Alternate History Thread II...

[Azale]

hey das, out of curiosity...is there any historical time period, straight up historical, that you could produce stats for every single nation?

 

[das]

Given lots of time and good motivation, probably anything can be done, but nothing right off the bat.

 

[Azale]

Well, its just, I have this friends who knows this other guys friend who asked me to ask you about it...

We need someone to do something straight up historical, BESIDES me

 

[alex994]

Well, its just, I have this friends who knows this other guys friend who asked me to ask you about it...

We need someone to do something straight up historical, BESIDES me

He's already predicting my nes will fail and etc

 

[Drake Rlugia]

Part 1: The Bohemian Revolt 1618-1624

In 1618, the empire was as stable as it could be. There was simmering unrest, yes. But nothing that kept women from doing their chores, men visiting pubs, or peasants tilling the fields and reaping a harvest. But the aging Mathias sought to assure an orderly transition during his lifetime by having his dynastic heir (the fiercely Catholic, Ferdinand of Styria, later Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor) elected to the separate royal thrones of Bohemia and Hungary. Some of the Protestant leaders of Bohemia feared losing the religious rights granted to them by Emperor Rudolf II and so preferred the Protestant Frederick V, elector of the Palatinate (successor of Frederick IV, the creator of the League of Evangelical Union). But other Protestants supported the position also taken by the Catholic forces and so in 1617 Ferdinand was duly elected by the Bohemian Estates to become crown prince, and automatically, upon the death of Mathias, the next King of Bohemia. This was the beginning of a long tirade of events which would re-shape Europe as it was known. When the King-Elect, Ferdinand sent two Catholic councillors (Wilhelm Grav Slavata and Jaroslav Borzita Graf Von Martinicz) as his governors to Hradčany castle in Prague in May 1618 to administer the government in his absence. It did not take long to Bohemian Calvinists to sieze the castle, subject the duo to a mock-trial, and throw them out of the castle windows, then some 50 ft into a pile of manure, which saved their lives. This event, known as Second Defenestration of Prague, began the Bohemian Revolt. The small conflict soon arrived on a greater stage, encompassing Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia and Moravia, which was already riven by conflict between Catholics and Protestants..

The Bohemians found themselves at an advantage through 1618 and early 1619. They had entered into negotiations with the ailing emperor Mathias in 1619, and were on verge of a settlement when the emperor died. He was succeeded post-haste by the Catholic extremist Ferdinand II. The new emperor refused to negotiate with rebels, and called upon his nephew Philip IV of Spain to aid him against the Bohemians. It did not take long for Bohemia to respond to the insult by offering the crown of Bohemia to the elector of Saxony, John George(Ferdinand had been desposed in 1619)[1].

In Saxony, the offer was met with great surprise[2]. Although the Saxon elector had voted for the Habsburg Ferdinand for emperor, he was not going to put down an offer for Bohemia, one of the richest provinces of the Holy Roman emperor. John George prepared an army of 12,000 men, and along with his commanders, to fight the Austrians. The members of the Protestant union(Palatinate, Anhalt, Neuberg, Württemberg, Baden, Ansbach, Bayreuth, Hesse-Kassel, Brandenburg, Ulm, Strasbourg and Nürnberg) also set aside to provide 3,000 troops to fight along side the Saxon army, even though Saxony was not part of the union. The Saxon army under John George arrived in Bohemia in the Autumn of 1619. By then, much of Upper Austria had joined the Bohemians in revolt, as much of their nobility was Lutheran and Calvinist (a fact that would swiftly change in the coming years.)It did not take long for the sparks of revolt to spread into Lower Austria as well, with Count Thurn raising an army to besiege Vienna. The revolt received quiet financial support from the Duchy of Savoy in Italy; who also furnished soldiers to protect fortresses in Bohemia[3].In the east, the Prince of Transylvania Gabriel Bethlen led a force into royal Hungary, with support from the Turkish Sultan. By time winter rolled around, it seemed as if the whole world was against the Empire. Vienna was under siege[4] and parts of Royal Hungary had fell to, although he created winter quarters at Preschau.

When 1620 came to blossom, and winter was replaced with warm weather, armies were once again prepared. John George of Saxony had an army of some 15,000 in Bohemia, representing not just his electorate, but the Protestant union. Count Thurn headed the revolt of Upper and Lower Austria, his army at Vienna's walls. And Prince Gabriel Bethlen had a force of Transylvannian soldiers deep inside Royal Hungary. The Habsburgs seemed doom, they had a force under Count Bucquoy and a Spanish force from Brussels under Ambrosio Spinola. One of the first battles of the new year was the Battle of Brno between a Saxon force of 2,000 men and Imperial force of 6,000. The result was Saxon defeat. Hopes were raised, and a force under Count Mansfield was ordered to pursue and defeat the Saxons at Pilsen. As a result of Brno, the Protestant forces were put on the defensive; Savoyard support trickled to nothing, and the siege of Vienna was halted, Count Thurn's army defeated at Sankt Pölten in a heroic battle. Sadly, Count Thurn's entire force(those that survived, that is) were taken captive, and Count Thurn was sent to Vienna to be imprisoned. Despite set backs in the west, Gabriel Bethlen was able to continue his campaign against the Imperial forces in Hungary. By the end of the year, The Habsburgs had been expelled from Hungary. Yet despite such a set back, 1620 would prove the year that saved the Habsburg hegemony, and in the end, would consolidate it into an even stronger foe.

As 1621 made it's self known, the Protestant cause in Bohemia was slowly fluttering into nothing. The Saxon army was battered, suffering a series of defeats in Southern Bohemia in June and July. In the Autumn, Gabriel Bethlen's army was routed at Bratislava, and forced to retreat into the central section of Royal Hungary. The Bohemian revolt was effectively broken, although it would continue in spasms for another three years. In these three years, the Saxon armies found their power broken and expelled from Bohemia by the Bavarians(who entered the war in late 1620) and an Austro-Spanish army. There would also be fierce attacks against the Transylvanian prince, who was only saved from destruction of his state by the Turkish sultan, who intervened to protect his vassal. When Bohemia fell, the revolt was essentially over. The members of the Protestant Union were not harmed, but the establishment was abolished in 1624, the members forced to intergrate their militaries into the Imperial one. Protestant power seemed broken in Germany, until an unlikely hero entered into the ring..

-

[1]The Crown was originally offered to Fredrick V of the Palentinate, along with the Duke of Savoy and Elector of Saxony. Letters from Prague were intercepted, except for the one meant for Fredrick V. ITTL, the letter reaches John George instead.

[2]The Saxons were not betting on recieving such an offer, they figured themselves the least likely to be offered the crown.

[3]Savoy in TOTL offered troops to protect the Rhine. ITTL they offer them up in Bohemia. They are sadly, not enough to keep the Austrians at bay.

[4]The Siege of Vienna was lifted in June, 1619 due to the Battle of Sablat cutting off Count Thurn's communications with Prague. ITTL the battle does not occur for various reasons, mainly being that a stronger Protestant force could resist the Austrians. Due to this, the Siege continues into 1620.

--

Again..comments/suggestions would be quite helpful.

 

[North King]

******************

Meanwhile, in the center of the world, the Tang Empire had surged forward in Soghd for a few decades, but the growth of Umayyad power had driven them back to territories like the Taklamakan for almost the entirety of the latter half of the 7th century. Late in that time period, however, as the Umayyads began to fight their costly war in India, the north of their empire was no less restless than the west we had seen.

Various sultanates broke off in the north, centered around the large cities in the area: Tashkent, Samarkand, Urgench, and Nishupar were the primary ones, who fought each other for power almost constantly in these years. However, these squabbling states were soon to discover that they were not alone in the world... Specifically, Tang China was still highly irritated at its losses over in the Soghd region, and sent a large army to attempt a reconquest.

The Chinese armies first attacked the Sultanate of Tashkent in a lightning campaign that shattered their armies in under a week, and took the city easily in the month after that. Thus, in only two months after the campaign had officially started, the Chinese armies invaded the frontiers of Samarkand.

