I'm gonna do some other updates before I get back to South Africa, although I'm really starting to think more about my next timeline. Merry Christmas, y'all!
English Canada/French Carolina: A Timeline
- Thread starter Gabingston
- Start date
Part 126: Splitting The Atom
Part 126: Splitting The Atom
Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, R&D in both weapons and atomic theory advanced at a rapid pace. The Second Global War had been the most destructive conflict ever seen in history by sheer firepower, with warfare taking on new aerial and chemical dimensions. Meanwhile, physicists were gaining a greater understanding of the structure and functioning of atoms (something I don’t remember from my high school physics class a few years ago). With this, it was only a matter of time before militaries around the world began to look into the feasibility of atomic weapons, as it was theorized that only one of these could explode with enough force to destroy an entire city.However, with the lack of any sort of global conflict in the 1940s and 1950s, research into atomic weapons wasn’t a huge priority for many militaries. With that said, the British/Americans, Germans, French, Russians and Japanese had all looked into building atomic weapons, and remained on the radar of all of these countries. However, with the breakout of the Hindustani Independence War in 1957, the British/Americans decided to take the initiative. They had no intentions of ever using the bomb in India lest they want to become a global pariah, but it wasn’t a bad time to create the most terrifying weapon known to man. Thus, secret military laboratories were created in both Britain and America, jointly working on the bomb and sharing info with each other. After several years of hard work, the British and American militaries decided that it was time to build a bomb. At a secret plant in the Colorado province, a weapon codenamed Zeus was secretly constructed on a military base in 1960, before being transported to the test site.
For the test, a remote valley in the eastern part of New Albion was chosen. The valley’s vegetation was extremely sparse (although it was a common stopover point for traveling waterfowl) and the nearest town was 25 miles away, making this an ideal test site. Military and scientific personnel moved in, temporary facilities were built and a 100 meter high steel tower was constructed, with Zeus put on top. Finally, the moment of truth had arrived.
The day was Thursday, April 27th, 1961. It was just past six in the morning, and the sun was rising to the east of a nearby ridge. Personnel gathered ten miles west of the test site, including the head honcho of the Zeus project, who held a button hooked to a wire that led to the bomb on top of the tower. All of the people present wore black goggles to protect their eyes from the blast and fire suits to protect against the heat. Photographers set up cameras at various locations in the valley to take pictures from different vantage points. Finally, at six hours and twenty six minutes military time, the countdown to detonation began.
Five…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
FIRE
A blinding flash appeared instantaneously to the east of the site, which was stunningly bright even with the goggles. The flash transitions to a giant, fiery mushroom cloud rising high into the sky. Soon after, an intense blast of hot air arrives, as well as a loud, gunshot-like boom. Upon arrival at ground zero, they found the tower to be completely destroyed, and the sand to have been fried into a whole new glassy substance. The bomb was calculated to have expolded with the force equivalent to 28,500 tons of TNT, easily the largest man-made explosion ever recorded. The crew were both enthused at the success of the weapon and terrified of what the atomic age could bring, especially if/when other countries got their own nukes.
Well, they wouldn’t have to wait long. After the successful Anglo-American test, other countries began ramping up their own atomic research and production. The French were the first to get there, detonating a 16 kiloton bomb in the desert interior of Terre-Bourbon in November 1963. Prussia detonated a 22 kiloton device in the Austro-Bavarian Mauritanian colony in September of 1964. Russia joined the growing nuclear club in May of 1966, with a 51 kiloton test in the steppe 100 miles northeast of Astrakhan, becoming the first nuclear bomb detonated in Europe. Finally, to round off the 1960s, Japan detonated a 24kt bomb at the tip of Cape Patience on Karafuto in August of 1968. In comparison to the bipolar ideological struggle of OTL’s Atomic Age, TTL has a more multipolar, strategic balance of power, and thus it doesn’t become quite as big of an arms race as OTL. By the end of the 1960s, the British/Americans possessed 120 warheads, followed by the Prussians with 70, French with 65, Russians with 50 and Japanese with 20. In the 1970s, more countries like China, Hindustan, Portugal/Brazil and, yes, South Africa looked into developing nuclear weapons, with each of them conducting their own weapons test. Knowing that nuclear weapons were incredibly dangerous and could lead to horrors no one had ever seen before, an international treaty on nuclear weapons was drafted and signed in Copenhagen in 1976, stating that no one country could possess more than 500 warheads, the power of each warhead would be limited to one megaton at most and that no country could use these weapons unless they were nuked first. All nuclear armed countries signed the treaty, and agreed to the provisions entailed within.
