History Literature / DecadesOfDarkness

* MarySueTopia: While not really implausible, the Kingdom of Australia and its people are too perfect and successful to be a realistic country, in the eyes of some.
** Actually, they're still not as good as the real Australia is. Just kidding. I'd like to point out this may be a case of AuthorAppeal(as is the case with many other things in the TL). Not to mention that real problems in the country have been talked about, including not having enough water and extreme environmental degradation.
** Liberia fits this trope squarely, the land of former slaves from the Americas. Contrary to real-world Liberia, where different factions have fought one another in one of Africa's longest and cruelest civil wars, it is peaceful and prosperous, with leading figures declaring that race does not matter in their eyes. Even more remarkable when the citizens come not only from the United States, as in the real Liberia, but also from all over the Caribbean, yet still enjoy enlightened fraternal harmony. With no enforced servitude, contrary to black history in real-world Africa. Certainly a case of AuthorAppeal.
*** Not quite. It experienced [[spoiler:a coup d'etat in the last phase of the Great war]]. *Liberia's status as a model nation is the result of a more favorable location and greater immigration and investment into the new nation.
**** While there is a coup d'état toward the end of the story, there is nowhere near the brutality of the real Liberia, or the strife and corruption in most African nations. Likewise, tribal divisions are mostly non-existent in Liberia, making it highly distinct from real-world Africa.
***** It fits for the story Liberia to be highly distinct from real-world Liberia. Real-world Liberia was founded by a little over ten thousand voluntary emigrants to an unwelcoming environment, while the story Liberia was formed by over a hundred thousand people expelled from the United States because of their race, and moved to a different climate. The story Liberia is essentially part of the United States transplanted into Africa.

* SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility: Though some of its more devoted aficionados may want to disagree, [=DoD=] is definitely quite a bit more soft than hard AH, for a very large number of reasons(slavery surviving in the mid 20th Century is a huge example!); may be somewhat more plausible Stirling's Draka, but is beaten out by most other works on AH.com, as well as even Turtledove's "Southern Victory" series, itself criticized for a seeming lack of plausibility.

* SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility: Though some of its more devoted aficionados may want to disagree, [=DoD=] is definitely quite a bit more soft than hard AH; more plausible than Turtledove's "Timeline 191" or Stirling's Draka

** Then there's the opera singer [[{{Tintin}} Bianca Reinblume]].
** There's a huge one to ''StarWars''. The three subchapters are named "The Start of Wars: A New Hope?", "The Reich Strikes Back" and "The Return of the JD-Is"[[note]]referring to the Jäger-Doter Model I panzers[[/note]] respectively. And then we meet two pilot volunteers for the republican side, named Hans (who flies ''solo'' in his Jahrhundert Falke / Century Falcon) and Luke, who earns the Badass epithet Cloudstalker. There's even an alleged quote of "I have a very bad feeling about this...".

* Creator/BenjaminDisraeli is British PM in a pretty bad moment - his country loses a war against the *US.

* DavidLloydGeorge manages to become PM of ''two'' countries - first of Britain, for Labour, later of [[spoiler:independent Cymru (Wales)]].

* HundredPercentApprovalRating: Some Canadian republicans in Wisconsin (part of Canada in this story) are so popular, they could have demanded the annexation of Wisconsin by the German ''Reich'', and people would have brought flags with the three-headed eagle. At least that's what they say about themselves.

* FamousNamedForeigner: Karl Marx's co-author Adenauer(!), banker Escher, professor Disraeli, French president Marceau, German colonist Schweitzer, British writer Clement Churchill, Italian general Verdi, a St Petersburg publishing company owned by "Ulyanov and Trotsky" (Ulyanov was Vladimir Lenin's original surname), German (left) politician Blucher, SF author Grillparzer, let alone the composer Schicklgruber, which is, as some may know, the birth name of AdolfHitler's father.

'''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 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.

In a dark twist on the values which America holds so dear, this empire is in fact the United States. The tale begins as a strategically timed heart attack kills off UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson at the worst moment of the historical New England separatist movement in 1809. The bumbling UsefulNotes/JamesMadison, his successor, gets into a war with Great Britain and the New England rebels in 1811 and loses handily. Since New England was the center of abolitionist ideology in our world, its secession from the Union swings the political balance in favor of slavery advocates. From here on, the timeline somehow manages to become broader in scope until it is global, while at the same time getting more and more detailed.

It ends in 1935 as the world seems to be settling into a [[strike:three]] 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.

''DecadesOfDarkness'' 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 20.1.2009. A series of vignettes and a novel exploring the future of this world remain in the works.

* CivilWar: Starts with a much earlier UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, then continues with civil wars in Brazil, Canada, etc. The last days of [[spoiler:the United Kingdom]] may also count as one.

* 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. UlyssesSGrant even is a reporter.

* CivilWar: Starts with a much earlier AmericanCivilWar, then continues with civil wars in Brazil, Canada, etc. The last days of [[spoiler:the United Kingdom]] may also count as one.

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

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

* 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 France's territory. As a result, there's the general idea that countries attacking and conquering each other is [[CrapsackWorld just perfectly normal]].

* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: Subverted. It's ''[[BigApplesauce New York]]'' that becomes famous for its Mardi Gras celebrations. As for New Orleans itself? The financial capital of the *US and the Western hemisphere, with Canal Street becoming the equivalent of Wall Street. In other words, New Orleans became New York, and vice versa.

* 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]].

