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Description
Finally got my computer issues resolved and found time to start making content again. This has been several years in the making, but I’ve decided to get it done in 2021.[1] The idea is this: a world which wanks every country (as of OTL 2021) beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet. Not every letter will get a world, and letters with few countries will be lumped together, so no Omani World Empire. I am adding United States here (America) to prevent a clusterfuck of “United” wanks. As with Bruce’s similar project, I am moving the United Kingdom, but I am moving it to B for Britain (to prevent competition with Germany).

General world setup is an Austro-American Cold War. The United States succeeded in taking Canada from the British during the Revolutionary War, and this led to an earlier desire from Southern politicians to expand southward to add slave states (to balance free ones). This did not prove to be enough, prompting not secession, but outright insurrection by some Southern state governments and pro-slavery factions (and their allies) when abolitionists were inevitably put in government. This civil war led to a new constitution, written by the ruling Freedom Party.[2] Renamed the American Federation[3] after the Civil War, America reoriented itself as the champion of freedom and democracy in the world, seeking to export its form of government in the Americas, and later the entire world. Given that this world had a very limited French Revolution, the idea of exporting revolutions via arms is not as unpopular, its negative effects chalked up to poor circumstances particular to the situation.

In Europe, the fires of the French Revolution were put out before the king could be sent to the guillotine. Instead, a shaky constitutional monarchy was established, which lasted for a few years before falling apart. Napoleon Bonaparte died in obscurity in battle, defending the French monarchy against Jacobins who sought to eliminate not only the Bourbons, but the thrones of all kings the world over. The Jacobins succeeded in taking power in France, at least for a while; it was not long before a coalition of European nations, spearheaded by an Austria seeking to avenge Marie Antoinette, strangled the nascent Second French Revolution in its crib. Metternich’s post-war Concert of Europe was “balanced” in his eyes, which meant that Austria would be the prime guarantor of the new peace. Austria’s victory allowed it to consume the Holy Roman Empire in all but name, becoming hegemon over all German states save Prussia.

Austria

The Austrian Empire, or the Universal Empire as it calls itself, was formed in its current state during what it calls the Unification Wars: a decade-long industrial war that left almost all of Europe – save Austria herself – ravaged. The war began when Prussia was absorbed into the Austrian Empire, unifying Germany and creating a Central European power offensive to the rest of the continent. However, the coalition arrayed against Austria was disorganized, and fell one by one. Revanchist France was first: its defeats in Italy kept its armies distracted on the peninsula, meaning they could not reinforce against the armored thrust through the Low Countries. The Ottomans were kept in Asia by an Austrian Imperial Navy which ruled the Mediterranean and kept Britain out through its control of the Straits of Gibraltar. The Russian Tsar’s poorly-equipped peasant armies fell to entrenched Austrian positions throughout Poland, and later entire armies were encircled by Austrian armor. Spain acceded to Austrian rule under the Habsburgs. Only Britain remained, incapable of assaulting the continental hegemon yet safe from its advances. The tide finally turned when the Austrian Imperial Aviation Force successfully bombed Britain’s cities to rubble and kept the Royal Navy away; by the end of the war, the Austrians built aircraft faster than the British could shoot them down. Finally, the Austrians accomplished what nobody could since 1066: invade the British Isles. The British capitulated, their government retreating to what is now known as the East Caribbean Empire.

To say that the Universal Empire considers itself the rightful successor to the Holy Roman Empire, or the Roman Empire, is to understate its ambitions. Although labeled by its American rival as the latest manifestation of absolutist tyranny, a newer, more insidious ideology fuels the ambitions of the Austrian Emperor’s court. Known as the Imperial Way, or just “the Way,” this ideology holds that humanity can never know peace so long as it is politically divided. With the advent of nuclear weapons, this faction has gained ground: the only way to save humanity is with unification, voluntary or otherwise.

