History Literature / TheFalconCannotHear

* TheChessmaster: Dwight D. Eisenhower [[spoiler:After seeing the horrific conditions inside the KKK's concentration camps, he uses his position as head of logistics for the Whites to forge orders from his superiors, bringing 5,000 prisoners from the camps, along with several "politically unreliable" army units, to the front lines. He promptly leads all of them to defect to the Reds. Oh, and he does all of this while under suspicion for taking part in an attempted coup d'état.]]

In February 1933, the new President-elect UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt was 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. Strikes become commonplace, minorities are frequent targets of attack, and tensions rise among the population. 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. In the wake of a massacre of striking workers in Chicago, that spark is provided when a new Bonus Army, hearing a rumour that the government is about to force them out of Washington, marches on the White House....

** The war ends with [[spoiler:the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front victorious and the Whites and the ASR defeated, but the nation lies in ruins after seven years of conflict, with a total death toll of ''twelve million'' (largely due to disease and famine). Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands are also still under Japanese occupation, with Americans in Hawaii being shown the door and booted to the mainland. However, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower is elected President, and under his administration, the economy eventually stabilizes and much of the tangled bureaucracy and red tape that the Blues left behind is cut away. The US undergoes an economic boom in the postwar decades, while a new culwater ral liberalism takes root in the '50s. The nation isn't ''fully'' reunited, with Maine (controlling eastern New England), Utah, and New Africa (a black-majority state in the former Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) retaining some autonomy as "constituent republics", but all of them are nevertheless constitutionally bound as firm allies of the US.]]

** The Provisional Government, also called the Blues, lead by John L. Lewis. A coalition of liberals and democratic socialists, they control the upper Midwest, upstate New York, western New England, and the West Coast, with their capital in St. Paul, Minnesota. [[spoiler:They form an alliance with the Continental Congress known as the Red Oak Pact, and later one with the AWC called the Popular Front. With Canadian backing, the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front defeats the Whites and then the ASR, winning the civil war.]]

In February 1933, the new President-elect Frankin D. Roosevelt was 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. Strikes become commonplace, minorities are frequent targets of attack, and tensions rise among the population. 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. In the wake of a massacre of striking workers in Chicago, that spark is provided when a new Bonus Army, hearing a rumour that the government is about to force them out of Washington, marches on the White House....

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. Strikes become commonplace, minorities are frequent targets of attack, and tensions rise among the population. 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. In the wake of a massacre of striking workers in Chicago, that spark is provided when a new Bonus Army, hearing a rumour that the government is about to force them out of Washington, marches on the White House....

** The war ends with [[spoiler:the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front victorious and the Whites and the ASR defeated, but the nation lies in ruins after seven years of conflict, with a total death toll of ''twelve million'' (largely due to disease and famine). Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands are also still under Japanese occupation, with Americans in Hawaii being shown the door and booted to the mainland. However, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower is elected President, and under his administration, the economy eventually stabilizes and much of the tangled bureaucracy and red tape that the Blues left behind is cut away. The US undergoes an economic boom in the postwar decades, while a new cultural liberalism takes root in the '50s. The nation isn't ''fully'' reunited, with Maine (controlling eastern New England), Utah, and New Africa (a black-majority state in the former Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) retaining some autonomy as "constituent republics", but all of them are nevertheless constitutionally bound as firm allies of the US.]]

*** The B.R.O.W.N. (Banner Revolutionary Organisation of Willing Negroes), a guerrilla group operating in White territory. [[spoiler:This causes the Whites to begin putting blacks in concentration camps where over a million of them die of disease and starvation. As the Whites fall apart, they align with the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front, and after the war, the former states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia are merged into the autonomous black state of New Africa.]]

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Believe it or not, it takes ''several posts'' for the POD to actually occur[[note]][[spoiler:Giuseppe Zangara [[Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle managing to assassinate]] UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt]][[/note]]. All of the difficulties, horrors, and conflicts that were present prior to that ''actually happened'', and a number of the passages describing early Depression-era America before OTL's New Deal were in fact lifted straight from history books describing the conditions of the era.
* TheRemnant

** The Provisional Government primarily operates out of St. Paul, Minnesota, though due to being cut off by the other factions, its West Coast territories are run from Sacramento.

