(Under construction; I am constantly updating)
I'm going to try to collect everyone's backgrounds into a single, collective timeline for convenience's sake.
Concert of Europe
1815:
-The Napoleonic Wars end at the Congress of Vienna.
-The Hartford Convention leads to the seccession of New England from the United States as a new Acadian Republic, which quickly is drawn into alliance with the United Kingdom.
-The Dutch retain control of Cape Colony in South Africa.
1820: Brazil emerges victorious in the Cisplatine War, thus maintaining the sovereignty of Cisplatina province.
1821:
-The Greek War of Independence begins, with the Great Powers - the United Kingdom in particular - deciding to ultimately intervene and negotiate a peace treaty granting the Peloponnese to Greece.
-Simon Bolivar creates the republic of Gran Colombia after having won a lengthy war of independence against Spain.
1826: A rebellion breaks out in Venezuela against the Gran Colombian central government. Simon Bolivar quickly puts down the rebellion with military force.
1828:
-At an assembly in Patra, the pro-British Alexandros Mavrokordatos is elected Governor of Greece.
-The Treaty of Montevideo between Brazil and Argentina settles the longstanding territorial dispute over Cisplatina by establishing the country as an independent Brazilians satellite.
-The Gran Colombian constitution is drafted, laying the country's government along a centralist presidential model.
1830: Greece's borders are expanded via the London Protocol of Greek Independence, granting her control of Athens and part of Continental Greece. Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is given the newly created throne of Greece. As a foreigner, Leopold is neither trusted nor well-liked by the Greeks.
1833: Gran Colombia intervenes in a civil war in the Federal Republic of Central America, resulting in the FRCA being drawn into the Gran Colombian orbit.
Victorian Era
1837: Victoria is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Her quite lengthy reign will see the monarch's power upsurge again, leading to the modern ideology of Arthurism.
1839: The First Opium War begins between the United Kingdom and China. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Mongolians declare independence, electing Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj as their Khan. The brutal Mongolian War of Independence thus begins.
1840s: The Mormons migrate west into the vast unclaimed plains of north-central North America, where they will coalesce into the independent state of Deseret.
1840: Acadia purchases the Maritimes from the United Kingdom.
1842: The First Opium War ends, leaving China humiliated. In an effort to redeem itself, the Chinese turn their attention on Mongolia, which until then had been in secure control of both Inner and Outer Mongolia. However, try as they might, the Chinese are never able to retake it.
1846-1848: The Mexican-American War, resulting in the United States greatly expanding in size and annexing nearly a third of Mexico. The vast influx of land creates far more problems than solutions, with debates intensifying over the role of slavery in these new territories.
1848: The Springtime of Nations. Liberal unrest erupts in a mass wave of protest and abortive revolution across Europe. In France, the monarchy is overthrown again, leading to the creation of the brief Second Republic before the ascension of Napoleon III and the restoration of the French Empire.
1850s: Japanese pirates begin to ravage the Chinese coast, in a country already torn by strife and internal warfare. The pirates begin bringing slaves back with them to Japan to serve as cheap labour on Japanese fields. This creates conflict between the slaves and their masters.
1850-1851: After King Leopold of Greece refuses to create a constitution in the wake of mass popular unrest, he is overthrown by the Greek military. The Second Hellenic Republic is established.
1853: Gran Colombia formally annexes the Federal Republic of Central America.
1854: Greece invades and occupies Thessaly from the Ottoman Empire, but the Great Powers intervene and prevent Greece from making any permanent gain. This event bolsters isolationist sentiment in the country.
1856-1860: The United Kingdom and France attack China in the Second Opium War, adding to the country's already long list of woes.
1856: China recognizes Mongolian independence after a brutal, almost two-decade-long war. Mongolia thus closes itself off from the outside world to focus on reconstruction and renewal, with China being the only real link.
1857:
-Pedro VI of Kongo negotiates a treaty with Portugal, offering his country as a protectorate in exchange for Portuguese assistance and eliminating a rival claimant to the throne. However, instead of actually doing so, Pedro VI makes a speech proudly announcing how Kongolese are the only true Christians in the world, and in an event called the Awakening Massacre, the Kongolese troops slaughter the Portuguese garrison in M'banza-Kongo to the last man. Portugal is, naturally, infuriated, and sends an invasion force, but the resulting war is quite indecisive as the Kongolese are able to prevent the Portuguese from controlling much except the coastline.
