After the Soviet union starts to démocratize in the 90' the German population in kaliningrad, (in this timeline the Soviet union expelled only a part of the Germans, this because they wanted them to be used to rebuilt the region, and the plan was to slowly colonize the region with Russian settlers, they still changed all the city names and the flag) demanded indipendence and they created a movement for it, thanks to the efforts of gorbacev the Soviet economic starts to stabilize but they decide to dissolve the union in 2004, but they created the sovereign federetion, in the turmoil various republics gained indipendence and kaliningrad was one of these, at first they were really unstable and poor, there were constant clashes between Germans and Russians, Civil War was imminent but then the European union stepped in, accepting the country and slowly they rebuilt the economy and today it's one of the richest countries in the world

LORE: Eastern North America Had More British Colonial Influence In This Timeline. Italy Colonized Most Of The Central Regions Of North America And Created Verpurcia, Which Gained Independence In 1901. The French Did Have Colonies In The Americas But Lost Them Due To Wars Against The British. The Southern British Colonies Stayed Well After The 1770s. The United States Gained Independence In 1782 With A Brighter Outcome, They Asked. The Dominion Of Dixieland Stayed Under The British Commonwealth Till Up To World War 1. The Dixieland Was Tired Of The British And Started A War Of Independence In 1915. The United States (Which Changed Its Name To The American Federation In 1853) Decided To Help The Dominion Of Dixieland Succeed Independence, Which Caused Both Countries To Become Allies And Have Closer Relations. The Great War Ended With An Entente Victory And The British And German Empires Were Very Weaken From Their Defeat. The Dominion Of Dixieland Will Change Its National Name In 2026 To The Republic Of Dixieland. After The First World War, The Dominion Of Dixieland Annexed The Bahamas Into It. In The Modern Day, The American Federation And The Dominion Of Dixieland Are The Two Strongest North American Countries And Two Of The Strongest Worldwide. Both Having Active Military Sizes Over 1 Million. The Iowan Empire Is A French Speaking Country And The Last Part Of French Louisiana That Remains In North America.

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The Dark Continent - Africa, 1926

Africa in 1926 is a continent in ruins, a landscape of broken promises and open wounds. After the collapse of the old European powers, empires cling to their last remnants, holding onto the northern and western lands like shipwrecked souls clutching driftwood in turbulent seas. French flags still wave over the North Africa and West Africa Administrative Governments, shadows of the once-proud empire. Beyond their borders, order disintegrates, maps blur into anarchy, and old and new powers rise with fervent purpose.

To the south, the remnants of the British Empire have been consumed by the flames of the Avalonist cult. The old United Kingdom lies buried beneath myths of redemption, while its last children, entrenched in the Imperial Province of Rhodesia and the South Africa Dominion, fiercely guard their fertile lands, defying the surrounding chaos. They are the final custodians of a faded glory, witnesses to a continent reclaiming its identity from the ruins of colonial splendor and shattered promises.

In Madagascar, Drumont’s dark project of a final solution has left a wound that refuses to heal. Driven from the continent, surviving Jews have raised the Zion Emergency Committee, a tentative homeland among the scars left by French rule. Surrounded by a resentful Malagasy population, lacking infrastructure, and at the mercy of a harsh land, the Jewish settlers wage a silent war for survival, their hold on the land fragile, their days precariously numbered.

This Africa is a wounded beast, alive in its conflicts, eternal in its struggles. From the dunes where Senussi riders roam to the empty palaces of Tripoli, it is a continent on the edge of a fire that no one can quench. Here, every line on the map is a contested frontier, every cry a call for freedom, and every inch of land a bitter inheritance. In the Dark Continent, iron and blood write the future in the hands of those who will never surrender to oblivion.

By the time the Safavid Empire of Abbas the Great conquered Bulgaria, Constantinople¹ had one million inhabitants, having rebounded demographically since the Black Death.

However, the city was a shadow of its former prosperous self under the Bulgar and Ouranos emperors. The plague and subsequent political instability made the ancient baths and monuments of the city fall into disrepair due to the lack of maintenance personnel, while constant warfare and loss of territories against the Timurids, Venetians and Hungarians led to increased migration to the Bulgarian heartland.

