Guest Post by Matt Mitrovich: Arab Union

The Arab Union celebrated its 97^th anniversary this month, its birthday being the day the Arab Revolt (1916-1918) began against the Ottoman Empire. Initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali, patriarch of the Hashemite family and Sharif and Emir of Mecca, to stop an increasingly nationalistic Ottoman Empire and secure an independent Arab state. To do this Hussein secured an alliance with the United Kingdom who promised to recognize the Arab independence in an area running from the 37th parallel near the Taurus Mountains on the southern border of Turkey, to be bounded in the east by Persia and the Persian Gulf, in the west by the Mediterranean Sea and in the south by the Arabian Sea.

Buoyed by defections of Arab units to the rebel’s cause, armies led by Hussein's sons, the Emirs Ali and Faisal, drove the Ottomans north ending the Revolt with the capture of Damascus. The city became the coordinating center of the Arab nationalist movement, as it was seen as the birthplace of the ideology and soon the official capital of the Arab Union in 1919 with the first elections for the National Congress.

The existence of the Arab Union was in doubt in its first years. Despite the promises the British made to Hussein, the UK had also promised to divide the former territories of the Ottoman Empire with France in the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement. Fear of fighting the well-organized and battle-hardened Arab armies, along with lobbying from Arab Revolt veteran T.E. Lawrence and pressure from the United States to prevent the spread of European Imperialism, the British government eventually chose to honor their promises to Hussein. France was mollified thanks to a generous trade agreement that would prevent the British from squeezing them out of the Middle East entirely.

With its independence secured from foreign threats, the nascent Union now had to deal with domestic issues that threatened to tear it apart. At this stage Arab nationalism was not yet a mass movement, even in Syria where it was strongest. Many Arabs gave their primary loyalty to their religion or sect, their tribe, or their own particular governments. In fact many of the tribes that had fought for the Hashemites in the Arab Revolt had done so because of British gold instead and not ideological reasons.

There was also the competing ideology of Pan-Islamism which found a patron in the powerful and fundamentalist Saud family who controlled the Sultanate of Nejd. Furthermore, the Arab Union had inherited a large number of minorities, such as the Copts, Berbers, Turks, Jews, Iranians, Maronites and others who feared they would be discriminated against in a new Union ruled predominantly by Arab Muslims.

The Hashemites worked to provide a more liberal, secular, and pro-British alternative that most Arabs and the other religious and ethnic groups could accept. In 1920, the National Congress approved a new constitution that created a constitutional monarchy under the Hashemites with Hussein becoming the first King. Encouraged by his sons, Hussein in 1924 established the Sharifian Caliphate and abdicated all of his secular titles (including King of all Arabs) to his eldest son Ali. Ali would reign until 1935 when he was succeeded by 'Abd al-Ilah. He reigned until 1980 when he was succeeded by his son Ali II, who is the current monarch of the Union. Relations between the Crown and the Caliph have usually been cordial, but separate, allowing non-Muslims to feel they had a voice whenever they felt pressure from the Islamic majority.

Although Ali was King, his more active, younger brothers came to be the power behind the throne and helped build the strong federation the Arab Union would become. Faisal bin Hussein sought to create an Arab government based on justice and equality for all Arabs regardless of religion. Faisal fostered unity between Sunni and Shiite to promote pan-Arabism. As leader of the Arab Independence party (a leftist party with socialist principles and strongly opposed Western political involvement in the Arab world), Faisal tried to diversify the government by including different ethnic and religious groups in political offices. Though Faisal was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Arab nationalism and independence, not religion, was his main motivation. He even managed to have Congress approve the controversial Faisal–Weizmann Agreement that allowed Jewish immigration in Palestine. Jewish settlement in the region remained a trickle until Nazi persecution of European Jews escalated.

