Weekly Update #225! George Washington's 300, New England Secedes and More.

Editor's Note

I get a lot of comments after I review something where people question my overall opinion of an alternate history, especially when I give a bad review. Let me state that I am 100% okay with people disagreeing with me on my reviews. When it comes right down to it, all art is subjective and my opinion is just one of many. If you like something that I don't then there is nothing I can do or say to change that.

So why review at all? I am a firm believer that if you like or hate something, then you should be able to at least say why. This is important because it may give someone else the push to either check something out they weren't interested in or convince someone to avoid something they would otherwise go see. Marketing plays a big role in getting eyes on a product. Thus something that is mediocre or even bad may reach a bigger audience then something that is good. This is unfair to new and struggling creators who do produce high-quality work, but go unnoticed because they do not have a professional marketing department behind them to promote their work.

Additionally, while the overall quality of something is subjective, there are objective reasons for not liking something. In terms of books, bad writing is objective. If it wasn't, our teachers wouldn't take points off on our papers for spelling and bad grammar. In terms of alternate history, bad research is objective. If you base your alternate history on misconceptions, propaganda or outright lies, your readers will notice it and point it out to others. Sure, a good story can sometimes trump an implausible setting, but not all the time.

The above are just a few reasons why reviews matter. I could go into other reasons, but this is just an Editor's Note and I rather get to the meat of the post.

And now the news...

Zack Snyder wants to make a 300-esque George Washington film

Here is an idea I initially wanted to hate, but after some serious thought I have warmed up to. Last week, Bloomberg profiled director Zack Snyder and /Film brought history nerds' attention to the following blurb:

One of these days, he’d like to make one about George Washington in the style of 300. He has a picture in his office of the Revolutionary War hero crossing the icy Delaware on his way to decimate the British in the Battle of Trenton. “We were talking about it,” Snyder says. “The first thing we asked was, well, how are we going to make it look? I pointed at this painting. It looks like 300. It’s not that hard.”

Now I can see why people may at first think this is a bad idea. In my opinion 300 is an incredibly inaccurate film, but it is still watchable. Part of the reason, as History Buffs pointed out in their review of the film, is because it is an adaptation of a heavily-stylized comic book written by the over-the-top mind of Frank Miller. Thus you can suspend disbelief pretty easily.

Now I like Zack Snyder. Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen...these are all entertaining, if sometimes flawed, films. That being said, it feels like Zack is adapting a single painting and throwing a lot of cliches from his other movies into a film about my country's most respected founding father. Audiences may not react well to such a portrayal of America's first president.

Of course, I'm the guy who liked the adaptation of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. So perhaps a smart parody of over-top action films that is just self-aware enough without having to wink at the camera might just work. So this may not be a bad idea after all, as long as the producers deal with all of the Robot Chicken jokes that will come from it:




Picture of the Week

Breaking up the United States of America is a popular pastime for alternate historians, but occasionally its taken semi-seriously in the real world:

To be fair the last time states tried to secede, it didn't end well for anyone. So take the above with a grain of salt.

I may also be doing a Trope Talk on New England in the future, so stay tuned.

You should also check out...

• The Scythe DLC that is coming to Tapletop Simulator (via Gamasutra).
• SF Signal's preview of Warlock Holmes by G.S. Denning, which will be out in May.
• Part 1 of PPCorn's 15 things you didn't know about The Man in the High Castle.
• Blaine L. Pardoe's review of Harry Turtledove's Bombs Away (via Notes From the Bunker).

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Map Monday: Commonwealth of New England 2014 House of Commons Election by ADS94

Today's featured map is from Reddit, specifically /r/ImaginaryMaps, which is quickly becoming my favorite subreddit. It is titled "Commonwealth of New England 2014 House of Commons Election" and was created by ADS94. Let's check it out below:

There is not much I can say about the story since I haven't read it in its entirety. From what I gleaned from the comments, this map is from ADS94's AlternateHistory.com timeline, "The Confederacy". Its a standard Confederate victory timeline, except told from the perspective of a British historian and the United States also fell apart after the Confederacy gains independence. The New England state and upper New York are apparently annexed by Britain, becomes a dominion and even gain some Canadian provinces.

Having not read the story its hard for me to comment on the plausibility, although even I doubt an independent New England would voluntarily join the British Empire. Close allies sure, but direct incorporation seems far fetched. Nevertheless, if you want to learn more on the actual election this map represents, you can read the faux-Wikipedia page ADS94 created for it.

As for the map itself, its fairly well done. I always liked looking at election maps and the multiple parties this alternate New England has means we get more colors instead of the standard reds and blues we see in our timeline's America. I liked the use of flags as well. If I had one major criticism, perhaps ADS94 could have centralized all of the county/riding names that were too big to fit on the map itself as they seem haphazardly placed. Otherwise its a good map.