The Sultan of Samarkand, however, was a different man than the Sultan of Tashkent, more willing to take risks. Ismail of Samarkand, famed for only having one eye, the other eye having been lost in battle against the Turkish nomads to the north. Ismail of Samarkand, fearsome general, brave warrior, and a superb diplomat. He managed to convince the Turks to the north to join him as mercenaries against the Chinese, and doubled his force with a single stroke of the pen.

This force defeated the Chinese after a day of hard fighting under the walls of Samarkand, and he managed to defeat their auxiliary forces as well, and thus, in three years, had driven the Chinese back and back again to even behind the borders that they had started out with in their invasion of Tashkent. The humiliated local Chinese governor agreed to a treaty with this Arab, recognizing all their territorial gains, and Ismail was free to pursue more interesting pursuits.

These other pursuits included defeating the sultans of Urgench and Nishupar in two more years; by the year 695, Ismail Eagle Eye, as he was now known, was supreme ruler of Central Asia.

Alas, even the greatest of warriors cannot live forever, and he died in 705 CE. His inept son Ali took power on his death, but Ali was not half the warrior or diplomat that his father had been, and the Turkish mercenaries soon revolted, and installed their own ruler at the head of Samarkand. Unfortunately for them, this meant they had to deal with yet another Chinese invasion in 706, this one not so easy to push back.

The Tang again advanced to the very walls of Samarkand by 707, and the Turks were hard pressed, when their brothers invaded from the north. Now, the Turks who had taken the Samarkand Sultanate were only a small part of the Turkish tribes, and these new Turks were a much more powerful group of that same tribe. Powerful enough, in fact, to dash Chinese hopes again, and restore a new, even more powerful Turkish Khanate of Samarkand.

Thus, by 710, the Turks of Samarkand were feeling confident in their new base of power. Powerful enough, perhaps, to challenge the Umayyad Caliphate itself, weakened as that entity had been from its wars in Sindh and its rebellions in the West. And so they turned their eyes hungrily southward...

******************

Meanwhile, the Fatamids of Egypt had previously been left out of the great powers of the Middle East due to their small size. Even though they had managed to fight the new Roman Empire of Damascus to a standstill, even though they occupied Egypt, the richest of the lands of the Middle East, and even though they had driven out the Umayyads, they still did not feel like their dominions had been extended as far as they should be, and were determined to increase their size through further territorial struggle.

The Roman Empire of Ibrahim was too strong to attack, naturally, and even in their weakened state, the Umayyads, too, were not the best option to attack. An amphibious campaign against Greece or the Rump Irisid Caliphate was ruled out as too risky, and that left one option left... Southward expansion.

In the south, Makkura had ruled relatively undisturbed for centuries now, and the Fatamids saw fit to change that, and bring the whole of the Nile River under their rule. Of course, they had no idea where the start of the Nile River was, but they were determined to find it through conquest.

Thus, in about the year 698, the Fatamids began a southward expedition, the end of which would be uncertain at best and disaster at worst. Somehow they managed to overcome such portents, at least initially, and conquered Makkura with most of its subordinate territories, extending their reach far down into the Sudan, and eventually coming into conflict with the states of Alwa and Axum.

It was these two states that were to be the main focus of Fatamid attentions for the next decade or so, and even up to 710, they were still busily fighting these Nubian kingdoms as best they could, with no real hope of victory in sight...

******************

 

[das]

Ferdinand of Styria

a.k.a. the Erzherzog of Austria.

IMHO the Saxony-Bohemia could be quite a powerhouse if it is established... But remember, for the imperial ideology to triumph we need large empires - IMHO the Habsburgs have the best opportunity to create such an empire in Germany, although in the long run so could the Saxons.

And NK, something tells me that the Fatimids are doomed. And the Ummayads are doomed. Although, it would've been rather anticlimatic for the "Romans" ("Rumids"? Maybe the official name will be the "Rumid Qaysarate of Damascus"?)

 

[conehead234]

Ok guys, heres the plan, I have a research paper I have to finish this week, after that I will be practicly done with school and I will open the NES.

 

[North King]

Here's das' map of the Kadesh timeline adapted to the new world map. On request of Symphony. With the liberty of several trade centers added.

 

[North King]

******************

From this point on, owing to the disuse of the Gregorian Calendar, dates will be marked in years AH

Meanwhile, the period in the Central and Western Mediterranean from 70 AH (690) to about 96 AH (715) was one of something between absolute stability and absolute war. Naturally; most time periods usually fall in between one of the two.

For the Maghreb and Al-Andalus, it was a peaceful time period, of burgeoning trade cities and expanding populations. People were well fed, well clothed, ships crisscrossed the Western Mediterranean. So, in other words, it was incredibly boring; the people didn’t even make any major scientific advancements, for heaven’s sake! So, we’ll just skip them for more interesting events in the Balkans, Italy, Germany, and France.

First things first, the Caliphate of Roma was falling apart. Such was not surprising in and of itself; founded by a rogue general with little sense of honor or... anything remotely resembling a good quality, really, it had nothing to prop itself up when other generals began to break away their own nations. So in the north and south, warlords established their own nations, free of the supposed tyranny of the Romans.

In the north, a general by the name of Nazir ibn-Khaldun tore away a section of the Caliphate to form his own little emirate around the city which was once called Medolanium, now Al-Medolan, in the stereotypical Arabic fashion. At the same time, in the south, Abdullah Amin, a former slave turned pirate captain, founded a sort of empire of his own, from his base at Bari.

Ibn-Khaldun was a brave and brilliant commander, of the sort which stereotypically founds empires. Naturally, then, he fell from his horse and died around 73 AH. It was his son, Ali ibn-Nazir who took the emirate his father had left him, and expanded it all over the place. His army was a mere three thousand, but he was determined to conquer an empire, so he raised troops from the population (much to their displeasure, but they could do little about it), hired mercenaries, and swelled the ranks of his army vastly.

Ibn-Nazir then crossed the Alps, northward, into Germany. Or, as the Arabs had learned the name, Al-Alemand. Keep in mind that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

The only forces here were those of a Bavarian state, and beyond that, the Franks and the Saxons. Ibn-Nazir destroyed the Bavarians easily enough, shattering their army in a decisive battle on the Danube and quickly subduing their hill forts without much resistance; the Bavarians were the easy part.

Northward they marched, and they came against an army of Franks and Saxons, who had, on this rare occasion, allied against the invader. His army was now outnumbered due to previous losses, 12,000 to 8,000, but he managed to elude destruction by attacking their encampments during the night, destroying the Franks and Saxons alike due to the lack of coordination between the two encampments. North they marched, conquering the forts of the Saxons piecemeal, though this took them a deal of time; it was in 81 AH that they marched south to destroy the Frankish garrisons of the Rheinland.

Surprisingly, the Franks surrendered without much of a fight–because they had already had their king defeated in battle. The Franks and Burgundians both, actually, had been shattered by a Aquitainian army at Chalons, that place of destiny where Atilla the Hun had been defeated by the Romans, but this time it was the Arabs that had been victorious. To the victors, the spoils; half of Christian Europe had fallen in only eight years.

For their part, the rulers of the Emirate of Al-Alemand attempted to hold down their new, vast conquests. The Aquitainians, finding their areas rather more governable, attempted a further conquest–they struck northward, across the English Channel, and landed an army of four thousand in Britannia.

Quickly, the Arabs conquered Kent without much of a fight, and England seemed as though it, too, would fall to the Muslim Conquest... But the Mercians were the most powerful of the English Heptarchy, and their ruler recognized that it was imperative to drive the Arabs back. He forged a union of the various states, with Mercia at their head, and led an army of combined Saxons, Jutes, Angles, and even some British tribes who were remarkably well informed–a grand total of fifteen thousand men. Combined with unusually bad weather–snow, which the Arab armies detested, even though they had experienced it once or twice in Frankia, and massive numerical superiority, the Mercians and co drove the Arabs back into the channel, and even seized the makeshift fleet.

The Mercian king declared a holy war against the Arab infidels, and thus used a combination of fear and religion to hold his makeshift realm together, and the new nation launched raids with the captured Arab ships upon the Frankish coast; the war had settled down to become something of a cold war of Ancient times...

This continued on from 82 AH to about 85 AH, a short time, historically speaking; the war ended mainly because the Mercians felt that the Arabs were no longer quite the threat they had been.

