lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 18, 2022 15:35:02 GMT
1969 JanuaryJanuary 6: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos is assassinated by a Communist gunman in Manila on live television, leading to a state of emergency and widespread international shock. will be happy with this news, i hope, even if it is fiction. |
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gillan1220
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I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
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Post by gillan1220 on Feb 18, 2022 17:57:39 GMT
1969 JanuaryJanuary 6: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos is assassinated by a Communist gunman in Manila on live television, leading to a state of emergency and widespread international shock. will be happy with this news, i hope, even if it is fiction. That depends. He might be replaced by someone worse. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 18, 2022 20:54:50 GMT
gillan1220 will be happy with this news, i hope, even if it is fiction. That depends. He might be replaced by someone worse. Well that is always the problem, Lenin was bad, but then came Stalin. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 19, 2022 0:36:47 GMT
The Philippines is facing a more complex and wider communist insurgency, so it is likely that his replacement will be a bit harsher.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Feb 19, 2022 13:10:24 GMT
January 1969January 2: The News of the World is bought by British tycoon Sir Denzil Carey, beating off a bid by an Australian newspaper proprietor. - I get the feeling its not going to get its nickname of New of the Screws here. Which would fit into the more conservative culture of DE and be something I would approve of.
January 4: Moroccan liberation militias attempting to attack the Spanish exclave of Ifni are repulsed by artillery fire from the well prepared Spanish garrison, with the lightly armed forces having little protection against gas shells. - Ouch. Sheer use of firepower can make direct attack by unprepared forces very costly. January 6: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos is assassinated by a Communist gunman in Manila on live television, leading to a state of emergency and widespread international shock. - Well that's going to make for some butterflies compared to OTL.
January 7: Lieutenant William 'One-Eye' Clinton is assigned to his previous unit of A Company, 4th Battalion, 222nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division as a staff officer, having lost his left eye in a Viet Cong mortar attack the previous October. - Definitely going to be a different character here if he survives the war.
January 8: Four FBI Special Agents are shot and killed whilst trying to apprehend a dangerous bank robber in Maryland, the most ever lose in a single incident. It leads to a number of changes to FBI and general law enforcement armament in reaction to the tragedy, in addition to providing support to those calling for the formation of a specialist armed response team within the FBI. - Is this an OTL event?
January 9: PVO Strany missiles shoot down an unidentified flying object 400km north of Krasnoyarsk at 0328. KGB troops take the craft and its occupants into custody. An emergency meeting of the Politburo is called in the early hours of the morning. - Given this is DE I wonder who or what the occupant is. 
January 12: Swiss food scientists in Geneva unveil a new highly advanced food bar that can provide a four course meal and the equivalent of 1200 calories in a single 150g bar. - I'll have three of them please.
January 16: Consolidated Railroad's Super Metroliner breaks the record for the Washington-New York City journey, covering the 362 miles between Union Station and Pennsylvania Station in 52 minutes. - Quite a difference for railways here.
January 17: A madman sets fire to a French schoolhouse, endangering the lives of 110 pupils who are miraculously rescued by a caped and striped-shirted superhero who also apprehends the villain before he can inflict further damage. - Good. I wonder if those stripes are three broad ones.
January 18: The Royal Syrian Army forms a sixth armoured division, bringing the collective Arab regular military forces to a total of 50 divisions. - That is quite a lot of armour, especially given what might be happening in Iraq.
January 19: US Space Force satellites report that operations have commenced at three large new integrated steelworks in Central China, the latest step in the burgeoning industrial progress taking place behind the Great Wall. - The advantage of the high ground. January 21: A nuclear meltdown at the underground Lucens nuclear reactor in Switzerland is narrowly averted by swift action by gnomish engineers. - Close call.
January 22: Home Secretary James Callaghan commutes Mary Bell’s sentence of death by hanging to imprisonment at Her Majesty’s Pleasure on the grounds of her tender years. - A good thing as it would taint the justice system to kill a child.
January 23: British Ministry of Forestry dendromancers report the eradication of the final known cases of Dutch Elm Disease in the British Isles; plans are formulated for foresters to expand their protective efforts to the Continent. - Would the best step here be finding ways to given Elms protection against the disease - not sure how advanced knowledge of genetics is in DE in 1969. That's far more likely to be a lasting solution than trying to eradicate the disease worldwide - or system wide in the DE universe.