-Mutiny in India, leading to the British taking direct control of India and the abolishment of the East India Company. The British Raj begins.
1860s: The Xhosa Conflicts between the Dutch and the Xhosa in Zuid-Afrika, which lead to Dutch expansion and the near-extermination of the Xhosa.
1862: With unrest building at home and the war not going well, Portugal is forced to go to negotiations with Kongo. The resulting Treaty of Porto forces Portugal to recognize Kongolese independence in exchange for massacre reparations. Over the next several decades, this "Most Holy Christian Kingdom" slowly modernizes.
1866:
-A teenage Miguel II is crowned in Portugal. Over the next half-century Miguel II's reactionary and oppressive reign.
-The Brother's War, or the Austro-Prussian War, begins between Austria and Prussia. The Battle of Königgrätz, a decisive Austrian victory, ultimately decides the fate of the Brother's War.
-In a simultaneous conflict known as the Third Schleswig War, Denmark intervenes on behalf of Austria against Prussia. With the Prussian army steadily being destroyed by the Austrians elsewhere, Denmark finds it easy to make significant progress.
1867:
-The Second Treaty of Dresden is signed, ending the Brother's War with a return to status quo ante bellum, but it is a poorly hidden secret that it is a sign of Austria establishing a sphere of influence over the southern German principalities. Indeed, just a few months later, most of the southern German states federalize into a South German Federation that is little more than an Austrian protectorate.
-The Treaty of Rostock ends the war between Denmark and Prussia, and results in a landmark Danish diplomatic victory and confirmation of Danish status as a power in Europe. Not only is all of Schleswig, Holstein, and Saxe-Lauenberg transferred to Denmark, Mecklenberg is unified and given independence as a buffer state between the two countries.
1869:
-The Danish Gold Coast Company annexes the West African kingdom of Ashanti, giving Denmark a significant presence in the region.
1870s: In Japan, riots start breaking out by the peasantry against the Chinese labourers, ultimatley leading to full-scale peasant rebellion in some areas. In the wake of this, a quasi-religious movement forms, teaching local peasants to revere their local clans and daimyos.
1870-1871: The Franco-Prussian War results in a decisive French victory and the French annexation of the Rhineland. For a humiliated Prussia, it is the final nail in the coffin of pan-German dreams.
1870:
-The War of the Triple Alliance leads to Brazilian annexation of Paraguay.
-Slavery is messily abolished in the United States.
1872:
-The Chinese Emperor is overthrown by a group of army commanders. Hong Tianguifu proclaims victory and the rule of the Heavenly Kingdom across all China. However, all that instead occurs is more chaos, as this so-called "Heavenly Kingdom" has little authority to rule over the provincial governors, who now form the real power in the country.
-King Carl Ludvig Eugen XV of Sweden and Norway passes away. Oscar II is supposed to take the throne of both countries, but Norwegian dissent against stagnant Swedish rule in comparison to Denmark, which is in the midst of a percieved golden age, had been building, and manifests in mass unrest and riots across Norway.
1873:
-Paraguay is regranted independence, as an effective Brazilian protectorate.
-While meeting with his brother Maximillian, Emperor of Mexico, in Trieste, Franz Joseph of Austria is stabbed by a pair of Hungarian nationalists. Within days of his death, the disaffected Hungarian aristocracy gathers in Budapest to declare independence. Franz Joseph's son Rudolf is crowned in Vienna as St. Stephen's War begins, and will last several years, as the Croatians are quick to support the new Hungarian regent, Count Gustav Kálnoky, and the Bohemians declare neutrality. Only the South German Federation comes to Austria's aid.
-The Norwegian Storting votes to annul the union with Sweden and invite King Christian IX of Denmark to take the throne of Norway. Sweden responds with war. Though the Swedes appear to have the upper hand at first, driving the Danes and Norwegians from the border, the Danish soon counterattack, assisted by the strong Danish navy bombarding most Swedish coastal cities. The war draws the attention of several great powers, including Russia, who does not wish for Danish control of the Sound Toll. However, a Danish diplomatic mission is able to convince Tsar Alexander III that Sweden, with her imperialist tendencies in regards to Norway, is the real threat, and that Denmark does not wish for territorial gain, and under the threat of Russian invasion of Sweden, the Swedes sue for peace, recognizing the new union of Denmark and Norway.
