Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Ya'll really will just talk about anything huh?
Reds! A Revolutionary Timeline
- Thread starter Aelita
- Start date
- Timeline Post-1900 Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
AG_AG
I love vegetarian food: it goes great with steak
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Shut the fuck up already
- Location
- Rex, NC, USA
Semi-relevant to this thread.
Mazeka
You must be joking
- Location
- United States
Maybe rearrange those stars into a swastika shape for Maly Trostenets.Semi-relevant to this thread.
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
I honestly hate every attempt to deface the stars and stripes for other ideologies because it always looks terrible and this is absolutely not an exception.Semi-relevant to this thread.
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Miss XTC
2 kawaii 2 live 2 sugoi 2 die
- Location
- HelLA.
- Pronouns
- She/They
King Washington
Semi-Depressed Lurker
- Location
- Indiana
Odd thought about a potential bit of quasi-anachronism in TTL's alternate history scene.
With the Franco-British Union being one of the world's leading superpowers, could alternate history revolving around the English winning the 100 Years War and conquering France be a tad more popular than it is OTL because of the potential result of some sort of "proto-FBU" (of course not even close to how that would actually work realistically but my point still stands)
With the Franco-British Union being one of the world's leading superpowers, could alternate history revolving around the English winning the 100 Years War and conquering France be a tad more popular than it is OTL because of the potential result of some sort of "proto-FBU" (of course not even close to how that would actually work realistically but my point still stands)
The funny thing about the hundred years war is that an English victory would have essentially resulted in France annexing England.
I mean, think about it. France was by far the richer and more important of the two countries, Paris was one of the most important cities in western Europe, and both courts spoke French.
So all in all, England should thank its lucky stars that it lost the war.
I mean, think about it. France was by far the richer and more important of the two countries, Paris was one of the most important cities in western Europe, and both courts spoke French.
So all in all, England should thank its lucky stars that it lost the war.
- Pronouns
- he/him
I've always wondered how a Plantagenet victory would go, realistically. There have been plenty of personal unions which didn't last longer than a couple of generations. With England specifically, you've also got the Yorkist claimants that could start an alternate War of the Roses that splits the country off again. Still, history would be different with the Plantagenets in control of France.
- Location
- San Francisco
Y'know I had this whole thing plotted out for the rise of an id Software stand-in from a texan software collective. Also, John Romero would be born a woman in this timeline, so the development team wouldn't be a total sausagefest like IOTL. The eventual result would be GLOOM, a game merging elements of Quake and Doom. I sent a proposal to the authors at some point but never heard back.
Free American State (Part II)
Miss Teri
The Queen
- Location
- West
- Pronouns
- She/Her
As always, special thanks to @Bookmark1995 for the original idea and writing the original piece and allowing me to use and modify it for the current TL.
---------------------
With the Battle of Moscow behind them, the Nazi Reich found itself on the defensive by the end of 1942 as Comintern forces to the east and Allied armies to the west began to close in on Nazi Europe. For many Germans, this led to rations being reduced, as wartime austerity set in.
The Free American State, a propaganda venture, was deemed a drain on resources in an area that had been largely pacified. Reichskommissarriat Baltenland made major cuts in its food supply, to be diverted to the ground troops.
William Dudley Pelley, the president, was faced with a dilemma. He sought to maintain the pristine image of the Free American State whilst not further angering the leadership that kept his project alive despite these cuts.
Pelley and Effinger decided to do what they perceived as the rational decision for their race: instead of cutting their own rations, they cut the rations of Belarusian laborers, POWs and concentration camp internees who maintained the expatriates' quality of life, to raise rations for the FAS elite. Pelley believed that the reversal of fortune was temporary, but regardless didn't much regard this change as significant.
With conditions for the laborers already so bad, the cuts to their already meager rations would be devastating for the Belarusians. As the effects became more and more apparent, this marked the beginning of the end for the FAS. Before 1943, the Free American State was something of a Versailles, a place where the elite could be insulated from the misery of those who made their paradise. And much like Versailles, the situation could not be maintained over the long term.
By March 1943, the slave laborers of the community began dropping dead from hunger and cold as well as overwork. Many would abruptly lose consciousness in the middle of a task. One witness would later describe how Maly Trostenets "resembled a village in the time of the Black Death: one would see more corpses in the street than people."