With control of Rome, and the recreation of the Papal States after the brief Italian unification, the Habsburgs dominate the Roman Catholic Church. No Pope since the end of the Unification Wars has been chosen without the Emperor’s consent, and the past three have been Austrians hand-picked from the Habsburg courts. Combined with historical anti-Catholic sentiment in America, modern American views on Catholics are dim at best. The government has taken actions to limit the Catholic Church in the name of national security, with these actions bitterly contested in American political discourse. Still, the First Right has prevented the government from outright marking the Catholic Church an agent of a foreign power or shutting down Catholic churches for “subversive messaging.”

Albania

Joining Austria in her war of conquest, Albania was one of the few European countries apart from Austria to gain during the Unification Wars. Albania managed this through dynastic luck: as the Ottoman Empire collapsed, its former domains were divided among European spheres of influence along royal lines. The Habsburgs were given Albania. Albania dutifully joined the Universal Empire during the Unification Wars, maintaining its independence even after the war. As spoils, Albania gained portions of the Balkans that not even the Habsburgs want. Most of these territories have been claimed under Albania’s ideal “Greater Albania,” but the Austrians also assigned Albania the grim work of “pacifying” parts of the Balkans. Such is the price of independence, and the ability for Albanians to practice Islam freely.

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda is the center of the East Caribbean Empire, last domain of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha after they were ousted from power by the Habsburgs. The British took control of French, Dutch and Danish possessions in the Caribbean as those countries fell, and after the retreat from London, administration of all European Caribbean territories fell to Saint John’s. This later included former British colonies in Western Africa. Ironically, they now rely on revolutionary America to protect them. Although still obviously European and retaining British customs and accents, the Imperial house of the East Caribbean increasingly sees itself as a Caribbean entity, not a British one. Their imperial claims to portions of Britain’s former African empire have been used as a means for the Americans to extend control across the Pacific, and ironically as bases for America to support anti-colonial revolutions across the continent.

Andorra

Andorra was one of the unexpected “winners” of the Unification Wars, nearly tripling in size at the end of the conflict. This occurred thanks to the perfidy of one of its wartime leaders against another. Prior to the Unification Wars, Andorra was governed by two leaders: the Spanish Bishop of Urgell and whoever led France at the time. When France’s Revanchist leadership fled to Andorra to escape the Austrians, the Bishop of Urgell imprisoned them and gave them up to the Austrians. This was pre-arranged with Austria, which promised the Bishop of Urgell sole leadership over Andorra and French territory added to the microstate. Because of its utility as an outlet for vice and a way to launder dirty money for the Austrian elite, Andorra maintains its relative independence in the face of Austrian domination. The restrictive laws the Universal Empire imposes on its other subjects largely do not apply here.

Australia

While a British Commonwealth realm at the end of the Unification Wars, the political climate in Australia was too anti-British to allow the British royal family to settle there. Too many of Australia’s young men perished during the Unification Wars, a conflict that most Australians believed never concerned them. Such was the hatred for the British that, when Australia’s prime minister suggested that the British royal family find refuge in the country, rioting began in every major Australian city. The Australian Parliament quickly ousted the prime minister and proclaimed Australia a republic. Although it has rejected the British monarchy, Australia has taken control of Britain’s substantial responsibilities in the Pacific. With the assistance of the sizable American Navy, the Australians welcomed the former Royal Navy’s vessels and sailors in the Pacific, almost all of whom did not want to return to the conquered British Isles. Australia has consequently become the Pacific powerhouse of the Two Oceans Accord.

Armenia and Azerbaijan [4]

