‘Hearts of Iron IV’ Game Players Shape Alternate Histories

The year is 1939. After months of hard-fought battle in the streets of our once-proud nation, General Douglas MacArthur stands victorious. Former president Huey Long’s pretender American Union States and John “Jack” Reed’s Syndicalist revolutionary forces are in shambles. The Pacific States of America once again pledge allegiance to Old Glory, and the spark of potential incursion from King George V’s Dominion of Canada lacks the fuel to reach full conflagration. Without MacArthur’s swift decision to liquidate the legislature to take control of the federal government, the Republic would have fallen to International Leftism or Populism. He stood his ground, even when those bastards marched on our nation’s capital and firebombed innocent civilians. And his soldiers. They were the true heroes of the war. Following his every order without question. Now, as the dust settles, they call for him to lead the United States through a coming golden age. And why not? What good is “Democracy?” Did it not cause this war in the first place? Hadn’t the will of the common man driven brother against brother and put that demagogue Long in the White House? MacArthur was born to lead, that much was certain, and maybe he should heed his men’s call.

The decision was mine to make. My bloodshot eyes refocused as my cursor hung over the two options. Should I remake the American Constitutional Republic, or anoint General Douglas MacArthur as America’s Caesar?

The year is 1939. After months of hard-fought battle in the streets of our once-proud nation, General Douglas MacArthur stands victorious. Former president Huey Long’s pretender American Union States and John “Jack” Reed’s Syndicalist revolutionary forces are in shambles. The Pacific States of America once again pledge allegiance to Old Glory, and the spark of potential incursion from King George V’s Dominion of Canada lacks the fuel to reach full conflagration. Without MacArthur’s swift decision to liquidate the legislature to take control of the federal government, the Republic would have fallen to International Leftism or Populism. He stood his ground, even when those bastards marched on our nation’s capital and firebombed innocent civilians. And his soldiers. They were the true heroes of the war. Following his every order without question. Now, as the dust settles, they call for him to lead the United States through a coming golden age. And why not? What good is “Democracy?” Did it not cause this war in the first place? Hadn’t the will of the common man driven brother against brother and put that demagogue Long in the White House? MacArthur was born to lead, that much was certain, and maybe he should heed his men’s call.

The decision was mine to make. My bloodshot eyes refocused as my cursor hung over the two options. Should I remake the American Constitutional Republic, or anoint General Douglas MacArthur as America’s Caesar?