By May, dozens of people were dropping dead everyday. As more laborers died, the quality of life declined as well. Not just because the constant dying created labor shortages, but disease began to spread rampant. Soon, the American and German civilians began trickling out of Maly Trostenets, as its hospital was overwhelmed, and the cuts in ration became clearer.
Effinger and the ASSB would have an interesting response to the increased death and disease: Those who "fall down on the job," as Effinger put it, were brutally beaten and tortured, as were their comrades as a form of coercion. If one Belarusian person dropped dead, his living comrade would be butchered. In one particular tantrum, Effinger executed 50 personally with a machine gun in the town center to enact "a quarantine" after an outbreak of diphtheria among Belarusian chattel. Effinger's motivational tactics, unsurprisingly, failed to deter death, disease or discontent.
Virgil Effinger's bloodlust soon turned psychotic, as he blamed "Bolshevik intruders" for the decline of his prized utopia and the Comintern victories on the front. In his rage, he randomly slaughtered laborers as they worked. When he ran out of Slavs and Jews to kill, he would turn his gun toward recent American red turn coats, blaming their "lingering Redness" for defeat. Even those fleeing civilians discovered they would be dragged before Effinger and executed for treason.
Effinger's rampage was the last straw with the Nazi leadership, with even longtime benefactor Henry Ford telling Pelley to reign Effinger in and try to find another solution to the labor crisis. Pelley delayed before finally putting an end to Effinger's purge, but by then the damage was done.
The smell of blood, once rare in Maly Trostenets, was now frighteningly common as more and more laborers fell victim to Effinger's motivational terror.
Even worse however, was the smell of burnt bodies. To deal with the increasingly massive death rate, a crematorium had been set up near the outskirts of town. While the crematorium relieved the number of dead bodies, the smell it produced was unbearable. Many residents of the community tried to block the smells by pouring perfume and cologne all over the streets. Soon, the town was coated in choking ash.
Ironically, whilst Effinger was rampaging, the POWs and laborers began plotting an uprising against their captors. With the POWs (many of whom were Civil War vets) passing clandestine information to the laborers, an underground resistance was formed, and when Effinger stopped his murderous rampage, they felt it was finally time to move.
On May 1st, 1944, whilst an armory guard was out to urinate, a Belarusian maid stole his keys, and the conspirators were given access to its weapons, including the ASSB's various handguns, rifles, and grenades. Armed, they proceeded to the nearby camp, where they killed several guards and armed the prisoners. The group moved into the town, and began their rebellion in earnest.
Pelley and Effinger, caught off-guard by the rebellion, were forced to barricade themselves in the White House, whilst the ASSB were given confusing orders to resist, maintain and fight back.
Several of the homes, the school, post office, and even the reconstructed Capitol were seized and destroyed. 3 Representatives and 5 Senators were killed. Effinger, convinced he could stop the tide, eventually emerged from the barracks and led troops personally.
His wanton rage proved unable to actually stop the advance, and in fact, left him wide open for attack.
Helmut Rosenfield, an American POW, was securing one of the homes, when he spotted Effinger on the lawn yelling orders to confused troops. He carefully placed his rifle on the window sill, and with one shot, managed to shoot Effinger in the chest, right as Effinger heard the rifle click.
Eventually, Pelley was able to call in reinforcements, but by then, most of the rebels were able to escape, and those who remained died fighting off the reinforcements. By the time order was restored, much of the Free American State and Maly Trostenets camp was destroyed.
Pelley attempted to get the resources to rebuild, but soon found that the funding he could get was not enough for a full rebuilding. He also couldn't rebuild the camp, meaning the laborers were in short supply. As Comintern forces were on the horizon, Pelley was left with a decaying, partially destroyed town and a dream that was becoming a nightmare.
---------------------
With the Battle of Moscow behind them, the Nazi Reich found itself on the defensive by the end of 1942 as Comintern forces to the east and Allied armies to the west began to close in on Nazi Europe. For many Germans, this led to rations being reduced, as wartime austerity set in.
The Free American State, a propaganda venture, was deemed a drain on resources in an area that had been largely pacified. Reichskommissarriat Baltenland made major cuts in its food supply, to be diverted to the ground troops.
William Dudley Pelley, the president, was faced with a dilemma. He sought to maintain the pristine image of the Free American State whilst not further angering the leadership that kept his project alive despite these cuts.