January 25: Launch of a nuclear research mini-submarine in Groton, Connecticut; it is noted for its striking red paint, which contrasts with the bright yellow submarine operated by the Royal Navy for research purposes over the last two years. -  January 26: Whilst on his Journey of Mastery through India, English wizard George Harrison, 25, is hailed as a hero after rescuing a village from a landslide through a combination of swift thinking and skilful magic. - Well he's having some successl. 
January 27: Two Iraqi divisions move up to positions around Baghdad as part of maneuvers designed to test the Royal Iraqi Army's capacity in urban warfare, temporarily obstructing traffic between the capital and RAF Habbaniya. - I wonder if that is entirely by accident?
January 28: An accident on a oil drilling rig six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California leads to the largest oil spill in U.S. history, with the blowout leading to thousands of barrels of oil gushing out into the ocean. - That's still a small amount by OTL standards but still very nasty. 
January 29: Australian weather sorcerers begin large scale rainfall enchantments over Central and Western Australia to stimulate expansion of arable land and long term development of the centre of the continent. - Now that could be highly dangerous. Your going to have to affect a hell of a lot of weather patterns if you seriously want to change the climate of western, let alone central Australia.  January 30: The Committee of Imperial Defence approves the third stage in the Long Range Missile Defence of the United Kingdom plan, authorising the procurement of the third and fourth tranches of the Violet Friend anti-ballistic missile, full deployment of the Black Beauty medium range missile, development of twenty new Blue Sky short range defensive missile sites and four Skyguard energy weapon facilities. Further interception sites are to be built in the Low Countries and Scandinavia pending agreement with the relevant foreign powers. - 
January 31: World premiere of The Two Towers, the second picture in David Lean’s epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings in London. The 269 minute film is immediately hailed as a masterpiece, with the set piece Battle of Helm’s Deep attracting particular praise for its scope and spectacle. -
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Feb 19, 2022 13:11:58 GMT
There is a difference between a weapon and a device, albeit a semantic one.
Very subtle, albeit it won't make the Soviets or Chinese any happier. A bit like the famous 1974 [IIRC] Indian test. However think DE Japan is unlikely to wait a generation before producing actual weapons.
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 19, 2022 13:18:02 GMT
February
February 1: Signing of initial agreements for the construction of a new planned city of over 250,000 inhabitants in Wyoming.
February 2: Five North Vietnamese Silkworm anti-ship missiles are fired at USS Montana whilst it operates on the gunline off the coast of the DMZ, but all are shot down by her defensive missiles and anti-aircraft guns.
February 3: Establishment of a special FBI task force for the investigation of strange or paranormal incidents that defy ordinary natural or supernatural explanation; it is dubbed the ‘Y-Files Group’ by assigned officers as a homonymous pun.
February 4: Arnd Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, heir to the Krupp dynasty and fortune, is kidnapped by masked assailants in broad daylight off the streets of Frankfurt.
February 5: Star Trek debuts on the BBC, attracting favourable reviews for the international crew of the USS Enterprise (particularly the British first officer William Sanderson), clever parallels to Cold War political rivalries in space and ground-breaking special effects.
February 6: Boeing unveils a model of its proposed successor to both the 747 and the 2707, a very large supersonic intercontinental jetliner.
February 7: Monitoring stations record the highest ever gust of wind in the British Isles at Kirkwall in Orkney, with the freak wind measuring 245mph. A meteorologist in situ is alarmed by the sight of a tartan-clad elderly lady holding on to her tam o’shanter as she is seemingly blown to her demise, but is assured by authorities that nothing is awry and that her presence is part of a secret sorcerous experiment being carried out by United Dairies.
February 8: The inhabitants of Pueblito de Allende in Chihuahua are roused from their slumbers in the middle of the night by a large meteor that explodes in the atmosphere above the village, raining it with strange fragments. Many villagers immediately fall ill, with children being particularly affected.
February 9: Introduction of a new series of trams by the London Passenger Transport Board in the iconic green livery of the previous Feltham trams.
February 10: General elections in Thailand result in ruling Democrat Party being reduced to a minority government.
February 11: Donald Campbell sets a new landspeed record of 962.5 mph in his Bluebird Mach 1.25 rocket car in South Australia.
February 12: Jean-Louis Beaucourt, the Marquis d’Ambreville is formally appointed by King Louis as the new Prime Minister of France.
February 13: Canada's population passes 80 million, with CBC marking the occasion with a reflective special on the future of Canada as a great power, noting that whilst the Dominion's population remains under a quarter of her southern neighbour, her relative economic position has improved drastically since 1940 rising from a tenth of US GDP to just under a fifth and now comfortably exceeding that of Italy and Austria-Hungary.
