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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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An Empire Reborn Part 14
By Vincent Longobardi
November 4th 1971 An OVRA plan to assassinate an imprisoned Nelson Mandela is rejected by the South African Bureau of State Security is rejected as being too risky. November 13th 1971 The unmanned Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to successfully enter Mar’s orbit. December 2nd 1971 The United Arab Emirates is formed with the union of six sheikdoms December 3rd 1971 Pakistan launches attacks against military bases in India sparking a war. December 16th 1971 After only two weeks fighting the Pakistani army surrenders to their Indian foes. This surrender cements the independence of Bangladesh. December 28th 1971 Heinrich Himmler comes down with a particularly bad case of influenza. His request that this internal exile be lifted so he can return to South Tyrol for what may be his last days is denied by the Grand Council. Minister Evola sends his personal doctor to treat the former ODESSA Chief. January 10th 1972 71 year old Heinrich Himmler dies in his home finally succumbing to the flu. The Grand Council had already agreed to a petition submitted by his surviving family to allow his body to be returned to the Germantown which was his home for years following the war. January 15th 1972 Himmler is buried in a small but ornate tomb in northern Italy. Dozens of his former men and comrades come out to pay their respects. Aside from Medici and Evola almost no Fascist officials attend the ceremony. January 18th 1972 Minister Evola publicly insults Count Ciano during a meeting of the Grand Council. He calls Ciano a phony and a hypocrite for not attending the funeral of Himmler when Ciano himself was the one who had the most contact with Himmler and the former Nazi regime during the war years. He then goes on to attack the rest of the Council for not remembering the past and the services provided by the Germans to the Empire. Ciano privately vows revenge against Evola for the assault on his honor. January 30th 1972 Pakistan officially withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations. February 5th 1972 "Attrition, Technology and Terror" by Field Marshall Guillet is released in both Italian and Spanish. The book compares and contrasts the three strategies of the major powers, as well as pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. The book is immediately placed on the required reading list for the Italian military academies as well as most Lira Block nation’s academies. An Arabic version is in the works and a publishing house in South Africa is attempting to gain the rights to publish an English version. The Marshall is planning to write at least two more books on military strategy and tactics. February 8th 1972 Count Lucchini and Gemma Medici are married in a large ceremony in Rome. They will spend the next month honeymooning throughout Mozambique, Rhodesia and South Africa. February 15th 1972 While traveling to his Villa outside Palermo, Minister Evola’s car is attacked by gunmen killing his driver and bodyguard. Evola only survives because he was able to duck between the front and rear seats of the car. February 16th 1972 Medici orders a massive manhunt to be conducted within Sicily to bring the would-be assassins to justice. An attack against a member of the Grand Council will not be tolerated under any circumstances and all resources will be used to bring these communists and traitors to justice. A detachment of the "Moschettieri del Duce"(The Leader’s Musketeers) Medici’s personal guard is assigned to guard Evola. February 17th 1972 Evola delivers a fiery speech to the people insisting that vigilance against the enemies of Fascism always remain high and that even here in the heart of the Empire communist sympathizers can work their dangerous plots against the Fascist Order. February 18th 1972 An anonymous tip leads the manhunt to a small farmhouse outside of Palermo. As the military and police move in they find the four men inside already dead, it appears that seeing their hunters coming they chose to take their own lives instead of facing trial. Cowards, a typical trait of Communists. February 20th 1972 Security still remains high within Sicily and the police will continue to investigate any leads on the case to assure that it is not part of a much wider conspiracy to overthrow the Grand Council. February 21st 1972 The Soviet Union lands the unmanned spaceship Luna 20 on the Moon. The Soviet government is still in the process of debating whether or not to continue to their program to land on the moon or instead move to a program more focused on deep space exploration. March 3rd 1972 The press reports that Count Lucchini has successfully brought down a prize winning elephant while taking a side trip safari in Rhodesia. March 12th 1972 Antoine Cartier publishes "At the Gates," the official sequel as he claims to his father’s "The Last Bastille Day." While this book still does not deal