Behold:
We are so far as I am aware, now up to date on everything that actually happened. Woo!
A Summary Timeline of 'Events That Have Actually Occurred' within The Butterfly Effect (that is, a timeline of historical actions and reactions, minus the research lectures, articles, voting, reader commentary, and thus, most of the AAR in general - I am beginning to think this is not a good idea, oh god - anyway...
I apologise for any inaccuracy in dating and time. Surprisingly, the AAR does not have much in the way of either, at least to begin with.
- 27th June 1932: FDR falls over due to a poorly laid carpet. The American public thus learn about his many years of medical deceit, and thus FDR bows out of the election.
- Subsequently Al Smith won the election of 1932, but without the majority of the popular vote, and more importantly, without a strong mandate for change. Tammany Hall thus remains in tight control of not only New York but the Democratic Party. The Great Depression got much worse for the US over the next four years, and isolationism became the political norm.
[*]
At some point, the British buy out the American interest in Iraqi oil companies and sold them on to 'the right sort' of Iraqi investors (aka pro-British stooges).[*]
Saudi Arabia meanwhile, loses all its oil deals with California and has to crawl back to the British for help. Basically, the Americans are all but gone from the Middle East, whist the British have bought or fought their way into a lot more influence.[*]
Newfoundland decides to forsake independence and re-join the Motherland, which properly occurred in 1933.
- 3rd November 1935: King George II returns to lead Greece after a pro-monarchist coup. Fresh elections are arranged and the country enters into a constitutional monarchy.
- December 1934: The Japanese walk away from the Second London Naval Treaty before it even begins.
- July - December 1935: Our story begins with the tension increasing over the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, and worries that it was, in fact, a terrible idea. This was made worse when the final terms of the treaty were leaked to the press by somebody in the British Government. The public, predictably, go ballistic and Stanley Baldwin is forced to not only not sign the agreement, but walk away from the talks entirely.
- Baldwin, for some reason not entirely chastened by that clusterfuck, pressed forward with the Government of India Act. This also failed, given the loss of credibility of the PM, and the fact the Act was a complete mess.
[*]
The Hoare-Laval Pact, which made Abyssinia a puppet state of Italy, was also leaked to the French press. The British press also reported the use of chemical weapons by Italy in Ethiopia around the same time. These two revelations brought down the British and French governments. For our purposes, this meant a Christmas Election in 1935.
- 12th December 1935: Faced with otherwise electoral calamity, the Conservative Part push Neville Chamberlain out as interim party leader and replace him with their only untainted viable candidate - Winston Churchill.
- 27th December 1935: Churchill is triumphant, and sees the Government return to power and retain its majority; the Conservatives winning 438 seats (down 35), and the National Liberals taking 67 (up 22).
- Churchill is PM, Sir John Simon remains as Home Secretary. Nat Liberal Leslie Hore-Belisha serves as Chancellor. Churchill greatly weakens the Treasury in the process, pulling away many powers and granting them to other Ministries, including two new offices, Defence Co-Ordination, and Production and Development. Lord Beaverbrook heads the latter, and Leopold Stennet Amery the former. Austen Chamberlain returns to frontline politics as Foreign Secretary. First Sea Lord is given to Sir Roger Keyes. No other cabinet positions are appointed at this time, because Churchill be busy Churchilling (i.e. winning the war, losing the next election).
[*]
Churchill immediately sends the Italian Government the Suez Telegram, barring them from the Canal if they continued their dastardly ways. For some strange reason, the Italians (and the FO) don't seem to take this very well at all.[*]
Lots of military reshuffling happens, but the major occurrence so far is the Fleet Air Arm going back to the Navy, and the Fifth Sea Lord being recreated and put in charge of it.
- Late December 1935: The Italians also leave the London Naval Conference, leaving just the British, French and Americans left. The French don't care about the navy and so were willing to sign, as were the Americans. The British however, in light of the new government, refuse to sign also. Naval build-up throughout the world is now completely unlimited by treaty.
- The Italians also respond to the Telegram, and the Conference, by claiming the entire Mediterranean Sea as their sphere of influence and home waters, essentially daring the British and French to say otherwise.
- 19th January 1936: Churchill decides this gives him mandate to intervene in Abyssinia and Ethiopia, whilst Lord Halifax begins to lead (reluctantly) the anti-war segment of the party and government. The government issues a statement giving Italy a week to back down, lest the blockade take effect.
- That evening, during the cabinet debate, they are told the King is gravely ill, and that his household doctor had been delayed and would not see him until the morning.
[*]
The French remain steadfast in their refusal to back Britain up, even questioning their right to blockade the Suez to Italy. This is the first crack that ends in the breakup of the Entente.[*]
The King subsequently survives the Bronchitis attack without the tender and fatal care of the good doctor.
- 27-30th January 1936: Italy does not back down and thus the Suez Canal is closed to them, much to the surprise of the outside world, who were expecting a British withdrawal as per usual.