On a more peaceful note, scientists began to research the feasibility of nuclear energy as a source of electricity. The first atomic reactor was successfully created in 1958, and while it started off small, larger and larger ones were able to become operational in research labs over the course of the 1960s. It was only a matter of time before a nuclear power plant would be opened somewhere. Finally, in 1967, the world’s first nuclear power plant broke ground in the Mount Royal suburb of Bolton, opening in the autumn of 1969 (nice). The plant proved to be clean (except for the nuclear waste) and efficient, and the attitude towards the potential of atomic energy was optimistic. Throughout the 1970s, dozens of nuclear power plants were built in Europe, North America and Japan, providing a boost to electrical production in those regions.
For better or for worse, the atom had been split, and the world was never going to be the same. I know this update is a bit late, I’ve been thinking a lot about my next TL (and playing a lot of EU4), but this TL is not over by any means. I’ll have another update out by the end of the month at the very least, and I’ll be premiering my new TL pretty soon, but until then, have a great day and a happy (belated) new year!
I'm working on an East Asian update right now, and there's one big question that I haven't been able to shake: will there be a war?
When an established power is confronted by a rising power, there is usually a war. This is what happened with WW1, where Britain was being challenged by Germany, who were in turn being challenged by Russia. Right now IOTL, the established power of the United States is being challenged by a rising China and to a lesser extent a resurgent Russia, with tensions reaching levels unseen since the Cold War. Well, that is what is happening in East Asia ITTL. While Europe has come to a three-way equilibrium between France, Prussia/Austria-Bavaria and Russia, East Asia in the Mid-Late 20th Century would have an established power in Japan being challenged by a resurgent China. Korea and the rump Qing dynasty in Manchuria are both in the Japanese sphere of influence, while the new Chinese dynasty (the revived Ming dynasty has been retconned, although I might have a member of the new dynasty marry a descendant of the Ming in order to gain prestige and popularity) is on the rise and ready to challenge the land of the rising sun. China would claim Qing Manchuria as a rightful part of the middle kingdom and want Korea in their sphere of influence. This world has seemed a bit too peaceful to me, there's got to be some nasty war somewhere. I'll leave it up to you guys, though, here's a poll.
strawpoll.com
When an established power is confronted by a rising power, there is usually a war. This is what happened with WW1, where Britain was being challenged by Germany, who were in turn being challenged by Russia. Right now IOTL, the established power of the United States is being challenged by a rising China and to a lesser extent a resurgent Russia, with tensions reaching levels unseen since the Cold War. Well, that is what is happening in East Asia ITTL. While Europe has come to a three-way equilibrium between France, Prussia/Austria-Bavaria and Russia, East Asia in the Mid-Late 20th Century would have an established power in Japan being challenged by a resurgent China. Korea and the rump Qing dynasty in Manchuria are both in the Japanese sphere of influence, while the new Chinese dynasty (the revived Ming dynasty has been retconned, although I might have a member of the new dynasty marry a descendant of the Ming in order to gain prestige and popularity) is on the rise and ready to challenge the land of the rising sun. China would claim Qing Manchuria as a rightful part of the middle kingdom and want Korea in their sphere of influence. This world has seemed a bit too peaceful to me, there's got to be some nasty war somewhere. I'll leave it up to you guys, though, here's a poll.
Will there be a war between China and Japan? - Online Poll - StrawPoll
What's your opinion? Vote now: Yes, No...
strawpoll.com
Two quick polls for the Sino-Japanese War.
strawpoll.com
strawpoll.com
When does the Sino-Japanese War occur? - Online Poll - StrawPoll
What's your opinion? Vote now: 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s...
strawpoll.com
Who wins the Sino-Japanese War? - Online Poll - StrawPoll
What's your opinion? Vote now: Major Chinese Victory, Minor Chinese Victory, Draw, Minor Japanese Victory, Major Japanese Victory...
strawpoll.com
My vote is for the 1930s and 1940sTwo quick polls for the Sino-Japanese War.
When does the Sino-Japanese War occur? - Online Poll - StrawPoll
What's your opinion? Vote now: 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s...Who wins the Sino-Japanese War? - Online Poll - StrawPoll
What's your opinion? Vote now: Major Chinese Victory, Minor Chinese Victory, Draw, Minor Japanese Victory, Major Japanese Victory...
I'm plugging away at the first of the Sino-Japanese War updates, but while you guys are waiting, do you want to hear possibly the most racist song ever made?
