Dark Earth Timeline

10.) The Indian weapons are not of their manufacture, but are from a long time ago. There is something to do with Percy Fawcett's disappearance and survival at play here.

21.) The Greeks do have a very few gravity bombs, but are up against it compared to the Turks, who have a larger population base, larger economy and certain other advantages.

22.) It has the potential to be long lasting and possibly to be stable. It will depend on what happens elsewhere in the world.

25.) This will be a Space Race with both danger and reward. The suppression of the Space Nazis is a benefit to all, but particularly to Britain, which needs to have everything go its way to compete with the Big Two.

26.) I hadn't intended it, but it seems like a good opportunity to examine some of those developments.

29.) I'm laying down a few hints and details that the Soviet Union won't be hitting the same stagnation of the Brezhnev years, which brings with it opportunity and danger.

30.) It was the work of another power, acting on information from some other parties on the negativity of pepper-pot robots. Who might that be?

33.) Sorry, I should be clearer. There are plans being proposed to send out an Orion expedition on a Grand Tour in the very late 70s.

36.) I'd have to clean up some of the language.



31.) On the new Labour Government
It is a Labour government, with Liberal backing. There won't be external groups thinking that this may not defend its interests, given the general hardline policies and statements made by Stanley Barton since 1956.

There will be increased investment in education and technology in preference to welfare and social security, causing tension within the Barton government; he has some very different ideas for social funding. I haven't thought of increased educational spending leading to some youth culture developments, but it is an interesting one.

Barton and Kennedy will be closer politically than Kennedy and Eden, but the personal bond won't be there, at least at the beginning. The new British Prime Minister isn't the most personable or warm fellow, but has strong respect across the board.

In foreign policy, Labour will try to balance the shift to Europe with the global role, particularly in the Middle East. Empire Socialism will drive some rather interesting developments.

At home, the most expansive ambition is to pay off the National Debt and subsequently build up funds to pay for social programmes. Defence spending will be the main issue stopping this, creating a circumstance whereby the PM wants to expand defence and the Treasury wants to contract it.

As for the new Conservative leader, the leading contenders are Reginald Maudling, Enoch Powell, Iain McLeod, Lord Wooster and John Profumo.

South America and Indians with Ray Guns
- The Matter of South America will come out moreso in some short stories and extended tales than the timeline, but I'll throw a few bits and pieces in.

Arabian Affairs
- The mob/Arab street is somewhat less overtly anti-Semite and anti-Israel in its tendencies without the catalyst of Arab-Israeli Wars and a Palestinian issue. However, the Hashemite rulers of the Arab Union must still throw them appropriate bones to keep them mollified.

Regarding the Arab populace of Israel and British Palestine before it, they have mostly remained in place, although some did move out to Egypt and Transjordan during the 1920s and 1930s with the major waves of Jewish and other migration; full details of the development of Israel are in the 1947 short story Shaping the Middle East. Those who migrated have been assimilated and there isn't a diaspora in the same way as we would view it from @.

Jerusalem and the holy places are dual-hatted as both de facto Israeli and also under special protection, including an impartial Sikh security force. Israel stretches from the Jordan to the Mediterranean and includes the Sinai, which is the cause of tension with Egypt.

As you say, there are fundamental pressures underlying Anglo-Arab relations, but there are also plenty of reasons for a hopeful view of the region. The Arab monarchs and the governments have partly come to terms with the facts on the ground that the British would come down with both feet on any overt breakaway; the 1956 War did cause a great deal of bad blood and negative feeling, but was also a demonstration of ruthlessness and power.

Kuwait is a colony (albeit one that is not really viewed as tenable in the region) and the Trucial States are firmly tied up as protectorates.

Space!
That is exactly where British spending in particular will be heading towards by the end of the decade, right at the same time as funding wars overseas and ambitious programmes at home.

China
China has definitely awaken from its 150 years of downtime and isn't particularly happy about the way that matters have developed, with darn good reason.

