British Hannover
20-11-2004, 02:56
The year is 2014, one that I picked randomly out of a hat because it lines up exactly one century after the First World War. However, while technology is generally very advanced, socially, the world is oddly a bit of a throwback. There are still sizeable colonial empires (although they're mostly by now at least nominally self-governning) and there was no social revolution in the 60's, but a gradual movement in the field of women's and civil rights. Some areas of lives remain basically untouched ... Europe, for example, is still growing (although slowly) by natural population increase and the vast majority of people in developed countries are religious.
The Third World is a markedly different place as well, much of it still officially colonized by First World powers. However, in terms of living standards, they are generally higher than our world, starvation being relatively uncommon rather than the rule. The more developed Latin American countries (Brazil and Argentina) are industrial powerhouses and possess standards of living not far below Greece or Spain in our world.
The world is nominally divided up into three massive power blocs, although increasingly, there is a bipolar division between those states that have embraced Marxism and those who have not. There are some neutral countries of course, but the majority of the world is building up into two gargantuan camps. More and more, it seems likely that the result will be decided by warfare.
Why is this world so different from ours? The answer is, among other things, is that by a series of increasingly strained developments, there has NEVER been a proper World War. The largest conflict in global history were the two Eastern Wars that were fought when the Habsburg Empire collapsed in 1921.
In the second of these wars, a colossal mistake was made on the part of the British and Americans. As the German Empire and its allies, Italy and Hungary were approaching Moscow, the British forced a compromise peace upon Europe, fearing increasing German influence there. The result was an enormous missed opportunity for the Allies. Soviet Russia survived to spread its message to most of the Eurasian continent.
Meanwhile, the Germans were horribly bitter towards the British in particular and sent extensive aid to the Indian independence movement as a spiteful vengeance for interfering in the Second Eastern War. A grateful India would become a major ally and a vast market for German manufactures in the future. Germany, India, Italy and Hungary (a much larger entity than IRL) would form the basis of the Central Powers alliance.
Meanwhile, in the Forties, the Americans fought a brief war with Japan in the Pacific. However, the rising spectre of Russian power led the two warring powers to work out a compromise peace. With surprising ease, Japan, the FAS (Federation of American States) and Britain became allies. They would become the foundations of the Allies.
The message of revolutionary socialism spread throughout Eurasia, touching China, the Middle East and much of Eastern Europe. In a surprise development, a similar movement would sweep through France in the Seventies. The Comintern powers held sway over the greater part of the Eurasian continent and quickly established themselves as an enormously powerful entity.
In 2007, a German scientist, Manfred von Waldersee would make a discovery that would turn the scientific world upside down. ESP was a real phenomenon, and about one out of every thousand people possessed a sensitivity to psionic phenomena, which was apparently linked somehow to electromagnetism. The vast majority of said psionic-sensitives only had very slight abilities but it was not long before powerful telepaths, technopaths, telekinetics, pyrokinetics and clairvoyants began to be identified.
Meanwhile, in the early part of the 2010's, the Allies and Central Powers became increasingly friendly. The Soviet Union and its allies were also facing the realization that they were beginning to fall behind technologically. Some of the Comintern powers began economic liberalization programmes, some with more success than others. However, the aggressive new leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Grozny, believed that the only way for the Soviet Union to flourish was to win a short war against the Allies.
The stage was being set for a conflaguration, the likes of which the world has never beheld ...
The Third World is a markedly different place as well, much of it still officially colonized by First World powers. However, in terms of living standards, they are generally higher than our world, starvation being relatively uncommon rather than the rule. The more developed Latin American countries (Brazil and Argentina) are industrial powerhouses and possess standards of living not far below Greece or Spain in our world.
The world is nominally divided up into three massive power blocs, although increasingly, there is a bipolar division between those states that have embraced Marxism and those who have not. There are some neutral countries of course, but the majority of the world is building up into two gargantuan camps. More and more, it seems likely that the result will be decided by warfare.
Why is this world so different from ours? The answer is, among other things, is that by a series of increasingly strained developments, there has NEVER been a proper World War. The largest conflict in global history were the two Eastern Wars that were fought when the Habsburg Empire collapsed in 1921.
In the second of these wars, a colossal mistake was made on the part of the British and Americans. As the German Empire and its allies, Italy and Hungary were approaching Moscow, the British forced a compromise peace upon Europe, fearing increasing German influence there. The result was an enormous missed opportunity for the Allies. Soviet Russia survived to spread its message to most of the Eurasian continent.
Meanwhile, the Germans were horribly bitter towards the British in particular and sent extensive aid to the Indian independence movement as a spiteful vengeance for interfering in the Second Eastern War. A grateful India would become a major ally and a vast market for German manufactures in the future. Germany, India, Italy and Hungary (a much larger entity than IRL) would form the basis of the Central Powers alliance.
Meanwhile, in the Forties, the Americans fought a brief war with Japan in the Pacific. However, the rising spectre of Russian power led the two warring powers to work out a compromise peace. With surprising ease, Japan, the FAS (Federation of American States) and Britain became allies. They would become the foundations of the Allies.
The message of revolutionary socialism spread throughout Eurasia, touching China, the Middle East and much of Eastern Europe. In a surprise development, a similar movement would sweep through France in the Seventies. The Comintern powers held sway over the greater part of the Eurasian continent and quickly established themselves as an enormously powerful entity.
In 2007, a German scientist, Manfred von Waldersee would make a discovery that would turn the scientific world upside down. ESP was a real phenomenon, and about one out of every thousand people possessed a sensitivity to psionic phenomena, which was apparently linked somehow to electromagnetism. The vast majority of said psionic-sensitives only had very slight abilities but it was not long before powerful telepaths, technopaths, telekinetics, pyrokinetics and clairvoyants began to be identified.
Meanwhile, in the early part of the 2010's, the Allies and Central Powers became increasingly friendly. The Soviet Union and its allies were also facing the realization that they were beginning to fall behind technologically. Some of the Comintern powers began economic liberalization programmes, some with more success than others. However, the aggressive new leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Grozny, believed that the only way for the Soviet Union to flourish was to win a short war against the Allies.
The stage was being set for a conflaguration, the likes of which the world has never beheld ...