Although Turkey has secured it’s position in the Balkan region by force during the First Balkan War, in which the Balkan League faced total defeat, the Orthodox states weren’t at all satisfied with that. The fragile order established after the war was obviously not designed to live forever — not with both Ottoman authority and nationalistic Balkan states existing at the same time.

It was predicted by many that the Great War will be the catalyst for the powder keg to explode, but these many were not right — Constantinople remained neutral during all of the war and the Entente nor the Central Powers did not want to change that by betting all on states, army of whom were greatly damaged 1 year ago. Furthermore, the Balkan States were caught in a civil unrest never seen before with ultranationalist ideologies gaining great prominence and monarchs forced to either be overthrown or concede to them.

The day on which guns roared in the peninsula was 21st of May, 1919. The Second Balkan League, consisting of the Union of Yugoslavia, Kingdom of Bulgaria and the State of Hellas all simultaneously attacked the Empire during it’s political crisis at the time. The League has made great progress occupying Epirus, most of Kosovo, Novi Pazar, making gains in Thrace, occupying half of the city of Thessaloniki. It seemed like the crescent has begun to wane in the European continent.

Turkey scrambled to mobilize its resources in Europe, relying greatly at the local Muslim population which was essentially being genocided by the League and at the Albanians, who were ready to defend the state because of the Albanian vilayet created in 1911. The Porte engaged in positional warfare along defendable mountainous regions, and the Balkan League was simultaneously engaged in two fronts — Albanian and Thracian-Salonikan. The front begun to turn to Empire’s favor in mid-23, and the war was over when the last participant, the Yugoslav Union, agreed to a peace agreement after the Fall of Belgrade. Serbia and Bulgaria were turned to vassal principalities, and the Eastern Rumelia was fully reestablished. Yugoslav Union was disbanded and most of Bosnia, excluding predominantly Catholic regions, were regained by Turks.

The war, however, completely discredited the post-Abdul Hamit liberalized government under the FaCP. The government was then seized in an election by the Faith and the Right Path Faction (Îmân ve Istikâmet Fırkası, İmakamef) which was dominated by conservatives and ulema, carrying the legacy of Abdul Hamit, presided by Şeyhulislam Mustafa Sabri Efendi. Under İmakamef, the state viewed its Orthodox Balkan subjects as unreliable and unloyal, convinced that during any new conflict they will all turn on Sultan.

So, realizing that repression cannot suffice for effective control, and ethnic cleansing was too immoral for the administration (although they turned a black eye on Albanian militias during the war forcefully driving out Serbs from Albanian vilayet), the state announced Rumelia Civilification Program. What it was is essentially a settler colonial policy, suggesting that anyone Muslim from Anatolia, Arabia, Syria, Iraq or Kurdistan gets 40 hectares of “state land” (most of which was confiscated from those accused of “cooperating with the invaders” during the war) in proximity to population centers and in fertile land. Later the program was expanded to include small Christian “heretical” sects from Russia like dukhobors, subbotniks, molokans and old-believers. Even more later it was expanded to more popular sects like Mennonites, basically everyone non-Orthodox and non-Catholic who was persecuted by the Soviets. Although it brought economic success because the newcomers were skilled in agriculture and such, it did break the traditional membrane of Rumelian society, effectively being a social experiment.

The program was expanded more during the Second World War, during of which Germans invaded Ottoman-held lands and were only stopped mid-Thrace. Sephardic population of Saloniki faced brutal policy of annihilation and still did not recover fully. Porte joined the Allied forces, briefly losing Libya to Italy as well. Even though Germans were defeated and all Turkish lands were returned, the principalities (barring Montenegro) were disbanded in favor of Socialist-led governments imposed by USSR, which was the empire’s main rival during all of the latter half of the 20th century.

Pic. 1: the ethnoreligious map in 1955.

Pic. 2: an octolingual sign near Thessaloniki.

Source: John English, "The History of Balkan Peninsula in XX Century”.