Reason being that the Aquitainian Emirate and Al-Alemand had lost their hold on the northern territories, which soon rebelled and formed several new, Christian states, the most prominent of which were Flandres (first to rebel, able to defend itself due to the extensive swamps of the Rheine Delta), Luxemburg, Geldre, and Friesland. Furthermore, the new nation of Wendia had managed to extend its territory to the Elbe.

Even more important to Northern European politics, however, was the new Danish realm, which had been carved out by their king Erik “Mad-Eye” the Great, who had conquered Jutland in a shattering campaign, subdued Skania, Schwelsig, and then conquered south into Saxony into the territories of Al-Alemand. A nation to watch...

More blandly, there were a few wars between Moravia and the Wends, and the new breakaway state of Vistula Krakow, but nothing too interesting was happening in this region. Thus, we turn our eyes southward.

The Balkans began to fragment, and gain new rulers. The Bulgars were defeated in a minor war by the Khazars, paving the way to their corruption and collapse; by 80 AH, this had been achieved, and by 96 AH, the Serbians had moved in the region to found a new state, subduing the Croats and other minor ethnic groups. The coastal regions had been taken over by Abdullah Amin, the pirate king, and in the east, the Bulgar state still loomed.

The north, meanwhile, was a mess, with various little statelets of Dacians, Gepids, Avars, and the ilk struggling for control.

******************

Meanwhile, a new caliph of the Umayyads, Ra’d Saif-al-Din, rose to power in the declining state in 90 AH. Naturally, we wouldn’t mention him unless he was someone to watch, and with a name like “Thunder, Sword of the Faith,” the rough translation of his name, you could be sure almost from his crowning that he was going to do something glorious. And so he did.

His rise to power was in a turbulent time, as the Turks of Samarqand rode southward to attack his empire. The conquering nomads had, in only a year, conquered most of the Bactrian region; he was determined to drive them back. And so he did, I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, it was a long and grinding campaign which drove the Turks back to the Amu Darya, and even beyond in some places, a crushing blow that taught the Turks to remain in their place.

Then, in 94 AH, he marched back south to his capital of Baghdad, plotting new developments; he saw his chance in 95 when Ibrahim of the new Roman Empire died, leaving only his daughter Ruba bint-Ibrahim Parvez, to rule the nation... Unfortunately, he rather underestimated this Parvez on account of her gender, a classic mistake of rulers throughout time.

And so, though his army managed to drive them out of Syria altogether, and reach the Taurus mountains, Ruba, a skilled diplomat, managed to secure the final union of the Roman Empire with the Greek state, which led to the founding of a nation which has been termed by historians the Byzantine Empire, though they were more apt to refer to themselves as Romans, despite the fact that half of them were Muslim, their ruling Dynasty was Arab, and most of their officials on the European side of the empire were Greek...

Parvez then attacked the complacent Arabs as they camped in the ruins of the Roman city of Iconium, directing the tactics, mainly using her new husband as the transmitter so they would be obeyed, and in a brilliantly fought campaign managed to drive the Arabs back into Syria; they signed a peace in 98 AH.

Then, Saif-al-Din, determined to avenge this loss of face, decided on another avenue of campaigning in order to commemorate the hundredth year since the hegira: he attacked the Fatamids in a sweeping campaign, and reached the Nile in under a year; the nation fell under his control fairly easily, and he entered Mecca in triumph in 100 AH, 719 AD.

Meanwhile, to the south, the nation of Alwa greatly profited from the fall of the Fatamids, uniting Nubia and using their new found power to destroy the last vestiges of the state of Axum, and even conquered southward into the Ethiopian highlands somewhat. Interestingly enough, then, by 100, the Alwans had the largest and probably most powerful Christian state in the world...

******************

The Timeline this far

Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII

 

[North King]

A map, so you guys won't go mad:

 

[das]

From this point on, owing to the disuse of the Gregorian Calendar, dates will be marked in years AH

IMHO its a rather bad idea, only makes things more complicated. And did you take into account the assorted lunar calendar stuff?

most time periods usually fall in between one of the two.

Between the two or in one of them?

Or, as the Arabs had learned the name, Al-Alemand.

In this case, its the wrong kind of imitation. The Arabs of "Rice and Salt" called it so because they entered Germany through France; while these entered it through Italy, so its more like Germanistan.

quickly subduing their hill forts without much resistance; the Bavarians were the easy part.

Too easy, IMHO, especially with an army that just crossed the Alps. If Hannibal can't pull it off in easier (warmer, and thus better for the southern troops) terrain, why can ibn-Nazir?

conquering the forts of the Saxons piecemeal

As in Bavaria, you overestimate the sieging capabilities of an Arabian army in the middle of Europe and underestimate the Saxon forts. Besides, they'd just fight on from the forests and stuff, like they did in OTL with some success against much more accustomed and aclimatized troops.

they struck northward, across the English Channel, and landed an army of four thousand in Britannia.

Arrgh. These Aquitainians seem quite dizzy with success and have been reading too much Caeser. Can't imagine southern armies operating well within English conditions, though possibly they didn't know that yet.

something of a cold war of Ancient times...

They aren't THAT ancient.

despite the fact that half of them were Muslim, their ruling Dynasty was Arab, and most of their officials on the European side of the empire were Greek...

Said facts do not give me any illusions about the survivability of this state without lots of changes and luck... and neither does its geopolitical situation, it just begs for Ummayad conquest IMHO.

Interestingly enough, then, by 100, the Alwans had the largest and probably most powerful Christian state in the world...

...which, although quite intriguing, doesn't strike me as a particularily durable state. Pretty hard to keep so much (underdeveloped) territory together. Although not impossible...

All in all, quite epic, reminds me of some of your updates. This is infinitely more easy, though, isn't it? At times I suspect that plenty of us mods will one day wind up limiting themselves to althist writing - no need to deal with all those annoying players and stuff.

 

[Symphony D.]

Haha, I just now noticed it, but my does Southeast Asia look mighty familiar in that last map, NK. What would the green, blue, and purple nations happen to be called?

Very interesting alt-hist there.

 

[das]

1780-1800.

Slowly, sand fell in the giant sandglass, or perhaps it only seemed slow, but to the one who saw the history of the world as a sandglass, the coming twenty years passed by quickly, for these were but years, and what happened in it barely mattered - for who on Earth cares what happens inside a granule of sand?

But on the other hand, few see history as a sandglass. For most people, these years went by slowly, painfully slowly. Slowly, the Rouge Confederacy spread across the frozen northern land. Slowly the diplomats hammered out treaties that defined the final borders between the colonial and other powers in North America. Slowly, oh-so-slowly, Martin Banderas' rebellion in New Grenada and south Mexico was being rooted out, and so was the rebellion of an Incan pretender in Peru in the late 1790s (but we're getting ahead of ourselves here...).

Slowly, slothfully, the Parliament in London was discussing the problem of Irish famines back in 1783, and unbeknownst to the MPs the Irishmen already rose up, declared a free republic in Sligo and started killing British soldiers. One year later, the British army has defeated it with remarkable speed for that period, but dissent lingered. Similarily, but even quicker, the Spanish have put down rebellions in Basconia, Catalonia and Languedoc.

But again, how slowly the French rebellions in 1786 were put down! These rebellions came close to toppling the government - they were trully well-planned, as was the terror campaign that accompanied them. The genius behind it all was a humble doctor named Eduard Decamp; he was only caught in 1789, and managed to commit suicide almost immediately. For a brief while, the UK and Spain alike, having disbanded much of the "disloyal" French military and taken control over the entirety of French territory themselves, considered the Treaty of Paris that would have partitioned France between them directly, but the fear of further growth in French militancy and of the Burgundians exploiting this prevailed, as did the need for a buffer state with Burgundy-Bavaria.