February 14: The United States Navy announces the expansion of the SEALAB Program into two permanent undersea facility for up to a thousand scientists and aquanauts each off the coasts of California and Florida.
February 15: LIFE Magazine carries an extended feature profile on 'The 1960s Generation', writing admiringly of their answer to the call of duty in warfare, science and industry and how 'affluence has not spoiled them, nor the years of peace contemned'.
February 16: A group of luxury yachts stray into Chinese territorial waters whilst travelling from Hong Kong to Macao and are promptly boarded and detained by Imperial Chinese Navy gunboats. As they being moved towards the Chinese side of the Pearl Delta, Royal Navy patrol boats supported by the cruiser HMS Telamon, RAF Lightnings and Army Tiger gunships react to the sorcerous distress call of one of the yachts, sparking a tense standoff that sees coastal artillery on Hong Kong Island trained upon the Chinese flotilla. After almost 12 hours of careful negotiations, during which time USN and RN carrier aircraft and two Chinese destroyers join the arrayed forces, the yachts and their crew are released after an effusive apology by their skippers.
February 17: Opening of an unofficial US-Soviet back channel for dialogue in a Kabul library, with productive discussions on the reduction of tensions and the potential resolution of the Indochina conflict being conducted between diplomats in hushed tones after being told off by the librarian for talking too loudly.
February 18: Successful launch of the largest German satellite to date from the Imperial Spaceport in Lamu, Kenya.
February 19: The International Union for Conservation of Nature shifts the African tiger from its 'vulnerable' category to 'not threatened', with its President, Sir Christopher Walker, hailing the dedicated efforts of international conservationists lead by Tarzan and African governments in reducing poaching and the illegal trade in tiger skins.
February 20: Dissolution of the Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs in line with ongoing policy of Indian termination.
February 21: A powerful new volcanic eruption begins on Deception Island in the South Shetland islands.
February 22: The British Joint Special Intelligence Committee reports that a new Red Army main battle tank is entering production. It is believed to be 54t, has a main armament of a new 130mm gun and is powered by a gas turbine engine.
February 23: Launch of Operation Rumble, the invasion of Cambodia. Over 500,000 South Vietnamese, US and Allied troops strike across the border in five large thrusts aimed at encircling and destroying remaining Viet Cong base and support areas, supported by hundreds of airstrikes.
February 24: Prince Charles and Princess Victoria of Ruritania are noted for their close attendance upon each other at a grand royal ball at Windsor Castle after a successful hunt of hinds, wild boar and aurochs in the Royal Park.
February 25: President Kennedy authorises the development of a new series of modern biological weapons in response to intelligence on Soviet programmes.
February 26: Golda Myerson becomes the first woman to be appointed as Prime Minister of a Commonwealth country, as she ascends to the premiership of Israel.
February 27: The Indian government narrowly avoids losing a vote of no confidence in the House of the People over long running disputes regarding international relations and alignment with the West. The National Party, lead by the popular Sanjay Prasad, advocate for a more independent Indian foreign policy in contrast to the resolutely pro-Western position supported by the governing Democratic-Union Party coalition.
February 28: British and West Indian battalion arrive in Guiana to assist in the suppression of an Indian uprising.
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 19, 2022 13:40:05 GMT
There is a difference between a weapon and a device, albeit a semantic one. Very subtle, albeit it won't make the Soviets or Chinese any happier. A bit like the famous 1974 [IIRC] Indian test. However think DE Japan is unlikely to wait a generation before producing actual weapons.
You are correct on both counts. China’s position is a bit more inscrutable, as they seem to be playing their own game. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 19, 2022 14:28:02 GMT
FebruaryFebruary 2: Five North Vietnamese Silkworm anti-ship missiles are fired at USS Montana whilst it operates on the gunline off the coast of the DMZ, but all are shot down by her defensive missiles and anti-aircraft guns. I assume the North Vietnamese launch sites got a visit by the United States Navy. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 19, 2022 14:52:38 GMT
January 1969January 2: The News of the World is bought by British tycoon Sir Denzil Carey, beating off a bid by an Australian newspaper proprietor. - I get the feeling its not going to get its nickname of New of the Screws here. Which would fit into the more conservative culture of DE and be something I would approve of.