- The BEF is sent to Egypt as a precaution, but is severely unused to the conditions and requirements of the region. It would take time for them to adapt, retrain and reequip themselves. They quietly decide that the desert border regions must be abandoned and that the depth of the country will be used in case of war.
[*]
Mussolini orders the Italian freighter SS Dino to run the blockade on the 30th, to test the British bluff, and attempt to capture the canal if they weren't.[*]
Light cruiser HMS Diomede, passing through the canal at the time, moves to respond to the raid and sank the Italian vessel, forcing the Italians to surrender.[*]
Enraged, Mussolini declares war on the UK. The British Empire and her Dominions, promptly declare war back, bar Ireland (which was expected), and South Africa (which was not).
- February 1936: The Prima Squandra of Italian Battleships and escorts left harbour and attempted to sneak from Taranto through Messina. They are spotted by HMS Devonshire, and the Battle Squadron is set out to hunt by Admiral Fisher.
- Several hours later, the British find them. Battle begins, and the battleship (and flagship) Giulio Cease is almost immediately sunk by some good shooting. The Italians manage to escape by sacrificing 8 out of 10 destroyers on a torpedo suicide run. No British ships were lost, though the Valiant had been damaged by torpedoes. Prima Squandra survives to fight another day, minus the destroyer flotillas and their flagship.
[*]
Meanwhile on the ground, the British are forbidden by Churchill to abandon the border entirely as a political necessity for the Anglo-Egyptian relationship to survive post-war. General Harold Alexander was chosen to lead the British defence of Egypt.[*]
The new French Prime Minister, Albert Sarraut, refuses to join the war against Italy, despite the war's popularity amongst the French public. This popularity and interest was shared by Greece and the Balkans, whom all wanted Italy to be taken down a peg.[*]
Manuel Azana is elected leader of Spain. His Popular Front is incredibly divisive, not only in Iberia, but around Europe.[*]
The British halt and turn back the Italian advance in Operation Vulcan, beginning a push that ended with a large sea and land battle centred around Tobruk.[*]
The Seconda Squadra comes up against a RN squadron full of battlecruisers and aircraft carriers (three each). The Italians lose two ships and are otherwise badly mauled, and whilst escaping are targeted by British aircraft, which manage to sink the flagship heavy cruiser.[*]
Operation Vulcan ends in success for the British, with the Italian advance pushed back and Tobruk captured[*]
23rd February 1936: The British and her Dominions agree on their war goals: complete control of Italian North Africa, cessation of Italian aggression in Abyssinia, total destruction of the heavy units of the Italian fleet, and a limiting of their post-war battleship construction.
- March 1936: The British begin planning out Operation Templar, their next moves in Italian North Africa, and getting the Italian fleet out into the open again. This involved tricking the paranoid Italian Intelligence services that the French were about to enter the war, and the British were thus focusing on Tripoli.
- This deception was very successful, and the Italians fell for it completely. They sent a great deal of men and resources to the western desert, and wasted time figuring out various plans.
- 21st March 1936: President Smith is assassinated by Charles Black, and Vice-President John Garner is sworn into office as 32nd President.
- This leads to such insanity as Huey Long being favoured in the upcoming election as democratic nominee over Garner, who in response joins the breakaway States Rights Democratic Party at the behest of Tammany Hall.
- 4th April 1936: Operation Templar began. Tripoli and Benghazi were landed at and taken with minimal fuss, though the Italians began quickly trying to push out the former landing within a few days. Italy however, had suddenly lost all of their ports and supply depots in North Africa.
- Mussolini, suitably enraged once more, ordered the Prima Squadra out to go meet their fate.
[*]
The Squadra again attempted to sneak out at night, and again was spotted, this time by a single submarine. The sub fired torpedoes and ran away, scaring the shit out of the Italians but missing all their boats.[*]
This action actually saves the Squadra from complete destruction. The British attempted to encircle them with two groups of ships, but instead one ran right into the Italians. They managed to once again destroy the flagship, this time the Zara herself, as well as obliterate the destroyers and another battleship. The Squadra once again managed to escape to safety, though this meant Italian North Africa was now doomed. All was surrendered to the British within two weeks.
- 20th April 1936: The South Africa EF arrives in East Africa, led by a suspiciously large number of SA PM Hertzog's political enemies. This was indeed all part of his master plan to alter the Representation of Natives Act (which was passing through parliament) for his party's benefit. General Smuts and his allies resigned themselves to the alteration, knowing they would not return in time.
- However, at the last possible moment, a hero emerges from the darkness. The Governor General, the Earl of Clarendon, refused to sign the bill and withheld Royal Assent.
[*]
South Africa split amongst the usual lines, and the rest of the Dominions, after a bit of thinking, decided that they supported Clarendon.[*]
King George V decided that this was the opportune moment to once again fall deathly ill, sparking a constitutional crisis both Home and Away.