The fall of the Russian Empire led to chaos across its former domains. While Eastern Europe was placed firmly under the Austrian thumb, the Austrians did not care much what happened beyond the European continent. The once-subjugated peoples of the Caucasus rose up in revolution, spurred on by regiments of their own people defecting from the Tsar’s crumbling army. Armenia and Azerbaijan emerged as powerhouses, as their independence wars spread from the former Russian Empire and into Anatolia and Persia, as the Ottoman and Persian empires were thrown into chaos by the Mahdi’s revolution. Now the rivalry between Armenia and Azerbaijan threatens to become nuclear. While neither are active participants in the Great Standoff - in fact, both powers are part of the Neutralists - the two have flirted with both America and Austria, occasionally switching sides. Of particular concern is that both states are armed with atomic weapons, technology gained through yet-undisclosed means (although American involvement is theorized, with America historically acting as a guarantor of both states’ independence). The two powers have fought numerous wars with one another since both attaining nuclear capabilities, and while their weapons have never been deployed in anger, there is fear that the next war will be the first nuclear conflict on Earth. Another concern is the security of these weapons: neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan have well-run, well-paid soldiers, so there is fear that these weapons will fall into the wrong hands.

Afghanistan

As the British and Russian empires fell apart, a revolutionary movement swept Central Asia. A cleric named Mohammed Hadir, proclaimed to be the Mahdi by his followers, spent decades preaching the message of worldwide Islamic revolution from Christian and European domination. Initially suppressed by authorities friendly to Britain and Russia, Hadir’s movement was later accepted by Afghanistan’s government. This acceptance, done to appease Hadir’s supporters, became a de facto coup, as the claimed Mahdi’s followers gained all of the high-ranking positions in government and deposed the Afghan emir in a palace coup. Hadir was placed as the spiritual head of Afghanistan and, as he promised, soon the entire Islamic world. In other times, Hadir would have been driven out of Kabul by British or Russian troops. But at the time, both Britain and Russia were fighting the Unification Wars, and so could not spare their attention. The Mahdi used Afghanistan as his base of operations, launching revolutions in British India, Russian Central Asia, and the outskirts of China. Afghanistan took much territory for its caliphate, but also established satellite regimes. The Mahdi then turned his attention westward, against the rotting Persian and Ottoman Empires. However, his advances were stopped at the frontiers of the Islamic world; Austrian troops supported the Armenians against the greater threat of the Mahdi, and India’s Hindus were not keen on another era of Islamic domination and rallied to stop the invaders. Hadir died before he could form his world caliphate, but his rule in Afghanistan was secure. Ever since, Afghanistan has served as the center of the Islamic revolution movement, a thorn in the side of their neighbors, but of little concern to America and Austria.

Algeria

Algeria, long under French domination, got a big break when France fell to the Austrians. While the modern Austrian Empire has universal ambitions, at the time of the Unification Wars, its hunger was limited to the European continent. As a colony of Austria’s French rival, Algeria’s independence movement was supported by the Austrians, who sought to weaken the French at every opportunity. While Austria’s armies conquered Europe, the newly-independent Algeria began a similar project in northwest Africa. Algeria’s revolutionary leaders, ironically inspired by the French Jacobins, wanted to spread their revolution as far as possible, although they knew they could not challenge Austrian rule on the continent. By the end of the Unification Wars, Algeria had succeeded in conquering most of northwest Africa, as many colonial French and British troops refused to fight the Algerians and instead fled to greener pastures.

Austrian support for the Algerian Revolution turned out to be a major geopolitical error. The Algerians, being committed secular republicans, saw the Austrians as an ideologically abhorrent threat, and vice versa. American support for the Algerians soon prevented any Austrian attempts at regime change by the time Europe was pacified enough for such an adventure to be worthwhile. Although American attempts to place nuclear missiles in Algeria have been thwarted by Austrian threats to start a war, Algeria remains a knife poking at the soft underbelly of the Universal Empire.

Angola

With Portugal’s fall to the Austrians imminent, the Portuguese monarchy and government fled to the colonies. While Brazil was their first choice, at the time the Brazilians were undergoing their own revolution, and it was unclear if the monarchy would be safe there. Thus, the Portuguese stayed in the African colony of Angola, waiting for either the Brazilian Revolution to end, or for the Austrians to be expelled from their homeland. Unfortunately, the Brazilian revolutionaries would emerge victorious, and the new government made it clear in no uncertain terms that they would not welcome the Portuguese monarchy. Stranded, the Portuguese invested their efforts in building up an African empire, managing to secure much of southern Africa from the crumbling British and French empires. Although initially no different from the other European colonies, the Portuguese colonial government gradually Africanized, as the hopes of returning to Portugal became more unrealistic. Eventually, the country changed its official name to the Empire of Angola. Nevertheless, a “colorist” hierarchy system remains in place, although Angolan Africans have a superior position over Angola’s colonies.