January 4: Moroccan liberation militias attempting to attack the Spanish exclave of Ifni are repulsed by artillery fire from the well prepared Spanish garrison, with the lightly armed forces having little protection against gas shells. - Ouch. Sheer use of firepower can make direct attack by unprepared forces very costly. January 6: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos is assassinated by a Communist gunman in Manila on live television, leading to a state of emergency and widespread international shock. - Well that's going to make for some butterflies compared to OTL.
January 7: Lieutenant William 'One-Eye' Clinton is assigned to his previous unit of A Company, 4th Battalion, 222nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division as a staff officer, having lost his left eye in a Viet Cong mortar attack the previous October. - Definitely going to be a different character here if he survives the war.
January 8: Four FBI Special Agents are shot and killed whilst trying to apprehend a dangerous bank robber in Maryland, the most ever lose in a single incident. It leads to a number of changes to FBI and general law enforcement armament in reaction to the tragedy, in addition to providing support to those calling for the formation of a specialist armed response team within the FBI. - Is this an OTL event?
January 9: PVO Strany missiles shoot down an unidentified flying object 400km north of Krasnoyarsk at 0328. KGB troops take the craft and its occupants into custody. An emergency meeting of the Politburo is called in the early hours of the morning. - Given this is DE I wonder who or what the occupant is. 
January 12: Swiss food scientists in Geneva unveil a new highly advanced food bar that can provide a four course meal and the equivalent of 1200 calories in a single 150g bar. - I'll have three of them please.
January 16: Consolidated Railroad's Super Metroliner breaks the record for the Washington-New York City journey, covering the 362 miles between Union Station and Pennsylvania Station in 52 minutes. - Quite a difference for railways here.
January 17: A madman sets fire to a French schoolhouse, endangering the lives of 110 pupils who are miraculously rescued by a caped and striped-shirted superhero who also apprehends the villain before he can inflict further damage. - Good. I wonder if those stripes are three broad ones.
January 18: The Royal Syrian Army forms a sixth armoured division, bringing the collective Arab regular military forces to a total of 50 divisions. - That is quite a lot of armour, especially given what might be happening in Iraq.
January 19: US Space Force satellites report that operations have commenced at three large new integrated steelworks in Central China, the latest step in the burgeoning industrial progress taking place behind the Great Wall. - The advantage of the high ground. January 21: A nuclear meltdown at the underground Lucens nuclear reactor in Switzerland is narrowly averted by swift action by gnomish engineers. - Close call.
January 22: Home Secretary James Callaghan commutes Mary Bell’s sentence of death by hanging to imprisonment at Her Majesty’s Pleasure on the grounds of her tender years. - A good thing as it would taint the justice system to kill a child.
January 23: British Ministry of Forestry dendromancers report the eradication of the final known cases of Dutch Elm Disease in the British Isles; plans are formulated for foresters to expand their protective efforts to the Continent. - Would the best step here be finding ways to given Elms protection against the disease - not sure how advanced knowledge of genetics is in DE in 1969. That's far more likely to be a lasting solution than trying to eradicate the disease worldwide - or system wide in the DE universe.
January 25: Launch of a nuclear research mini-submarine in Groton, Connecticut; it is noted for its striking red paint, which contrasts with the bright yellow submarine operated by the Royal Navy for research purposes over the last two years. -  January 26: Whilst on his Journey of Mastery through India, English wizard George Harrison, 25, is hailed as a hero after rescuing a village from a landslide through a combination of swift thinking and skilful magic. - Well he's having some successl. 
January 27: Two Iraqi divisions move up to positions around Baghdad as part of maneuvers designed to test the Royal Iraqi Army's capacity in urban warfare, temporarily obstructing traffic between the capital and RAF Habbaniya. - I wonder if that is entirely by accident?
January 28: An accident on a oil drilling rig six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California leads to the largest oil spill in U.S. history, with the blowout leading to thousands of barrels of oil gushing out into the ocean. - That's still a small amount by OTL standards but still very nasty. 