- 23rd April 1936: The British learn from captured Italian sources that a coup in Spain is being planned for that year, and that most of their African army was prepared to join/lead it. The Cabinet were split on how to react to this news, whilst over in Buck House, the King was busy dying a horrible death.
Note: the next few events are said to have occurred in early March, yet all involve Churchill being distracted by the Spanish Coup Intelligence, the King dying/being dead, and the war effectively won. I have thus switched the month but not the dates to April and May. El Pip can feel free to correct or lambast as necessary, but the next few updates have a very strange and garbled timeline jumping from events in arch to April to May in quick succession. Young Pip was either very tired and emotional whilst writing these updates or was rather confused himself as to when all this was supposed to be happening.
- 24th April 1936: George V passed away. Many elder MPs of the Conservative Party, now without a war effort to silence them, begin plotting the downfall of Churchill and looked for a issue to strike him down with. They came across the luscious body of Mrs Wallis Simpson, and used her continued presence around the new King Edward VIII to call a Vote of Confidence, which just barely passed the 1922 Committee with 15% required.
- Hitler orders troops to reoccupy the Rhineland, hoping to catch out the French before their election cycle is concluded.
[*]
The French found out what the Germans were doing almost immediately, and crossed the border to maintain the treaty conditions.[*]
The Germany army heads mutually agreed to run away, and told Hitler they were just following orders. He had indeed told them to withdraw had the French done anything, but that fact was not enough to widen the rift between the Army and the Nazi government.[*]
The wildly popular 'victory' over the German Reich caused a landslide electroal victory and the French PM Sarraut remained in power.
- 2nd May 1936: Churchill loses the vote of confidence and is no longer the leader of the Party. Churchill finally turns his attention towards domestic politics, and decides to get nasty, determined to take Stanley Baldwin and Lord Halifax (the little shits behind all this) down with him. He therefore told the Party that he would be resigning as PM immediately and that they should elect his replacement right now: Austen Chamberlain.
- May 1936: Chamberlain plans to have Churchill go and tell King Edward to abdicate or ditch Simpson.
- Churchill kick started British industry and the economy, reset British interests and standing on the World Stage back to before the 'Dark Times' of appeasement, gave the Italians a damn good licking in the Mediterranean and basically got everything going again. On the downside, the budget was in tatters, as was the Treasury. The Continent was pacified, but Britain had fewer friends there now.
[*]
The final strikes of the Italian war were by air. Taranto was hit by multiple Swordfish attacks, sinking the remaining battleships there and destroying Prima Squadra at long last. Rome was also bombed, by a propaganda leaflet campaign full of the uncensored catastrophe that was the Italian situation in Africa (with the North surrendered and the East left to starve in the jungle).[*]
Edward VIII on the other hand, not only refuses to abdicate but appeals directly to his subjects and the Empire. Unfortunately for everyone, PM Hertzog invites him to stay on as King of South Africa, regardless of what else happens.[*]
Chamberlain thus forces Edward out, pre-recording the actual speech so no funny business or Le Jones AARs can occur. This is approved by Parliament, and the Dominions.[*]
However, the Irish Premier, Eamon de Valera, is irritated that he was forced to approve the abdication, and thus restarts the Anglo-Irish trade war by reimplementing the trade tariffs. This does not end well at all for Ireland.[*]
Hertzog, in a splendid bit of political gymnastics, decides that this all means South Africa shall have no new king and be a Republic instead. The country begins to break down into various factions, riots and political movements. General Smuts manages, despite all commercial airports closed by the PM, to return to South Africa and met up with his Party in Johannesburg to meet at Parliament. Finally, the PM backed down and resigned.[*]
Chamberlain then retuned to domestic matters, refolding Production and Development back into the Treasury. Leo Amery was the new Chancellor, Hore-Belisha given Lord Privy Seal. Anthony Eden got the FO, John Simon stayed at the HO, Duff Cooper got the War Office, and Churchill got the Air Ministry. Harold Macmillan also gets his big start as Defence Co-ordinator.[*]
At some point, Rhodes and the Dodecanese had fallen to amphibious assault, presumably fairly easily since this has not hitherto been mentioned. Basically the entire Italian Empire is under British control at this point.
- Summer 1936:
- The Valletta Peace Conference begins, with the British terms being: the annexation of Italian North Africa, Somaliland, Eritrea, Rhodes and the Dodecanese; and, The transfer of remaining heavy units of the RM to the RN as war reparations. Italy agreed, with some whingeing, and the New Roman Empire ceased to exist.
