Hey guys, I think I’m gonna make some fairly significant retcons to the world. There are a lot of things I’m not satisfied with, and while I had planned on waiting for my Maps & Graphics spinoff to implement retcons, my patience has run thin, so I’m inclined to do it while I’m still writing the proper timeline. I know it probably doesn’t come off well to make these massive retcons, especially when it’s not the first time I’ve done so, but alas, I’m probably going to do it anyway, though not without notifying you, my dear and loyal readers beforehand.
First, I’m planning on splitting up the multinational states like Austro-Bavaria, Illyria (TTL’s Yugoslavia) and Carpathia (TTL’s Czechoslovakia plus Southern Poland). I remember getting pushback when I first introduced the idea of uniting Austria and Bavaria, and in retrospect I think it was done mainly for the rule of cool rather than any sort of realism. I’ll also have Bavaria keep
Franconia instead of it going to Prussia, along with some more minor revisions within Germany.
Illyria and Carpathia are more realistic than the other two, as they wouldn’t have had centuries of history as independent states (unlike Austria and Bavaria), but I’m still not sure whether they’re feasible. At the very least the Polish speaking part of Carpathia will join Poland rather than stay in Carpathia, since there’s nothing distinguishing the Carpathian Poles from the Poles in Poland proper. The Czechs and Slovaks are probably similar enough to keep a union together, but they may just decide to go their own ways like IOTL. As for Illyria, well, who knows whether they’ll be able to form a common national identity or if the sectarian divides between the Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Bosniaks will tear the country apart as IOTL. Thus, I will be splitting Austro-Bavaria apart and having the Polish part of Carpathia join Poland, but the fates of Carpathia and Illyria are yet to be determined.
Apart from these unions, I’ve got some more retcons to mention. First, since we haven’t had another Global War, I think it’d be realistic to make it so that the Second Global War’s peace treaty was less punitive towards the losing side and more like OTL’s Congress of Vienna, with the goal being to build a stable Europe rather than giving the victors all the spoils. For example, Wallonia will remain part of France rather than becoming a German client state, though Alsace-Lorraine will still leave. This may involve altering events from the war itself, for example there’d be no invasion far into France by the winning side. One more minor revision would be to give the Commonwealth of America a bit more land on the West Coast, making the border the 36th parallel instead of the 37th. Part of this would be to give more security to the port of San Francisco, and part of it would be to give the Commonwealth one side of the Grand Canyon.
On another note, large swaths of the world are due for revision. Africa, Arabia and Mainland Southeast Asia have basically been left unaltered, with me copy/pasting their OTL borders pre-colonialism and keeping them up to the present, which is highly unrealistic and unlikely. I’m really unsure how to revise these areas, though, as my knowledge regarding these regions of the world is lacking to put it lightly and I’m far from the most creative person (hence the use of stock words and phrases like “however”, “so” and “thus” when beginning paragraphs and the blog/vlog style conclusions to most of my updates), so if you guys have ideas regarding the direction I should take these regions in, please let me know.
Another thing I’m questioning in retrospect is bringing the Ming Dynasty back to power in China after the Qing are reduced to Manchuria. Even if the Chinese are collectively nostalgic for the Ming era and the dynasty still exists in some capacity, I can’t think of any precedent for a royal family regaining a country’s throne after centuries, though that’s probably because my historical knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. If there are any examples, please notify me. Part of the reason I chose to revive the Ming is that I couldn’t come up with a figure to found a new dynasty (pretty much everyone IRL is butterflied by this point, so no
Yuan Shikai), or come up with a name (my knowledge of Mandarin in nonexistent). As with the borders in Africa and much of Asia, suggestions for the new Chinese dynasty would be most welcome.
One more quick announcement before I go, I have a new map in the works. Not just any map, but a world map in a new map template. Made by
@Saramello, this map is similar to the HOI4 basemaps I’ve been using thus far, but with accurate latitude (no more London at the same latitude as New York or Spain at the same latitude as Florida). It’ll be accompanying Part 150 when it comes out, but I would like to hear your feedback first before I post the map or the update. Hopefully the update will be out within this month, there’s a lot I’ve got to do, but I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.