Aztec Empire

A commission for Nick Griffalco over on AH.com: a cover of the AH wiki "Aztec Empire" scenario, created by Hugo Eder Cortes Rivera, AKA Ed9306. ed9306.deviantart.com/ (Original here althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Azte… )

In this world, Cortez failed to make it out of Tenochtitlan alive, and Moctezuma’s successors managed to keep their state afloat through a combination of luck, skilled diplomacy, weapons purchases from British privateers, early adoption of the horse, and the Spanish being distracted by the conquest of the Inca empire and the discovery of a huge goddamn mountain of silver at Potosi. Not that it was easy, with the survival of Mesoamerica being remaining uncertain through the 16th century, and Central America becoming a place contested for control between Aztecs, Maya, British, Spanish and even the Scots. 

But survive they did, and history unrolled in a somewhat different direction. Not too differently, for this is one of those TLs that follows a path roughly similar to OTL, with Russia steadily rising to great powerdom, the Ottomans peaking and then declining, the Germans being a headache, Britain conquering India and colonizing North America while slowly becoming a place where Parliaments dominate over kings, albeit with some different twists and turns (therefore the Union or Britain rather than the United Kingdom, since the United Kingdoms of England, Wales, Scotland, and Leinster, Meath and Ulster being a bit too much of a mouthful).

War and plague still shook Aztec society, and the old religion proved unable to cope, with a new human-sacrifice free version of the old faith centered on Quetzalcoatl (Toyecnemiliztli) joining with imported Christianity as the new dominant religions. (Oddly, these have continued to coexist without too much difficulty to the present day, possibly because Toyecnemiliztli has absorbed a lot of Christian elements, while the dominant version of Aztec Christianity has syncretized so many local elements that most Christians don’t recognize it as such – which may have something to do with Aztecs get their Christianity first from the English and refusing to accept the British monarch as the head of their church).

During the lengthy period of “good relations” between the Aztecs and the British, English sailors from bases in Central America or Aztec land began exploring the north Pacific, and a colony was founded in the salubrious-looking lands of the Pacific Northwest by a slightly alt- Sir Francis Drake even before the first English settlement on the east coast. Although its relative geographic isolation meant that its growth would be slow, it would eventually develop its own national character and become something of a headache for both Aztecs and the descendents of Britain’s eastern colonies. (Its isolated location has helped it maintain a more old-fashioned sort of Englishness than OTL, more bellicose, more religious yet more "earthy", more whites-only [1], and with the funniest accent. One would think they would get along with some US southerners  , but then USC southerners aren't really our southerners and who likes their semi-evil twin? In any event they're still a bit pissed at the USC for coming out the definite winners in great basin/rocky mountains territorial claims. They still allied with the USC and Aztecs during the cold war period, because, goddamn Russians.)

The Era of Good Relations came to an inevitable end at last, as the Spanish menace receded after the great Aztec victory over Spanish invaders in 1612, and it became clear that the British were intent on maintaining a monopoly on Aztec trade and contacts with other Europeans, although it was not until the 18th century that a clear break took place. 

In south America, the Spanish put more settlers and more resources into developing their Andean colony, or Cuatrosuyo (a typical case of bad translation at work), which would eventually be spun off as a separate Spanish kingdom as a result of dynastic dealings (in the end the Spanish-French-Bavarian union failed to work out, alas) and did not break apart as OTL: in the 19th century politics would become dominated by a form of corporatist authoritarianism which successfully if brutally pushed forward modernization and development of the country and in the 20th century would evolve into something rather like OTL Fascism.

A somewhat poorer Habsburg block didn’t do quite as well in the Wars of Religion in Germany, with the result that by the mid 18th century Saxony-Brandenburg-with-claims-to-the-Swedish-throne-we-might-follow-up-one-of-these-days and their dourly Calvinist Luneburger allies managed to unify most of Germany outside of Austria in what is often referred to by this world’s historians as the First German Empire (to distinguish from the Holy Roman Empire), and after their purchase of lands for a colony in largely unpopulated Patagonia turned sour when the next Spanish monarch came to regret the actions of his money-strapped predecessor, fought a war which laid the foundations for the third great south American power (aside from Cuatrosuyu and Brazil).

