alex994
Hail Divine Emperor!
Out of curiosity das, do you have any suggestions for a nation in the next IT here? 
NES2 VI - Last Semblance of Order.
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Regeneration In Process
BT I Update - Years 1754-1780
Generally this was a time of (in some cases barely-enforced) peace and consolidation, as well as increasing stagnation and a gradual accumulation of international tension, paranoia, envy and hatred. Particularily during the 1770s, as the winners and losers of the World War alike recovered enough to start an arms race, while what came to be known as the Age of Militarism begun in the earnest with the military and the government becoming increasingly intertwined and a series of officers-turned-politicians taking power or gaining influence, crisis after crisis took place and by now the tensions have reached an unacceptable level. Different countries stare at each other with fear and hatred, and prepare for revanche or defense of their gains, while the military governments grow ever more unpopular and social strife threatens to bring about a world revolution. Order will not hold for long, and chaos is about to break in.
The Americas:
Although France succesfully defeated both the Amerind and the colonist rebels in its North American colonies, its hold over these was shown by these rebellions to be not nearly as secure as had been hoped. When in 1757 a new survivalist colonial rebellion in the Appalachees was barely crushed (the rebels all expelled to the frontier region; that would turn out to be an unwise decision as the western parts of French America quickly became the most rebellions), it was decided by the Holy Roman Imperial French government to simply withdraw. Admittedly, things were moving towards that before; the French colonies in North America were always the most autonomous of the actual European colonies (as opposed to mere non-European possessions, such as the ones once existant in India, where ofcourse native rulers exercised much autonomy), and France was ever less connected with them, instead concentrating on Europe commercially, politically and militarily. So by an officially Imperial decree, Provinces Unie de la Amerique Francaise (PUAF), or simply the United Provinces, was granted further autonomy; though naturally subordinated in foreign affairs to the HRE, and considerably tied to it economically, the PUAF now had full domestic autonomy, with the Imperial governor-general relegated to the position of a figurehead. A parliamentary democratic federation, the PUAF covered lands from the Arctic Ocean to la Grande Fleuv [1] and Florida; basically, the entire French North American mainland. Terre-Neuve [2], Bermuda and the Carribean territories were both easily retainable with the Marine Imperiale and were more commercially integrated with France/HRE, as well as bound closer to Paris and Brest than to Noveau Amsterdam in the first place.
The PUAF however had problems from the start. From the start it was a nation divided, as such huge and diverse nations tend to be. The north (Canada, Acadia, Noveau Bretagne) was mostly safely tied to France and loyal, but even there, as time went on, dissent grew, especially in Canada where there was a sizeable English minority (swollen by immigration) and notable trade ties with Great Britain. Predictably, a movement emerged there supporting greater ties - up to annexation - with Britain. There also emerged a general pro-independence (but not "Regional-Separatist", as it had dubbed the local separatists) anti-French party that seeked the removal of all French control over foreign affairs and the pursuit of a general independent policy. Other regions were even worse. In the west (west of the Mississippi), there was much separatism, on the simple grounds of the country having little if any practical ties with Caroline or Noveau Bretagne; the dissent wasn't quelled even with the creation of the Frontiere and Texas provinces. Furthermore, the former "Appalachians" made up a considerable percentage of the population in both western provinces, and also agitated for the creation of a new, separate state. Both provinces, finally, were subject to pro-EUA agitation, which had found all the more ground in this decidedly anti-French region, that also had an influential Iberian minority (in Texas anyway) and vastly closer true economical ties with the EUA than with France or the eastern provinces. And lastly, Caroline and Virginie were comparatively content all-in-all, much moreso than in the 1740s - if not for the slaves and the abolitionists. The former, becoming increasingly literate (both due to a growth of need for literate slaves in the modernizing world and due to the spread of the Enlightenment into the Americas), also became understandably unhappy with their situation, even though the various reforms prevented too much abuse, on paper at least. The latter worked well on this fertile ground, and by the time the authorities took note of the dissent amongst the slaves after a rebellion in western Virginie, it was too late... In other words, PUAF is a barrel of gunpowder waiting for the spark. Add to that the constant struggle between the central and local governments, the strife between the mainstream "Libertine" political establishment and the rising Egalitist [3] fringe...
The Estados Unidos Americanos, meanwhile, have been doing rather unevenly during all this time. On one hand, unparalleled economic prosperity has been achieved; commerce flourished, industries excelled, the Nicaragua Canal was dug, and immense waves of Iberian and German immigration took place. Relations with France and PUAF, despite the occasional border disputes, slavery criticism and frontier separatism, remained passable though not as warm as before. Neither Egalitism nor Militarism touched the EUA quite as much as they had Europe, although both certainly had their effect (the latter in fact manifested itself greatly in the south; more on that later, but even in Acapulco plenty of congressmen and several presidents were "bravos", as war heroes - and simple politicians using their military career as propaganda for their political career - came to be termed). However, at the same time, the country underwent an exaggerated conflict between the center and the province. Although its confederal system was created to prevent such strife, it had turned out to only exuberate the trouble in the more faraway regions. Though Mexico itself, Central America, New Grenada and Chile were pulled together just close enough to remain a single state, yet far enough to retain just enough freedom, the more distant Transcolorado and La Plata were more dissident. Though Transcolorado was not too far away from Mexico geographically, in everything else it was different. Already by 1760 it had a large Russian, Japanese and French presence, not to mention the various Germans, Jews and Irishmen; by 1770, the Iberians there were numerically overwhelmed. With ethnic differences came religious ones; though Catholicism and the Japanese syncretic mix coexisted amiably, the German protestants and the Huguenots were attacked often and struck back too. Ideologically, however, religion was not too important here anyway; it was displaced as such by the atheistic Egalitism, as the Transcoloradan proletariat was inherently stronger than the developing, but still weakish middle class, and at the same time was in pretty bad conditions. This was one of the birth-places of worker unions. Finally, most economical ties of Transcolorado were ones with Japan and France - not with the rest of EUA. Separatism was powerful here indeed.
In La Plata dissent was strong for the opposite reasons. Ethnic differences were still present, but to a lesser extent; this was a Spanish-majority region, with some Celts, Germans, Italians and Frenchmen thrown in (these minorities became the foundation of American power here, ironically, and were later victims of the devastas[4], especially during the Grand Rising). Generally however this was a homogenous region ethnically and religiously, and possibly the most nationalist Spanish region of America, back when there was a Spanish colonial empire here. Xenophobia, extreme clericalism and chauvinism mixed with the tyranny of distance and the dislike for the liberal American reforms and policies. But none of this would have mattered all that much had there been enough interests in common (after all, the EUA was brought together by combined economic and political interests). However, there were scarcely any economical ties with the EUA itself, and far more such ties with HRE and Brazil. Inspired by the Paraguayan example (the Paraguayans succesfully fought back the American invaders and formed an uberbizarre neutral theodemocratic Jesuit Republic), the Platines rose up time and again during the 1750s; they were defeated, and the 1760s went by comparatively quietly with industry and commerce thriving and investments pouring in... until yet another rebellion in 1772. It was completely unexpected, and the Platines, with clandestine Brazilian assistance, expelled all American forces out of the country; only threats of French intervention prevented Brazil from exploiting this perfect opportunity for a revanche, but it took some time for the Americans to reconquer La Plata, using the internicine fighting amongst the rebels, and even then the Brazilians did manage to exploit the rebellions and the American crisis of confidence to retake Banda Oriental that was likewise rebellious, likewise rebelled and also happened to have a Portuguese ethnic majority; the Imperials, alas, were not willing to start a war over that. The Americans had to be content with retaking the rest of La Plata. Ironically, in the end a right-wing government was received by the Platines - the ruthless military government of General Miguel Rabida under the new martial law set up by the EUA, which was quite unwilling to let go of such a large territory. Though by 1780, most resistance was crushed and the rebel warlords either surrendered, fled to Brazil or were hung, dissent lingers on still. The EUA isn't quite as bad off as PUAF in that regard, the situation is still grave as nobody has any concise ideas of what to do with La Plata and in the meantime the country slowly, but surely begins to stagnate. A new leadership is probably in order.