Second Boer War - British offensive on the Boer Republics do more poorly and the failure to advance on Pretoria causes OTL which causes a higher Opposition to the Second Boer War and the Liberals gaining more seats eventually with a successful guerilla campaign. The Treaty of Bloemfontein (Alt-version of Treaty of Vereeniging). Allowed the Boer Republics to stay independent and the return of captured civilians to the Boer Republics, with the rights and the lowering voting restrictions on the Uitlanders and the Witwatersrand region jointly controlled by the British and Boers.

this is a discussion on an alt - cold war scenario i made.

Lore: Following the Defeat of the German Reich, Most of Eastern Europe fell to communism as the west collapsed into anarchy. Arab Nationalists finally achieved their dream of uniting the arabs and retaking al-andalus. The European Democracies of the west united into one entity: the EU. However, Spain and Italy Rejected, and were invaded by their enemies. After that, anarchist movements took over southern italy: the resistance.

A new althistory novel imagines a world where instead of siding with the USA, Israel takes aid from the Soviet Union and becomes a Communist satellite state. From the books description:

The year is 1948. After the refusal of the United States and its Western European allies to recognize Israeli independence, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sends a political rival of his on a secret mission: to secure Soviet backing in exchange for becoming a critical partner of Moscow. As a result, Israel becomes an extension of the Communist Bloc in the Levant and a menace to the US and its allies.

This is the first time I'm doing this sort of thing, so I'm sorry if it's unrealistic or generally uninteresting (I prioritized it being interesting over realism generally).

Lore/PoD:

Munich Conference fails, and a war starts over Czechoslovakia, it kinda grinds out as Czech fortifications are strong, and eventually Hitler is couped by Oster, Beck and co. (North) Germany would have to give up on Czechoslovakia, and Italian opportunism on their German border meant Austria would have their old government restored under Kurt Schuschnigg, and become South Germany (annexing Bavaria, Baden and Wurttemberg). During this time period, Mussolini would go on some "adventures" and invade Albania and annexing it, and Yugoslavia, splitting the nation into two (Croatia and Serbia) and annexing Slovenia, Dalmatia and Montenegro directly (he also gives Bulgaria Macedonia). The Italian invasion of Greece is costlier, but a more distracted West allows Italian annexations of some islands and a Greek puppet regime. Stalin would invade and annex the Baltics, invade and puppet Romania (annexing Moldova in the process) and then invade Poland as the West is distracted, but after the German war is over, a furious West would rally behind Polish liberation and invade the Soviet Union. Italy would join this invasion as well, leading to Stalin seeking negotiations, as Poland and the Baltics are restored, Romania is restored under a pro-Italian government (with Moldova returned), and Mussolini gains a protectorate over Crimea. Meanwhile, the war in the Pacific is probably a bit different, but Japan still gets defeated (or economically starved out) by Anglo-Franco-American forces, one way or another. Either way, Europe is now divided into three: The Liberal North, including the US, Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, North Germany, Norway, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, The Ultranationalist South, including Italy, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Serbia, South Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Crimea, and The Soviet Union, a looming shadow in the East. Neutral nations include Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Though the process is slower, by 1960, all of the US, Britain, France, Italy and the Soviet Union have nukes.

CONTEXT

After World War 1 ended, the British and French governments fell to Syndicalist Revolutions, and subsequently led the British and French to have two governments (an exile and a syndicalist one) the United States picked the first Catholic President to represent them. Al Smith. However, it's clear that Al Smith is rather bad at relieving the Great Depression, leading the Democrats, mainly associated with Al Smith, to be in a bit of a bind. Thus, the Democrats have a branding issue. But the solution isn't as clear as you think...VOTE HERE (DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION)

The Republicans, however, they are still worried about winning this election, despite the Democratic Party's lowering popularity. As the People's Party have shown no sign of losing popular support, and with popular candidate Minnesota Governor Floyd B. Olson winning on the first ballot, it's clear that, they must fight to climb to the top. VOTE HERE (REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION)

( This is a continuation of my previous short story scenario here: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/UsLs2kHoQR )

As we gaze up into the night sky we are met with a terrifyingly beautiful sight, our new neighbor and host Jupiter. It's massive frame hundreds of times larger in our night sky than the moon had ever taken, the swirling red storms so incomprehensibly massive they dwarf the size of the Earth itself.

