AHC: US Civil War in 1981
- Thread starter Marklin
- Start date
- Status
Post 1900? It'd have to be something that broke the faith of the US institutions so significantly that civil war would be choosen as a vaiable act of political discourse as opposed to voting. Anything post 1945 is nigh implausible given that this was the heyday of faith in US institutions. Watergate and the 60s might be too close to the pod as well. So I'd say maybe a successful "business plot" might do it. Whether it collapses in a year or several years, it occuring and desposing a duely elected president would set the stage for major political strife for the rest of the century.
It came up in a discussion. Back in the day, my grandfather apparently told my Uncle in 1979 "there's gonna be a civil war by '81." So I went with that specific year.
Probably thought that due to stagflation and the general post-Vietnam, post-Watergate malaise still going on and him believing it would never end. I'm thinking of the 1981 film Escape from New York here, which was also very much a product of the same era, believing that by 1997 the USA would be a dystopian and crime-infested hellhole.
Not much I can offer to the discussion otherwise.
As far as I know yes, unless Marklin wants to add some extra parameters to the opening post.
A different calendar that somehow counts the Common Era from OTL 220 B.C.E.
Why would he have said that? There was very little civil unrest in 1979. (AFAIK the only incident with fatalities was the Greensboro massacre, but neither the Klan not the Communist Workers Party had the suport needed to start a civil war. The Dan White riot did result in injuries and property damage but again San Franvisco gays were hardly in a position to start a civil war.) Jimmy Carter was unpopular but that would smiply lead to his being voted out of power (as it did) not to a civil war. Talk about civil war in the 1960's was absurd but at least it had widespread riots as a backdrop. Any such talk in 1979 was just bizarre.
Question, how far back can the PODs go? I suppose a decisive Axis victory in Eurasia involving Germany crushing both Britain and Russia (borderline ASB) and Japan crushing China and subjugating Australasia (also borderline ASB) would isolate America and send it into uncharted territory.
Last edited:
How about 1984 instead?
Nuclear conflict in 1983 leads to several survivor government claiming to hold federal authority with resulting internacine conflict the following year.
Example: "The United States (Scranton) began their assault on the American government (Youngstown) which was already having concerns about the United States (Huntington/Ashland), the USA (Charleston, IL), and the Civilian Federal Emergency Government (CivGov; Harpers Ferry) while the Military Federal Emergency Government (MilGov, Gettysburg) and the American Government in Exile (Sudbury) watch carefully. MilGov (Missouri) and CivGov (Provo) tend to keep closer to their own affairs as the expansionist governments of the Empire of Denver, Technocracy of Iowa, Khanate of Idahomingtana, Federation of Appalachian States and Territories (F.A.S.T.), CivGov (Eugene), MilGov (Nebraska [out of North Platte]; derisively labelled 'Nebraskastan' by its neighbors but possibly the most stable and definitely one of the three largest midwestern successor states), MilGov (Florida), and Church United in Love and Truth (C.U.L.T.) begin to expand across their distinctive parts of the West and South respectively. Greater Oregon, the PAP Federation (Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso), Republique du Noveau Orleans, and other major dozen successor states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Gulf Coast are biding their time and seeing what happens beforemaking moves of their own".
Nuclear conflict in 1983 leads to several survivor government claiming to hold federal authority with resulting internacine conflict the following year.
Example: "The United States (Scranton) began their assault on the American government (Youngstown) which was already having concerns about the United States (Huntington/Ashland), the USA (Charleston, IL), and the Civilian Federal Emergency Government (CivGov; Harpers Ferry) while the Military Federal Emergency Government (MilGov, Gettysburg) and the American Government in Exile (Sudbury) watch carefully. MilGov (Missouri) and CivGov (Provo) tend to keep closer to their own affairs as the expansionist governments of the Empire of Denver, Technocracy of Iowa, Khanate of Idahomingtana, Federation of Appalachian States and Territories (F.A.S.T.), CivGov (Eugene), MilGov (Nebraska [out of North Platte]; derisively labelled 'Nebraskastan' by its neighbors but possibly the most stable and definitely one of the three largest midwestern successor states), MilGov (Florida), and Church United in Love and Truth (C.U.L.T.) begin to expand across their distinctive parts of the West and South respectively. Greater Oregon, the PAP Federation (Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso), Republique du Noveau Orleans, and other major dozen successor states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Gulf Coast are biding their time and seeing what happens beforemaking moves of their own".
Last edited:
Please use the Post-1900 Misc. thread for these sorts of WI.
You need to actually start a discussion not just ask a question or issue an AH challenge
Locked
You need to actually start a discussion not just ask a question or issue an AH challenge
Miscellaneous >1900 (Alternate) History Thread
It is often the case that people on this forum have miscellaneous or frivolous questions that could be easily answered by the many experts on this forum but are difficult to find the answer to on Google Scholar/Books or Wikipedia because they don't often deal in alternatives. There are other...
www.alternatehistory.com
Locked
- Status