Argentina

Argentina is a regional power, and would be a world power if it applied itself. Its economy is third in the world, behind only America and Austria. But its reach is limited to South America. After a tumultuous independence, Argentina emerged as the premier Latin American power, conquering Chile and defeating Brazil and Bolivia in numerous wars in the 19th century. Although motivated by the ideals of revolutionary republicanism like their American counterparts in the north, the Argentines have no interest in world revolution. While a majority of them are Catholics, Argentines are disgusted by the Universal Empire’s despotism, and there is even talk of housing dissident Catholic clergy in a parallel church until Rome is liberated from Austrian rule. The Argentines have no interest in participating in the Great Standoff, and have been a neutral meeting ground between the Two Oceans Accord and the Universal Empire.

American Federation

The American Federation is the other superpower dominating the world, presenting itself as the champion of democratic rule and individual rule, in contrast to the autocratic Austrians. It enjoys greater economic power than the Austrians, although Austria can challenge America militarily. America enjoys dominance over the Americas, but also Africa and much of Asia, including having good relations with the anti-European Chinese and Indian governments. Although historically an opponent of European colonialism, the hypocritical practice of supporting anti-Austrian regimes in spite of their own despotism, and the ruthless economic exploitation the Americans have pushed throughout the world, have given the Austrians a way to paint America as a rapacious, imperialist power.

[1] I was originally going to start in 2020, but life got in the way.
[2] Irony not lost on interdimensional observers.
[3] Watsonian reason: to strengthen the prime position of the federal government and build a unified American identity. Doylist reason: so the “A” placement is more appropriate.
[4] This was all written in February of 2020, way before the 2020 war there.

Description
Finally got my computer issues resolved and found time to start making content again. This has been several years in the making, but I’ve decided to get it done in 2021.[1] The idea is this: a world which wanks every country (as of OTL 2021) beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet. Not every letter will get a world, and letters with few countries will be lumped together, so no Omani World Empire. I am adding United States here (America) to prevent a clusterfuck of “United” wanks. As with Bruce’s similar project, I am moving the United Kingdom, but I am moving it to B for Britain (to prevent competition with Germany).

General world setup is an Austro-American Cold War. The United States succeeded in taking Canada from the British during the Revolutionary War, and this led to an earlier desire from Southern politicians to expand southward to add slave states (to balance free ones). This did not prove to be enough, prompting not secession, but outright insurrection by some Southern state governments and pro-slavery factions (and their allies) when abolitionists were inevitably put in government. This civil war led to a new constitution, written by the ruling Freedom Party.[2] Renamed the American Federation[3] after the Civil War, America reoriented itself as the champion of freedom and democracy in the world, seeking to export its form of government in the Americas, and later the entire world. Given that this world had a very limited French Revolution, the idea of exporting revolutions via arms is not as unpopular, its negative effects chalked up to poor circumstances particular to the situation.

In Europe, the fires of the French Revolution were put out before the king could be sent to the guillotine. Instead, a shaky constitutional monarchy was established, which lasted for a few years before falling apart. Napoleon Bonaparte died in obscurity in battle, defending the French monarchy against Jacobins who sought to eliminate not only the Bourbons, but the thrones of all kings the world over. The Jacobins succeeded in taking power in France, at least for a while; it was not long before a coalition of European nations, spearheaded by an Austria seeking to avenge Marie Antoinette, strangled the nascent Second French Revolution in its crib. Metternich’s post-war Concert of Europe was “balanced” in his eyes, which meant that Austria would be the prime guarantor of the new peace. Austria’s victory allowed it to consume the Holy Roman Empire in all but name, becoming hegemon over all German states save Prussia.