[*]
The Spanish Civil War begins, with the British and Germans very awkwardly sort-of on the side of a Monarchist/Fascist alliance of Carlists and Franco. They seized a great deal of Spanish industry in the first days of the war, and, importantly for us, the Spanish gold supply in Madrid (and I suppose, Madrid itself), which ends up mostly shipped to London for various favours and resources. This also means that despite being off the gold standard, the Bank of England possesses a quite ridiculous share of the global gold supply. The socialists on the other hand are supported by the Soviets, and with a bit more reluctance, the French.[*]
France was busy elsewhere. They declare a full defensive alliance with Czechoslovakia and Poland, surrounding Germany with potential enemies.[*]
Italy meanwhile, begins building closer relations with Austria and Hungary, freezing Germany out of even those sympathetic countries.[*]
Yugoslavia however, afraid of Italy, moves towards a defensive pact with Germany, hoping for their influence to stop encroachment by her neighbours.[*]
In July, the Montreux Conference falls through, and thus the Bosporus Straits are not allowed to re-fortify and the Treaty of Lausanne is not annulled or modified. The Turks still begin fortification efforts anyway, but are stung by their dismissal as a second rate power by the world.[*]
The Franco-Belgian Alliance ends with the Belgium withdrawal. There was apparently quite a lot of fascist success in the prior election, whilst everyone else did not want to get dragged into a French war in eastern Europe.[*]
Meanwhile the Irish and Dutch economies continued to plummet, the latter due to various factors, the former entirely self-imposed by the resumption of trade war with the UK.[*]
In South Africa, Smuts' South African Party won a landslide, leaving the issue of 'how the hell to have a democracy in South Africa whilst stopping the Blacks from running it' question back into his hands.[*]
Abyssinia remains independent, but heavily influenced by Britain and under its protection. They do however, gain a coastline with the transfer of Jubaland.[*]
Egypt however, had problems. Egypt always had problems, but these were bad ones. King Fuad I was dead, and his son Farouk was a child, and a deeply unpleasant one. The British decide to have him removed by playing the Regency Council like fiddles. The Prime Minister position would be empowered whilst the King made more ceremonial, in exchange for them all ditching the kid and the Egyptian Parliament choosing his younger sister Fawzia as Queen. The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty was never signed. The Egyptian Nationalists were quite wrongfooted by the whole affair, whilst the British got their pliable monarch and secured power in the country for the foreseeable future.[*]
Italian North Africa was merged into a united Libyan kingdom, under the rule of Emir Idris. The British basically did the same deal as with Abyssinia, protection and assistance with strings attached, in this case, coastal military bases[*]
Trans-Jordan is barely mentioned, or mentionable, but Lawrence is once more in the desert mucking around, and not smashing his face in tarmac at high speed...[*]
India...is in an early Pip fic so far, so movements there match the period sentiments of reform and home rule, basically fuck all.[*]
Japan is fairly quiet, being busy being at war with itself over whether or not it is worth striking south, given the RN is now much stronger and the Americans are in such a Depression that they cannot but sell whatever the Japanese need to them.[*]
The US passes a New Neutrality Act, recognising that the last one was rubbish.[*]
Canada meanwhile continues to push Imperial Preference, unheeding US pleas to abandon it, and despite PM King being a free-trade liberal. Newfoundland, now firmly under British control, was rebounding from the Depression quite well, and Canada was keen to follow, reforming ties with the Empire and with Britain.[*]
In transport news, the government lifted the requirement of the Common Carrier from the Big Four train companies, and forced road freight to pay for the costs of roads. This did not stop the inevitable rise of the automobile, but did give an excuse to have a photo of a steam train in the update.[*]
The British government and nation also make a fortune in arms sales this summer, selling planes to the Swedish, destroyers to the Greeks, and immense amounts of everything to the Carlists in Spain. Over 500 tonnes of gold would enter the Bank of England by the end of the year, at a profit of over £40 million (the Ark Royal cost £3 million, in comparison. Or £7 million, depending on which version of Pip you believe).[*]
The UK decides to spend this big fucktonne of money on a big fuckoff navy building scheme, completely modernising the fleet, replacing everything that could not be updated, and funding some big new era battleship, cruiser and carrier projects. The King Georges and Ark Royal classes are redesigned as well.[*]
The 1936 FIFA Congress in Berlin was called off, due to the Rhineland Crisis. It is delayed from May to the Summer, and then moved to Geneva after some bitching by Germany. The French campaign to host the 1938 World Cup won, despite protests from Argentina that it was 'the done thing' for the tournament to alternate between South America and Europe. Jules Rimet, the French president of FIFA, was not swayed, but the Americans were, as were the Germans and their Yugoslavian allies. They decided to host their own 'true' world cup in Argentina, and FIFA could go fuck themselves.[*]
As the FA had already left FIFA in 1928, the problem eventually ended up in London, with both sides trying to get the old Grandad to pick them. It was beginning to become a political football, with FIFA starting to fall apart, and the FA unwilling to do anything about it. At the last possible moment, a hero emerges from the wilderness. The Swiss FA figured there could be a professional world cup, and an amateur Olympic football event. This, resolving everything, eventually was agreed upon.[*]
Thus, the FA re-joined FIFA, the World Cup was reaffirmed to be in Argentina, and the Swiss FA tipped their hat before riding off into the sunset, never to be seen again.
