Dark Earth: Imperial Almanac of Great Britain

A few collected notes to cap things off:



History

- Britain only holds its position as the 2nd ranked economy in the world by a statistically small margin and is set to be passed by the Soviet Union and Germany within the next 2-3 years.

- The number of tanks, APCs and artillery pieces only counts those in active or first line use, rather than reserves, TA stocks and general attritional war reserves.

- Defence spending has hit its highest point for some time to come and will subsequently decline as a percentage of GDP due to ongoing growth.

- The details of the elven, dwarven and Neolithic days of Britain are deliberately left vague.

- Mention of a dwarven rebuff to the Norman Conquest will play out in due course; the major dwarven states eventually shift to somewhere between vassalage and associated status by the end of the Middle Ages

- The first significant change comes in the reign of Richard I, who is treated rather hagiographically. The Fourth Crusade does not get sidetracked to sack Constantinople here, which has an impact on the stability of the Byzantine Empire.

- Several snippets along the way mention a different pace of technological advances, which is somewhat held back by the extra catastrophes of the 14th century.

- Newfoundland is established as a nominal English colony quite a bit earlier.

- Henry VIII has something of a more active first half of his reign, gaining some renown and marginally altering his character. The Dissolution of the Monasteries happens in a slightly different manner, not destroying the buildings or fully breaking down their social role; that has an impact on Tudor society, particularly the incidence of vagrancy.

- There is a slight change to the order of succession, with Edward VI followed directly by Elizabeth, as Mary dies in 1550.

- The population of England starts to fully recover in the Elizabethan period.

- The English Armada enjoys a nominal success and Bermuda and the Bahamas are formally grabbed a little earlier.

- Azure Islands = the Azores and Hy Brasil lies 500 miles to the north.

- Cuba is captured and held after the Seven Years' War, although Spain does try several times to regain it between 1763 and 1815.

- China is gradually opened from 1793, with some consequences on Chinese development.

- The Napoleonic Wars have some different occurrences and William Pitt lives for a few more years.

- Moving towards Free Trade and scrapping the Corn Laws happens slightly earlier, burning a lot of political capital and ameliorating some of the more egregious impact of the Potato Famine.

- A notable event of the 1850s is not mentioned for good reason, which has an impact on several countries.

- The World Wars will be fully detailed in time.

- A somewhat more Keynesian approach digs Britain out of the Great Depression a bit earlier and rearmament begins in earnest in 1934.



Politics

- The House of Lords consists of the hereditary peers (42 dukes, 56 marquesses, 235 earls, 121 viscounts and 528 barons) , the church, high ranking wizards and the heads of the military knightly orders.

- In addition to the Conservatives, Liberals, Labour and the Nationals, the Radicals represent the non-socialist fringe of the Liberals, the Imperialists the right-wing of the Conservatives and the Socialists the left-wing of the Labour Party.



Justice

- There is a single system of law across Britain, rather than separate systems in its constituent parts.

- Capital punishment is still broadly popular due to a greater degree of social conservatism, but isn't entirely endorsed by all parties. Several significant cases in the 1950s that added to the abolitionist cause occur in a different way. Judicial corporal punishment is similarly contentious in political circles.



Economics

- The British current account surplus is mainly driven by oil and gas, high technology industries and invisible financial exports; it isn't a permanent fixture and is likely to shift towards its more typical pattern of a current account deficit within the decade.

- Overall, the pattern of trade is focussed more in a global direction than a Continental one compared with 1960 in @, but general levels of trade with Europe will continue to rise as recovery from the war fully shifts to the boom years of the 1960s.

- Unemployment is low and currency and gold reserves are strong.

- In @ 1960, Defence was 6.8%, Education 4.1%, Welfare 3.6%, Health 3.4% and Pensions 2.9% as compared to 12.5%, 4.41%, 2.65%, 4.52% and 2.78% respectively . The primary difference comes in Welfare, which is balanced by generally greater affluence.
Debt interest is 0.48% compared to 3.99%, which is instructive.
- Coal and steel production are greater, in line with increased size, but automotive production is only higher by a few hundred thousand cars. (2.578 million compared to 1.8 million)
- The overall trajectory of public spending is gradually downwards, which will be quite beneficial as the years go by.



Transport

- Royal Highways = motorways



Culture

- Musical tastes are very different, reflecting what the authors of the Gazetteer consider to be the important groups within society. Youth music tastes are different, but are also not considered as important as those of older groups.

- The Statue of Britannia by Blake is an interesting notion; I'll have to find an appropriate picture and one day have it rendered.

- The Bridge Over the River Mekong is a rather different war film.

- The Crystal Palace avoided its destruction by fire.

- Modernist and particularly brutalist architecture are notable by their absence; the hulking tower blocks will not be built.

- Some subtle changes have been made to sports and cuisine.

Thanks, Steve. Very interesting points to discuss

1.) The move to free trade occurs in the early 1830s, but the effects of the Famine are ameliorated by the ability to move in cheap grain, along with crop diversification, improved transport infrastructure, higher general development in Western Ireland, better established social support networks from the Church and monasteries and a number of other contributing factors.

2.) 'The Bridge over the River Mekong' is indeed about the advance of the Commonwealth forces (12th and 14th Armies) into Indochina; think of it as an earlier successful version of A Bridge Too Far.

3.) The event in question is the Indian Mutiny.

4.) Richard the Lionheart turns out to be quite a good king, with one surprising victory yet to come.

5.) Hy Brasil is fairly small, on a par with Bermuda; I may have to check if I've added it.

6.) North Sea oil and gas plays an increasing role in national wealth, along with much larger than historical onshore reserves. It will be used rather more wisely than in @.

7.) No cultural moments and developments last forever, so it is likely that some things will gradually change, but the trigger factors and contributions that shaped it into what we recognise as the 1960s are largely absent.

You raise some very interesting points regarding the circumstances of the Famine; as suggested, the welfare net provided by the Church and monasteries will allow for food distribution to occur on a more effective basis.

There are quite a few different developments in India between 1750 and 1900 that create a quite interesting 20th century on the subcontinent.

The primary uses of oil and gas revenue will be long term infrastructure investment, diverse sovereign wealth funds and investing in pension, health and Defence funds for the future

"The population of London refers to that of the Greater London Urban Area, which has an area of roughly 1750 square miles. There are some very high density areas with the capital city, but it isn't quite beyond the pale; the population of the London commuter belt in @ is ~18 million."

It is larger and slightly more dense in some areas, but evens out as not too large. It is still the world's busiest port and centre of considerable manufacturing industry.

10 Largest Cities in the World

1.) London: 25,379,624
2.) New York City: 24,986,225
3.) Rome: 24,778,254
4.) Paris: 24,289,713
5.) Tokyo: 21,988,673
6.) Constantinople: 20,883,921
7.) Berlin: 18,251,336
8.) Peking: 17,643,232
9.) Mexico City: 17,501,368
10.) Rio de Janeiro: 16,866,475

Many are separated by the tourist population in a good season.