Several European nations piled on when the Ottoman Empire underwent a round of civil war in the late 18th century, leading to an early partial breakup of the Empire (Bulgaria and Albania were lost a bit later) and an early extension of European power into the Middle East, leading to a predictable counterreaction, initially led by the heads of the great Shammarid clan, which established an “anti-crusader” state in South Arabia which Europeans never succeeded in conquering (or, more cynically, never considered worth the trouble of conquering) which would providing a rallying point for Arab nationalism of a more traditional sort than OTL. 

The other powers were not happy about the British bogeying the Holy Land, but the British had the ships, the men, and the money too, and at least treated Catholic and Orthodox pilgrims well. British apocalyptic Christians were happy enough to accept a steady trickle of Jewish immigrants to the Holy Land, and as yet there was no pro-Arab lobby important enough to interfere with this…

The British colonies arose as OTL over taxes, lack of representation, etc., and formed the United States of Columbia: the French didn’t help, but the Aztecs, happy by this point to put a finger in Britain’s eye, did so, leading a bit later to a peaceable division of the sometimes French, sometimes Spanish *Louisiana territory between them, in which the USC got the lion’s share but the Aztecs got most of the delta region by virtue of having the better navy. The alliance would be a lasting one, if not without occasional ups and downs.

The French revolution took place later than OTL, but still shook Europe to its foundations. The First German Empire took on the armies of the Revolution and was beaten badly and partly broken up, not to be reformed for over half a century – in the immediate aftermath of the revolutionary wars, the Spanish, the Austrians, the Dutch, and the Russians all were happy to see Germany remain reduced. Historians usually ascribe the aggrieved nationalism of the Second German Empire to these events, and therefore the two World Wars that it played a central role in.

Persia did better than OTL, and the Manchus never conquered all of China, eventually being driven out by the Zheng dynasty. A more open to the outside world Korea embraced Christianity, only not sufficiently to avoid a series of Wars of Religion. The British took a chunk of the Dutch East Indies but let them keep the Cape, while picking up Mozambique from the Portuguese. The US avoided the Civil War due to the Slave States realizing that they had no real chance for expansion and resigning themselves to enjoying the good times while they lasted, although there was a mini-revolt of Deep South extremists after the failure of a *Dread Scott type legal decision to go their way (it was over in six months).

There were two major global wars comparable in scale to our world wars, which the locals, not being exceptionally creative, call World War I and II. India rose in revolt between the wars and successfully broke away from British rule as a unified nation, although before long religious differences began to erode the initial revolutionary solidarity, not aided by a certain Hindu triumphalism. Austria-Hungary (still “Austria” here) failed to make it, while a somewhat less crappy Russian leadership meant that Czarist Russia survived the first war (although not without a struggle against *Communist revolutionaries) and would go on to be one of the big winners in the second. Along with Russia, the United States of Columbia and the Aztec Empire would emerge as the dominant global powers in the post-war decades. Atomic weapons were used against both Cuatrosuyu and Nihon, indeed the even more determined Japanese leadership of this world didn’t quit until after the seventh bomb. 

A Cold War of sorts would follow as the Czarist power consolidated its dominance of eastern Europe and looked to expand its influence in the middle east, although less ideologically fraught than OTL, due to “monarchial absolutism” not being exactly a big draw for the world’s masses. Instead the big revolutionary force would be Chinese collectivism: rising to power in the wake of China’s rather disastrous performance in the second world war, Hung Wei Collectivism put European ideas on *socialism through a Chinese filter and came up with a design for a “people’s state” which proved quite successful in dragging China into the 20th century, if less so when it came to the 21st. Indeed, there seemed for a while that the Russia vs America and Aztecs competition would become a three-sided one, but in the end Chinese collectivism failed to catch on outside of the “third world” and only a few westerners managed to scare themselves with visions of rising Brown Hordes. 

The unification of the Arab kingdoms of Arabia is sometimes blamed on the British, who had tried to make themselves puppetmasters of the area through their pet Hasanid or Hashmite monarchs, only for them to do an about face and ally themselves with the Shammarid desert warriors. Tremendous oil wealth and protection of the Holy Cities has made the Islamic Confederation of Arabia a power of global influence, and a standard bearer for conservative Islam (fortunately of a less nutty sort than OTL Wahabis, which were butterflied: still, the Shammarids are hardly all sunshine and rainbows multiculturalists, either). The possibility of an Arab-Israeli nuclear war preys on people’s minds: Israel quickly developed an atomic capacity of its own after the Arab use of a nuclear weapon against the Indian military during the so-called Muslim-Indian war [2], and a quiet arms race continues to this day, although fortunately the moderate nature of the current Hasanid senior monarch makes war unlike – long may he reign!