Austria

The Austrian Empire, or the Universal Empire as it calls itself, was formed in its current state during what it calls the Unification Wars: a decade-long industrial war that left almost all of Europe – save Austria herself – ravaged. The war began when Prussia was absorbed into the Austrian Empire, unifying Germany and creating a Central European power offensive to the rest of the continent. However, the coalition arrayed against Austria was disorganized, and fell one by one. Revanchist France was first: its defeats in Italy kept its armies distracted on the peninsula, meaning they could not reinforce against the armored thrust through the Low Countries. The Ottomans were kept in Asia by an Austrian Imperial Navy which ruled the Mediterranean and kept Britain out through its control of the Straits of Gibraltar. The Russian Tsar’s poorly-equipped peasant armies fell to entrenched Austrian positions throughout Poland, and later entire armies were encircled by Austrian armor. Spain acceded to Austrian rule under the Habsburgs. Only Britain remained, incapable of assaulting the continental hegemon yet safe from its advances. The tide finally turned when the Austrian Imperial Aviation Force successfully bombed Britain’s cities to rubble and kept the Royal Navy away; by the end of the war, the Austrians built aircraft faster than the British could shoot them down. Finally, the Austrians accomplished what nobody could since 1066: invade the British Isles. The British capitulated, their government retreating to what is now known as the East Caribbean Empire.

To say that the Universal Empire considers itself the rightful successor to the Holy Roman Empire, or the Roman Empire, is to understate its ambitions. Although labeled by its American rival as the latest manifestation of absolutist tyranny, a newer, more insidious ideology fuels the ambitions of the Austrian Emperor’s court. Known as the Imperial Way, or just “the Way,” this ideology holds that humanity can never know peace so long as it is politically divided. With the advent of nuclear weapons, this faction has gained ground: the only way to save humanity is with unification, voluntary or otherwise.

With control of Rome, and the recreation of the Papal States after the brief Italian unification, the Habsburgs dominate the Roman Catholic Church. No Pope since the end of the Unification Wars has been chosen without the Emperor’s consent, and the past three have been Austrians hand-picked from the Habsburg courts. Combined with historical anti-Catholic sentiment in America, modern American views on Catholics are dim at best. The government has taken actions to limit the Catholic Church in the name of national security, with these actions bitterly contested in American political discourse. Still, the First Right has prevented the government from outright marking the Catholic Church an agent of a foreign power or shutting down Catholic churches for “subversive messaging.”

Albania

Joining Austria in her war of conquest, Albania was one of the few European countries apart from Austria to gain during the Unification Wars. Albania managed this through dynastic luck: as the Ottoman Empire collapsed, its former domains were divided among European spheres of influence along royal lines. The Habsburgs were given Albania. Albania dutifully joined the Universal Empire during the Unification Wars, maintaining its independence even after the war. As spoils, Albania gained portions of the Balkans that not even the Habsburgs want. Most of these territories have been claimed under Albania’s ideal “Greater Albania,” but the Austrians also assigned Albania the grim work of “pacifying” parts of the Balkans. Such is the price of independence, and the ability for Albanians to practice Islam freely.

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda is the center of the East Caribbean Empire, last domain of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha after they were ousted from power by the Habsburgs. The British took control of French, Dutch and Danish possessions in the Caribbean as those countries fell, and after the retreat from London, administration of all European Caribbean territories fell to Saint John’s. This later included former British colonies in Western Africa. Ironically, they now rely on revolutionary America to protect them. Although still obviously European and retaining British customs and accents, the Imperial house of the East Caribbean increasingly sees itself as a Caribbean entity, not a British one. Their imperial claims to portions of Britain’s former African empire have been used as a means for the Americans to extend control across the Pacific, and ironically as bases for America to support anti-colonial revolutions across the continent.