** The war ends with [[spoiler:the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front victorious and the Whites and the ASR defeated, but the nation lies in ruins after seven years of conflict, with a total death toll of ''twelve million'' (largely due to disease and famine). Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands are also still under Japanese occupation, with Americans in Hawaii being shown the door and booted to the mainland. However, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower is elected President, and under his administration, the economy eventually stabilizes and much of the tangled bureaucracy and red tape that the Blues left behind is cut away. The US undergoes an economic boom in the postwar decades, while a new cultural liberalism takes root in the '50s. The nation isn't ''fully'' reunited, with Maine (controlling eastern New England down to Rhode Island), Utah, and New Africa (a black-majority state in the former Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia) retaining some autonomy as "constituent republics", but all of them are nevertheless constitutionally bound as firm allies of the US.]]

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

** The war ends with [[spoiler:the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front victorious and the Whites and the ASR defeated, but the nation lies in ruins after seven years of conflict, with a total death toll of ''twelve million'' (largely due to disease and famine). However, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower is elected President, and under his administration, the economy eventually stabilizes and much of the tangled bureaucracy and red tape that the Blues left behind is cut away. The US undergoes an economic boom in the postwar decades, while a new cultural liberalism takes root in the '50s.]]

*** William Langer, Governor of North Dakota, has declared secession from the Union. [[spoiler:He eventually aligns with the Red Oak Pact.]]

** Huey Long's fascist White government is established in and run from Montgomery, Alabama.
** The ASR is based in Chicago. After the AWC breaks away, New York serves as its capital.

** "[[spoiler:The Government Overthrown]]- 1937": Ladies and gentlemen, [[spoiler:with the assault on the White House and the death of Alfred Landon, the Second American Civil War has begun]].

** 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, and eastern New England, with their capital in Montgomery, Alabama (later moved to Atlanta). [[spoiler:They seize Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia after the Khakis' leadership is decapitated, but a failed coup by a group of generals fearing the growth of fascist influence causes the fascists to effectively take over. New England defects to the Continental Congress as a result, and between that, the ASR joining the Popular Front, and the fascists' dysfunctional leadership, the Whites fall apart and are soon overrun.]]

** Huey Long's fascist White government is initially established in Montgomery, Alabama, before being move to Atlanta after gaining control of Georgia.

** 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, and eastern New England, with their capital in Montgomery, Alabama. [[spoiler:They seize Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia after the Khakis' leadership is decapitated, but a failed coup by a group of generals fearing the growth of fascist influence causes the fascists to effectively take over. New England defects to the Continental Congress as a result, and between that, the ASR joining the Popular Front, and the fascists' dysfunctional leadership, the Whites fall apart and are soon overrun.]]

* TheGreatDepression: Why the United States falls into civil war.

* CanucksWithChinooks: They don't have Chinooks yet, of course, but they ''do'' [[spoiler:[[BigDamnHeroes intervene in Washington State against the Japanese forces there]], [[CurbStompBattle catching them completely by surprise, inflicting a devastating defeat on them, and throwing them all the way back to the Olympic Peninsula]]]].

* KatanasOfTheRisingSun: See InvadedStatesOfAmerica above.

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

** "[[spoiler:The Government Overthrown]]- 1937": Ladies and gentlemen, [[spoiler:with the assault on the White House and the death of Alfred Landon, the Second American Civil War has begun]].
* 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 (and lack of American business investment). 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, taking a full year to defeat the country as opposed to six weeks; Premier Paul Reynard goes on to lead a government-in-exile in London. France's defeat leads to the Nazis conquering most of Spain, signing a peace treaty with the UK, and launching an invasion of the USSR. Eventually, the Soviets fight the Nazis back (partly because the USSR's war with Japan left them rearmed and better prepared for an invasion), but at the cost of millions more lives than in OTL. Once it becomes clear that the Soviets won't stop at Germany, Britain declares war on the USSR in the final phase of the European war, using its newly-minted nuclear arsenal on advancing Soviet forces to prevent western France -- and with it, all of continental Europe -- from falling to the Reds.]]
** The war plays out differently 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 in support of the Whites]], launches an invasion of Manchuria to distract the Japanese, which has the side effect of rearming and preparing the Red Army better for the Nazis' invasion in the west (see above). [[spoiler: Japan is eventually forced out of Asia completely by the Soviets, and their attempted invasion of the West Coast ends in catastrophic failure. However, they still retain all of America's Pacific territories, along with the Aleutian islands, and are expelling Americans from Hawaii.]]
* YanksWithTanks: Fighting ''each other''.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Believe it or not, it takes ''several posts'' for the POD to actually occur[[note]][[spoiler:Giuseppe Zangara [[Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle managing to assassinate]] UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt]][[/note]]. All of the difficulties, horrors, and conflicts that were present prior to that ''actually happened''.