The Solar System is left in chaos, many celestial bodies ejected. Other's orbits so disturbed they begin to insect each other, mirroring the days of the early solar system. In the following weeks the light of the two invading stars that were responsible for this slowly move further and further away, it will take hundreds of thousands of years for their light to fully dissipate from view. Being ejected at such high speeds it will only take half the amount of time for them to track back to where they originally were away from us over 67,050 years ago.

Many of the outer Kiper Belt objects had been ejected during the incursion, all of the Major 8 planets had been effected in some way. The Moons and Rings of Saturn, Neptune and Jupiter had either been stripped or so massively disrupted their orbits are now a disorganized mess. Jupiter in particular had been the most affected out of the gas giants, losing over 60% of the mass that orbits around it. Including rings, moons, Asteroids and small rocks and ice. During it's close encounter both Callisto and Ganymede had both been tossed from the Jupiter system, while Io and Europa although having their orbits distributed did survive and continued along with their host. But as so have fate would have it Jupiter would not have to mourn it's two lost moons for long as two new ones would be picked up during its journey to the inner Solar System. A shiny bright blue ball and its grey little accessory, our planet and our moon would be forcefully separated from each other as our moon travels deeper into a closer orbit with Jupiter dangerously approaching its Roche limit however lying just outside to avoid being ripped apart.

As for Earth, although experiencing a miracle of being spared from being ejected we would quickly learn our new life here would not be a pleasant one. Currently Earth and Jupiter now orbit at around 1.5667 AU away from the sun, over 85 million kilometers further away than our original orbit. Because of this our temperature has plummeted to a bonechilling 7°C on average (45°F) in just a few short weeks the ice caps have began to grow at an exponential rate. Consuming Cities like New York, Ontario, Glasgow, Helsinki, St Petersburg and the entire island of Tasmania and Southern New Zealand in pure frozen ice. If it weren't for us having our giant new neighbor we would've entered a new snowball age in just 4-6 months due to the ice reflecting more and more sunlight. However due to being so close to an object with such massive gravity Earth's insides are pulled and stretched like never before, massive increase in tetonic plate activity surge. Around the equater, frequent earth quakes, volcanic eruptions and gysers increase by 200% to 300% more on average.

While the north and south freezes, what's left in the center is a downright hostile environment, the Volcanic activity keeps the Northern and Southern ice caps at bay while scorching the equater.

Jupiterian eclipses become a frequent and trackable period of time, completely blocking the earth from sunlight for days at a time and consuming the planet in darkness, leaving the few species of plant and animal alike a new challenge to adapt to.

Our close proximity lays a new challenge, Jupiter's oppressive radiation belt. Although it's magnetic field does now protect us from the sun's harmful UV rays far better than our own... It's own radiation slowly infests our planet, but thanks to our unending luck we ended up just at the edge of the Radiation belt of Jupiter, not receiving the full harmful effects. However still enough to slightly begin chewing at the O-Zone layer and produce an average person at the surface's daily radiation intake by 20x. Cancer rates, sterilization and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) cases skyrocket for both Human and Animal alike.

Over the course of 7 months, 4.5 Billion people have died and governments around the world begin to collapse. Those who remain flee to mountain or underground bunkers, countries such as the Philippines begin to develop underwater cities far away from the surface's radiation to survive. Over 80% of the mainland Flora and Fauna are dead after a year, around 30-35% of ocean Flora and Fauna have also died however these are mostly near the coastal regions. Environmental collapse on a global scale, where only the most resilient of creatures are able to survive... adapt... and have their DNA slowly morphed over time. Deep sea ecosystems are largely unaffected by the radiation, however the LARGE increase in geothermal activity from sulfur vents have created an unstable and resource rich environment. Populations begin to boom around the nutrition rich but dangerous thermal vents, eruptions can see over half of a population die out around thermal vents. However with more than enough food to go around those numbers are replaced faster and even doubled in a short amount of time. Ironically as the surface has its greatest mass extinction since the great dying, the deep sea is having it's biggest population increase for the first time in Earth's history.