Right now we've got two votes for the 1970s and one vote each for the 1930s, 40s and 50s. With such a wide range of time, I'm gonna have to figure something out. There may even be two wars.
Part 127: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 1: The Buildup
Part 127: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 1: The Buildup
East Asia in the middle of the 20th Century was defined by one thing: China’s resurgence challenging the Japanese dominance of the Far East. Japan had surpassed China as the dominant power in East Asia in the Late 19th Century, and had become one of the world’s great powers, projecting power across the western Pacific Ocean and even onto the Asian mainland. Meanwhile, the Qing dynasty that had ruled China for centuries was replaced by a new, as of yet unnamed dynasty (name suggestions would be welcome), with the Qing retreating to their homeland of Manchuria. With the Qing being relegated to just Manchuria, they decided their best chance to survive would be through allying with the Japanese, thus a mutual defense pact was signed between Japan and the Qing. Korea was sucked into the Japanese-Qing alliance out of necessity, being surrounded by them geographically. Meanwhile, over in China, they’d lost not just Manchuria, but also the frontier regions of Tibet, Uighurstan and Mongolia, all of which had become independent during the collapse of the Qing between 1912 and 1913. However, the new Chinese dynasty viewed these areas as integral parts of the middle kingdom after they’d been part of China for so long, so reintegration, or at least getting them in the Chinese sphere of influence was a top priority for the Nanjing government. However, they knew this couldn’t happen immediately, as the new dynasty’s hold on the Chinese heartland first had to be strengthened. As I talked about in a previous update a while back, the Nanjing government facilitated and encouraged industrialization of the economy, with industries popping up in China’s major cities. The construction of infrastructure that had begun under the Qing continued under the Nanjing government (the placeholder name I’m using until I figure out or get suggested a better name), but giving more regional control, as the nationalization of railway construction sparked the revolt that overthrew the Qing, and also fitting into the federal structure of the new Chinese state. A new education system was also established, with each Chinese child being required to attend school until at least age 12 in rural areas and 15 in urban ones. Chinese industrialization began to take off during the Mid 20th Century, with the area around the Yellow River having large coal deposits and other parts having sizable iron ore resources. Electricity spread throughout China’s major cities, and while the rural areas were still off the grid, it was only a matter of time before they too got electricity. More importantly, the Nanjing government continued modernizing the military into a professional force able to compete with the Japanese and Westerners. Many of China’s new industries were military-related, such as shipyards and munitions plants, and new military academies were being founded across the countries to train recruits to fight effectively in the modern landscape of war. This military renovation was coupled with an attempt to restore China’s traditional position as the top dog in the far east. I hinted that the Nanjing government was trying to reintegrate the territory China had lost during the revolution, but it went beyond just that. Taking inspiration from China’s historic practice of tributary states and the geopolitical unions forming in post-SGW Europe, the Nanjing government began to form a new political bloc. A country could join the bloc and submit itself to Chinese leadership, especially in the field of foreign policy, but in turn get military protection and, once China industrialized, economic assistance. If any two member states had diplomatic disputes, Nanjing would mediate and resolve them, in order to preserve unity and prevent conflict. Thus, Nanjing believed, mainland East and Southeast Asia would be able to ward off Western and Japanese imperialism and form a new power on the global stage. Thus, in 1933, twenty years after the Chinese Revolution (my retrospective name for the events that overthrew the Qing Dynasty between 1912 and 1913), the Nanjing government officially established their own political pact, known as the Nanjing Bloc to those in the west.
To the surprise of no one, the first three countries Nanjing tried to get to join its bloc were the aforementioned Tibet, Uighurstan and Mongolia. Of the three, Tibet was the top priority for Nanjing due to one simple reason: Tibet was the source of the Yangtze River. With the Chinese heartland’s water supply coming from Tibet, ensuring that Tibet was under the thumb of The Middle Kingdom was a must for Nanjing. When the Chinese came knocking on the Dalai Lama’s door asking if Tibet would become a protectorate of Nanjing, he didn’t have much of a choice, as the alternative was fairly clear. A similar thing applied in Uighurstan and Mongolia, and soon Nanjing had the former Chinese territory as protectorates. From there, expanding their influence into Southeast Asia was the priority for Nanjing. Annam was a natural target, having been part of China for much of its history, and having been a tributary state before the civil war. Naturally, Annam fell back into China’s sphere of influence, becoming part of the bloc. Other Southeast Asian states like Luang Prabang and Kampuchea also joined the bloc.
