Prospera Americana

Prospera Americana
(Also referred to as “Red, White and Gold” and “Aristopia”)

Current Year: 1912
“The only question with wealth is what do you do with it?”

-John D. Rockefeller

 John Jacob Astor’s plan for a transcontinental fur trade with both European and Oriental powers is a major success in this universe as opposed to the catastrophic failure it experienced in our timeline. The line of trade puts the fur-trapping industry of other nations in America such as France into an unrecoverable downturn, and wealth is funneled into the relatively young nation from both the East and West coast. America gains significant economic influence in both Europe and nations of the Orient such as China. The economic stability provided by Astor’s trade-network, which rapidly grows from just furs to other highly desired commodities, provides relief to the depression and economic turmoil that followed the American Revolutionary War. The influx of wealth negates many economic factors and resulting political factors that lead to the American Civil War, completely bypassing it in this universe. The Industrial Revolution occurs earlier and more rapidly within the United States, leading to a class of Captains of Industry during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that are completely different to that of our own universe, as enterprising business-leaders capitalize on the coal, steel, oil, railroad and real-estate industries. The Electrical Revolution occurs even earlier and advances farther than in our Timeline. Influential inventors of the era such as Nikola Tesla find their endeavors bankrolled by wealthy investors, spurring a more rapid advancement of technology in the areas of electronics, automotives and telecommunications as what was seen in our universe. In the Current Year of 1912, America has acquired significant political influence in the European sphere in addition to economic sway. American influence may directly impact the development of events in the already looming prospect of WWI, with their decision to create or refuse to create alliances with various countries within the European Powder-Keg potentially defining the nature of The Great War itself. Finances have a way of potentially stopping, or starting, violent conflicts between nations, and American silver changing hands may do just that in this world’s uncertain future.