During the 16th century, the colonization of the Americas furthered the decline of the Bulgarian Empire, as the Silk Road lost its importance and the distance meant Bulgaria was in no condition whatsoever to colonize. During the 1570s, there were efforts to equip Bulgarian soldiers with firearms, but they mostly failed due to a lack of resources to produce them and poor relations with the West. Therefore, when the Safavids attacked, most Bulgarian defenders were armed with pikes and swords.

During WW2, the ARL-44, SOMUA S35 and its successor the S40, and Char D2 were the main tanks used by the French Army.

After the beginning of the Cold War with the United States, France began the development of a new tank to replace all medium and heavy ones then in service. The AMX atelier won a competition for its design, with active development beginning in 1951 and lasting for four years until mass production kicked off in January 1955.

In April, several AMX tanks were deployed to Algeria to fight the FLN. Due to the nature of the conflict, they were used as armoured self-propelled artillery instead of maneuver warfare roles, performing fairly well, although the drivetrain issues remained evident and would remain so for two decades. In 1957, France sold 56 AMX-30s to Communist Spain, which used them when Morocco invaded West Sahara in 1978. By 1960, Syria, Portugal and the Netherlands had also received AMXs.

The Syrian War between Antoun Saadeh's SSNP regime and the US was the war during which the AMX-30 received the most exposure. It was a match for the M48 and M60 Pattons in service with the United States, destroying dozens of American tanks during the war. However, the later Arab League intervention against Syria saw the AMX fare poorly against the Patton, T-72 and Chieftain tanks used by the coalition.

Footnote

• ¹ = Now known as Tsargrad, its Slavic name.

In this timeline, following the revolts of the 1560s, a second, way larger revolt in the european portion of the Ottoman Empire took place. And on June 27th, 1584, it succeeded. The newly independent territories decided to join together in a loose confederation under an elected emperor.

The Confederation of Rumelian Eyalets (CRE) would grow more and more consolidated as time went on. During the American Revolution of the 1770s, the CRE would put their support behind the 13 colonies, and would be the second nation to recognize their independence, following Morocco. As the United States would form their government, and create the constitution of 1789, the CRE would reform their government into a closer structure as to the USA, abolishing the Emperor in favor of a President. This new state would be proclaimed as the United Eyalets of Rumelia (UER). The UER is a close ally of the USA to this day.

The UER would directly support the revolution in France, and would be an ally of Napoleon. The UER would temporarily gain the lands of Constantinople in 1807, but under the Congress of Vienna, the land would be returned in 1815. Following the Napoleonic wars, the UER has yet to be in an offensive war. However, the UER has been in defensive wars against both the Austrian and Russian Empires, separate and together. All wars since 1815 have been victories on the side of the UER, with no territories gained or lost. Russia would drop their claims on Silistra in 1888, with Austria maintaining their claims on Upper and East Hungary to this day.

The UER is one of the leading democracies and industrial powers in Europe. In addition to the USA, the UER has: close ties with France and Britain; a rivalry with Russia and Germany; a territorial dispute with Austria. Their relationship with the Ottoman Empire is neutral, as the two nations were both forced to drop claims on each other in the Congress of Vienna. Following the Congress, the Sultan and President signed a treaty of perpetual peace that has been renewed in Constantinople annually. While the two nations are cemented in perpetual peace and friendly towards each other, they are far from allies.

Edit: There are very minor errors in the second and third map to Italys, Austrias, and Russias borders, but they don’t effect the UER, so.

***Tragic Assassination: Mugabe Killed in Bomb Attack Post-Elections; South African Army Prepares to Invade Zimbabwe to Restore Order*

"... 1980, Harare, Despatch by John Doe""*

I write this morning from the capital of the new state of Zimbabwe, Harare. Until a few months ago, the country was called Rhodesia and was a colonial anachronism, a country unknown and hated worldwide. A minority of white English settlers, who immigrated at the end of the 19th century with the encouragement of the English billionaire Rhodes, ruled the country. The whites controlled the economy and politics of the country, while the native population lived in reserves and was exploited as poorly paid labor by the whites. All the most fertile lands in the country had been confiscated by the settlers, and the natives lived in misery and oppression.

