I and his successors leavied heavy taxes on the people of Italy, which caused widespread dissatisfaction with their rule. During reigns of the first three kings, there were hundreds of uprisings thoughout Italy. During the reign of Pietro III, the country began to decline, and Cambodian influence began to increase. A war between Italy and Cambodia in 1858 led to the occupation of Sicily and Calabria. A series of unequal treaties followed; the occupied territory became the Cambodian territory of Saisaili in the 1862 Treaty of Milan, and the 1863 Treaty of Rome gave Cambodia access to Italian ports and increased control of its foreign affairs. Finally, the 1883 and 1884 Treaties of Rome divided the remaining Italian territory into the protectorates of Aiteali and Lombadi under nominal della Rovere rule. In 1887, Saisaili, Aiteali, Lombadi, and the Cambodian Protectorate of Krek were grouped together to form Cambodian Esbanh-Barang.
The Della Rovere dynasty remained the formal kings of Aiteali and Lombadi within Esbanh-Barang until World War II. Britain had occupied Krek-Barang with Cambodian collaboration in 1940, but as the war seemed increasingly lost, overthrew the Cambodian administration in March 1945 and proclaimed independence for its constituent countries. The Kingdom of Italy under King Pietro XII was a nominally independent British puppet state during the last months of the war. It ended with the King Pietro XII's abdication following the surrender of Britain and August Revolution by the anti-colonial CLN in August 1945. This ended the 143-year rule of the della Rovere dynasty.
- Location
- Teignmouth, Devon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
From the SLP Discord Server, 2034
h-s2 posted:
Background to this. I woke up this morning wanting to write something where Rishi Sunak stayed in power and ended up fighting the General Election against Starmer. This is just notes so forgive me if this is weird.
Looking on metapedia I saw that Azhar Ali was actually elected in Rochdale in a by election just before the 2024 locals. If he'd gone weird earlier that would have given Starmer a chance to get rid of him before Yemen. But weirdly, he was up against a guy called George Galloway who was also a former Labour MP who left the party because of war in the Middle East. And he was also very weird! So what if Labour had to distance themselves from the AA at the start of his career.
This election was really weird anyway - read more about it in my snaptext but the main thing is, with Galloway elected Labour suddenly doesn't feel undefeatable and Sunak stays in power because the Tories don't have to resort to desperate measures. Rishi Sunak has no reason to call an election in June because he has no honeymoon period to capitalise on. So he sticks to his original plan of holding an election in November.
The result is:
October 2022- November 2024: Rishi Sunak (Conservative)
Given that he's in power over the Summer of 2024, he has to make a decision about what to do after the sinking of the Gravely. There's no reason he'd make a different choice to Starmer. He might get a bit of a polling bounce from it as ironically Yemen initially played well with swing voters. But it's not like Labour will disagree so
November 2024-June 2033: Keir Starmer (Labour)
Starmer still secured a strong lead in this timeline, although maybe 2 or 3 seats went Tory instead based on the Coalition's early successes. This election is happening in war-time with a more developed pro-Gaza and pro-Peace movement so the Greens hold Brighton and gain Bristol based on that. Galloway also held Rochdale. Without a locally popular anti-war MP Labour struggled.
Despite the worse start, things actually turned out better for Labour in this timeline. The Tories were in power at the start of the war and cannot separate themselves from it. With the election happening in war time the constitutionally anti-war NatCons can't sweep to power in the Conservative Party. The Tory leadership election sees both the PopCons and NatCons defeated by the party's moderate wing under Penny Mordaunt, which was as-yet unnamed.
The anti-war movement remains on the fringes of politics. Both parties have responsibility for Yemen and mourn the fall of Kyev. Under Mordaunt, the it's the NatCons rather than the OneCons who leave the party. With an influx of new members Reform UK survives and expands but the anti-war movement is led by the Left. More specifically, it's led by the Greens. Galloway was a controversial figure - anti-trans, anti-gender revolution, anti-decolonising and only holding on because of a skill of infiltrating Muslim pre-war community politics. He was also an egotist. Honestly, with him as a focal point for leftist agitation it's very possible the left wouldn't have unified at all, leaving the Greens as the dominant political voice in the anti-war left.
With a pro-war opposition, Starmer has more political weight to throw towards his cause. He takes a risk and recognises the Lviv government rather than the Odessa government. Having no fear of losing an election, Starmer holds one in 2028 and wins it. This means he has more room to manoeuvre in 2029 and supports the invasion of Syria.
In 2028 the PopCons under Jacob Rees-Mogg win control of the Tory party from the OneCons. The few remaining NatCons are running Reform UK which only has a few seats in parliament. While the PopCons are less bullish about war, they nevertheless hold the line. British, then EU, money starts to make its way into Lviv. British troops are actually deployed in Damascus. The Third Gulf War isn't just a desperate last stand, the Coalition has supply routes right into rebel territory! By 2033 the Ukrainians have Russia properly on the run. The less good news is the Syria, Iraq and Yemen turn into Gaza style meatgrinders where a generation of young people go to die. But, hey, the war is won! For a given value of won.
June 2034-XXXX: Wes Streeting (Labour)
The polling bounce from a (very very different!) Treaty of Minsk sees Labour manage to stay in power despite everything. In fact, Starmer is able to hand over to one of his right hand men. The Tories pivot back to the OneCons hoping to capitalise on their pro-war stance. But anti-war sentiment is still growing as in this timeline the Rafah riots are just the start of a regional, even global, movement.
The Greens achieve a solid four seats in the 2034 election and in this timeline, environmentalism is increasingly on the agenda. The Planet Movement and the Anti-War movement are almost the same thing! Reform UK has become a third party, benefiting from the influx of NatCons in much the same way the OneCons benefited the Lib Dems in our timeline. The Lib Dems struggle along, like they always did.
With the NatCons nowhere near parliament social issues remain genteel and early 2020s style - Black Lives Matter versus the Metropolitan Police; The Free Speech Union versus the NUS; the LGB Alliance versus Mermaids; alt-right youtubers versus feminism. Issues of race, sex, and gender identity don't really explode and the movements involved in these struggles remain small, peripheral and largely bloodless. The Police Force is never bought together, the monarchy is never challenged, nobody has ever heard of forcefem sissyhypno cults or Nina Conti. Britain is dealing with a legacy of having won the wars and while Labour is a party in decline it's not seriously challenged yet.
And oh fuck oh no I've written another Utopian 2020s thing.
h-s2 posted:
Background to this. I woke up this morning wanting to write something where Rishi Sunak stayed in power and ended up fighting the General Election against Starmer. This is just notes so forgive me if this is weird.
Looking on metapedia I saw that Azhar Ali was actually elected in Rochdale in a by election just before the 2024 locals. If he'd gone weird earlier that would have given Starmer a chance to get rid of him before Yemen. But weirdly, he was up against a guy called George Galloway who was also a former Labour MP who left the party because of war in the Middle East. And he was also very weird! So what if Labour had to distance themselves from the AA at the start of his career.
George Galloway (Workers Party): 22.1%
Paul Ellison (Conservative): 21.9%
Azhar Ali: 19.9%
Simon Danczuk (Reform UK): 19.9%
Iain Donaldson (Liberal Democrat): 12.4%
Guy Otten (Green): 1.2%
Mark Coleman:0.8%
William Howarth: 0.7%
Ravin Rodent Subortna (Moster Raving Loony) 0.6%
Michael Howarth: 0.3%
David Tully: 0.2%
This election was really weird anyway - read more about it in my snaptext but the main thing is, with Galloway elected Labour suddenly doesn't feel undefeatable and Sunak stays in power because the Tories don't have to resort to desperate measures. Rishi Sunak has no reason to call an election in June because he has no honeymoon period to capitalise on. So he sticks to his original plan of holding an election in November.
The result is:
October 2022- November 2024: Rishi Sunak (Conservative)
Given that he's in power over the Summer of 2024, he has to make a decision about what to do after the sinking of the Gravely. There's no reason he'd make a different choice to Starmer. He might get a bit of a polling bounce from it as ironically Yemen initially played well with swing voters. But it's not like Labour will disagree so
November 2024-June 2033: Keir Starmer (Labour)
Starmer still secured a strong lead in this timeline, although maybe 2 or 3 seats went Tory instead based on the Coalition's early successes. This election is happening in war-time with a more developed pro-Gaza and pro-Peace movement so the Greens hold Brighton and gain Bristol based on that. Galloway also held Rochdale. Without a locally popular anti-war MP Labour struggled.
Despite the worse start, things actually turned out better for Labour in this timeline. The Tories were in power at the start of the war and cannot separate themselves from it. With the election happening in war time the constitutionally anti-war NatCons can't sweep to power in the Conservative Party. The Tory leadership election sees both the PopCons and NatCons defeated by the party's moderate wing under Penny Mordaunt, which was as-yet unnamed.
The anti-war movement remains on the fringes of politics. Both parties have responsibility for Yemen and mourn the fall of Kyev. Under Mordaunt, the it's the NatCons rather than the OneCons who leave the party. With an influx of new members Reform UK survives and expands but the anti-war movement is led by the Left. More specifically, it's led by the Greens. Galloway was a controversial figure - anti-trans, anti-gender revolution, anti-decolonising and only holding on because of a skill of infiltrating Muslim pre-war community politics. He was also an egotist. Honestly, with him as a focal point for leftist agitation it's very possible the left wouldn't have unified at all, leaving the Greens as the dominant political voice in the anti-war left.
With a pro-war opposition, Starmer has more political weight to throw towards his cause. He takes a risk and recognises the Lviv government rather than the Odessa government. Having no fear of losing an election, Starmer holds one in 2028 and wins it. This means he has more room to manoeuvre in 2029 and supports the invasion of Syria.
In 2028 the PopCons under Jacob Rees-Mogg win control of the Tory party from the OneCons. The few remaining NatCons are running Reform UK which only has a few seats in parliament. While the PopCons are less bullish about war, they nevertheless hold the line. British, then EU, money starts to make its way into Lviv. British troops are actually deployed in Damascus. The Third Gulf War isn't just a desperate last stand, the Coalition has supply routes right into rebel territory! By 2033 the Ukrainians have Russia properly on the run. The less good news is the Syria, Iraq and Yemen turn into Gaza style meatgrinders where a generation of young people go to die. But, hey, the war is won! For a given value of won.
June 2034-XXXX: Wes Streeting (Labour)
The polling bounce from a (very very different!) Treaty of Minsk sees Labour manage to stay in power despite everything. In fact, Starmer is able to hand over to one of his right hand men. The Tories pivot back to the OneCons hoping to capitalise on their pro-war stance. But anti-war sentiment is still growing as in this timeline the Rafah riots are just the start of a regional, even global, movement.
The Greens achieve a solid four seats in the 2034 election and in this timeline, environmentalism is increasingly on the agenda. The Planet Movement and the Anti-War movement are almost the same thing! Reform UK has become a third party, benefiting from the influx of NatCons in much the same way the OneCons benefited the Lib Dems in our timeline. The Lib Dems struggle along, like they always did.
With the NatCons nowhere near parliament social issues remain genteel and early 2020s style - Black Lives Matter versus the Metropolitan Police; The Free Speech Union versus the NUS; the LGB Alliance versus Mermaids; alt-right youtubers versus feminism. Issues of race, sex, and gender identity don't really explode and the movements involved in these struggles remain small, peripheral and largely bloodless. The Police Force is never bought together, the monarchy is never challenged, nobody has ever heard of forcefem sissyhypno cults or Nina Conti. Britain is dealing with a legacy of having won the wars and while Labour is a party in decline it's not seriously challenged yet.
And oh fuck oh no I've written another Utopian 2020s thing.
I love the detail of a Police Scotland style unification of police being called the Police Force.
Walpurgisnacht
It was in the Year of Maximum Danger
- Location
- Banned from the forum
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The treating loose internal faction names like real parties with firm definitions is perhaps the detail here with the most versillimitude.
Love/hate the idea of someone using “2020s style” as a synonym for “low-key subdued social issues”. We clearly have further to fall. We’re not even doing discourse about ventriloquists yet!
Love/hate the idea of someone using “2020s style” as a synonym for “low-key subdued social issues”. We clearly have further to fall. We’re not even doing discourse about ventriloquists yet!
- Location
- Teignmouth, Devon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Thanks, I was trying to hit that sense that for someone in whatever the original timeline is, the three Conservative factions are set in stone and ideologically immovable in a way that the author simply cannot imagine being different.
TheKennedyMachine
Well-known member
- Pronouns
- she/her
TheHatMan98
Well-known member
Presidents of the United States
1913-1921: Woodrow Wilson (Democratic) [1]
1912 w/ Thomas R. Marshall def. Theodore Roosevelt/Hiram Johnson (Progressive); William Howard Taft/Nicholas M. Butler (Republican); Eugene V. Debs/Emil Seidel (Socialist)
1916 w/ Thomas R. Marshall def. Charles Evans Hughes/Charles W. Fairbanks (Republican)
1921-1929: William Gibbs McAdoo (Democratic) [2]
1920 w/ Franklin D. Roosevelt† def. Frank Orren Lowden/Miles Poindexter (Republican); Robert M. La Follette/Gifford Pinchot (Progressive)
1924 w/ James M. Cox def. Hiram Johnson/Herbert Hoover (Republican); Robert M. La Follette/Lynn Frazier (Farmer-Labour-Progressive)
1929-1937: Herbert Hoover (Republican) [3]
1928 w/ Charles Curtis def. Al Smith/Cordell Hull (Democratic); Fiorello La Guardia/Magnus Johnson (Farmer-Labour-Progressive)
1932 w/ Charles Curtis def. Al Smith/William H. Murray (Democratic); Norman Thomas/William Dudley Haywood (Socialist); Henrik Shipstead/Floyd B. Olson (Farmer-Labour-Progressive)
1937-: Huey P. Long† (Share Our Wealth) [4]
1936 w/Floyd B. Olson† def. John Nance Garner/Henry A. Wallace (Democratic); William Borah/Roland H. Hartley (Republican)
1937-1941: Douglas MacArthur* (Emergency Government) [6]
*= Elected unaminously by the House of Representatives amidst the succession crisis
w/ John Nance Garner
1940 – Election Suspended under the 1937 Emergency Powers Act due to the Great American War [5]
1941-1945: John Nance Garner (Democratic, leading Provisional Government) [7]
1945-1949: Douglas MacArthur (Republican) [8]
1944 w/ Earl Warren def. Wendell Willkie†/Prentice Cooper (Progressive); Harry F. Byrd/Richard Russell (Conservative)
1949-1957: Henry A. Wallace (Progressive) [9]
1948 w/ George C. Marshall def. Robert A. Taft/Richard Russell (Conservative); Earl Warren/Richard M. Nixon (Republican)
1952 w/ Estes Kefauver def. Joesph McCarthy/Happy Chandler (Conservative)
1957-: Happy Chandler (Conservative)
1956 w/ Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. def. Estes Kefauver/Hubert Humphrey (Progressive)
1913-1921: Woodrow Wilson (Democratic) [1]
1912 w/ Thomas R. Marshall def. Theodore Roosevelt/Hiram Johnson (Progressive); William Howard Taft/Nicholas M. Butler (Republican); Eugene V. Debs/Emil Seidel (Socialist)
1916 w/ Thomas R. Marshall def. Charles Evans Hughes/Charles W. Fairbanks (Republican)
1921-1929: William Gibbs McAdoo (Democratic) [2]
1920 w/ Franklin D. Roosevelt† def. Frank Orren Lowden/Miles Poindexter (Republican); Robert M. La Follette/Gifford Pinchot (Progressive)
1924 w/ James M. Cox def. Hiram Johnson/Herbert Hoover (Republican); Robert M. La Follette/Lynn Frazier (Farmer-Labour-Progressive)
1929-1937: Herbert Hoover (Republican) [3]
1928 w/ Charles Curtis def. Al Smith/Cordell Hull (Democratic); Fiorello La Guardia/Magnus Johnson (Farmer-Labour-Progressive)
1932 w/ Charles Curtis def. Al Smith/William H. Murray (Democratic); Norman Thomas/William Dudley Haywood (Socialist); Henrik Shipstead/Floyd B. Olson (Farmer-Labour-Progressive)
1937-: Huey P. Long† (Share Our Wealth) [4]
1936 w/
1937-1941: Douglas MacArthur* (Emergency Government) [6]
*= Elected unaminously by the House of Representatives amidst the succession crisis
w/ John Nance Garner
1940 – Election Suspended under the 1937 Emergency Powers Act due to the Great American War [5]
1941-1945: John Nance Garner (Democratic, leading Provisional Government) [7]
1945-1949: Douglas MacArthur (Republican) [8]
1944 w/ Earl Warren def. Wendell Willkie†/Prentice Cooper (Progressive); Harry F. Byrd/Richard Russell (Conservative)
1949-1957: Henry A. Wallace (Progressive) [9]
1948 w/ George C. Marshall def. Robert A. Taft/Richard Russell (Conservative); Earl Warren/Richard M. Nixon (Republican)
1952 w/ Estes Kefauver def. Joesph McCarthy/Happy Chandler (Conservative)
1957-: Happy Chandler (Conservative)
1956 w/ Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. def. Estes Kefauver/Hubert Humphrey (Progressive)
[1] A Committed Isolationist – When Woodrow Wilson left the White House, he was hailed as ‘the man that kept us out of war!’ Indeed, despite the best efforts and provocation of the Central Powers, Wilson refused to allow the United States to be dragged into the purely European quarrel between its Imperial powers. Instead, Wilson dedicated his two terms to continuance of the Progressive ideals (albeit expanding segregation at the same time) and securing American interests in Latin America. In 1917, the Zimmerman Crisis almost forced Wilson’s hand to enter the war, but the German Foreign Minister’s sacking and the consequent decision not to commit to unrestricted submarine warfare cooled tensions; the German Spring Offensive a year later, led the Entente to openly lobby the U.S. to enter the war on their side. Yet Wilson resisted their call still, as he did the efforts of American financiers and industrialists that lobbied on their behalf. On the end it proved a moot point, as the overextended German army could no longer bare the strain and began to collapse, and the French and British armies over the year to follow pushed them into Germany itself. At last, at the President’s urging, both sides signed an armistice on November 11th, 1919. Wilson’s popularity was such that he might have stood for a third successive term, alas a stroke prior to the Democratic National Convention left him paralyzed, though he did succeed in getting his chosen successor the nomination instead.
