The End of NES2 V.

[andis-1]

So, when shall the greath Polarbeum tell his decision?

 

[das]

No, not yet...

 

[Israelite9191]

Am I the only one here who hasn't heard of Heine?

EDIT: He voted for alt-hist.

 

[Kozmos]

Yes you are.

 

[Israelite9191]

OK, I will shut up then. I guess I haven't been around here long enough.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

@das and Dis- Yes, but despite this knowledge we'll debate anyway. Odd, isn't it?

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Why is everyone ignoring me? Das, can you at least confirm that you know what DoD is?

 

[Thlayli]

I think das likes to use his own alternate historues...mostly. Though someone could do it...

 

[Lord_Iggy]

What is Decades of Darkness? I've heard of it a long time ago (on das' 'By a Single Decision').

 

[Thlayli]

Jefferson dies early, New England secedes from the U.S, uber-America then dominates most of the remainder of North and South America, basically.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Thank you Thlayli.

That's interesting, you currently have almost exactly 1/3 of my postcount.

HE'S CATCHING UP!!! MUST POST MORE AND FASTER!!!

 

[Thlayli]

Weird. I wouldn't be worried though Iggy, we joined in the same month after all, kinda tells you who posts more per day...

Read more here:

http://www.alternatehistory.com/decadesofdarkness/

It's a nice timeline, but I'd much rather have das do one of his althists.

 

[Insane_Panda]

ITNES! ITNES!

We've just finished a massive industrial era NES, and I'm sure we all know how the next industrial era NES shall end. So let us resume ITNES!

 

[das]

(no das summary)

There will be a "das summary" one day (maybe even one day soon), even if I don't start it now.

Its still too early to tell which NES exactly will I do, but anyway, here are some details on the althist that I had in mind.

The year now is 1740. The PoD is in the 1550s, when the Crimean Tartar raids on Lithuania intensified, swaying the opinions of the Lithuanian nobility towards the planned alliance with Ivan IV's Russia. As was proposed several times in OTL before the Livonian War, Ivan IV's son, also named Ivan (yes, the one he killed in OTL), was given the Lithuanian throne, breaking the yet-unsolidified Polish-Lithuanian union and beginning the War of Lithuanian Succession, this world's analogue of the Livonian War. Overtime, the war expanded - Denmark sided with Russia and Lithuania, while Poland allied with the Teutonic Order and Sweden. Over two decades later, peace came, recognizing Ivan Ivanovich as the king of sovereign Lithuania and ceding most of the Teutonic Order to Russia as well. Sweden didn't exactly come out defeated, however - the Vasas managed to win the Polish royal elections, and in this world, the presence of a more potent Russian threat and the quite different ruler of the united Sweden-Poland (Johan III/Jan II, rather than his Catholic son who antagonized the Swedes themselves), the union proved somewhat more lasting. Also, the crisis of religion that existed in Poland at the time worsened because of the loss of influence in Lithuania, and a fairly large percentage of the country population fell to the Reformation.

In 1607, the Twenty Years War (funny, it seems to shrink from one of my althists to another...) begun when Bohemian Protestants rebelled against the Habsburg rule, not without some encouragement and assistance from Sweden-Poland's new ruler, Gustav II (who is quite similar to Gustavus Adolphus, but was born a decade earlier, plus a few other ultimately insignificant differences). Soon enough, Sweden-Poland joined into the war on the rebel side, and so did France, ruled by Henri IV who in this world lived and ruled for longer, as in 1610 he wasn't in Paris, and instead was campaigning in Germany.

This anti-Habsburg coalition triumphed in the end. Henri IV, despite his death a few years before the war's end, strenghthened France considerably, preparing the ground for the future conquest of the United Provinces and the intervention in England's civil wars. All this and the continued cooperation of the French government and the Huguenots, and other wealthy religious minorities, firmly set France on a mercantile path of development, which, in turn, allowed it to found a great colonial empire, especially after the failure of a late 17th century military adventure in Germany.

Austria didn't survive the Twenty Years War, but Spain did, and remained under the Habsburg dynasty. As a matter of fact, the defeat and the thorough discreditation of the existing elite has forced it to go by the path of reform. It wasn't an easy path for Spain, with defeats and rebellions along the way, but by mid-18th century it was revitalized, its positions in Italy and North Africa restored and strenghthened and its defeats prepared for avenging.

There is just one more colonial power left by 1740 - all the others were eliminated along the way. This third power is Portugal, which liberated itself from the Spanish rule in the Twenty Years War. The Braganza Dynasty revived Portugal's fortunes, and rebuilt its old empire, expanding it further. Just as France is predominant in North America, just like Spain is predominant in the South one, Portugal rules Africa and the Indian Ocean. Yet for now, Portugal did its best to stay out of the Franco-Spanish Great Game...

