Alternate History General Discussion

[Von Callay]

I'm convinced it would have been one Samuel Byck type or at most one leader cut from the same cloth and a few associates and acquaintances (relatives or lovers, potentially). Any group with the slightest self-preservation instinct knows that they'll instantly become the biggest public enemies (which is a deterrent against going too big even later).

Hang on a sec, one disturbed person.., this is going into soft parallel AH, but what if Lee Harvey Oswald in that timeline carried out such an attack instead of what he did IOTL?

There was a murder-suicide air crash in California in the 1960s, PAL Flight 773. I think there was another later in the 1980s, where an ex-pilot was able to evade security and bring a gun on board with his airline credentials. Neither of them seem to have had the idea to fly the plane into anything, just that it would crash after they killed the pilots.

 

[frittering]

The Union occupied the Eastern Panhandle in part because the Baltimore & Ohio was so important and it went through it. The Wheeling Convention did not necessarily incorporate all the territories under Union occupation - notably, it declined to incorporate Alexandria and Fairfax - as it generally sought to maintain an Appalachian cultural outlook, including as you note some pro-Confederate parts. But it made an exception for the Eastern Panhandle because of the importance of the Baltimore & Ohio.

the real tragedy of #trendz is the unionist/secessionist political divisions in the border states being ironed out

 

[Death's Companion]

Think there was a bunch of 9/11 style attacks in fiction.

Heck I plane ramming was a desperation or suicide tactic in the world wars long before the Kamikazes made it famous. Ultimately a plane is flying bomb.

 

[Coiler]

Very minor camouflage/military WI: What if the US military decides to formalize the unofficial but frequently used "Tigerstripe" camo after Vietnam and makes that instead of OTL's M81 Woodland its main pattern?

 

[Coiler]

I do wonder how AH would be perceived if there were more "High Castles" and "Plots Against America"-ie, big-name authors write AH and market it as AH.

 

[monroe]

I do wonder how AH would be perceived if there were more "High Castles" and "Plots Against America"-ie, big-name authors write AH and market it as AH.

Both were marketed as alternate history, as was Fatherland, Machines Like Me, Fire on the Mountain, etc.

The only real distinction is that they're marketed as literature instead of pulp, which is more of a problem with traditional AH and its place within sci-fi/spec-fic (and even then, High Castle wasn't exactly seen as literature like The Plot Against America was when it was published).

 

[Coiler]

In the vein of Agent Lavender's "AH where a conspiracy theory is true", what if Anastasia Romanova did indeed survive and escape?

(Also I guess this makes the movies about her living well after the fact technical AH)

 

[iainbhx]

In the vein of Agent Lavender's "AH where a conspiracy theory is true", what if Anastasia Romanova did indeed survive and escape?

(Also I guess this makes the movies about her living well after the fact technical AH)

Not a lot really, depends on how she marries or not. The various male Romanov dynasts will continue to claim that they are the curator of the imperial throne and that all the others have married below them. Things will still come to a head when Vladimir Kirillovich dies and then Anastastia come into play - depending on who she has or hasn't married.

 

[I Saw A Red Sky]

In the vein of Agent Lavender's "AH where a conspiracy theory is true", what if Anastasia Romanova did indeed survive and escape?

(Also I guess this makes the movies about her living well after the fact technical AH)

Did all the various other exile Romanovs ever do anything of note?

 

[Japhy]

There was a decent concept TLIAD a few years ago in the other place about all the princesses getting out. Very brief even by the standards of the format but about the best you could get on the subject.

 

[Time Enough]

There was a decent concept TLIAD a few years ago in the other place about all the princesses getting out. Very brief even by the standards of the format but about the best you could get on the subject.

I think I remember that one, didn’t Olga marry into the Windsor Royal Family and all that. Nothing dramatic changed much just little things:

 

[Japhy]

I think I remember that one, didn’t Olga marry into the Windsor Royal Family and all that. Nothing dramatic changed much just little things:

Yeah basically that sort of thing. Though Britain having a series of hemophiliac monarchs is an interesting concept.

 

[Yokai Man]

Dumb idea that just came to me and is actually really duable: Arkan survives,runs to Romania,bribes his way into becoming the Serbian minority designated MP and thus gets legal immunity,leading to a series of convoluted attempts to remove his immunity and have him deported.

Possible follow up: the government is a minority one and needs the votes of ethnic minority MPs to get a comfortable majority and is forced for the moment to protect Arkan because they want to stay in power,consequences be damned.

Another follow up: given how almost ethnic minority MPs aren’t actually part of any minority,just crooks exploiting a loophole that gives them seats without anyone needing to vote for them,it’s really easy to have foreign wanted criminals become ethnic minority MPs with the right money.

 

[TruthOfAngels]

Did all the various other exile Romanovs ever do anything of note?

George V did all right.

I think he had descendants too, but I dunno what happened to them.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

George V did all right.

I think he had descendants too, but I dunno what happened to them.

My god, a TLIAD where Nicholas swaps places with George in early 1917- the fake Nicholas is kept permanently drugged by the Tsarina who explains to him that God's chosen has to have some sort of empire he can use to rescue Russia.....

 

[SenatorChickpea]

Oh, and you reveal that Nicholas had a long-running affair with Queen Mary and was the father of her children, so all the current Windsors are actually Romanovs.

 

[napoleon IV]

Oh, and you reveal that Nicholas had a long-running affair with Queen Mary and was the father of her children, so all the current Windsors are actually Romanovs.

That would explain why they're all so damn stupid.

 

[RyanF]

Wasn't Edward VIII meant to marry one of those Grand Duchesses?

 

[lerk]

An interesting thread I found from a far-right Twitter account about why people make “What if Nazis win” alternate history, even in liberal fields such as the movie industry: Secretly liberals are bored, have no imagination, and want the hard right to win:

 

[SenatorChickpea]

That's not an 'interesting thought,' that's you straight up reposting a far right account wanking on about the hollowness of liberalism.

It's the same shit that's passed for fascist cultural commentary for a century, and it has no more place in this conversation than reposting an Al-Qaeda apologist talking about the decline of the west.