The expansion of Nanjing’s influence across the Far East over the 1930s and 40s greatly irked Japan, who knew that war was a distinct possibility. Japan had thought of conquering Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War, but ultimately refrained from it. However, now that primacy over East Asia was on the line, Japan began a period of military expansion and growing influence of the military over the government. Naval exercises conducted in the East China sea by both sides increased the tension in the region, and by the Mid 1940s, war appeared to be on the horizon…
Union of The Three Crowns: The History of The Nordic Empire
Union of The Three Crowns: The History of The Nordic Empire Chapter 0: Prologue For better or for worse, the world from 1492 to 1945 was dominated by Europe. During this time, the great empires of Europe, whether the British, French, Spanish or Russians were the main players on the global...
www.alternatehistory.com
Part 128: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 2: War Begins
Part 128: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 2: War Begins
It was February of 1947. In the southern part of the East China Sea, the Imperial Chinese Navy was conducting exercises. They had left from the naval base at Taipei, and were around the area just east of Taiwan’s northern tip. This was a risky maneuver, as the boundaries between Chinese and Japanese territorial waters were unclear. This was a risk that the Chinese naval command thought was worth taking, though, as it would show the Japanese that they weren’t messing around. So, the ICN conducted their exercises in the sea between Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, part of the unsettled maritime boundary between The Middle Kingdom and The Land of the Rising Sun.While the Chinese were conducting their exercises, Japanese aircraft flying over that area noticed the activity and, after completing whatever their objective was, alerted the Japanese military of the suspicious activity of the Chinese Navy. The Japanese military command in Okinawa was naturally concerned by this development, and decided to send some ships out to investigate. The Chinese interpreted this as an attack, so they opened fire on the Japanese vessels. The Japanese fired back, and before long hundreds of sailors were dead, many ships sank and the Sino-Japanese War had begun…
The reaction in both Nanjing and Tokyo was pure outrage. The Chinese were furious that the Japanese had attacked their ships out of the blue, while the Japanese were furious at the Chinese for violating their territorial sovereignty. Both countries soon declared war, and the two titans of the Far East were duking it out. China pulled their geopolitical bloc into the conflict, while the Japanese pulled in the rump Qing state in Manchuria. Korea, sandwiched between the Qing and Japan, didn’t have much of a choice but to join the Japanese alliance. Soon, more naval battles were occurring in the East China Sea, bombing raids were conducted by both the Chinese and Japanese air forces and
millions of troops were fighting on the front lines in Manchuria. Who would go on to win was still yet to be known, but one thing was for sure: the Far East would never be the same again.
Hey guys, I've decided that I'm gonna be ending this timeline. I've simply lost interest in continuing this, and I've got bigger and better things planned for the future. For a more detailed explanation of why I'm canning this TL, I've made a video, the link to which can be found here. Take care and have a great day.
Sorry to see this end! It's been a neat story, I'd love to see you come back to this somewhere down the line, maybe refine it a little. No shame in a v2 of a timeline, plenty of good ones around here! Looking forward to your other stuff!
It was an April Fools joke. Did you not see the video I linked? EC/FC is not done. Then again, I'm wondering if your comment was also a joke.
Part 129: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 3: A Land War In Asia
Part 129: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 3: A Land War In Asia
The Sino-Japanese War of the Late 1940s and Early 1950s consisted of multiple different combat zones and theaters. However, this update will be focusing on the events that occurred on the land. Sure, China and Japan didn’t share a land border, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a land theater of the war. Remember that Manchuria was still controlled by the Qing Dynasty, who were allied with Japan. Thus, the border between Manchuria and the rest of China quickly erupted into warfare, with the border city of Qinhuangdao soon being the site of the first land battle of the Sino-Japanese War. As the Qing were outnumbered by Nanjing’s forces by a significant margin, they began to be pushed back, with Nanjing Chinese troops capturing Huludao within three weeks and making it to the outskirts of Panjin by two months. However, Japanese forces began to arrive in the region shortly thereafter, and the Nanjing Chinese advance began to stall out. Japanese troops got on ships in Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, took the short ride across the Tsushima Strait, disembarked in Busan and took trains up to the front line in Manchuria. Korea, being in the Japanese sphere of influence, joined the war on Japan’s side, although many in Korea weren’t too fond of fighting on behalf of the Japanese.From there, the Manchurian front became a brutal stalemate. The Japanese and their Korean and Qing allies were more industrial and thus had better equipment and firepower, but were balanced out by the sheer numerical weight of the Chinese, as China had the world’s largest population and was going to use that to their full advantage. The front, mainly between the cities of Yingkou in the Southeast and Chifeng in the Northwest, began to rack up a hefty toll in terms of casualties on both sides, while not a whole lot was shifting. This was the case in the latter half of 1947, and the first few months of 1948, but in April of the latter year, the Japanese, Koreans and Qing launched a new offensive, going inland towards Chengde in an effort to begin encircling the Chinese and possibly take the former Qing capital of Beijing, and also for symbolic value, as that city had been the summer home of the Qing Dynasty before the revolution. Starting from the two cities of Chaoyang and the aforementioned Chifeng, both on or near the front line, the Japanese/Korean/Qing troops began their operation to capture Chengde, managing to push back the Chinese. However, resistance became stiffer once they came into the hills and mountains, as combat in rough terrain is quite, well, rough.