Andorra

Andorra was one of the unexpected “winners” of the Unification Wars, nearly tripling in size at the end of the conflict. This occurred thanks to the perfidy of one of its wartime leaders against another. Prior to the Unification Wars, Andorra was governed by two leaders: the Spanish Bishop of Urgell and whoever led France at the time. When France’s Revanchist leadership fled to Andorra to escape the Austrians, the Bishop of Urgell imprisoned them and gave them up to the Austrians. This was pre-arranged with Austria, which promised the Bishop of Urgell sole leadership over Andorra and French territory added to the microstate. Because of its utility as an outlet for vice and a way to launder dirty money for the Austrian elite, Andorra maintains its relative independence in the face of Austrian domination. The restrictive laws the Universal Empire imposes on its other subjects largely do not apply here.

Australia

While a British Commonwealth realm at the end of the Unification Wars, the political climate in Australia was too anti-British to allow the British royal family to settle there. Too many of Australia’s young men perished during the Unification Wars, a conflict that most Australians believed never concerned them. Such was the hatred for the British that, when Australia’s prime minister suggested that the British royal family find refuge in the country, rioting began in every major Australian city. The Australian Parliament quickly ousted the prime minister and proclaimed Australia a republic. Although it has rejected the British monarchy, Australia has taken control of Britain’s substantial responsibilities in the Pacific. With the assistance of the sizable American Navy, the Australians welcomed the former Royal Navy’s vessels and sailors in the Pacific, almost all of whom did not want to return to the conquered British Isles. Australia has consequently become the Pacific powerhouse of the Two Oceans Accord.

Armenia and Azerbaijan [4]

The fall of the Russian Empire led to chaos across its former domains. While Eastern Europe was placed firmly under the Austrian thumb, the Austrians did not care much what happened beyond the European continent. The once-subjugated peoples of the Caucasus rose up in revolution, spurred on by regiments of their own people defecting from the Tsar’s crumbling army. Armenia and Azerbaijan emerged as powerhouses, as their independence wars spread from the former Russian Empire and into Anatolia and Persia, as the Ottoman and Persian empires were thrown into chaos by the Mahdi’s revolution. Now the rivalry between Armenia and Azerbaijan threatens to become nuclear. While neither are active participants in the Great Standoff - in fact, both powers are part of the Neutralists - the two have flirted with both America and Austria, occasionally switching sides. Of particular concern is that both states are armed with atomic weapons, technology gained through yet-undisclosed means (although American involvement is theorized, with America historically acting as a guarantor of both states’ independence). The two powers have fought numerous wars with one another since both attaining nuclear capabilities, and while their weapons have never been deployed in anger, there is fear that the next war will be the first nuclear conflict on Earth. Another concern is the security of these weapons: neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan have well-run, well-paid soldiers, so there is fear that these weapons will fall into the wrong hands.

Afghanistan

As the British and Russian empires fell apart, a revolutionary movement swept Central Asia. A cleric named Mohammed Hadir, proclaimed to be the Mahdi by his followers, spent decades preaching the message of worldwide Islamic revolution from Christian and European domination. Initially suppressed by authorities friendly to Britain and Russia, Hadir’s movement was later accepted by Afghanistan’s government. This acceptance, done to appease Hadir’s supporters, became a de facto coup, as the claimed Mahdi’s followers gained all of the high-ranking positions in government and deposed the Afghan emir in a palace coup. Hadir was placed as the spiritual head of Afghanistan and, as he promised, soon the entire Islamic world. In other times, Hadir would have been driven out of Kabul by British or Russian troops. But at the time, both Britain and Russia were fighting the Unification Wars, and so could not spare their attention. The Mahdi used Afghanistan as his base of operations, launching revolutions in British India, Russian Central Asia, and the outskirts of China. Afghanistan took much territory for its caliphate, but also established satellite regimes. The Mahdi then turned his attention westward, against the rotting Persian and Ottoman Empires. However, his advances were stopped at the frontiers of the Islamic world; Austrian troops supported the Armenians against the greater threat of the Mahdi, and India’s Hindus were not keen on another era of Islamic domination and rallied to stop the invaders. Hadir died before he could form his world caliphate, but his rule in Afghanistan was secure. Ever since, Afghanistan has served as the center of the Islamic revolution movement, a thorn in the side of their neighbors, but of little concern to America and Austria.