As for Burgundy-Bavaria itself... it had its own problems - dissent among the rulers of south-central German states and the growing strife between Burgundians and Bavarians. The two countries were pretty far away and quite different, as were their peoples and their aims (the Burgundian advisors suggested a conquest of France, Bavarian ones - a reconquest of Germany), and in both there was an increase in separatist sentiments. There were also the occasional clashes between fairly reactionary governments and the various radical and liberal circles forming throughout Germany; the same happened in the other German states. Finally, despite the internal weakness of Burgundy-Bavaria, it still had a strong army and was feared enough for lots of diplomatic tensions to occur, at one point - in 1784, when Burgundian army was reformed and modernized and when Burgundian border guards clashed with the British occupation forces in France - even almost starting a new coalition war against Burgundy, with Britain, Spain, Venice, Brunswick and Brandenburg being nearly ready to sign a new alliance. That persuaded the Burgundian leaders to NOT prepare for a revanche, although they managed to persuade the Bohemians to retain their neutrality. The tensions eventually died down.

Meanwhile, the relations between Denmark-Norway and Poland gradually detiriorated, mostly over the issues of Livonia and of the Polish naval presence in the Baltic. Only the fear of a possible Russian revanche kept them united, and that fear decreased as Arkhipov had to deal with rebellion after rebellion, and had no time to reclaim any lands. The 1780s Republican risings in Sweden and separatist rebellions in Finland and Ukraine, all of which were in the end defeated, have however prevented either of states from taking advantage of the weakened Russian state at the time.

To the south, Savoy-Piedmont and the Papal States were preparing for revanche, Venice was consolidating its hold on its "allies", while Hungary was consolidating its formal and informal Balkan empires, and at the same time was undergoing a growth of ethnic tensions and diplomatic isolation.

In Africa, this time was quite unlike what it was elsewhere in the world. For this was the time of great colonial conquests, this and the 1790s, albeit to a lesser extent. The British, operating from their already well-developed and expanding base around the Senegal, have conquered the kingdom of Kaarta and forced the West African state of Segu to sign a humiliating treaty, cementing the British control over West Africa just as well as had the Ashanti War of 1784-1789, during which the Ashanti armies were utterly routed. Spaniards, meanwhile, advanced up the Congo, forcing the stubborn little states of the region into submission. The Cape Colony saw incessant warfare with the Khoisan peoples, done both by the Dutch colonists and the British forces later sent to help them; eventually, the Khoisans, much-battered, had to retreat northwards. Finally, the Venetians, having thoroughly infiltrated Ethiopia (economically and politically), established a protectorate there in 1787, after a briefly-succesful anti-Venetian coup and the ensuing Venetian invasion; their Egyptian allies have also advanced far south along the Nile.

In the Middle East, Turkey underwent a sudden renaissance under Iskander Gokalp, the hero of the border wars with Egypt. After the death of the ever-bitter and unpopular Selim III in 1787, Iskander launched a near-bloodless military coup, deposing the Ottoman dynasty and declaring himself the "bey (governor) of Turkey". In the first few years, Turkey was reformed and revitalized in all aspects; economical and cultural ties with Europe were encouraged as was the rise of Turkish nationalism, foreign specialists were invited, general modernization and optimization of the country took place, the buerocracy was overhauled and corruption within it was purged, and a new, modern army was formed. Geopolitically, Gokalp's Turkey had reconciled with Russia and Hungary, allowed Georgia to continue its existance as a buffer state, established some (mostly informal) ties with Spain which was somewhat wary of the Venetian ascendance. The main enemies of Turkey were to be Egypt and Venice, with Persia being a secondary concern for the moment. In 1789, the new Turkish army was tested out in the Aleppo War, where the Egyptians were thoroughly routed and forced to concede the northern one-third of Syria (perhaps Iskander Gokalp intended to take more of Syria for himself, but even then, the Venetians threatened the Turks with intervention) to the Turks.

Meanwhile, Egypt, under the Mameluke dynasty of the Qutuzids (after Qutuz II, previously Mohammed al-Adin, the leader of the great rising in 1755 that created the independent Egypt), begun to stagnate; Qutuz III, unlike his father, was quite incompetent, lazy and sybarite, preffering to let court favourites and relatives run the state. As for Persia, it was now in full decline, despite the efforts of Nadir Shah II to keep it together; Azeris and Uzbeks, or rather the warlords that overthrew direct Persian rule in the 1782-1787, had to be granted considerable autonomy, the port of Karachi was rented to the Venetians at a fairly nominal price. They also lost their Indian territories to a Sikh rising (and more Venetian expansionism).

In India, the European powers also strenghthened their hold on their respective sectors. The only regions that remained outside of European control were Punjab and the northern Gangetic Plain (Delhi and surroundings, mostly). Respectively, these were occupied by the theocratic Sikh state, led by Mohanda Singh, and by the neo-Mughal Empire (though really, it was rather small especially if compared with its glory days - a mere fifth of Aurangzeb's empire), now led by Bahadur III who had secured informal Spanish assistance and begun modernizing his army.

In South-East Asia, the British were also consolidating their hold, as tensions with China grew. The Chinese, since Qianlong's death in 1783, have been governed by Emperor Jiaqing; the Emperor did not like Heshen too much, but this did not stop the clearly capable courtier's ascendance. The two men and some other courtiers often worked together on the self-strenghthening programs in China, with the general modernization, growth of commercial contact and the construction of a new fleet; generally, China was also assisted in this by Spain. To counter the potential Sino-Spanish alliance, the British propped up Vietnam, where Nguyen Long reigned and had, naturally enough, opened all ports to foreign trade and already begun a general modernization/westernization program of his own, and Japan which was opened up by a pretty impressive British naval squadron "escorting" Lord Ambassador Jonathan North. Eventually, Japan agreed to open up some of its ports to trade with Britain and Shogun Tokugawa Hirakata started the modernization process in Japan, rebuilding a fleet with some British help.

This slow time of painful anticipation had ended in 1792, when yet another round of European warfare commenced. It begun in the Balkans, in Macedonia, where King Georgius II started liberal reforms and also begun moving away from his Hungarian relatives in commerce and foreign politics. All this was largely influenced by the French and Francophile courtiers of liberal and anti-Hungarian sentiments; these were quite numerous and powerful, as the French emigres have often emigrated to Salonika during the Ottoman rule, and remained there afterwards. The leader of this "French faction", Andre Bienthau, enjoyed much influence over the young king and definitely was behind many of those policies. He also begun secret negotiations with Venice, seeking an alliance aimed against Hungary; but of this, the Hungarians had learned, as if the general course of new Macedonian policies was not bad enough. On October 13th 1792, the Hungarian ambassador in Salonika had relayed an ultimatum, demanding the dismissal of Bienthau, the reversal of the reforms and the complete subordination of all Macedonian foreign policy to the Hungarian one. That ultimatum was refused. Soon after, the Venetian-Macedonian alliance was declared official. Hungary and Bulgaria declared war on Macedonia and Venice. The Balkan War has begun.

At first, it seemed that the Hungarians would prevail. For all the naval and economical might of the Venetians, they scarcely could match the Hungarians on land; and on land, the decisive battles were to be fought out, as the Hungarians did not seek to invade Venice itself, only its Balkan possessions and Macedonia. In the first few battles, the Macedonian army was routed and Salonika was besieged, while a Venetian expeditionary corps was defeated by the great Hungarian general Pal Kaplan, in the disproportionally famous Battle at Edessa, during which Kaplan's famous phrase "luck favours the bald" (told to the British correspondent and famous diarist Lord James Russel) was coined, in refference to both to the overtly-bold and risky Venetian attack plan and the balding status of his own head. The only Venetian victory in 1792 was the daring raid on the important Hungarian port city of Split, during which the city itself was captured (to be abandoned in 1793) and the Hungarian fleet there destroyed.