Brazil remained an absolute monarchy through and through, and one of the main slave-owning nations in the world; that brought it much criticism in European intellectual circles, but the Brazilians themselves remained generally supportive of the royal regime, especially as it quickly recovered and rebuilt the country. The economy, in any case, flourished as commerce resumed and agriculture rebounded, whilst industrialization was spurred on by state support. During the 1770s, Brazil became an examplary militaristic reactionary monarchy, to which critics compared, rather erroneously, Emperor Valerien's government in the HRE; xenophobia and clericalism were encouraged and themselves allowed the build-up of mass support for the government (which had adapted a new political ideology, that of Integralism [5]), and an army was rebuilt and modernized as Emperor Pedro II prepared to take back what his father had lost. Brazil no longer seeked to reconquer Portugal; instead, it now had a new national identity, and a new national goal - the construction of a great South American empire and then, possibly, colonial expansion.
Finally, Peru was a classical case of good intentions leading straight forward to hell. Sapa-Inca Tupac Cusi Katari continued Tupac Amaru II's modernization policies and took them to an extreme, building railroads and factories and encouraging trade with the Americans. Due to the previous free trade agreements, however, the even more powerful American economy had from the start dominated the American relations with Peru and overwhelmed pretty much all the local companies that were beginning to emerge. This combined with Tupac Cusi Katari's progressive, westernizing policies and reforms, and with the unacceptably close ties with America, finally overstrained the already-thin popular patience. On 1769, it all ended. The nobility slaughtered Tupac Cusi Katari and his closest friends, advisors and family members (apart from his son Tomas Amaru who was receiving an education in Acapulco, yet another grievance), and one of them proclaimed himself "Sapa-Inca Ataw Wallpa II". All foreigners were expelled; those who refused to leave were killed in cold blood by Incan soldiers and mobs. Railroads were dismantled, harbours burned, factories smashed... Peru went into full isolation and reaction. Or would have went into it had not the Americans started a massive invasion, with Tomas Amaru in their midst. Atahualpa II resisted valorously, but the American army was overwhelmingly more powerful, and it easily routed or slaughtered all that Atahualpa threw at them. Long story cut short, though reactionary resistance continued in the mountains, most of Peru was secure as an American satellite state under Tomas Amaru, rebuilding under their guidance. According to some rumours there are plans to soon annex the country altogether.
And one more thing, as a part of the general British colonial expansion, Patagonia and the Malvinas were conquered, though they had only a little use left after the construction of the Nicaragua Canal.
Europe:
Though both Great Britain and the Scandinavian Union had built up extensive colonial empires, created great opportunities for technological advancement, sponsored world-famous universities and underwent a commercial boom, and, on a slightly darker note, partially overcame ethnic and social problems, though Poland, Hungary and Romania (especially Poland, however) consolidated themselves, built up small, yet efficient militaries, put French-inspired reforms into place, quickly modernized and fostered a flourishing agriculture, though the Byzantine Empire steadily made progress in its plans for Hellenization of the northern Balkans - though all this development went on, the two most important countries in Europe were ofcourse the Holy Roman Empire of the French Nation and the Russian Union. And both have, despite lots of hopes and real successes, entered a darker time in their history.
In the HRE, noone saw it coming. Immediately after the war there were outbursts of public enthusiasm; even in Iberia, resistance died down, and Euskara in due time was voluntarily incorporated into the Empire. Economical prosperity set in, as the country generally recovered from the difficult, expensive war and the newly-gained territories were integrated. Inflation was gradually crushed; it was discovered that the ones behind it (or at least the ones who made it this bad) were counterfeiters, possibly operating with foreign support. On them, Emperor Julien II cracked down hard, declaring counterfeiting a first degree crime punishable by death. The country was generally being centralized further, and the government grew stronger than ever; a series of reforms established an Imperial Customs System to prevent a repeat of the Inflation Crisis; an Imperial Reserve System was created to review and redo the past French economic policies and establish stronger control over the banks; an income tax was introduced. Economical conquest of Europe was well in the works. In general, the Empire advanced, and though a visible rise of dissent did take place in the very late 1750s, nobody saw April 22nd 1760 coming. On that day, rebels from what was apparently a minor Spanish movement attacked Emperor Julien II while he was visiting Madrid with bombs. The guards ofcourse quickly cracked down on them, but after lingering on for a few days in coma, the severely-wounded, mangled Julien II expired. The 1760s had started - a bloody decade of rebellions and reactions.
A few days after the death of Julien II, his son Valerien Emile Francois de Bourbon only barely evaded an attempt on his own life, while en route to Paris from Japan, having been informed that the Senate saw it fit to elect him the new Emperor, despite initially leaning towards the candidature of his brother Louis (they were discouraged by Louis' sudden death). A few more obscure Bourbons and officials were killed during that bloody April by various rebel organizations, but that was all - the provisional French government of Philippe de Terrailon soon cracked down hard on the rebel activities. By the time Valerien reached Paris, the uprisings in Spain and Rhineland were mostly crushed. Only, as it turned out, this was only a beginning.
After yet another (failed) attempt on his life, three (well, five if we count the minor uprising in the Americas and the rising in Siam) more rebellions begun. Firstly, against the Empire's good British allies, the Irish separatists had moved. Though imperfectly organized, they made up for it in numbers, surprise effect and morale, and they managed to capture almost all of Ireland, but Dublin and Belfast which they had besieged. Irish rebels even tried to kill the King, but failed. On the other hand, the initial British invasion of Ireland was defeated as well, being badly organized and undersupplied. Meanwhile, the Brandenburger Republic, never a very stable state to begin with, collapsed altogether, Feldmarschall Franz' successors having failed to play the different discontent groups against each other as well as he did. Czechs, Pommeranians, Brandenburgers, Lusatians, Austrians, East Bavarians, West Hungarians... they just weren't meant to live together. So they started killing each other, as did the various military leaders. Lastly, three cardinals were gunned down, and a massive republican insurrection begun in Italy; though it ran into trouble in the southern and eastern regions, the north, from Rome to Venice, was all up in flames. The Pope barely escaped to Naples, from where he wrote to Paris, requesting that the Empire intervenne.
It intervenned. Everywhere. In full force. In the meantime, back in its own territories the Imperial forces continued to keep order, operating under martial law and an order to not spare any lives: "No time for mercy", as de Terrailon put it. Young Emperor Valerien I was not at all a reactionary; he was a cosmopolitian and a liberal back then. But losing your father, your brother and almost losing yourself, and having radical, bloody rebellions break out everywhere, it all tends to affect a mind. The Age of Reaction commenced.
Ofcourse, the rebels were unable to withstand this. The Irish leaders either shot themselves or were hung, while Anglo-French forces paraded in Sligo. Italians fought to the last and even won a few victories with their massive conscription and good use of barricades, but in the end a white flag rose over the smouldering city of Venice, whilst the starving, desperate population of Rome simply rose up and slaughtered its would-be liberators rather than die a slow, horrible death. Scandinavian, Polish, Hungarian and Imperial forces, lastly, restored order in the Brandenburger Republic.
At a Pope-blessed conference held in Prague in 1763 (when the last - Swedish, and separately Portuguese - rebels were defeated), the great powers of Europe not including Russia had agreed to cooperate against "all movements seeking to disturb and destroy the present order by use of armed force", and to redraw the map of Europe, as it was clear that neither the Brandenburger Republic nor, most probably, the Holy League were able to survive. The Holy League had already agreed to join the HRE - it was in fact probably pre-planned long ago. Some, however, disagreed with this, most notably Hungary and Byzantium. In the end, Hungary bought claims to Croatia and Illyria from the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire unable to care less. Hungary also took over some of the southwestern territories of the Brandenburger Republic. The HRE did take over the rest of the Holy League, and also, out of Brandenburg, the remnants of Austria and Brandenburg Proper. Scandinavia retook all of Pommerania, Poland captured Silesia, Lusatia, Saxony and Bohemia. The settlement was imperfect, but workable.
In any case, this was a triumph of reaction, especially in the Holy Roman Empire. Things weren't quite as bad as the posterity would view it, but it was bad enough. Many radical and liberal newspapers were closed or censored during the zenith of the reaction, in 1768. The gendarmerie gained great power, and brought down hundreds of secret organizations and conspiracies. The Ile du Diable and Ailuroville [6] were stuffed full with the lesser conspirators. In some circles it was even proposed to resume the Inquisition, but Valerien, though he had come to rely on Catholic support, didn't see it fit to go THAT far.
