Amerika -an alternate 1980's and 1990's
So here we go again. This AH scenario seems as fascinating but more
"plausible" than Red Dawn.Below is the plot and backstory .You fill in
the rest. The Soviets control most of the world but what is their
relationship like with the section thats free-presumably led by
Britian- is there any open conflict or mostly peace ? If there is
conflict where are the other hot spots in this world ie what became of
Israel w/o American backing and Soviet backing for the Arab nations ?
Since this miniseries ends with the strong impression that the Soviets
will suceed and breakup America where will we be in 20 years? Will the
Soviet empire remain dominant with a loyal ally or be facing defeat
as another bittered conquered province waits to stab them in the
back ? and whatever else you think of.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika_%28TV_miniseries%29
Plot
[edit] Major characters
The storyline of Amerika primarily follows three political leaders:
Peter Bradford (played by Robert Urich) is a well-meaning, honest,
county administrator in Nebraska who cooperates with the Soviets to
create a better life for his community. Bradford attracts the
attention of the Soviet leadership because, although interested in
cooperating, he is independent, and widely respected by his
constituents. The Soviets choose him to run one of the Bantustan-like
states – "Heartland" – carved out of the former United States. Under
the new regime, Bradford's title is "Governor-General."
Devin Milford (played by Kris Kristofferson) was a maverick politician
before the Soviet occupation, and ran for President in 1988 (in the
novel, 1992), after the U.S. defeat. He was placed in a prison camp
for daring to speak the truth about the Soviet conquest during his
presidential campaign. At the beginning of the miniseries Devin is
declared "rehabilitated" and is released back into society, into the
custody of his father, who lives in the county run by Peter Bradford.
(Conservative critics of Amerika have claimed that in real life, the
Russians would have been unlikely to release such a person back into
society.)
Colonel Andrei Denisov of the KGB (played by Sam Neill) is the Soviet
administrator for the American Central Administrative Area. At times,
Andrei seems disappointed by the ease with which America has been
conquered. He is romantically involved with Kimberly Ballard (played
by Mariel Hemingway), an actress who discovers her American patriotism
during the miniseries. Andrei's immediate superior and mentor is
General Petya Samanov (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl), the Soviet
military leader in charge of the occupation.
Major female characters, in addition to Ballard, include Peter
Bradford's wife, Amanda (played by Cindy Pickett), Devin Milford's ex-
wife, Marion (played by Wendy Hughes), and most notably, Devin's
sister Alethea (played by Christine Lahti), who at the outset is
prostituting herself to the local occupation leader. In subsequent
episodes, Alethea finds her bearings and self-respect. "Alethea is the
center," noted Donald Wrye. "She is a metaphor for America – not just
phonically – and it is she who discovers her moral core through(out)
the course of the series." Lara Flynn Boyle played Bradford's teenage
daughter, Jackie.
The human drama of these characters intersects with the political
intrigue of the Soviet plans for the breakup of America. Bradford, the
pragmatist, clashes with Milford, the idealist; Bradford's wife is
Milford's ex-girlfriend, who finds she still has feelings for Milford
upon his release from the prison camp; Denisov appoints Milford's ex-
wife, a powerful magistrate (and General Samanov's mistress), to serve
as Bradford's deputy/assistant in Heartland; and Kimberly's renewed
sense of American pride ultimately affects her relationship with
Denisov.
[edit] Backstory
In the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union's economic and political
decline puts it in danger of losing the Cold War, the Soviet
leadership makes a desperate gamble to rearrange the global balance of
power. Four huge thermonuclear weapons are exploded in the
stratosphere over the United States. The electromagnetic pulse (or
EMP) of these weapons destroys the nation's military and commercial
communications and computer systems, electrical grid, and, indeed, any
piece of equipment that relies on computer technology, such as most
late-model automobiles. With America's ICBMs inoperative, and the
National Command Authority unable to contact U.S. military forces
abroad to counterattack, America is forced to accept Soviet terms for
surrender: unilateral disarmament, the destruction of the dollar, and
integration into the Soviet-led military/economic bloc. The United
States quickly falls under Soviet military occupation – and the
President of the United States and United States Congress become
figureheads for their Soviet overseers.
The subsequent takeover of the U.S. is tamely dubbed "The Transition".
The miniseries details the final phase of the transition – the breakup
of the United States ten years after its defeat.