Yet Venice was strong in things other than navy and trade as well - specifically, the Venetians were good diplomats, and even if they weren't... the Hungarians had made lots of enemies. Far from all the Bulgarians enjoyed the Hungarian domination, and King Ivan I Sobiesky himself had often wished to regain full independence; the Venetians failed to win him over to their side immediately, but got a vague hint that he won't be opposed to the idea of signing a separate peace treaty. His opinions shifted towards immediate switching of sides in 1794, when, after a comparatively quiet previous year, the Hungarians decided to make a bid for victory, overruning all of Macedonia outside of Salonika (which was still besieged - the Venetian naval supremacy allowed the city to remain supplied, if barely at times) and plunging into Venetian Greece. But the Hungarians were stopped with large casualties in the Pindus Mountains, while in the north, they came under a Polish attack. Jakub Ludwig II has been waiting for an opportunity to gain some military glory of his own, the campaign against Ukrainean rebels being too below his royal honour for him to participate in; furthermore, he and many of his courtiers and advisors wanted to avenge the previous war, reconquer Wallachia and establish the control over the Danubean commerce. Jakub Ludwig II personally led his forces into Wallachia, and surprisingly for those who thought him to be an arrogant, incompetent ruler who dreamed of military glory and at the same time was utterly incompetent in military affairs as well, he turned out to be all of the above apart from incompetent in the arts of war. His master plan was a complete success. The Hungarians barely had time to shift forces to face the Polish invaders, and the small garrisons in Wallachia were mostly overran; but rather than assault Bucharest, Jakub Ludwig II left a comparatively small force, plus much of his artillery, to besiege it and guard the gains, while the core of his army, including most of the cavalry, marched into Transylvania, taking Timisoara and routing the Hungarians at Gyula. After that, the Hungarian front was simply too overstretched; an attempt to relieve Bucharest was defeated by a swift flank attack. Bulgaria, meanwhile, signed separate peace with Macedonia, regaining a few minor border territories in exchange for assistance against Hungary, with which Bulgaria broke all ties. And finally, the Venetians commenced landings in Illyria to increase the pressure on the Hungarians, and though some of these landings were driven back with much losses by Kaplan, the fact of Hungarian doom was proved. King Myklos III had reluctantly agreed to negotiations in Novemeber 1794, aware that this was the end of the brief Hungarian Age of Greatness.

In 1795, by the Treaty of Salonika, past arrangements placing Bulgaria and Macedonia under extensive Hungarian influence were cancelled - the two countries were now finally and utterly free, free to start killing each other again on their own initiative in 1798. After much heated argument, the Hungarians were also forced to grant semi-autonomous status to Serbia-Herzegovina, under a local noble dynasty still subservient to the supreme Hungarian rule. The province of Illyria was signed away to Venice (Hungary retaining some shipping rights), and the remnants of the Hungarian sea fleet were turned over to Venice.

That was about time, for by then, a new wave of revolts had begun in Europe. Hungary, rather surprisingly, avoided any major rebellions, perhaps due to the quick actions taken by the head of the Hungarian gendarmerie, Karl von Berndorf. Eastern and Northern Europe were quite quiet this time, if one doesn't count the entirely separate peasant risings in the Volga region. Germany, however, saw many revolts, a (very brief) civil war between the reactionaries-conservatives and the more radical liberals in Brunswick (which the king, Georg Ludwig II, won, with a combination of good use of the largely-loyal military and of diplomacy, still introducing some liberal reforms afterwards) and, ofcourse, the breakdown of Burgundy-Bavaria. In the former of the two united countries, in mid-1795, while King Charles IV was away in his Bavarian estate that his young wife so liked, the Flemish and Alsatian magnates sent a petition, demanding the adoptation of "conditions" like in the United Kingdoms and the creation of a Parlement Royale in Burgundy (but not in Bavaria, where by the way no such demands appeared), as well as some other reforms of a liberal nature. Charles IV refused this petitition; the magnates formed a Parlement, albeit not Royale (they picked "Grand" instead), anyway and refused Charles IV. Charles IV, strangely unpleased by this development, decided to crush the Grand Parlement (which, by the way, was based in Brussels) by force. Antoine Colbert, the son of the famous marshall (who died in 1793) and himself a general, was dispatched to deal with this rebellion. Antoine Colbert (coincidentally, a most ambitious and capable, though egoistic and arrogant, man) apparently misunderstood the king and soon had already struck a deal with the Parlement, agreeing to preside over it under the title of Protecteur (with the powers equivalent to those of a parliamentary monarch under the "conditions" offered by the a\magnates (OOC: the best OTL equivalent of the title of Protecteur, apart from the Lord-Protector Oliver Cromwell by whom the Grand Parlement was to a certain extent inspired, is the OTL Second Reich Kaiser, who still retained much power but shared it with the Reichstag, minus some of the loyalty to the Kaiser)); he then protected the Parlement from whoever came in his path as his forces marched to Dijon, the garrison of which had mutinied and was besieged by loyalist forces. Said forces were quickly defeated. The rebellion spread, and soon, the Grand Parlement announced the personal union of Burgundy and Bavaria over.

But Charles IV, in the typical reactionary, obscurationist manner, did not seem to be particularily happy about losing his home country that also provided for a large part of his army and income, and did not seem trully content about being reduced to the position of the ruler, albeit absolute, of a third-rate power, which quite clearly reveals his derranged, tyrannical mentality. Anyway, he decided to reconquer Burgundy, and begun amassing Bavarian and loyal Burgundian forces at Darmstadt. While these forces were being deployed and prepared for the campaign, other, foreign powers begun taking one stance or another on the issue, most often secretly, and also started to assist one or another side clandestinely, while preparing their own forces... just in case. Britain and Spain, for instance, were alarmed by the Burgundian revolution, because without the dead-weight of Bavaria and under an energetic new government, the Burgundians were likely to try and advance into France; thus they begun growing garrison size and inciting separate rebellions in Flanders, to not much avail. Brunswickians and Brandenburgers sensed opportunity, and begun preparing for a campaign of their own, in alliance with the semi-independent Burgundian- (or rather Bavarian-)dominated count von Heilbronn, who seeked to create a southwestern German state. Others were either unconcerned or were waiting things out.

Thus the War of Burgundian Independence had begun, later to be renamed into something else entirely. But for the moment, let us look elsewhere, for instance into Italy, where radical republican and "progressist" rebellions commenced back in 1793, and chaos reigned. Venice and the Papal States had to reconcile temporarily, as both were way too frightened by these rebellions, especially as some of them actually succeeded. Even if the Pope had any plans to use this moment to snatch Tuscany and indeed Central Italy from Venice, he soon had his hands full with his belongings as he fled from the rebellion, with which he also had his hands full, but proverbially. Thusly overloaded Pope fled to Naples with his entourgee, only to see the city in the grasps of a rebellion that, however, was already being put down by the Spanish forces; the conservative elements in South Italy were stronger anyway, and thus the rebellions were weaker than northern ones. The Spanish troops then marched to, besieged and captured, already in 1795, the city of Rome, restoring the Pope to power. Meanwhile, Savoy-Provence fell apart, as Savoy itself was proclaimed a republic, and as Provencal noblemen pledged allegience to the Spanish forces that quickly secured Provence and nipped the rebellions there in the bud. Venetian forces returning from Hungary soon invaded Savoy and put the rebellions there down, joining the new principalities of Savoy (north-west) and Turin into the Venetian alliance system, now officially known as the North Italian League (NIL). By 1796, apart from a recidive of the Neapolitan rebellion, Italy was quiet again, but the lesser NIL states were hardly content with the Venetian domination, with simmering unrest...

France also saw some rebellions, as did Catalonia and Ireland, but none of this resulted in much of anything for now...

In Russia, Vladimir Petrovich Arkhipov, the aging but still powerful and ruthless (and determined to preserve his and the Revolution's victories) dictator, continued his work. The Ustrasheniye was toned down outside of the ever-rebellious southern regions, a forced industrialization went into place, rebellions were put down, and the usage of forced labour had allowed the creation of an extensive system of roads and railroads, within European Russia at least. Fast-paced colonization and development of Siberia went on as well, as discontent political and ethnic minorities (especially the Chechens and other North Caucasians that caused so much trouble since the creation of the Republic) were being sent there. Arkhipov's failing health, however, was easily noticed, and important Belogorodtsi (by that name now went the veterans of the Revolution) and newcomers from the masses and the military alike were jockeying for power.

After that, but a few years remained, but a few granules of sand falling to join the big pile at the bottom of the sandglass we call "history".

In Anno Domini 1796, Charles, or shall we call him Karl, IV crossed the Rhine and won his Pyrrhic victory at Saarbrucken, after which he advanced to Nancy and tried to retake Dijon but was firmly and disastrously defeated and himself captured at Langres.

