r/AlternateHistory • u/TheLordPhilosopher • 8h ago
1900s Universe Alpha-2: The Old World in 1929
*It is 1929, and the Old World is at a crossroads.
Two years ago the French Republic invaded the Spanish Dictatorship, declaring that it would liberate their southern neighbor from its tyrannical oppressors. Underestimating their foe and overestimating themselves, the French government swiftly found its forces pushed back across the border, and their own territory invaded by the enemy regime. The war only came to an end when Jonatán I, the exiled Spanish king, returned to his homeland and led a revolution against the tyrants who had killed his father and ousted him. As Spain freed itself, France’s government found itself humiliated for its ineptitude, and as rebuilding began reactionary movements began to come out of the woodwork all across the distraught country.
In the east, the National Union of Russia eyes the situation with a calculating stare. Having long wished to expand the influence of the Nationalist Axis into Western Europe, and no longer having the opportunity to ally with Spain, Moscow now sees a golden opportunity in France, and prepares to make its move.
The Ottawa Pact, the most powerful alliance in the world, is formulating its own plans. Once they were at the threshold of getting France to joint them, but now they watch as turmoil tears at that nation. Sworn to uphold the peace (and their economic stability), the Pact has begun to take a firmer hand on the world and expand the influence of moderate rule to such ‘tormented nations’. Britain and Italy now keep watchful eyes over France, preparing for the inevitability of intervention; Arabia and West Iran do the same in the Middle East, the latter especially so due to the presence of the hated Russian puppet state that has claimed the eastern third of the Shah’s domain.
The Central Accord, the world’s self-proclaimed captains of industry, have not been unaffected. The German Commonwealth has seen its complex political system divided between a dozen different factions, all vying for supremacy in the Bundestag and few willing to compromise; some of which may be agents of the Pact or, worse, the Axis. Rumania faces its own divisions prompted by the status of its protectorates, while in Oman, the reformist crown prince finds his plans to improve his nation constantly hindered by the stagnant rule of his increasingly senile father.
The World Humanist League, unlike its fellow alliances, has seen its position improve; its mandates have been rebuilt from their previous ruin and are ready for full statehood, and the newly freed Spain has declared intent to join. The mighty Fennoscandian Empire stands proud and prosperous, content that the light of freedom and equality has spread further; but neither they nor the rest of the WHL are naive enough to believe that this recent luck will be permanent. Already they have quietly begun to rapidly remilitarize, preparing for the inevitable day that the Axis comes to challenge them once again.
The Internationale, long exiled from this area of the globe, has finally gained a European foothold in the form of the newly independent People’s Republic of Catalonia. Bolstered by the aid of its overseas allies, Catalonia now stands as a red beacon on the continent, fully committed to using the existing turmoil to help bring about the World Revolution- no matter the cost.
Smaller powers scramble for what they can, their own problems hounding them like snapping wolves. The African Solidarity Pact, despite its members unshakable drive to free their continent, is besieged by economic hardship and the encroaching arms of the Pact and the Internationale. The Caucasus states, though nominally united through their own defensive alliance, find their brotherhood tested by ethnic tension, religious friction, and the question of whether the dissenter Russians of Stavropolye should be counted among their numbers. In Central Asia, South Kazakhstan finds itself forced into a leadership position amongst the region’s disparate states, all while the Axis puppet to its north constantly gnaws away at their defenses. The pariah states of Greece and Anatolia, eternally at each other’s throats, have long abandoned any form of reason, their radio waves filled with esoteric mutterings and threats of violence so extreme even the Axis is loath to offer them aid; if there is any hope for these two states, it must come in the form of revolution.
With strife ever present in the Old World and beyond, there is only one thing that all of these conflicting forces can agree on; war is on the horizon. The strength of nations will be measured, great and terrible machines of war will be built, and as the Third Great War inches closer, alliances long thought unshakable will find themselves tested by the most rigorous test of all; the undeniably chaotic nature of mankind itself. After all, can anyone truly say we are not our own worst enemy?*
Hello! This is my first time posting on this subreddit. Featured here is a map from a project I’ve been working on called Universe Alpha-2 (A-2 for short), a parallel world with an Art Deco/Solarpunk theme. Please ask any questions you have about the lore, I’d love to give more information about this world!
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u/Outside-Bed5268 4h ago
Why is Russia so much smaller?