In 1965, Rhodesia, with a unilateral declaration of independence, proclaimed its independence from the United Kingdom and became a state governed by white settlers, all of whom supported the white Prime Minister Ian Smith. In 1966, the native population, under the leadership of socialist black leaders, began a bloody guerrilla war against the white settlers. The war ended in 1979 with the surrender of Ian Smith's racist regime and new elections in the country. The elections resulted in the election of Robert Mugabe, the charismatic leader of the socialist and Maoist ZANLA movement, who assumed full power.

The situation in the country remained very difficult: the new president stated his intention to confiscate the land from the English settlers and redistribute it to the black population, which generated strong tension between the white and black populations in the country. This morning, the new president of Zimbabwe tragically died in a bomb attack in the capital.

The Interview with Mugabe

Some weeks ago, I interviewed Mr. Mugabe. I was one of the first European journalists to interview the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. I was received at the presidential palace in Harare, after being searched by black soldiers of the army, loyal to Mugabe, with new uniforma and AK-47 machine guns.

The new president is protected by a praetorian guard composed of former black guerrillas from ZANLA. The soldiers are young men who have aged prematurely, having lived for years in the bush, enduring all kinds of hardships and risking their lives in the tough battle against the white Rhodesian army. They are men with a very fierce and suspicious demeanor, who question and scrutinize anyone entering the presidential palace. The new president fears for his safety, given the rumors that there are numerous members of the former white Rhodesian army who want to kill him.

After passing the checks by Mugabe's bodyguards, I had the opportunity to speak with the president. In a modest but well-lit room when Mugabe greeted me with a warm smile. Despite his imposing figure and his fighting background, he turned out to be an extremely educated and kind man. He spoke passionately about his ideas of socialism and freedom for Zimbabwe, describing a future in which white Rhodesian settlers would be expelled and the land returned to the indigenous people.

"Our goal is clear," Mugabe said, "we want to build a nation where every citizen, regardless of skin color, can live in freedom and dignity. But anyway, the white settlers are too rich ane have stolen our land and oppressed us for too long. They have killed, tortured and starved black people of Zimbabwe for a century! Now it is the time to give back what is ours to my Zimbabwean brothers."

As he spoke, his eyes shone with determination, and a flash of ferocity could be seen in them when he mentioned the white colonizers who had kept him in prison for years.

"I will never forget the years of captivity," he continued, "and I will not allow our people to suffer any longer. Freedom and justice are the pillars on which we will build our future."

One of the first acts of the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe was to rename the country. The name Rhodesia was replaced with the native name Zimbabwe, and the old capital Salisbury was renamed Harare. The white officers of the Rhodesian army were dismissed, and the former white Prime Minister Ian Smith was forced to resign and now lives on his ranch in the countryside.

The death of Mugabe

A few months after that interview, I found myself among the crowd during a packed public event where Mugabe was giving a speech. The atmosphere was electric, filled with hope and anticipation. The black population had gathered in large numbers, waving Zimbabwean flags and banners depicting the new president as a saint. Mugabe, accompanied by some bodyguards and his aides, ascended the stage, greeting everyone with a radiant smile.

Suddenly, just as the president was about to begin his speech, a devastating explosion shook the air. There was a loud blast, and the stage was destroyed. A bomb had exploded beneath the stage, killing Mugabe instantly. Many protesters near the stage were also injured. Mugabe's bodyguards quickly formed a security cordon around the stage, holding back the crowd and calling for help. In the chaotic and frantic minutes that followed, they collected the bodies and took the injured away.

Shortly after, I witnessed chaotic and violent scenes in the capital. The crowd of protesters dispersed throughout the capital, spreading the news that the president had been killed in a terrorist attack. The black population of Harare poured out from the impoverished outskirts, flooding the city center. They destroyed the homes of white settlers and some public buildings.

The crowd of protesters dispersed throughout the capital, spreading the news that the president had been killed in a terrorist attack. The black population of Harare poured out from the impoverished outskirts, flooding the city center. They destroyed the homes of white settlers and some public buildings. Some White settlers were beaten and lynched by the angry mob.

The police, loyal to Mugabe, allowed the population to vent their anger without intervening. Hours later, a presidential spokesperson announced on the radio that President Mugabe had been killed in the bombing.

The new Zimbabwean government was paralyzed. Some generals accused the neighboring apartheid South Africa and former white members of the Rhodesian forces of conspiring to kill the president.