** Japan launches a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor... in 1892, to [[BigDamnHeroes kick out an attempted American filibuster of Hawaii]].

* AlternateHistoryWank: Played somewhat straight where the *U.S. is concerned. The *USA's expansion starts to become a bit on the implausible side towards the end of the story. Russia also has a few issues in this regard.

* SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility: Though some of its more devoted aficionados may want to disagree, [=DoD=] is definitely quite a bit more soft than hard AH; more plausible than Turtledove's "TL-191" or Stirling's Draka

* HundredPercentApprovalRating: Some Canadian republicans in Wisconsin are so popular, they could have demanded the annexation of Wisconsin by the Reich, and people would have brought flags with the three-headed eagle. At least that's what they say about themselves.

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

*** While the *USA is a de jure constitutional federation, it is unfortunately, in all reality, largely controlled by horribly immoral wealthy planters and unscrupulous industrialists; both of these elite groups, btw, were the key to the ultimate perservation of U.S. slavery.

* 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.

* GovernmentInExile: after the North American War and the following occupation of Venezuela, Australia harboured the Venezuelian government-in-exile.

* HopelessWar: The futile but heroic struggles of Latin Americans against the *USA.....though not always.

* LaResistance: Various, like the Velvet Underground in Pennsylvania, Mexican generals like Juarez, and Eunuco Mitchell. Unfortunately, none have prevailed.

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

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Hey, it covers more than a hundred years, and events from all over the world.

'''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 ''TheDraka'' series: a 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.

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

* SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility: Though some of its more devoted aficionados may want to disagree, DoD is definitely quite a bit more soft than hard AH; more plausible than Turtledove's "TL-191" or Stirling's Draka

* OneHundredPercentApprovalRating: Some Canadian republicans in Wisconsin are so popular, they could have demanded the annexation of Wisconsin by the Reich, and people would have brought flags with the three-headed eagle. At least that's what they say about themselves.

In a dark twist on the values which America holds so dear, this empire is in fact the United States. The tale begins as a strategically timed heart attack kills off ThomasJefferson at the worst moment of the historical New England separatist movement in 1809. The bumbling JamesMadison, his successor, gets into a war with Great Britain and the New England rebels in 1811 and loses handily. Since New England was the center of abolitionist ideology in our world, its secession from the Union swings the political balance in favor of slavery advocates. From here on, the timeline somehow manages to become broader in scope until it is global, while at the same time getting more and more detailed.

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

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

* AlternateHistoryWank: Subverted, the *USA is quite plausible and well explained despite being very successful.

** And most people in [=DoD=] ''think'' that the secession of New England was inevitable, going as far as stating that *Americans and Yankees are different people.
* SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility: The TL is very much on the "hard" side of the scale.

* MarySueTopia: While not really implausible, the Kingdom of Australia and its people are too perfect and successful to be a realistic country.
** Actually, they're still not as good as the real Australia is. Just kidding. I'd like to point out this may be a case of AuthorAppeal. Not to mention that real problems in the country have been talked about, including not having enough water and extreme environmental degradation.

** 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. This has 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.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The reason for the support of Alvar O'Brien by his archenemy Plutarco Bautista against presidential candidate Jefferson Caden, who is an extreme racist and warhawk.
* FamousNamedForeigner: Karl Marx's co-author Adenauer(!), banker Escher, professor Disraeli, French president Marceau, German colonist Schweitzer, British writer Clement Churchill, Italian general Verdi, a St Petersburg publishing company owned by "Ulyanov and Trotsky" (Ulyanov was Vladimir Lenin's original surname), German (left) politician Blucher, SF author Grillparzer, let alone the composer Schicklgruber, which is, as you all know, the birth name of AdolfHitler's father.

* AmericaTakesOverTheWorld

* TheBarnum: Phineas T. Barnum, who becomes president of New England

* 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.

* FamousNamedForeigner: Karl Marx' co-author Adenauer(!), banker Escher, professor Disraeli, French president Marceau, German colonist Schweitzer, British writer Clement Churchill, Italian general Verdi, German (left) politician Blucher, SF author Grillparzer, let alone the composer Schicklgruber, which is, as you all know, the birth name of AdolfHitler's father.

* RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: William Randolph Hearst is a general... and there's other examples, too.

* TheCommonwealth: 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.]]

* 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.

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

** Averted for Germany and Russia

***** It fits for the story Liberia to be highly distinct from real-world Liberia. Real-world Liberia was founded by a little over ten thousand voluntary emigrants to an unwelcoming environment, while the story Liberia was formed by over a hundred thousand people expelled from the United States because of their race, and moved to a different climate. The story Liberia is essentially part of the United States transplanted into Africa.

** Subverted by the Portuguese kingdom. It seemed to be heading into becoming one after losing its closest ally, Imperial Brazil and being forced to sell most of their overseas empire [[spoiler:...only to gain a large colonial empire in West Africa in the post-Great war era.]]

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* 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. Lovecraft's virulent racism, of course, is replaced with an equally virulent anti-*Americanism from Phillips -- one of his most popular novels depicts, in vivid detail, the collapse of the *US.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Some Hispanics manage to rise to the top in the *US and *Fascist New England - Alvar O'Brien (Alvarez Obregon) in the former, Rodney Ironfist (Rodrigo Heredia) in the latter. Abraham Myers, first Jewish president of the *USA, also deserves mention.

* LloydGeorge manages to become PM of ''two'' countries - first of Britain, for Labour, later of independent Cymru (Wales).