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Old 10-07-2018, 09:18 AM   #3691
malloyd
 
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Anyway, with much less of a continent, it is not like the USA will be very welcoming to immigrants, so the USA would have limited immigration even more than it did.
Why? The US is still very lightly populated. In fact the just the original colonies (even using their current borders, never mind the territory ceded to future states) could hold 200 million people and still be less densely populated than Germany or Italy. That's about the US population as of 1980, well after the peaks of immigration from Europe. If the modern US were as densely populated as the European Union, it would have a population of 4.6 billion. Any American limits on immigration have never had anything to do with lacking enough *space* for them.
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Old 10-07-2018, 09:39 AM   #3692
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On Jackson-5, Andrew Jackson was killed a week before the Battle of New Orleans due to friendly fire, leading the British victory over the American forces, which were easily routed, and the subsequent occupation of New Orleans. When the British occupation force left, they gave the captured American arms and ships to the slaves that they had freed during their occupation of New Orleans. The freed slaves imprisoned any former owners who refused to acknowledge their freedom after the British left, destroyed the recovering American forces that attempted to retake New Orleans, and announced themselves to be the Louisiana Republic.

The Louisiana Republic immediately received recognition and support from the British Crown, who sent ships and soldiers to guarantee the independence of the Louisiana Republic. The USA responded by attacking Canada again, but the Canadians were ready for a second invasion, and they defeated and captured the American forces. In the half century since then, the Louisiana Republic has played the kingmaker between the USA and the Republic of Mexico, and they helped defeat the USA during the American-Mexican War of 1848.
Any such Louisiana Republic would have to be highly militarized. Its very presence destabilizes every U.S. state in which plantations with slaves play a significant economic role.

Escaped slaves no longer have to make the long trip north to Canada. Instead, they can simply make it to the Mississippi and "float to freedom."

Of course, it wouldn't be that simple. The southern states would implement river patrols and could make fugitive hunters into larger, state-supported para-military organizations that constantly raided into the territory of the Republic.

Since the southern states were already more oriented toward violence than the north (a slave is a knife at the throat the master, and that means the slavers must devote a significant proportion of their energy and resources to keep boots on throats), and the proximity of such a clearly hostile polity that threatened the livelihoods of the most wealthy of the movers and shakers would only make matters worse.

The constant threat of violence from its immediate neighbors would require the Louisiana Republic to maintain a fairly large professional army just to secure its own borders. Recognition from Britain means the army of Louisiana gets organized in the same way as the British army, and I could see some of the officers, there, agreeing to take commissions in the Army of the Republic of Louisiana.
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Old 10-07-2018, 10:07 AM   #3693
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That is an interesting point about the resulting militancy between the Southern slave-holding states and the Republic of Louisiana and the potential for growing military relationships between the British and Louisiana. New Orleans would be vitally important for the evolving military strategy of the British, as the Monroe Doctrine would have likely never evolved, and they would need New Orleans to help protect their Caribbean possessions. In addition, the necessity of maintaining cordial relations with the British would probably prevent to wholesale dispossession and murder of the white population of Louisiana, meaning that many of the plantation owners could retain much of their possessions, though they would not be as wealthy because they would have to provide their workers with wages.

Imagine that it is 1840, a quarter of a century after the independence of Louisiana. With the taxes collected on the Mississippi trade, Louisiana supports a large professional army and a small professional army. The relationship between the British and Louisiana allows for immigration between the two nations, as well as exchanges of officers, meaning that the British military would be slightly less racist. The raids by the slave holding Southern states would also provide valuable combat experience for the forces of Louisiana, making them much more capable than many of the militaries of the time.
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Old 10-08-2018, 03:20 PM   #3694
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Try this idea...

Although he was raised to be an autocrat, Nicholas II had no talent for it. The greatest problem he faced was the land hunger of the peasants. The common people of Russia simply rejected the idea that the nobility, who monopolized most of the land, and a far higher percentage of the good land, had any legitimate right to that land.

The lack of any form of functional constitutionalism also weakened Russia. Nicholas II would accept neither a constitution nor a legislative assembly. By the time he would make small compromises, the people no longer trusted or respected him.

However, on this Q6 parallel, local year 1896, Nicholas has offered a legislature, with universal manhood suffrage, and a constitution on condition the land reform is tackled first. More shockingly, Nicholas isn't backing down or listening to the people at the palace. He's showing a focus and discipline he never showed in most universes.