Gustav II died in 1648, after a reign full of intrigues and military campaigns, campaigns that, despite his genius, gradually drained his country. He left behind himself a vast Protestant Empire, covering all of Scandinavia, Poland, the Holy Roman Empire and even parts of Hungary - in fact, he died fighting his old allies the Turks that occupied all of that country after the Twenty Years War. This wasn't an empire that could last for long, alas, and it fragmented soon after his death. Denmark-Norway regained its independence, not without Russian help; Sweden became one of the modern world's first republics and settled down peacefully, only fighting periodic wars with Denmark-Norway and Russia over border issues; and further south, the real fun had started. Catholic German princes immediately reclaimed their independence and begun slitting each other's troats, not forgetting to occasionally gather in leagues to kill a few heretics for a change. The heretics too went back to the good old days of the late Holy Roman Empire, minus what few semblances of order remained, and also formed short-lived coalitions against the Catholics. Poland fell into a series of religious wars not unlike France's, and only barely avoided being conquered by Russia-Lithuania. All that changed in the very late 17th century. The German Catholics once more beat the Protestants to a bright idea, in a way. August I of Bavaria, in a series of wars and diplomatic maneuvers, united the Catholic princes of southern Germany as the Augsburg League, and made it survive too, to this day in fact. The Protestant princes were more numerous, and thus also more diverse in opinions. Some of them united around Brunswick. Others remained independent until another notable personality intervenned. Ever since the abortive Russo-Lithuanian invasion in 1685, Poland was ruled by a rather weak republic, but in 1692 it was overthrown by Marshall Wladyslaw Wittlin, a war hero and a politician. Long story cut short, he not only defeated another Russo-Lithuanian invasion, but also a plenty of other threats, showed himself as a shrewd diplomat in his dealings with the German Protestant states that didn't submit to Brunswick and expelled the Turks out of Hungary. He lived long enough to consolidate his gains and create a somewhat unlikely state, a Polono-Germano-Hungarian republic. The Union of Krakow. United mostly by common religion and the need to fight of a plenty of enemies (plus, ofcourse, the realization that they couldn't fight alone and survive), this state has thus far survived and recently came to be dominated by a German-dominated military party, the "Junkers".

Further east, Russia-Lithuania is still ruled by the Rurikovich dynasty. Over time, it became a parliamentary monarchy (with the Tsar-King still retaining much power) as well. Despite occasional wars with Sweden, Poland and Turkey, Russia's main expansion in last few decades was eastwards. Siberia was consolidated and developed, and Central Asia was subdued, but the Rurikovichi did find a worthy enemy in the East, a one they have thus far been unable to beat. Qing China is still in its prime, and is still expanding, and crushing all that dare oppose it, though it is not wholly opposed to cooperation and co-existance, where it is more profitable. Pretty good relations have been developed with both Iberian powers, but the relations with France have been complicated by the French protectorate in Siam, on which the Qing had their eyes set on themselves...

Then there is also the Ottoman Empire. Having suffered several bad defeats throughout the 17th century, it, much like Spain, retreated, recovered and has now went on a new expansion spree, taking over the westernmost Persian lands as the rest were plagued by civil wars and the Afghan invasions (culminating in the creation of an Afghan empire). This and the conquest of Central Arabia have strenghthened the Turkish positions in the Indian Ocean... and brought the Ottomans into conflict with Portugal, which also has a reflection in East Africa, where the quickly-modernizing pro-Portuguese kingdom of Ethiopia has entered into a struggle with the pro-Turkish Sennar.

In some ways, this world is the polar opposite of NES2 V. That latter one was, especially before 1860, a conservative, stable and peaceful world... and because of this peace and stability, it stagnated and remained comparatively backwards. By contrast, in this world, the Industrial Revolution is in full steam even now, in 1740, technological progress is fast-paced and the people are filled with optimism at the future that is quickly becoming the present... which is alittle strange, because the history - and the present situation - of this world hardly inspire any such optimism. Progress, like all things, has two sides, and both of them could be seen here. This is a world of war, of radical politics, of social and cultural strife, a world full of danger. The old world order won't fall - for there never was any order, only chaos, chaos before and chaos ahead.

Not a world for the meek...

 

[Insane_Panda]

Also, congradulations to those who won awards, I think they were all quite well deserved

Edit: To slow to post before le post by Das.

Also, Althist is starting to look tempting....

 

[Jason The King]

Looks good das. I take it there was no Enlightenment before the industrial revolution, so the absolute monarchs are still ruling legitmately? Or was there one not spoken about, bring reason to the parliament in Russia?

 

[Disenfrancised]

This is a world of war, of radical politics, of social and cultural strife, a world full of danger. The old world order won't fall - for there never was any order, only chaos, chaos before and chaos ahead.

Excellent tagline das, maybe you should go into marketing . Begins evil plotting...

Are there as many fun rebel groups ala NES2 V?

 

[das]

There wasn't much of an Enlightenment, but the parliamentary monarchy has evolved by itself, like it did in OTL - IMHO the Enlightenment had a rather secondary role in it, if we look at the British example for instance. Many European countries have a parliamentary monarchy, BUT the monarch still does retain much real power, varying from place to place. Parliaments evolved from the already-existant representative bodies - again, like in Britain in OTL. The French parlements weren't dissolved, neither was the Russian zemsky sobor, etc.

 

[das]

Excellent tagline das, maybe you should go into marketing

Its in the blood, I suppose...

Are there as many fun rebel groups ala NES2 V?

But ofcourse!

 

[Thlayli]

I love the timeline, das. There's more room for intrigue, as there are as many as 6 Great Powers (tm) in this althist, as opposed to NES2 V where the FK came out on top from the beginning.

France isn't the world-hegemon that the FK was, at least not yet...Spain, Portugal, Russia and China all could replace it...or not.

I do feel a bit sorry for the English in this NES...but it really is more funny than sad.