In Anno Domini 1797, the last Irish rebels were put down or went into the underground; but some of their sympathizers launched, on October 7th, the day when important Irish rebel leader Sean Yeats was hanged back in 1784, a series of bomb attacks on key British politicians and MPs, killing some of them. Reprisals immediately followed. To the south, the last-ditch Bavarian attempt to retake Rhineland was defeated as well as Count of Heilbronn, with the help of North German "volunteers", seized Wurttemburg and severed the Bavarian supply routes, this finally breaking Karl III's resolve and making him consent to negotiations. And meanwhile, another Ukrainean rebellion was defeated by the Poles, who at first intended to start a war with Russia at this point, having attained some evidence of Russian involvement in the preparation of the aforementioned rebellion, but were distracted by a new crisis with the Kalmarese and the Brandenburgers...

In Anno Domini 1798, Arkhipov suffered a powerful stroke, but survived and purged the army of several high-ranking officers that, evidently, were planning to use this occasion to seize control. And back in Europe, at the Aachen Conference, the Wittelsbachs as represented by Karl I (formerly IV, but now his primary title was King of Bavaria) were banished back to whence they came from, sort of (meaning that all they retained was Bavaria, plus its own territorial gains since the Condean War). The Count of Heilbronn became the King of Greater Wurttemburg, incoporating all of south-western Germany but with most local princes still retaining some power in their lands. The northern territories of Germany remained divided between Brunswick and Brandenburg, with the lesser states within their spheres of influence becoming more and more integrated (but not necessarily powerless, as the 1798 renaming of Brandenburg into the Kingdom of Brandenburg-Saxony indicated...), apart from the fairly small Central German state of Wurzburg-Bamberg that was created as a buffer state.

In Anno Domini 1799, Burgundian forces crossed the French border to support the grand new rebellion in France's north and to pre-empt the Anglo-Spanish preparations for a pre-emptive attack of their own. Antoine Colbert crushed the British army at Beauvois, and then moved to Paris, taking it on the march as the garrison deserted. King Louis-Philippe II fled south, where he reestablished the Kingdom of Aquitaine with Spanish assistance. Britain would have complained, had its forces not had to retreat towards Brittany hastily to avoid being crushed by the very maneuverable, thanks to the use of the most modern technology and doctrines, Burgundian force.

In Anno Domini 1800, the End came, Antoine Colbert and the Grand Parlement had proclaimed the Gaelic Republic in the place of the Kingdom of France and the Republic of Burgundy to the condemnation of Britain and Spain, Vladimir Petrovich Arkhipov finally expired amidst power struggles and the last semblance of order in Europe was washed away by the sea of time. Around the globe, a new, evil time has come.

The Age of Reaction, the Dark 18th Century as it was later labelled, has come to an end; and it was replaced by the nihilistic and fanatical, bloody 19th Century, the Century of Light - Light that burns and blinds all, Light that will yet consume millions of human sacrifices on the altars of war, famine and plague, Light that will consume even those who have learned to control it, those who have learned to live and win in this new age. A new generation of leaders will come to power, and only the fittest of them will survive, only the most cunning and ruthless, and even they will one day fall; they will do horrible deeds upon their people and their neighbours, and at the same time will possess a certain dark grandeur, and so will their age, the Age of Harmful Light, the Great and the Terrible.

 

[das]

Summaries and Various Data about This World as of Anno Domini 1800:

1. Politics - Europe:
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Holland, also controlling Ireland, Brittany and Gascony in Europe itself, is politically dominated by a vaguely-conservative faction of the Parliament, the support of which allows King James V to exercise much influence on the affairs of state (on the George III level). Internally, the UK is threatened by Irish separatism above everything else, plus the French separatists in Gascony who however are not as zealous, most of them being Huguenots and more loyal to the Crown than many Englishmen. Albeit Spain is its enemy, since the Oceanic War and the Treaty of Lisbon no real armed clashes took place between the two, the war being mostly a one of the merchants. Instead, the UK and Spain collaborated against Burgundy and the nationalist forces in France itself; however, the recent birth of the Gaelic Republic marked the lowest point in this struggle against Burgundian expansion and French nationalism thus far. There are also some disagreements with the Kalmar Union over the vital issues of whaling and cod fishing...
- Kingdom of Aquitaine, basically controlling the southern half of the former Kingdom of France, has its capital in Toulouse. King Lous-Philippe II of France and thus the I of Aquitaine still rules it with Spanish help and "advice", hoping to one day retake Paris. The royal regime is not too popular, but things are not as bad here as back in the north, hence the decision to officially declare a kingdom of Aquitaine, increasing the popularity among the locals on whom Louis-Philippe generally made a good impression.
- Kingdom of Spain, also controlling (in Europe) Portugal, Languedoc, Provence, Genoa, Corsica, Sardinia and the Two Sicilies, is definitely an absolute monarchy and is currently dominated by the die-hard reactionaries under whose influence King Jose II fell since the 1770s. There is some dissent, especially in the ethnic minority regions (but, notably, not in the semi-autonomous Portugal, which became economically and culturally intertwined with Spain). Spain enjoys much influence in the Kingdom of Aquitaine and in the Papal States, both being its allies. It is thus a pretty natural enemy of the Gaelic Republic and also of the North Italian League; by extension, it also enjoys fairly good, or at least working, relations with the UK and Hungary.
- Gaelic Republic, consisting of Burgundy (basically, most lands east of the Seine and west of the Rhine, though that is a dangerous simplification) and northern France minus the British Brittany. Its capital is in Dijon, where the Grand Parlement meets, presided over by Protecteur Antoine Colbert; ideologically, it is radical-republican and "Gaelic" (Burgundo-French) nationalist, but fairly pragmatic at the same time. The Gauls are less hated abroad than one would expect - the Wittelsbach-ruled Bavaria still may have some pretentions towards it, and definitely the UK, Aquitaine and Spain are enemies, but the rest are often indifferent or even sympathizing with it.
- Swiss Confederation still exists as it had for some time now, mostly notable for the large French emigre communities and the well-developed industries. It still is neutral for now...
- Kalmar Union, also known as Denmark-Norway, is an absolute monarchy with the real capital in Copenhagen, while Kalmar is mostly nominal. A personal union of Denmark-Norway and Sweden, it is however obviously Danish-dominated, and ruled by King Fredrik IV. The Kalmarese have, at home, the problems of Swedish and Finnish separatism, and, abroad, certain disagreements with the United Kingdom over national waters issues, with Poland over the Polish province of Livonia in which there are active pro-Kalmar sentiments and with Russia both because of ideological differences and the Russian revanchism (and some Kalmarese wish for the capture of the Baltic Sea port of Narvensk).
- Kingdom of Brunswick, ruled from the city of Brunswick, is the northwestern German state between the Rhine and the Elbe, the latter being something of a simplification. It is a fairly liberal and neutral state, with some tensions with the Kalmar Union over Kalmarese Holstein. Apart from that, it is mostly interested in keeping the peace and preventing the unification of Germany.
- Kingdom of Brandenburg-Saxony, ruled from the city of Berlin, is the northeastern German state stretching from the Polish border to the Brunswickian one, which often coincides with the Elbe, the southern border being the Sudetes. Brandenburg-Saxony is an absolute monarchy with the large influence of the military-oriented aristocracy, and has many internal and external tensions. Internally, it faces Saxonian separatism and some rise of liberal and radical sentiments; externally, it has territorial pretentions to all of its neighbours, especially Poland, and perhaps even to the unification of Germany.
- Kingdom of Wurzburg-Bamberg, ruled from the city of Wurzburg, is a small central German state of not much significance other than that of a buffer between Bavaria and Brandenburg-Saxony. Itself it is neutral, but leaning towards Bavaria out of fear towards everybody else.
- Kingdom of Greater Wurttemburg, ruled from the city of Wurttemburg, is the southwestern German state, only recently formed from the County of Heilbronn; it is a natural and sworn enemy of Bavaria, and being only able to defeat the Bavarians with much foreign support and the element of surprise, it doesn't seem to stand much of a chance against the Bavarians. Thus much of its foreign policy is based around forging anti-Bavarian coalitions.
- Kingdom of Bavaria, ruled from the city of Munich, is the southeastern German state and is also quite reactionary, an absolute monarchy. Much like Brandenburg-Saxony, it has wide political ambitions and territorial pretentions - towards Bohemia, Wurttemburg and the Gaelic Republic, mostly, but some also dream of the brief Wittelsbach predominance in all of Germany that could perhaps be restored. Unlike Brandenburg-Saxony, though, Bavaria is quite stable and united in purpose.
- The Bohemian Republic is a parliamentary democracy ruled from the city of Prague by a bicameral parliament. It, much like the Swiss Confederation, has commited to absolute neutrality, and also has a pretty developed industrial base for such a minor country. It is, however, menaced by its German neighbours.
- North Italian League is, ofcourse, dominated by and ruled from Venice, which still is an oligarchic merchant republic, and thus quite opposed to the radical revolutionary movements. Venetian rulers have grand ambitions for the rebirth of an united Italy under their reign, but Venice itself is just as hated as Spain in most of Central Italy by now. The arrogant, rich Venetians have many enemies, with only their northern border somewhat safe, or so it seems.
- The Papal States also have some pretentions of grandeur and perhaps of Italian unification, though the alliance with Spain makes this rather difficult. After the Italian rebellions were put down, the Papal regime managed to regain some credit with the people, but it still is not too popular. Also, the Pope enjoys much influence in the Catholic world, not as much as he used to it but his importance is beginning to recover as the Catholic reactionaries and conservatives turn to him for moral support against the radical republican movements of all kinds.
- Kingdom of Poland is an absolute monarchy (ruled by the Sobiesky dynasty), but not too reactionary, instead being the most similar to the OTL enlightened absolutisms, with a recent rise of militarism under the young king Jakub Ludwig II. It stretches from Silesia and Pommerania in the west to Belarus and Ukraine in the east, and from Livonia in the north to Wallachia in the south, includingly; it is probably the predominant East European power at the moment. Naturally, such a large, multiethnic empire has some ethnic tensions; Poland's largest problem of this nature is that of Ukraine, second largest - that of the Danubean Principalities. Apart from that, it is surprisingly stable. Poland's diplomatic situation is pretty confused; the Poles have problems with their Kalmarese allies (allies against Russia, mostly), and also are doing their best to prevent any sort of an unification of Germany; while to the south, Hungarians dream of revanche.
- Kingdom of Hungary is also an absolute monarchy (Esterhazy dynasty), in many things similar to Poland but less enlightened and more militaristic (technically, a comparison with the OTL Russia of Nicholas I would not be far from truth at all), the so-called "huszar szlacht" ("hussar nobility", basically the aristocracy with military connections, not entirely unlike OTL Prussian Junkers) being predominant due to them forming the core of Myklos III's support after the Balkan War. The autonomous principality of Serbia-Herzegovina is quite separatist, as are the other Slavic regions. Since the Balkan War, Hungary has been quite revanchist, the people and the ruling elite alike seeking revenge and reconquest of the Danubean Principalities, Illyria and perhaps of all the Balkans. Ironically enough, the one country Hungary has good relations with, apart from Bavaria, is Turkey, an old enemy.
- Kingdom of Macedonia, ruled by a cadet branch of the Esterhazies as represented by Georgius II, is entirely unlike Hungary - a liberal, enlightened, Francophile parliamentary monarchy. Its multiethnic (Graeco-Slavic with sizeable French, Hungarian and Jewish communities) composition strangely enough did not hinder the development of the state and of the new "Macedonian" national identity. Macedonian nationalists have some expansionist agenda aimed against Bulgaria, Turkey and even the allied state of Venice, but in truth most of the people are content with their present borders, apart from those with Bulgaria over which there was a border war in 1799.
- Kingdom of Bulgaria, ruled by a cadet branch of the Sobieskies as represented by Ivan I, has also went by a path of development different from that of Poland, and most similar to a more peasant-oriented and populist (and popular) version of the Hungarian Esterhazy regime. The ethnic minorities in its territory are quite irrelevant, and the country itself is full of ambition after the Balkan War and the mostly-succesful 1799 "Border Defense", looking with particular greed on the city the Bulgars call Tsargrad, the Greeks - Constantinople, and the Turks... well, see below.
- The Russian Republic, ruled by a Revolutionary Council (RevSovet) in the Belgorod fortress in Moscow, is the world's first large radical republican state, first modern "totalitarian" state and, allegedly, the one and only (thus far) progressivist state (see below). Whatever it is, it is in truth ruled by a revolutionary dictatorship, headed, until very recently, by Vladimir Petrovich Arkhipov, who died in 1800 starting a power struggle that very possibly could be the end of Russia itself, for Arkhipov's ruthlessness and competence, combined with the comparative unity of those revolutionary leaders still alive around him, played a large role in preventing a complete collapse. Indeed, Russia is threatened, most notably by the Kalmar Union and the Kingdom of Poland outside of it, while inside, there has been a general rise of separatist movements. The southern peasants (and leftover cossacks that have by now lost all legitimacy) and the Siberian exiles (including many noblemen that haven't joined the Revolution outright), their descendants, local merchants and local peasants form the core of the rebel movements. And then there are the leftover Muslim, especially Tartar, separatists, makign Russian a barrel of gunpowder waiting to blow, though a competent leader might save it and restore its power yet.