Unfortunately this comes as another challenge to non deep sea creatures, with the presence of more thermal vents the oceans begin to heat up. Halting the spread of the ice caps even further and causing many shallow water species to die out due to the increased acidity and temperature of the ocean waters.

As we gaze up into the night sky again we wonder if perhaps it is time for us to find a home elsewhere or simply live above the Earth in space stations away from the range surface, however due to us still being in the radiation belt even just slightly any electrical device that leaves the atmosphere is bombarded with high levels of energy disrupting radiation that cause most space craft to fry and plummet back to Earth, with resources running so low and even more projected deaths by the end of a year humanity is not so willing to spend precious resources anytime soon.

For now we simply retreat into the sides of dense mountains, underneath the now warm waters of the ocean or simply bury ourselves deep underground. We have survived for now, but the journey will be hard to recover... many of us have died and many more will. As some of the less fortunate are abandoned at the surface, slowly withering away from the deadly radiation and hostile environment. Those left at the surface find refuge in rolling hills and mountains the only place with occasional fresh water and where at least the mountains partially protect them from the elements.

During humanity's darkest hour we are overlooked by our host, it's giant red storm resembling an eye observing Earth. Jupiter has been both a curse and a blessing, protecting us from the chaos of new solar system while also slowly poisoning our planet until it becomes sterile. Only time will tell of our blue marble's fate.

Your standard "What if Dunkirk forced the allies into peace early" timeline except it's just Sonic the Hedgehog. Basically, Sonic is mainly engineered for a German market and only secondarily an American market.

The Lore

Sega, having its origins in US military occupation, has much different origins in this timeline and Japan's culture in general is changed enough that Sonic's whole personality and aesthetic is altered. Sega is now Nexgen and, Intending to appeal to both Germany and Japan, Sonic morphs from a cocky, freedom-loving punk with a hate for pollution and authority to a stoic, artistic individualist, with a hate for collectivism and imposition. Dr. Eggman is a super-genius ultra-commie obsessed with profit over blood- He's a paternalist, a collectivist, and a Klaus Schwab-styled modernity lover. He wants to wipe the world clean and rebuild it himself, and his immense wealth is derived primarily from usury, price gouging, and other immoral methods. Germany localizes his character into Dr. Yohanan Robotnik, a Polish Jew, which I regrettably feel I have to mention because the connection is just too obvious not to bring up. These character changes are due both to the shared enemy of the Soviet Union, and the shared attitudes of liberation among the rebellious youth of both nations.
Japan is under less external cultural influence here, such that they have very little desire to "adapt" Sonic to a foreign audience and so his Japanese roots are extremely obvious. Being ideological and military allies, Germany and Japan form a similar mutual adoration that Japan and America have in our timeline, making Sonic appear "exotic" and "novel" to Germans. Simultaneously, Mario in this timeline is not a first generation American immigrant, but a native, hard-working Italian, and due to withering relations with Italy (see Tyrol,) Mario is generally not beloved by the public, and is also intentionally restricted by the German government. Compare that to Sonic, who is fast, strong, opposed to the same things as the German youth- All of these things combined mean that Sonic ends up fulfilling Mario's role in Germany, and he usurps the cultural throne there.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1990)

Sonic 1 remains almost identical but with a lot of content jumbled around. Plenty of things stay but many release elements are swapped with previously unused beta content, and notably, Sonic's sprites are nice and fat, sort of like old Pikachu (slide 3.) On this development timeline his thicker design wouldn't be replaced until the marketing stage and so his ingame appearance is rather broad and animal-like.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1991)

