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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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An Empire Reborn Part 10 By Vincent Longobardi
May 4th 1970 Four students are killed by the National Guard at an antiwar demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio. May 8th 1970 The Hard Hat Riots occur in New York. Hundreds of construction workers come out to counter protest an antiwar protest being held in front of City Hall. Local Fascists soon join in with the crowd of construction workers. The police form a small line between the protesters and construction workers but the line soon gives way, many say intentionally, and counter protesters assault the antiwar demonstrators while police look on. Blackshirts lead a raid against nearby city hall, storming the building and attempting to gain access to the roof to raise the American flag back to full mast, Mayor Lindsay had ordered the flag be hung at half mast in memorial to those killed at Kent State. This attack against City Hall finally prompts police intervention and they move to arrest the raiders. The main force of the riot spreads to Pace University, breaking windows and doors and attacking students. Attempting to prevent a repeat of the Columbia riots, police finally move to disperse the rioters. The riots last just under two hours with less than 12 arrests being made. May 9th 1970 Mayor Lindsay instructs NYPD’s internal affairs unit to investigate fascist sympathizes within the department following the massive failure from the day before. May 17th 1970 France launches their first satellite into space. May 20th 1970 Britain approaches the United States on assistance in jump starting their own space program. May 23rd 1970 Italo Balbo speaks before the Grand Council on integrating Libya into the Empire proper. Before a vote can be taken, Medici unilaterally tells Balbo to form a commission to investigate the policy changes that would be needed to implement such a step. May 25th 1970 Medici calls for the nations of the Lira Block to assemble their greatest soccer players and meet next summer in Rome to compete in the first annual Caesar’s Cup to promote camaraderie and unity between the nations. *Note: Special thanks to Herr Montag for proposing the Caesar Cup idea.* June 3rd 1970 Photographers catch Olympinaut Lucchini exiting a popular Roman club with Gemma Medici, the Consul’s youngest and unmarried daughter. June 7th 1970 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Clarence Williams, a black teenager is beaten and killed while on his way home from work. Williams who was working his way through college was regarded as a nice boy who never was in a fight or had any confrontations. The excessively violent and seemingly random murder shocks both the black and white communities of the city. June 11th 1970 Three white teenagers are arrested for the murder of Clarence Williams. Under interrogation they admit to the killing saying they got the idea after seeing the Wild East film "Showdown at Nagele" hours before. Wanting to reenact a scene from the movie they targeted Williams as he was the first Black the trio encountered. June 15th 1970 Activists call for the government to ban the importation and showing from the New Roman Empire. They claim that the films are overly violent and serve as overt fascist propaganda and have no place in American theaters. Fans of the genre counter that while the films may have a political message in the NRE, they are not meant as propaganda. While they are violent, that is not the primary focus of the films saying that their popularity is due to their extremely realistic filming style and high production values. Whereas most Hollywood films are produced on sound stages nearly every Roman production is filmed on location with only the lowest budget movies being relegated to the lowly sound stage. June 23rd 1970 The first marathon horse race takes place in the Italian Alps. Over the next four days horsemen will navigate the Italian wilderness through a series of checkpoints towards the finish line. The race becomes extremely popular as it is not only exciting but offers gamblers a wide array of betting options ranging from not only who finishes and in what order, but also first to arrive at checkpoints, as well as eliminations for the last to arrive as well as numerous other options. *Note: Once again thanks to Herr Montag for the idea.* July 10th 1970 General Gritti to Consul Medici: "We are ready and just await your approval." July 13th 1970 The House of Savoy issues a press release that Princess Margarita is pregnant with child. She is expected to give birth in March. July 20th 1970 Consul Medici arrives in Washington D.C. for another summit with President Nixon. He is met at the airport by a largely hostile crowd booing and hissing the head of government. Italian and American news crews are on hand to chronicle the entire proceedings. At the White House two groups have taken up camp outside, to one side are anti-fascist protesters and on the other American Fascists showing their support for the visiting leader. Against the wishes of both his own personal guard and the Secret Service Medici refuses to allow his motorcade to just drive through the White House gate and insists on walking through to show he does not fear the rabble. Exiting the limo he greeted on end by curses and insults and from the other cheers and salutes. Pulling away from his bodyguards, Medici returns the salutes of his supporters and works his way down the line shaking hands and saluting the men. Stopping at one point he removes his own Fascist party pin from his lapel and pins it to the shirt of one of the American Blackshirts. Pausing right before he passes through the gate, Medici spins on his heels to face the anti-fascist crowd and snaps a salute to them prompting a renewed round of jeering from the already angered protesters. July 23rd 1970 The second part of the summit begins with Nixon and Medici adjourning to Camp David for the rest of the visit. July 26th 1970 The two leaders agree to work towards a joint space mission. They plan on having an Imperial rocket dock with its American counterpart in orbit around the Earth. July 28th 1970 After promising to keep strong this new found friendship between the two nations, Medici returns home to Rome. August 3rd 1970 Medici to Gritti: "Operation Achilles is a go." August 8th 1970 Imperial troops in the Balkans are put on alert and units are given orders to redeploy to Greece over the next week. August 15th 1970 "Bloody Woodstock" a documentary about the failed music festival is released in theaters. Starting it shows the peaceful first day of music and interviews with concert goers presenting a "what could have been" scenario. It the descends into the chaos and violence of the second day as the fascist thugs launch their assault and the day long battle that ensues. August 18th 1970 Shortly after midnight General Gritti uses his position as the leading OVRA officer in Greece to declare martial law under the reasoning that there is a credible threat of an imminent communist uprising. Imperial forces quickly take control over radio and television stations and cut all communications into or out of the country. As soon as the communications networks begin to go down OVRA agents round up and detain high ranking Greek officers and bureaucrats to cripple any governmental response. Not even the Hellenic Council is immune to the arrests. Those who are not Medici appointments quickly find themselves under house arrest for being "communist sympathizers." Soon army units from the surrounding territories are rolling into the country to instill law and order to prevent a communist revolution. At dawn papers are brought to the office of the Viceroy to present him with evidence detailing the attempted communist uprising and requesting that he make official the declaration of martial law and emergency appointments of a new Hellenic Council(from a list of pro-unity sympathizers.) Prince Amedeo’s signature is merely a formality. If he had refused to sign the documents the issue would have just been sent over his head to the Consul himself, but it was better to keep the operation localized. By midday most of the cities within Greece are crawling with Italian troops maintaining order. The army is moving into the interior to disarm the remaining Greek military units whose loyalty is in question. Resistance is expected for the next weeks or months, it will all be part of a failed communist revolution. The old and hated Hellenic Council will be held responsible for it. Meanwhile, the new Hellenic Council was discussing how best to deal with the crisis and of course unification would be high on their list of solutions. Those in the know, know that this would likely be the last day Greece would be considered independent even if it is just barely already. End of Part 10.
Please visit my forum for discussion and access to new parts as they become available. http://z11.invisionfree.com/LongVinsWritingDen/index.php?
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