- December 1936: Franco dies in a 'plane crash accident', which throws the Monarchist factions into a big old mess.
- The 1936 Presidential Election: The comments section voted on this, per state, so it's an absolute mess.
- Republicans: 262 electoral votes, 44% popular vote. 201 seats.
[*]
Democrat: 180 electoral votes, 36& popular vote. 157 seats.[*]
States Rights: 89 Electoral votes, 20% popular vote. 58 seats.[*]
The Republicans did not win outright, but ended up retaining the Upper House (Senate), but no Party won a majority in the House. Due to the rules of the US, the Republicans could ensure that their man became Vice-President, Vandenberg. However, it was still a three horse race for president. Thus, a deal was hammered out.[*]
Alf Landon became the President, whilst George White (States Rights) would be VP. The cabinet was mostly republican, with ST getting the Navy and the Interior.
- Imperial Conference 1936: The One Where South Africa and Rhodesia Team Up
- The two decide on 'Partnership' - requiring voting be restricted by wealth and education. The emerging black middle class would pass this burden, but most would not, which was seen as rather the whole point. This caused a stir in London but was allowed to occur, for want of anything else even worse to happen.
[*]
North and South Rhodesia were united together, with Sir Herbert Stanley servicing as first Governor-General.[*]
Negotiations on where the Fleet should go now Italy was pacified became unexpectedly tense because the Navy and the Treasury were both united in their insistence that the Fleet should not go to the Far East, at least permanently. However, everyone else wanted them to go, and so they had to.[*]
Hong Kong needed reinforcement, and got it with the agreed new fortifications, what would be the Gin Drinker's Line.[*]
The success of the RAAF in the Italian war meant that the Australian contingent were keen to get their own air force set up within the Far East war plans, whilst also worried about how expensive it would be to upgrade the heroic and wildly popular RAAF. Plus, the British were not keen on the Australians developing their own Aero industry, using British planes to do it. The compromise was reached that, if the Australians would build and send planes to Malaysia, they could have their damn factories. The Ozzies agreed, and then proceeded to figure out that they had no way in hell of making or even putting together the engines required for the planes, let alone the planes as well. The British also began flooding the country with British industrial company subsidies, ensuring that if there was an Australian airplane industry, and if it was successful, it could still be ran from London.
- The Amsterdam Conference 1936:
- This was officially the world's response to the Rhineland Crisis and a re-look at the Versailles Treaty. In practice...it was a bit of a free-for-all orgy of diplomatic infidelity and trickery.
[*]
Everyone agreed the French should leave the Rhineland, especially the French, who didn't have the money to stay and was desperate to do a deal before they completely ran out of cash and currency.[*]
However, the whole affair had been a disaster for the Nazis, especially Hitler, and they needed a deal done as well. The French, using French Flash and Fuckery, were able to fool the Germans into accepting a return to the status quo, keeping the Rhineland demilitarised except for paramilitary troops. So Hitler got his SA march into the Rhineland, and everyone else got to enjoy not having the Nazis on the border with tanks at the ready.[*]
The Italians, to everyone's utter amazement, switched sides and backed the French, in exchange for French guaranteeing the independence of Austria.[*]
Germany did get everyone to support her right to build more ships however.[*]
The US actually did surprise everyone by outlining what moral neutrality actually meant: they would only sell to the Republicans and embargo everything else.[*]
Despite Italy leaving the League of Nations over the Abyssinia war, the organisation did come back into relevance, arranging a non-intervention pact with everyone to not send volunteers to Spain or take sides in the war.[*]
The Turks continue to sulk over not being invited.
- January 1937: The Insurrection of the Faqir of Ipi really hots up, with the rebels entering the Princely States themselves and beating back their armies.
- However, this is early Pip still, so pretty much everything goes the way of the British. Gandhi offends everyone by suggesting the locals should just passively submit, and then getting himself violently murdered by meeting the rebels head on.
[*]Chandra Bose took the side of the revolting tribesmen, which got him imprisoned and discredited, which didn't help the INC much.
[*]The British Raj, of course, remained unflappable, obliterating the rebels when they got too close and imprisoning the Faqir himself and all his supporters.
[*]The INC splintered, Gandhi dead and discredited, Bose in prison and discredited, the Princely States chastened and the Raj the most popular in India as it had been in many decades. George VI enjoys a lavish ceremony in which he is crowned Emperor of India.
[*]The newly improved Government of India Act 1936 sought to strike on fertile ground. Implicitly promising Dominion status eventually, it also neatened out the Raj and detached Burma and Aden from it.
[*]Indeed, the problem with getting the Act passed was due to arguments from within the government. First of all, John Simmons didn't want to go to India as part of the Commission, and when forced, he resigned instead, removing the Nat Liberals from the government. Instead, Chamberlain sent Halifax, conveniently removing him from the narrative for the rest of the year.