Anyway, towards the 1770s both the revolutionary threat and with it, the reaction receded. Many of the harsher anti-revolutionary laws were rescinded and papers opened up again, although the gendarmerie remained vigilant. Although some minor revolts still flared up from time to time, mostly the Empire was getting back on track. However, in the second half of 1770s, resistance begun to emerge yet again. Though the time of the nationalist rebellions was evidently over and radical nationalism as an idea was discredited (in the Holy Roman Empire, anyway), a new ideology united the discontent. As the industrial revolution continued, despite or perhaps because of the limited social reform of the past, the expanded, and thus even more impoverished working class kept starving for more. The past revolutionary examples and the growth of militancy during the First Reaction have contributed to the creation of a new political ideology - a more radical evolution of the Communitilist movement of the 1740s. That movement was divided and partially discredited by collaboration, either crushed for radicalism. Those latter ones included Michel Corday, editor of the Communitilist newspaper "Egalite". It was he and his articles that were and still are mostly considered to have been the start of the new Egalitist movement, though ofcourse there have been other contributors. In any case, the Egalitists, his supporters that succesfully went into the underground and continued illegal agitation, gained influence even during the Reaction; after it ended, ofcourse, they were able to come out into the open, even though Corday had perished on Ile du Diable (not really for his newspaper, but rather for his hiding of dangerous Italian rebel survivors), and gain further popular support under their new leader Olivier Laval, who waged a vigorous propaganda campaign. Unwilling to start a new reaction (as it had harmed French relations with EUA and also caused the flight of some of the influential scientific and intellectual elite to Britain and Scandinavia, which were rather more liberal than France), Valerien I didn't act even as the Egalitist movement spread around the world, until on 1777 a separate Egalitist movement (or perhaps a rogue cell of Olivier Laval's alleged secret rebel organization) started a general rebellion in Iberia. The rebels were surprisingly succesful; it is probable that they received weapons and training from abroad, but they also clearly had very good leadership and coordination, and became an examplary insurgent organization that was imitated by many others. Though Aragon and Euskara remained loyal, most of Castille and all of Portugal was captured. Saboteurs delayed the Imperial fleet. The Imperial army eventually retook Madrid, but only after very brutal fighting in and out of the city, the rebels making very good use of machine guns and land mines.
However, in the end the rebels were left with just Lisbon. There, on the other hand, they dug in well. Several Imperial attacks were repulsed succesively, and the casualties were many. Riots in the support of the "Lisbon Community" commenced in France itself. A new Siamese rebellion commenced. Other great powers begun paying closer attention - pretty much everybody, no matter how friendly with Paris, had some grudge or another with it, and just about everyone had something to gain from the fall of France. Finally, Valerien gave his infamous order, and France's nascent air fleet flew in to bombard Lisbon indiscriminantly. All around the city, land and naval artillery bombardment commenced as well. The defiant city was levelled. Not completely ofcourse - a mutiny amongst the overstressed rebels took place after slightly over a half of the city was destroyed by the bombardments, and unconditional capitulation was offered and accepted. But the damage to the city was immense, and many both at home and abroad immediately becried and condemned it, and noone condemned this as vigorously as Olivier Laval, even though he had criticized some of the particularily extreme measures taken by the rebels previously. He went as far as to declare that such a demented, cruel emperor had no right to live, that this unjust, tyrannical monarchy needed to be destroyed without mercy. The gendarmes apparently misunderstood him; for some strange reason they perceived all this as incitement of armed revolt. So he was arrested ofcourse, as were some of his retainers that tried to free him. The rest of the Egalitists were dispersed... or went into the underground, just as a new wave of reaction begun.
By now it had ofcourse receded, but the Holy Roman Empire remains conflicted. Domestic and foreign criticism still continues, the Egalitists lurk in the shadows, and the envious still want to bring the Empire down altogether.
Meanwhile, Russia, though still reeling from its defeat in the World War, was quickly beginning to recover. Under Mikhail II and Chancellor Bestuzhev, a general liberalization took place as the administration was purged of Vladimirist conservative aristocracy, replaced instead by the new, liberal Mikhailist one. Trade recouped, industrialization and urbanization commenced, serfdom was completely abolished. Mikhail II forced through larger and larger, ever more radical reforms, despite Bestuzhev's opposition. Eventually Bestuzhev resigned, while Mikhail separated the Church from the State. A nearly-succesful conservative coup d'etat was put down by loyal troops, and reforms continued with the abolition of the Zemsky Sobor and the creation of the less aristocratic, liberal Duma. Meanwhile, Chancellor Vorontsov carried on an industrialization program. As time went on, however, a combination of continued conservative resistance (sometimes armed) in the southern parts of the country and the riots of the impoverished ex-serfs turned factory workers forced Mikhail to sack Vorontsov and limit both the liberal and the industrial revolutions that he had encouraged.
Instead, under Chancellor Nikita Panin the government concentrated on fostering commerce and moderate social reform. But though this too was succesful, and dissent amongst the populace was quelled, the elite was now by and by opposed to Bestuzhevian liberalism; a reaction set in, unlike in France not a one encouraged by the state itself. The people themselves were generally quite tired of changes. At this point, first Mikhail II and then the retired, ailing Bestuzhev have died. Tsarina Sophia I took power, but was immediately threatened by several conspiracies. Nikita Panin had to be dismissed, and instead, General Alexander Suvorov who had defeated the would-be coup d'etat in 1760 had been appointed Chancellor. Not only did he defeat the conspiracies, but he also proceeded to purge corruption with an iron hand, while causing much concern abroad with his army reforms. A major Lithuanian rebellion, combined with a new conspiracy in Moscow forced the dismissal of the Duma in 1778. Though it was reassembled soon after, it was increasingly irrelevant, as the power increasingly passed to the central bureaucracy and Suvorov's officers due to the need to deal with the various internal (and foreign) threats, Russia becoming a curious militaristic populist monarchy. It was very clear to all the neighbouring powers that Russia was preparing for revanche, but its exact plans were still unclear.
As for the other countries in Europe... Britain and Scandinavia increasingly clashed - on the North Sea and in Africa, over historic claims, present borders and trade routes. On the other hand, both countries did have many commercial ties and ideological affinities, as Britain underwent a liberalization while Scandinavia grew ever more nationalistic. Likewise uncertain was the situation with Poland, Hungary and Romania. On one hand, the three countries did have some clashing interests, most notably the Hungaro-Romanian debates over Transylvania, but on the other, the relations between them were generally good and the countries themselves were both ideologically similar and historically/culturally close. There was even some support for the revival of a Krakow Union, though that would probably not be something either the Russians or the Imperials could tolerate. On the other hand, that was a third choice as opposed to retaining the alliance with France or instead defecting to the Russian side. Finland sat by quietly and did little, while definitely remaining a French ally. Byzantium was almost similar, except it was more independent and strong, plus see below.
Generally this was a time of (in some cases barely-enforced) peace and consolidation, as well as increasing stagnation and a gradual accumulation of international tension, paranoia, envy and hatred. Particularily during the 1770s, as the winners and losers of the World War alike recovered enough to start an arms race, while what came to be known as the Age of Militarism begun in the earnest with the military and the government becoming increasingly intertwined and a series of officers-turned-politicians taking power or gaining influence, crisis after crisis took place and by now the tensions have reached an unacceptable level. Different countries stare at each other with fear and hatred, and prepare for revanche or defense of their gains, while the military governments grow ever more unpopular and social strife threatens to bring about a world revolution. Order will not hold for long, and chaos is about to break in.
The Americas:
Although France succesfully defeated both the Amerind and the colonist rebels in its North American colonies, its hold over these was shown by these rebellions to be not nearly as secure as had been hoped. When in 1757 a new survivalist colonial rebellion in the Appalachees was barely crushed (the rebels all expelled to the frontier region; that would turn out to be an unwise decision as the western parts of French America quickly became the most rebellions), it was decided by the Holy Roman Imperial French government to simply withdraw. Admittedly, things were moving towards that before; the French colonies in North America were always the most autonomous of the actual European colonies (as opposed to mere non-European possessions, such as the ones once existant in India, where ofcourse native rulers exercised much autonomy), and France was ever less connected with them, instead concentrating on Europe commercially, politically and militarily. So by an officially Imperial decree, Provinces Unie de la Amerique Francaise (PUAF), or simply the United Provinces, was granted further autonomy; though naturally subordinated in foreign affairs to the HRE, and considerably tied to it economically, the PUAF now had full domestic autonomy, with the Imperial governor-general relegated to the position of a figurehead. A parliamentary democratic federation, the PUAF covered lands from the Arctic Ocean to la Grande Fleuv [1] and Florida; basically, the entire French North American mainland. Terre-Neuve [2], Bermuda and the Carribean territories were both easily retainable with the Marine Imperiale and were more commercially integrated with France/HRE, as well as bound closer to Paris and Brest than to Noveau Amsterdam in the first place.