2. Politics - Elsewere:
- Russian American Company, or just Alaska, has became (informally) independent in all but in name since the Russian Revolution, though still recognizing the Russian Republican government on paper. It is a most strange state, ruled, from Noviy Arkhangelsk, by a board of Russian and French emigre directors. In truth, it does not yet matter enough for the Russian government to care about the de facto independence of the expanding colony, but the recent gains in the Pacific coast region, the clashes with the Amerinds and the Rougeans, the oft-unofficial rise of the population due to refugees fleeing from Russia Proper (and some people being exiled there in the early days of the Republic - since then, a much more practical way to use political criminals has been devised) and the very recent discovery of gold.
- Rouge Confederacy, based in the city of Rouge, is a quite large (territorially) yet underdeveloped confederation of Metis clans and Amerind tribes to the northwest from the Great Lakes, allied to Spain and generally hostile to the UK (many of the Metis ancestors from the French side being exiles from Quebec) and Russia/Alaska.
- Spanish Americas, being territories south of the Rouge Confederacy and Alaska and west of the Mississippi in North America (and mostly unlimited in South America), are divided into Vice-Royalties of New Spain, New Granada, Peru and Rio de la Plata, as well as the Vice-Royalty of Brazil in special association with the semi-autonomous Kingdom of Portugal, and they all are governed by appointed colonial buerocrats. There are some separatist movements, especially among Peruvian Amerinds and Platine republicans (other rebel groups having been defeated and thusly weakened a while ago).
- British Americas, being territories to the east from the Mississippi and the Rouge Confederacy, plus some Carribean islands and the Guinea Highlands, are divided into Crown Colonies, ruled jointly by apppointed officials and local assemblies, of Lawrence (OTL Canada), New England, Virginia and Carolina, and the British West Indies and Guinea that are ruled by British officials.
- African colonies of the UK (Senegal, Segu, Gold Coast, Ashanti, Benin), Spain (Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia, the Swahili city-states, Congo, Angola, Mozambique) and Venice (Somalia, Ethiopia) are governed through appointed civil or military officials, with the exception for the Crown Colony of the Cape, which is governed like the American Crown Colonies. The protectorates ("British" Segu, Ashanti and Benin, "Venetian" Ethiopia, "Spanish" Swahili city-states) are governed through puppet rulers and the civil officials assigned there. Spanish North Africa is ruled through puppet rulers and military officials assigned there, apart from some cities with large Spanish colonial presence that are ruled just like cities in Spain itself.
- Bornu is the last major Black African state still independent, but it is quite weak and still survives because it is simply too far away from anyone to reach it.
- The Egyptian Sultanate, dominated by the Mamelukes of the Qutuz Dynasty in alliance with some of the rising urban pro-Venetian elite, is a close ally of Venice, renting the Francesco Grandi Canal to the Venetians. It is a pragmatic, modernizing state, but the process of modernization is impeded by traditionalist opposition to it and the general backwardness of Egypt. Egyptians have a particular grudge with Turkey, and vice versa.
- The State of Turkey, ruled by the aging Bey Iskander Gokalp, who from recent times also goes by the title of Ataturk as a part of the nationalist Turkish propaganda. The capital of the state, formerly Constantinople or Konstantiniyye, has been renamed, also as part of the nationalist push and the cult of personality, into Iskanderiyye. Turkey is also a modernizing state, but is generally more succesful in this than Egypt, in part because of Turkey being generally more advanced and its population - more progressive, and in part - because of the more modern nature of the State's regime (the closest OTL equivalent to which is the First Empire in France, apart from certain formalities ofcourse). Turkey's army is quite strong and modern, and all that keeps Gokalp from going on a revanchist spree to regain the lands lost by the Ottoman Empire is the fear of Venice and/or Russia. But that might not hold him for much longer, as both Venice and Russia are increasingly busy elsewhere...
- Kingdom of Georgia, ruled by the New Bagratids from Tbilisi, is a fairly neutral highlander-dominated state, effectively a buffer between Russia and Turkey. However, as Persia is tumbling downwards, there might be an opportunity for eastwards expansion... while an alliance with Venice would give Georgia a chance to reestablish Queen Tamara's medieval empire.
- The Nadirid Persian Empire is still ruled by the Nadirids from Isfahan, but has degenerated into a weak, though extensive, state, with local warlords having much power in the north and the Venetians steadily turning it into a glorified economic colony. The court in Isfahan is increasingly corrupt and unpopular, and a populist Islamic rebellion is about to break out (the closest OTL equivalent is China on the brink of the Boxer Rebellion). That certainly would be a nice opportunity for Persia's hungry neighbours to exploit... The ports of Bandar-e 'Abbas and Karachi are rented to Venice.
- Venetian colonies in South Arabia - Yemen and Oman - are governed much like Ethiopia and the Italian statelets, through puppet rulers "advised" by Venetian officials.
- Sikh Punjab, led by Mohanda Singh out of his capital in Amritsar, is a new and dynamic theocratic north-west Indian state with fairly good relations with Venice that helped the Sikhs attain their independence from Persia. It is quite backwards, though.
- The (neo-)Mughal Empire is a medium-sized state in north-central India, led by Bahadur III; it has territorial pretentions to much of India, which does not prevent it from working with Spain. It is currently trying to modernize and also is waiting for Britain, its main enemy, to weaken and to be distracted.
- British (eastern, central and south-central), Spanish (southwestern) and Venetian (northwestern) colonies in India occupy the rest of the sub-continent; they are ruled through colonial companies and puppet rulers.
- The Qing Chinese Empire, having lost the war with UK over the control over Indochina and then also having faced a localized Han Chinese rebellion, has entered the path of moderate reform and modernization, and begun to rebuild a fleet; however, it is hindered by the general backwardness of the country and the lack of support in the population for the government and its reforms. Internally, Han Chinese and other conspiracies for rebellion are gathering, though they are not too strong yet, while externally, China's relations with Spain have been generally improving, as opposed to the relations with China's traditional enemies, the UK and Russia.
- The Japanese Shogunate, still ruled by the Tokugawas, has recently opened its prots up for European, primarily British, trade, and begun to modernize rapidly. Japan has pretty good relations with the UK, and workable ones with Russia, and at the same time is at odds with Qing China and, to a lesser extent, with Spain. There are also internal tensions - the southern reactionary isolationists have been causing trouble, and the changes in the society due to the opening-up and the modernization might lead to a dangerous situation eventually.
- The Kingdom of Vietnam, ruled by the Nguyen Dynasty, is possibly the most progressive of East Asian states, modernizing with British assistance very quickly. This and the British economical and cultural infiltration have been much resented in the traditionalist circles, but since the last rebellion in 1797 Vietnam has been peaceful internally. The crash nature of Vietnam's modernization, however, created many problems and increased social tension, possibly with clandestine Chinese involvement as well.
- The British East Indies and the British Indochina (Burma and West Siam) are ran much like the Indian colonies, by the Anglo-Dutch East Indies Company and the local puppet rulers. The British have near-absolute control over the East Indies, with only Timor out of their reach; they are also beginning to probe Australia for possible future colonization.