January 29: Australian weather sorcerers begin large scale rainfall enchantments over Central and Western Australia to stimulate expansion of arable land and long term development of the centre of the continent. - Now that could be highly dangerous. Your going to have to affect a hell of a lot of weather patterns if you seriously want to change the climate of western, let alone central Australia.  January 30: The Committee of Imperial Defence approves the third stage in the Long Range Missile Defence of the United Kingdom plan, authorising the procurement of the third and fourth tranches of the Violet Friend anti-ballistic missile, full deployment of the Black Beauty medium range missile, development of twenty new Blue Sky short range defensive missile sites and four Skyguard energy weapon facilities. Further interception sites are to be built in the Low Countries and Scandinavia pending agreement with the relevant foreign powers. - 
January 31: World premiere of The Two Towers, the second picture in David Lean’s epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings in London. The 269 minute film is immediately hailed as a masterpiece, with the set piece Battle of Helm’s Deep attracting particular praise for its scope and spectacle. - Steve, 1.) It remains a more serious newspaper without the Murdoch flourishes. 2.) You pick up on a very significant part of the general politico-military situation - low intensity attacks and lightly armed national liberation forces don’t do too well against modern heavy artillery, with modern chemical weapons being the bitter icing on the nasty cake. The willingness to fight unfairly, regardless of foreign opinion, is a useful weapon in the hands of ruthless leaders. 3.) The removal of Marcos will lead to some darker paths as well as some better developments. 4.) Exactly. There simply aren’t the loopholes allowing virtually anyone to avoid being drafted and deployed to what is a genuinely huge theatre of US troops. Being wounded changes things further and losing a left eye (and thus not being able to see anything on the left wing ) even moreso. 5.) There was an OTL shootout that resulted in two FBI agents being killed. This combines that one and some 1980s events in increasing law enforcement firepower and leading to the formation of the HRT. 6.) That is a very interesting question. 7.) Just one of them would be exceptionally filling. Being able to carry the better part of a day’s food requirements in one’s pocket is very useful for a variety of purposes. 8.) A big difference. Rather than being superseded by air and road, it is holding its share of the US transport sector. 9.) I had originally envisaged more of a striped onion seller shirt. 10.) All of the Arab forces have been modernising for the better part of a decade, but they had a long way to catch up from. 11.) Absolutely. It tends to remove some suspicion from the world when all the topline powers know that most of what they do can be seen. 12.) Definitely. The Swiss have their own requirements for fissile material, so couldn’t afford to lose one of their sources. 13.) Yes. The full details of the situation were detailed in December ‘68, but there was as never a real prospect of the other outcome. She won’t be getting out after a dozen years. 14.) Their approach isn’t a genetic one, but an arcane one, involving some level of communication with trees on a deeper level of understanding. 15.) The yellow submarine is more visible underwater. 16.) Like the others, he has a different life, with less material success and more genuine happiness. From my reading of George, he’d like that. 17.) It most certainly is not an accident. 18.) It is still nasty and leads to some reactions, as OTL to protect the environment. 19.) Australia is slightly different in climate and geography, but you are right that changing it will take a lot. Hubris from the successes in the Middle East can lead to mistakes… 20.) Expensive, but worth it in a world where MAD never got a start. 21.) More details of The Lord of the Rings will come. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 19, 2022 14:53:51 GMT
FebruaryFebruary 2: Five North Vietnamese Silkworm anti-ship missiles are fired at USS Montana whilst it operates on the gunline off the coast of the DMZ, but all are shot down by her defensive missiles and anti-aircraft guns. I assume the North Vietnamese launch sites got a visit by the United States Navy. A very direct one from the battleship’s own guns after the missiles had been shot down. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 19, 2022 14:55:05 GMT
February 12: Jean-Louis Beaucourt, the Marquis d’Ambreville is formally appointed by King Louis as the new Prime Minister of France. So what number has the current King Louis behind him. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 19, 2022 15:01:08 GMT
He is King Louis XXI.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 19, 2022 15:06:47 GMT
February 16: A group of luxury yachts stray into Chinese territorial waters whilst travelling from Hong Kong to Macao and are promptly boarded and detained by Imperial Chinese Navy gunboats. As they being moved towards the Chinese side of the Pearl Delta, Royal Navy patrol boats supported by the cruiser HMS Telamon, RAF Lightnings and Army Tiger gunships react to the sorcerous distress call of one of the yachts, sparking a tense standoff that sees coastal artillery on Hong Kong Island trained upon the Chinese flotilla. After almost 12 hours of careful negotiations, during which time USN and RN carrier aircraft and two Chinese destroyers join the arrayed forces, the yachts and their crew are released after an effusive apology by their skippers. The Chinese must have been outgunned ore am i wrong. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 19, 2022 15:14:52 GMT
On the immediate level, yes. There are quite frequently multiple British, Commonwealth and American warships at Hong Kong on liberty, in addition to the cruisers attached to China Squadron and the guardship. In the case of a dispute over territorial waters and sea lanes, the dominant naval power has the advantage.
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