No honorable mentions this week. Also I am no longer requesting submissions to Map Monday since I rather pick them myself. That being said, if you would like to submit a map and scenario to The Update, please email me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Flag Friday: New England (Guest Post)

Editor's Note: I have two Flag Fridays today. The first is from Sam McDonald:

This is the flag of New England from a world in which the Embargo Act was never repealed and New England declared independence in 1812.  Eventually, New England went on to join the European Union, which in this world had a considerably broader definition of "European" given that they also admitted Morocco.  The flag is a combination of the European Union flag with a smaller version of the original New England flag in the upper left hand corner.  This is all in keeping with New England's motto: "Remember the past, Prepare for the Future and Live for Today."

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Sam McDonald is a college student from Shreveport, LA.  When not involved with his studies he can be found making and posting maps across the web and working on short stories that he hopes to have published in magazines such as Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, and the Escape Artists Podcasts. 

January 4, 1815 - New England Secedes

Not yet thirty years after declaring independence from Britain, New England declared independence again at the Hartford Convention during the latter days of the War of 1812. With the exception of John Adams, the United States had been dominated by Virginia planters, almost to the point of tyranny. While no one could speak ill of George Washington, the hero of the young country, the policies of Thomas Jefferson and his protégé James Madison infuriated New England.

The political differences were not completely geographical, but the societies of the North and South formed a great rift. In the South, Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans held to the ideal "gentleman farmer", men who could last on their own thanks to rich soil and, of course, slaves in his employ. Great wealth was held by the elites, who spoke of representing each man with natural rights while not giving the slave votes, but counting them as three-fifths for census to bolster their numbers in representation. Small states such as Rhode Island and New Hampshire were practically overlooked. They also spoke of minimal government influence on trade, refusing money for canals or highways, but seemingly all too happy to promote embargoes that forced up agrarian prices while decimating commerce.

Trade was New England's lifeblood. While the majority of people were small landowners and cottage-industrialists, the economy of the region still tied to harbors. The Federalists favored strong government for improvement and defense, but economic tampering and declaring war went too far. When Madison won his second term, the War of 1812 raged, and Canada became victim to American campaigns. Militias had worked in the Revolutionary War, and Massachusetts and Connecticut had refused to fall under the orders of an aggressive War Department, prompting Madison to refuse payment for defenses. They raised their own funds, prompted by Harrison Gray Otis, who would be a leading member of the Hartford Convention to discuss the grievances New England held. It was an obvious example that New England was prepared to stand on its own.

Secession had been brought up in years past, but the idea had always withered. Dr. Franklin himself had said repeatedly, "Join or die." However, they now had great reason to see what became of joining with war-hawks and expansionists making war on Canada. The Constitution brought forth by Madison himself read, "...establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense  promote the general Welfare..." The War of 1812 with its invasion was unjust in the eyes of New England, interrupted tranquility with its embargoes, brought about great danger with British naval raids, and retarded the general welfare overall. Otis led the call for secession, and New England voted to do just that.

The news shocked the rest of the nation. They had sneered at "Blue Light Federalists" who stood as pro-Britain and supposedly flashed blue-light signals in warning of blockade runners and known of New England opposition to the war in Congress, but this had gone too far. After news came to Washington about the signing of the Treaty of Ghent and the end of the war in December, the Federalists became embarrassed, but word of fights still continuing at New Orleans and in the frontier gave them a point to rally behind. Secession was made official, and all but a few representatives left the burned-out Washington, D.C. War-weariness dragged down efforts from the South to force New England back into the fold, though General Andrew Jackson repeatedly volunteered to lead a campaign. As Napoleon escaped from his exile and began anew his wars in France, New England took up alliance with Britain, which prompted the South to begrudgingly step back.

Tensions between the United States of America and the Federated States of America continued. Jackson became elected on a platform of invading the Federation, which had grown wealthy with its investments in canals, favored trade with Canada and Britain, as well as its improved banking system, and the War Between the States began in 1830. After four brutal years of New England's defense through militias and support from Britain, the United States answered New England's continual offer of armistice if they could just be free. Jackson proved to tear apart the Union rather than preserve it, sending the Democratic-Republicans into two parties that would break up the country further over the issue of slavery. The Confederate States of America from Virginia to Louisiana broke away in 1860, buffering up against the Republic of Texas. The old ideal of Manifest Destiny with the pioneers conquering the frontier from sea to shining sea would eventually be seen, but in the form of six differing nations after the formation of the California Republic and Deseret.

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In reality, secession was discussed but never taken to vote. Otis considered the War of 1812 to be the death knell for the Democratic-Republicans and Madison's regime. Instead, the Hartford Convention called for a series of amendments mandating greater separation of powers among the states as presidents could not follow one another from the same one (and only one term per president), limiting embargoes and the ability to declare offensive war, and repealing the three-fifths count for slaves. The commissions arrived in Washington to find the victory of New Orleans and the favorable Treaty of Ghent utterly demolishing their stand, and the Federalist Party would never recover the political misstep.