3. Cultural:
- Europe itself has much French influence due to the French Diaspora since the Condean days.
- In the countries of the rising middle class, especially Britain, Gaul, Brunswick and Macedonia (all of which are quite liberal in ideology), there is a respective rise in liberal sentiments.
- In other countries, where nobility is on the rise and the middle class is in decline, for instance in Spain and Hungary, reactionary and conservative opinions prevail.
- Most of Europe, however, is torn apart between the various "progressive" (liberal, radical republican, progressivist) and "regressive" (conservative, reactionary) factions, that rarely are united internally.
- There is a general Europe-wide rise of radical republican ideals, mostly inspired by the Gaelic Republic.
- To a lesser extent and mostly in Northern Europe, there is also a rise of a new political-philosophical ideology - Progressivism, the belief in progress above all, politically combined with the extermination of the old order altogether for the new, perfect, "progressive" one to emerge. The Russian Republic is the only Progressivist state in existance, although it emerged before that ideology itself came to be.
- There is also a general rise of nihilism in the new generation; old ideals are being discredited destroyed, and the new ones are still being decided upon. Political ideologies are quickly emerging, there is a general rise of violence.
- The new age is also an age of nationalism; this ideology is now on the rise in Western Europe, and to a lesser extent elsewhere, though it did not catch on in Germany too much due to the strong regionalist sentiments there. Nationalism has been officially adopted as an ideology by three states - the Gaelic Republic (in combination with radical republicanism), the State of Turkey and the Kingdom of Hungary, the latter propagandizing a "Balkan Empire of Hungary" "from Carpathians to the Aegean".
- In the modernizing states of Asia, there are much tensions between the comparatively-progressive urban populations and the conservative/reactionary rural populations.
- In Persia, Japan and China, there is an ever-growing alienation between the people and the government; it could also be noticed in other modernizing Asian states, but in these three it is the strongest.

4. Scientific:
- Europe itself is already in the Industrial Age and has been there for some time; the rest of the world is catching up, but still is pretty far behind here, outside of a few European colonies.
- The cornerstone of the Industrial Revolution is the steam-engine, which is widely used by now, for trains and other vehicles, such as the artillery-propellers of Adam de Biran. There are even some steam-powered armoured vehicles not unlike OTL tanks, though they are not too practical yet and need some more development, unless we count the "wagenbergs" used in Germany and Gaul that are not very mobiel or maneuverable.
- There are also steam-powered iron ships that by now have largely replaced the ironclads in the more advanced of Europe's countries; their development has been stimulated by the ongoing arms race between Spain and the UK.
- Submarines have been experimented with before, during the First Oceanic War most notably, and since then some progress was done but the submarines are yet to be in wide use, as they indeed still are experimental.
- Hot-air balloons have been introduced in the 1750s, and since then have been adopted for military use and perfected.
- Bolt-action rifles, such as the boulangers, have finally been developed and adopted by European militaries in the 1760s.
- To deal with the mighty-armoured "wagenbergs" and with ironclads, powerful, rifled muzzle-loading artillery has been developed in recent times.
- The mechanical machine-guns are a pretty recent invention of the late 1780s and thus are still primitive, but already are being used, at times in combination with the "wagenbergs" utilized by the Burgundian/Gaelic armies in the 1799 invasion of France.
- War-rockets have been only recently invented (or re-invented), but are already being utilized.

 

[Insane_Panda]

This is wonderful, Vive la Republique Gaullois!

 

[Kal'thzar]

Very Good das.

With that I suppose i should ask some questions
Das are you willing to do stats? (just use your stat system, I'm not going to experiment, I just want to deliver a good product)
Panda, would you do a map? Please?

Most importantly, do the nesers from my old game want me to start this after my exams, or my old NES? Its up to you (with pressure being applied by everyone else )

 

[das]

You sure you don't want to do the stats yourself? Or at least use different rules, imitation is the highest form of flattery ofcourse but I'm rather tired of it. Meh.

As for the map, THAT I can, and will, do (as soon as I finish my update). After all, I know the exact borders better.

 

[Kal'thzar]

I was just trying to lighten your load! I am thankfull of course but....:/

the stats...well the last time I experimented the work load was high. And as it is there hasn't been anything intresting discussed recently, or that I've been thinking about.

Apart from someone writing a guide on how to rebel.....but thats a point of people not doing good rebellions. Das you know good planners, get them to write an article!

 

[andis-1]

Das, are you doing a map for that alt-hist?