Pelley and Effinger decided to do what they perceived as the rational decision for their race: instead of cutting their own rations, they cut the rations of Belarusian laborers, POWs and concentration camp internees who maintained the expatriates' quality of life, to raise rations for the FAS elite. Pelley believed that the reversal of fortune was temporary, but regardless didn't much regard this change as significant.
With conditions for the laborers already so bad, the cuts to their already meager rations would be devastating for the Belarusians. As the effects became more and more apparent, this marked the beginning of the end for the FAS. Before 1943, the Free American State was something of a Versailles, a place where the elite could be insulated from the misery of those who made their paradise. And much like Versailles, the situation could not be maintained over the long term.
By March 1943, the slave laborers of the community began dropping dead from hunger and cold as well as overwork. Many would abruptly lose consciousness in the middle of a task. One witness would later describe how Maly Trostenets "resembled a village in the time of the Black Death: one would see more corpses in the street than people."
By May, dozens of people were dropping dead everyday. As more laborers died, the quality of life declined as well. Not just because the constant dying created labor shortages, but disease began to spread rampant. Soon, the American and German civilians began trickling out of Maly Trostenets, as its hospital was overwhelmed, and the cuts in ration became clearer.
Effinger and the ASSB would have an interesting response to the increased death and disease: Those who "fall down on the job," as Effinger put it, were brutally beaten and tortured, as were their comrades as a form of coercion. If one Belarusian person dropped dead, his living comrade would be butchered. In one particular tantrum, Effinger executed 50 personally with a machine gun in the town center to enact "a quarantine" after an outbreak of diphtheria among Belarusian chattel. Effinger's motivational tactics, unsurprisingly, failed to deter death, disease or discontent.
Virgil Effinger's bloodlust soon turned psychotic, as he blamed "Bolshevik intruders" for the decline of his prized utopia and the Comintern victories on the front. In his rage, he randomly slaughtered laborers as they worked. When he ran out of Slavs and Jews to kill, he would turn his gun toward recent American red turn coats, blaming their "lingering Redness" for defeat. Even those fleeing civilians discovered they would be dragged before Effinger and executed for treason.
Effinger's rampage was the last straw with the Nazi leadership, with even longtime benefactor Henry Ford telling Pelley to reign Effinger in and try to find another solution to the labor crisis. Pelley delayed before finally putting an end to Effinger's purge, but by then the damage was done.
The smell of blood, once rare in Maly Trostenets, was now frighteningly common as more and more laborers fell victim to Effinger's motivational terror.
Even worse however, was the smell of burnt bodies. To deal with the increasingly massive death rate, a crematorium had been set up near the outskirts of town. While the crematorium relieved the number of dead bodies, the smell it produced was unbearable. Many residents of the community tried to block the smells by pouring perfume and cologne all over the streets. Soon, the town was coated in choking ash.
Ironically, whilst Effinger was rampaging, the POWs and laborers began plotting an uprising against their captors. With the POWs (many of whom were Civil War vets) passing clandestine information to the laborers, an underground resistance was formed, and when Effinger stopped his murderous rampage, they felt it was finally time to move.
On May 1st, 1944, whilst an armory guard was out to urinate, a Belarusian maid stole his keys, and the conspirators were given access to its weapons, including the ASSB's various handguns, rifles, and grenades. Armed, they proceeded to the nearby camp, where they killed several guards and armed the prisoners. The group moved into the town, and began their rebellion in earnest.
Pelley and Effinger, caught off-guard by the rebellion, were forced to barricade themselves in the White House, whilst the ASSB were given confusing orders to resist, maintain and fight back.
Several of the homes, the school, post office, and even the reconstructed Capitol were seized and destroyed. 3 Representatives and 5 Senators were killed. Effinger, convinced he could stop the tide, eventually emerged from the barracks and led troops personally.
His wanton rage proved unable to actually stop the advance, and in fact, left him wide open for attack.
Helmut Rosenfield, an American POW, was securing one of the homes, when he spotted Effinger on the lawn yelling orders to confused troops. He carefully placed his rifle on the window sill, and with one shot, managed to shoot Effinger in the chest, right as Effinger heard the rifle click.
Eventually, Pelley was able to call in reinforcements, but by then, most of the rebels were able to escape, and those who remained died fighting off the reinforcements. By the time order was restored, much of the Free American State and Maly Trostenets camp was destroyed.
