The Beazzik Universe is a universe within the known multiverse. In this universe, the Industrial Revolution worked out far more in the favor of the United Kingdom than the United States, making the UK an economic powerhouse and one of the largest political voices in the world following the Revolution.
The UK initiated civil reforms in the 1850s to become a constitutional monarchy, and drew immigrants in mass numbers from across the world for the opportunities posed. In this universe, the UK took the place of the US in most world stage happenings, but maintained a practice of activism in the early 1900s as opposed to America’s isolationism.
After the UK, the USSR, and a coalition of other countries defeated the Axis in the Second Beazzik Earth Civil War, the unstable alliance between the two world superpowers grew into a Cold War after both states developed nuclear weapons. The UK defeated the Soviets in the Space Race and became the first nation to put Humans on Luna.
The universe was discovered in 2403 NE (1969 Beazzik) by the Alliance of Civilizations, seven weeks after the first Moon landing.
History[]
1800s[]
World history of Beazzik Earth proceeded roughly as normal until the 1800s. After the American Revolutionary War, much of the world political board had shifted significantly. A stubborn United Kingdom refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the United States, leading to intense trade restrictions and other barriers raised against the US.
War of 1812[]
The tensions eventually reached a boiling point and led to the United States declaring war on the British, igniting the War of 1812. (2356 NE) This proved to be disastrous for the Americans, as the United States Army and Navy were overconfident in their abilities after defeating the British in the Revolutionary War, and did not realize how much support was provided to them by France.
France, suffering from its own political turmoil, was unwilling to help America, as their debt incurred from aiding the US previously had still not been repaid. The British military would with the war for England and force America to surrender. However, armed American guerilla fighters inflicted heavy casualties on the Royal Army during the war, numbering at 56,000 total. The British promised official recognition and economic support in rebuilding from the war in exchange for a halt in America’s manifest destiny expansion. A war-weary president James Madison accepted the offer, and the US would remain at twenty states.
However, the immense casualties incurred fighting the Americans greatly reduced confidence in King George III’s leadership. Upon his death in 1820, a long political movement began working its way through the British government to initiate soft political reforms.
Napoleonic Wars[]
The Napoleonic Wars proceeded relatively as normal, but the British had far more involvement in dethroning Napoleon Bonaparte. They directly exiled him to the island of St. Helena after a resounding victory in the Battle of Waterloo. France was used as an example in the reformation movement to show the failures and shortcomings of increasingly weak monarchies or tyrant emperors.
Industrial Revolution[]
The Industrial Revolution brought many sudden changes to the UK. Through their many territories overseas, they were able to secure immense resources in rapid order to outpace the rest of Europe and the United States in industrial development. Russia and many of the far East nations were hesitant to embrace industrialization, and only did so when it became apparent there was no other choice, though this forced rapid industrialization damaged the East nations to achieve.
Around this time as well, the "Age of Progress" was in full swing in the UK, both in technology and ideology. The British reformist movement gained greater momentum after further shortcomings of the monarchy. Tensions built in the royal government with the increasing influx of overseas immigrants to the United Kingdom, and racism became a quite common issue in the UK. A brief period of economic instability gave rise to pro-democratic British labor unions, and eventually, after a period regarded as the "soft war," Queen Victoria agreed to reform the UK as a constitutional monarchy. As the royal family no longer had absolute power, many far-right conservatives made their voices known, but to little effect. The first British Prime Minister was elected in the Spring of 1868 (2302 NE), and proved to be very popular among the UK. the rest of the 19th Century proved to be bountiful for the UK, and the 20th Century was set to be an age of great technological development.
1900s[]
First Beazzik Earth World War[]
Rising tensions in Central Europe and the Balkans eventually reached a breaking point with the assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The complexity of military alliances forged in the late 1800s quickly drew most of Europe into war after the first war was declared. The outbreak of the First Beazzik Earth World War, known in the immediate years to follow as the "Great War," was heralded with trumpets and celebrations at the annunciation of war. What was expected to last only a few months quickly expanded into a multi-year war.
The United States allied itself with France within the early months, as a way of repaying the debt owed from the Revolutionary War. The UK would be the one to show restraint in entering the conflict, providing material support but refusing to commit soldiers to the fight. However, after German U-Boats rampaged across the English channel to sink support being sent to France, multiple ships of English refugees fleeing Europe to the British Isles were sunk in the chaos. This drove the UK into the war with new technologies, breaking the stalemate on the Western Front with the airplane and the tank. The Soviet Union still formed the same way as it did in most other universes, through deliberate triggering of a civil war that forced them to withdraw from the Eastern Front and the war entirely.
After the war, the German Empire took the blame for starting and waging the war as its primary participant on both fronts, and was fined an exorbitant amount by the United Kingdom and France for damages caused during the war.
Great Depression[]
In 1929 (2363 NE), the British Stock Market, which had ties to every major world nation by this point, collapsed overnight after over $30,000,000,000 dollars were lost instantly. The world economy instantly collapsed and sent every nation into turmoil.
Each nation took a different approach to recovery, with the UK beginning a massive infrastructural initiative to employ the masses in construction and management of new structures. This created mass growth in England and across its territories.
France and Mexico both sold massive portions of its uninhabited lands to the United States, which it was able to accept without issues. However, much of this area would remain uninhabited by all but Native Americans for a long time. Most of America’s infrastructure and population remained concentrated in the original twenty states, the ambitions of manifest destiny forever forgotten.