[*]Now though, Chamberlain had to reshuffle the cabinet. Duff Cooper got HO, Oliver Stanley replaced him at the War Office. Neville Chamberlain went to Pensions and Welfare. Samuel Hoare got India. Everyone else of significance stayed where they were. Beaverbrook got Lord President, for some reason.
[*]The National Liberals break down, as does chunks of the Labour Party. Young Pip does another Pip and creates the LSD. Lovely.
[*]It takes several updates to say that Germany will not be building the Bismarck, and everyone else builds what they usually do.
[*]The British Army, after a lot of complaining, has its war record reviewed by independent committee, chaired by Field Marshal Chetwode. Unfortunately, his first request was for the 'obscenely late' analysis of the Great War, which opened up a gigantic can of rancid worms that, once loosed, began eating at the very foundations of the Army.
[*]The report led to the Chetwode Reforms, which required the regiments to be grouped into brigades by region, except for specialised forces which formed their own brigades. The other big change is the army moving away from the .303" cartridge and starting the mammoth task of reequipping everyone in the empire without something better. The cavalry were also all required to mechanise, and got lumped into one Royal Armoured Corps. The Household Cav escapes, they always do, but otherwise it's goodbye horses.
[*]Prohibition finally ends, with the Mob more firmly entrenched than OTL, and the idea itself not quite as discredited as it really should have been.
[*]The Chamberlain Report, which notes the inefficiencies of British shipbuilding, leads to Lord Beaver-bother hijacking the Naval rearming campaign into a total reorganisation and rebirth of the industry. He decides to have the new ships built in Royal Dockyards rather than private ones. This inevitably brought the government into conflict with the ridiculously powerful dockyard union conglomerate: the United Society of Boilermakers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders.
[*]And so, the entire collective went on strike, except the very dockyard Lord Chickenshit picked for the trial run. This was such a surprise and such a serious issue, the cabinet quickly was called into an emergency meeting to figure out what the hell had happened and how to fix it. And then, because this is still relatively Young Pip and he cannot help himself, the Miners Unions decide to go on strike in support, pretty much for no reason other than to try and take advantage of the situation. Though, to be fair, that was rather the whole point of the Miners Union.
- However, this is early Pip still, so pretty much everything goes the way of the British. Gandhi offends everyone by suggesting the locals should just passively submit, and then getting himself violently murdered by meeting the rebels head on.
- 12th February 1937: The Whittle Jet Engine is first tested. Through a somewhat bizarre contract arrangement, Mr Whittle and his staff manage to get the Air Ministry to fund their work. Fortunately for Whittle, and for England, the test goes off without a hitch, and Churchill and everyone else watching is immediately converted to the One True Engine Faith.
- However, Churchill gets a little too enthusiastic, which leads to Tizard being booted from the project despite...you know...leading it, and Professor Lindemannn taking over.
[*]The RAF also manages to convince everyone to build and fund a special research centre and site for testing rocketry, and other experimental stuff, to get a proper lab for their jet engine team. RAF Martlesham Heath becomes the testing ground for pretty much every new advancement of the British military for the next few years. Missiles by the way, had become a lot cheaper to make since Churchill pushed out all biplanes from active service, leading to the upsetting imagery of mosquitoes and gladiators being used purely for smashing into things.
- However, Churchill gets a little too enthusiastic, which leads to Tizard being booted from the project despite...you know...leading it, and Professor Lindemannn taking over.
- 17th March 1937: Austen Chamberlain dies. His legacy was a mixed bag; the Dominions were industrialising, a massive strike was going on at home, the Entente Cordial was dead in the water, the successful end of the war with Italy, the abdication crisis etc.
- Winston Churchill has no chance, being now elevated to senior party leadership. Oliver Stanley was too unambitious to try. Leo Amery was too disliked. Neville Chamberlain was still rehabilitating, and Halifax was in India. It was between Duff Cooper, and Anthony Eden.
[*]Neville still gives it a go anyway, because of course he does, but the Party genuinely dislikes him so he doesn't get far. Eden is young, and terrible at public speaking. Cooper should have therefore been a shoe-in, except he was a committed Francophile who enthusiastically embraced polyamory with the support of his loving wife. Both of these meant he was actually disregarded before Neville was.
[*]Eden thus became Prime Minister, after a bit of Party Games. He doesn't shuffle the cabinet much at all, but gets right to trying to fix the Strikes. He did this by splitting the Union cause, promising a government funded scheme to retrain riveters and welders.
[*]This worked in some regard, in that some unions leaped at the chance, especially the welders for obvious reasons, and many apprentices otherwise locked into a long system of waiting for elder riveters to die. However, it stiffened the resolve of the rest, as they correctly sensed that this was now a do or die battle, and there would be no do-over if they lost.
