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You make an excellent point--I didn't read closely enough! :) Mossadegh sounds like he was at the peak of his powers before his house-arrest. What could remove him short of a coup? He'd already granted himself extraordinary powers. Contrary-wise, invested with this power--what would he be most...

So does this point towards a different policy towards non-Soviet sphere, non-Anglosphere countries at this point in the Cold War given the failure in Iran? Or does it convince them to try again?

I'm not sure about the effect of a delayed (or thwarted?) 1953 coup would be. From a United States perspective, the failure to knock off a government slated for regime change is really quite embarrassing and would likely be hushed up. Its bad imperial etiquette to advertise your failures. As for...

Hello Chums! I'm starting the process for my alternate Ireland story: Syndicalist Ireland! I have a start on sources about social revolution in Ireland (the last big shot at that in the timeframe I'm looking at was the IRA-Civil war, in the form of the Anti-Treatyites largely having the...

Hey Everyone! I've been away a good long while. However, while I'm working on some alternate history articles for the mid-future (Mamluk sultanate!), I'm working on an interconnected series of homebrew one shots set in an undead Roman empire. This may include settings like: -Independent...

Hello comrades! Thank you for the wonderful comments! There is always a unique 'click' when history touches a place you have physically been--whether you were born there or just visiting. I'm reading Orwells account of the Spanish Civil War (The Stalinist/Anarchist mini-civil war in Barcelona)...

So my short story "The Crustacean Count" got picked up by a local theater production for a reading on October 30th. It's the mostly true (I swear, the Rosenbach Library in Philadelphia keeps all of Stoker's weird shit sealed away and I was lucky enough to get a look for a few days with paper and...

Ok! It's been a while and we're at the finale. For those of you who have been keeping up, here are the episodes after three: Part 4 (with notes and annotations) Part 5 (with notes and annotations) Part 6 (with notes and annotations) Part Seven drops here (without annotations!) Feel free to...

Updates! Episode 3, addendums and Episode 4 are now are all on my website! Please take a look and let me know if you have comments or questions! https://www.charlie-allison.com/nestor-makhno-ep-3-anarchy-and-amnesty/ https://www.charlie-allison.com/nestor-makhno-addendum/...

In case anyone wants to hop into the Q and A here are the links--and I'll post more on sources tomorrow. Direct youtube link: Nestor Makhno Episode 2 Facebook Q and A (730) link! Ask some fun ones. https://www.facebook.com/Sewerratsproductions/

A fine question!Largely, the difference is between a person who believes in what he's doing--now that he has a chance to do it (for Pugachev, becoming Tsar was too tempting not to make a try at, and had a good chance at succeeding at) and a true believer who has lived through the hell of the...

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! Please, I'm happy to answer any questions/go back and forth in the forums--Makhno and the Russian Civil War are subjects of particular fascination to me.

I've got some primo history work for you wonderful guys. I'm working on a Seven Part Series on Nestor Makhno (Ukrainian anarchist, writer, war-leader and general pain in Trotsky's ass, which means he is ok in my book) with the help of Sewer Rats Productions. Facebook page for links to the...

The 3rd Crusade was a weird one but still one of the most famous of the European fumbling in the Levant. It has the big names--Richard III, Saladin, Rashid Ad-Dinan Sinan of the Naziri...it could have broken any number of ways other than the treaty at Jaffa (the establishment of the island of...

Oh, absolutely, the timeline is wildly changed. With Byzantium able to hold out even another 50(!) years, never mind multiple centuries from it's OTL fall, the major powers are altered. There is some thought that this influences (see above) the spread of the Black Plague to Europe since the...

As to Jochi's legitimacy, well, we're FAIRLY sure he wasn't the khan's kid (if you'll pardon the alliteration). You've seized on an interesting bit of history though--the Jochids of the Kipchak Khanate (also called the Golden Horde). They were not, in fact, persecuted (save by the usual sporadic...

There are a few critical studies of the Mongol military (and when you're an empire, unless a mistake unmakes your empire, people tend only to remember the hits). In general, when they weren't on the steppes, they tended to do badly, but a GIANT caveat to that is the Yuan dynasty (using defecting...

What a wonderful article! I've always wondered what choices Marcus Aurelius would've made had he lived longer. Commodus--later famous for not only his inept rule but also killing a rhinoceros personally in the Roman games--was a disaster as an heir. I love the idea of ol' Marcus outliving all...

I'm not much of a pugilist, but I do find the history of boxing fascinating. In particular, two of boxing's greatest legends--Jack Johnson, the first African-American to break the color-line and become world heavyweight champion, and Jersey Joe Walcott of Camden, New Jersey. Both were fantastic...

So I'm reading a book by Lauren Berlant called Cruel Optimism. The idea behind the title, the core concept, can be easily explained with this quote: "A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. It might involve food, or a kind of...