[2] The Well-meaning Reformer – It was not so much an election in 1920 for McAdoo, but an anointing though not quite a coronation. As Secretary of the Treasury, and Son-in-Law of Wilson, McAdoo swept the nomination at the convention and went on to fight a blistering election campaign. While Wilson had won (arguably) by a fluke in 1912 and by the skin of his teeth in 1916, McAdoo swept the vote and electoral college by the highest margin of any Democrat since 1852. Despite McAdoo’s auspicious beginning and promise, his Presidency would ultimately one shrouded in difficulties beyond his control and ability to resolve – it started in the very infancy of his administration with the death of his Vice President.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was young, brilliant, and energetic, even prior to his nomination to the Vice Presidency was being spoken of as a future party leader and President – during the 1920 campaign his charisma and the nostalgia associated with him via his late cousin Theodore had been directly responsible for many dedicated Republican voters, especially in New York, going over to the Democrats. Unfortunately, in August 1921, young Roosevelt was struck with an illness that at the time was diagnosed as polio. Despite efforts by doctors to treat him, Roosevelt’s health declined over winter and by New Year’s Day he was dead. It was a serious blow to the McAdoo administration and the wider Democratic Party.
At the same time, the now infamous Volstead Act had been passed and the administration through its full weight behind the enforcement and prosecution of Prohibition, leading to the inevitable spread of violence and corruption that it necessitated. As a direct result of the administrations policy, organised crime began to spread like a cancer throughout America of the period over the sale and production of illegal alcohol by organized crime gangs in major American cities, especially prominent were Italian American gangs, led by the likes of Alphonse Capone, Johnny Torrio and Joe Masseria, the Jewish Mob of Arnold Rothstein and Dutch Schultz, and Irish bootleggers like Jack Diamond. Bootlegging even tarnished political circles as many prominent figures in both major parties took part and sought to profit from illegal racketeering and bootlegging, as well as supplying colleagues and political allies with their illicit liquor.
Despite the early and mid-20s popular image as boom time for America, it was tainted by scandal, crime and increasing inequality. This led to a much tighter contest for McAdoo in 1924, though another split in the Republican Party between two of its biggest personalities proved decisive for his re-election, after a controversial renomination process tarred McAdoo after he was explicitly endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.
McAdoo’s second term would prove just as turbulent as his first, as the American economy began to stagnate as its export market began to feel the restrictions of the post-War world. After the peace of 1919, Europe’s economies had become increasingly protectionist and placed higher tariffs on imports, namely those from America: in 1923, British Prime Minister Austen Chamberlain standardised the system of ‘Imperial Preference’, effectively squeezing American exports out of the Sterling Bloc; the successive German nationalist regimes that had been in power since the Kapp Putsch, although dependent on American loans and goodwill, refused allow American goods to undermine its industry; Japan and the Communist regime in Russia likewise closed their doors. Dedicated Free Traders in the Democratic repeatedly blocked efforts by Congressional Republicans to introduce punitive tariffs of their own, and McAdoo backed them. By 1926, the only free trading power left in Europe was France yet by years end this two became a slammed door as revolution once more swept the streets of Paris. As the end of his term began to approach, serious concerns about the stability of the American economy were being raised by the Treasury, but the President was paralyzed as what to do – punitive tariffs would surely exacerbate the problem and cause a global trade war; at the same time, the stock market and Wall Street boomed amidst reckless speculation by broker’s and their investors; but if an effort was made to censure this activity, it might trigger a panic and plunge the nation into recession. Time passed and as preparations were made for him to leave the White House, McAdoo still had no answer.
[3] Obstinate Ideologue – Herbert Hoover had rose to be a national figure during the War as a peerless humanitarian for his work in Belgium, and afterward he sought to strengthen and rebuild Europe by working with various financiers like Charles Dawes to fund reconstruction efforts in both the Entente and the defeated Central Powers by supplying them with American loans. This made him both popular and renown at home and abroad, and the Republican Party looked at him with hungry eyes just the kind of man to sweep them back into the White House after so long. Hoover proved out for them: as Democratic candidate Al Smith staggered both from the record of the incumbent Democrat and anti-Catholic smears, Hoover camped out in the Democrats back yard by targeting Southern States that Republicans had not carried since Reconstruction, even removing black Republicans from their posts to carry favour with Southerners. There was a consequence to be had for this however, as while Hoover may have carried Virginia, the old Republican thorn of the Progressive coalition broke out of Minnesota and Wisconsin to sweep the Dakotas and into the Great Plains, even threatening to upset the Republicans in Illinois, Michigan, Indianna, and the Democrats in New York and Ohio.
Nevertheless, Hoover carried the election comfortably, the nation was behind him and just as optimistic as their leader when he triumphantly announced in his inauguration speech: “we shall soon with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation.” Cruel irony would see it otherwise, as in October 1929 the New York Stock Exchange crashed, and America and the world were plunged into the Great Depression. Supported by the Cabinet of conservative business patriarchs, Hoover’s belief was that the Depression was both caused and exacerbated by the collapse in market confidence and sought to restore business strength without direct Federal intervention. Although Hoover introduced certain measures like cutting interest rates and exerting influence on business leaders, he consistently vetoed Congressional plans for unemployment relief, what other paltry efforts the administration made were wholly inadequate to the scale of the disaster – the President began to be held personally responsible as so-called “Hoovervilles” populated by the nation’s ballooning population of homeless and unemployed sprang up in every major city. Hoover’s only concession to intervention followed with Reconstruction Finance Corporation to provide financial support by making loans, but efforts to expand the RFC and its remit were again frustrated.
In 1932, chances of re-election for Hoover looked slim, the Republican majority in both Houses were of the past. Yet the Democrats were not in a good position either, having nominated Al Smith again after a ferocious contest where Louisiana governor Huey Long almost caused a walkout among delegates and threatened to run as a third-Party candidate. Or rather a fifth, as Farmer-Labour had their eye on explicitly Democrat votes, as did the Socialist Party, buoyant over some promising gains in the House and shocking upset that elevated socialist New York mayor Norman Thomas to the Senate. Hoover won re-election by one of the strangest looking electoral maps in history and slid into a second term mired by the same impotence in economic matters that would be matched by equal limpness in foreign affairs.
As the American economy crashed, it took the global economy with it. Inflation rattled Germany, and so to the triumvirates and cabals of Prussian generals that had served successively as Regent, President, Chancellor, Minister-President and so on tottered and fell by the hand of the same Republicans that they had booted out in 1920, while the Austrian Führer in Vienna salivated over his long-awaited return to Munich. Metropole France continued to face running street battles between Anarchists and Neo-Jacobins while the patriarchs and Maréchaux of the Fourth Republic stewed in Algiers. Canada severed its ties to the mother country as Mackenzie King won power for the Liberals after more than 10 years out of power, and in disgust at the Imperial Conference in Sydney that called for “ever closer Union” between the Empire, declared that Canada was an independent Commonwealth.
Amidst all this chaos, Hoover’s only step onto the foreign stage was his callous demand for repayment of outstanding foreign debts, both from the War and after. The response not merely left Hoover humiliated, but showed his complete divorce from diplomatic reality – not merely did the Revolutionary governments of Moscow and Paris not wish to pay their debt, they did not acknowledge any; while, even if Britain and Germany wanted to pay their debt, they had no means to do so – for them it was a question of couldn’t, rather than wouldn’t. Outraged, Hoover fell back on the old Republican standby of tariffs. His signing of the Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930 had been controversial, and crippled international trade; his new tariffs were suicidal to it and the chances of any serious Republican contender in 1936.
[4] The Kingfish – Who was Huey P. Long? What was Huey P. Long? Was he a power-hungry demagogue, driven by avarice and a lust for power, like Mussolini and Stalin; a political opportunist, aligned with white supremacists and antisemites, like Hitler; or a stalwart driven by principles and a genuine desire to rectify the injustices bewitching the poorest in society and the excluded, regardless of race? The many cannot make such a conclusion as the answer changes from person to person, and his earlier death of the cusp of the Presidency means any answer shall remain elusive.
Born to a middle-class family amidst the rural poverty of Northern Louisiana, he was admitted to the bar in 1915 and earned a name as a tenacious prosecutor that didn’t shy away from taking on big companies. After witnessing Long at work in front of the Supreme Court, former President William Howard Taft noted him to be "the most brilliant lawyer who ever practiced before the United States Supreme Court". In the ‘20s, Long became the first candidate since Reconstruction to challenge establishment Democrat Party in New Orleans, invokers of the Lost Cause, segregationists, supremacists, Klan leaders, relics of the planter class and above all corrupt. After a false start in 1924, in 1928 Long, with 15,000 Louisianans at his back, Long was inaugurated governor in New Orleans.
Even prior to the Great Depression, Louisianna was dauntedly the poorest state in the Union and Long delivered hitherto unprecedented public works: constructing roads, bridges – including the first ever to bridge the Mississippi – schools, and hospitals. After what may well have been the most productive term as governor in the States history, at end Long stood for Senate. There he turned his fiery rhetoric against the Hoover administration and the Democratic leadership – he was lukewarm to Al Smith and would later deride him for not pushing the Party platform further, and midway through 1932 DNC the two broke completely. Already it was speculated that Long would leave the Party entire and run an independent campaign, but in ’32 Long chose to keep his powder dry. A year later Long revealed a series of bills to redistribute wealth, capping fortunes at $100 million, limiting annual income to $1 million, and cap inheritances at $5 million. The “Share Our Wealth” platform and slogan became the basis of Long’s campaign for 1936, and he began to cultivate a national following all the while governing Louisiana effectively by diktat. A strange assortment of endorsements came to Long: Gerald L. K. Smith, Francis Townsend, Milo Reno, Rexford Tugwell, Father Coughlin, and Senator Burton K. Wheeler. That latter would prove to be the most profitable for him as one of the most prominent Senator of the Progressive Party and their Farmer-Labor allies, so in that capacity introduced Long to the coalition leadership.
Long had always sympathised with their agrarian constituents in the Midwest and the on the Plains and was prepared to countenance a joint ticket with them, but what gave him pause was the Progressive-Farmer-Labor already publicly agreed to ally with the Socialist Party. Despite being one of the most radical politicians of the era, Long maintained that he was not a socialist and implicitly scorned comparisons with his programme and was one of the most vocal opponents of Norman Thomas in the Senate. Nevertheless, the potential of such a ticket was too tempting: Long’s own basis with the Southern rural poor made him competitive with breaking the Democrat’s Solid South; Farmer-Labour meant he could sweep the Midwest and the Great Plains; the Progressives gave him a leg to stand on in California and the Southwest, while the Socialists put him in contention in shifting the Republicans in the Great Lakes and the industrial cities of the Eastern Seaboard. Sure enough, the electoral map followed that trend – but for Maine, Vermont and Kansas, the Republicans were wiped out, the Democrats carried Virginia, Oregon, Ohio, the Carolinas and California, and the rest of New England. The rest fell to Long.
Nevertheless, it was far from a peaceful election street violence and riots followed every campaigner on the trail. Long’s own supporters were as apt to fight amongst each other (as varied and eclectic confederacy as they were) than with their official opponents. More than once Federal marshals, state police and national guard units had to be ordered in to break up the fallout from Long’s rallies. Worst still, tragedy struck in early December as Vice President Elect Floyd B. Olson succumbed to cancer. Long had chose the Minnesota governor as his Vice President to sure up Farmer-Labor support as buttress against too much influence from the Socialist Party, as well as his successful and successively more radical terms of state governor. The loss of this moderate and able came as a deep shock to the pending Long administration – with no Constitutional method to install a new Vice President, the battle for influence as the administrations Number 2 man intensified, as did the violence: Long’s brother, Earl, and Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor had his home fire bombed; America’s leading Fascist William Dudley Pelley was gunned down in a drive by-in Chicago, his paramilitaries then attempted ‘retaliation’ at noted Socialists and Jewish figures, including two attempts on Senator Norman Thomas and successfully assassinating Jewish Mobster Bugsy Siegel – these were among countless of other acts of violence. Even Long’s inauguration proved inflammatory, after failing to soothe national tensions, when a band of Klan members aimed to storm the White House with the intent of capturing and lynching the outgoing and incoming Presidents – a firefight on Pennsylvania Avenue broke out that left two Klansman dead, one Secret Serviceman killed, a United States Marine wounded and a journalist from the White House Pressroom gut-shot.
After the inauguration, things began to cool to a simmer as Federal and local forces began restoring order. With this brief respite, Long returned to Louisiana to console his brother. Here, Long’s irascible and erratic personality got the better of him as a fumble between the President’s Secret Service detail and Long’s private “skull-crushers” allowed Carl Weiss, a political enemy of the President, to close and shoot him point-blank with a pistol. Weiss did not survive long enough to ensure he had killed the President as skull-crushers and Secret Servicemen fired more than 80 rounds into the man. After rushing the President to the hospital, surgeons were unable to stop the internal bleeding despite more than 24 hours effort. Poetically, Long’s last words at 4am on February 6th, 1937, were recorded as "God, don't let me die. I have so much to do."
