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Post by olegrand on Dec 16, 2017 7:43:55 GMT
Hello everybody I'm working on an adventure set in 1771 Edinburgh and revolving (at least on the surface) on the publication of the first complete edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica... and there is a tricky question I'd like to submit to all you British alternate history musers (which, I guess, must encompass quite a lot of DW gamemasters). Let's imagine a reality where the Encyclopedia Britannica was completely suppressed by King George III in 1771 - in reality, he only had the illustrations for the midwifery section censored but what if he had gone further and ordered the whole book to be suppressed? What would have been the historical consequences? In what aspects would today's world be different from the one we know? I can envision some pretty obvious (but fairly minor) consequences - but I'd really like to have your ideas & input on this...
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Post by Escher on Dec 16, 2017 11:32:15 GMT
Hello everybody I'm working on an adventure set in 1771 Edinburgh and revolving (at least on the surface) on the publication of the first complete edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica... and there is a tricky question I'd like to submit to all you British alternate history musers (which, I guess, must encompass quite a lot of DW gamemasters). Let's imagine a reality where the Encyclopedia Britannica was completely suppressed by King George III in 1771 - in reality, he only had the illustrations for the midwifery section censored but what if he had gone further and ordered the whole book to be suppressed? What would have been the historical consequences? In what aspects would today's world be different from the one we know? I can envision some pretty obvious (but fairly minor) consequences - but I'd really like to have your ideas & input on this... Well, creatively: I think a good number of future scientists, doctors and engineers in the UK would never have become what they were intended to be. Possibly the UK under Queen Victoria would have not been the scientific center of the world or the leader of the Industrial Revolution. Maybe Germany or France would have taken that path, becoming the dominant power in the 19th Century profoundly altering history and leaving the UK a second-rate European power, even in the 20th Century. WW1 would never have begun and maybe the Belle Epoch would have continued, with a French dominance scientifically and culturally. Steampunk Europe with Claude Debussy and Impressionist painters as leading world artists. A resurgence in the Occult, art, a second-renaissance but led by France or Germany. A German 'Kaiser Reich' based on authoritarian Monarchy not fascism. No civil war in Russia. The possibilities and scope are vast...
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Post by olegrand on Dec 16, 2017 11:45:19 GMT
The possibilities and scope are vast... But you've outlined them beautifully - thanks a lot !
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
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Post by Catsmate on Dec 19, 2017 15:34:43 GMT
It is indeed and interesting question. I think Escher has covered most of it. Perhaps posting the question over at alternatehistory.com might start some useful discussion?
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Post by olegrand on Dec 19, 2017 18:53:58 GMT
Does the following uchronia seem reasonably believable to you? 1771 : Instead of simply ordering the suppression of some illustrations in the female anatomy and midwifery sections, King George III decides to suppress the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, creating a wave of shocked discontent among the movers and shakers of the Scottish Enlightenment. 1770s-1780s : Distraught and angered by the King's adamant puritanical decision, many of these people establish strong links with the French Encyclopedists and the various French political factions which are already preparing the forthcoming Revolution. And Britain still loses its American colonies in 1776. 1789 : Following the French Revolution and the overthrow of France's monarchy, the radical Scots declare independence from the United Kingdom. Rebellion ensues... and the French sends supporting troops to their "Scottish brothers". The Scottish War of Independence turns into a Franco-English war with Scotland as its battlefield. 1800s : After years of an indecisive and bitter war, Scotland lays in ruin and "Great Britain" is effectively dead as a concept... but France's scottish allies help Napoleon's troops to land in Scotland. Britain is invaded and a few years later is finally conquered and subsumed into the French Empire... What do you think ? Interesting uchronia or utter balderdash ?
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