[IW] Heinlein-1

[Kymage]

Heinlein-1, Current Year 2016

Current Affairs- Fifty Years after a longer and bloodier World War Two, World Peace is ruthlessly enforced by the Anglo-American Alliance as the first steps into space are taken

Divergence Point- 1940 Hitler refuses to commit ground forces to support Mussolini’s North African Campaign and instead focuses exclusively on the invasion of the Soviet Union. A capture of Stalingrad by the Sixth Army leads to a political upheaval that causes the collapse of the Soviet Union

Major Civilizations- Western (Multi-polar); Western-Indic (Unitary); Chinese (Empire)

Great Powers- United States (Representative Democracy, CR3), United Kingdom (Representative Democracy, CR4), Canada (Representative Democracy, CR3), Australia (Representative Democracy, CR3), Brazil (Representative Democracy, CR4) India (Representative Democracy, CR4), China (Dictatorship, CR6)

Worldline Date: 2016

TL:8(Some aspects of 9 when it comes to Space Travel & Medicine. Recent breakthroughs also place the TL on the cusp of 9 when it comes to fusion reactors.)

Mana Level: No Mana

Quantum: 6

Infinity Class: P4

Centrum Zone: Orange

This timeline’s version of World War 2, called the Long War, was much longer and more brutal than the one experienced on Homeline. Nazi Germany concentrated on defeating the Soviet Union to the exclusion of other theaters and succeeded in causing the Stalin regime to collapse in 1943. The successor regime signed a harsh peace treaty with the Nazis. The Western Allies were unable to intervene and continued fighting along the edges of Nazi controlled Germany until a quasi-ceasefire was reached in 1947. No land combat or attack on civilian targets would take place, but naval combat and aerial attacks on purely military targets would continue. This state of lukewarm war continued until 1954 when Germany restarted the Hot War by launching air attacks on civilian targets in the United Kingdom and the United States (Boston, New York City and Washington D.C.). Although the attacks caused minimal damage to the targets in the United States, it did cause severe damage to the cities hit in the United Kingdom and the Germans followed up with rocket attacks on the United Kingdom.

After the attacks, the Western Allies determined to totally defeat Nazi Germany. The Western Allies invaded Europe in 1957 after softening it up for several years and eventually conquered Germany in early 1960. Near the end of the conflict, Germany used Chemical and Biological weapons on civilian targets in Italy, Western Europe and the United Kingdom, only to have the Western Allies respond with Nuclear and Biological weapons on the Nazi Germany homeland and Fascist France. Towards the end, the Western Allies stopped differentiating between Civilian and Military targets.

Even now, many years after the war, Europe is periodically swept by various epidemics from the effects of the war. To the modern Day, large regions of Europe still suffer contamination from these weapons, with both Berlin and Nuremberg still basically uninhabitable by unprotected humans.

After the war, The A4 powers, (US, UK, Canada and Australia) and their allies were determined that the peace be maintained at all costs. Since they possessed over 80% of the world’s military capacity, including a monopoly on orbital nuclear weapons, they are able to make that determination stick. The A4 powers and India also have active advanced space programs that have led to Moon bases and trips to Mars, with plans for a manned landing on the Red planet in the next year or so.

The United States is starting to have political turmoil as the political consensus that existed during the war and the aftermath is slowly unraveling with the emergence of a four political party system that spans the political spectrum. The election of 2012 actually had to be decided by the House of Representatives after multiple voting. This event led to the amending of the Constitution to replace the Electoral College with a direct election for the Presidency. There are four parties with substantial number of members of Congress with a large number of independents. In the meantime, the Federal Government undertakes investment and infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy, leading to interstate highways, high speed railways and mass driver launchers. The United States has also expanded with states in Siberia and the Pacific Islands.

The United Kingdom is in the process of integrating Normandy and Northern France into the Realm after the populace voted to merge with the UK. The UK has extensive influence in Eastern Europe with the splitting up of the old Soviet Union, acting as the chief patron for the Russian Tsarist Republic. The British Empire did not collapse as quickly as in OTL and there is more stability in the former colonies.

Europe is a mess, still scarred and poisoned from the final days of the war. Germany is split into 15 separate administrative regions, prohibited by the A4 from even thinking of reunifying. A 2007 uprising in Stettin Germany was met by an orbital strike from the Moon, vaporizing the city in response.