1876: Rudolf of Austria is found dead in his chambers, alongside one of his many mistresses, in an apparent suicide. His death is announced as a "hunting accident." The real cause of Rudolf's death is a poorly kept secret. In the wake of his death, the war in Austria comes to an end, with Austria stripped of much of her territory.
1878: A much reduced Austria agrees to merge into the South German Federation.
1880s: The Zulu Wars between the Dutch and the Zulu in Zuid-Afrika, leading to the virtual extermination of the latter and further Dutch expansion.
1881: Khan Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj dies. His son Chimediin Saikhanbileg takes over the Khanate, and continues his predecessor's isolationist policies.
1884: The Congress of London divides Africa between the great colonial powers of Europe. Though the Congress officially recognizes Kongo in the Portuguese sphere, it is a poorly hidden secret that everyone save for Portugal has no intention of letting that happen, due to Kongo's increasing status as an economic and trading hub in Africa.
1889: Otto von Bismarck dies in poverty, despondent and defeated, his dream of a Prussian-led united Germany laid in shatters after their defeat in the Brother's War.
1890: War breaks out between Brazil and Bolivia over territorial disputes in Acre. The war is a decisive Brazilian victory, and the ensuing peace leads to Bolivia effectively becoming a Brazilian protectorate.
1892: The Kiel Canal is completed.
1896:
-The Meiji Restoration in Japan.
-The first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens, Greece.
Twentieth Century
1902: The upstart Republic of Stellaland is annexed by Zuid-Afrika after a brief war.
1903: The sickly and weak Hong Tianguifu of the Heavenly Kingdom dies without an heir. The colonial great powers see yet another opportunity to carve up more of China for themselves. To attempt to rectify the situation, a military junta sets themselves up in Nanking as a "Regency Council" to act as an emergency government, supported by the British.
1905: Near-revolution breaks out in Russia; however, Tsar Nicholas II is able to quell the revolutionaries by promising numerous reforms, including ceding much of his power to an elected Duma. The liberal democratic Kadets take control of the Duma, but prove to be corrupt and ineffectual at managing the country. Ultimately, fewer and fewer people find themselves satisfied.
1906: Nanking's authority - what little it had, in any case - collapses altogether. An infant is raised in Fengtian Province as the rightful heir to the Qing dynasty, and soon the Zhili military clique establishes control of the Imperal Palace in Peking to restore this new Emperor, proclaiming a European-style constitutional monarchy. Stalemate prevails for the next several years, as the Heavenly Kingdom still retains nominal control of southern China.
1908: The Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire.
---
1910:
-In London, King Edward dies. Unknowingly, his death will lead to significant strife at home, as Arthurists and Constitutionalists clash over the future of Westminster. This civil unrest and will spill over into the continent, blow the top off mounting discontent and revolutionary sentiment everywhere, and kick off the so-called Second Age of Revolutions across Europe and the world.
-A series of student protests and general strikes begin in Vienna. The army attempts to intervene in one such student protest, leading to multiple deaths, including that of an art student named Adolf Hitler. Instead of calming the situation, this event leads to the protests turning violent and spiraling out of control into a full-scale revolution over the winter throughout the South German Federation. The South German government is toppled, and what results is the formation of the Socialist Federation of the Free South German Republics.
-In Portugal, socialists in the city of Porto revolt, and the government is unable to control the burgeoning revolution. Miguel II flees the country for Spain, but he is closely followed by leftist discontent spilling across the border, though the Spanish are able to seal their border quickly and effectively.
1911:
-Princess Mary of the United Kingdom, seeing a bleak future, exits the country for India, where she is crowned Empress of India and declares independence. With India's exit from the Empire, the rest begins to collapse like a falling house of cards. Hong Kong quickly aligns itself with Mary, and with that, British control over the Far East is completely lost.
-In Canada, Québécois seperatists launch an uprising against the pro-British Anglo government, but the government has sufficient political support to violently crack down, but when it does so it causes minor insurgencies to spread elsewhere.
-Early in the year, revolution spills across the border from the South German Federation into Bohemia. The Socialist Federation of Czechoslovak Republics is formed.
-Inspired by the events unfolding across Europe, unrest begins mounting amongst ethnic Minorties in Russia's westernmost territories, such as Poland, the Baltic states, and Finland, with mass protests demanding complete independence.
-Spain attempts to invade Portugal to restore Miguel II and bring down the socialist government. Instead, in what is termed the Red Miracle, not only do the Portuguese repulse the initial invasion, they push the Spaniards all the way back to Madrid and bring down the Spanish government. The People's Republic of Iberia is formed.
