March is Alternative History Month, when students across the country explore the many intriguing “what if”s of American and World History.
At the request of the National Education Foundation, The Old Yorker has prepared the following syllabus for 9th Grade Students. Other groups and organizations have been tasked with the lesson planning for other grades.
WEEK ONE: The Fourth Reich
After conquering Continental Europe and Britain, Nazi Germany eventually defeated the United States through a combination of technological superiority (the jet-powered Messerschmitt 262 fighter plane, the V-2 Rocket, and the atom bomb) and the tactical advantage of dominance of the European landmass and its industrial base. President Truman surrendered to Reichsfuhrer Himmler in 1948 and was executed three weeks later in the White House Rose Garden.
True to the Spirit of ’76, the Occupied States of America rebelled against their distant rulers in Berlin in 1953 and, after a bloody nuclear war in which millions died, won independence for a second time in 1957. The new nation, called New Fatherland, moved quickly to establish a government and society which incorporated elements from both American and Nazi political traditions.
Topics for discussion for Week One:
The tension between the rights of the individual and the duties of the individual to the state has resulted in polar swings in governing styles between the two dominant political parties in New Fatherland: the Hitlerites and the Bundeswahr. Can this fundamental conflict ever be resolved? Should it be resolved?
What sort of gun-ownership laws do you think New Fatherland would have?
Does the extent to which ordinary Americans capitulated to the Nazis and readily adopted their beliefs surprise you?
WEEK TWO: Roma Maxima
Because the Roman Empire was able to withstand the Fifth Century onslaughts of successive waves of barbarians, it emerged battered but whole and, by the first millennium, had reasserted its dominance over its traditional empire while gaining control of a much larger one extending all the way to China.
By the 21st Century, Rome rules the world with the notable exception of the upstart United States of Africa, which remain a thorn in the side of the Caesars. A plan to relocate the capital of the empire leads to intrigue in the Imperial Court with one camp of senior advisors to the aging Caesar, Gaius Augustus, favoring Tashkent near the rich oil fields and trading routes of Central Asia. Another group, younger men in the circle of Augustus’ nephew and heir, Marcellus Cato, prefer New Rome (New York). They believe that a move to the unspoiled American continent will lead to a spiritual and political rebirth of the ancient Empire.
Topics for Discussion for Week Two:
Which group do you think will be victorious in the struggle over the relocation of the capital? Do you think it’s a good idea to move the capital in the first place?
The dynastic system of governance — essentially an hereditary autocracy ruled by closely-related families — has great strengths in ruling an empire as vast as that of modern Rome. Does it have any weaknesses?
The United States of Africa are not powerful enough to directly challenge the might of Rome. Do you think they should attempt to forge an uneasy alliance or to isolate themselves while they consolidate their regional power base and supplies of natural resources? Or neither?
WEEK THREE: The Cold War Turns Hot
After Lee Harvey Oswald killed Jackie Kennedy in Dallas, her husband became obsessed with discovering Oswald’s true motivations and who, if anyone, had conspired with him in his assassination plot. President Kennedy, driven mad with grief and guilt, had Oswald tortured at Camp David while he watched from behind a one-way mirror. On the brink of death, Oswald admitted to being a “Soviet patsy,” whereupon Bobby Kennedy unexpectedly shot him dead.
JFK then retreated to the Oval Office with his brother, locked the door, and ordered American bombers to destroy Moscow with nuclear weapons. Taken by surprise, the rigid Soviet command-and-control system was unable to respond effectively and the United States suffered comparatively few casualties in the subsequent exchange of missiles. The Soviet Union surrendered to the United States on July 4th, 1965.
Topics for Discussion for Week Three:
Ruling the conquered Soviet Union presents monumental challenges to the Kennedy Administration. What sort of domestic political support can the president count on after his impulsive nuclear attack?
Why do you think Bobby Kennedy shot Oswald? Do you think the Soviets were really behind Jackie’s murder?
The legitimacy of a nuclear first strike has been debated since the dawn of the Nuclear Age. Do you think the murder of the First Lady is a legitimate casus belli?
WEEK FOUR: The Age of Steam
Because young Thomas Edison was crushed by a train at age 8, the lightbulb, phonograph, and countless other electrical devices were never invented. Perhaps more importantly, without Edison’s ruthless genius for promoting the benefits of electrical power, electricity never gained a secure foothold in the markeplace and was eventually consigned to the ash-heap of scientific history along with high-speed zeppelin travel and the wrist television.
Instead, modern industry and commerce depend on great mechanical devices powered by steam including vast “difference engines,” mechanical computers that fill giant factories and yet have less computing power than a single laptop. America remains a superpower but the manufacturing economies of the steam-factory world clearly favor the Soviet Union with its state-run industries and legions of non-lumpenized proletarians. Instead of a space race, the two nations are locked in a race to expand markets for crude manufactured goods.
Topics for discussion for Week Four:
In competing to export their products, the Soviets stress price while the Americans stress quality. Without television and Internet advertising, how can each nation market the brand identity of its wares?
Do you think the quality of life for people in the non-electric world is better or worse than the quality of life in the world in which a railroad conductor was able to rescue Edison by grabbing him by his ear?
In 2004, scientists in Brazil invented the light bulb. How will this change the balance of world power in the years to come?
General topics:
So much of our alternative history involves outcomes that are a stark contrast to our real history. Why do you think that the U.S. has proven so prone to totalitarianism in alternate history? Is this due to a fundamental flaw in our national character?
Describe the role of irony in alternate history.
Assuming that Dewey actually did beat Truman, extrapolate a series of plausible events that would lead to Madame Chiang kai-Shek becoming the first democratically elected president of China.