Cuatrosuyu’s defeat in the second world war put an end to a long period of authoritarian (and lately more outright totalitarian) government, and after some shaky initial decades, the Andean giant’s democracy stabilized by the 1980s. Nowadays, Cuatrosuyu is notable for its dedication to environmental issues and early adoption of “green” technologies, and looks to have a bright future. 

Spain still doesn’t get along with the Aztecs, and indeed there was a sizable war scare as late as the 1960s, when the Spanish government accused the Aztecs of stirring up trouble in Spanish Morocco, and there was a certain amount of naval maneuverings and saber-rattling, although fortunately cooler heads prevailed. (Spain remains grumpy and, in the view of many, unrepentant for its participation in WWII).

Russia has democratized and decentralized substantially (although the Tsar retains more powers than any other European monarch) and has allowed the extension of the European Union right up to its borders, although it retains close economic, and in some cases, political ties to states in its former eastern European sphere. The present Czar, Ivan III, is a good-natured but somewhat hapless individual which never seems to get any of his personal pet projects off the ground, and is nicknamed affectionately by his subjects as “the almighty.”

The United States of Columbia is Number One economically and probably militarily (again, the Cold War arms race wasn’t quite as insane as OTL), although suffering from issues of political gridlock and an overly powerful corporate element. Recently feathers were badly ruffled when the climate-change and sustainable development-focused “New Peoples, New Progress” international conference held in Tenochtitlan saw the conservative US position raked over the coals both by Mexihcans and Andeans, and there was some talk of “whither the old alliance?”, but things have been largely patched up: after all, as the old joke goes, the USC and the Empire have their hands in each others pockets far too deeply…

The Aztec Empire (Ce Mexihca Anahuac , to be more accurate) is a complex, multicultural, multilingual, and racially diverse society, which (so far, aside from those darn Maya) still manages to convey a sense of national pride and unity. It is one of the most urbanized states in the world, with some 23 “millionaire” cities, six in Africa, asides from its vast, sprawling capital. With over 200 million people, a top-tier first world economy and a strong international presence, it is considered the third “superpower”, but what with the rise of China today and possibly India tomorrow some grumble that it isn’t big enough to maintain its position for long. Fashions have been largely Europeanized, [3] and temples usually are more cathedral-like than pyramid-like nowadays, but the architecture remains flamboyant by USC or European standards, and the people still love the “more is better” approach to flowers. Blood still occasionally spatters in honor of the Gods: some sacrifice of animals continues, and while the losers are no longer executed, Ōllamaliztli remains one of the most physically intense rock-hard-rubber-ball-based games in the world. 

PS - I had the Spanish conquer Peru because frankly the original gave no real explanation as why they _shouldn't_, [4], and Peru would provide a distraction to help explain why they took so long to try again, but I went and made Spanish Andean America a solid power since it was need for the story and in any event I like the idea of mega-Peru.  Thanks to a long period of development-minded and authoritarian government with no patience for underutilized human resources it's more economically equal and racially integrated than OTL Peru-Bolivia, but, as I said, currently undergoing a bit of a romantic "discover your native American roots" revival including some neo-pagan commune-with-nature bits that would probably make the priests of Viracoha roll their eyes. Like OTL Germany, it tends to be a bit sensitive about it's behavior in WWII and are very definite on that being All Behind Them Now. 

[1] They do make a partial exception for native Americans, due to the old ties to the Aztecs, and a fair amount of intermarriage with local tribes in the somewhat uncertain early days of the settlement.

[2] "So called" because many Indian Muslims fought for India and against the separatists. 

[1] They do make a partial exception for native Americans, due to the old ties to the Aztecs, and a fair amount of intermarriage with local tribes in the somewhat uncertain early days of the settlement.

[3] Although Europe and the other states of North America have also been somewhat Aztec-ized in turn: clothes for men and women both tend to be more colorful than OTL, and jade nose-rings are actually considered fashionable in parts of the USC.

[4] The Aztecs make a defensive alliance with the Incas? Which they have never heard of? And have no means of getting to (lacking any long-distance sailing boats) save by hacking through endless leagues of jungle and hostile tribes?