-The stalemate in China breaks as Nanking's armies march north and make significant progress against the Imperials. However, with the rest of the clique having left Nanking, the city's populace, led by a young agitator named Song Jiaoren, breaks out in open revolt and, confirming the absence of any Hong heir, declares a Republic of China. Still, by this point Tibet is de facto independent, as is East Turkestan under the Ma clique. Soon, Yunnan and Sichuan will gain autonomy as well under their own military cliques.
-In Mongolia, Khan Chimediin Saikhanbileg dies. His successor Damdin Sükhbaatar begins to open the country up to foreign (especially Russian) trade, and begins to modernize Mongolia.
-Petroleum is discovered in Maracaibo, Gran Colombia.
1912:
-The British Empire continues to collapse. Greece is able to seize the Ionian Islands, and Gran Colombia seizes Trinidad and Tobago. British control over Africa collapses as well; some areas form republics, while much of the rest becomes divided between various native African monarchs who see an opportunity to seize power. In many areas, former British colonial administrators turn into a new ruling class.
-Alarmed by the rapidly devolving situation north of the border, Acadia intervenes in Canada - in favor of the Québécois. The British army melts at the Acadian advance, and even though the British send reinforcements in an attempt to keep one last overseas territory British, and obtain naval superiority in the Maritimes, they are unable to retake Canada, and ultimately peace is signed along the end-of-war positions.
-Attempting to quell the unrest, the Kadet government of Russia agrees to independence referendums in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland. All five countries vote by overwhelming margins for independence, and they go their own ways. This is greatly unpopular in Russia, and the Kadets are heavily discredited.
-The Fengtian-Zhili Wars begin over disputes between Fengtian leader Yuan Shikai and the Zhili clique over how much power the Emperor and Parliament should have. Even though the Republicans have arisen in the south, the factions do not stop from fighting each other.
1913:
-In the midst of the ongoing revolutionary turmoil, Bulgaria attempts to invade Greece and Serbia. Instead, Greece decisively defeats the Bulgarians, and annexes Macedonia.
---
1914: The Meiji Emperor of Japan dies, and is succeeded by the Taishō Emperor, his son.
1915:
-The Glorious Revolution erupts in the Ottoman Empire when communist militias strike in several major cities. Seizing the opportunity and encouraged by an international (especially British and French) desire not to see yet another communist state, Greece invades the Ottoman Empire and takes Constantinople and parts of the Anatolian coast. Many ethnic minorities in these regions find themselves pressured by government-"encouraged" colonization. Meanwhile, the Communsists take power in Turkey and are left to lick their wounds.
-The Taishō Emperor begins to be affected by what some call a "divine madness," locking himself in his chambers with his books. The Imperial court effectively takes over management of the country.
1917:
-The North Epirote Republic is incorporated into Greece.
1918:
-The Taishō Emperor disappears completely.
1920s:
-China continues to be divided between the Republican government, the Fengtian and Zhili cliques in the north, and numerous other local powers elsewhere. The Yunnan clique is able to defeat the Sichuan clique and gain their territories. The Ma Clique and Tibet clash in the west over Qinghai. In the meantime, charismatic Communist leader Sun Yat-sen comes to power in much of Southern China promising a new path forward of agrarian socialism for all China, leading to the establishment of a People's Republic popular amongst the peasants. Meanwhile, the Republic itself undergoes major military reforms under the aegis of the Nanking Military Academy, and effectively becomes a one-party state under Chiang Kai-shek.
-Fueled by a burgeoning petroleum industry, Gran Colombia undergoes a wave of industrialization and urbanization that makes it one of the most advanced economies in the world.
1920: Lord-Commander Uesugi, in the absence of any member of the nominal Japanese Imperial family, is elevated to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
1925: Empress Mary of India dies of malaria, replaced by her rather Indophilic daughter, who is crowned as Empress Mary II.
1927:
-Huey Long is elected President of the United States.
-The Indian Labour Party led by Philip Snowden comes to power in Indian elections, marking a decided shift to the reformist wing in Indian politics.
1929: The Government of India Act 1929 completely reorganizes the Indian government, allowing all Indians to vote for the first time.
1930s: A relative calm settles over China, and all the major warring factions take the chance to rebuild their strengths for an inevitable coming conflict.
1932: Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?