[5] The Great American War is the collective name given to the three armed conflicts that were fought concurrently across North America between 1937 and 1941. Officially the War began with collapse of the United States into the Second American Civil War (February 1937 – March 1941) after the assassination of President Huey Long, before it escalated with the Second Mexican-American War (March 1938 – January 1940), the New England Insurgency (August 1937 – July 1938) and the Canadian-American War (October 1939 – August 1941). As a conflict it remains one of the largest, most complex, and unconventional in the history of the world. Combat ranged widely from theatre to theatre: First World War-style trench warfare of the Texas Redoubt and the Carolinas Campaign; modernized armoured warfare of manoeuvre of the Pennsylvania Campaign and the Baja Front; gruelling sieges and urban fighting of Siege of New York and the Missouri Gap; murderous guerrilla campaigns of the Ku Klux and United Africa League in Georgia and the Christian Nationalist Crusade terror bombing campaigns. The war was notable for the passion that it inspired both amongst the belligerents and abroad, and the atrocities that it inspired. Occupied territories were subject to purges of suspected dissidents, with public liquidation by firing squad the most widely used method for any reason that could be justified by the instigators of the Terror.
The central cause of the Second American Civil War was the dispute over who should succeed newly inaugurated President Huey P. Long. Owing to Vice President Elect Floyd B. Olson’s predeceasing Long and lacking a confirmed Cabinet the Presidential Succession Act of 1886 proved wholly inadequate to provide a clear chain of succession, as well as political gridlock in Congress that had been going on for years as a result of poor leadership by the Hoover administration and the Great Depression. Congressional Republicans lobbied for President Hoover to return as Acting President, which infuriated their opponents. Members of Long’s Share Our Wealth coalition argued they had the right to name a successor but could not agree and their alliance quickly collapsed. Democrat Speaker of the House John Nance Garner probably had the most legitimate claim to the Presidency, but with no Majority in either chamber found no mechanism to lift himself up. As paralysis gripped the Halls of Power in Washington, clergymen Charles Coughlin and Gerald L.K. Smith announced the formation of the Christian Nationalist Crusade, with the full financial backing of Henry Ford, as an “alternative America” and that the United States was a dead nation. Meanwhile, the “American Lenin”, Bill Haywood returned from exile in Russia and with other Socialists, Anarchists, Communists, and more extreme Trade Unions declared the Commonwealth of American Soviets in the Great Lakes. This was in turn followed by the secession of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina from the union as the New Confederate States of America. In the face of total collapse of the Union, Chief of Staff of the United States Army Douglas MacArthur made a joint appeal to Congress to unilaterally elect him as President, which they duly did. This final seeming repudiation of American democracy prompted California governor Upton Sinclair to announce that States secession from the Union, soon followed by Oregon and Nevada to form the Greater California Republic.
[6] Ceasar of the Potomac – Since the Historian Jac Weller published his trilogy on MacArthur, the General’s life is commonly divided into three per his biographies: MacArthur in Washington (1930-1937), MacArthur in the Field (1937-1941), and MacArthur in Power (1941-1950). Born to a longline of military men, Douglas MacArthur had a promising military career of his own from his graduation from West Point. As a junior officer he served in the Philippines and President Wilson’s interventions in Latin America and serving as an observer in Europe on the Western Front. Returning to the United States in 1919, rapid promotion followed: the army’s youngest Major-General at forty-four in 1925, and Chief of Staff at fifty in 1930. MacArthur proved controversial in his post, deeply critical of Congressional budget cuts, and withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad, while at the same time breaking strikes and protests that threatened civil order with U.S. Army troops. Privately, the General often spoke of America’s dire need and the value of strongman leaders that the Depression was producing in other countries, and his contempt for President Hoover was such that when the Philippines gained its independence in 1935, he genuinely considered Manuel Quezon’s proposition that he supervise the creation of the nation’s new army. As a result, MacArthur remained in place as Chief of Staff when the election of ’36.
From the beginning of the succession crisis, MacArthur seemed the only reliable actor in Washington, placing troops on the streets of the Capitol as early as November, and actively fortifying strategic positions in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. His personal appeals to the key figures like Harry F. Byrd, Happy Chandler, Cordell Hull, and Carter Glass managed to secure the loyalty of the Upper South to the Federal government. As chaos swept the rest of the country, MacArthur finally made his demand to Congress, and the hollowed-out remnants of both Houses agreed. Duly sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, MacArthur sought to legitimise his position and named Speaker of the House John Nance Garner as Vice President. The two men’s relationship would prove to be particular stormy at the beginning of the War, particularly over MacArthur’s scepticism of the ability of Texas to holdout once it became surrounded and what he termed as Garner’s naivety when it came to New Confederates in the South – the President was no stranger to Southern prejudice – but as the Federalist cause bounced back and Texas proved a vital strategic thorn in the side of the enemy they proved amicable and productive with one another.
After the closure of the Missouri Gap, the President concentrated on the Northern Strategy, intent on recapturing New York to seal off the flow of foreign weapons into the hands of the Commonwealth of American Soviets then pivot and take back the industrial heartland of the Great Lakes. Although faced with repeated entreaties from Senators to cut deals and win the support of foreign powers, MacArthur remained intransigent about yielding a foot of American territory, avowedly remarking “We shall return.” as the Japanese occupied the Pacific territories, the Canadians entrenched their positions in Alaska and New England, and the British fleet occupied Puerto Rico, Guantanamo, and the Panama Canal. In accordance with this dogged attitude, the President formed a cross-party War Cabinet to prosecute the war: F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover was made Secretary of the Interior and empowered by the Emergency Powers Act to form the National Security Agency that came to specialize in rooting out further sedition in Federal territory and supervised pro-Federal paramilitaries behind the line; Vice President Garner, in between trips to sure up Texan resolve, soothed both Houses of Congress from turning against their General; Secretary of War Henry L. Stimpson effectively created a total war economy for the United States and formulated strategies, as well as becoming MacArthur’s moderator when it came to his micromanaging tendencies with subordinates on campaign.
Early in the War, the President was prone to micromanage the Army’s personnel. At times it was essential as it removed officers that were too inflexible or even incompetent for the field. But at times proved a liability as officers on the frontline had opinions prone to differ with the President’s assessment. He unilaterally sacked Malin Craig for his decision to withdraw from South Carolina in in the January 1938, before George Patton’s New Confederate counteroffensive drove Federal lines all the way back to Virginia. By Autumn 1938 however, MacArthur had a corps of reliable subordinates that he could count on to deliver and he involved himself less in tactical decisions. Dwight Eisenhower’s campaigns in Great Lakes broke the back of the Soviets, and put Federal troops back in the Midwest by July 1939; George C. Marshall held off three belligerent armies from concurrently invading Tennessee and Kentucky before eventually leading his troops across the Mississippi; Walter Krueger knuckled down and held Texas against the New Confederates, the Californians and the Mexican before in turn leaving them bedazzled by his army’s outmanoeuvred and destroyed all their offensives against incredible odds, before his “new Alamo” was relieved by Omar Bradley in October, 1939; finally Adna Chaffee beat George Patton at his own game at the Battle of Norfolk, and chased him all the way back to Montgomery.
Like General Grant before him, MacArthur refused anything less than unconditional surrender. In August 1939, as the New Confederates and the Soviets each capitulated, he accepted California Generalissimo Hap Arnold’s offer to meet for peace talks in Denver. When Arnold submitted an offer that meant both sides would withdraw to either side of a demilitarized zone in the Rocky Mountains and accept Greater California’s independence, the President walked out, and the Federal offensives resumed a day later. By this time, the war was well within MacArthur’s favour, beside Christian Crusader bombing campaigns in the North and the ethnic guerilla campaigns in Georgia, there was no major fighting east of the Plains. The Federals had also begun to receive foreign support, as Britain’s efforts to impose non-intervention by foreign powers was torpedoed by the Canadian government, the new Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and his ally Chancellor Stresemann both threw their weight behind MacArthur. The Treaty of Newark between the President and the British and German foreign ministers secured their material support, as well as the return of occupied territory to American custody after wars' end, giving MacArthur the latitude to finish the war on his terms, however it also proved the final straw for the Canadians.
Canadian Premier Adrien Arcand’s decision to invade the United States came at exactly too late to have a chance at success. The last New Confederates were being mopped up in Louisiana and Arkansas, the Californias were well passed the culmination point, and a coup in Mexico had removed Nicolás Carrasco and they had withdrawn from the war. Worst still the Canadian Army was ill-equipped to fight an industrial war on a wide front, after being committed to a (admittedly very successful) counter insurgency campaign in New England for two years. Canada’s war only prolonged the fighting across the North America, and when Sacramento fell in March 1941, Ottawa was placed on a 6-month timer. After MacArthur accepted the surrender of Canadian Field Marshal Georges Vanier in Quebec City, the Great American War was over and the President paraded through the streets of Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington as the Nation’s greatest hero: Grant, Lincoln, Washington, and Cincinnatus all mashed into one. It would have been dangerously easy for MacArthur to carry on in Office indefinitely, instead he addressed both Houses of Congress and the nation via Radio to announce his resignation of the Presidency on November 23rd, 1941, with Vice President John Nance Garner succeeding him – returning power back to the civilian government.
[7] The Last Democrat – “Cactus Jack” Garner was a Texan lawyer who entered politics in the late 1890s, before arriving in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1902, where he would sit for more than 30 years. In 1931, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives after two years as House Minority Leader and the presumptive candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1936, which he duly won. A deeply conservative Southerner, Garner made speeches defaming Huey Long and his Socialist allies, who strikes he declared were worsening the country’s already dire economic situation and decried Long’s spending plans as fiscally irresponsible. Despite a respectable showing however, he could not compete with Long’s charisma and promises and lost the Presidency to him.
After Long’s assassination, Garner became the leading candidate to take the Presidency, but Congressional gridlock and failing precedent could not smooth a way forward for him. When the country began to fray, Garner reluctantly submitted to MacArthur and in return for pushing the House of Representatives behind the General was selected to be his Vice President. Despite having previously stated that the Vice Presidency "not worth a bucket of warm piss", Garner agreed to serve alongside MacArthur for the good of the nation. Garner was also considered highly effective in the passage of emergency legislation, with MacArthur relying greatly on Garner's wealth of political friendships and legislative skills to pilot the necessary war measures through Congress. The unique situation also gave the Vice President more active roles in the Cabinet and was effectively the head of the Civilian government, and deputizing for MacArthur when he was in the field. The President and Vice President almost split completely over the decision to withdraw territory West of the Mississippi as MacArthur contemplated evacuating Texas via the Sea. Garner’s rush to Texas in person rallied the Federal resolve in the state when many were openly contemplating going over to the New Confederates and troops in New Mexico held on, and despite the fall of Dallas and heavy fighting in Houston, the front stabilised and newly promoted commander of troops in Texas Walter Kreuger held the Federal position there for the remainder of the war. Tensions between MacArthur and Garner continued, as the Vice President’s Southern sympathies led to him encourage Federal entreaties to the New Confederates. Only the defection and testimony of James F. Byrnes about the resolve of New Confederate leadership prompted the Vice President to give up hope of further overtures.
At the War’s end, and MacArthur resigned the Presidency to restore civilian government, Garner duly ascended as Chief Executive. Many naturally assumed that an election would follow, but the business of restoring order in former rebel territories as well as occupying the whole of Canada, while terrorists in major cities across North America could still be relied on to regularly bomb United States’ troops. Despite detractors predicting Garner to behave like Andrew Johnson had after the last Civil War, the new President would brook no sympathy with traitors and pushed through the executive orders that led to the Arlington Tribunals and the execution of rebel leaders, mandated the seizure of rebel property, businesses, and capital by Federal authorities. Just like the ill-gotten gains of the nation’s war-profiteering criminals, like “Lucky” Luciano and Meyer Lansky, the confiscated fortunes of men like Henry Ford, Prescott Bush, Charles Lindbergh for their support of rebel factions was then used to fund the Reconstruction of the destroyed homes and property that the war had caused. Soldiers of the Federal Army remained in place armed and with full Congressional backing, as House and Senate committees ruled on the legitimacy and legality of trade unions whose leadership were suspect. At this same time, Garner treated fairly with defeated rebels that proved amiable – the Appalachian P.O.W. camps were closed and the sent home as Lee’s army had been from Appomattox and were even later permitted to receive veterans’ benefits. A special Constitutional Committee was created and it Amendments passed and ratified legally: the Electoral College was abolished in favour of popular vote; a new line of Presidential Succession that place the Speaker of the House in line after the Vice President, the Senate Majority Leader after him and then Cabinet by order of rank; Prohibition was finally repealed as well; Statehood for the District of Columbia, Alaska and Puerto Rico, and the partition of California and Michigan into two separate states, with northern California renamed Jefferson, Upper Michigan renamed Superior and admitted to the Union alongside the others.
This combination of compassion and vengeance spearheaded by the Garner Administration has led the more generously assessing his Presidency to characterise it as one fuelled by the true spirit of 1776, a long-awaited course correction that shifted America back on to the road to glory. Yet it was far from being as romantic as they would have you believe. Garner’s tenure would prove just as divisive as perhaps President Hoover, as his own party ripped itself apart. The Democrats had been arguably the biggest political tent in America and managed to find plenty of its former member and constituents in just about every rebel camp of the War, north, south, and west. And those that remained loyal to Washington were more the inside of the tent spitting out kind, and criticised the Administration from all sides when they could. With the peace it only intensified, and it was secret that the main issue was Race. Ever since General MacArthur enforced the desegregation of United States’ Armed Forces as a military necessity in July ’38, the divide on the issue between Northern progressive Democrats and Southern conservatives became an open yawning chasm. Though he made no secret of his sympathies in private, publicly President Garner did what was best to stitch the nation back together and held his tongue, refused to undo military desegregation, and let the factions fight it out among themselves. As 1944 dawned, the first Presidential election in 8 years was right around the corner, and it became swiftly apparent that the Democratic Party could not sit a united convention. Officially, the Party dissolved in September of that year as the separate wings held rival conventions in Atlantic City, NJ and Charlotte, NC.
As he departed office for retirement, President Garner lamented the split in his old Party. And back door appeals from both Conventions came to him with an offer of nomination, but he declined, already on ascending his office the oldest President on record. He did not stay in Washington to see the inauguration of his successor and returned once more by sea to his beloved Texas and remained there for the next 23 years till his death at 98.
[8] Return of the Chief – After MacArthur’s resignation of the Presidency in 1941 there was a not so insignificant cabal of army officers, government officials and Congressmen that believed that he should have remained on to manage the Reconstruction of the nation. But it soon became clear that although MacArthur had left the White House, he had not left public life – he remained the most senior officer in the United States Army, and President Garner shortly appointed him as Governor of occupied Canada with remit of rehabilitating the country. Unlike the more absolute approach to reconstruction in rebel states, MacArthur actively partnered with Canadian institutions, and recalled the former Canadian Prime Minister R.B. Bennet from exile in London to head the provisional government. Despite pressures from Canadian Tories, the British and revanchist New Englanders, MacArthur pardoned Mackenzie King, who they held responsible for Canada’s rogue path. At the same time, he facilitated the U.S. government in its prosecution of Mountie and Canadian Army war criminals that had overseen the New England Occupation. These officers faced the same punishment metered out to other perpetrators of the American Terror south of the border. MacArthur’s job in rebuilding Canada was by and large helped by the fact that despite the efforts of Adrien Arcand the country had never renounced Democracy; the new Canadian Constitution written by the occupiers merely had to reinforce its institutions, without turning back the clock – despite the Churchill government’s entreaties there would be no restoration of Canada’s Dominion status and it would remain firmly in the Washington rather than returning to London’s.