The PUAF however had problems from the start. From the start it was a nation divided, as such huge and diverse nations tend to be. The north (Canada, Acadia, Noveau Bretagne) was mostly safely tied to France and loyal, but even there, as time went on, dissent grew, especially in Canada where there was a sizeable English minority (swollen by immigration) and notable trade ties with Great Britain. Predictably, a movement emerged there supporting greater ties - up to annexation - with Britain. There also emerged a general pro-independence (but not "Regional-Separatist", as it had dubbed the local separatists) anti-French party that seeked the removal of all French control over foreign affairs and the pursuit of a general independent policy. Other regions were even worse. In the west (west of the Mississippi), there was much separatism, on the simple grounds of the country having little if any practical ties with Caroline or Noveau Bretagne; the dissent wasn't quelled even with the creation of the Frontiere and Texas provinces. Furthermore, the former "Appalachians" made up a considerable percentage of the population in both western provinces, and also agitated for the creation of a new, separate state. Both provinces, finally, were subject to pro-EUA agitation, which had found all the more ground in this decidedly anti-French region, that also had an influential Iberian minority (in Texas anyway) and vastly closer true economical ties with the EUA than with France or the eastern provinces. And lastly, Caroline and Virginie were comparatively content all-in-all, much moreso than in the 1740s - if not for the slaves and the abolitionists. The former, becoming increasingly literate (both due to a growth of need for literate slaves in the modernizing world and due to the spread of the Enlightenment into the Americas), also became understandably unhappy with their situation, even though the various reforms prevented too much abuse, on paper at least. The latter worked well on this fertile ground, and by the time the authorities took note of the dissent amongst the slaves after a rebellion in western Virginie, it was too late... In other words, PUAF is a barrel of gunpowder waiting for the spark. Add to that the constant struggle between the central and local governments, the strife between the mainstream "Libertine" political establishment and the rising Egalitist [3] fringe...
The Estados Unidos Americanos, meanwhile, have been doing rather unevenly during all this time. On one hand, unparalleled economic prosperity has been achieved; commerce flourished, industries excelled, the Nicaragua Canal was dug, and immense waves of Iberian and German immigration took place. Relations with France and PUAF, despite the occasional border disputes, slavery criticism and frontier separatism, remained passable though not as warm as before. Neither Egalitism nor Militarism touched the EUA quite as much as they had Europe, although both certainly had their effect (the latter in fact manifested itself greatly in the south; more on that later, but even in Acapulco plenty of congressmen and several presidents were "bravos", as war heroes - and simple politicians using their military career as propaganda for their political career - came to be termed). However, at the same time, the country underwent an exaggerated conflict between the center and the province. Although its confederal system was created to prevent such strife, it had turned out to only exuberate the trouble in the more faraway regions. Though Mexico itself, Central America, New Grenada and Chile were pulled together just close enough to remain a single state, yet far enough to retain just enough freedom, the more distant Transcolorado and La Plata were more dissident. Though Transcolorado was not too far away from Mexico geographically, in everything else it was different. Already by 1760 it had a large Russian, Japanese and French presence, not to mention the various Germans, Jews and Irishmen; by 1770, the Iberians there were numerically overwhelmed. With ethnic differences came religious ones; though Catholicism and the Japanese syncretic mix coexisted amiably, the German protestants and the Huguenots were attacked often and struck back too. Ideologically, however, religion was not too important here anyway; it was displaced as such by the atheistic Egalitism, as the Transcoloradan proletariat was inherently stronger than the developing, but still weakish middle class, and at the same time was in pretty bad conditions. This was one of the birth-places of worker unions. Finally, most economical ties of Transcolorado were ones with Japan and France - not with the rest of EUA. Separatism was powerful here indeed.
In La Plata dissent was strong for the opposite reasons. Ethnic differences were still present, but to a lesser extent; this was a Spanish-majority region, with some Celts, Germans, Italians and Frenchmen thrown in (these minorities became the foundation of American power here, ironically, and were later victims of the devastas[4], especially during the Grand Rising). Generally however this was a homogenous region ethnically and religiously, and possibly the most nationalist Spanish region of America, back when there was a Spanish colonial empire here. Xenophobia, extreme clericalism and chauvinism mixed with the tyranny of distance and the dislike for the liberal American reforms and policies. But none of this would have mattered all that much had there been enough interests in common (after all, the EUA was brought together by combined economic and political interests). However, there were scarcely any economical ties with the EUA itself, and far more such ties with HRE and Brazil. Inspired by the Paraguayan example (the Paraguayans succesfully fought back the American invaders and formed an uberbizarre neutral theodemocratic Jesuit Republic), the Platines rose up time and again during the 1750s; they were defeated, and the 1760s went by comparatively quietly with industry and commerce thriving and investments pouring in... until yet another rebellion in 1772. It was completely unexpected, and the Platines, with clandestine Brazilian assistance, expelled all American forces out of the country; only threats of French intervention prevented Brazil from exploiting this perfect opportunity for a revanche, but it took some time for the Americans to reconquer La Plata, using the internicine fighting amongst the rebels, and even then the Brazilians did manage to exploit the rebellions and the American crisis of confidence to retake Banda Oriental that was likewise rebellious, likewise rebelled and also happened to have a Portuguese ethnic majority; the Imperials, alas, were not willing to start a war over that. The Americans had to be content with retaking the rest of La Plata. Ironically, in the end a right-wing government was received by the Platines - the ruthless military government of General Miguel Rabida under the new martial law set up by the EUA, which was quite unwilling to let go of such a large territory. Though by 1780, most resistance was crushed and the rebel warlords either surrendered, fled to Brazil or were hung, dissent lingers on still. The EUA isn't quite as bad off as PUAF in that regard, the situation is still grave as nobody has any concise ideas of what to do with La Plata and in the meantime the country slowly, but surely begins to stagnate. A new leadership is probably in order.
Brazil remained an absolute monarchy through and through, and one of the main slave-owning nations in the world; that brought it much criticism in European intellectual circles, but the Brazilians themselves remained generally supportive of the royal regime, especially as it quickly recovered and rebuilt the country. The economy, in any case, flourished as commerce resumed and agriculture rebounded, whilst industrialization was spurred on by state support. During the 1770s, Brazil became an examplary militaristic reactionary monarchy, to which critics compared, rather erroneously, Emperor Valerien's government in the HRE; xenophobia and clericalism were encouraged and themselves allowed the build-up of mass support for the government (which had adapted a new political ideology, that of Integralism [5]), and an army was rebuilt and modernized as Emperor Pedro II prepared to take back what his father had lost. Brazil no longer seeked to reconquer Portugal; instead, it now had a new national identity, and a new national goal - the construction of a great South American empire and then, possibly, colonial expansion.
Finally, Peru was a classical case of good intentions leading straight forward to hell. Sapa-Inca Tupac Cusi Katari continued Tupac Amaru II's modernization policies and took them to an extreme, building railroads and factories and encouraging trade with the Americans. Due to the previous free trade agreements, however, the even more powerful American economy had from the start dominated the American relations with Peru and overwhelmed pretty much all the local companies that were beginning to emerge. This combined with Tupac Cusi Katari's progressive, westernizing policies and reforms, and with the unacceptably close ties with America, finally overstrained the already-thin popular patience. On 1769, it all ended. The nobility slaughtered Tupac Cusi Katari and his closest friends, advisors and family members (apart from his son Tomas Amaru who was receiving an education in Acapulco, yet another grievance), and one of them proclaimed himself "Sapa-Inca Ataw Wallpa II". All foreigners were expelled; those who refused to leave were killed in cold blood by Incan soldiers and mobs. Railroads were dismantled, harbours burned, factories smashed... Peru went into full isolation and reaction. Or would have went into it had not the Americans started a massive invasion, with Tomas Amaru in their midst. Atahualpa II resisted valorously, but the American army was overwhelmingly more powerful, and it easily routed or slaughtered all that Atahualpa threw at them. Long story cut short, though reactionary resistance continued in the mountains, most of Peru was secure as an American satellite state under Tomas Amaru, rebuilding under their guidance. According to some rumours there are plans to soon annex the country altogether.