Australia and Canada are both more populous as more refugees fled Europe. They also have more vigorous foreign policies and strong militaries.

India, which was an active ally during the final part of the war against Nazi Germany, leads the bloc that is becoming rivals to the A4 powers. India is making progress economically and is developing the ocean seabed. Brazil has made economic headway mass producing goods cheaper than they can be produced in the A4 powers, a role adopted by Japan in OTL. Central and South America are in better shape than they are in Homeline at the same time as more investment and refugees poured into the region. The rivalry is more of a cultural/economic nature than a direct confrontation. China and the truncated Soviet Union were members of the bloc, but left/were ejected over a desire to more directly confront the A4 powers. China may have backed the Stettin uprising with weapons and equipment, this led to India canceling a mutual-defense treaty it had with China.

The Soviet Union, caught between the Russian Tsarist Republic and the US state of West Alaska, is rapidly becoming a satellite of China. China, under a brutal dictatorial regime that came to power in the 1960s, is rapidly becoming this TL’s larger version of Homeline’s North Korea.

OFFWORLD ACTIVITY

When Infinity first discovered this timeline, they thought they had found a world which was in the final stages of a Centrum takeover. The World was dominated the A4 powers, a group of English Speaking powers which seemed tailor made for Centrum. However, despite early fears, Infinity has not found any indications that Centrum has made any inroads in this world. However that can be only a matter of time as the world would make fertile ground for Centrum and an inviting base of operations in Quantum 6.

Recently Infinity Inc. was startled to find another timeline in Quantum 3 with a similar POD and history of the Long War, the post war development of the world seems to be different. Infinity doesn’t know if this a one- time event or there will be more timelines with similar PODs.

In the meantime, Infinity is mostly keeping an eye out for any potential Centrum infiltration while encouraging the peaceful development of the Indian bloc. This timeline’s advancements in space travel and medicine, from dealing with the various epidemics in Europe, are being studied and exploited.

When the timeline was first discovered, Infinity was unsure what to name the timeline. Calling it a Reich timeline seemed inappropriate since Nazi Germany had been ground into dust. The name came from an offhand remark by one of the analysts that the timeline sounded like something that science fiction author Robert Heinlein would have written.


[This is a write up I did of a timeline from over on Alternatehistory.com that was subsequently published in electronic form.
Calbear, The author of the TL was gracious enough to give me permission to post this here. The only thing asked of me was if I could mention the original TL (which is of events fifty years prior to the date of the timeline) is available for purchase. I hope that is alright. http://sealionpress.co.uk/our-books/...ican-nazi-war/ ]

[whswhs]

Naming a timeline with CR4 for Heinlein is a bit odd. The future civilizations he imagines when he's in a good mood seem to run to CR1; see Beyond This Horizon, "Coventry," or The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

[Kymage]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Naming a timeline with CR4 for Heinlein is a bit odd. The future civilizations he imagines when he's in a good mood seem to run to CR1; see Beyond This Horizon, "Coventry," or The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

I must admit the name was something I was unsure of. I thought the space programs described in the post script to the TL made me think of Heinlein, so Heinlein-1 it was.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Kymage

I must admit the name was something I was unsure of. I thought the space programs described in the post script to the TL made me think of Heinlein, so Heinlein-1 it was.

Heinlein projected all sorts of futures, the 'libertarian Heinlein' was kind of a late-ish thing, and runs contrary to a lot his earlier stuff. Your time line looks quite a bit like some of the younger RAH's visions about what might happen.

This actually brings to mind the storyline of Solution Unsatisfactory only it's more optimistic in many ways than that story was. It could also look like an implementation or possible form of the actual proposals RAH advocated in his essay "The Last Days of the United States". At that time, RAH was a backer of the Baruck Plan and a powerful world government.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Kymage

Heinlein-1, Current Year 2016


The United States is starting to have political turmoil as the political consensus that existed during the war and the aftermath is slowly unraveling with the emergence of a four political party system that spans the political spectrum. ] ]

This is the part that needs the most the most....eh, call it "Cliobabble". A more of less stable 4 way split based only on "spanning the political spectrum" makes no sense to me. We already have a two party system based on covering the ideological spectrum.

I think what you need is a split based on regionalism or economic class separation and the second option was a thing that worked much better in Britain than it ever has in the US. See the rise of the Labour Party in the UK.

Also, what about Japan?