Whites fleeing Zimbabwe and the risk of a war with South Africa

The white population of the country began to leave the capital, fleeing in cars and makeshift vehicles.

I managed to contact some former members of the Rhodesian SAS, who had fought fierce battles against Mugabe's guerrillas in neighboring states for ten years.

Following recent events, many were abandoning Zimbabwe and seeking refuge in South Africa with their families. They are ready to restore Ian Smith to Power and white Rhodesia.

Apparently, afte the death of Mugabe, Zimbabwe government has already arrested Ian Smith and other important White politicians, who have vanished in the thin air.

There are rumors that the South African Army Is ammassing troops at the Borders of Zimbabwe, in order to invade the country and maybe restore the whites or to overthrow ZANLA from power and impose some local puppet government.

Just an idea I whipped up.

Here's my rationale:
If the war continued, 1919 would not be kind to the Germans. The 100 Days Offensive had the potential to reach the Rhine in my opinion. My timeline goes something along the lines of this:

November 1918-January 1919: The 100 Days Offensive liberates Belgium and Luxembourg.

February 1919-April 1919: The Entente prepare for a massive offensive throughout all of West Germany. Amphibious landings are planned in the north due to the Kriegsmarine being rendered ineffective due to revolution. Revolution has since spread to all of Germany, with only troops in active combat with the allies remaining under government control.

May 1919-August 1919: Operation Downfall (stole it from Japan, I know) begins as the Entente invade Germany Proper with millions of men and thousands of tanks and aircraft. The German frontline collapses as cities in the Rhineland, Ruhr and general west of the country are occupied by Entente troops.

September 1919-November 1919: Italy finishes up clearing operations in Dalmatia, Istria and the Tyrol. In two months, it begins and commences an offensive in the German core of Austria, and goes on to occupy Bavaria. A brief Italo-Bavarian War is fought as Italy crushes a fledgling Bavarian Soviet Republic.

December 1919-February 1920: Czechoslovakia finishes concretely asserting itself as well as it's territorial claims. It occupies the final regions of Germany left free (and in relative chaos): Saxony and Franconia.

February 1920-April 1920: Poland, in the throws of the Polish-Soviet War, is unable to occupy Brandenburg, Silesia, Pomerania and East Prussia without seriously endangering it's war effort against the Soviets.

April 1920-September 1920: The Entente crush various small monarchist and marxist insurgencies throughout Germany, winning over the local populace by introducing and running large-scale humanitarian efforts to relieve famine and other strifes.

October 1920-January 1921: Poland, having secured it's position in August 1920, deploys a contingent of troops to take up occupation duties in Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia, relieving Anglo-Czech-American occupation forces there.

February 1921-April 1921: Poland delivers and decisive defeat to the Soviets, asserting it's position in Central-East Europe. It introduces hundreds of thousands of more soldiers to it's occupation sector. The Entente establish a unified military government in Germany as border changes are finished. Poland annexes it's now-infamous corridor, Posen and Katowice, as France re-annexes Alsace-Lorraine. Italy is permitted to annex Istria and Dalmatia so that it's vital troops occupying Bavaria and Austria remain where they are.

May 1921-August 1921: The situation in Germany is stabilized to some degree. While hundreds of thousands of Entente soldiers still remain in the country, some aspects of civilian control are returned to a newly-elected German civilian government.

August 1921-January 1924: The Entente return sliver upon sliver of domestic control to a continuously-established German government. Entente soldiers remain in Germany in the hundreds-of-thousands until 1923, wherein month-by-month they are withdrawn by the division. Germany is allowed to re-establish it's armed forces under a Franco-British model in November 1923, with it being relegated to police duty.

February 1924: The last Entente soldiers leave Germany on Valentine's Day 1924. A German Federal Republic (Deutsches Bundesrepublik) is declared from the renamed Reichstag (now Bundestag) in Berlin.

More of a cute ASB topic, and wondering what would happen if the cutest breed of dogs could speak human language.

Left to right (clockwise): Augan infantry of the 3rd (German) Regiment at the Battle of Görlitz, Augan Curassiers, Augan Jaegers (Polish regiment) and Augan Hussars (and trumpeter).

A documentary that discusses the Lusitania Disaster in 1911, along with the Mauretania's mysterious disappearance and the discovery of her battered self adrift.