My Take on Backwards History (Part 3)

The world in 1950 is very different from the world for 50 years earlier. As knowledge of semiconductors is slowly eaten away by the microbe, computers have become so bulky that the 1970s saw the last “personal computers.” They were getting too big for personal use, limiting their use to companies and institutions. Mobile phones have ceased to exist as well, limiting the world’s telecommunications to cumbersome land-lines, which now relied more on cables in the ground instead of satellites. There is less plastic been used, thanks to successful eco-campaigns and diminishing fossil fuel reserves. The knowledge of jet engines is disappearing with the sight and sound of less jet planes in the sky. The people are noticing the change.

Politically, the world is different with Russia and the US in a “Cold War” between capitalism and militarized socialism. During this “Cold War” China (the one mighty economic power) rejected capitalism and followed the Russians. Much of East Asia followed suit, fed up with the fluctuating booms and busts of the 1990s. Afghanistan, during its liberation from Islamic Fundamentalism were invaded by the Russians in the 1980s. In Eastern Europe, east of Berlin, the Russians took over. Germany had become the cooking pot of potential war since 1989 and soon it will explode. In this climate, the populace took more interest in politics. In fact, the turn out of democratic elections and political rallies had increased during the “Cold War.”

One cause of the increased interest in current affairs was the collapse of television. With the microbe eating away the knowledge of technicians, the 1990s saw the transition from digital to analogue technology. This change dramatically reduced the number of TV channels, limiting to less than 10 to even people with satellite or cable. As knowledge of video recording decreased in the 20^th century, they were less repeats and more live programmes. By 1950, there was little to watch, with little recorded programmes from the past that could be played through telecine and further reduced number of channels (with some territories having just one channel), which were all now in monochrome. Programme makers were desperate, with TV schedules full of variety acts taken from the booming music halls and theatres. This forced more people away from their screens and doing other things for their leisure time, such as model building. As a result, the audiences were getting smaller and this had a knock-on effect in advertising. With decreasing funds from advertising, most commercial TV stations switched off. Only, government-backed stations remained until the technicians finally forgot how to operate the equipment. The 1920s would see the last TV broadcasts, done only by amateurs in the hope of reviving it in the future. 

The collapse of digital media (as well as television) was a mixed blessing for politics. Although its distracting powers had decreased, it was becoming easier for governments to control the media. As a result, there was a boom in propaganda worldwide from the 1960s onwards.

So everything was set for an explosion in conflict. They were smaller conflicts, such as Vietnam and Korea, but it was nothing compared what was about to start after 1950.

It began in China in 1949, when the population rebelled against their government after years of famine and cultural persecution. This lead to a Civil War in 1946. With China been an ally with Russia, the US decided to drop the world’s last nuclear weapons on China. But a calculation error (according to some sources) forced the bomber crew to drop their load on Japan instead. Japan had experienced a decreasing economy since the 1970s. By 1950, it was only the US needing supplies for the Korean War that kept them afloat. But when that war ended, Japan was a shadow of its former self and under the control by the Americans. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki drive the Japanese to banish the Americans and go to war with them. With Japan to deal with, the US was slightly detracted when; months later Germany erupted into a revolution to unite its two separated halves. A World War Had begun.

Meanwhile, during the “Cold War” the nations of Africa, South and Central America, who were caught up in the “war” decided to end their unstable mix of democratic and dictatorial governments with more stable rule from European nations. It wasn’t a smooth transition, with rebellions and coups and all that. But by the 1930s, most nations were under the rule of a small number of countries. Now their fate depended on these countries.