The Soviet Union sold Alaska to the British and immediately regretted doing so after its natural wealth in oil and gold was realized.
Germany’s provisional post-War government failed horribly at recovery, still in debt to the victors of the conflict, and resorted to printing money in mass. The resulting hyperinflation crushed the German economy and gave rise to new political movements, primarily Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist “Nazi” movement. He quickly rose to prominence with the German people, and after his appointment to chancellor, quickly converted Germany into the fascist German Empire.
Rapid militarization followed, along with the sweeping success of Adolf Hitler’s “race theory” in Central Europe. Germany would participate in various small wars between 1936 (2370 NE) and 1939 (2373 NE), and quickly carved a name for itself on the world stage. Aggressive annexations prompted action from Britain France in the form of Appeasement, which angered much of the British public with inaction.
Second Beazzik Earth World War[]
Euro-African Theater[]
The lack of action from the European alliance proved to be fatal to the current world order, as in late 1939, the German Wehrmacht invaded its eastern neighbor, Poland. In a sweeping 37-day campaign, the country was taken and annexed. This prompted a declaration of war against Germany. However, little would actually be mobilized in a period known as the “Phony War” where nothing would happen.
The proper war began after Germany then stormed the Ardennes, invading Belgium, the Netherlands, and France all at once with the aid of Spain pushing from the South. The country fell not too long after, like Poland. This spurred the rest of the world into action after the League of Nations collapsed.
Italian and German troops quickly invaded the British and French territories in Northern Africa. The British attempted a rescue of France from the North, but failed and were repelled by German tactics they were not prepared for. Adolf Hitler had become drunk on his own perception of German invincibility, and in mid-1941, attempted an invasion of the British Isles and the Soviet Union at the same time.
Both invasions failed horribly. Hitler had ordered a massive, showy frontline to invade the USSR instead of recommended Blitzkrieg tactics straight to Berlin. This proved to cost the Germans greatly in manpower and, most importantly, time. The fighting dragged on into the Winter, where Soviet troops gained tremendously advantage. The campaign was finally lost in 1942 with the nine-month Battle of Stalingrad, which saw Germany lose its entire 6th Army in the city. The retreat was even costlier in lives as reinvigorated Soviets chased Germany all the way back across Nazi Eastern Europe and into Germany over the next three years.
Meanwhile, in mid-1941, (2387 NE), Hitler attempted Operation Sea Lion to invade Britain and capture London to force complete surrender of the government. This as well failed, as the preluding bombing campaign of Southern England was far less successful then reported, and British forces had ambushed Hitler’s fleets crossing the channel. The forces that reached the shores and broke through were stranded without supplies, support, or reinforcements, and quickly surrendered or were wiped out.
North Africa proved to be more successful to the Nazis and Italians, with fast fighting tactics working in favor with the terrain. Ultimately, though, they would be repelled by the British and very organized French rebel forces. British naval superiority greatly diminished German capabilities over long distances, and with American military support arriving in Britain in the summer of 1942 (2388 NE), the liberation of France would eventually be launched in 1944 (2390 NE).
The Soviets and the Anglo-Franco-American joint forces both raced to Berlin across the crumbling Third Reich. The war ended abruptly with with the Soviet Union dropping a nuclear bomb on Berlin in 1947. While both the UK and the USSR had achieved nuclear weaponry, the Soviets were the first to employ such a weapon. Adolf disappeared off the face of the Earth after the nuclear strike, likely vaporized with his bunker he had hidden in, but a lack of body led to a number of conspiracy theories formed about his survival in the decades that followed.
The Allies, reformed as the United Nations, headquartered in London, began to rebuild Germany instead of punishing them again, hoping to avoid the return of a brutal German regime. Europe would bear the scars of fighting for many decades after, but rebuilt far stronger.
Pacific Theater[]
Interestingly enough, no Pacific Theater was ever opened during World War II in the Beazzik Universe, as no key players were involved. Without manifest destiny and territorial gains, the United States never became a player in any Pacific matter, and without American influence, Japan industrialized far, far slower, and never developed Imperialism. Thus, a Pacific front was never opened, and never even a factor to begin with.
Cold War[]
Nuclear Arms Race[]
The atomic bombing of Berlin had cemented the nuclear weapon as the deadliest in history, and things would only grow worse. The Attlee Precept led to the beginning of an arms race between and ideological Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. Many other Western allies declared support for the UK not long after, and soon, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be formed in opposition to the Soviet Union and its allies.
Nuclear weapons quickly advanced over the 1950s, and their destructive power only grew with time. At multiple points, the world hinged on the edge of a third planetary civil war and nuclear annihilation, but it miraculously never came.
Space Race[]
The development of rocket engines quickly created exciting new possibilities for aviation. First with medium-range nuclear missiles, it rapidly evolved into rockets that could break through Earth's atmosphere and enter space. In a surprising and sudden turn, the Soviets became the first to put an object into space with their Sputnik-1, much to the surprise of the British. In response, a race was declared to beat the Soviets in space technology development. The European Space Agency was formed to beat the Soviets in the space race. Former Nazi rocket scientists were controversially recruited by both sides to help with development, and the ESA aided greatly by American scientists of the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
First Contact[]
Governments and Factions[]
Planets[]
Races[]
Notable Differences[]
- In the Beazzik Universe, it was the British who were the first to win the Space Race against the Soviets.