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Jeff Provine is a cartoonist, author, and professor in Oklahoma.  His blog This Day in Alternate History takes important events on a date and explores how they might've gone differently.  More of his work may be found at www.jeffprovine.com.

Showcase: America the Fallen

Happy Balkanized America month my dear readers!

Given my levels of patriotism that, on occasion, reaches near religious levels of devotion, my love of Balkanized America scenarios may seem a bit odd. While it may seem a tad hypocritical, getting to enjoy colorful and creative worlds and histories without actually having to live in them is one of the great boons of AH - why not enjoy it?

Of course, given the popularity of the trope, the large number of works featuring the shattering of the Union is hardly surprising, nor is the AHWU’s decision to dedicate a month toward examining such tropes. The variety of tales and timelines are nearly as diverse as the ways the Balkanization is achieved, and I will showcase a number of my personal favorites this month, beginning with IchBinDieKaiser’s timeline, America the Fallen.

Like a number of Balkanized America stories, it chooses to smash the United States to pieces at it’s fragile foundation. This ‘strangled-in-the-cradle’ approach typically involves the redcoats trouncing the rebels in the American revolution or avenging their defeat in 1812, but America the Fallen takes a different, and more plausible approach.

The fall of the Union begins with the attendees of the Constitutional Convention altered just slightly. George Washington chooses not to not attend as he is content to stay out of the public eye, Ben Franklin doesn’t attend due to ill health, and on the flip side, Patrick Henry does attend. The results of two of the cooler headed founding fathers absent from the convention, and the presence of one of the biggest Anti-Federalist firebrands comes with predictable results. The delegates fail to pass even a watered down version of the Constitution, allowing for the USA to remain in limbo under the Articles of Confederation.

This state of affairs would not persist long. Despite the best efforts of George Washington to preserve the union, it would not long outlive him upon his death from disease in 1789. Tensions between the states reach the breaking point, with the powder keg set alight by Virginia declaring it’s independence, and winning it on the battlefield. The peace treaty would serve as the nation’s death certificate, with the states south of the Mason-Dixon line all declaring their independence, and after a number of border conflicts, New York and Pennsylvania secede, leaving the Union reduced to what we know as New England.

As the dust settled, new nations formed from the bones of the old United States. Chief among them is the Commonwealth of Virginia, the most powerful and populous of these nations. Spanning from the Chesapeake Bay to the Mississippi River, with ambitions over the OTL Northwest Territory and Maryland/Delaware, it’s system of checks and balances and a three branched government would be familiar to most Americans, with the current leader Chief Executive Patrick Henry. To its south, you have the Carolina Confederation, which also includes OTL Tennessee, a plantation-based nation under the strong guiding hands of President Charles Pinckney, and to its south, a very British-influenced Georgia under Prime Minister William Few. In the North, you have a very centralized Maryland under President John Eager Howard that has just conquered Delaware and is contemplating Union with Virginia. A parliamentary republic has formed in Pennsylvania, with Chancellor William Bingham and President Thomas Mifflin overseeing Pennsylvania settling OTL Ohio and, along with New Jersey, find it’s place as the middleman between these nations. To the Northeast, after a number of wars, the region looks like it will either unify under the nationalist New York under Governor George Clinton or the remnant United States under John Adams.
Outside the former USA, changes happen as well. In France, Louis-Charles has succeeded Napoleon as King Louis XVII, having bold plans for his nation even after it’s defeat in his predecessors wars. During the Napoleonic Wars, Louisiana gained it’s independence as a Constitutional Monarchy, with Louis XVII choosing his uncle Charles Philippe to rule it, and he was crowned Emperor Charles I of Louisiana. Similarly, Spain’s new world colonies would be split between Charles IV of Spain’s youngest son Francisco de Paula, Emperor of the Mexican Empire, and Charles’ oldest son Ferdinand ruler of the Kingdom of Antilles (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola). As you can tell, the world is shaping up quite richly, and IchBinDieKaiser hints that the future will see a host of other nations rise and fall in North America and elsewhere, as well as interesting events including Karl Marx playing revolutionary in a heavily German Texas, civil wars regularly shifting the borders of the southwest and Mexico between various peoples and factions, and a Native American nation rising in the north under a leader hinted to be Tecumseh.

The one downside to this vivid and magnificent TL is it updates rarely, mainly due to IchBinDieKaiser developing some of his other timelines. Nonetheless, he has crafted a creative host of nations that is fully enrapturing, resulting in a unique and fascinating Balkanized America scenario I hope he comes back to soon. Until then, I urge you to get acquainted with both versions of America the Fallen, both the original and the reboot. Until then, Sic Semper Tyrannis!

