History Literature / DecadesOfDarkness

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Used to great success in the North American War. RealityEnsues, however, when they are put to use in the Brazilian Civil War a few years later, where they make easy targets for the new anti-air weapons and fighter planes. This causes them to be replaced by conventional bombers in later wars.

** Thoroughly averted. The *USA conquers and enslaves most of the Western Hemisphere while still remaining a republic, while the British, German, and Russian empires are all comparatively nice.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Justified, since the early part is in the time when royal marriages were real diplomacy.

* CulturalPosturing: Due to the *US' pariah status discrediting the idea of white racial supremacy outside of its borders, racism is rooted more in this trope than in ideas of "blood and soil", with leaders proclaiming that anybody can integrate with the culture of their adopted nation provided they learn the language and embrace its values -- but that, for the record, their culture is clearly the superior one, and people should embrace it if they want to be considered civilized. Edmund Schulthess, Chancellor of Germany during the Great War, firmly believed in this, and it heavily informed his decision to [[spoiler:[[BalkanizeMe break up France into multiple small countries]] upon winning the war -- he saw French culture as a fundamental enemy of German culture, and needing to be dissolved if Germany was to remain safe.]]

* DrinkOrder: "Vodka's for Russkies, wine's for Poms, rum's for Jackals, sake's for slant-eyes and beer's for men", one Australian claims.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Or how should you call it? The author wanted to make [=DoD=] essentially "Literature/TheDraka, but done right".

Liberia's status is explained in-story as the result of a more favorable location in Southwest Africa, greater immigration and investment into the new nation (especially once the *US starts expelling free blacks), and most importantly, the fact that the region being settled was only thinly inhabited prior to the creation of the first colonies. (OTL Liberia's location in West Africa is a disease-filled jungle that was already filled with natives, most of who viewed the African Americans as just another colonizing force.) And even then, Liberia's history isn't entirely rosy -- the government commits genocide against the native Herero and Namaqua tribes to make room for "civilized" Liberians, and it experiences [[spoiler:a coup d'etat in the last phase of the Great War]]. While it doesn't suffer the brutality, strife, and corruption of the real Liberia, this isn't because the seeds for such weren't present -- they just never blossomed because it took much less effort to ethnically cleanse the land and create a "model" nation.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: While the *US has built its identity on the preservation of slavery, the populace is only willing to tolerate so much in how slaves and peons are treated. After the North American War, the enslavement of [[spoiler:Canadian rebels in occupied British Columbia]] causes outrage due to the spectacle of [[spoiler:white people being enslaved, with many fearing that they may be next]] -- an admittedly self-serving case, but one all the same. A more clear-cut example comes when outrage over the use of Latina peons as {{sex slave}}s leads to the formation of a peon rights group, the Society for the Ethical Peon Treatment (SEPT).
** There is widespread revulsion in the US at [[spoiler: General Fierro's scorched earth/"safety camp" campaign against the rural population in occupied Colombia]]. although he gets away with it in the end.

** After UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC gets burned to the ground again in the War of 1833, the *US moves its capital to Knoxville, Tennessee, out of the reach of British and Yankee assault. Knoxville was named for the Bostonian Henry Knox, which just cannot do for the nation's new capital given the actions of 'treasonous' New England, and so it is rechristened Columbia City.

** The description of the plans for [[spoiler:Germany's invasion of Britain]] contains a lot of detail about just how many years of planning and preparation went into them. This is a reference to the real-life [[spoiler:Operation Sealion, Hitler's plan to invade the UK, which is a RunningGag on AH.com due to how [[TooDumbToLive monumentally stupid and poorly thought-out]] it was, and how it would have been a total disaster if executed. This is likely because Sealion was never meant to be carried out, as Hitler repeatedly offered peace negotiations to Britain, which he had always respected, and never wanted to invade it (it was Britain and France that declared war on Germany, not the other way around). Sealion was therefore only the beginning of a plan never meant to be used.]]

* InSpiteOfANail: Napoleon I manages to win the battle of Waterloo, only to lose against the Prussians under Blücher afterwards, making "Waterloo" in this world a phrase meaning "a victory claimed too early".

** A CrowningMomentOfFunny goes out to a 1908 Hartford Journal of Literature article which lambastes an ''avant garde'' play whose subject was the meeting of a worker's union to discuss the removal of certain medical benefits from their contract. The reviewer notes that it is impossible to derive this from the dialogue, in which the entire first act consists of two actors repeating the same two lines over and over:

''Decades of Darkness'' is one of the most influential AH.com timelines, and its style of presentation, a mix of academic/historical documents providing the 'big picture' and narrative segments following the characters involved with and observing the events (from the leaders and generals to the average Joes and Janes), has inspired many others. It is often cited alongside earlier works from soc.history.what-if such as ''ForAllTime'' as among the classics of AlternateHistory WebOriginal work. It was concluded on January 20, 2009. A series of vignettes and a novel exploring the future of this world remain in the works.

