History Literature / TheFalconCannotHear

* ButterflyOfDoom: Thanks to the butterfly effect, the 1938 New England Hurricane hits the Chesapeake Bay instead, [[spoiler: killing Douglas Macarthur, causing the Whites to capture Washington, D.C., and the khakis implode as a viable faction, defecting to the Whites or operating as warlords.]]

** A military government lead by Army Chief of Staff Douglas Macarthur, nicknamed the Khakis, which controls Washington D.C., the Rockies, and the overseas possessions. [[spoiler: After Macarthur dies during a hurricane, the Whites seize D.C., the Japanese occupy the pacific territories, and several Generals and Admirals become independent warlords, with Admiral Ernest King leading a rump loyalist faction out of the Alaskan Panhandle.]]
** The American Soviet Republic, lead by Communist Party General-Secretary Earl Browder, which controls a stretch of land from Chicago to New York City. [[spoiler: The east coast soviets, feeling that Browder is too authoritarian, eventually split and form the American Workers Collective and form an anti-fascist Popular Front with the Blues]]
** The Whites, lead by Huey Long, are a collection of conservative and fascist groups. Composed of an official government and military under Long, and several paramilitary groups, (ranging from the KKK and openly fascist groups to Businessmen's Associations, essentially armed Hoover Republicans) with strong influence over local governments. They control the South, Texas, parts of the Southwest, eastern New England, [[spoiler: Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia,]]

** The Continental Congress, also called the Greens, lead by Milo Reno. Composed of midwestern farmers who don't like any of the other factions. Control the Great Plains from Montana to Oklahoma. [[spoiler: Have allied themselves with the Blues against the Whites]]

*** Sumner Sewell, Governor of Maine. While not declaring secession, he has allied with whichever group gives him the most independence. [[spoiler: Presently the Continental Congress]]
*** The B.R.O.W.N (Banner Revolutionary Organisation of Willing Negroes) army, a guerrilla group operating in White territory. [[spoiler: This has caused the Whites to begin putting blacks in concentration camps]]
*** Henry Ford, who controls Detroit as his own personal fiefdom using army troops and mercenaries. [[spoiler: He's eventually defeated by the Blues.]]
* [[spoiler: InvadedStatesOfAmerica: Japanese forces occupy Hawaii, parts of Alaska and invade the West Coast of the USA.]]
* LastStand: [[spoiler: President Alf Landon, when the Bonus Army storms the White House. One of his executioners says: “He silently proclaimed his defiance… I recall he looked at us without a trace of fear. There was no doubting that he was the President… when we opened fire he did not flinch".]]

* MoralEventHorizon: The business establishment passes this in the eyes of many workers when Chicago police, in defiance of the mayor's orders, open fire on a crowd of unarmed strikers and their families. At this point open insurrection begins and the Bonus Army [[spoiler: storm the White House and kill the President.]]

** WhamLine: [[spoiler: That faith was shaken on January 11, 1940, when 100,000 Japanese soldiers landed on the West Coast of America]]
* WorldWarII: Heavily altered. In Europe, Britain and France re-arm quicker when it's obvious that America won't be able to offer any assistance in a war against Germany, and Germany itself is weaker due to the longer depression. Britain and France also begin supporting the Spanish Republicans in a desperate need for anti-German allies. [[spoiler: This causes Hitler to speed up his invasion of Poland, and then immediately invade France several months before he did in OTL, with the Wehrmacht not prepared enough. The result is that his army gets bogged down in France.]]
** The war plays out different in the Pacific too. The Japanese, with the blessing of Huey Long, seize America's pacific territories including Hawaii and parts of Alaska (with the "condition" that said territory is returned once the Whites win the war). The Japanese, now fearing Communist revolutions in both China and America, are more willing to work alongside Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist government against Mao's rebels. Stalin, who's aware that [[spoiler: the Japanese are planning an invasion of mainland America,]] launches an invasion of Manchuria to distract the Japanese.

* WorldWarII: Heavily altered. In Europe, Britain and France re-arm quicker when it's obvious that America won't be able to offer any assistance in a war against Germany, and Germany itself is weaker due to the longer depression. Britain and France also begin supporting the Spanish Republicans in a desperate need for anti-German allies. [[spoiler: This causes Hitler to speed up his invasion of Poland, and then immediately invade France several months before he did in OTL, with the Wehrmacht not prepared enough. The result is that his army gets bogged down in France.]]

* WorldWarII: Heavily altered. In Europe, Britain and France re-arm quicker when it's obvious that America won't be able to offer any assistance in a war against Germany, and Germany itself is weaker due to the longer depression. [[spoiler: This causes Hitler to speed up his invasion of Poland, and then immediately invade France several months before he did in OTL, with the Wehrmacht not nearly prepared enough. The result is that his army gets bogged down in France.]]