And one more thing, as a part of the general British colonial expansion, Patagonia and the Malvinas were conquered, though they had only a little use left after the construction of the Nicaragua Canal.
Europe:
Though both Great Britain and the Scandinavian Union had built up extensive colonial empires, created great opportunities for technological advancement, sponsored world-famous universities and underwent a commercial boom, and, on a slightly darker note, partially overcame ethnic and social problems, though Poland, Hungary and Romania (especially Poland, however) consolidated themselves, built up small, yet efficient militaries, put French-inspired reforms into place, quickly modernized and fostered a flourishing agriculture, though the Byzantine Empire steadily made progress in its plans for Hellenization of the northern Balkans - though all this development went on, the two most important countries in Europe were ofcourse the Holy Roman Empire of the French Nation and the Russian Union. And both have, despite lots of hopes and real successes, entered a darker time in their history.
In the HRE, noone saw it coming. Immediately after the war there were outbursts of public enthusiasm; even in Iberia, resistance died down, and Euskara in due time was voluntarily incorporated into the Empire. Economical prosperity set in, as the country generally recovered from the difficult, expensive war and the newly-gained territories were integrated. Inflation was gradually crushed; it was discovered that the ones behind it (or at least the ones who made it this bad) were counterfeiters, possibly operating with foreign support. On them, Emperor Julien II cracked down hard, declaring counterfeiting a first degree crime punishable by death. The country was generally being centralized further, and the government grew stronger than ever; a series of reforms established an Imperial Customs System to prevent a repeat of the Inflation Crisis; an Imperial Reserve System was created to review and redo the past French economic policies and establish stronger control over the banks; an income tax was introduced. Economical conquest of Europe was well in the works. In general, the Empire advanced, and though a visible rise of dissent did take place in the very late 1750s, nobody saw April 22nd 1760 coming. On that day, rebels from what was apparently a minor Spanish movement attacked Emperor Julien II while he was visiting Madrid with bombs. The guards ofcourse quickly cracked down on them, but after lingering on for a few days in coma, the severely-wounded, mangled Julien II expired. The 1760s had started - a bloody decade of rebellions and reactions.
A few days after the death of Julien II, his son Valerien Emile Francois de Bourbon only barely evaded an attempt on his own life, while en route to Paris from Japan, having been informed that the Senate saw it fit to elect him the new Emperor, despite initially leaning towards the candidature of his brother Louis (they were discouraged by Louis' sudden death). A few more obscure Bourbons and officials were killed during that bloody April by various rebel organizations, but that was all - the provisional French government of Philippe de Terrailon soon cracked down hard on the rebel activities. By the time Valerien reached Paris, the uprisings in Spain and Rhineland were mostly crushed. Only, as it turned out, this was only a beginning.
After yet another (failed) attempt on his life, three (well, five if we count the minor uprising in the Americas and the rising in Siam) more rebellions begun. Firstly, against the Empire's good British allies, the Irish separatists had moved. Though imperfectly organized, they made up for it in numbers, surprise effect and morale, and they managed to capture almost all of Ireland, but Dublin and Belfast which they had besieged. Irish rebels even tried to kill the King, but failed. On the other hand, the initial British invasion of Ireland was defeated as well, being badly organized and undersupplied. Meanwhile, the Brandenburger Republic, never a very stable state to begin with, collapsed altogether, Feldmarschall Franz' successors having failed to play the different discontent groups against each other as well as he did. Czechs, Pommeranians, Brandenburgers, Lusatians, Austrians, East Bavarians, West Hungarians... they just weren't meant to live together. So they started killing each other, as did the various military leaders. Lastly, three cardinals were gunned down, and a massive republican insurrection begun in Italy; though it ran into trouble in the southern and eastern regions, the north, from Rome to Venice, was all up in flames. The Pope barely escaped to Naples, from where he wrote to Paris, requesting that the Empire intervenne.
It intervenned. Everywhere. In full force. In the meantime, back in its own territories the Imperial forces continued to keep order, operating under martial law and an order to not spare any lives: "No time for mercy", as de Terrailon put it. Young Emperor Valerien I was not at all a reactionary; he was a cosmopolitian and a liberal back then. But losing your father, your brother and almost losing yourself, and having radical, bloody rebellions break out everywhere, it all tends to affect a mind. The Age of Reaction commenced.
Ofcourse, the rebels were unable to withstand this. The Irish leaders either shot themselves or were hung, while Anglo-French forces paraded in Sligo. Italians fought to the last and even won a few victories with their massive conscription and good use of barricades, but in the end a white flag rose over the smouldering city of Venice, whilst the starving, desperate population of Rome simply rose up and slaughtered its would-be liberators rather than die a slow, horrible death. Scandinavian, Polish, Hungarian and Imperial forces, lastly, restored order in the Brandenburger Republic.
At a Pope-blessed conference held in Prague in 1763 (when the last - Swedish, and separately Portuguese - rebels were defeated), the great powers of Europe not including Russia had agreed to cooperate against "all movements seeking to disturb and destroy the present order by use of armed force", and to redraw the map of Europe, as it was clear that neither the Brandenburger Republic nor, most probably, the Holy League were able to survive. The Holy League had already agreed to join the HRE - it was in fact probably pre-planned long ago. Some, however, disagreed with this, most notably Hungary and Byzantium. In the end, Hungary bought claims to Croatia and Illyria from the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire unable to care less. Hungary also took over some of the southwestern territories of the Brandenburger Republic. The HRE did take over the rest of the Holy League, and also, out of Brandenburg, the remnants of Austria and Brandenburg Proper. Scandinavia retook all of Pommerania, Poland captured Silesia, Lusatia, Saxony and Bohemia. The settlement was imperfect, but workable.
In any case, this was a triumph of reaction, especially in the Holy Roman Empire. Things weren't quite as bad as the posterity would view it, but it was bad enough. Many radical and liberal newspapers were closed or censored during the zenith of the reaction, in 1768. The gendarmerie gained great power, and brought down hundreds of secret organizations and conspiracies. The Ile du Diable and Ailuroville [6] were stuffed full with the lesser conspirators. In some circles it was even proposed to resume the Inquisition, but Valerien, though he had come to rely on Catholic support, didn't see it fit to go THAT far.
Anyway, towards the 1770s both the revolutionary threat and with it, the reaction receded. Many of the harsher anti-revolutionary laws were rescinded and papers opened up again, although the gendarmerie remained vigilant. Although some minor revolts still flared up from time to time, mostly the Empire was getting back on track. However, in the second half of 1770s, resistance begun to emerge yet again. Though the time of the nationalist rebellions was evidently over and radical nationalism as an idea was discredited (in the Holy Roman Empire, anyway), a new ideology united the discontent. As the industrial revolution continued, despite or perhaps because of the limited social reform of the past, the expanded, and thus even more impoverished working class kept starving for more. The past revolutionary examples and the growth of militancy during the First Reaction have contributed to the creation of a new political ideology - a more radical evolution of the Communitilist movement of the 1740s. That movement was divided and partially discredited by collaboration, either crushed for radicalism. Those latter ones included Michel Corday, editor of the Communitilist newspaper "Egalite". It was he and his articles that were and still are mostly considered to have been the start of the new Egalitist movement, though ofcourse there have been other contributors. In any case, the Egalitists, his supporters that succesfully went into the underground and continued illegal agitation, gained influence even during the Reaction; after it ended, ofcourse, they were able to come out into the open, even though Corday had perished on Ile du Diable (not really for his newspaper, but rather for his hiding of dangerous Italian rebel survivors), and gain further popular support under their new leader Olivier Laval, who waged a vigorous propaganda campaign. Unwilling to start a new reaction (as it had harmed French relations with EUA and also caused the flight of some of the influential scientific and intellectual elite to Britain and Scandinavia, which were rather more liberal than France), Valerien I didn't act even as the Egalitist movement spread around the world, until on 1777 a separate Egalitist movement (or perhaps a rogue cell of Olivier Laval's alleged secret rebel organization) started a general rebellion in Iberia. The rebels were surprisingly succesful; it is probable that they received weapons and training from abroad, but they also clearly had very good leadership and coordination, and became an examplary insurgent organization that was imitated by many others. Though Aragon and Euskara remained loyal, most of Castille and all of Portugal was captured. Saboteurs delayed the Imperial fleet. The Imperial army eventually retook Madrid, but only after very brutal fighting in and out of the city, the rebels making very good use of machine guns and land mines.