Faisal’s brother Abdullah, however, was more of an autocrat and headed the monarchist faction, known as Sharifian party. It was named after the old supporters of Sharif Hussein and was made up of larger number of Revolt veterans who distrusted the young, idealists who had come to power in Damascus. The Sharifian party also had the support of some of the richest and most powerful men in Arabia who opposed the reforms of the Arab Independents that sought to abolish what they called “feudalism”. The Sharifian party eventually took control of the National Congress in the next election. Abdullah, however, was still more moderate then the Pan-Islamist alternative parties in the Congress and worked with his brother Faisal to help push through various comprises that kept the Union together.

The Arab Union slowly expanded over the 1920s. In 1922, to avoid a potentially bloody revolt in Egypt, the British let the country join the Union, as long as the Suez Canal remained under British control. In 1925, the Arab Union and its ally Al Rashid united the Arabian Peninsula after the Sultanate of Nejd was defeated and annexed, driving the Saud family into exile. This was a major blow to Pan-Islamism, but it couldn’t have been accomplished without arms from Europe which worried many Arab nationalists. Throughout the rest of the 1920s and 30s the Arab Union sought to secure its economic independence from Europe by investing profit made from oil exports into local industry. Funds were also used to develop desert motor routes and pipelines as new oil fields were discovered.

Although the Union managed to weather the Great Depression better than most parts of the world, it did not escape the political changes the economic crisis caused. A new political party arose known as the Renaissance Party, which combined fascism with an extreme version of Arab nationalism. The Renaissance Party opposed the liberal Arab Independence Party and considered the Sharifian party traitors. They gained strong support in Palestine by demanding the end of all Jewish settlement there and in many rural, tribal areas that wish to maintain their traditions. Some Renaissance leaders even demanded “racial purity” and were strong supporters of the Nazis in Germany. Many Renaissance supporters were involved in violent acts not just against Jews, but other non-Arabs and non-Muslims throughout the Union, threatening the unity the Hashemites had created.  The coming of World War II, however, would forever change the Union.

The Arab Union tried to remain neutral when World War II started; however with the British controlled Suez Canal deep in their territory, it was only a matter of time before they would be drawn into the war. On September 9, 1940 Italy launched an offensive into Egypt with the goal of securing the Suez Canal. The Italians expected only light resistance from the Arabs and even assumed the Renaissance party would stage a coup and bring the Union into the Axis powers. The Arab forces, however, blunted the Italian advance and by February 1941 were in central Libya. The hopes of a Renaissance revolt were dashed and except for some pro-Axis rioting in Baghdad, the population of the Union rallied against the invaders. What support the Renaissance party had dried up as their leaders were discredited for their past connections with Italy and Germany.

Despite German reinforcement under Erwin Rommel, Arab and British forces were able to secure all of North Africa from Morocco to Libya by 1943. The Arabs were supportive of the British “soft underbelly” strategy and participated in the invasion of Italy and the offensive into the Balkans after Turkey joined the allies. Despite the influx of British and American troops, movement into Europe was slow and there was fear that the Soviets would drive straight toward the English Channel.

This nightmare scenario was prevented by the use of the first atomic bomb (called the “Fist of Allah”) in Italy in 1944. It destroyed the Gothic Line and ended the stalemate there and led to large revolts across Europe against Nazi occupation in fear it would be used on their cities. The bomb had been developed by Jewish German scientists who had fled Germany and had urged the Hashemite family to put their support behind a secret project to build the first bomb. Thanks to the use of the weapon, the Arabs defeated Germany and saved western and southern Europe from being overwhelmed by the advancing Soviets, although they were forced to accept Soviet occupation of North Germany.

The end of World War II fundamentally changed the Arab Union. The creation of the atomic bomb began an arms race after the United States (1947) and the Soviet Union (1949) tested their atomic weapons. Meanwhile the start of the Cold War brought the Union into the larger world and caused friction between them and their allies. The Arab Union refused to turn over the territories they occupied in North Africa over to Britain or France and allowed the areas to declare independence and be accepted their membership in the Union. This influx of new people and cultures, including a large minority of French in Algeria, forced the Union to secularize itself more for the sake of domestic peace.