* TheKingdom: The kingdoms within the British and later Restored Empire fit this trope more or less.

* GratuitousSpanish: Quite some, since *American English contains very many Spanish loan words.

* EiffelTowerEffect: Since urban development patterns were among the many things altered over the years, cities have different landmarks from those known in OTL. For instance, New York, instead of the Statue of Liberty, has the Colossus of New York, a figure resembling an ancient Greek hoplite that was gifted to New England by the Greeks. The New England capital of Hartford and the *US capital of Columbia City ([[PleaseSelectNewCityName formerly]] Knoxville, Tennessee) are nearly unrecognizable from their OTL forms by the 20th century due to all the government buildings and monuments that have been built. There is still a Statue of Liberty... only she's overlooking UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}} Harbour instead.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed.]] In our history, the attacking powers in World War II were defeated and all their conquests undone, so there's the general idea that countries aren't allowed to just attack and conquer each other. In ''Decades of Darkness'', the attacking country ([[spoiler:UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany]]) successfully turned [[spoiler:France and Great Britain]] into [[BalkaniseMe lots of tiny little puppet states]], and annexed lots of [[spoiler:France]]'s territory. As a result, there's the general idea that countries attacking and conquering each other is [[CrapsackWorld just perfectly normal]].

'''Decades Of Darkness''' is an AlternateHistory timeline originating on Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom. The creator, Jared, got the idea from a contest to create a historically plausible version of SMStirling's ''Literature/TheDraka'' series: a [[TheEmpire mega evil slaver doom empire]], built on opposition to the very values that the Western world holds dear, takes over the world. "[=DoD=]", as it's commonly abbreviated, deviated considerably from this origin, which is just as well for that part of the world's population not living under said Empire.

* LovecraftCountry: While the Republic of New England itself isn't portrayed as such, its literary scene produces an analogue of Creator/HPLovecraft and the CthulhuMythos in the form of L. H. Phillips, who is far more successful in life than his inspiration was. While Phillips doesn't share Lovecraft's virulent racism (the *US' [[MoralEventHorizon monstrous behavior]] having discredited white supremacy in most of the world by the 1910s), he does have an equally virulent anti-*Americanism — one of his most popular novels depicts, in vivid detail, the collapse of the *US. Given New England's [[spoiler:then-recent and humiliating loss in the North American War]], comparisons can be drawn to [[spoiler:German expressionism and Weimar art]].

** There is widespread revulsion in the US at [[General Fierro's scorched earth/"safety camp" campaign against the rural population in occupied Colombia]]. although he gets away with it in the end.

* CoolShip: The battleships, with 18-inch cannons - bigger than almost anything in our world, except the Yamato.

* NightSwimEqualsDeath: *US president Donald Bellamy. [[spoiler:He was deep in debt after a big recession, so he made a secret agreement with a fascist leader from New England to have him picked up on the sea, with a submarine. It didn't work out. The details remain a mystery.]]

''Decades of Darkness'' is one of the most influential AH.com timelines, and its style of presentation, a mix of academic/historical documents providing the 'big picture' and narrative segments following the characters involved with and observing the events (from the leaders and generals to the average Joes and Janes), has inspired many others. It is often cited alongside earlier works from soc.history.what-if such as ''For All Time'' as among the classics of AlternateHistory WebOriginal work. It was concluded on January 20, 2009. A series of vignettes and a novel exploring the future of this world remain in the works.

** Inverted: The government of His Majesty the Czar of All the Russias would like to make perfectly clear that it's Constantinople, not Istanbul.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: The transfer to Whydah, an isolated *American colony in West Africa if you belong to the *American military and to Liberia if you belong to the *American State Department.
** Subverted: A decorated Jaguar veteran is handpicked for the prestigious mission of planting the *American flag in Antarctica, symbolizing how *America now stretches not only from "sea to shining sea," but "pole to pole" as well.

* ShoutOut: Many, given to ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'', AlanisMorissette, a group of popular rock bands, and more.

-->Carlson: [[TheSimpsons Lisa needs braces.]]

* TakeThat: In-story. The Latino revolutionary theorist who calls himself "Eunuco Mitchell" used his pseudonym for this trope. It means "the eunuch Mitchell" and refers to the *US president who conquered Colombia and Venezuela.

** The description of the plans for [[spoiler:Germany's invasion of Britain]] contains a lot of detail about just how many years of planning and preparation went into them. This is a reference to the real-life [[spoiler:Operation Sealion, Hitler's plan to invade the UK, which is a RunningGag on AH.com due to how [[TooDumbToLive monumentally stupid and poorly thought-out]] it was, and how it would have been a total disaster if executed]].
** Operation Sealion was never meant to be carried out, as Hitler repeatedly offered peace negotiations to Britain, which he had always respected, and never wanted to invade it (it was Britain and France that declared war on Germany, not the other way around). Sealion was therefore only the beginning of a plan never meant to be used.