Storming up the various hills and ridges to the north and east of Chengde all while being shot at was quite costly, with thousands dying in the operation. However, by July, Japanese and Qing forces were closing in on the town from the east, and the Chinese dug in for battle. After many air raids, artillery fires and brutal battles, the Japanese/Qing alliance had seized Chengde. This was a great symbolic victory for the Qing, who’d reclaimed their old summer residence, and of great concern to Nanjing, as it showed that the Qing were no pushovers. However, it was still another 100 plus miles to Beijing from Chengde, through similarly rough terrain, and Nanjing was in an entirely different part of China. However, that doesn’t mean that a new front couldn’t be opened up, which brings me to the next stage of the war…
Navally, both sides of the war were rather evenly matched, so despite the small distances from one shore to the other, no naval invasions were attempted early on in the war. As the war ground into a stalemate, though, both sides were beginning to consider an invasion of their opponents’ coastline. For example, The Ryukyu Islands are very close to Taiwan, with Yonaguni only being 70 miles from Taiwan. Similarly, the distance between the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria and the Shandong Peninsula under Nanjing’s control was only a tad over 100 kilometers. Both of these could be a target for a naval invasion from one side to the other. With the two navies being roughly equal in terms of military prowess, however, an invasion was going to be difficult.
But that didn’t mean that they weren’t going to try. In both Tokyo and Nanjing, plans were being drafted for a naval invasion of the other. The war had become a stalemate, so breaking out of it, regardless of the risks, was an objective of both sides. It was just a matter of who would be the first to make a move…
Part 131: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 4: The Turning Tides
Part 130: Sino-Japanese War Chapter 4: The Turning Tides
With the stalemate in Manchuria, Japan decided it was time to take a big risk: they were going to conduct a naval invasion of Taiwan. As mentioned in the previous update, Taiwan was only 70 miles from the closest Japanese island of Yonaguni, and had been a place Japan had been eyeing at various points in the past. It was also far from the existing theater in Manchuria, so it would open up the possibility of a southern theater in the war, possibly even invading Southern China if the Japanese were able to conquer Taiwan. However, it was going to be a difficult task.First off, a Japanese invasion would most likely be landing on the east coast of the island. It just so happened that the east coast of Taiwan was incredibly steep, dropping straight off from mountains into a deep oceanic trench, with only a few flatter beaches to land on. This meant that, unless the Japanese went around to land on the west coast of the island, the Chinese knew exactly where they’d be landing, and had put up coastal batteries and artillery in preparation. The civilian population of Taiwan knew that they were a probable target for a Japanese invasion, and thus had prepared for a civilian resistance, with militia being trained in guerilla warfare. All this would make any prospective invasion quite a challenge.
But the Japanese were going to do it anyway. Thus, in December of 1949, the invasion of Taiwan began. Aerial assaults had been carried out on the island before, but this time they were accompanied by naval bombardment of cities and towns on the east coast of Taiwan. Following that came the real deal, an invasion force consisting of nearly 100,000 Japanese troops. Even with the bombings, the invasion was still incredibly difficult. The lack of suitable beachheads for landing funneled the Japanese into a few easily predictable locations like Yilan, Hualien and Taitung, where the Taiwanese were ready to fight them. Said fighting was, for lack of a better word, a slugfest. The Taiwanese fought like hell to defend their island, while the Japanese fought like hell because, well, they’re Japanese. The initial invasion spanned from December of ‘49 into February of 1950, with Japanese gaining footholds in Yilan and Hualien but being pushed back from Taitung. From there, the Japanese proceeded to take the valleys and countryside around those two towns, advancing as far south as Ruisui in the Huadong Valley. However, boatloads of Chinese troops from the mainland were arriving in Taiwan to fight, and thus the front ground to a standstill. With China’s population of hundreds of millions of people, they could throw endless amounts of men at the front and barely make a dent in their overall manpower. Meanwhile, Nanjing saw the Japanese invasion of Taiwan and thought “hmm, maybe we can do that too”. Thus, the Chinese decided to not only send troops to Taiwan to defend the island from the Japanese invasion, but to conduct a naval invasion of their own.