Meanwhile, a wedge was driven between the Union and the United States over the handling of the Cantonese War. The final break came about after Arab Independence candidate Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president in 1954. On the domestic front Nasser enacted many far-reaching secular reforms driving the Sharifian party toward the right and pushing the Hashemite family out of politics. On the foreign front he successfully forced Britain to cede the Suez Canal, Kuwait, Aden and other British territories in the Middle East to the Arab Union. With relations with the West at an all time low, Nasser broke the Union’s alliance with the United States and formed Concert of Allied Democracies  with Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Ghana and India to act as a third choice between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

The 1970s marked significant economic reforms in the Arab Union which finally ended the feudalism like conditions that plagued the Union since its inception and broke the power of the tribes. The “Arab Miracle” as it has been called helped turn the Arab Union into the world’s second largest economy. Despite its successes, the Arab Union has experience considerable unrest caused from a variety of sources. On one side there is the growing feminist movement which seeks to ensure a greater role for women in the Union. The infamous headscarf burnings of the 1960s gained worldwide fame and inspired women across the Union to demand more freedoms. Furthermore, the Union disastrous intervention in the Somali Civil War in the 1990s not only cost the Union a large amount of lives, but also hurt the Union’s reputation among black Africans who feel underrepresented in the Union. This anti-Union sentiment is chiefly felt in places like southern Sudan which has a large and powerful secessionist movement which always manages to elect a handful of representatives to the National Congress.

With the collapse of Soviet Union in 1985, the Union’s greatest foreign threat is the United States of America. Competition with two superpowers, one atheist and the other Islamic, fundamentally changed the United States which became more Christian and conservative in response to foreign influences. The election of Pat Robertson of the Christian Reform party in 1988 began the process of turning the United States into a one-party state that promoted deregulation of industry and extreme social conservatism.

The United States has also been accused of supporting various neo-Crusader organizations. These anti-Muslims terrorist groups seek to stop the spread of Islam and are prevalent in the Americas and Europe. The most well-known group, the Knights Templar, has claimed responsibility for the deadly Beirut bombings of 2002 that cost the lives of 21 people. Although the United States has denied any involvement, it has strained relationships between the two superpowers and undermined several attempts to negotiate various nuclear disarmament treaties.

Despite some setbacks, the Arab Union today acts as a beacon of tolerance and democracy across the world. Its history is evidence that Western Imperialism and Soviet Communism is not the answer to world peace and unity. Its political, military and cultural ties have helped bring together the diverse nations of Europe, Asia and Africa and it is only a matter of time before the Americas are also free of the cultural tyranny that dominates them now.

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In OTL, the Ottomans kept most of their Arab units away from the revolt, thus the Arabs were highly dependent on British help to defeat the Turks. Following the Arab Revolt, the Middle East was partitioned between Britain and France. Hashemite attempts to unite the Arabs failed and the family fell into obscurity. Although Arab states eventually did gain independence, they have experienced significant periods of civil unrest, religious strife and foreign invasion. Although the Arab Spring has caused some to hope for a better future, many fear the dangers of fundamentalist rule over the new democracies.

 Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger for Amazing Stories. His new story "The Enchanted Bean" can be found in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale from Echelon Press. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

April 7, 1541 - Francis Xavier Vows an Eternal Portuguese Empire

On April 7, 1506, Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was born in the Kingdom of Navarre at the Castle of Xavier, from which he would later take his surname.  He was the youngest son of Juan de Jasso, an adviser to the king, and wealthy heiress Doña Maria de Azpilcueta y Aznárez.  When Francis was six, Spain invaded Navarre.  After his father’s death, Francis's older brothers worked alongside French conspirators hoping to repel the Spanish invaders.  When the plot failed, the family was stripped of its land holdings and their castle was reduced to a residence with all of its battlements destroyed.