- Winston Churchill has no chance, being now elevated to senior party leadership. Oliver Stanley was too unambitious to try. Leo Amery was too disliked. Neville Chamberlain was still rehabilitating, and Halifax was in India. It was between Duff Cooper, and Anthony Eden.
- The Spanish Civil War - Spring 1937: Very little is occurring, though much is planned.
- The Monarchist forces get repeatedly slaughtered in tank battles, as they only have light tankettes, compared to heavy Soviet crushers like the Republicans drive.
[*]Their aircraft is a bit better, and tends to be more plentiful, but it varies wildly from region to region.
[*]Really, the most significant thing I can find in the spring campaigns is the invention of the Flandin Cocktail, named for the French Foreign Minister, which was utilised by the desperate monarchist forces trying to kill tanks with whatever they could find.
[*]The Republicans do manage something with all these victories, and take Cordoba from the dug in Monarchists after a heavy firefight.
- The Monarchist forces get repeatedly slaughtered in tank battles, as they only have light tankettes, compared to heavy Soviet crushers like the Republicans drive.
- Spring 1937: The Entente Cordiale doesn't actually die, more like resumes the 'understanding' of the pre-1890s colonial empires - no colonial tomfoolery, we'll leave you alone if you leave us alone, and please can we not fortify our African borders, they're really long...
- After the Italian war however, both sides of the Channel have to contend with the cooling of relations and the fact that neither of them are in an alliance with the other, and really have little business with each other anymore.
[*]This was a problem, because of course the British did have business interests in France (and vice-versa, presumably). CF Nord, the train company responsible for the economically poor but vital strategic rail lines between the Channel, Paris and Belgium, was dependant on Southern Rail, their cross-Channel counterpart. But when the struggling CF attempted to sell their stake in the Channel ferry trade to SR, the French government vetoed it, merging the company instead into their huge nationalised State Railways company.
[*]This convinced the British to look elsewhere for investment. The French argued, the British argued back. The two countries continued to 'barely' trade with each other (to the tune of around £20 million each), and the relations got even chillier come the Paris Exposition.
[*]The Pariee Expositione Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, or 'Not the World Fair', famous in OTL for the excellent propaganda of both the Soviets and the Nazis literally using their buildings to cock-tease each other. Albert Speer was richly rewarded for his efforts, including a gold medal by French judges for his work on the Nuremburg Nazi Parade grounds...eep.
[*]The British barely bothered to show up, focused more on the Pacific Nagoya Fair, in which the Japanese postured, and the British tried to impress Siam and the Netherlands into their bed.
- After the Italian war however, both sides of the Channel have to contend with the cooling of relations and the fact that neither of them are in an alliance with the other, and really have little business with each other anymore.
- Summer 1937: The Republican navy makes the...courageous decision to take on a Royal Navy escort fleet full of new supplies and better artillery that Whitehall had finally allowed to be sent to Spain. After a few polite threats from both sides, and a warning shot from both, the Spanish admiral unleashes their sole battleship, the Cortes.
- The Battle of the Alboran Sea ensues. The Republicans outnumber and outweigh the British by some margin, yet end the engagement by running off, their battleship heavily damaged in exchange for damaging HMS York and Orion.
[*]Unfortunately, whilst retreating, the Cortes exploded, making a diplomatic incident a full blown crisis, and the attention of the world's press (not only had a light cruiser defeated a battleship, but the British had got into a shooting match with another sovereign navy).
[*]Thus the Battle of the Alboran Sa ends, and the Cortes Affair begins. Eden was just born unlucky, it seems.
[*]The Valencian Government had the task of both trying to keep Britain out of the war, and simultaneously tarring their escort fleet as guilty as sin in instigating the battle. Unfortunately, there was the small problem of trying to convince the outside world as to why the outnumbered and outgunned escort fleet decided to pick a fight with, ostensibly, the most powerful ships in the Spanish navy. Logic never got in the way of propaganda however, and domestically, this story became wildly popular.
[*]This had little effect, save for forcing Eric Blair (George Orwell) out of the Anarchist column in the north of Spain and back to the UK. Already of note for 'Reflections from Birkenhead Docks' (instead of OTL Wigan Pier), he would later write The Road to Catalonia, about his experiences in the war and his budding dislike of the Soviet Union.
[*]In Westminster, this was another opportunity for the government to collapse in on itself squabbling. Duff Cooper did not help with his insistence on reviving the Entente, but pretty much everyone made a nuisance of themselves here. And while all this is going on, the Admiralty sends off another convoy, forcing Eden to make a swift decision over British policy in Spain, despite everyone not really wanting to have one.
[*]In the end, Eden is forced to push more convoys past Gibraltar, and pray the Spanish Navy don't escalate matters further.
[*]In June, Soviet and Japanese forces clash in a large border battle in Northern Manchuria. Over 25% of all Japanese medium tanks are lost in the fight, and many Japanese soldiers are slaughtered. The Japanese had been given a bloody nose and a pretty firm message: Do not mess with Uncle Joe.