The above events are implied in the miniseries, although never
directly explained. The description is taken from the novelization of
the miniseries, Amerika: The Triumph of the American Spirit by Brauna
E. Pouns and Donald Wrye (Pocket Books, 1987), based on Wrye's
screenplay; Wrye is reputed to have written a 175-page treatment
describing how the Soviets took over. An introduction to the
miniseries explaining the downfall of America ended up on the cutting
room floor prior to broadcast, and only a fleeting line by actor Sam
Neill alludes to an America without communications, presumably due to
the effects of the electromagnetic pulse. The loss of technology and
communications, however, is effectively presented in the opening
scenes: no radios are heard playing, television is shown only in the
Soviet leaders' offices, one scene in a church is lit completely by
candlelight, and a woman is seen using an old sewing machine operated
by foot pedal.
[edit] Geopolitical situation presented
A decade after its defeat, America is occupied by a United Nations
peacekeeping force called the United Nations Special Service Unit
(U.N.S.S.U.). The U.N.S.S.U. is composed primarily of Eastern Bloc
forces, and is overseen by an East German, Major Helmut Gurtman.
U.N.S.S.U. troops periodically engage in "training exercises," which
are destructive in nature, and highly intimidating to the local
population.
Those Americans who engage in dissent, or who otherwise express their
opposition to the Soviet occupation are stripped of their privileges
and sent to exile camps, where they are anathema not only to the
Soviets, but also to their fellow citizens. Association with (and
assistance to) the exiles is generally prohibited, although a few
brave souls risk the loss of their own remaining freedoms by offering
humanitarian aid.
Production quotas have been imposed, and foodstuffs rationed, with the
surplus presumably being shipped to the Soviet Union. Peter Bradford
and other residents of the future Heartland must settle for soy cakes
with molasses at the local diner. "That's what really makes you want
to give up. You can't even get a good breakfast," says one character.
Against this background, Bradford ascends to the leadership of
Heartland, hoping to reform the Soviet occupation from within; Milford
is released from the prison camp, hoping to be reunited with his
children and fight against the occupation; and Denisov hopes to
"salvage as much as possible" of the old America, while realizing that
the U.S. essentially must cease to exist as a nation in order to
appease the "old men in the Kremlin."
[edit] Plot and resolution
The Soviet leaders of the occupation are faced with the dual problem
of keeping America pacified and convincing the Politburo that their
fears of a revitalized America are unfounded because the country is
under occupation and can no longer pose a threat. The Politburo is not
convinced, and even considers exploding nuclear weapons over several
American cities, as a warning -- to the American people, and to the
world. Samanov and Denisov, both of whom want the Soviet occupation of
the United States to be a relatively humane one, are horrified by this
idea.
At great political risk, Samanov finally convinces the Soviet
leadership to accept a compromise plan: no nuclear weapons will be
detonated, the United States will be divided into "client states" such
as Heartland, and the U.S. Capitol building will be destroyed as a
symbolic gesture of the destruction of America. At the same time, most
of the members of the United States Congress are to be killed in a
"terrorist attack" after they refuse to disband their legislative
body, which the movie depicts very graphically.
After the attack is carried out – arguably the climactic scene of the
miniseries – Samanov surveys the damage, and realizes the enormity of
the crime that he has allowed to happen. Sitting in the Speaker's
chair in the United States House of Representatives, he commits
suicide. Denisov, who knows nothing about the attack until he is
rushed to the Capitol and finds Samanov dead, is devastated by this
turn of events.
In the final episode of the miniseries, Heartland is about to secede
from the United States, with other regions to follow. There are scenes
of Americans digging up guns they have hidden for ten years. Heartland
troops, along with local militia, attack the local U.N.S.S.U.
compound, effectively declaring war on the Soviet occupation. One
scene shows Americans raising the U.S. flag on top of a grain
elevator, and there is even reference to a Second American Revolution.
The miniseries ends on a downbeat note, though, with General Sittman
(the leader of the Heartland Defense Force and a former Marine)
shooting Devin Milford just as he is about to make a nationwide
broadcast calling on Americans to resist the breakup of the United
States – doing so because this is an act of unlawful resistance
against the newly-established Heartland, which Sittman believes to be
the best hope against continued Soviet domination. Although there is
hope that the spirit of America lives on, in the end it appears that
the Soviet plan to dissolve the United States will come to fruition.
Some sources have claimed that the finale of the miniseries was
deliberately left somewhat unresolved to allow for the possibility of
a weekly television series sequel; but such plans, if they indeed
existed, never materialized.