With civil war raging around the impoverished family, his mother determined to save Francis by sending him to live with her relative Martin de Azpilcueta in 1518.  Rather than growing up in a city under the thumb of Spanish rule in a country that would eventually be cut in half with the southern end ceded to the invaders, Francis joined a world of academics.  Martin completed his doctorate in canon law at Toulouse and brought Francis with him to the University of Salamanca.  There, Martin contributed to the revolutionary doctrines of the School of Salamanca, where Francisco de Vitoria and others who reinvented natural law, argued for human rights even among aborigines, and promoted free will alongside liberty.  Martin himself, earning the nickname “Doctor Navarrus,” determined the time value of money, introducing the first notions of finance theory and principles of investment.

The ideas were formative to young Francis's thinking, and he was considered a promising genius when he began studies at the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris.  There he met men such as Ignatius of Loyola and Pierre Favre who would later found the Society of Jesus (Jesuit) monastic order.  While Francis agreed with much of the men's thinking, they eventually parted ways as Francis considered himself more of a humanist, replying to Ignatius of Loyola's Biblical rhetorical question, "What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" with "The world, for a time," treating it as a cost-benefit analysis.

Francis could not be satisfied with the theories of academia and wished for action.  He left his teaching position at Beauvais college to apply himself to the growing field of economics and banking.  He caught the attention of Martim Afonso de Sousa, an adventurer who began the colonization of Brazil and furthered Portuguese expansion in India.  When de Sousa was to be dispatched to India in 1541 as the new viceroy, he brought Francis along with him.  Their ship, the Santiago, also carried Jesuits whom King John III had asked to help restore the characters of Portuguese men stationed in the east as they had fallen toward the pagan ways.  Francis and the Jesuits again compared philosophies, and again Francis sought to build up the world’s condition rather than attempt to alleviate it.

Arriving in India, Francis was appalled alongside the Jesuits of the imperialists' treatment of locals.  He argued for the Indians' natural rights and gained favor from both sides with the encouragement of economic investment to improve the region.  While Jesuits aided the poor and spread the Word, Francis worked to build banks and fair courts in addition to the factories and fortresses set up by de Sousa.  Portuguese soldiers and administrators there were fraught with ambition, which Francis fostered, as well as corruption, against which Francis worked with the establishment of stiff penalties and economic blacklisting.  He refused to allow slavery and instead argued for fair wages to Indians and Portuguese alike.

The formula worked well.  The local economy flourished, and soon the native populace was eager to attend the Jesuits’ schools to learn Portuguese.  As soon as Francis built up a bank in one port, he used the excess funds to expand banking to the next.  India came under Portuguese rule with military power linked to economic success: any rebellion or invasion by other European power would cripple the wealth and was thus opposed by locals.

By 1545, Francis began expansion of his planned trading empire eastward to what were known as the Spice Islands.  Again using the Jesuits as a method to inspire confidence among the locals, he was able to communicate his economic principles and investment strategies.  In 1548 he met with a Christian Japanese man, Anjiro, later called Paulo de Santa Fe, who had fled to the Jesuits seeking a better life.  He gave lengthy details of his homeland, which inspired Francis to travel there.  The Japanese proved unfriendly with no port agreeing to take in his ship until he met with the daimyo of Satsuma.  The Japanese aristocracy resisted Jesuits who had come with Francis and outlawed Christianity.  Rather than give up his business, Francis changed his formula and worked almost exclusively with the merchant class, boosting imports, encouraging factories, and gradually making the culturally outcast profession into a noble one.

In 1552, Francis set sail for a new market, arguably the greatest yet:  China.  While waiting during an attempt to get cheaper passage and entry into China, he died of a fever on the island of Shangchuan.  Although his economic principles did not reach China during his lifetime, they had established an enormous stronghold for Portuguese power in the East.  Later colonizers would battle over China with the English eventually wresting control of the empire away from the French.