At the same time, MacArthur signalled that we would seek to return to the White House, by democratic means. The Republican Party, unlike the Democratic, remained cohesive, but deeply problematic and frankly shell-shocked as an organization and the least trusted collective of individuals in the entire nation. Once the natural party of the Presidency, not since Teddy Roosevelt had it proved itself either capable or worthy of holding the office. Therefore, it was not so difficult for MacArthur to become its leading candidate, in fact they were desperate for him to accept the mantle. Although leading former Democrats had been amidst the architects of succession, the Republicans were responsible for Hoover that led to the conditions for Revolution and had taken the reigns of power in the Greater California Republic only to sell out its democratic credentials to Hap Arnold.
By MacArthur’s return to office, a sense of normalcy had returned to the mainland United States. Under Garner the standard of living had returned to at least pre-Civil War levels, and in some places that benefitted from the total war economy things were at pre-Depression levels. Not a small feat given the wanton destruction it unleashed. And most American were expecting, whoever won the election that this would continue. But MacArthur had bigger plans, his mission was to put Uncle Sam back on the world stage. Not much made of during the campaign, partly due to the rarity of the President on the trail, but whenever he made one of his bombastic, colourful speeches the phrase “We shall return” made a repeated appearance. He had made the remark before and then as now was a statement of intent that the stars and stripes would again fly above the places it had abandoned, specifically its territory in the Pacific occupied by the Japanese.
To say that this intent immediately meant that the President was goading Japan into War would be a mistake. MacArthur expected the Japanese to happily return the territory taken into custody, as the British had done. In this he both took for granted that the British had less of an appetite in territory than they possessed, and that the Japanese could still be counted on to be rational (or pliable) actors in diplomatic matters. Indeed, the Japanese had long left the reservation: in 1926 they had snapped up French Indochina; in 1931 provoked the Mukden incident and occupied Manchuria; after their occupation of American territory in the Pacific, they then embarked upon a war of conquest in China; in 1940 they had expanded it to the rest of Colonial South Asia. MacArthur’s diplomatic strategy was initially amicable to the Japanese – with the war in China stalled, and reversals in the South Asia meant the British Commonwealth had retake New Guinea, Burma, Sumatra and were bearing down on Siam and Malaya – he expected that they would appreciate the lifting of the burden of such vast holdings across the world’s largest ocean. Instead, the maniacal generals in Tokyo doubled down in their public discourse with the United States and in its treatment the expat citizens now under their heel.
On 16th July 1945, Colonel James Doolittle was arrested by Japanese soldiers occupying Hawaii and after a show trial beheaded publicly in Honolulu. Doolittle had been an aviator and officer in the United States Army Air Corps prior to the Civil War, and during it had gone over with much of the Air Corps with General Hap Arnold to the California secessionists. He rose rapidly through the Californian command structure for his successes (his squadrons being the ones responsible for tracking and bombing General Wainwright’s cavalry in Montana that led to their surrender), he was eventually captured in Colorado after the Denver Peace Talks broke down. Officially, Doolittle was rehabilitated and rejoined the Army Air Corps, but like most “rehabilitated” officers suffered prejudice in treatment and assignments meant to force them to retire willingly, however Doolittle, a passionate flyer, remained and was deployed in 1943 to Hawaii as the official U.S.A. intermediary between the Japanese authorities, American citizens, and the U.S. government. It was under these conditions that the Japanese arrested for charges of espionage and then executed Doolittle, his staff, and many other prominent American nationals on the islands.
The news understandably provoked massive outrage in America when the news broke. Congress immediately voted to break off diplomatic ties and were pushing for an embargo of Japanese trade and to support the Europeans and Chinese in their wars. The American military and MacArthur immediately jerked towards a declaration of war, but there was one factor that prevented them plunging headlong: the Navy. The days of the Great White Fleet and the threat alone of American shipyards turning out Dreadnoughts like sausages to cow the Royal Navy were a distant memory. Despite MacArthur’s protests in the 30’s of the Navy’s preferential treatment, there had been no major ship construction since 1921. Garner had sponsored a Naval Bill in Congress aimed at remedying this in 1943, but this had yet to bear fruit. Despite an experienced, highly disciplined corps of officers from the Civil War, there was no way that this could balance such a vastly outdated fleet. Despite the protestations of the Naval Staff, MacArthur wasn’t about to let a minor inconvenience like overwhelming naval inferiority stand in the way of reclaiming America’s Pacific/Asian destiny. Amidst all the naysayers in the Naval Staff however, one man not only agreed with MacArthur of the imperative of a military response, but also believed it could be done: Admiral Ernest J. King.
King had a distinguished career and was a noted pioneer of naval aviation. He remained devoutly loyal to the Federalist cause in the Civil War, despite repeated run-ins with MacArthur and the Army Staff. King’s great success had been his organization of the “Miami Express” – the convoys out of Norfolk, VA that rounded Florida and the contended Gulf of Mexico to supply the Texas Redoubt. When it came to retaliating against Japan, King had a plan in mind bloody the nose of the Japanese Fleet and retake Hawaii. Using the navies only four carriers – Lexington, Saratoga, Ranger and the fresh out of the shipyard Enterprise – a navy taskforce would steam close to the islands, launch a surprise raid against the Japanese Fleet at anchor and neutralise it, possibly allowing the way for a landing by the Marine Corps. Such a daring and complex operation naturally captured the President’s imagination, and he gave the go ahead. On August 6th, with the American Fleet under the redoubtable “Bull” Halsey already slipping out of San Diego, Congress passed a resolution enabling to "take all necessary measures" and "prevent further aggression" as well as allowing him to decide when "peace and security" in the Pacific Ocean. On the 9th, just before 7am, United States Navy aircraft appeared once more above Pearl Harbour, reigning devastation on the fleet based there and the army run airstrip – the harbour was full of Japanese ships, the fleet having been reinforced to deter the Americans, and by the end of the American attack four battleships had been sunk, with a fifth damaged badly; one aircraft carrier sunk, and a light carrier damaged; supporting cruisers and destroyers damaged, some beyond repair; and the remaining land based aircraft rendered useless after the airfields’ fuel dumps were detonated. The American’s did not get off lightly however, as two Japanese carriers on manoeuvres at the time were out of port, and after identifying the location of the enemy fleet retaliated – USS Ranger proved too slow and could not outmanoeuvre the torpedoes and bombers sent its way, and was sunk; Enterprise also received a hit, but the soon to be christened “Lucky E” was saved and escaped under her own power.
The counterattack proved decisive, as the landing group was delayed by order of Admiral King when news of the undamaged carriers in the area reached him. The delay would prove decisive for the Americans, as the shocked IJN ordered an immediate withdraw of all ships capable of leaving the area, the carriers especially. With no further sighting of the ships after 24 hours, King resumed the operation. Already there were celebrations in Washington’s: Dugout Doug had done it again, a delivered the nation a whopping almost-bloodless victory. But the attack of Pearl Harbour would be the exception not the rule to the war. The Hawaiian Campaign would prove to the bloodiest scenes in America since the Siege of New York and would drag on until December till the islands were back in hand. At Dawn on the August 10th, 7,000 United States marines stormed ashore, spread out over three different islands. They would prove woefully inadequate to dislodge the garrison that doubled their numbers. As the attrition rate of the marines became clear over the following days, the navy began shuttling in reinforcements just to stabilize the beachheads. The cunning and fanaticism of the Hirohito’s soldiers was well-known to the Australians, British, Chinese, Dutch and Indian soldiers of the period, but the Americans were not prepared for it. What had been planned as a rapid advance turned into a bloody slog through jungle in the face of booby traps and banzai charges. Although the islands eventually fell on December 7th, it was more due the Japanese shortcomings than the Americans efforts – 8 years of total war in Asia had stretched the Empire to breaking point, the cream of his air and naval strength had been withered down in the campaigns in Queensland, Malaya, Burma, and central China. The ships at Pearl Harbour had been the IJN’s last reserve, the Pacific Garrisons stripped of men and equipment long ago. Shortly after U.S. Army forces took back Midway and Johnson Atolls in February, the new Konoe-Okada government in Tokyo sent out feelers to meet with the allies in a joint peace conference mediated by the Soviet Union.
Although, MacArthur had every intension of going to the end and seeing Tojo and Hirohito make the six-foot drop in Tokyo if needed, public opinion, and war weary allies made the prospect of marching on alone unappetising. The final agreement, signed on the deck of USS Enterprise in Port Arthur was effectively a white peace, as Japan withdrew from all territory it occupied after 1937. All former American possessions were handed back, in return the allies recognized Japan’s occupation of Indochina and recognized the puppet state of Manchukuo. Despite the efforts of MacArthur, he could not force the Japanese to withdraw its soldiers from the Philippines: they were there, after all, at the invitation of the Philippine government. For his part, the President had kept his promise that “we shall return”, but when he returned to Washington from Port Arthur, no one seemed to appreciate the fact. Cheers for MacArthur had turned to boos almost as soon as they started.
On a political level, the fragile Republican Party finally imploded. The isolationist Senator Robert A. Taft had been highly critical of MacArthur’s foreign policy goals and one of the leading opponents of the Doolittle Resolution. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbour, Taft announced his resignation from the Republican Party and defection to the Conservative Party – the first party member North of the Mason-Dixon line. As the bodies began to return from Hawaii, more isolationist Republicans like Arthur Vandenberg and Everett Dirksen followed. The moderate Eastern Republicans likewise began deserting the Republicans for the Progressives – the empowerment of the President with unilateral power to declare war without their ascent through a mere resolution was anathema to them, and MacArthur now began to appear every inch the dictator that they always feared him to be. Boston Brahmin Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey each denounced MacArthur as a tyrant and gradually led their supporters over to the Progressive Party. Personally, MacArthur felt stabbed in the back and made sure that people knew it, which little endeared those that were doing there best to standby him.
The remainder of the MacArthur Presidency by and large felt as though it was on sufferance of a hostile Congress. Murmurs of impeachment of the President went through Congress, but nothing was made public. The risk of putting MacArthur in the court of public opinion more than he had to be seemed too great a risk – instead they decided to weight him out. Chances of standing a third time that MacArthur were scuppered when Congress deliberately passed a Constitutional Amendment limiting an individual 8 years as President, targeted directly at MacArthur it all but mentioned him by name. Despite this cloud, MacArthur’s final years as President held some notable accomplishments: Reconstruction came to an amicable end; development of the interstate highways began; the Supreme Court overruled Plessey vs. Fergusson, fatally undermining segregation; and overtures were made that made the United States an observer of N.O.S.T.O. (North Sea Treaty Organisation) meant to contain the Soviet Union after the Balkan Summer. In his farewell address, MacArthur seemed to win back much of his lost goodwill with the public and ended his term as President with the words: “And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.”
[9] The New Breed – Henry Wallace was a journalist, farmer, and businessman from a political family. His father was a Bull Moose Republican, and during and after the First World War the two worked with Herbert Hoover and the U.S. Food Administration to sure up Europe’s food supply. Disagreements during this period gave the Wallace’s a deep distrust of Hoover and contributed the younger Wallace moving away from the Republican Party as Hoover began his rise to prominence, and towards the Progressive Party of Robert La Follette. Nevertheless, young Wallace came to give advice to the McAdoo administrations agricultural policy, becoming especially important as go between for the farmers of his native Iowa and the Federal government. Dissatisfaction with both major parties continued as the 20’s continued however, and he remained firmly dissolute with candidacy of both Herbert Hoover and Al Smith, drawing him further to the coalition of Farmer-Labor and the Progressives. The onset of the Great Depression forced Wallace to face political reality however, and he became increasingly associated with the Democratic Party and their attempts to force through relief, especially for the nation’s devastated farmers, breaking with the family’s Republican tradition.
Becoming deeply distrustful of Huey Long’s growing political machine and Farmer-Labor’s moves toward him led Wallace to officially join the Democrats in 1934. John Nance Garner chose this up-and-comer as his running mate, hoping Wallace would be able to push back in the Midwest and Plain States and counter his conservatism to balance the ticket yet despite vigorous efforts on the campaign trail could not breakthrough as the Democrats hoped. After Long’s death and the Union began to disintegrate, Wallace held by the Federal government, and remained in close contact with Garner, hoping he might break the Congressional inertia. When MacArthur was sworn in, Wallace, though deeply suspicious, held faith with the government and Garner as Vice President. In his native Iowa, Wallace became an important representative of the Emergency Government in the state, successfully keeping the state onside, though he could do little in the face of Soviet militias and Red Guards advancing across the state lines from Illinois and Wisconsin.
Forced to abandon his home, Wallace took the long way to Washington via Texas and the Miami Express. Arriving in the Capitol, Wallace’s skills and talent were soon laid at the disposal of the Federal government and the U.S. Army where he secured the supply lines and sustainment of the Federal army to feed itself on campaign, eventually coming to the attention of General MacArthur, who appointed him Secretary of Agriculture. Though hardly in the War Cabinet, Wallace was nevertheless in a vitally important role in a country ravage by war with starvation a threat for many for years now. As Federal troops occupied the New Confederate states, Wallace pushed for them to confiscate the land of traitorous sharecroppers, encouraging the poor tenants to convert much of their new farmland away from cash tobacco and cotton to food crops and pastures. While many criticised Wallace for fighting the wrong war or trying to hand out “40 acres and a mule”, without the increase in food production, its likely that the Federal troops that came to campaign in the Rocky Mountains and the western deserts would have faced much stricter rationing, not to mention the civilians far away from the fighting.
After the war ended and MacArthur stepped aside, Wallace continued to hold a prominent position in Garner’s government. He made a trip to curry goodwill with the new government in Mexico that helped restore diplomatic relations between the two, leading to an official peace treaty in 1942. Back in Washington, he became Garner’s main ambassador to the left-wing democrats who increasingly began seeing him as a possible successor for Garner, especially as he began speaking out more often, especially on racial issues, enflaming the tensions that were coming to boil in the Democrats. Deciding that Wallace was less trouble and more effective abroad, Garner made him a special envoy with the aim of reigniting foreign trade. Seeing the devastation that the Japanese were unleashing on China, Wallace wrote back to Garner and Congress to encourage they prepare for a future that isolationism couldn’t protect the nation from. Garner managed to keep Wallace going round the world for long enough that when the Democratic Party finally split, he was still abroad and unable to campaign for the Progressive nomination (perhaps for the better) and it when to the unfortunate Wendell Wilkie, who died to close to the election for his name to be taken off the ballot.
Under President MacArthur, Wallace was recalled home. Despite offers from the Iowa Progressive caucus to stand for Governor and a Senate seat, Wallace had his eyes fixed on the Presidency and put all his energies into preparing for his campaign in ’48. Criticizing MacArthur’s foreign policy, Wallace coined the term “Imperial Presidency” and urged Congress to take greater oversight in foreign and military policy. He also urged for the disbanding of the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the removal of J. Edgar Hoover as Interior Secretary – Wallace had become aware of Hoover’s efforts to defame him and had long held doubts about his loyalties to the extent that he’d using F.B.I., N.S.A. and C.I.A. resources to spy on Wallace since 1938. As the election approached, Wallace undertook a national speaking tour, defiantly entering the South to attend anti-Jim Crow rallies of Black Americans and mixed audience meetings. At the Progressive Party convention in Philadelphia, Wallace supported the party platform that encouraged wider desegregation, free trade, greater public ownership, and national health insurance – in many ways it was a mirror of the successful campaigns of Sir Stafford Cripps and Kurt Schumacher that had triumphed and transformed Britain and Germany since 1945. Despite vocal concerns that quickly turned into slander that Wallace was a neo-Soviet, or an agent of Moscow, he pushed back and his optimism and lack of apologies for his radicalism put him in good stead with the electorate and managed to win the election.