The ICops have discovered that this parallel's Rasputin is a Cabalist and he seems to be friendly with Centrum agents. What is going on?
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Old 10-09-2018, 09:52 AM   #3695
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Last night I watched a documentary on Psamtik I probably Ancient Egypt's last great Pharaoh. He lacked the opportunity to make his kingdom strong enough to stay independent over the long run.

But let's say he got the opportunity. Allow that Psamtik finds out that silk comes from certain insects and they need a certain bush to feed on. I'm basically transposing the story of Justinian's Worms backwards in time by around fourteen hundred years.

Getting silk into the Mediterranian basin just at the beginning of the Greek Classical period utterly changes the economy of the classical world.
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Old 10-09-2018, 12:48 PM   #3696
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Last night I watched a documentary on Psamtik I probably Ancient Egypt's last great Pharaoh. He lacked the opportunity to make his kingdom strong enough to stay independent over the long run.

But let's say he got the opportunity. Allow that Psamtik finds out that silk comes from certain insects and they need a certain bush to feed on. I'm basically transposing the story of Justinian's Worms backwards in time by around fourteen hundred years.

Getting silk into the Mediterranian basin just at the beginning of the Greek Classical period utterly changes the economy of the classical world.
Egyptian silk would be a very popular cloth, much like Egyptian cotton. Yes, I would say there's a lot of money in that, so long as Iron Age Egypt can cultivate the white mulberry bush. Can they?

It also might mean the collapse of the Silk Road, as transportation is expensive: Why pay for silk from far off China, when you can just send a ship to Egypt and get it for a fraction of the price?
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Old 10-09-2018, 01:56 PM   #3697
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Egyptian silk would be a very popular cloth, much like Egyptian cotton. Yes, I would say there's a lot of money in that, so long as Iron Age Egypt can cultivate the white mulberry bush. Can they?

It also might mean the collapse of the Silk Road, as transportation is expensive: Why pay for silk from far off China, when you can just send a ship to Egypt and get it for a fraction of the price?
Yes the knock on effects would be vast. But the silk road survived Mediterranean silk production until De Gamma's voyages.
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Old 10-10-2018, 05:44 AM   #3698
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In Bush-3, George W. Bush was arrested and convicted of drug possession in 1984, ending his potential political career in the USA. During the 2000 election, John McCain led a resurgence of moderate Republicans that so alienated the religious right that they broke off and formed the Conservative Party, allowing for Democratic Party domination from 2000 to the present.

With balanced budgets and little national debt due to a more restrained response to the 9/11 attacks and no tax cuts, the USA is a model of fiscal restraint. With government investments in alternative energies and fusion technology, the USA has reduced its carbon emissions to 1980s levels and is on track for no emissions by 2030 if the prototype DD fusion reactors work as anticipated. In order to deal with the anticipated increase in space development, the USA has established a half dozen mines on the Moon and is busily moving industry into LEO.
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Old 10-10-2018, 04:05 PM   #3699
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Try this one...

When Lenin was making his way to a political meeting in July of 1917, he was arrested. He was assumed to be a common drunk and let go. In this Q6 world, he was recognized and tried to flee. He was shot dead in the street. As the Bolshevik Faction in 1917 was largely built around personal loyalty to Lenin, it frays and falls apart. Kerensky got more time to pull his government together.

Centrum is worried. They've learned enough 20th century Homeline History to understand why a strong Russia is needed to beat Nazi Germany, and why the Nazis are a threat. Homeline wants this Russia to avoid Stalinism in this parallel. Homeline's Russia wants to protect... well something or other. It's October 1917, the Bolsheviks are out of the picture, although Troski landed on his feet, Russia is still headed for chaos and the Army wants to quit and go home. Which is bad because the German army isn't interested in quitting.

So all your Icops have to do is prevent all war and chaos in a collapsing society filled with bitter paranoids and drama queens. Note: Please try to secure Ukrainian independence. Those folks have had enough trouble.
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Old 10-10-2018, 04:31 PM   #3700
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The Provisional Government would have continued Russia's participation in WW I, which would have had interesting consequences. For example, they would not have executed the Tsar's family, perhaps banishing them to the UK or allowing them to become constitutional monarchs, and Stalin would have never risen to power. It would mean a potentially stronger Russia at the beginning of WW II, though a smaller one.
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