However, in the end the rebels were left with just Lisbon. There, on the other hand, they dug in well. Several Imperial attacks were repulsed succesively, and the casualties were many. Riots in the support of the "Lisbon Community" commenced in France itself. A new Siamese rebellion commenced. Other great powers begun paying closer attention - pretty much everybody, no matter how friendly with Paris, had some grudge or another with it, and just about everyone had something to gain from the fall of France. Finally, Valerien gave his infamous order, and France's nascent air fleet flew in to bombard Lisbon indiscriminantly. All around the city, land and naval artillery bombardment commenced as well. The defiant city was levelled. Not completely ofcourse - a mutiny amongst the overstressed rebels took place after slightly over a half of the city was destroyed by the bombardments, and unconditional capitulation was offered and accepted. But the damage to the city was immense, and many both at home and abroad immediately becried and condemned it, and noone condemned this as vigorously as Olivier Laval, even though he had criticized some of the particularily extreme measures taken by the rebels previously. He went as far as to declare that such a demented, cruel emperor had no right to live, that this unjust, tyrannical monarchy needed to be destroyed without mercy. The gendarmes apparently misunderstood him; for some strange reason they perceived all this as incitement of armed revolt. So he was arrested ofcourse, as were some of his retainers that tried to free him. The rest of the Egalitists were dispersed... or went into the underground, just as a new wave of reaction begun.
By now it had ofcourse receded, but the Holy Roman Empire remains conflicted. Domestic and foreign criticism still continues, the Egalitists lurk in the shadows, and the envious still want to bring the Empire down altogether.
Meanwhile, Russia, though still reeling from its defeat in the World War, was quickly beginning to recover. Under Mikhail II and Chancellor Bestuzhev, a general liberalization took place as the administration was purged of Vladimirist conservative aristocracy, replaced instead by the new, liberal Mikhailist one. Trade recouped, industrialization and urbanization commenced, serfdom was completely abolished. Mikhail II forced through larger and larger, ever more radical reforms, despite Bestuzhev's opposition. Eventually Bestuzhev resigned, while Mikhail separated the Church from the State. A nearly-succesful conservative coup d'etat was put down by loyal troops, and reforms continued with the abolition of the Zemsky Sobor and the creation of the less aristocratic, liberal Duma. Meanwhile, Chancellor Vorontsov carried on an industrialization program. As time went on, however, a combination of continued conservative resistance (sometimes armed) in the southern parts of the country and the riots of the impoverished ex-serfs turned factory workers forced Mikhail to sack Vorontsov and limit both the liberal and the industrial revolutions that he had encouraged.
Instead, under Chancellor Nikita Panin the government concentrated on fostering commerce and moderate social reform. But though this too was succesful, and dissent amongst the populace was quelled, the elite was now by and by opposed to Bestuzhevian liberalism; a reaction set in, unlike in France not a one encouraged by the state itself. The people themselves were generally quite tired of changes. At this point, first Mikhail II and then the retired, ailing Bestuzhev have died. Tsarina Sophia I took power, but was immediately threatened by several conspiracies. Nikita Panin had to be dismissed, and instead, General Alexander Suvorov who had defeated the would-be coup d'etat in 1760 had been appointed Chancellor. Not only did he defeat the conspiracies, but he also proceeded to purge corruption with an iron hand, while causing much concern abroad with his army reforms. A major Lithuanian rebellion, combined with a new conspiracy in Moscow forced the dismissal of the Duma in 1778. Though it was reassembled soon after, it was increasingly irrelevant, as the power increasingly passed to the central bureaucracy and Suvorov's officers due to the need to deal with the various internal (and foreign) threats, Russia becoming a curious militaristic populist monarchy. It was very clear to all the neighbouring powers that Russia was preparing for revanche, but its exact plans were still unclear.
As for the other countries in Europe... Britain and Scandinavia increasingly clashed - on the North Sea and in Africa, over historic claims, present borders and trade routes. On the other hand, both countries did have many commercial ties and ideological affinities, as Britain underwent a liberalization while Scandinavia grew ever more nationalistic. Likewise uncertain was the situation with Poland, Hungary and Romania. On one hand, the three countries did have some clashing interests, most notably the Hungaro-Romanian debates over Transylvania, but on the other, the relations between them were generally good and the countries themselves were both ideologically similar and historically/culturally close. There was even some support for the revival of a Krakow Union, though that would probably not be something either the Russians or the Imperials could tolerate. On the other hand, that was a third choice as opposed to retaining the alliance with France or instead defecting to the Russian side. Finland sat by quietly and did little, while definitely remaining a French ally. Byzantium was almost similar, except it was more independent and strong, plus see below.
das
Regeneration In Process
Asia and Eastern Africa:
Dar al-Islam, the empire founded by diplomacy, trickery and brute force by the great Mughal ruler Ahmad Shah Bahadur, the great empire stretching from Burma to Cyreneica... was dead by 1780. As simple as this.
It was simply too large too survive for long - too large and too diverse. Its policies were a paradox; an empire founded on an old Islamic principle, it was not only fully religiously tolerant, but also secular and largely westernized. As such it had enemies both amongs the religious minorities and amongst the religious majority, amongst both the conservatives and the liberals. It was hated by the people for the forced modernization, it was hated by the elite for depriving it of the old power and priveleges, it was hated by the merchants for authoritarian policies. Dar al-Islam being a heavily-centralized state, it was clear to Bahadur that it could not survive in its present borders as such, and so he did enact some decentralization by dividing the empire into four regions (India, Persia, Arabia and Egypt, for simplicity) - but a centralized empire with four centers was a natural step towards four separate centralized empires. Attempts to prevent this by giving one or another capital prefference simply returned things back to the same old sorry state, only now with the people in the "neglected" capitals being even angrier than before.
The Dar al-Islam's main problem was that as such, it had no population support base at all save for the Imperial Guards themselves and perhaps a few ambitious merchants in the Indian Ocean. The overwhelming majority of the population of all classes had no need for such an empire, it was completely useless for everyone, even for the Mughal leaders and key officials. Under Ahmad Shah Bahadur they still pretended to share his illusions about retaining the Dar al-Islam's unity, but as soon as he had died in 1768, they simply partitioned the empire among themselves, carving it into lesser emirates of Egypt (including all of Dar al-Islam's African territories), Arabia (Arabia, Levant, Syria, Iraq), Iran (and Central Asia) and India. A countercoup of the Imperial Guard was foiled by militias and regular troops; the surviving Guards were all hunted down and killed like mad dogs.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention ofcourse that for all these years tens of millions have been slaughtered as rebellion after rebellion had to be put down. That too put something of a strain on the Dar al-Islam's resources. Also, it didn't help that pretty much all of Dar al-Islam's neighbours worked ceaselessly to make life even harder for the Mughals. Its really far more surprising that it actually lasted as long as it did.
Initially, the post-Mughal states seeked to retain close ties with each other and so forth, while at home, they intended to reinforce themselves by drawing on the conservative elements. All that might have worked, but didn't, because once you overthrow a system, no matter how unpopular and no matter how tired the people are by then, you simply invite more chaos. Without the Imperial Guards to stop them, and with the starvation and despair as a ghastly encouragement, the masses rose up, killing, looting, spreading chaos... In a matter of one year, the would-be communion of Muslim states under the four Mughal dynasties was wrecked completely. After the initial chaos receded, a new world order begun to emerge. In Egypt, a modern liberal nationalistic Francophilic dynasty took power under Musa I al-Halfa; it forged close ties with France. In Arabia, just barely, the Emir held out - until Byzantines, Egyptians and Persians overran his shaky realm, attacking from all directions and partitioning his lands (though inner Arabia fell into tribal strife and division once more). Persia was ruled by a Persian again at long last - it was swiftly reunited after the violent death of its emir by Hajj Husayn al-Kand, a warlord of questionable descent but unquestionable talent, who succesfully aligned himself with the Shiite clergy and populace and created a new, modern army with French assistance, beating back Russian and Indian incursions into Central Asia (and thus encouraging Suvorov's army reform) and defeating all those who tried to oppose his rule. Though his hold on the Sunni Central Asia was tenous, he had succesfully enough held on to his empire thus far. Lastly, in India, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus were at each other's throats immediately. The Mughals, this being their homeland, managed to maneuver quite well between the various rebels - especially as it was in India that they had had the most time to root out absolutely all resistance. But they too were crippled by the internicine strife, and after the defeat in Afghanistan the empire collapsed altogether with a new round of rebellions. Burma and much of Deccan received French protection; the rest was the field of civil war until recently, when things got to the point when Gurkhas and Sikhs - the two most intact and well-organized groups left in India, not to mention extremelly good, though not very numerous, warriors - battled over Delhi. The Gurkhas won, and allied with the Rajput remnants; with the Sikhs decisively defeated, these two factions were the only ones left with any real strenght. An united, Hindi nationalist, highly militaristic Rajput Empire was formed in the non-French parts of India, with clear Russian and Chinese backing.
