What If World History?

We muse how a Rebel victory at Gettysburg would affect the ascension of Ulysses S. Grant and the pace of the final chapter of the Civil War. It’s stunning to think but Lee’s victory would actually end the war 8-12 months earlier than our history books write.

With the success at Vicksburg in July of 1863, Lincoln sees a rising military genius, who is hawkish and unafraid to aggressively pursue, and attack, the Confederate armies he faced. After the appalling casualties at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, Lincoln dismissed Grant's critics, saying "I can't spare this man; he fights.”

In our timeline, in August of 1863, Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General, giving him command of all Union armies. His new rank had only been held by one man in American history, George Washington.

It’s important to note, what Grant will bring to the war, is different than any previous Union general. He will use the telegraph and other signal communications to modernize his command-and-control over the entire theater of operations. 

Prior to Grant's leadership, the armies operated independently to accomplish localized goals and defeat specific army groups. Grant will look at the theater in its entirety and coordinate attacks to strangle supplies and movement that will eventually render the Confederates incapable of fighting. Grant was not interested in capturing territory or towns unless those gains kept the Confederates from resupplying.

Grant will coordinate with generals, review troop movements, and issue orders in near-real-time. Only Sherman, who had been ordered to go dark, was not in constant contact to utilize intelligence to pressure and attack the different Confederate armies, including Lee’s. 

Grant will also bring a completely new attitude to the Union army: “Attack, pressure, drive the initiative against the enemy.” This philosophy would embolden the ranks of Federal forces in a way that was badly needed, particularly after the loss at Gettysburg.

Rather than mid-1864, our scenario has the coordinated theater-wide surge of Union forces happening during the late Summer months of 1863.

History tells us that over the course of 500 years from 1000 CE to the 1500s, Norse presence in North America dwindled to nothing. And ultimately, their impact on the history of North America is fleeting. 

But What If the Vikings grew their settlements over the first five centuries here. What If they ultimately grew their presence to 30,000 or more in warmer areas like New York, Massachusetts, or even the Carolinas?

Historians agree that their impact on Native American, European, and even our American history would be profound. It is not a very far stretch of the imagination to envision an aggressive Viking migration to a milder and more temperate climate hundreds of miles further south along the Atlantic Coast.

With the Little Ice Age, both land and rations, and resources in Iceland, Greenland, England, and many parts of Europe were stretched beyond their ability to support local populations. A stable, growing settlement in Vinland would be attractive to many of these seafarers and peasants. We know this for sure because the migration repeats itself hundreds of years later with the Dutch, French, and English settlers.

In our What If scenario we imagine what life would be like in a large Viking settlement in North America. We are not thinking about New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement that later became New York. We will imagine Bjorn Buo, a town translated to mean “Bear Shelter”. 

In our story, Bjorn Bour is not the traditional Viking settlement of farms centrally located around longhouses and a stone church. Rather, it is a vibrant, bustling city of thousands of fishermen, boat builders, iron craftsmen, traders, farmers, hunters, butchers, bakers, and even a bishop. And we are about to walk its streets.

Instead of sleeping the crucial morning away, Hitler is awake and reacting to the landings along the Normandy coast. He utilizes nine Panzer divisions to drive a wedge in the beachhead and turn the course of D-Day as we know it.