*** Sumner Sewall, Governor of Maine. While not declaring secession, he has allied with whichever group gives him the most independence. [[spoiler: Presently the Continental Congress]]

* MoralEventHorizon: The business establishment passes this in the eyes of many workers when Chicago police, in defiance of the mayor's orders, open fire on a crowd of unarmed strikers and their families. At this point open insurrection begins and the Bonus Army [[spoiler: storm the White Hous and kill the President.]]

* LastStand: [[spoiler: President Alf Landon, when the Bonus Army storms the White House. One of his executioners says: “He silently proclaimed his defiance… I recall he looked at us without a trace of fear. There was no doubting that he was the President… when we opened fire he did not flinch.]]

In February 1933, the new President-elect Frankin D. Roosevelt is making a public appearance with Chicago Mayor Anton Cermack when an assassin's bullet, presumably aimed at Roosevelt, strikes the mayor instead. In this story, the assassin has better aim, and FDR is killed. Come Inaguration day, Roosevelt's VP John Nance Garner is sworn in instead. Garner, a southern conservative, has no interest in the New Deal, causing the Depression to last well into the 30's. As a result, communist and fascist groups gain more public support. In 1937, Republican Alf Landon, promising to enact his own New Deal, is elected President. But by then the country is a powder keg, with one spark needed to create all-out war. That spark is provided when a new Bonus Army, hearing a rumor that the government is about to force them out of Washington, marches on the White House....

** WhamLine: [[spoiler: That faith was shaken on January 11, 1940, when 100,000 Japanese soldiers landed on the West Coast of America]]

** Wham Line: [[spoiler: That faith was shaken on January 11, 1940, when 100,000 Japanese soldiers landed on the West Coast of America]]

In February 1933, the new President-elect Frankin D. Roosevelt is making a public appearance with Chicago Mayor Anton Cermack when an assassin's bullet, presumably aimed at Roosevelt, strikes the mayor instead. In this story, the assassin has better aim, and FDR is killed. Come Inaguration day, Roosevelt's VP John Nance Garner is sworn in instead. Garner, a southern conservative, has no interest in the New Deal, causing the Depression to last well into the 30's. As a result, communist and fascist groups gain more public support. In 1937, Republican Alf Landon, promising to enact his own New Deal, is elected President, but by then the country is a powder keg, with one spark needed to create all-out war. That spark is provided when a new Bonus Army, hearing a rumor that the government is about to force them out of Washington, marches on the White House....

** A military government lead by Army Chief of Staff Douglas Macarthur, which controls Washington D.C., the Rockies, and the overseas possessions. [[spoiler: After Macarthur dies during a hurricane, the Whites seize D.C., the Japanese occupy the pacific territories, and several Generals and Admirals become independent warlords, with Admiral Ernest King leading a rump loyalist faction out of the Alaskan Panhandle.]]

* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: [[spoiler:Japanese forces occupy Hawaii, parts of Alaska and invade the West Coast of the USA.]]

* TemptingFate: "'We can win this.' Long told his general staff, although it was unclear who he was reassuring. 'We have the confidence of the majority of the American people behind us, and there is nothing that can shake their faith.'" Leads to:

* LeonTrotsky: The elderly revolutionary leads a group of Mexican volunteers fighting for the Blues in the Southwest.

* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: [[spoiler:Japanese forces occupy Hawaii, parts of Alaska and invade the West Coast of the USA.]]

** The Continental Congress, also called the Greens lead by Milo Reno. Composed of midwestern farmers who don't like any of the other factions. Control the Great Plains from Montana to Oklahoma. [[spoiler: Have allied themselves with the Blues against the Whites]]

** The Provisional Government, also called the Blues, lead by John L. Lewis. Basically a Liberal/Socialist faction, they control the Upper Midwest, Upstate New York, and the West Coast.

** The Continental Congress, also called the Greens lead by Milo Reno. Composed of midwestern farmers who don't like any of the other factions. Control the Great Plains from Montana to Oklahoma. [[spolier: Have allied themselves with the Blues against the Whites]]

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Factions include, the communist Reds, the military Khakis, the fascist Whites and the centrist Blues.

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: During the civil war.

The Falcon Cannot Hear: The Second American Civil War 1937-1944 is an alternate history timeline written by Ephraim Ben Raphael which tells the story of a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin second American civil war which starts in 1937]].

* ColorCodedForYourConvinience: Factions include, the communist Reds, the military Khakis, the fascist Whites and the centrist Blues.

* AlternateHistory: Of course
* CrapsackWorld: Very much so for the people of the United States, made all the more disturbing by the fact that the first three years of the TL simply report events as they happened in real life.

The Falcon Cannot Hear: The Second American Civil War 1937-1944 is an alternate history timeline written by Ephraim Ben Raphael which tells the story of a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin second American civil war which starts in 1937]].