The three states consolidated gradually. While Persia and India recovered from the devastation and modernized their forces, Egypt was already quite modern and not awfully damaged, so it went to war with Sennar, which had attempted to regain its independence (it was force-vassalized by Bahadur back in late 1750s). The Egyptians won, and managed to secure their hold on a vast Islamic empire in Eastern Africa.
Meanwhile, further in the east, the Holy Roman Empire subdued several Siamese rebellions, but consistantly failed to apprehend their mysterious leader or to somehow root out the resistance. Xin Han China rebuilt and modernized, and its commerce flourished. Japan's commerce flourished even more, as government reform peacefully ended the Bakuhan and brought about a modern parliamentary imperial government. The fleet was built up tremendously, to help defend all the old and new colonies.
The [Rest of the] Colonial World:
Before I get to the brief summary of the colonizations of that time, I must begin with the rather extraordinary event of a colony not being gained during that time, known as the Third Colonial Age, but instead being lost. Since the collapse of the Portuguese empire, the only colony - outside of Brazil, which was now the metrapole - that the Braganzas still had was South Africa. It was disconnected from their main realms, and like the other Portuguese colonies it had grown completely autonomous during the World War. So in the end it was quite inevitable that it become separate; Pedro I had recognized this and granted it independence under a Brazilian noble family, de Carvalhos, as the Kingdom of Sulia. The Sulians expanded northwards somewhat and defeated some natives there, but the country is yet to do something really noteworthy, its expansion checked by France.
During the Third Colonial Age, pretty much all of Earth's surface was claimed by Eurasian colonial powers or local states. The two clusters of particularily colonization were Africa and Oceania. In Africa, the Holy Roman Empire took over much of the Kalahari and Sahara deserts, almost surrounding Segu. Scandinavian Central Africa and British Congo, meanwhile, expanded heavily, clashing with the Egyptians who had also decided to try and conquer the Sahara. Scandinavia also entered a conflict with Kanem-Bornu, eventually conquering the crumbling, backwards, yet aggressive African empire. Britain meanwhile fought a brutal border war with Egypt, eventually reaching Lake Ukerewe [7]; the British became popularily associated with ruthless colonialism, having also put down a major rebellion.
In Oceania, meanwhile, the division was quite simple. Japan stayed out of the Scramble for Australis, to avoid confrontation with its French allies, and instead concentrating on developing their present gains and conquering the yet-unclaimed parts of the Pacific Ocean island chains (which were rather rare). So for Japan it was mostly consolidation and development. Meanwhile, the Holy Roman Empire took over the northern parts of Nouvelle Corse and Nouvelle Gaulle, easily defeating the rather weak resistance. Neither land was much good apart from some southern parts of Nouvelle Gaulle (as the French parts of Terra Australis came to be known), so they turned it all into a great penal colony complex. Far luckier in this region were the British, with their southern orientation in the Pacific. The not only took the southern half of New Corsica and crush the Maori protostates on New Sardinia, but they also quickly captured the best parts of Terra Australis - the southeast - and dubbed it New England, starting a large colonial programme there, boosted by the discovery of gold. Lastly, West Australia was claimed by Xin Han China (the north) and Scandinavian Union (the south), both only really bothering to colonize the coastlines, and even then not too strongly.
Technology:
Interestingly enough, though this was a COMPARATIVELY peaceful era, military technology didn't stagnate at all, though far from all of it got a trial-by-fire. Already during the 1750s, the first machine guns appeared, as had new, superior repeating rifles. Warfare grew ever more deadly, as the use of machine guns against rebels in the 1760s had proven. Towards 1780, more and more potent rifles appeared; powerful rail-transported artillery like none before was adapted by both the HRE and the Russian Union; machine guns were perfected and optimized. In the skies, this was the golden age of ballooning. Not only were hot air balloons perfected for reconaissance purposes, but also huge, powerful airships were adapted and (in)famously used to nip the Lusitanian Community in the bud. On the sea, submarines were employed to one extent or another by all nations of import (even though its considered dishonorable in some circles, and also, in the HRE, mostly useless), while in the Imperial docks on the Atlantic fringe saw the birth of a powerful steel fleet (not QUITE dreadnoughts yet, but approaching it; consider these "pre-dreadnoughts" accordingly
). Other nations have followed this development, though the Imperial fleet continues to rule the seas for now. And none know what the near future has in store; certainly there had been lots of crazy, but workable designs proposed lately, and if war comes, it seems inevitable that eventually some of them would be adapted.
And for that matter... who knows what even the present holds? Rumours abound of a thousand various secret weapons, each worse than the other. Ofcourse, its unlikely that the Irish rebels are really planning to drop the moon on Paris, but this poison gas thing, for example, doesn't seem to be improbable.
More peaceful technologies, alas, largely stagnated, aside from some minor improvements in all fields and the perfection of steel and related industries. Though recently, a break-through was achieved in motorization. It is likely that perhaps a good, decisive war is indeed what the world needs, to test out the various weapons, let out all the anger and tension, break the stagnation and, ofcourse, reinvigorate science altogether.
OOC:
[1] la Grande Fleuve=Rio Grande.
[2] Terre Neuve=Newfoundland.
[3] Similar enough for our purposes to OTL Communism, though with elements of early (pre-Franco) Falange and the left wing (from Robespierre to Babeuf) of the First French Republic.
[4] devasta=literally "pogrom".
[5] Similar enough for our purposes to OTL Integralism (best example - Action Francaise).
[6] OTL Te Kao, in Nouvelle Corse.
[7] In OTL renamed to Lake Victoria.
Sorry silver. I think I did make it quite clear why such a huge empire simply had no chances of surviving, not in such a hostile environment anyway. Few empires that were built this [comparatively] easily last anyway.
Feel free to complain, but keep in mind that during the BT player control is even less absolute than during IT - and you know that with me its not all that absolute during IT neither. If you all turn out to hate the setting, too bad. Do realize that I did spend some time and thought on creating it.
Dar al-Islam, the empire founded by diplomacy, trickery and brute force by the great Mughal ruler Ahmad Shah Bahadur, the great empire stretching from Burma to Cyreneica... was dead by 1780. As simple as this.
It was simply too large too survive for long - too large and too diverse. Its policies were a paradox; an empire founded on an old Islamic principle, it was not only fully religiously tolerant, but also secular and largely westernized. As such it had enemies both amongs the religious minorities and amongst the religious majority, amongst both the conservatives and the liberals. It was hated by the people for the forced modernization, it was hated by the elite for depriving it of the old power and priveleges, it was hated by the merchants for authoritarian policies. Dar al-Islam being a heavily-centralized state, it was clear to Bahadur that it could not survive in its present borders as such, and so he did enact some decentralization by dividing the empire into four regions (India, Persia, Arabia and Egypt, for simplicity) - but a centralized empire with four centers was a natural step towards four separate centralized empires. Attempts to prevent this by giving one or another capital prefference simply returned things back to the same old sorry state, only now with the people in the "neglected" capitals being even angrier than before.
The Dar al-Islam's main problem was that as such, it had no population support base at all save for the Imperial Guards themselves and perhaps a few ambitious merchants in the Indian Ocean. The overwhelming majority of the population of all classes had no need for such an empire, it was completely useless for everyone, even for the Mughal leaders and key officials. Under Ahmad Shah Bahadur they still pretended to share his illusions about retaining the Dar al-Islam's unity, but as soon as he had died in 1768, they simply partitioned the empire among themselves, carving it into lesser emirates of Egypt (including all of Dar al-Islam's African territories), Arabia (Arabia, Levant, Syria, Iraq), Iran (and Central Asia) and India. A countercoup of the Imperial Guard was foiled by militias and regular troops; the surviving Guards were all hunted down and killed like mad dogs.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention ofcourse that for all these years tens of millions have been slaughtered as rebellion after rebellion had to be put down. That too put something of a strain on the Dar al-Islam's resources. Also, it didn't help that pretty much all of Dar al-Islam's neighbours worked ceaselessly to make life even harder for the Mughals. Its really far more surprising that it actually lasted as long as it did.