[*]This emboldens the Strike South movement, which does not go unnoticed by the Dutch, whom were in the middle of a rethink themselves. The problem they had was that their Depression was still rock bottom, and not getting better. However, needs must, so they decided to build a deterrence force large enough that nothing short of the Japanese main fleet could threaten it, and it was hoped the main fleet would always be somewhere else, fighting someone else. They stay on the Gold Standard however, so the economy isn't getting better any time soon.
[*]The Dutch therefore had to find a nation willing to build battlecruisers for them, who weren't the Japanese (though they tried anyway, amusingly enough). The Americans and Italians were swiftly discounted, as were the French after a fashion. The Germans held the advantage of being really scary, and owning quite a lot of Dutch dockland already, but the British not only had a modern-ish design for the Dutch, but very modern reverse-engineered underwater protections. So they go with that, and start to move into the strange and vast grey area between neutrality and allies.
[*]The Gold Bloc meets in Geneva to try and do a deal. Italy shows up and is told to go away for not being Gold enough.
[*]The British meanwhile bag the Chinese into the Sterling Area, by helping them float their currency and arranging a whacking great loan to pay for it all (£20 million). Despite no longer being on the Gold Standard, British reserves were filling up, as not only Spain but everyone else was sending their gold to the Bank.
[*]The Admiralty wades once more into the Carrier Debate, this time to settle the question of whether to have armoured carriers or not. The compromise is to have more hangers and an armoured box, making the resulting ships enormous and unwieldy based off current designs. Thus, the designers went back to the drawing board, and the Admiralty snuck some more money into expanding the Royal Dockyards so someone, somewhere, would be able to build these monster boats.
[*]Meanwhile, trade protection was another worry, given that the Germans were building four battlecruiser rather than the Bismarck. Whilst the County class cruisers were damn good, and (apparently) capable of taking down a battleship if the opponent was stupid enough, the RN didn't fancy staking the Empire on them. The solution was, again, carriers, this time smaller ones designed to protect trade in the Atlantic.
[*]The Imperial Trade Council comes into existence, to try and do something about Empire Trade Tariffs whilst maintaining Imperial Preference. Various other things come out, such as the standardisation of plugs and sockets across the Empire.
[*]The Air Force has begun developing RADAR but haven't quite figured out what they have yet.
[*]The UK government is sponsoring a scheme looking for Home Island oil, and is getting closer to finding some.
[*]After a gigantic bribe of their own money being paid back to them, the British accept a naval deal with the Soviets to develop and equip their naval industry. In fairness to the British, they had learnt from the Anglo-Japanese alliance and made it as hard as possible for the Soviets to actually learn anything from the knowledge and technical exchange.
- The Battle of the Alboran Sea ensues. The Republicans outnumber and outweigh the British by some margin, yet end the engagement by running off, their battleship heavily damaged in exchange for damaging HMS York and Orion.
- The Spanish Civil War - Summer 1937:
- Meanwhile, in Spain, Barcelona had been captured, the Republican tanks were still much better than the Monarchist ones, but the Salmanaca pocket had been closed by the Nationalists and Malaga had been taken.
[*]The Republicans, knowing anti-tank weapons were incoming, decided to press their advantage and try to cut off the Nationalists from Gibraltar, and continue to push to liberate Catalonia in the north. The French connection is keeping the Popular Front and President Azana in power, but only just. The Republicans are even more fractured than the other team.
[*]Whilst Javier I was accepted, mostly, by most Nationals, and ruled from Madrid, who would actually run the country post-war, and the war effort itself, was far from certain. This was not helped by the Monarchist retreat from Catalonia, and the republicans retaking it all.
[*]Whilst the Republicans had managed to finally link up all their fronts, splitting the country in two neatly for the first time, the Nationalists had full control of the centre, even pushing out further.
[*]By September, the Republican had secured the French border and Catalonia, whilst everywhere else their campaigns had come to nought or been pushed back. Everyone was exhausted however, and most active movement stopped, for the moment.
[*]Irish General and volunteer Eoin O'Duffy is killed, leaving the National Corporate Party leaderless. However, they quickly realise this is a golden chance to do some politics, replacing him with Ned Cronin. This lead to all kinds of manoeuvrings but the upshot is that the Irish election was extremely divisive, with Da Valera barely holding onto power, and forced into an alliance with Labour leader William Norton. The motion to change the constitution also failed, having united everyone who wasn't in the government against it.
- Meanwhile, in Spain, Barcelona had been captured, the Republican tanks were still much better than the Monarchist ones, but the Salmanaca pocket had been closed by the Nationalists and Malaga had been taken.
- Autumn 1937:
- The British finally start trying to make a new light tank, as well as a load of armoured cars. The Dominions meanwhile try to turn their 'armies' from evolved militias into proper modern forces comparable to the British army.
- Up to Chapter CLIV
We are so far as I am aware, now up to date on everything that actually happened. Woo!
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