The distance across the Yellow Sea between the Shandong Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula was only 100 kilometers at its narrowest point, making it a very viable target for an invasion. Dalian was a very important port and industrial center for the Qing, so capturing it could turn the tides of the war in the north. So, in August of 1950, a series of bombing raids was conducted on the city of Dalian, turning much of the city into rubble. Next, tens of thousands of Chinese troops got onto boats to cross the sea between Shandong and Liaodong, leaving from Weihai, Yantai and Penglai. Knowing that this would be a likely invasion route, the Japanese and Qing had littered the passage with sea mines and military installations on small islands and islets within their territorial waters, and were patrolling the strait with their navies. The Chinese had planned for that, though, as the invasion fleet was protected by other ships that were more adept to naval combat. While the battleships were off fighting the Qing and Japanese, the transports snuck around the side and prepared to unload the invasion force onto the Liaodong Peninsula.
There were two separate beachheads for the Chinese invasion, neither of which was directly in the city of Dalian. The first was on Xizhong Island, located about 40 miles north of Dalian. While it was extremely bloody and thousands were killed in a few days, the island was captured, and Chinese troops were able to spread out further from there. The second landing site was on the island chain about 50-60 miles northeast of Dalian, which had many Qing military installations. Taking these islands was incredibly costly for the reason I gave in the last sentence, but they too fell, and soon the Chinese moved onto the mainland.
Back in Taiwan, the Japanese were holding the line against the Chinese, but were also preparing for a major offensive to take Taipei. This was going to be exceedingly difficult. While the distance between Yilan and Taipei was only 25 miles, that 25 miles was made up of Taiwan’s Central Mountain Range. The roads in the area weren’t generally all that good, and the Chinese would destroy said roads in the event of a Japanese offensive, but with the stalemate lasting through most of 1950 and the Chinese naval invasion of Manchuria, the Japanese decided that it was worth a shot.
The Japanese would wait for the winter, as it would be drier and cooler, but in November of 1950, more Japanese troops would land in Yilan. A new wave of air raids was sent over the cities of Northern Taiwan, causing massive damage to cities that had already been bombed previously. Japanese troops trained in mountain warfare marched up into the hills for their advance towards Taipei. It was tough going, though. The Taiwanese were battle hardened, had gained knowledge of guerilla warfare and were determined to defend their island, whether it were the forested mountains or the major cities. Bridges were blown up, roads were destroyed and landmines were planted in the ground. This made the Japanese advance exceedingly costly in terms of money, equipment and men, with thousands dying during the invasion. Nonetheless, by March of 1951, the Japanese had reached Taipei, camping out in the hills above the city. From there, they had a vantage point to plan their moves, even if much of the city was in ruins from the aforementioned air raids. From there, it was time to make their way into the city of Taipei…
Despite the air raids and destruction, the people of Taipei were still determined to fight the Japanese invaders. The citizens of the city had been preparing for combat since the time the offensive towards Taipei had been started in November of the previous year. All the city’s bridges had been blown up preemptively in order to make any Japanese advance slower, and people turned their apartments into places where gunmen could shoot passing enemy soldiers. In late February, the Japanese began their offensive upon the city itself, and thus the Battle of Taipei had begun…
Man, I'm getting a lot of material out of the Sino-Japanese War. There will probably be 2-3 more updates on the war, after which I'll get to more of the general events happening around the world in the Mid 20th Century. I'm thinking that, considering the point of time we're at, the amount of things left to cover and the work on my other TL (which you should totally check out if you haven't, BTW), EC/FC proper will probably last into 2023, unless I put my other TL on hold and solely work on this or cut this one short and make one giant summary of what happens between the 1950s and today. Either way, I'm gonna follow the timeline up with a Maps & Graphics Spinoff/Sequel, which will cover the world of EC/FC as of the 2020s, with some minor alterations from the timeline itself.
Really good chapter.
I'm glad this one has been going for so long when many others have died off. My project stalled and died. Even HeX seems to have moved on. I'd rather have this one continue. Very nice work!