Divergent Reality

In any alternate history, the question is – what event causes the timeline to skip to one side and take on a new course?




For some alternate history stories, the divergence is grand and general - “no WW1” - while for others it is specific and meticulous, such as one timeline where the difference of phrasing in a toast at a party drives the whole of the alternate history.
For Burnished Rows of Steel, there are… several.
Despite the author's previously expressed distaste for multiple points of divergence (PoDs) in other works, his own contains plenty of what appear to be PoDs – so many that they must be addressed in categories.






Prince Albert



Prince Albert (the Prince Consort) dies of apoplexy in Burnished Rows of Steel in October, at the Curragh during the autumn manoeuvres. His death comes during an argument with his son Prince Albert (the Prince of Wales, or the Crown Prince) over an Irish woman in which the Crown Prince challenges him to a duel.
This is presented as a real point of divergence. However, there are several problems with it.

1. Why are they at the Curragh? In the real world the manoeuvres were over in September.
   
2. The Royal Family's movements are well documented in the Court Circular printed in the Times, as well as the mainstream press, and the Prince of Wales was not at the Curragh at any point in October.
   
3. Prince Albert at this time was already very ill with stomach trouble that would eventually kill him; there was no indication of heart problems.
   
4. The conversation presented took place in late November at Cambridge, and no duel challenge took place; nor did Albert die of apoplexy.
   
5. To show two royals getting in a petty aristocratic quarrel taken to the level of a duel is heavily ahistorical and intended entirely to show Britain in a negative light. This also complements the conversation with the Stanleys later on, and contrasts the blissful harmony of the Lincoln family; thus, right from the start it has the unequal portrayal of the two sides.
   

The Rinaldo Affair



The original Trent Affair of our world involved the stopping of a British ship in international waters and her search by the San Jacinto, a frigate under the command of Wilkes. In this timeline, however, the incident in question was far worse – with the San Jacinto also crippling the British corvette Rinaldo, killing her captain and destroying her engines, and escaping without any noted damage.
This is also presented as a necessary point of divergence to lead to a war. However, there are more problems with this one.

1. It is unnecessary. The British sent a war ultimatum in our world, and since the author subscribes to the belief that Prince Albert was key in moderating the dispatch there is no need to resort to the shown divergence in the Trent affair.
   
2. It is unrealistic. Not only is the Rinaldo a modern corvette armed with breechloading rifles as well as more typical muzzle loading guns, but her engines are below the waterline – to disable her engines is essentially impossible without pounding her to pieces, and it is strange to suggest that the British ship would be so badly damaged to need a tow while the San Jacinto can travel without problems clear from the Bahamas to Boston.
   
3. The reaction is unrealistic. The narration suggests that there is widespread doubt over who opened fire, but to the British public this would be an obvious case of the Union firing on the British ship – after all, as noted, the Rinaldo was far more badly damaged.
   
4. The way the British react shows vacillation and a lack of willingness to commit, despite the far worse incident compared to in our world. Any reaction except compliance was OTL to be treated as a rejection and therefore cause for immediate war; here, despite the shooting incident, the British never actually declare war at all (they are instead declared war upon by the proactive United States, although after another inciting incident so the US is clearly not at fault).
   

The St Albans Raid



In our world, in October 1864 the Confederacy launched a desperate raid into the Union from Canada, in an attempt to provoke a Union-British incident that would take the pressure off them. The raid was launched during the Siege of Petersburg, during Lincoln's re-election campaign, after the capture of Atlanta, after Mobile Bay, and shortly before the March to the Sea.
In the world of BROS, the same raid is launched by the same people with the same results, just in 1861 – that is, after Second Bull Run and with the Confederacy roughly twenty miles from Washington.
Once more, there are problems with this.

1. Rather than being planned and launched in a period of increasing Confederate desperation, it is planned and launched in a period of increasing Confederate strength – one where it looks as though the war will be over in a short period of time.
   
2. The raid is conducted by “Captain John Hunt Morgan” - as per the original St. Albans Raid – as instructed by a memo of the 16^th of August, 1861. Problem is, John Hunt Morgan did not join the Confederate army until September.
   
3. The only repercussion of this raid is to make Anglo-American tensions higher, without changing the actual preparedness of the British. This is essential because of the timing – the raid takes place on the 19^th of October, and could be in the news in London by the end of October. If the British considered this a worrying enough sign to perhaps reinforce Canada, then they could dispatch reinforcements four weeks earlier than in our world – not only early enough to avoid the storms, but early enough that reinforcements could, just, sail right up to Montreal. (Navigation closed between Quebec and Montreal on the 2^nd December, and the first reinforcement steamer reached Bic on the 26^th December.)
   
4. It is, again, unnecessary.
   

These are the official Points of Divergence. However, looking closer one can find many other unintended (or disguised?) points of divergence. In a timeline based on leaving the reader to work so much out, none of these can be dismissed as simple mistakes; instead the reader must identify the PoD for themselves.

• The Confederate withdrawal from Norfolk. Nothing that happens from any of the other PoDs would cause it, so it's another independent PoD.
  
• The US commissions a new broadside ironclad Boston converted from the 5,000 ton USS Franklin on or before April 1862 (five yeas before the real Franklin was completed, suggesting considerable work was needed). Since real conversions or construction of similarly sized ships took many months (Virginia 8 months, Roanoke 15 months, New Ironsides 10 months, Royal Oak 24 months) then we can count back to say that the divergence resulting in her construction was at least as early as August 1861 and may have been as early as April 1861.
  
• The steamer Adriatic is not sold to the Galway line, remaining in American hands. This requires a PoD in April 1861 or earlier.
  
• The Warrior is a 6,000 ton ironclad instead of a 9,000 ton one. This suggests a PoD in 1859 or 1858, during the ordering of construction of the ship.
  
• The Siege of Kars is referred to by Wolseley in mocking tones. Since in the OTL this involved an inspired defence that only led to the surrender of the city when men were literally starving (and was much admired), this suggests an 1855 PoD that made Kars much less impressive in this universe.
  
• Several Irishmen are “sent to the noose” in the 1848 rising, as stated by Meagher (who was there), requiring an 1848 PoD.
  
• The shifting of the US border forty yards north to the bridge across the Coaticook. This presumably dates back to the Aroostock incident, if not the Treaty of Ghent or even the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
  
• The different melting of ice on the North American lakes ad in the St Lawrence and the extremely intense storms in the North Atlantic (preventing any kind of communication for months on end) both imply a geological point of divergence.
  
• The different position of the moon suggests a divergence which may go as far back as 4.5 billion years, to the initial formation of the moon.
  

Of course, these could all just be mistakes. You decide.