* 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 (and lack of American business investment). 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.]]
** However, [[spoiler:Germany does beat France in the end, and Premier Paul Reynard creates a government-in-exile in London.]]
*** [[spoiler: This leads to the Nazis conquering most of Spain, signing a peace treaty with the UK, and launching an invasion of the USSR. Eventually the Nazis are fought back, but at the cost of millions more lives than in OTL.]]
** The war plays out differently 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. [[spoiler: Japan is eventually forced out of Asia completely by the Soviets.]]

** The war plays out differently 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.

** The Left faction of the Blues, hearing a rumor that the Right faction is about to purge them, commit their own purge. Though this one is less violent than the others. Less "We're throwing you in jail", more "We're not gonna let you have any real power".

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

* ShoutOut: Believe it or not, Ephraim Ben Raphael actually made a ''WebComic/{{Polandball}}'' comic [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8845587&postcount=892 based off of the book's timeline]].

* ShoutOut: Believe it or not, Ephraim Ben Raphael actually made a WebComic/{{Polandball}} comic [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8845587&postcount=892 based off of the timeline]].

** The Provisional Government, also called the Blues, lead by John L. Lewis. A coalition of liberals and democratic socialists, they control the upper Midwest, upstate New York, western New England, and the West Coast, with their capital in St. Paul, Minnesota. [[They form an alliance with the Continental Congress known as the Red Oak Pact, and later one with the AWC called the Popular Front. With Canadian backing, they defeat the Whites and then the ASR, winning the civil war.]]

Unfortunately, the story became a DeadFic after the author was caught UsefulNotes/{{plagiari|sm}}zing sources (most notably ''The Glory and the Dream'' by William Manchester) to use as material for updates, with the admins locking the thread. But with permission of the admins, it's back, and can be found [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=334992 here]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The war ends with the Whites and the ASR defeated, but the nation lies in ruins after 7 years of conflict, with a total death toll of ''12 million'' (largely due to disease and famine). However, Eisenhower is elected President, and under his administration, the economy eventually stabilizes and the US once again becomes a thriving nation.]]

** 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, a Filipino corps stationed in Alaska begins a revolt against the Khakis there, 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, forming 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 Provisional Government, also called the Blues, lead by John L. Lewis. Basically a Liberal/Socialist faction, they control the Upper Midwest, Upstate New York, Vermont, 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. [[spoiler:Have allied themselves with the Blues against the Whites and are backed by Canada.]]

*** William Langer, Governor of North Dakota, has declared secession from the Union.
*** Sumner Sewell, Governor of Maine. While not declaring secession, he cooperates closely with Canada and has allied with whichever (American) 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.]]

** The main force is the Red Oak Pact. The Provisional Government, The Continental Congress, Maine, [[spoiler:Omar Bradley in the Rockies, Admiral King in Alaska, khaki forces in Puerto Rico, and Admirals Bloch and Fletcher in Guantanamo Bay]] all align themselves against Huey Long and [[spoiler:and the Japanese invaders]].

Unfortunately, the story became a DeadFic after the author was caught UsefulNotes/{{plagiari|sm}}zing sources (most notably ''The Glory and the Dream'' by William Manchester) to use as material for updates, with the admins locking the thread. But with permission of the admins, it's back, and can be found [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=9961146#post9961146 here]].

Unfortunately, the story became a DeadFic after the author was caught UsefulNotes/{{plagiari|sm}}zing sources (most notably ''The Glory and the Dream'' by William Manchester) to use as material for updates, with the admins locking the thread.