Algeria

Algeria, long under French domination, got a big break when France fell to the Austrians. While the modern Austrian Empire has universal ambitions, at the time of the Unification Wars, its hunger was limited to the European continent. As a colony of Austria’s French rival, Algeria’s independence movement was supported by the Austrians, who sought to weaken the French at every opportunity. While Austria’s armies conquered Europe, the newly-independent Algeria began a similar project in northwest Africa. Algeria’s revolutionary leaders, ironically inspired by the French Jacobins, wanted to spread their revolution as far as possible, although they knew they could not challenge Austrian rule on the continent. By the end of the Unification Wars, Algeria had succeeded in conquering most of northwest Africa, as many colonial French and British troops refused to fight the Algerians and instead fled to greener pastures.

Austrian support for the Algerian Revolution turned out to be a major geopolitical error. The Algerians, being committed secular republicans, saw the Austrians as an ideologically abhorrent threat, and vice versa. American support for the Algerians soon prevented any Austrian attempts at regime change by the time Europe was pacified enough for such an adventure to be worthwhile. Although American attempts to place nuclear missiles in Algeria have been thwarted by Austrian threats to start a war, Algeria remains a knife poking at the soft underbelly of the Universal Empire.

Angola

With Portugal’s fall to the Austrians imminent, the Portuguese monarchy and government fled to the colonies. While Brazil was their first choice, at the time the Brazilians were undergoing their own revolution, and it was unclear if the monarchy would be safe there. Thus, the Portuguese stayed in the African colony of Angola, waiting for either the Brazilian Revolution to end, or for the Austrians to be expelled from their homeland. Unfortunately, the Brazilian revolutionaries would emerge victorious, and the new government made it clear in no uncertain terms that they would not welcome the Portuguese monarchy. Stranded, the Portuguese invested their efforts in building up an African empire, managing to secure much of southern Africa from the crumbling British and French empires. Although initially no different from the other European colonies, the Portuguese colonial government gradually Africanized, as the hopes of returning to Portugal became more unrealistic. Eventually, the country changed its official name to the Empire of Angola. Nevertheless, a “colorist” hierarchy system remains in place, although Angolan Africans have a superior position over Angola’s colonies.

Argentina

Argentina is a regional power, and would be a world power if it applied itself. Its economy is third in the world, behind only America and Austria. But its reach is limited to South America. After a tumultuous independence, Argentina emerged as the premier Latin American power, conquering Chile and defeating Brazil and Bolivia in numerous wars in the 19th century. Although motivated by the ideals of revolutionary republicanism like their American counterparts in the north, the Argentines have no interest in world revolution. While a majority of them are Catholics, Argentines are disgusted by the Universal Empire’s despotism, and there is even talk of housing dissident Catholic clergy in a parallel church until Rome is liberated from Austrian rule. The Argentines have no interest in participating in the Great Standoff, and have been a neutral meeting ground between the Two Oceans Accord and the Universal Empire.

American Federation

The American Federation is the other superpower dominating the world, presenting itself as the champion of democratic rule and individual rule, in contrast to the autocratic Austrians. It enjoys greater economic power than the Austrians, although Austria can challenge America militarily. America enjoys dominance over the Americas, but also Africa and much of Asia, including having good relations with the anti-European Chinese and Indian governments. Although historically an opponent of European colonialism, the hypocritical practice of supporting anti-Austrian regimes in spite of their own despotism, and the ruthless economic exploitation the Americans have pushed throughout the world, have given the Austrians a way to paint America as a rapacious, imperialist power.

[1] I was originally going to start in 2020, but life got in the way.
[2] Irony not lost on interdimensional observers.
[3] Watsonian reason: to strengthen the prime position of the federal government and build a unified American identity. Doylist reason: so the “A” placement is more appropriate.
[4] This was all written in February of 2020, way before the 2020 war there.