funny story I thought this was the list for 2023! and wrote up a whole question about it.
Ha! That would be quite a static history in comparison! No, by TTL 2023 a few of those definitely won't exist!
funny story I thought this was the list for 2023! and wrote up a whole question about it.
Japan having a larger economy than Spain in 1870? Is that different than OTL?Oh man 2023 is well beyond where even the rough notes for Wrapped in Flames are at right now! I'm mapped out to the 1930s, maybe. But I can give you the biggest economies in 1870 without major spoilers!
- China (Not the Qing)
- India (British Raj)
- Britain - so technically Britain is in the #1 spot but its counted differently
- Russian Empire
- United States
- France
- North German Confederation
- Italy
- Japan
- Spain
Lamberts "Sir John Fishers Naval Revolution" and Kellys "Tirpitz and the Imperial German Navy" are also quite good, and im about to read Clarks "The Sleepwalkers" ...so many books and so little time!One of my favorites of the period! I'm due for a reread!
Let's just say Saxony is going to have reasons to be mildly anti-Prussian for a while. However, the forming of a North German Confederation is still in the cards. Bismarck is trying to slow trot to a united Germany sans-Austria, and with the 1864 war with Denmark and Sweden done, he has his plans for a casus-belli against Austria still forming. There's going to be a push, a mighty push, for a united Germany, but perhaps he'll push too far...
Japan having a larger economy than Spain in 1870? Is that different than OTL?
The Confederates not being in the top 10 despite having a better economy is expected considering they are mostly agrarian. That the US is one of the biggest economies in 1870 is surprising as I thought losing the war and their internal problems would put them in the top 20, not the top 10.
The one about China is rather interesting. Does that mean there are two Chinas split along the north and south or a rump Qing Dynasty in Manchuria that becomes a Russian puppet while most of China is under the Purple Dragon Dynasty? Probably the latter as the 'Year in Review' post has Zeng Guofeng as the future emperor of China rather than one of the future emperors od China.
on the bright side mauve the large scale violence would lead to the natives getting some wins.on the other side..I doubt itarrest the political independence of the Indian peoples would continue well into that next year, marking an increase in violence that would not again be seen until the 1870s
I haven't posted in a while, but I have to say thatvim shocked by the end of the war! You played so cagey for so many years about the length that I was convinced you were going to extend it to 1866 even though my heart told me it would be all but done in 1864.
I'm really loving your take on McClellan and his role on the peace process. His struggles seem very real for a man who expects to be followed, even if his actions don't necessarily lead to that. And the conference just being totally partisan and bungled was a brilliant way to end the conflict. Even Lincoln would have had a hard time handling it once it was agreed to. Even him navigating the postwar world is proving to be interesting and I'm loving all the references to the "New Men".
The peace treaty sees a lot of shocking things... especially for Virginia. The Old Dominion got hammered by that peace and I'm surprised nobody stuck up harder for it. The sting of losing the counties around Washington without being compensated by anything, on top of losing West Virginia (with its legal right to exist being extremely dodgy) just added insult to injury. I expect there's some very hard opinions about that in the immediate aftermath. Maryland likewise gets thrown to the wolves despite the long occupation and (tepid) Confederate support. Kentucky being a coin flip left spinning in the air is a great image for a now broken nation that now has to navigate being two separate entities. It's going to be great to see how the Confederacy handles its newfound independence and how the USA reacts to sharing a continent it never really did historically.
You've done an amazing job and I can say that this should be considered one of the great timeliness on this site. Glad to see you're still at it and always curious to see where it goes.
on the bright side mauve the large scale violence would lead to the natives getting some wins.on the other side..I doubt it
I wonder then, are we going to see an American Great Game play out between the Confederates and Union? IIRC there's no "unclaimed territory" left in the West but the area between the Mississippi and the Rockies is still only sparsely settled and heavily contested with the indigenous groups, wonder what would happen if Confederate settlers tried to create their own homesteads in the untamed West?What's proven of extreme interest to me in the last little while is how that in this period, it was one of the few times the United States was signing treaties not in its interest (Red Cloud's War for instance) while also claiming great swathes of the Continent despite having only tenuous political control over it in the face of existing and competing Indigenous claims that at times were enforced in blood.
The Sioux and Comanche are the most fascinating in this period as, partly due to geography and partly to military skill, they carved out essentially separate nations inside the US for a long time. The Comanche and the Kiowa are going to be interesting as they now occupy space (primarily in Texas/Indian Territory but also Kansas) that makes it very difficult for the US and the Confederacy to stamp them out without a united effort.
A practical map of North America in 1866 will look very different indeed.
I wonder then, are we going to see an American Great Game play out between the Confederates and Union? IIRC there's no "unclaimed territory" left in the West but the area between the Mississippi and the Rockies is still only sparsely settled and heavily contested with the indigenous groups, wonder what would happen if Confederate settlers tried to create their own homesteads in the untamed West?