Initially, the post-Mughal states seeked to retain close ties with each other and so forth, while at home, they intended to reinforce themselves by drawing on the conservative elements. All that might have worked, but didn't, because once you overthrow a system, no matter how unpopular and no matter how tired the people are by then, you simply invite more chaos. Without the Imperial Guards to stop them, and with the starvation and despair as a ghastly encouragement, the masses rose up, killing, looting, spreading chaos... In a matter of one year, the would-be communion of Muslim states under the four Mughal dynasties was wrecked completely. After the initial chaos receded, a new world order begun to emerge. In Egypt, a modern liberal nationalistic Francophilic dynasty took power under Musa I al-Halfa; it forged close ties with France. In Arabia, just barely, the Emir held out - until Byzantines, Egyptians and Persians overran his shaky realm, attacking from all directions and partitioning his lands (though inner Arabia fell into tribal strife and division once more). Persia was ruled by a Persian again at long last - it was swiftly reunited after the violent death of its emir by Hajj Husayn al-Kand, a warlord of questionable descent but unquestionable talent, who succesfully aligned himself with the Shiite clergy and populace and created a new, modern army with French assistance, beating back Russian and Indian incursions into Central Asia (and thus encouraging Suvorov's army reform) and defeating all those who tried to oppose his rule. Though his hold on the Sunni Central Asia was tenous, he had succesfully enough held on to his empire thus far. Lastly, in India, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus were at each other's throats immediately. The Mughals, this being their homeland, managed to maneuver quite well between the various rebels - especially as it was in India that they had had the most time to root out absolutely all resistance. But they too were crippled by the internicine strife, and after the defeat in Afghanistan the empire collapsed altogether with a new round of rebellions. Burma and much of Deccan received French protection; the rest was the field of civil war until recently, when things got to the point when Gurkhas and Sikhs - the two most intact and well-organized groups left in India, not to mention extremelly good, though not very numerous, warriors - battled over Delhi. The Gurkhas won, and allied with the Rajput remnants; with the Sikhs decisively defeated, these two factions were the only ones left with any real strenght. An united, Hindi nationalist, highly militaristic Rajput Empire was formed in the non-French parts of India, with clear Russian and Chinese backing.
The three states consolidated gradually. While Persia and India recovered from the devastation and modernized their forces, Egypt was already quite modern and not awfully damaged, so it went to war with Sennar, which had attempted to regain its independence (it was force-vassalized by Bahadur back in late 1750s). The Egyptians won, and managed to secure their hold on a vast Islamic empire in Eastern Africa.
Meanwhile, further in the east, the Holy Roman Empire subdued several Siamese rebellions, but consistantly failed to apprehend their mysterious leader or to somehow root out the resistance. Xin Han China rebuilt and modernized, and its commerce flourished. Japan's commerce flourished even more, as government reform peacefully ended the Bakuhan and brought about a modern parliamentary imperial government. The fleet was built up tremendously, to help defend all the old and new colonies.
The [Rest of the] Colonial World:
Before I get to the brief summary of the colonizations of that time, I must begin with the rather extraordinary event of a colony not being gained during that time, known as the Third Colonial Age, but instead being lost. Since the collapse of the Portuguese empire, the only colony - outside of Brazil, which was now the metrapole - that the Braganzas still had was South Africa. It was disconnected from their main realms, and like the other Portuguese colonies it had grown completely autonomous during the World War. So in the end it was quite inevitable that it become separate; Pedro I had recognized this and granted it independence under a Brazilian noble family, de Carvalhos, as the Kingdom of Sulia. The Sulians expanded northwards somewhat and defeated some natives there, but the country is yet to do something really noteworthy, its expansion checked by France.
During the Third Colonial Age, pretty much all of Earth's surface was claimed by Eurasian colonial powers or local states. The two clusters of particularily colonization were Africa and Oceania. In Africa, the Holy Roman Empire took over much of the Kalahari and Sahara deserts, almost surrounding Segu. Scandinavian Central Africa and British Congo, meanwhile, expanded heavily, clashing with the Egyptians who had also decided to try and conquer the Sahara. Scandinavia also entered a conflict with Kanem-Bornu, eventually conquering the crumbling, backwards, yet aggressive African empire. Britain meanwhile fought a brutal border war with Egypt, eventually reaching Lake Ukerewe [7]; the British became popularily associated with ruthless colonialism, having also put down a major rebellion.
In Oceania, meanwhile, the division was quite simple. Japan stayed out of the Scramble for Australis, to avoid confrontation with its French allies, and instead concentrating on developing their present gains and conquering the yet-unclaimed parts of the Pacific Ocean island chains (which were rather rare). So for Japan it was mostly consolidation and development. Meanwhile, the Holy Roman Empire took over the northern parts of Nouvelle Corse and Nouvelle Gaulle, easily defeating the rather weak resistance. Neither land was much good apart from some southern parts of Nouvelle Gaulle (as the French parts of Terra Australis came to be known), so they turned it all into a great penal colony complex. Far luckier in this region were the British, with their southern orientation in the Pacific. The not only took the southern half of New Corsica and crush the Maori protostates on New Sardinia, but they also quickly captured the best parts of Terra Australis - the southeast - and dubbed it New England, starting a large colonial programme there, boosted by the discovery of gold. Lastly, West Australia was claimed by Xin Han China (the north) and Scandinavian Union (the south), both only really bothering to colonize the coastlines, and even then not too strongly.
Technology:
Interestingly enough, though this was a COMPARATIVELY peaceful era, military technology didn't stagnate at all, though far from all of it got a trial-by-fire. Already during the 1750s, the first machine guns appeared, as had new, superior repeating rifles. Warfare grew ever more deadly, as the use of machine guns against rebels in the 1760s had proven. Towards 1780, more and more potent rifles appeared; powerful rail-transported artillery like none before was adapted by both the HRE and the Russian Union; machine guns were perfected and optimized. In the skies, this was the golden age of ballooning. Not only were hot air balloons perfected for reconaissance purposes, but also huge, powerful airships were adapted and (in)famously used to nip the Lusitanian Community in the bud. On the sea, submarines were employed to one extent or another by all nations of import (even though its considered dishonorable in some circles, and also, in the HRE, mostly useless), while in the Imperial docks on the Atlantic fringe saw the birth of a powerful steel fleet (not QUITE dreadnoughts yet, but approaching it; consider these "pre-dreadnoughts" accordingly
). Other nations have followed this development, though the Imperial fleet continues to rule the seas for now. And none know what the near future has in store; certainly there had been lots of crazy, but workable designs proposed lately, and if war comes, it seems inevitable that eventually some of them would be adapted.And for that matter... who knows what even the present holds? Rumours abound of a thousand various secret weapons, each worse than the other. Ofcourse, its unlikely that the Irish rebels are really planning to drop the moon on Paris, but this poison gas thing, for example, doesn't seem to be improbable.
More peaceful technologies, alas, largely stagnated, aside from some minor improvements in all fields and the perfection of steel and related industries. Though recently, a break-through was achieved in motorization. It is likely that perhaps a good, decisive war is indeed what the world needs, to test out the various weapons, let out all the anger and tension, break the stagnation and, ofcourse, reinvigorate science altogether.
OOC:
[1] la Grande Fleuve=Rio Grande.
[2] Terre Neuve=Newfoundland.
[3] Similar enough for our purposes to OTL Communism, though with elements of early (pre-Franco) Falange and the left wing (from Robespierre to Babeuf) of the First French Republic.
[4] devasta=literally "pogrom".
[5] Similar enough for our purposes to OTL Integralism (best example - Action Francaise).
[6] OTL Te Kao, in Nouvelle Corse.
[7] In OTL renamed to Lake Victoria.
Sorry silver. I think I did make it quite clear why such a huge empire simply had no chances of surviving, not in such a hostile environment anyway. Few empires that were built this [comparatively] easily last anyway.
Feel free to complain, but keep in mind that during the BT player control is even less absolute than during IT - and you know that with me its not all that absolute during IT neither. If you all turn out to hate the setting, too bad. Do realize that I did spend some time and thought on creating it.
das
Regeneration In Process
Swissempire
Poet Jester
Sorry to ressurrect, but nothing for the Holy Celtic Empire?
I think that was more original than the Red Stick
I think that was more original than the Red Stick