Pelley attempted to get the resources to rebuild, but soon found that the funding he could get was not enough for a full rebuilding. He also couldn't rebuild the camp, meaning the laborers were in short supply. As Comintern forces were on the horizon, Pelley was left with a decaying, partially destroyed town and a dream that was becoming a nightmare.
Arthur Frayn
Fake God by Occupation, Magician by Inclination
- Location
- Land of Do As You Please
- Pronouns
- They/Him
Man, the liberation of the Free American State must have been fucking surreal for the COMINTERN. You've battled your way across European Russia in a knock down, drag out fight for national survival, the tide's finally turned and you can feel the winds of victory at your back, and then your division comes over the hill to find a crumbling Disney-esque "Little America" complete with a decrepit replica of the White House and Capital smack dab in the middle of Eastern Europe.
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QueenOfRoses
Athena Promachos
- Location
- Department of Motor Vehicles
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Und weil der mensch ein mensch ist
drum braucht er was zum Essen, bitte sehr!
Es macht ihn ein Geschwätz nicht satt,
das schafft kein Essen her.
drum braucht er was zum Essen, bitte sehr!
Es macht ihn ein Geschwätz nicht satt,
das schafft kein Essen her.
from what I remember, there were no *explicit* declarations from Japan's side, but they ejected the Netherlands and French from their colonial holdings after infiltrating them to hell and back, which caused a declaration from the Entente in return.
Drum links, zwei, drei!
Drum links, zwei, drei!
Wo dein Platz, Genosse, ist!
Reih dich ein in die Arbeitereinheitsfront,
weil du auch ein Arbeiter bist.
- Location
- Third planet from the star named Sol
- Pronouns
- He/They
One or two divisions might have even stumbled over the fleeing rebels (although that was probably several weeks before reaching the place), which would be an experience.
Arthur Frayn
Fake God by Occupation, Magician by Inclination
- Location
- Land of Do As You Please
- Pronouns
- They/Him
It starts out as this buck wild rumor only whispered about in foxholes and latrines, a secret Nazi Counter-WDDC, complete with a White House and Capital Building, where POW's and Baltic slaves tend the fields of twisted recreations of the Antebellum South, and there's hamburger and hot dog stands and fireworks on the Fourth of July. Some say it's a training ground for the invasion of the United Republics, others a secret lab where Henry Ford is working on a Death Ray. Some even say it's really is Washington-Debs DC, but one summoned by Nazi Occult Science from another reality where the Revolution never happened and America remained capitalist (this one gets the most laughs).
You don't believe it, dismiss it at as enemy propaganda bullshit, but your Russian buddy Viktor swears it's true, he heard it from a Corporal in the 4th Guards who heard it from a Private in the 12th Motorized who learned about it from a liberated partisan in a field hospital outside Minsk, it's all true.
And then one day you're sitting in the back of a truck bumping along some backroad, smoking a cigarette and just trying to have a moment to yourself, when what do you see cresting over the hill but the figure of Freedom herself atop the capital dome.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Honestly, you might well dismiss it as allied propaganda bullshit. Yes, the Nazis are completely terrible and nothing is beyond them, but the whole thing is so absurd and stupid and pointlessly evil.*
*Again, also not remotely beyond the Nazis
- Location
- London
That gives even the Ustase a run for the money in "worst collaborators." Monsters, but at least the worst one is dead and with luck the ring leader is getting hanged (possibly slowly) after the end of the war.
- Location
- France
- Pronouns
- She/They
There's a strong selection factor at work. Only the worst of the worst of reactionary America could decide to head to Eastern Europe to do another round of settler colonialism. The saner ones stayed in Cuba or worked with an anti capitalist regime in its core.
Raiho-kun
This Cycle's Second Biggest Communism Builder
Even within that sample, you have fascist fanatics like Joe Kennedy Junior and his Silberne Legion cohort, distinguished in their ruthlessness in the Spanish Civil War (and actually know how to fight targets that can shoot back as opposed to a bunch of starving Byelorussian slaves), who detest the idea as simply hedonistic hubris and clearly don't think too highly of Pelley and Company.
Doesn't help that Pelley and Effinger's credentials amounted to "those bozos who got clotheslined in the streets by the Reds before the civil war even began". They simply got lucky Berlin saw use in their proposed vanity project since they had no "merit" otherwise.
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- Location
- The Midlands.
Not very well, I expect.
Miss Teri
The Queen
- Location
- West
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Even that was mostly because Ford was nostalgic for his failed Brazilian rubber farm.