[edit] The divided United States
In this fictional timeline, the United States Congress divided the
United States into several "administrative areas" in 1988, roughly one
year after the Soviet takeover. As the miniseries progresses, these
areas are planned to become separate nations, joined together in a new
North American Alliance. A map shown onscreen reveals these
administrative areas to be:
California Special District: California, Nevada
Western Semi-Autonomous: Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming
Northwest: Oregon, Washington
Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico
North Central: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin
Central: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska (this is Peter
Bradford's administrative area, and the territory which eventually
becomes Heartland, with Chicago as its capital)
South Central: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas
Southern: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi
Mid-Atlantic: Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Virginia
Appalachia: Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia
Ameritech: Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania (presumably named
after the phone company that serviced these areas)
Northeastern: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont
In addition to these administrative areas, Washington, D.C. apparently
comprises its own National Administrative District, South Florida is
described by a character as the "Space Zone," and there is a passing
reference to three "International Cities," which are not specified.
Alaska is mentioned as never having been pacified, requiring continued
engagement by Soviet troops, and there are also pockets of armed
resistance in the Rocky Mountains and in West Virginia. There is no
mention of what happened to Hawaii, or to U.S. territories such as
Guam and American Samoa.
The Rust Belt (presumably "Ameritech") faces its own special problems.
Most of its advanced factory equipment was removed at the start of the
occupation and taken to the U.S.S.R. The region suffers 50%
unemployment as a result, and its residents are not permitted to
leave, except to volunteer for factory work in the Soviet Union, from
which no one has yet returned.
Travel and communications between the various zones is heavily
restricted, part of the "divide and conquer" plan of the Soviet
occupation.
[edit] New international zones
Both the novel and miniseries leave the impression that, with the
death of freedom in America, there is nowhere else in the world where
it may be found. In the novel, one character muses: "The truth is,
we've reached the first time in history where there's no place left to
escape to. America, England, Israel, Canada, there was always a beacon
of hope somewhere. Now there's just one world and it's all bad." This
dialogue suggests that the Soviet Union or other totalitarian forces
conquered other free countries after the U.S. coup (it can be surmised
that the EMP which disabled American technology probably would have
also crippled Canada and Mexico, for example, and Denisov even says at
one point that "we control most of the world"). There is also a scene
with two emigres from the German Democratic Republic who came to the
United States before the Soviet takeover and are now exiles in their
new country: "It's one of life's little jokes. We escaped from East
Germany to come to the promised land; now the promised land has become
worse than what we left."
In this new world, Fidel Castro heads what is now called "Greater
Cuba", embracing most of the Caribbean and Latin America, and the
Chinese region of Manchuria evidently has been absorbed into the
U.S.S.R., as General Samanov remarks at one point that a rebellion has
happened in "our own Manchuria." A person named "Mbele" heads the
"Socialist Republic of Southern Africa," "Barghout" is the leader of
"Iraqistan," and Eastern Europe is described as being a "powderkeg."
The Soviet/Communist occupation of the world depicted in Amerika is
not a peaceful one, echoing the unrest in the occupied United States.
[edit] National symbols
The flag of the occupation is the pale blue UN flag, with crossed
American and Soviet flags superimposed on the sides. The American flag
is shown without its stars, and this starless flag is displayed during
the "Lincoln Week" ceremonies (see below). The standard American flag
is outlawed, although one scene early in the series shows a group of
war veterans marching with the old American flag upside down, this
being intended as a distress signal. Peter Bradford asks one of the
Soviet leaders if they are going to arrest them, but they do not. "The
Star-Spangled Banner", America's national anthem, is also outlawed,
although this does not stop a group of citizens from singing it –
haltingly at first – after the "Lincoln Week" parade.
Abraham Lincoln is included with Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin in
propaganda. Indeed, the signature scene in the film is a twenty-
minute, dialogue-free depiction of the celebration of "Lincoln Week"
festivities (a holiday replacing the Fourth of July), with both
Lincoln and Lenin displayed on banners that were most likely intended
to be striking and startling to television audiences of the time.
A new Pledge of Allegiance is given by "rehabilitated" political
prisoners upon release from the American gulags. The oath states: "I
pledge my allegiance to the flag of the community of American, Soviet,
and United Nations of the World, and to the principle for which it
stands – a nation, indivisible with others of the Earth, joined in
peace, and justice for all."
While the prisoners are told that they are free to refuse to make this
pledge if they so desire, the circumstances under which the oath is
administered would seem to indicate otherwise
Michael E Johnson