The Wallace Presidency was truly radical. Within the first 100 days he signed the Social Security Act, giving aid and assistance to the elderly and unemployed federally for the first time. This was later expanded to include medical aid in 1953. Class I rail lines were nationalised and brought into public ownership by the Interstate Commerce Commission. As the racial tensions began to get out of control, Wallace sent in troops to enforce the rulings of the courts that continued to rule against segregationist policies. Initially having mixed opinions on N.O.S.T.O., seeing it as both a provocation of the Soviet Union and essential to preserving stability and Democracy in Europe, but as the fallout from the Balkan Summer grew worse began actively supporting NOSTO and pushing with his Secretary of State Rexford Tugwell for the Senate to approve the U.S. as a full member in 1955. After Wallace won his second term as President, the supremacy of the Progressives began to decline, especially as the Conservatives began to attract more moderate members, not prepared to hang everything on segregation. Conservatives won the House in 1954, and the Senate '56, and the Presidency after Wallace. Nevertheless, for the first time in a long time, a President left office on a high note and in repeated poles Wallace is rated as one of the highest of all time, and the highest in public esteem in the 20th Century.
[2] The Well-meaning Reformer – It was not so much an election in 1920 for McAdoo, but an anointing though not quite a coronation. As Secretary of the Treasury, and Son-in-Law of Wilson, McAdoo swept the nomination at the convention and went on to fight a blistering election campaign. While Wilson had won (arguably) by a fluke in 1912 and by the skin of his teeth in 1916, McAdoo swept the vote and electoral college by the highest margin of any Democrat since 1852. Despite McAdoo’s auspicious beginning and promise, his Presidency would ultimately one shrouded in difficulties beyond his control and ability to resolve – it started in the very infancy of his administration with the death of his Vice President.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was young, brilliant, and energetic, even prior to his nomination to the Vice Presidency was being spoken of as a future party leader and President – during the 1920 campaign his charisma and the nostalgia associated with him via his late cousin Theodore had been directly responsible for many dedicated Republican voters, especially in New York, going over to the Democrats. Unfortunately, in August 1921, young Roosevelt was struck with an illness that at the time was diagnosed as polio. Despite efforts by doctors to treat him, Roosevelt’s health declined over winter and by New Year’s Day he was dead. It was a serious blow to the McAdoo administration and the wider Democratic Party.
At the same time, the now infamous Volstead Act had been passed and the administration through its full weight behind the enforcement and prosecution of Prohibition, leading to the inevitable spread of violence and corruption that it necessitated. As a direct result of the administrations policy, organised crime began to spread like a cancer throughout America of the period over the sale and production of illegal alcohol by organized crime gangs in major American cities, especially prominent were Italian American gangs, led by the likes of Alphonse Capone, Johnny Torrio and Joe Masseria, the Jewish Mob of Arnold Rothstein and Dutch Schultz, and Irish bootleggers like Jack Diamond. Bootlegging even tarnished political circles as many prominent figures in both major parties took part and sought to profit from illegal racketeering and bootlegging, as well as supplying colleagues and political allies with their illicit liquor.
Despite the early and mid-20s popular image as boom time for America, it was tainted by scandal, crime and increasing inequality. This led to a much tighter contest for McAdoo in 1924, though another split in the Republican Party between two of its biggest personalities proved decisive for his re-election, after a controversial renomination process tarred McAdoo after he was explicitly endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.
McAdoo’s second term would prove just as turbulent as his first, as the American economy began to stagnate as its export market began to feel the restrictions of the post-War world. After the peace of 1919, Europe’s economies had become increasingly protectionist and placed higher tariffs on imports, namely those from America: in 1923, British Prime Minister Austen Chamberlain standardised the system of ‘Imperial Preference’, effectively squeezing American exports out of the Sterling Bloc; the successive German nationalist regimes that had been in power since the Kapp Putsch, although dependent on American loans and goodwill, refused allow American goods to undermine its industry; Japan and the Communist regime in Russia likewise closed their doors. Dedicated Free Traders in the Democratic repeatedly blocked efforts by Congressional Republicans to introduce punitive tariffs of their own, and McAdoo backed them. By 1926, the only free trading power left in Europe was France yet by years end this two became a slammed door as revolution once more swept the streets of Paris. As the end of his term began to approach, serious concerns about the stability of the American economy were being raised by the Treasury, but the President was paralyzed as what to do – punitive tariffs would surely exacerbate the problem and cause a global trade war; at the same time, the stock market and Wall Street boomed amidst reckless speculation by broker’s and their investors; but if an effort was made to censure this activity, it might trigger a panic and plunge the nation into recession. Time passed and as preparations were made for him to leave the White House, McAdoo still had no answer.
[3] Obstinate Ideologue – Herbert Hoover had rose to be a national figure during the War as a peerless humanitarian for his work in Belgium, and afterward he sought to strengthen and rebuild Europe by working with various financiers like Charles Dawes to fund reconstruction efforts in both the Entente and the defeated Central Powers by supplying them with American loans. This made him both popular and renown at home and abroad, and the Republican Party looked at him with hungry eyes just the kind of man to sweep them back into the White House after so long. Hoover proved out for them: as Democratic candidate Al Smith staggered both from the record of the incumbent Democrat and anti-Catholic smears, Hoover camped out in the Democrats back yard by targeting Southern States that Republicans had not carried since Reconstruction, even removing black Republicans from their posts to carry favour with Southerners. There was a consequence to be had for this however, as while Hoover may have carried Virginia, the old Republican thorn of the Progressive coalition broke out of Minnesota and Wisconsin to sweep the Dakotas and into the Great Plains, even threatening to upset the Republicans in Illinois, Michigan, Indianna, and the Democrats in New York and Ohio.
Nevertheless, Hoover carried the election comfortably, the nation was behind him and just as optimistic as their leader when he triumphantly announced in his inauguration speech: “we shall soon with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation.” Cruel irony would see it otherwise, as in October 1929 the New York Stock Exchange crashed, and America and the world were plunged into the Great Depression. Supported by the Cabinet of conservative business patriarchs, Hoover’s belief was that the Depression was both caused and exacerbated by the collapse in market confidence and sought to restore business strength without direct Federal intervention. Although Hoover introduced certain measures like cutting interest rates and exerting influence on business leaders, he consistently vetoed Congressional plans for unemployment relief, what other paltry efforts the administration made were wholly inadequate to the scale of the disaster – the President began to be held personally responsible as so-called “Hoovervilles” populated by the nation’s ballooning population of homeless and unemployed sprang up in every major city. Hoover’s only concession to intervention followed with Reconstruction Finance Corporation to provide financial support by making loans, but efforts to expand the RFC and its remit were again frustrated.
In 1932, chances of re-election for Hoover looked slim, the Republican majority in both Houses were of the past. Yet the Democrats were not in a good position either, having nominated Al Smith again after a ferocious contest where Louisiana governor Huey Long almost caused a walkout among delegates and threatened to run as a third-Party candidate. Or rather a fifth, as Farmer-Labour had their eye on explicitly Democrat votes, as did the Socialist Party, buoyant over some promising gains in the House and shocking upset that elevated socialist New York mayor Norman Thomas to the Senate. Hoover won re-election by one of the strangest looking electoral maps in history and slid into a second term mired by the same impotence in economic matters that would be matched by equal limpness in foreign affairs.
As the American economy crashed, it took the global economy with it. Inflation rattled Germany, and so to the triumvirates and cabals of Prussian generals that had served successively as Regent, President, Chancellor, Minister-President and so on tottered and fell by the hand of the same Republicans that they had booted out in 1920, while the Austrian Führer in Vienna salivated over his long-awaited return to Munich. Metropole France continued to face running street battles between Anarchists and Neo-Jacobins while the patriarchs and Maréchaux of the Fourth Republic stewed in Algiers. Canada severed its ties to the mother country as Mackenzie King won power for the Liberals after more than 10 years out of power, and in disgust at the Imperial Conference in Sydney that called for “ever closer Union” between the Empire, declared that Canada was an independent Commonwealth.
Amidst all this chaos, Hoover’s only step onto the foreign stage was his callous demand for repayment of outstanding foreign debts, both from the War and after. The response not merely left Hoover humiliated, but showed his complete divorce from diplomatic reality – not merely did the Revolutionary governments of Moscow and Paris not wish to pay their debt, they did not acknowledge any; while, even if Britain and Germany wanted to pay their debt, they had no means to do so – for them it was a question of couldn’t, rather than wouldn’t. Outraged, Hoover fell back on the old Republican standby of tariffs. His signing of the Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930 had been controversial, and crippled international trade; his new tariffs were suicidal to it and the chances of any serious Republican contender in 1936.
[4] The Kingfish – Who was Huey P. Long? What was Huey P. Long? Was he a power-hungry demagogue, driven by avarice and a lust for power, like Mussolini and Stalin; a political opportunist, aligned with white supremacists and antisemites, like Hitler; or a stalwart driven by principles and a genuine desire to rectify the injustices bewitching the poorest in society and the excluded, regardless of race? The many cannot make such a conclusion as the answer changes from person to person, and his earlier death of the cusp of the Presidency means any answer shall remain elusive.
Born to a middle-class family amidst the rural poverty of Northern Louisiana, he was admitted to the bar in 1915 and earned a name as a tenacious prosecutor that didn’t shy away from taking on big companies. After witnessing Long at work in front of the Supreme Court, former President William Howard Taft noted him to be "the most brilliant lawyer who ever practiced before the United States Supreme Court". In the ‘20s, Long became the first candidate since Reconstruction to challenge establishment Democrat Party in New Orleans, invokers of the Lost Cause, segregationists, supremacists, Klan leaders, relics of the planter class and above all corrupt. After a false start in 1924, in 1928 Long, with 15,000 Louisianans at his back, Long was inaugurated governor in New Orleans.
Even prior to the Great Depression, Louisianna was dauntedly the poorest state in the Union and Long delivered hitherto unprecedented public works: constructing roads, bridges – including the first ever to bridge the Mississippi – schools, and hospitals. After what may well have been the most productive term as governor in the States history, at end Long stood for Senate. There he turned his fiery rhetoric against the Hoover administration and the Democratic leadership – he was lukewarm to Al Smith and would later deride him for not pushing the Party platform further, and midway through 1932 DNC the two broke completely. Already it was speculated that Long would leave the Party entire and run an independent campaign, but in ’32 Long chose to keep his powder dry. A year later Long revealed a series of bills to redistribute wealth, capping fortunes at $100 million, limiting annual income to $1 million, and cap inheritances at $5 million. The “Share Our Wealth” platform and slogan became the basis of Long’s campaign for 1936, and he began to cultivate a national following all the while governing Louisiana effectively by diktat. A strange assortment of endorsements came to Long: Gerald L. K. Smith, Francis Townsend, Milo Reno, Rexford Tugwell, Father Coughlin, and Senator Burton K. Wheeler. That latter would prove to be the most profitable for him as one of the most prominent Senator of the Progressive Party and their Farmer-Labor allies, so in that capacity introduced Long to the coalition leadership.
Long had always sympathised with their agrarian constituents in the Midwest and the on the Plains and was prepared to countenance a joint ticket with them, but what gave him pause was the Progressive-Farmer-Labor already publicly agreed to ally with the Socialist Party. Despite being one of the most radical politicians of the era, Long maintained that he was not a socialist and implicitly scorned comparisons with his programme and was one of the most vocal opponents of Norman Thomas in the Senate. Nevertheless, the potential of such a ticket was too tempting: Long’s own basis with the Southern rural poor made him competitive with breaking the Democrat’s Solid South; Farmer-Labour meant he could sweep the Midwest and the Great Plains; the Progressives gave him a leg to stand on in California and the Southwest, while the Socialists put him in contention in shifting the Republicans in the Great Lakes and the industrial cities of the Eastern Seaboard. Sure enough, the electoral map followed that trend – but for Maine, Vermont and Kansas, the Republicans were wiped out, the Democrats carried Virginia, Oregon, Ohio, the Carolinas and California, and the rest of New England. The rest fell to Long.
Nevertheless, it was far from a peaceful election street violence and riots followed every campaigner on the trail. Long’s own supporters were as apt to fight amongst each other (as varied and eclectic confederacy as they were) than with their official opponents. More than once Federal marshals, state police and national guard units had to be ordered in to break up the fallout from Long’s rallies. Worst still, tragedy struck in early December as Vice President Elect Floyd B. Olson succumbed to cancer. Long had chose the Minnesota governor as his Vice President to sure up Farmer-Labor support as buttress against too much influence from the Socialist Party, as well as his successful and successively more radical terms of state governor. The loss of this moderate and able came as a deep shock to the pending Long administration – with no Constitutional method to install a new Vice President, the battle for influence as the administrations Number 2 man intensified, as did the violence: Long’s brother, Earl, and Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor had his home fire bombed; America’s leading Fascist William Dudley Pelley was gunned down in a drive by-in Chicago, his paramilitaries then attempted ‘retaliation’ at noted Socialists and Jewish figures, including two attempts on Senator Norman Thomas and successfully assassinating Jewish Mobster Bugsy Siegel – these were among countless of other acts of violence. Even Long’s inauguration proved inflammatory, after failing to soothe national tensions, when a band of Klan members aimed to storm the White House with the intent of capturing and lynching the outgoing and incoming Presidents – a firefight on Pennsylvania Avenue broke out that left two Klansman dead, one Secret Serviceman killed, a United States Marine wounded and a journalist from the White House Pressroom gut-shot.
After the inauguration, things began to cool to a simmer as Federal and local forces began restoring order. With this brief respite, Long returned to Louisiana to console his brother. Here, Long’s irascible and erratic personality got the better of him as a fumble between the President’s Secret Service detail and Long’s private “skull-crushers” allowed Carl Weiss, a political enemy of the President, to close and shoot him point-blank with a pistol. Weiss did not survive long enough to ensure he had killed the President as skull-crushers and Secret Servicemen fired more than 80 rounds into the man. After rushing the President to the hospital, surgeons were unable to stop the internal bleeding despite more than 24 hours effort. Poetically, Long’s last words at 4am on February 6th, 1937, were recorded as "God, don't let me die. I have so much to do."
[5] The Great American War is the collective name given to the three armed conflicts that were fought concurrently across North America between 1937 and 1941. Officially the War began with collapse of the United States into the Second American Civil War (February 1937 – March 1941) after the assassination of President Huey Long, before it escalated with the Second Mexican-American War (March 1938 – January 1940), the New England Insurgency (August 1937 – July 1938) and the Canadian-American War (October 1939 – August 1941). As a conflict it remains one of the largest, most complex, and unconventional in the history of the world. Combat ranged widely from theatre to theatre: First World War-style trench warfare of the Texas Redoubt and the Carolinas Campaign; modernized armoured warfare of manoeuvre of the Pennsylvania Campaign and the Baja Front; gruelling sieges and urban fighting of Siege of New York and the Missouri Gap; murderous guerrilla campaigns of the Ku Klux and United Africa League in Georgia and the Christian Nationalist Crusade terror bombing campaigns. The war was notable for the passion that it inspired both amongst the belligerents and abroad, and the atrocities that it inspired. Occupied territories were subject to purges of suspected dissidents, with public liquidation by firing squad the most widely used method for any reason that could be justified by the instigators of the Terror.
The central cause of the Second American Civil War was the dispute over who should succeed newly inaugurated President Huey P. Long. Owing to Vice President Elect Floyd B. Olson’s predeceasing Long and lacking a confirmed Cabinet the Presidential Succession Act of 1886 proved wholly inadequate to provide a clear chain of succession, as well as political gridlock in Congress that had been going on for years as a result of poor leadership by the Hoover administration and the Great Depression. Congressional Republicans lobbied for President Hoover to return as Acting President, which infuriated their opponents. Members of Long’s Share Our Wealth coalition argued they had the right to name a successor but could not agree and their alliance quickly collapsed. Democrat Speaker of the House John Nance Garner probably had the most legitimate claim to the Presidency, but with no Majority in either chamber found no mechanism to lift himself up. As paralysis gripped the Halls of Power in Washington, clergymen Charles Coughlin and Gerald L.K. Smith announced the formation of the Christian Nationalist Crusade, with the full financial backing of Henry Ford, as an “alternative America” and that the United States was a dead nation. Meanwhile, the “American Lenin”, Bill Haywood returned from exile in Russia and with other Socialists, Anarchists, Communists, and more extreme Trade Unions declared the Commonwealth of American Soviets in the Great Lakes. This was in turn followed by the secession of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina from the union as the New Confederate States of America. In the face of total collapse of the Union, Chief of Staff of the United States Army Douglas MacArthur made a joint appeal to Congress to unilaterally elect him as President, which they duly did. This final seeming repudiation of American democracy prompted California governor Upton Sinclair to announce that States secession from the Union, soon followed by Oregon and Nevada to form the Greater California Republic.