With such a monopoly, the Portuguese attracted eager allies as well as enemies among the rest of Europe.  Portuguese became the international language of banking, and Portugal state banks were found even in colonies of other nations.  Naval warfare through the eighteenth century weakened Portugal’s hold, and eventually their colonies would gain political independence.  Even today, however, Lisbon rivals London and Zurich as a banking hub and international markets are centered on Portuguese-based trading in economic capitals like Goa, Malacca, and Nagasaki.

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In reality, Francis Xavier grew up close to his family in worn-torn Navarre.  Arguably due to his experience in suffering, he left the world of academia to join Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits.  He worked tirelessly to bring Christianity to the Orient and has become a patron saint of missionaries alongside the biblical Saint Paul.

April 6, 1917 - World War Expands to US, Mexico, and Sweden

As the Great War rolled into its second year, it became obvious that Germany was caught in an unwinnable two-front war.  Hoping to distract the Russians by deepening the revolution breaking out in early 1917, the German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman arranged for a group of Communists including the infamous Vladimir Lenin to travel through German territory in a closed railroad car, eventually taking them back to Petrograd.  To weaken the Western Front, Germany announced its resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, crippling the supply line coming in from America.

America balked, with leaders such as former president Theodore Roosevelt shouting, "Piracy!"  President Wilson attempted to maintain a virtual peace by arming ships to destroy U-boats.  Despite the Americans' merchant marines, the submarine attack proved overwhelmingly successful.  It was only a matter of time before America would come into the war.

Seeing that the war might spread, German leadership began to investigate ways to make such an expansion work in their favor.  Zimmerman sent a telegram to the ambassador to Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt, instructing him to suggest an alliance.  Germany would contribute munitions and funding while Mexico created a new front for America.  By the time of Germany's victory, it would give Mexico back Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, land lost in the Mexican-American War seventy years before.  Mexico itself was in a very difficult position, still facing revolutionaries after decades of lawless fighting in the desert northwest.  The US had already performed patrols into Mexico, chasing warlords such as Pancho Villa who raided American towns.  Mexico adopted a new constitution on February 5, 1917, which was the first in the world to guarantee social rights.  There was still much discontent in the country, and at last the Mexican government determined that solidarity could be established if the nation faced a single enemy.  On April 6, 1917, the US Congress declared war on Germany and its allies, which suddenly included Mexico.

On the same day, the war spilled northward into the Baltic region.  Despite its earlier prominence as one of the greatest nations of Europe, Sweden had long maintained its neutrality.  Wars with Russia had weakened the country in the eighteenth century and resulted in the loss of Finland in 1809.  In the Napoleonic Era, Norway was handed over to Sweden from Denmark, though the Norwegians fought for independence.  In 1905, Norway won its independence, and Sweden became a fraction of what it had been.  After much encouragement and seeing the weakness of the Russians, the Swedes finally determined to win back their glory by retaking Finland.  On April 6, a Swedish force invaded from the north, backed by a flotilla, and was joined by hopeful Finns.  "White" Finns who had enjoyed Russian protection in the Grand Duchy interrupted the Swedish advance, adding to the chaos.

Despite the entrance of the United States, 1917 proved a difficult year for the Allies.  US troops were immediately dispatched to Mexico, which was quickly overrun thanks to armored vehicle advances made by effective military minds such as Captain George S. Patton.  While the battles were one-sided, America became bogged down with long supply-trains and a difficult occupation.  Revolutionaries who had long practiced guerrilla warfare continued their resistance, causing Americans to pour more and more troops into Mexico rather than the trenches in France.

Issues also broke out between the United States and Japan, who had been among the Allies since the first days of the War.  Almost immediately after their declaration of war against Germany, Britain and Japan followed their treaty of 1902 to use Japanese ships to capture German colonies in the Pacific and destroy the Kriegsmarine stationed there.  With Russia collapsing, the Japanese began to push further into Asia, bringing the question of expansion into China.  The US had disapproved of the Twenty-One Demands issued by Japan to China, which Secretary of State William J. Bryan saw as a rejection of the previous Open Door Policy defending Chinese autonomy while supporting all foreign interests.  Britain attempted to keep both sides happy and helped to clarify spheres of influence while hosting Japanese Foreign Minister Ishii Kikujiro and American Secretary of State Robert Lansing, promoting Japan while the US held the Philippines.