The original vision for Sonic 2 was, basically, what Sonic CD ended up being but more streamlined; Here, a combination of things including Sonic Team's makeup, Zuse KG's advancements, and other minor factors result in Sonic 2's CD-like vision being followed through with. Sonic Team is a bit less... neurotic, one could say, in regards to getting work done, and things are generally smoother for Nexgen.
The "Death Egg" and "Little Planet" are both replaced with the Robo-Zygote, a gargantuan structure which, at 150km across, is just a bit smaller than the Death Egg. Inside is an entire orbital habitat which can house life from Earth- Of course, there's not many inhabitants because most people wouldn't opt to join the orbital colony, but the point is that it's capable.
Outside of the time travel story elements, Sonic 2 plays mostly like normal except:

• The Peel-out replaces the Spindash but adopts the Spindash's "down + jump" control method, making it functionally identical in every single way while remaining visually distinct (and I guess also if you don't hold down you won't go into a spin but you literally have to press down to activate and use it so why would you not do that)
• Tails does not exist
• Silver Sonic does not exist, jumping straight to Metal. This change alone makes the job of lore-keepers in this universe 5 times easier

I'll post Sonic 3 and Sonic X-treme when I finish those. In the meantime, let me know what you think in the replies. It's okay, you can be mean to me, I really don't mind! Just don't bring up my Mom, okay?

Had some great discussion on an earlier version on this (that version was removed, so posting it again, properly)

Petroleum exists but commercial refining is impossible. The investment goes into coal and electrification instead.

The first thing that is surprising is aviation. Without petroleum fuel, fixed-wing aircraft development stalls completely. What fills (or tries to fill) the gap is lighter-than-air. The age of the airship doesn't end in the 1930s and transatlantic airship routes are the standard for passenger travel by 1950s, and the development of hydrogen fuel cells was pushed two or three decades forward since the competing petroleum technology was absent.

The second suprise was Japan. Since Japan has enormous domestic coal deposits (that in our timeline were abandoned as uneconomical once oil became dominant),it is an energy-independent and a coal superpower with a different set of strategic interests. (They aren't desperately reaching for Dutch East Indies oil fields, for example)

The Middle East and whales are the other threads I am focusing on, and happy to dig them deeper.

(Long-form audio version on my channel in sleep video format — in bio)

In case you don’t know, US Congressman Leo Ryan was killed in 1978 when he was investigating Jonestown, Guyana, a kind of settlement where followers of Jim Jones lived, and following the killing of Ryan, Jones forced a mass suicide. Ryan had actually invited sitting representative and future Vice President Dan Quayle to come with him, but Quayle declined. Should Quayle go to Guyana, he likely gets killed and his seat is taken by someone else. the only big change I see happening is George HW Bush choosing a different Vice President OTL, and in this case he chooses the highly qualified Senator Bob Dole. I believe they would win the 1988 election but loose 1992, and history goes on the same. I could potentially see Newt Gingrich running as Republican opposed to Dole in 96, but I think it’s unlikely.

Taken on August 5, 1948, in Chicago, this photo shows 24-year-old Lucille Chalifoux and her four children. Facing eviction and desperate, the family put up a real "4 Children for Sale" sign.

The tragic reality is that within two years, all four children—and the unborn baby she was carrying—were either sold or given away:

* **Rae Ann and Milton:** Sold to a farming family for just a few dollars. They were chained in a barn, forced into hard labor, and suffered horrific abuse.
* **David (the unborn baby):** Adopted by a strict but loving family, later reconnected with his siblings.
* **The Mother:** Remarried and had four more children. When her abandoned children finally found her years later, she showed absolutely no remorse.

Though often misdated to the 1929 Great Depression, this photo remains a heartbreaking symbol of extreme poverty in post-WWII America.

Corsican Empire spanning across meditteranean.

United American Provinces - capital: Philadelphia official language: English

Texas - capital: Austin official language: English

California - capital: San Francisco official language: English

Mexico - capital: Mexico City official language: Spanish

Alaska - capital: Novoarkhangelsk official language: Russian