[6] Ceasar of the Potomac – Since the Historian Jac Weller published his trilogy on MacArthur, the General’s life is commonly divided into three per his biographies: MacArthur in Washington (1930-1937), MacArthur in the Field (1937-1941), and MacArthur in Power (1941-1950). Born to a longline of military men, Douglas MacArthur had a promising military career of his own from his graduation from West Point. As a junior officer he served in the Philippines and President Wilson’s interventions in Latin America and serving as an observer in Europe on the Western Front. Returning to the United States in 1919, rapid promotion followed: the army’s youngest Major-General at forty-four in 1925, and Chief of Staff at fifty in 1930. MacArthur proved controversial in his post, deeply critical of Congressional budget cuts, and withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad, while at the same time breaking strikes and protests that threatened civil order with U.S. Army troops. Privately, the General often spoke of America’s dire need and the value of strongman leaders that the Depression was producing in other countries, and his contempt for President Hoover was such that when the Philippines gained its independence in 1935, he genuinely considered Manuel Quezon’s proposition that he supervise the creation of the nation’s new army. As a result, MacArthur remained in place as Chief of Staff when the election of ’36.
From the beginning of the succession crisis, MacArthur seemed the only reliable actor in Washington, placing troops on the streets of the Capitol as early as November, and actively fortifying strategic positions in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. His personal appeals to the key figures like Harry F. Byrd, Happy Chandler, Cordell Hull, and Carter Glass managed to secure the loyalty of the Upper South to the Federal government. As chaos swept the rest of the country, MacArthur finally made his demand to Congress, and the hollowed-out remnants of both Houses agreed. Duly sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, MacArthur sought to legitimise his position and named Speaker of the House John Nance Garner as Vice President. The two men’s relationship would prove to be particular stormy at the beginning of the War, particularly over MacArthur’s scepticism of the ability of Texas to holdout once it became surrounded and what he termed as Garner’s naivety when it came to New Confederates in the South – the President was no stranger to Southern prejudice – but as the Federalist cause bounced back and Texas proved a vital strategic thorn in the side of the enemy they proved amicable and productive with one another.
After the closure of the Missouri Gap, the President concentrated on the Northern Strategy, intent on recapturing New York to seal off the flow of foreign weapons into the hands of the Commonwealth of American Soviets then pivot and take back the industrial heartland of the Great Lakes. Although faced with repeated entreaties from Senators to cut deals and win the support of foreign powers, MacArthur remained intransigent about yielding a foot of American territory, avowedly remarking “We shall return.” as the Japanese occupied the Pacific territories, the Canadians entrenched their positions in Alaska and New England, and the British fleet occupied Puerto Rico, Guantanamo, and the Panama Canal. In accordance with this dogged attitude, the President formed a cross-party War Cabinet to prosecute the war: F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover was made Secretary of the Interior and empowered by the Emergency Powers Act to form the National Security Agency that came to specialize in rooting out further sedition in Federal territory and supervised pro-Federal paramilitaries behind the line; Vice President Garner, in between trips to sure up Texan resolve, soothed both Houses of Congress from turning against their General; Secretary of War Henry L. Stimpson effectively created a total war economy for the United States and formulated strategies, as well as becoming MacArthur’s moderator when it came to his micromanaging tendencies with subordinates on campaign.
Early in the War, the President was prone to micromanage the Army’s personnel. At times it was essential as it removed officers that were too inflexible or even incompetent for the field. But at times proved a liability as officers on the frontline had opinions prone to differ with the President’s assessment. He unilaterally sacked Malin Craig for his decision to withdraw from South Carolina in in the January 1938, before George Patton’s New Confederate counteroffensive drove Federal lines all the way back to Virginia. By Autumn 1938 however, MacArthur had a corps of reliable subordinates that he could count on to deliver and he involved himself less in tactical decisions. Dwight Eisenhower’s campaigns in Great Lakes broke the back of the Soviets, and put Federal troops back in the Midwest by July 1939; George C. Marshall held off three belligerent armies from concurrently invading Tennessee and Kentucky before eventually leading his troops across the Mississippi; Walter Krueger knuckled down and held Texas against the New Confederates, the Californians and the Mexican before in turn leaving them bedazzled by his army’s outmanoeuvred and destroyed all their offensives against incredible odds, before his “new Alamo” was relieved by Omar Bradley in October, 1939; finally Adna Chaffee beat George Patton at his own game at the Battle of Norfolk, and chased him all the way back to Montgomery.
Like General Grant before him, MacArthur refused anything less than unconditional surrender. In August 1939, as the New Confederates and the Soviets each capitulated, he accepted California Generalissimo Hap Arnold’s offer to meet for peace talks in Denver. When Arnold submitted an offer that meant both sides would withdraw to either side of a demilitarized zone in the Rocky Mountains and accept Greater California’s independence, the President walked out, and the Federal offensives resumed a day later. By this time, the war was well within MacArthur’s favour, beside Christian Crusader bombing campaigns in the North and the ethnic guerilla campaigns in Georgia, there was no major fighting east of the Plains. The Federals had also begun to receive foreign support, as Britain’s efforts to impose non-intervention by foreign powers was torpedoed by the Canadian government, the new Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and his ally Chancellor Stresemann both threw their weight behind MacArthur. The Treaty of Newark between the President and the British and German foreign ministers secured their material support, as well as the return of occupied territory to American custody after wars' end, giving MacArthur the latitude to finish the war on his terms, however it also proved the final straw for the Canadians.
Canadian Premier Adrien Arcand’s decision to invade the United States came at exactly too late to have a chance at success. The last New Confederates were being mopped up in Louisiana and Arkansas, the Californias were well passed the culmination point, and a coup in Mexico had removed Nicolás Carrasco and they had withdrawn from the war. Worst still the Canadian Army was ill-equipped to fight an industrial war on a wide front, after being committed to a (admittedly very successful) counter insurgency campaign in New England for two years. Canada’s war only prolonged the fighting across the North America, and when Sacramento fell in March 1941, Ottawa was placed on a 6-month timer. After MacArthur accepted the surrender of Canadian Field Marshal Georges Vanier in Quebec City, the Great American War was over and the President paraded through the streets of Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington as the Nation’s greatest hero: Grant, Lincoln, Washington, and Cincinnatus all mashed into one. It would have been dangerously easy for MacArthur to carry on in Office indefinitely, instead he addressed both Houses of Congress and the nation via Radio to announce his resignation of the Presidency on November 23rd, 1941, with Vice President John Nance Garner succeeding him – returning power back to the civilian government.
[7] The Last Democrat – “Cactus Jack” Garner was a Texan lawyer who entered politics in the late 1890s, before arriving in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1902, where he would sit for more than 30 years. In 1931, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives after two years as House Minority Leader and the presumptive candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1936, which he duly won. A deeply conservative Southerner, Garner made speeches defaming Huey Long and his Socialist allies, who strikes he declared were worsening the country’s already dire economic situation and decried Long’s spending plans as fiscally irresponsible. Despite a respectable showing however, he could not compete with Long’s charisma and promises and lost the Presidency to him.
After Long’s assassination, Garner became the leading candidate to take the Presidency, but Congressional gridlock and failing precedent could not smooth a way forward for him. When the country began to fray, Garner reluctantly submitted to MacArthur and in return for pushing the House of Representatives behind the General was selected to be his Vice President. Despite having previously stated that the Vice Presidency "not worth a bucket of warm piss", Garner agreed to serve alongside MacArthur for the good of the nation. Garner was also considered highly effective in the passage of emergency legislation, with MacArthur relying greatly on Garner's wealth of political friendships and legislative skills to pilot the necessary war measures through Congress. The unique situation also gave the Vice President more active roles in the Cabinet and was effectively the head of the Civilian government, and deputizing for MacArthur when he was in the field. The President and Vice President almost split completely over the decision to withdraw territory West of the Mississippi as MacArthur contemplated evacuating Texas via the Sea. Garner’s rush to Texas in person rallied the Federal resolve in the state when many were openly contemplating going over to the New Confederates and troops in New Mexico held on, and despite the fall of Dallas and heavy fighting in Houston, the front stabilised and newly promoted commander of troops in Texas Walter Kreuger held the Federal position there for the remainder of the war. Tensions between MacArthur and Garner continued, as the Vice President’s Southern sympathies led to him encourage Federal entreaties to the New Confederates. Only the defection and testimony of James F. Byrnes about the resolve of New Confederate leadership prompted the Vice President to give up hope of further overtures.
At the War’s end, and MacArthur resigned the Presidency to restore civilian government, Garner duly ascended as Chief Executive. Many naturally assumed that an election would follow, but the business of restoring order in former rebel territories as well as occupying the whole of Canada, while terrorists in major cities across North America could still be relied on to regularly bomb United States’ troops. Despite detractors predicting Garner to behave like Andrew Johnson had after the last Civil War, the new President would brook no sympathy with traitors and pushed through the executive orders that led to the Arlington Tribunals and the execution of rebel leaders, mandated the seizure of rebel property, businesses, and capital by Federal authorities. Just like the ill-gotten gains of the nation’s war-profiteering criminals, like “Lucky” Luciano and Meyer Lansky, the confiscated fortunes of men like Henry Ford, Prescott Bush, Charles Lindbergh for their support of rebel factions was then used to fund the Reconstruction of the destroyed homes and property that the war had caused. Soldiers of the Federal Army remained in place armed and with full Congressional backing, as House and Senate committees ruled on the legitimacy and legality of trade unions whose leadership were suspect. At this same time, Garner treated fairly with defeated rebels that proved amiable – the Appalachian P.O.W. camps were closed and the sent home as Lee’s army had been from Appomattox and were even later permitted to receive veterans’ benefits. A special Constitutional Committee was created and it Amendments passed and ratified legally: the Electoral College was abolished in favour of popular vote; a new line of Presidential Succession that place the Speaker of the House in line after the Vice President, the Senate Majority Leader after him and then Cabinet by order of rank; Prohibition was finally repealed as well; Statehood for the District of Columbia, Alaska and Puerto Rico, and the partition of California and Michigan into two separate states, with northern California renamed Jefferson, Upper Michigan renamed Superior and admitted to the Union alongside the others.
This combination of compassion and vengeance spearheaded by the Garner Administration has led the more generously assessing his Presidency to characterise it as one fuelled by the true spirit of 1776, a long-awaited course correction that shifted America back on to the road to glory. Yet it was far from being as romantic as they would have you believe. Garner’s tenure would prove just as divisive as perhaps President Hoover, as his own party ripped itself apart. The Democrats had been arguably the biggest political tent in America and managed to find plenty of its former member and constituents in just about every rebel camp of the War, north, south, and west. And those that remained loyal to Washington were more the inside of the tent spitting out kind, and criticised the Administration from all sides when they could. With the peace it only intensified, and it was secret that the main issue was Race. Ever since General MacArthur enforced the desegregation of United States’ Armed Forces as a military necessity in July ’38, the divide on the issue between Northern progressive Democrats and Southern conservatives became an open yawning chasm. Though he made no secret of his sympathies in private, publicly President Garner did what was best to stitch the nation back together and held his tongue, refused to undo military desegregation, and let the factions fight it out among themselves. As 1944 dawned, the first Presidential election in 8 years was right around the corner, and it became swiftly apparent that the Democratic Party could not sit a united convention. Officially, the Party dissolved in September of that year as the separate wings held rival conventions in Atlantic City, NJ and Charlotte, NC.
As he departed office for retirement, President Garner lamented the split in his old Party. And back door appeals from both Conventions came to him with an offer of nomination, but he declined, already on ascending his office the oldest President on record. He did not stay in Washington to see the inauguration of his successor and returned once more by sea to his beloved Texas and remained there for the next 23 years till his death at 98.
[8] Return of the Chief – After MacArthur’s resignation of the Presidency in 1941 there was a not so insignificant cabal of army officers, government officials and Congressmen that believed that he should have remained on to manage the Reconstruction of the nation. But it soon became clear that although MacArthur had left the White House, he had not left public life – he remained the most senior officer in the United States Army, and President Garner shortly appointed him as Governor of occupied Canada with remit of rehabilitating the country. Unlike the more absolute approach to reconstruction in rebel states, MacArthur actively partnered with Canadian institutions, and recalled the former Canadian Prime Minister R.B. Bennet from exile in London to head the provisional government. Despite pressures from Canadian Tories, the British and revanchist New Englanders, MacArthur pardoned Mackenzie King, who they held responsible for Canada’s rogue path. At the same time, he facilitated the U.S. government in its prosecution of Mountie and Canadian Army war criminals that had overseen the New England Occupation. These officers faced the same punishment metered out to other perpetrators of the American Terror south of the border. MacArthur’s job in rebuilding Canada was by and large helped by the fact that despite the efforts of Adrien Arcand the country had never renounced Democracy; the new Canadian Constitution written by the occupiers merely had to reinforce its institutions, without turning back the clock – despite the Churchill government’s entreaties there would be no restoration of Canada’s Dominion status and it would remain firmly in the Washington rather than returning to London’s.
At the same time, MacArthur signalled that we would seek to return to the White House, by democratic means. The Republican Party, unlike the Democratic, remained cohesive, but deeply problematic and frankly shell-shocked as an organization and the least trusted collective of individuals in the entire nation. Once the natural party of the Presidency, not since Teddy Roosevelt had it proved itself either capable or worthy of holding the office. Therefore, it was not so difficult for MacArthur to become its leading candidate, in fact they were desperate for him to accept the mantle. Although leading former Democrats had been amidst the architects of succession, the Republicans were responsible for Hoover that led to the conditions for Revolution and had taken the reigns of power in the Greater California Republic only to sell out its democratic credentials to Hap Arnold.
By MacArthur’s return to office, a sense of normalcy had returned to the mainland United States. Under Garner the standard of living had returned to at least pre-Civil War levels, and in some places that benefitted from the total war economy things were at pre-Depression levels. Not a small feat given the wanton destruction it unleashed. And most American were expecting, whoever won the election that this would continue. But MacArthur had bigger plans, his mission was to put Uncle Sam back on the world stage. Not much made of during the campaign, partly due to the rarity of the President on the trail, but whenever he made one of his bombastic, colourful speeches the phrase “We shall return” made a repeated appearance. He had made the remark before and then as now was a statement of intent that the stars and stripes would again fly above the places it had abandoned, specifically its territory in the Pacific occupied by the Japanese.
To say that this intent immediately meant that the President was goading Japan into War would be a mistake. MacArthur expected the Japanese to happily return the territory taken into custody, as the British had done. In this he both took for granted that the British had less of an appetite in territory than they possessed, and that the Japanese could still be counted on to be rational (or pliable) actors in diplomatic matters. Indeed, the Japanese had long left the reservation: in 1926 they had snapped up French Indochina; in 1931 provoked the Mukden incident and occupied Manchuria; after their occupation of American territory in the Pacific, they then embarked upon a war of conquest in China; in 1940 they had expanded it to the rest of Colonial South Asia. MacArthur’s diplomatic strategy was initially amicable to the Japanese – with the war in China stalled, and reversals in the South Asia meant the British Commonwealth had retake New Guinea, Burma, Sumatra and were bearing down on Siam and Malaya – he expected that they would appreciate the lifting of the burden of such vast holdings across the world’s largest ocean. Instead, the maniacal generals in Tokyo doubled down in their public discourse with the United States and in its treatment the expat citizens now under their heel.
