Hello. I’m writing an alternate history story where Switzerland is divided between resurgent fascist Germany and Italy in the late 20th century (it’s ultra-dystopian).
I’ve done a fair bit of research (like reading an 88-page document on the workings of the Swiss government) but a big uncertainty always remains of there being something the Swiss take for granted which I just don’t understand or suchlike.
My proposed outline goes: Nuclear winters following the Korean, Sino-Soviet and Soviet Civil Wars lead to Switzerland maintaining an indefinite state of emergency. Such bleak times badly shake up the traditional party system, resulting in the rise of the Eurocommunist Swiss Party of Labour. However, eventually a coalition takes power that bans the party, leading it to engage in civil disobedience that’s met with violence that the party resorts to violence in response. Most Swiss loath it and support the governments authoritarian actions against it (like imprisoning thousands of its supporters without trial) only for judges to declare this illegal, causing the legislature and people to hate the judiciary. Many judges fail to win reelection, undermining judicial independence. With the communists destroyed, the country is left with two hostile political camps, one pro-refugee, pro-women voting and anti-nuclear while the other is the opposite. When the former is in power, newly fascist Italy attacks in 1986, causing various foreigners to withdraw from Swiss banks, fearing their valuables being nuked, leading to a run on the banks and a banking collapse. Switzerland holds off Italy until 1987, when the other party takes power. It turns towards the authoritarian and rolls back various advances in women’s rights while accepting Germany’s offer of advisors and air support (though Germany doesn’t send its planes into Italy). Germany increasingly penetrates Switzerland, gradually escalating demands until the Swiss government finally balks. Germany stops its aid, except for in certain cantons which vote to retain German support. The Swiss government attempts to violently bring such Cantons to heal, only to be crushed between the Italian and German militaries, the traitor Cantons and even an anti-authoritarian/feminist fifth column that hates their own government more than those its fighting.
Assuming real history is followed until 1941, and differences gradually accumulate after that, does anything seem implausible? If so, are there tweaks which would make it more so?
Difficult to say. Much will probably be down to the writing rather than the idea.
Good writing could make anything plausible.
On that subject, I hope the writing style you intend for the book is not the same as above. That middle paragraph was far too long and difficult, if not tedious to read.
As for the naysayers, they may not be your target audience. There are plenty of good works of fiction out there with an alternative European history - especially Robert Harris’s Fatherland and Orwell’s 1984.
Both there are similar in that the stories revolve around one person, the human element providing the thread weaving through the story. I think you need something like this.
The story’s writing style is almost nothing like that paragraph, I can assure you.
Do you have any opinion on how easy what I outlined would be to make plausible? I’m not wedded to the current plan and would like to try something else if it would require great skill to make work.
interesting scenario. A modern twist to the untold story of their own Sonderbundkrieg
The scenario as such is not unforeseen in some other countries… I would stay away from the feminist part of the story. You are introducing an anachronic element that could derail from the main political aspect, and create a distracting side story to an already complex plot.
As I wrote before - I think whether it works or not as a story will not depend on what happens “historically” but what happens to the characters within that story.
Why is the feminist stuff anachronistic? I’m not sure what you consider the main political plot; I was thinking of the feminism as something of a leg to the stool that is the political plot of Swiss political division and decline in trust.
This isn’t a character driven sort of story; it’s more of a fiction presented in the style of history non-fiction. (I know there’s no market for that sort of thing; I’m placing it for free on the internet.)
Well seeing the CH was very close to joining the Reich and even requested German assistance should France invade Switzerland it is not too far fetched.
although, if it has to be Swiss-focus, I would prefer more of a realistic ‘national’ scenario – heatwaves melt the glaciers and make the alpine passes easy to access to infantry from the various powers
Considering this already happened in peace times, see Credit Suisse (RIP), it’s hard to believe that foreigners kept their savings in Switzerland during an infinite state of emergency, during the rise of the Eurocommunist Party of Labour which happens to be an authoritarian government. Somehow investors are OK with all that, but what breaks the camel back is an attack from fascist Italy.
I guess the plausible scenario is that the rest of the world is even worse. Otherwise, investors would have fled from day 1.