Russia dropped out of the war October 26, 1917, with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, forming a separate peace with Germany.  While much of the Central Powers celebrated, the Russian Civil War proved to destabilize the conquered regions.  As Socialist "Reds" expanded their powers in Russia following the November revolution, they crossed the border into Finland, creating a new front for the Swedes occupying there.  The Swedish invasion turned into a multisided Finnish Civil War.  After a Soviet victory in the Russian Civil War, the Swedes were chased out of Finland, which again fell under Russian dominance.

The exhausted Central Powers eventually collapsed in 1919, ending the fighting in Europe while it continued for years elsewhere.  The American occupation of Mexico finally ceased in 1920, though it would forever mingle America in the affairs of Latin America.  The ABC Nations (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile) worked to counter America’s Monroe Doctrine, causing division and a number of bush wars, such as the fierce fighting in America’s occupation of Hispaniola and expansion into the Caribbean.

When Germany went to war against Western Europe again in 1939, the United States refused to join another World War as occupations in the south were so difficult.  The war did expand to Asia, however, when the Japanese allies of Germany performed a sneak-attack on Vladivostok in 1941.  Soon both hemispheres were once again embroiled in war.

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In reality, Mexico and Sweden maintained their neutrality in World War I.  US intervention shifted more abroad, gradually away from a paternalistic stance of the Monroe Doctrine and toward the Truman Doctrine’s global Cold War.

April 19, 1916 - Neiu Nederlanders back Americans

In response to unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans, American President Woodrow Wilson delivered on April 18, 1916, an ultimatum that continued attack on American ships would provoke war.  The next day, Neiu Nederlander President Theodoor van Rosevelt traveled to Washington to show his agreement.  If the US went to war, the American Dutch would bravely join them.

The two nations had grown up alongside one another as Europeans colonized North America.  The English threatened to eliminate the Dutch from their holdings of New Amsterdam when four frigates occupied the harbor.  Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, after considering ceding the land in hopes of retaking it, decided to head off a Second Anglo-Dutch War and refused.  After firing on the city, the frigates were rebuffed and returned to England empty-handed.

Since that time, New Amsterdam quickly expanded.  Jews ousted from Brazil as Portugal retook Dutch conquests flooded into the city, and immigrants from all over the world were accepted.  The economy flourished as pelts were harvested from the upper Hudson and established shipping.  When the twin states of New England and Great Virginia declared independence from Britain, the Dutch granted support first financially and then through its impressive navy.  When Napoleon conquered the Netherlands in Europe, Neiu Nederlands announced its own independence.

Relations between Neiu Nederlanders and Americans were amicable.  They were particularly close with New England due to ties in shipping and manufacturing, although relations were at times strained while the United States to the south determining water rights of Lake Erie.  When New England broke off trade with the US over slavery, the Nederlanders maintained a lucrative neutrality.  The sudden surge of trade brought about a new golden age, which led to a great deal of corruption that responded in a powerful Progressive Movement, headed by the young Theodoor van Rosevelt.

Rosevelt was part of the wealthy and politically influential family that had begun with Claes Maartenszen van Rosevelt, who purchased a large farm on Manhattan Island that would translate into enormous wealth as the city grew.  Theodoor was born in 1858 and struggled through his childhood suffering from asthma.  He overcame the disease by determination and exercise with seeming limitless energy, features that would define his life.  After his education, Theodoor traveled extensively to the American West as well as Dutch holdings in the Caribbean and South America.  He returned and entered civil service, soon becoming Director of the Navy where he built a canal through Panama and led the Great White Fleet on its tour around the world.  By 1910, he was elected President.