On 16th July 1945, Colonel James Doolittle was arrested by Japanese soldiers occupying Hawaii and after a show trial beheaded publicly in Honolulu. Doolittle had been an aviator and officer in the United States Army Air Corps prior to the Civil War, and during it had gone over with much of the Air Corps with General Hap Arnold to the California secessionists. He rose rapidly through the Californian command structure for his successes (his squadrons being the ones responsible for tracking and bombing General Wainwright’s cavalry in Montana that led to their surrender), he was eventually captured in Colorado after the Denver Peace Talks broke down. Officially, Doolittle was rehabilitated and rejoined the Army Air Corps, but like most “rehabilitated” officers suffered prejudice in treatment and assignments meant to force them to retire willingly, however Doolittle, a passionate flyer, remained and was deployed in 1943 to Hawaii as the official U.S.A. intermediary between the Japanese authorities, American citizens, and the U.S. government. It was under these conditions that the Japanese arrested for charges of espionage and then executed Doolittle, his staff, and many other prominent American nationals on the islands.
The news understandably provoked massive outrage in America when the news broke. Congress immediately voted to break off diplomatic ties and were pushing for an embargo of Japanese trade and to support the Europeans and Chinese in their wars. The American military and MacArthur immediately jerked towards a declaration of war, but there was one factor that prevented them plunging headlong: the Navy. The days of the Great White Fleet and the threat alone of American shipyards turning out Dreadnoughts like sausages to cow the Royal Navy were a distant memory. Despite MacArthur’s protests in the 30’s of the Navy’s preferential treatment, there had been no major ship construction since 1921. Garner had sponsored a Naval Bill in Congress aimed at remedying this in 1943, but this had yet to bear fruit. Despite an experienced, highly disciplined corps of officers from the Civil War, there was no way that this could balance such a vastly outdated fleet. Despite the protestations of the Naval Staff, MacArthur wasn’t about to let a minor inconvenience like overwhelming naval inferiority stand in the way of reclaiming America’s Pacific/Asian destiny. Amidst all the naysayers in the Naval Staff however, one man not only agreed with MacArthur of the imperative of a military response, but also believed it could be done: Admiral Ernest J. King.
King had a distinguished career and was a noted pioneer of naval aviation. He remained devoutly loyal to the Federalist cause in the Civil War, despite repeated run-ins with MacArthur and the Army Staff. King’s great success had been his organization of the “Miami Express” – the convoys out of Norfolk, VA that rounded Florida and the contended Gulf of Mexico to supply the Texas Redoubt. When it came to retaliating against Japan, King had a plan in mind bloody the nose of the Japanese Fleet and retake Hawaii. Using the navies only four carriers – Lexington, Saratoga, Ranger and the fresh out of the shipyard Enterprise – a navy taskforce would steam close to the islands, launch a surprise raid against the Japanese Fleet at anchor and neutralise it, possibly allowing the way for a landing by the Marine Corps. Such a daring and complex operation naturally captured the President’s imagination, and he gave the go ahead. On August 6th, with the American Fleet under the redoubtable “Bull” Halsey already slipping out of San Diego, Congress passed a resolution enabling to "take all necessary measures" and "prevent further aggression" as well as allowing him to decide when "peace and security" in the Pacific Ocean. On the 9th, just before 7am, United States Navy aircraft appeared once more above Pearl Harbour, reigning devastation on the fleet based there and the army run airstrip – the harbour was full of Japanese ships, the fleet having been reinforced to deter the Americans, and by the end of the American attack four battleships had been sunk, with a fifth damaged badly; one aircraft carrier sunk, and a light carrier damaged; supporting cruisers and destroyers damaged, some beyond repair; and the remaining land based aircraft rendered useless after the airfields’ fuel dumps were detonated. The American’s did not get off lightly however, as two Japanese carriers on manoeuvres at the time were out of port, and after identifying the location of the enemy fleet retaliated – USS Ranger proved too slow and could not outmanoeuvre the torpedoes and bombers sent its way, and was sunk; Enterprise also received a hit, but the soon to be christened “Lucky E” was saved and escaped under her own power.
The counterattack proved decisive, as the landing group was delayed by order of Admiral King when news of the undamaged carriers in the area reached him. The delay would prove decisive for the Americans, as the shocked IJN ordered an immediate withdraw of all ships capable of leaving the area, the carriers especially. With no further sighting of the ships after 24 hours, King resumed the operation. Already there were celebrations in Washington’s: Dugout Doug had done it again, a delivered the nation a whopping almost-bloodless victory. But the attack of Pearl Harbour would be the exception not the rule to the war. The Hawaiian Campaign would prove to the bloodiest scenes in America since the Siege of New York and would drag on until December till the islands were back in hand. At Dawn on the August 10th, 7,000 United States marines stormed ashore, spread out over three different islands. They would prove woefully inadequate to dislodge the garrison that doubled their numbers. As the attrition rate of the marines became clear over the following days, the navy began shuttling in reinforcements just to stabilize the beachheads. The cunning and fanaticism of the Hirohito’s soldiers was well-known to the Australians, British, Chinese, Dutch and Indian soldiers of the period, but the Americans were not prepared for it. What had been planned as a rapid advance turned into a bloody slog through jungle in the face of booby traps and banzai charges. Although the islands eventually fell on December 7th, it was more due the Japanese shortcomings than the Americans efforts – 8 years of total war in Asia had stretched the Empire to breaking point, the cream of his air and naval strength had been withered down in the campaigns in Queensland, Malaya, Burma, and central China. The ships at Pearl Harbour had been the IJN’s last reserve, the Pacific Garrisons stripped of men and equipment long ago. Shortly after U.S. Army forces took back Midway and Johnson Atolls in February, the new Konoe-Okada government in Tokyo sent out feelers to meet with the allies in a joint peace conference mediated by the Soviet Union.
Although, MacArthur had every intension of going to the end and seeing Tojo and Hirohito make the six-foot drop in Tokyo if needed, public opinion, and war weary allies made the prospect of marching on alone unappetising. The final agreement, signed on the deck of USS Enterprise in Port Arthur was effectively a white peace, as Japan withdrew from all territory it occupied after 1937. All former American possessions were handed back, in return the allies recognized Japan’s occupation of Indochina and recognized the puppet state of Manchukuo. Despite the efforts of MacArthur, he could not force the Japanese to withdraw its soldiers from the Philippines: they were there, after all, at the invitation of the Philippine government. For his part, the President had kept his promise that “we shall return”, but when he returned to Washington from Port Arthur, no one seemed to appreciate the fact. Cheers for MacArthur had turned to boos almost as soon as they started.
On a political level, the fragile Republican Party finally imploded. The isolationist Senator Robert A. Taft had been highly critical of MacArthur’s foreign policy goals and one of the leading opponents of the Doolittle Resolution. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbour, Taft announced his resignation from the Republican Party and defection to the Conservative Party – the first party member North of the Mason-Dixon line. As the bodies began to return from Hawaii, more isolationist Republicans like Arthur Vandenberg and Everett Dirksen followed. The moderate Eastern Republicans likewise began deserting the Republicans for the Progressives – the empowerment of the President with unilateral power to declare war without their ascent through a mere resolution was anathema to them, and MacArthur now began to appear every inch the dictator that they always feared him to be. Boston Brahmin Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey each denounced MacArthur as a tyrant and gradually led their supporters over to the Progressive Party. Personally, MacArthur felt stabbed in the back and made sure that people knew it, which little endeared those that were doing there best to standby him.
The remainder of the MacArthur Presidency by and large felt as though it was on sufferance of a hostile Congress. Murmurs of impeachment of the President went through Congress, but nothing was made public. The risk of putting MacArthur in the court of public opinion more than he had to be seemed too great a risk – instead they decided to weight him out. Chances of standing a third time that MacArthur were scuppered when Congress deliberately passed a Constitutional Amendment limiting an individual 8 years as President, targeted directly at MacArthur it all but mentioned him by name. Despite this cloud, MacArthur’s final years as President held some notable accomplishments: Reconstruction came to an amicable end; development of the interstate highways began; the Supreme Court overruled Plessey vs. Fergusson, fatally undermining segregation; and overtures were made that made the United States an observer of N.O.S.T.O. (North Sea Treaty Organisation) meant to contain the Soviet Union after the Balkan Summer. In his farewell address, MacArthur seemed to win back much of his lost goodwill with the public and ended his term as President with the words: “And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.”
[9] The New Breed – Henry Wallace was a journalist, farmer, and businessman from a political family. His father was a Bull Moose Republican, and during and after the First World War the two worked with Herbert Hoover and the U.S. Food Administration to sure up Europe’s food supply. Disagreements during this period gave the Wallace’s a deep distrust of Hoover and contributed the younger Wallace moving away from the Republican Party as Hoover began his rise to prominence, and towards the Progressive Party of Robert La Follette. Nevertheless, young Wallace came to give advice to the McAdoo administrations agricultural policy, becoming especially important as go between for the farmers of his native Iowa and the Federal government. Dissatisfaction with both major parties continued as the 20’s continued however, and he remained firmly dissolute with candidacy of both Herbert Hoover and Al Smith, drawing him further to the coalition of Farmer-Labor and the Progressives. The onset of the Great Depression forced Wallace to face political reality however, and he became increasingly associated with the Democratic Party and their attempts to force through relief, especially for the nation’s devastated farmers, breaking with the family’s Republican tradition.
Becoming deeply distrustful of Huey Long’s growing political machine and Farmer-Labor’s moves toward him led Wallace to officially join the Democrats in 1934. John Nance Garner chose this up-and-comer as his running mate, hoping Wallace would be able to push back in the Midwest and Plain States and counter his conservatism to balance the ticket yet despite vigorous efforts on the campaign trail could not breakthrough as the Democrats hoped. After Long’s death and the Union began to disintegrate, Wallace held by the Federal government, and remained in close contact with Garner, hoping he might break the Congressional inertia. When MacArthur was sworn in, Wallace, though deeply suspicious, held faith with the government and Garner as Vice President. In his native Iowa, Wallace became an important representative of the Emergency Government in the state, successfully keeping the state onside, though he could do little in the face of Soviet militias and Red Guards advancing across the state lines from Illinois and Wisconsin.
Forced to abandon his home, Wallace took the long way to Washington via Texas and the Miami Express. Arriving in the Capitol, Wallace’s skills and talent were soon laid at the disposal of the Federal government and the U.S. Army where he secured the supply lines and sustainment of the Federal army to feed itself on campaign, eventually coming to the attention of General MacArthur, who appointed him Secretary of Agriculture. Though hardly in the War Cabinet, Wallace was nevertheless in a vitally important role in a country ravage by war with starvation a threat for many for years now. As Federal troops occupied the New Confederate states, Wallace pushed for them to confiscate the land of traitorous sharecroppers, encouraging the poor tenants to convert much of their new farmland away from cash tobacco and cotton to food crops and pastures. While many criticised Wallace for fighting the wrong war or trying to hand out “40 acres and a mule”, without the increase in food production, its likely that the Federal troops that came to campaign in the Rocky Mountains and the western deserts would have faced much stricter rationing, not to mention the civilians far away from the fighting.
After the war ended and MacArthur stepped aside, Wallace continued to hold a prominent position in Garner’s government. He made a trip to curry goodwill with the new government in Mexico that helped restore diplomatic relations between the two, leading to an official peace treaty in 1942. Back in Washington, he became Garner’s main ambassador to the left-wing democrats who increasingly began seeing him as a possible successor for Garner, especially as he began speaking out more often, especially on racial issues, enflaming the tensions that were coming to boil in the Democrats. Deciding that Wallace was less trouble and more effective abroad, Garner made him a special envoy with the aim of reigniting foreign trade. Seeing the devastation that the Japanese were unleashing on China, Wallace wrote back to Garner and Congress to encourage they prepare for a future that isolationism couldn’t protect the nation from. Garner managed to keep Wallace going round the world for long enough that when the Democratic Party finally split, he was still abroad and unable to campaign for the Progressive nomination (perhaps for the better) and it when to the unfortunate Wendell Wilkie, who died to close to the election for his name to be taken off the ballot.
Under President MacArthur, Wallace was recalled home. Despite offers from the Iowa Progressive caucus to stand for Governor and a Senate seat, Wallace had his eyes fixed on the Presidency and put all his energies into preparing for his campaign in ’48. Criticizing MacArthur’s foreign policy, Wallace coined the term “Imperial Presidency” and urged Congress to take greater oversight in foreign and military policy. He also urged for the disbanding of the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the removal of J. Edgar Hoover as Interior Secretary – Wallace had become aware of Hoover’s efforts to defame him and had long held doubts about his loyalties to the extent that he’d using F.B.I., N.S.A. and C.I.A. resources to spy on Wallace since 1938. As the election approached, Wallace undertook a national speaking tour, defiantly entering the South to attend anti-Jim Crow rallies of Black Americans and mixed audience meetings. At the Progressive Party convention in Philadelphia, Wallace supported the party platform that encouraged wider desegregation, free trade, greater public ownership, and national health insurance – in many ways it was a mirror of the successful campaigns of Sir Stafford Cripps and Kurt Schumacher that had triumphed and transformed Britain and Germany since 1945. Despite vocal concerns that quickly turned into slander that Wallace was a neo-Soviet, or an agent of Moscow, he pushed back and his optimism and lack of apologies for his radicalism put him in good stead with the electorate and managed to win the election.