Soviet Schemes
There are some very intelligent and ruthless men behind some of the Soviet Union's most secret programmes and they will stop at nothing to have a completely secure state that isn't vulnerable to 1941 redux.


Terrible Teens
The 'teenager' (still mostly appearing in quotes in US media) emerged slightly later than in @, first coming to notice in the late 1940s with fears of juvenile deliquency. This then ran into the issues of Korean mobilisation andd the Red Scare and a subsequent shift towards cultural conservatism. Conformity is still considered a social virtue of sorts, with the groups at the margins suffering from the 50s backlash as a consequence. The USA is an incredibly affluent society, which does give its young people a greater degree of disposable income, creating something of a more overt youth culture; it does work within the bounds of a generally more conformist culture. There is a large population of young people, but as a generation, there isn't the issue of Civil Rights to perk up their political involvement nor the same scope for rebellion in a nation with universal military service and an ongoing Red threat. Vietnam has the potential to perk something up, depending on how it goes.

The general US policy with conscripts is to cycle them through training divisions and then use them in reserve units or as support troops. This worked mostly effectively in Korea, allowing a strong reserve whilst rotating volunteers, draftees and professionals through the combat theatre in equal proportions, increasing a sense of fairness. It is also largely what Britain and France have done during the 1950s and early 1960s, fighting their colonial wars with selected forces and minimising the political cost of hundreds of dead National Servicemen. All three of these policies, or the same general policy if you like, came out of post WW2 operational research combined with magical divination on the optimal course of action. In a larger war, it would not work.

As long as conscription seems necessary and seems fair, then it generally continues. The Western governments are not averse to propaganda and heavily promoting the military to young boys, who see it as a rite of passage and, to some, a great adventure. It helps that the casualties of draftees are kept low and that the pay and fringe benefits are quite good.

Barton's Personality
Indeed. His ascension to the premiership reflects a social shift towards the value of professionalism and results over outward flashiness. There are quite a few who yearn for a British Kennedy of a more identifiably left-wing bent, but they are in the minority.

British Economic Chatter
I can't see it having a decisive effect on British economic performance, given that Germany and Japan in @ had very conformist cultural mores at the same period. It will have consequences, but not in a decisive way unless there is a distinct and available alternative for those it does not quite suit.

Conservative Leaders
The more I think about it, the more interesting a Profumo might be. Powell has been done a few times in alternate history, although never as himself, but rather as a charicature of a far right wing figure, but there is room to explore several different alternatives. Heath hasn't got a mention as I'm not quite sure that he would automatically fit into the Conservatives on Dark Earth with a strong Liberal Party presence in the political centre.

Society
It will not please everyone, although by and large, it is more the prospect of a lack of some television programmes that has elicited comment on other sites. There isn't the social or Parliamentary support for any change on the official position regarding homosexuality given the more religious society among other reasons, but on the other side of the coin there hasn't been the same level of pursuit of those inclined in the absence of the introduction of the offence of gross indecency in the 19th century. Hanging, as said, remains popular with a very large majority of society and a majority of Parliament, given the absence of concerns of wrongful execution resulting from a number of high profile 1950s cases, among other causes. Divorce and abortion laws reflect the strong role of the Church and its traditionalist views.

I haven't set out to create a utopia or dystopia, as both can be quite boring and predictable, but to follow the general drivers of development for good or for ill.

   sdarkshade

   That last bit shows how much bigger the darkearth British economy is. I.e. for 1960

Dark Earth British defence spending 1960 - Defence: 12.5 % (£10,978.125 million)


Our Earth British defence spending 1960 - Defence: 6.76% ($30.61 billion)

A little bit more on the National Debt:

Dark Earth
In 1939, prewar, it stood at 2579 million pounds, rising in the following pattern:

1939/40: 419
1940/41: 901
1941/42: 1234
1942/43: 1092
1943/44: 2168
1944/45: 2554
1945/46: 3190
1946/47: 4531
1947/48: 697

The peak level reaches 19365 million, or 61% of GDP compared to 220%. Lend Lease and other US loans amount to 4270 million of that.