When war erupted in Europe, Rosevelt hoped to join quickly and use the impressive New Dutch fleet, but business was too good trading through the neutral Netherlands.  Despite his extensive campaigning, it wasn't until the Americans threatened Germany that he finally gained the agreement of shipping interests who disapproved of attacks by uboats.  In 1917, unrestricted submarine warfare resumed, and a joint declaration of war was announced.  Thanks to Rosevelt's anticipation, New Dutch troops joined the front almost immediately.

Guest Post by Marko Bosscher: April 12, 1968 - Soviets Win Space Race

In 1961, when Yuri Gagarin left earth's atmosphere it was the pinnacle of human achievement, a mortal man had entered a realm hitherto beholden to the gods. It was also a blow to American pride, and just over a month later John F. Kennedy announce an ambitious program to restore that pride: The US would put a man on the moon within a decade.

For several years it seemed that it would be a one horse race. However behind the scenes Sergei Korolyov, the Soviet Union's mysterious "Chief Designer", had already started work on designs for manned flights to other planets. By the time the Soviet Union officially announced plans in 1964 the OKB-1 design bureau headed by Korolyov had already created a heavy rocket capable of reaching beyond the low Earth orbit used by the Vostok program.

The impetuous Khrushchev had actually instituted two programmes, one for moon orbits and one for the actual moon landing, each headed by it's own designer. After Brezhnev had taken over power the moon program was streamlined and Korolyov made head of the entire program. And although two separate tracks were maintained for the orbits and the landing Korolyov's leadership unified the efforts.

In early 1967 when both the Americans and Soviets were gearing up for the actual moonflights disaster struck in both camps. In January a simulated launch sequence for the American Apollo project went disastrously wrong and a fire broke out killing the astronauts. And in April the parachute failed to open on a Soyuz vehicle as it returned to earth. The crash killed the cosmonauts, which included Vladimir Komarov who commanded one of the two teams selected for the moon landing.

The unmanned orbit of the moon in May of that year went ahead as scheduled, but the manned orbit was delayed until August of that year as the teams were restructured and the Soyuz crash investigated. The success of the manned orbit, and the earlier success of landing a Luna-9 capsule on the moon's surface gave the Soviets the confidence to push on with their effort. The Soviets also, erroneously, believed that the US would attempt a landing in 1968 so it would be vital to maintain the intended schedule.

After several unmanned flights of the Soyuz-7 vehicle the first manned launch was performed in April 1968. And in June the two-man crew launched an unmanned landing vehicle from lunar orbit. The moon landing was given the go-ahead and crews were prepared for the mission, the first crew would be cosmonauts Leonov Makarov and a reserve crew of Popovich and Voronov would be on standby.

It was a tense time for all involved, especially for Korolyov who was aware that an Apollo launch was scheduled for October. If all went according to plan the Soyuz-7 would be in lunar orbit in september, narrowly beating out the Americans (in fact the Apollo launch was a test flight, the Americans would not attempt a landing on the moon until the next year). The September launch did go ahead and on the 25th the landing module separated from the Soyuz7 command module and headed for the moon.

After a seemingly interminable period of radio silence a message finally came through "Cosmonaut Leonov reporting from the surface of the moon." Words that would immediately be spread across the globe. Leonov dedicated his mission to Yuri Gagarin the space pioneer who had died earlier that year.

...

In reality: Korolyov died in surgery in 1966 which was a serious setback for the moon program, which also fell out of political favor. The N1 rocket that was supposed to take the cosmonauts to the moon would also prove a failure, never even making it out of earth orbit.

Guest Post by Marko Bosscher: April 5, 1272: Alexander Nevsky defeated at the Battle of Lake Peipus

Novgorod was under heavy pressure from both the East and the West. In the east the Golden Horde loomed, while Novgorod was repeatedly invaded from the west during the Northern Crusades. And when the Teutonic Order invaded once again Alexander, elected Prince of Novgorod, marched against them with a substantial army. Meeting the Teutonic forces, led by Hermann the Prince-Bishop of Dorpat, near the bank of Lake Peipus. Hoping to draw the knights into a disadvantageous position Alexander withdrew across the narrow strait connecting Lake Peipus with neighbouring Lake Pskovskoe.