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Used to great success in the North American War. Later {{deconstructed}} when they are put to use in the Brazilian Civil War a few years later, where they make easy targets for the new anti-air weapons and fighter planes, causing them to be replaced by conventional bombers in later wars.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed.]] In our history, the attacking powers in World War II were defeated and all their conquests undone, so there's the general idea that countries aren't allowed to just attack and conquer each other. In ''Decades of Darkness'', the attacking country ([[spoiler:UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany]]) successfully turned [[spoiler:France]] and [[spoiler:Great Britain]] into [[BalkaniseMe lots of tiny little puppet states]], and annexed lots of [[spoiler:France]]'s territory. As a result, there's the general idea that countries attacking and conquering each other is [[CrapsackWorld just perfectly normal]].

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Averted. France doesn't end well in TTL, but fights hard. In particular, the trope itself is inverted because for much of the 19th century, the USA considers France to be one of her closest friends and allies.

* EthnicMenialLabor: It starts with black slaves as in our world, after the Mexican conquest more and more ''mestizos'' and ''indios'' are added to the pool, and after the North American War even ''anglos'' (read: Canadian resistance fighters) get enslaved.

* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: ''So'' averted: The *USA conquers and enslaves half the world, while the British, German, and Russian empires are all comparatively nice. Played relatively straight in Brazil, where the monarchy is pro-*US and pro-slavery and the republic is pro-German and immediately abolishes slavery, but it becomes a dictatorship.

* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: But of course. UsefulNotes/JamesMadison causes the USA to break up. UsefulNotes/JeffersonDavis also becomes one. UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln and UsefulNotes/MartinVanBuren become presidents of New England instead. As do Phineas T. Barnum and Daniel Webster. UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant even is a reporter.

It ends in 1935 as the world seems to be settling into a four-way [[SecretWar Cold War]] (called the Silent War) between [[AllNationsAreSuperpowers the four world-dominating power blocs]], the USA (known, owing to its evil, as "Alt USA" or *USA), the German Empire (a mostly monarchist federation under the Hapsburgs), the Russian Federation (an enormously complicated Czarist-federal-democratic... ''thing'' stretching from Constantinople to Beijing), and the Restored Empire (an Indian Rim-centered, Australian-led alliance) and its main ally, Nippon. Needless to say, much has changed in the intervening time.

** The *US makes a point of assimilating those Latinos in the conquered Mexico and Latin America who can either pass for white or are rich enough to buy their citizenship. According to some, this could the ironic effect of making the ruling upper and middle classes of the *US, a nation built upon white supremacy, look rather swarthy and Mediterranean in comparison to their lily-white rivals(though it is highly doubtful that the WASP elites would just stand by and allow this without a fight).

'''Decades Of Darkness''' is an AlternateHistory timeline originating on AlternateHistoryDotCom. The creator, Jared, got the idea from a contest to create a historically plausible version of SMStirling's ''Literature/TheDraka'' series: a [[TheEmpire mega evil slaver doom empire]], built on opposition to the very values that the Western world holds dear, takes over the world. "[=DoD=]", as it's commonly abbreviated, deviated considerably from this origin, which is just as well for that part of the world's population not living under said Empire.

* AmericanPoliticalSystem: One of the central, recurring themes is the evolution of the political systems of the *USA and the Republic of New England.

* AspergerSyndrome: Some Dr. Hans Asperger appears in an AllohistoricalAllusion and becomes the namesake of a medical condition in this world as well. But instead of an autism spectrum disorder, he described full-blown AIDS.

* UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations: the Restored Empire is a closer version. [[spoiler:Interestingly enough, Australia and South Africa have not only replaced the United Kingdom as leading nations, but the fragmented Britain is not even a part of the organization.]]

* UsefulNotes/TheTroubles: The term used to describe the civil war in Canada, fought between the socialist, republican west (which is largely Irish-Canadian) and the monarchist, authoritarian east. Ireland itself, oddly and ironically enough, manages to avoid the Catholic-Protestant tension that plagued it in real life, and remains relatively peaceful.

* UsefulNotes/UnitedNations: The Council of Nations is the in-universe counterpart.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Vitalism. Fun fact: The New England Vitalists' [[{{Blackshirt}} paramilitary wing]] wears [[{{Redshirt}} red shirts]].

''Decades of Darkness'' is one of the most influential AH.com timelines, and its style of presentation has inspired many others. It is often cited alongside earlier works from soc.history.what-if such as ''For All Time'' as among the classics of AlternateHistory WebOriginal work. It was concluded on January 20, 2009. A series of vignettes and a novel exploring the future of this world remain in the works.