Soldier, scholar, writer and web-voyeur, Sean CW Korsgaard has been active in the alternate history community since 2006, and was recently elected to succeed Mitro as President of the Alternate History Online Facebook group. In addition to his contributions at the Alternate History Weekly Update, he writes for several websites, including his own, which can be found here.

Multiverse Profile: New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States and a common actor in many balkanized North America timelines.  It usually consists of the six states known in OTL as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.  The area is known for being the home of the Pilgrims, a religious community from England who formed the Plymouth Colony in 1620 to avoid religious persecution.  They were followed  ten years later by the Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony.  It was these English settlers who gave the region its name and the foundation for it's culture.

Though it might be hard to believe, the region has a long history of rebellion and secession.  In the late 18th century, the New England Colonies initiated the resistance to the British Parliament's efforts to impose new taxes without the consent of the colonists. The Boston Tea Party was a protest that angered Great Britain, which responded with the "Intolerable Acts", stripping the colonies of self-government. The confrontation led to open warfare in 1775, the expulsion of the British from New England in spring 1776, and the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.

It is here we must consider what would have happened to the region if the Americans lost their war for independence or if the war was avoided all together.  J.C.D. Clark speculated in his short essay "British America: What if there had been no American Revolution?" that the Revolution could have been avoided if the British allowed the colonies to have their own Parliament and continued the Dominion of New England.  This Dominion could have come to dominate the entire British North America, making it more an alternate version of the United States than an independent New England.  For those interested in a New England that won its independence from the British without the help of the other colonies, you should check out The Alteration by Kingsley Amis, where New England is a lone protestant state in a world dominated by the Roman Catholic church.

After the success of the American Revolution, the region experienced the Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising that took place in central and western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion was named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War.  The rebellion started on August 21, 1786, over financial difficulties and by January 1787, over one thousand Shaysites had been arrested. A militia that had been raised as a private army defeated an attack on the federal Springfield Armory by the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787, and five rebels were killed in the action. 

The rebellion energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation, which were eventually disbanded and replaced by the current United States Constitution.  Yet even here a New Englander could have thrown a monkey wrench into the plans for a stronger Union.  In William H. Riker's short story "What If Elbridge Gerry Had Been More Rational and Less Patriotic?", Massachusetts delegate Gerry votes against the proposal, causing the entire convention to collapse, the United States to balkanize and a war to break out between New England and New York over Vermont (which at the time was an independent republic).  The Constitution, however, was adopted and bloodshed between the states was avoided.

Even the Constitution did not stop the calls for secession and independence. From 1814-1815, New England politicians opposed the War of 1812 met at the Hartford Convention to air grievances concerning the war and the political problems arising from the domination of the Federal Government by Presidents from Virginia. Despite many outcries in the Federalist press for New England secession and a separate peace with Great Britain, moderates dominated the Convention and such a proposal was never adopted.  There is an online timeline called Decades of Darkness by Jared where New England secedes even earlier then the Hartford Convention after President Jefferson dies earlier and his successor continues the Embargo Act.  This eventually leads to a world that looks something like this:

The World of Decades of Darkness in 1935.

Following the War of 1812, New England had increased tensions with the southern states and saw themselves as the victims of a slaveholders’ conspiracy.  These tensions arose throughout the 1830s and 1840s due to the Texas Annexation, the Mexican–American War and the expansion of slavery. Anti-slavery proponents began voicing the idea of separation from the South.  In the May 1844 edition of The Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison wrote the "Address to the Friends of Freedom and Emancipation in the United States." Garrison wrote that the Constitution had been created “at the expense of the colored population of the country”. With southerners continuing to dominate the nation because of the Three-fifths compromise, it was time “to set the captive free by the potency of truth” and “secede from the government.  On the same day that this issue was published, the New England Anti-Slavery Convention endorsed the principles of disunion from slaveholders by a vote of 250–24.

In fact there are several stories featuring a "mirror" American Civil War where New England secedes instead of the South.  In "How the South Preserved the Union" by Ralph Roberts in the anthology Alternate Presidents, David Rice Atchison takes office when both Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore are killed in a carriage accident. In the story, New England secedes, then attempts to overthrow the Washington government. In the end, Atchison orders all slaves freed and armed and New England fails.  In the same anthology we also find "Now Falls the Cold, Cold Night".  In the that story, Millard Fillmore is elected as the Know Nothing party candidate in 1856, resulting in ethnic tensions in New England over the fugitive slave laws. John C. Fremont becomes President of the New England Confederacy with William T. Sherman as his commanding general, opposed by the Army of the United States under Robert E. Lee.

Today there are very few major movements that wish to secede from the United States.  Nevertheless, the region remains a unique part of America with a long history of rebellion.  Alternate historians will never fail to find inspiration for a new nation in their balkanized North America if they take a look at the history of New England.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.