with the war directly it more closely follows the events of the war and helps to elaborate points which were not addressed in the original. The book follows the life of the eldest son in the previous book as he is relocated to a work camp in Paris. The trip to Paris confirms that nuclear weapons were not used in the invasion and Paris remains largely undamaged, though characters are quick to mention that one of the first acts by the occupiers was looting the Louvre to repatriate all "stolen" Italian artwork. Most of the events concerning the war are learned from British POWs also in the camp. Fighting continues in Africa with British Somaliland falling into Italian hands rather quickly. The only reason that all the British territories have not fallen to the Italians is that the British have been able to hold the Sudanese front against the Egyptians preventing the two armies from linking up. Also as correctly guessed in the previous book the Italians have launched an invasion of Britain to which the British responded against by using chemical weapons to halt the advancing Italians. In retaliation the Italians conduct massive chemical bombardments on Plymouth and Dover. This trend continues at an escalating pace but only deters the Italian advance rather than putting a stop to it. The United States explicitly is mentioned not to have gotten involved in the war because of a fascist sympathizing president which is a point of resent for many of the British and French characters. Nuclear weapons have not been deployed by either side but it is heavily suspected that if London falls the British will respond using what remains of their nuclear stockpile. This is highlighted when the main character speaks to a captured British pilot who complains that the Italians keep hitting their nuclear bases while they run their little nuclear trains all over the country away from British counterattack and that when the time comes they won’t have enough to make a difference in the war. Rather ominously, the book ends with the characters hearing over the radio that London has fallen just hours before to victorious Italian soldiers and that it is almost certain that the British government will surrender shortly. Right after hearing this announcement the air raid sirens sounds. April 10th 1972 The United States and the Soviet Union both sign onto the Biological Weapons Convention which bans the use, development and stockpiling of all biological weapons. The NRE does not sign onto this agreement and neither confirms nor denies the existence of a biological weapons program. April 14th 1972 A New York City Police Officer is killed in the line of duty while responding to a phony ten-thirteen call(Police officer in need of assistance) at Mosque 7, a Nation of Islam Mosque in Manhattan. Politics and threats of a riot by the local community prevents a thorough investigation from taking place greatly enraging both Police Officers and the general public of the city. April 18th 1972 A militant New York based YFM publishes an open letter to all local papers that if the NYPD does not investigate and make an arrest within 10 days for the murder of the police officer by Black extremists the YFM will conduct its own investigation. April 20th 1972 Sir Oswald Mosley arrives in Rome to meet with the Consul and officially requests political asylum. The request is immediately granted. April 22nd 1972 The British Parliament recommends the revocation of Mosley’s British citizenship and title of nobility. April 23rd 1972 Mosley publicly renounces his British citizenship before it can be stripped of him by the Parliament. He refuses to give up the title Baronet of Ancoats claiming that the title is of blood and above the British Parliament. April 24th 1972 The British Parliament strips Mosley of his title. His eldest son Nicholas, an anti-fascist assumes the title. April 28th 1972 With military like precision a car loaded with 5 American Blackshirts jumps the curb in front of a Nation of Islam Mosque in New York. Rushing out of the car they attack and stab to death the 3 Fruit of Islam(FoI) soldiers guarding the door. Two more cars shoot down the block coming to a halt and an additional half dozen Blackshirts rush out carrying firearms. Storming the Mosque they engage in a vicious battle with those inside shooting and stabbing 8 more people before fleeing. Two of their members who had been stabbed in the melee are loaded into the cars and rushed to the hospital where they are dropped off in the emergency room before the remaining Fascists flee again before they can be questioned. When police arrive at the scene they find 5 people dead and the rest seriously wounded. Tacked to the door of the Mosque is a letter of intention stating that the group and groups like it will continue the attacks until the NoI ceases to hide those responsible for the murder. The April 28th Mosque attack will mark start of the most violent era of racial crime in New York history. End of part 14.
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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