Another historical what if for you guys, but this isn't just an intellectual exercise, I am making this into a Civ4 mod. I'd love to have people's take on setting up the mod and imagining a plausible unfolding for this alternative timeline.
My goal was to assume every independence movement and secession movement was successful in the United States. But I didn't want it to be pure fantasy, I wanted to imagine how that would be plausible. So, the basic setup:
The promise of a liberal democracy set forth in the Mexican Constitution of 1824 was brushed aside in 1835 by President Antonio López de Santa Anna who centralized power under his harsh rule. Such an autocratic move angered the people and ten Mexican states went into open rebellion in response. President Santa Ana went to war to put down the rebellions, but in 1836, Santa Ana was decisively defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto by Texan revolutionaries. Santa Ana was captured and forced to agree to Texan independence.
Following the defeat, the situation continued to worsen for the Mexican government. Defeat by France in 1838 and unstable leadership contributed to a substantial weakening of Mexican central authority. In 1840 the Republic of the Rio Grande declared its indepdence. In 1846 the California Republic declared its independence. In 1848, Mormon pioneers under the command of Brigham Young declare independence for their nation of Deseret.
Meanwhile, in the United States a close election in 1844 gives victory to Henry Clay by a razor thin margin, winning New York by less than 5,000 votes over James Polk. Unlike Polk, Clay is not a champion of Manifest Destiny and does not seek to annex Texas or assert United States control over Mexican territory to the west. Nor did he seek to acquire the Oregon territory, leaving the territory in limbo with competing claims from both the United Kingdom and the United States eventually the citizens of Oregon decide to found their own nation.
With the possibility of additional land gains in the south west stymied (as with the possibility of additional slave states) all attempts at a compromise between free and slave states in 1850 break down. With no compromise in sight, South Carolina, fearful that slave states will soon be outnumbered in the United States, takes the first, bold step of secession. Followed soon thereafter by the rest of the South the Civil War begins in 1851.
The 1844 election was a critical moment for this nation. Polk campaigned on the idea of Manifest Destiny and in his administration we annexed Texas, fought a war with Mexico and annexed Oregon. Huge territorial changes for the country. The 1844 election was also a very narrowly won election. The election came down to the electoral votes of New York. New York's electoral votes came down to just 5,000 votes. I simply assume those 5,000 voters went for Clay instead of Polk and thus none of Polk's Manifest Destiny goals were achieved.
Plus I figure if the Civil War occurred in 1851 instead of 10 years later that the North & South would be a bit more evenly matched as the North experienced a lot of industrialization that decade.
Anyhow I want this to all be playable and immerse people into late 19th century America. A lot more ideas for the mod (and some discussion of the history) are located here:
I'd love to have your feedback.
A real basic mod is set up and playable now if you wanted to try it out too.
My goal was to assume every independence movement and secession movement was successful in the United States. But I didn't want it to be pure fantasy, I wanted to imagine how that would be plausible. So, the basic setup:
The promise of a liberal democracy set forth in the Mexican Constitution of 1824 was brushed aside in 1835 by President Antonio López de Santa Anna who centralized power under his harsh rule. Such an autocratic move angered the people and ten Mexican states went into open rebellion in response. President Santa Ana went to war to put down the rebellions, but in 1836, Santa Ana was decisively defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto by Texan revolutionaries. Santa Ana was captured and forced to agree to Texan independence.
Following the defeat, the situation continued to worsen for the Mexican government. Defeat by France in 1838 and unstable leadership contributed to a substantial weakening of Mexican central authority. In 1840 the Republic of the Rio Grande declared its indepdence. In 1846 the California Republic declared its independence. In 1848, Mormon pioneers under the command of Brigham Young declare independence for their nation of Deseret.
Meanwhile, in the United States a close election in 1844 gives victory to Henry Clay by a razor thin margin, winning New York by less than 5,000 votes over James Polk. Unlike Polk, Clay is not a champion of Manifest Destiny and does not seek to annex Texas or assert United States control over Mexican territory to the west. Nor did he seek to acquire the Oregon territory, leaving the territory in limbo with competing claims from both the United Kingdom and the United States eventually the citizens of Oregon decide to found their own nation.
With the possibility of additional land gains in the south west stymied (as with the possibility of additional slave states) all attempts at a compromise between free and slave states in 1850 break down. With no compromise in sight, South Carolina, fearful that slave states will soon be outnumbered in the United States, takes the first, bold step of secession. Followed soon thereafter by the rest of the South the Civil War begins in 1851.
The 1844 election was a critical moment for this nation. Polk campaigned on the idea of Manifest Destiny and in his administration we annexed Texas, fought a war with Mexico and annexed Oregon. Huge territorial changes for the country. The 1844 election was also a very narrowly won election. The election came down to the electoral votes of New York. New York's electoral votes came down to just 5,000 votes. I simply assume those 5,000 voters went for Clay instead of Polk and thus none of Polk's Manifest Destiny goals were achieved.
Plus I figure if the Civil War occurred in 1851 instead of 10 years later that the North & South would be a bit more evenly matched as the North experienced a lot of industrialization that decade.
Anyhow I want this to all be playable and immerse people into late 19th century America. A lot more ideas for the mod (and some discussion of the history) are located here:
I'd love to have your feedback.
A real basic mod is set up and playable now if you wanted to try it out too.
Comment