Lake Peipus is unusually shallow for it’s size and is frozen throughout winter, thawing out only at the end of April. The lake thus formed a solid surface for the combatants that 5th of April, but the heavily armoured mounted Teutonic Knights were at a disadvantage when having to charge across the ice. Although the knights drew up in wedge formation Hermann called of the assault when he saw the strength of the Russian position, deciding instead to go around it to find a better approach.

Seeing the Teutonic forces move towards the east bank of the lake Alexander sent out his own cavalry in an attempt to provoke Hermann into an attack. The lighter Russian cavalry was swift enough, even on the ice, to freely harass the Estonian infantry that made up the bulk of Hermann’s force. But rather than being goaded into a frontal assault on the Russian position Hermann lined up his infantry in a defensive position, while sending most of his knights to the shore to move around the enemy position.

What was intended by Hermann to be a temporary position, to hold of the harassing cavalry in anticipation of an assault on Alexander’s position, would become the focal point of the battle. Alexander seeing the opportunity to attack the outnumbered Teutonic forces, and worried about the knights working his flank moved his troops on the ice as well. Leaving behind only a token force to delay the knights moving against them. The battle soon developed into a furious melee as the remaining knights prevented the Russian cavalry from outflanking the Teutonic troops.

An alternate history by Marko 'Lev' Bosscher

Alexander’s ploy failed however when the Teutonic Knights returned, having heard the sounds of battle carried on the wind (a `Zeichen Gottes` according to the knights own chronicler). The knights unexpectedly fell on the left flank of the army of Novgorod and panic swept across the battleline, quickly turning into a full rout. Only Alexander and the ‘druzhina’ (the “fellowship” or retinue, numbering a thousand of the best warriors) held and tried to fight their way back to their original position.

Badly outnumbered they never made it off the ice, Alexander fell among many of his men and the remainder surrendered after being completely encircled. The Teutons then marched South to take Pskov, which they had lost to Alexander the previous year. After receiving further reinforcement from the Livonian Order Hermann marched on Novgorod itself in the summer. It seemed that history would repeat itself as on the approach to Novgorod a Russian army marched to meet the Teutonic forces and oppose them in battle. But this Novgorod had not had the time to recover from it’s losses, the Battle of Lake Peipus had not only cost the Republic most of it’s seasoned warriors but also it’s most capable military leader. The army of Novgorod was swept aside by the invading knights.

But even before Hermann reached the city walls of Novgorod he was met by envoys of the Council of Nobles, and they made a fantastic offer. The republic of Novgorod would submit to the Teutonic Order on the condition that the Republic would continue to exist and maintain it’s current structure. It was a offer that Hermann could hardly refuse, but being a devout Catholic he could not allow Novgorod to remain Orthodox. He sent the envoy back with the message that he would only accept if Novgorod would only elect Catholic Princes, and marched on to lay siege to Novgorod.

Upon reaching the city Hermann found the gates open and messengers proclaiming himself the newly elected Prince of Novgorod. It was a devious political move as it effectively ended the war, but left the Teutons with an Orthodox country in their possession. It would only be the start of of political maneuvering that would see the Archbishop of Novgorod pledged allegiance to the Pope, but maintaining orthodox customs and traditions.

The Teutonic Order thus acted as the sword and shield of Orthodox Novgorod against it’s neighbours and the mongol horde. It was an uneasy alliance held together by Novgorod’s profitable position as gateway to the Baltic Sea and a slow conversion to Catholicism. But it ensured Novgorod’s continued survival into the late Middle Ages and it provided the Teutonic Order with the means to maintain the large armies that were it’s raison d’etre.

In reality, Alexander defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of the Ice and went down in history as Alexander Nevsky, probably the most famous Russian warrior in history and granted sainthood by the Orthodox Church. Novgorod would thrive for several centuries, but would ultimately be annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow at the end of the 15th century.