The Wallace Presidency was truly radical. Within the first 100 days he signed the Social Security Act, giving aid and assistance to the elderly and unemployed federally for the first time. This was later expanded to include medical aid in 1953. Class I rail lines were nationalised and brought into public ownership by the Interstate Commerce Commission. As the racial tensions began to get out of control, Wallace sent in troops to enforce the rulings of the courts that continued to rule against segregationist policies. Initially having mixed opinions on N.O.S.T.O., seeing it as both a provocation of the Soviet Union and essential to preserving stability and Democracy in Europe, but as the fallout from the Balkan Summer grew worse began actively supporting NOSTO and pushing with his Secretary of State Rexford Tugwell for the Senate to approve the U.S. as a full member in 1955. After Wallace won his second term as President, the supremacy of the Progressives began to decline, especially as the Conservatives began to attract more moderate members, not prepared to hang everything on segregation. Conservatives won the House in 1954, and the Senate '56, and the Presidency after Wallace. Nevertheless, for the first time in a long time, a President left office on a high note and in repeated poles Wallace is rated as one of the highest of all time, and the highest in public esteem in the 20th Century.
theflyingmgoose
Well-known member
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES:
31. Herbert Hoover / Charles Curtis (GOP) - March 4, 1929 - March 4, 1937
'28 def. Al Smith (DEM), OTL
'32 def. Al Smith (DEM), 273-258 EV / 47.9%-48.7% PV
32. Huey Long / Franklin Roosevelt (DEM) - March 4, 1937 - October 23, 1938
'36 def. William Borah (GOP), John Nance Garner (CON), 311-176-44 EV / 47.1%-40.3%-11.9%
33. Franklin Roosevelt / VACANT (DEM) - October 23, 1938 - December 2, 1938
(-). Douglas MacArthur (IND) - December 2, 1938 - March 4, 1941
34. Douglas MacArthur / Arthur Vandenberg (NAT) - March 4, 1941 - May 14, 1948
'40 def. UNOPPOSED
'44 def. UNOPPOSED
35. Arthur Vandenberg / VACANT (NAT) - May 14, 1948 - January 25, 1949
36. Eleanor Roosevelt (DEM, Backed By SDP, LIB, CON, SOC) - January 25, 1949 - January 25, 1961
'48 def. Douglas MacArthur (NAT), 458-19
'54 def. Robert Taft (NAT), 489-3
37. Lyndon Johnson (SDP, Backed By SOC, DEM) - January 25, 1961 - January 25, 1967
'60 def. Richard Nixon (CON), Curtis LeMay (NAT), 335-98
38. Gerald Ford (CON, Backed By LIB) - January 25, 1967 - January 25, 1979
'66 def. Lyndon Johnson (SDP), 279-201
'72 def. Martin Luther King, Jr. (SOC), 253-244
39. Nelson Rockefeller (LIB, Backed By CON, NAT) - January 25, 1979 - February 12, 1982
'78 def. Bayard Rustin (SDP), 255-239
(-). Bayard Rustin (SDP, Acting In Capacity As Chancellor) - February 12, 1982 - February 27, 1982
40. Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (LIB, Backed By SDP, CON, GRN) - February 27, 1982 - January 25, 1985
'82 def. Larry MacDonald (NAT), 483-7
41. Walter Mondale (SDP, Backed By LIB, GRN, SOC) - January 25, 1985 - January 25, 1991
'84 def. Bob Dole (CON), 391-104
42. Henry Perot (REF, Backed By CON, NAT) - January 25, 1991 - January 25, 1997
'90 def. Michael Dukakis (SDP), 50.6%-49.4%
43. Al Gore (GRN, Backed By SDP, LIB, DEM) - January 25, 1997 - January 25, 2009
'96 def. Henry Perot (REF), 54.3%-45.7%
'02 def. John McCain (CON), 57.8%-42.2%
44. Barbara Jordan (LIB, Backed By SDP, CON, GRN, REF, DEM, SOC) - January 25, 2009 - April 15, 2013
'08 def. Pat Buchanan (NAT), 95.1%-3.0%
(-). Hillary Rodham (LIB, Acting In Capacity As Chancellor) - April 15, 2013 - November 14, 2013 (Disputed From July-September)
45. Al Gore (GRN, Backed By SDP, SOC, DEM) - November 14, 2013 - January 25, 2015
'13 def. Hillary Rodham (LIB), Donald Trump (REF), 52.1%-30.2%-15.6%
46. Donald Trump (REF, Backed By NAT) - January 25, 2015 - January 25, 2021
'14 def. Bernie Sanders (SDP), 50.7%-49.3%
47. Barack Obama (LIB, Backed By SDP, GRN, CVC, DEM) - January 25, 2021 - Incumbent
'20 def. Donald Trump (REF), 73.2%-22.4%
CHANCELLORS OF THE UNITED STATES:
Senator Walter Reuther (SDP) - January 25, 1949 - April 9, 1962
'48 - 271/501 Seats (SDP, DEM)
'52 - 305/501 Seats (SDP, DEM, SOC)
'56 - 288/501 Seats (SDP, DEM, SOC)
'59 - 317/501 Seats (SDP, SOC, DEM)
Vice Chancellor David Lasser (SOC) - April 9, 1962 - January 25, 1964
Governor Nelson Rockefeller (LIB) - January 25, 1964 - January 25, 1972
'63 - 262/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT)
'67 - 289/501 Seats (LIB, CON)
Representative Max Shachtman (SOC) - January 25, 1972 - November 23, 1972
'71 - 255/501 Seats (SOC, SDP)
Minister for Racial Equality Martin Luther King, Jr. (SOC) - November 23, 1972 - January 18, 1974
Vice Chancellor Bayard Rustin (SDP) - January 18, 1974 - January 25, 1976
Senator Daniel Inouye (DEM) - January 25, 1976 - January 25, 1980
'75 - 267/501 Seats (DEM Leading LIB, CON)
Fmr. Chancellor Bayard Rustin (SDP) - January 25, 1980 - June 14, 1986
'79 - 254/501 Seats (SDP, SOC, GRN)
'83 - 314/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, SOC)
Vice Chancellor Tom Kahn (SDP) - June 14, 1986 - January 25, 1992
'87 - 289/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, SOC)
'90-'91 - 501/501 Seats (SDP, LIB, CON, GRN, NAT, SOC, DEM, REF) War Coalition
Defense Minister Barbara Jordan (LIB) - January 25, 1992 - December 12, 1998
'91 - 255/501 Seats (LIB, CON, GRN, NAT, REF)
'93 - 278/501 Seats (LIB, CON, REF)
'97 - 300/501 Seats (LIB, CON)
Vice Chancellor Bill Clinton (LIB) - December 12, 1998 - January 25, 2004
'01-'02 - 501/501 Seats (SDP, LIB, CON, GRN, REF, NAT, SOC, DEM) War Coalition
'01 - 271/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT)
Senator Bernie Sanders (SDP) - January 25, 2004 - January 25, 2008
'03 - 256/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, SOC)
Fmr. Foreign Minister Hillary Rodham (LIB) - January 25, 2008 - July 13, 2013
'07 - 287/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT, REF)
'11 - 285/501 Seats (LIB, CON, REF)
Vice Chancellor Charlie Baker (LIB) - July 13, 2013 - January 22, 2018
'15 - 251/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT, REF)
Vice Chancellor John Kasich (CON) - January 22, 2018 - January 25, 2020
Fmr. Chancellor Charlie Baker (LIB) - January 25, 2020 - January 25, 2024
'19 - 267/501 Seats (LIB, CON, REF)
Senator John Fetterman (SDP) - January 25, 2024 - Incumbent
'23 - 251/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, CVC, DEM)
31. Herbert Hoover / Charles Curtis (GOP) - March 4, 1929 - March 4, 1937
'28 def. Al Smith (DEM), OTL
'32 def. Al Smith (DEM), 273-258 EV / 47.9%-48.7% PV
32. Huey Long / Franklin Roosevelt (DEM) - March 4, 1937 - October 23, 1938
'36 def. William Borah (GOP), John Nance Garner (CON), 311-176-44 EV / 47.1%-40.3%-11.9%
33. Franklin Roosevelt / VACANT (DEM) - October 23, 1938 - December 2, 1938
(-). Douglas MacArthur (IND) - December 2, 1938 - March 4, 1941
34. Douglas MacArthur / Arthur Vandenberg (NAT) - March 4, 1941 - May 14, 1948
'40 def. UNOPPOSED
'44 def. UNOPPOSED
35. Arthur Vandenberg / VACANT (NAT) - May 14, 1948 - January 25, 1949
36. Eleanor Roosevelt (DEM, Backed By SDP, LIB, CON, SOC) - January 25, 1949 - January 25, 1961
'48 def. Douglas MacArthur (NAT), 458-19
'54 def. Robert Taft (NAT), 489-3
37. Lyndon Johnson (SDP, Backed By SOC, DEM) - January 25, 1961 - January 25, 1967
'60 def. Richard Nixon (CON), Curtis LeMay (NAT), 335-98
38. Gerald Ford (CON, Backed By LIB) - January 25, 1967 - January 25, 1979
'66 def. Lyndon Johnson (SDP), 279-201
'72 def. Martin Luther King, Jr. (SOC), 253-244
39. Nelson Rockefeller (LIB, Backed By CON, NAT) - January 25, 1979 - February 12, 1982
'78 def. Bayard Rustin (SDP), 255-239
(-). Bayard Rustin (SDP, Acting In Capacity As Chancellor) - February 12, 1982 - February 27, 1982
40. Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (LIB, Backed By SDP, CON, GRN) - February 27, 1982 - January 25, 1985
'82 def. Larry MacDonald (NAT), 483-7
41. Walter Mondale (SDP, Backed By LIB, GRN, SOC) - January 25, 1985 - January 25, 1991
'84 def. Bob Dole (CON), 391-104
42. Henry Perot (REF, Backed By CON, NAT) - January 25, 1991 - January 25, 1997
'90 def. Michael Dukakis (SDP), 50.6%-49.4%
43. Al Gore (GRN, Backed By SDP, LIB, DEM) - January 25, 1997 - January 25, 2009
'96 def. Henry Perot (REF), 54.3%-45.7%
'02 def. John McCain (CON), 57.8%-42.2%
44. Barbara Jordan (LIB, Backed By SDP, CON, GRN, REF, DEM, SOC) - January 25, 2009 - April 15, 2013
'08 def. Pat Buchanan (NAT), 95.1%-3.0%
(-). Hillary Rodham (LIB, Acting In Capacity As Chancellor) - April 15, 2013 - November 14, 2013 (Disputed From July-September)
45. Al Gore (GRN, Backed By SDP, SOC, DEM) - November 14, 2013 - January 25, 2015
'13 def. Hillary Rodham (LIB), Donald Trump (REF), 52.1%-30.2%-15.6%
46. Donald Trump (REF, Backed By NAT) - January 25, 2015 - January 25, 2021
'14 def. Bernie Sanders (SDP), 50.7%-49.3%
47. Barack Obama (LIB, Backed By SDP, GRN, CVC, DEM) - January 25, 2021 - Incumbent
'20 def. Donald Trump (REF), 73.2%-22.4%
CHANCELLORS OF THE UNITED STATES:
Senator Walter Reuther (SDP) - January 25, 1949 - April 9, 1962
'48 - 271/501 Seats (SDP, DEM)
'52 - 305/501 Seats (SDP, DEM, SOC)
'56 - 288/501 Seats (SDP, DEM, SOC)
'59 - 317/501 Seats (SDP, SOC, DEM)
Vice Chancellor David Lasser (SOC) - April 9, 1962 - January 25, 1964
Governor Nelson Rockefeller (LIB) - January 25, 1964 - January 25, 1972
'63 - 262/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT)
'67 - 289/501 Seats (LIB, CON)
Representative Max Shachtman (SOC) - January 25, 1972 - November 23, 1972
'71 - 255/501 Seats (SOC, SDP)
Minister for Racial Equality Martin Luther King, Jr. (SOC) - November 23, 1972 - January 18, 1974
Vice Chancellor Bayard Rustin (SDP) - January 18, 1974 - January 25, 1976
Senator Daniel Inouye (DEM) - January 25, 1976 - January 25, 1980
'75 - 267/501 Seats (DEM Leading LIB, CON)
Fmr. Chancellor Bayard Rustin (SDP) - January 25, 1980 - June 14, 1986
'79 - 254/501 Seats (SDP, SOC, GRN)
'83 - 314/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, SOC)
Vice Chancellor Tom Kahn (SDP) - June 14, 1986 - January 25, 1992
'87 - 289/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, SOC)
'90-'91 - 501/501 Seats (SDP, LIB, CON, GRN, NAT, SOC, DEM, REF) War Coalition
Defense Minister Barbara Jordan (LIB) - January 25, 1992 - December 12, 1998
'91 - 255/501 Seats (LIB, CON, GRN, NAT, REF)
'93 - 278/501 Seats (LIB, CON, REF)
'97 - 300/501 Seats (LIB, CON)
Vice Chancellor Bill Clinton (LIB) - December 12, 1998 - January 25, 2004
'01-'02 - 501/501 Seats (SDP, LIB, CON, GRN, REF, NAT, SOC, DEM) War Coalition
'01 - 271/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT)
Senator Bernie Sanders (SDP) - January 25, 2004 - January 25, 2008
'03 - 256/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, SOC)
Fmr. Foreign Minister Hillary Rodham (LIB) - January 25, 2008 - July 13, 2013
'07 - 287/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT, REF)
'11 - 285/501 Seats (LIB, CON, REF)
Vice Chancellor Charlie Baker (LIB) - July 13, 2013 - January 22, 2018
'15 - 251/501 Seats (LIB, CON, NAT, REF)
Vice Chancellor John Kasich (CON) - January 22, 2018 - January 25, 2020
Fmr. Chancellor Charlie Baker (LIB) - January 25, 2020 - January 25, 2024
'19 - 267/501 Seats (LIB, CON, REF)
Senator John Fetterman (SDP) - January 25, 2024 - Incumbent
'23 - 251/501 Seats (SDP, GRN, CVC, DEM)
TheKennedyMachine
Well-known member
- Pronouns
- she/her
1961 - 1964: John F. Kennedy / Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)
1960 def. Richard Nixon / Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (Republican), unpledged electors [Harry Byrd / Strom Thurmond] (Southern Democratic)
1963: Lee Harvey Oswald assassinates retired U.S. Major General Edwin Walker in Dallas, and is arrested the following day
1963: President Kennedy has a five-city tour of the state of Texas, hoping to seek support for the 1964 election
1964: Vice President Johnson resigns as VP in light of the Bobby Baker scandal
1964 - 1965: John F. Kennedy / Vacant (Democratic)
1964: Viet Cong forces assassinate Secretary of Defense McNamara and Ambassador Lodge in South Vietnam, Kennedy promises "swift justice"
1964: Lyndon B. Johnson primaries Ralph Yarborough in the 1964 Senate election in Texas
1964: First US combat troops enter Vietnam
1964: Kennedy nominates Terry Sanford as Vice President at the 1964 DNC in Atlantic City
1964: Operation Heavyweight begins, a sustained bombing campaign of North Vietnamese infrastructure
1965 - 1969: John F. Kennedy / Terry Sanford (Democratic)
1964 def. Barry Goldwater / Gerald Ford (Republican)
1965: Kennedy Administration sees cabinet reshuffle, Robert F. Kennedy moved to Secretary of State
1965: President Kennedy signs an omnibus Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation in the United States
1965: PM Hugh Gaitskell commits to British Army involvement to Vietnam, the decision is controversial and a growing anti-war movement grows
1965: President Kennedy fires General Westmoreland and replaces him with Maxwell Taylor as commander of US forces in Vietnam
1966: Voting Rights Act is signed by President Kennedy
1967: The US, UK, and USSR sign the Outer Space Nuclear Ban Treaty
1967: President Kennedy travels to Cuba and normalize relations with Fidel Castro
1967: Kennedy increases troop levels in Vietnam by 40,000 but he refuses to raise draft levels for the conflict
1968: Richard Nixon dies in explosion on the tarmac at Nashua Airport when reporter Hunter Thompson flicks a lit cigarette into an exposed container of jet fuel
1969 - 1972: Nelson Rockefeller / Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1968 def. Eugene McCarthy / Philip Hoff (Democratic), George Wallace / Curtis LeMay (American Independent)
1969: The policy of Vietnamization is put into effect per insistence of Secretary of Defense Bush
1969: My Lai Massacre is revealed to the public by journalist Seymour Hersh
1969: General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev is assassinated by deserter Viktor Ilyin -- Mikhail Suslov succeeds as leader of the USSR
1971: Pentagon Papers leak -- clashes begin between Secretary of Defense Bush and Secretary of State Kissinger
1971: Lin Biao becomes leader of China after death of Mao Zedong, begins reorienting towards the Soviet Union diplomatically
1971: Senator Ted Kennedy announces campaign for President
1972: President Rockefeller is assassinated by Arthur Bremer during a visit to Ottawa, Burger Commission formed to investigate assassination
1972 - 0000: Ronald Reagan / vacant (Republican)
1972: Secretary of State Kissinger is ousted, Reagan nominates intelligence officer Howard Hunt as new Secretary of State
1972: Death of J. Edgar Hoover, William C. Sullivan becomes new FBI Director
1972: Senator Ted Kennedy dies in plane crash on the campaign trail, Robert F. Kennedy appointed to Senate seat
1972: the 1972 Democratic National Convention nominates Henry Jackson, southern and anti-war delegates walkout
You know, I don't think I've ever seen VP Reagan before, except in that one timeline where it's an unlikely late convention decision rather than it coming at a more likely time in his career.
What exactly is the pod? Is this supposed to be an "America as X" scenario?
TheKennedyMachine
Well-known member
- Pronouns
- she/her
I’ve always wanted to do something different when it comes to lists like this, with Reagan ascending to the Presidency rather than being elected.