[SRoach]

The problem I see is multi-faction mega-parties seem to be a natural consequence of first past the post elections and winner-take-all elections. Your dismantling the electoral college (might) address(es) the second, but not the first.

Basically, the two smallest parties, which can see more or less eye to eye on most things, will gang up to survive against the biggest, (or their constituent members will, which amounts to the same thing). Then the now smallest party will throw its lot in with whichever of the two larger parties is least reprehensible. Then you're down to two parties again.

I found this while looking for the term for when the electors of a state, like Florida to use a famous example, vote as a block for whichever candidate won 50.01% of the votes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-party_system#Causes


Personally, I'd prefer single transferable ballot, but the framers didn't ask me.
Maybe if I can ever get my hands on a time machine...

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

This is the part that needs the most the most....eh, call it "Cliobabble". A more of less stable 4 way split based only on "spanning the political spectrum" makes no sense to me. We already have a two party system based on covering the ideological spectrum.

I think what you need is a split based on regionalism or economic class separation and the second option was a thing that worked much better in Britain than it ever has in the US. See the rise of the Labour Party in the UK.

Also, what about Japan?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Heinlein projected all sorts of futures, the 'libertarian Heinlein' was kind of a late-ish thing, and runs contrary to a lot his earlier stuff. Your time line looks quite a bit like some of the younger RAH's visions about what might happen.

Actually, I think that's clearly wrong. The younger Heinlein had different views on economics, as can be seen in Beyond This Horizon, which is a social credit utopia. But Beyond This Horizon was clearly founded on individual freedom, even to the extent of duelling, which I think makes it CR1. It even has a variant on eugenics that does not rely at all on coercive measures; in fact they have a government subsidy to people who don't practice gene selection. Likewise the political model in Coventry, where we are told that the government does not aspire to "justice" but seeks only to prevent people from damaging each other—apparently this goes so far that you can't be arrested for breaking the law if you haven't damaged anyone. It's also clear that Heinlein idolized the American founding fathers and despised communism (and mistrusted technocracy).

Heinlein was not, back then, what is called a "libertarian" now. But when he was writing about a better society, he portrayed it as having what GURPS calls a low CR. His most fully worked out high-CR society, America under the Prophets, was a dystopia in much the spirit of The Handmaid's Tale.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Actually, I think that's clearly wrong. The younger Heinlein had different views on economics, as can be seen in Beyond This Horizon, which is a social credit utopia. But Beyond This Horizon was clearly founded on individual freedom, even to the extent of duelling, which I think makes it CR1. It even has a variant on eugenics that does not rely at all on coercive measures; in fact they have a government subsidy to people who don't practice gene selection. Likewise the political model in Coventry, where we are told that the government does not aspire to "justice" but seeks only to prevent people from damaging each other—apparently this goes so far that you can't be arrested for breaking the law if you haven't damaged anyone. It's also clear that Heinlein idolized the American founding fathers and despised communism (and mistrusted technocracy).

Heinlein was not, back then, what is called a "libertarian" now. But when he was writing about a better society, he portrayed it as having what GURPS calls a low CR. His most fully worked out high-CR society, America under the Prophets, was a dystopia in much the spirit of The Handmaid's Tale.

All I can tell you is go read "The Last Days of the United States", which is not a story but an essay making actual policy recommendations. Then read some of his earlier 'juvenile' stories from the Past Through Tomorrow future history.

Somewhere in the 60s and 70s, RAH's fictional 'outlook' changed. The earlier RAH was no authoritarian statist, but he was something close to the right-wing end of the New Deal.

[David Johnston2]

The way the Hot War happens doesn't ring true. It's all,

"Why did they attack "civilian targets"?"

"Because they're Nazis!"

If they were going to break the understanding they had with the other side, they'd think they had something gain. The most likely version would be "They figured that they'd built up enough of an edge in capability that they could actually invade Britain. The transatlantic air raids would be aimed at American naval installations to keep their fleet from coming back in force to assist, and the major air raid would be on Scapa Flow to eliminate the British Navy as a force.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

This is the part that needs the most the most....eh, call it "Cliobabble". A more of less stable 4 way split based only on "spanning the political spectrum" makes no sense to me. We already have a two party system based on covering the ideological spectrum.

I've been lead to believe that there were more than two parties in the USA before this timeline's divergence point - why should they collapse into two parties here?

As for having a stable four-party system, look at almost any country in Western Europe.