Part 2:
While the Byzantines were busy fighting wars in the Middle East, Hungary and Poland, both now under the control of branches of the powerful Lithuanian Jagiellon Family, were consolidating their power in Europe. In 1465, at the Union of Lublin, a Polish Princess was married to a Hungarian King, uniting the two crowns into the Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth. A new superpower was born in Europe.
Farther to the west, the 100 Years War between England and France was coming to a close, Spain was in the process of finishing up their Reconquista in Iberia and an age of Nation-States and colonization was only right around the corner.
When the New World was discovered by Christopher Columbus a new age of Colonization began. British, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch colonist poured into the new continents as their respective nations attempted to set up Global Empires. Most of the Native Populations were wiped out by disease and war, however sizable populations remained in Peru and Mexico.
On the other side of the world, a similar scramble for trading posts was taking place in East Asia. European colonist continually defeated the various nations of Asia and set the terms of trade to favor themselves. Eventually the only nations to withstand the full onslaught of European technological superiority were the China, due to its vast size and Japan, who were at a similar level to the Europeans due to a flow of technology through Byzantium and then the Timurids.
As the colonial empires of the various nations grew, so did tensions among them. In 1754, war broke out between Great Britain, Prussia, The Byzantines vs. France, Spain, The Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth and Austria over various border disputes with the latter alliance’s defeat. The French Empire in the Americas was dismantled and Spain was severely weakened. Prussia was also able to secure control over much more of Germany, replacing Austria as the new dominant power in the area.
Despite Britain’s victory in the war, her colonies in North America also learned at this time that they were able to govern and defend themselves. In 1776, a large segment of Britain’s colonies rebelled in the America with the goal of establishing independence. By 1780 they were successful and the new nations of the American Union, with a strong federal government and anti-slavery laws, and the American Confederation, with a weaker central government and legal slavery, emerged.
The successful rebellion in Britain paved the way for similar revolutions in Spanish colonies, and eventually France itself. In the 1790s, France erupted into revolution to throw off the Bourbon Monarchy. The revolution here was also successful, largely due to the victories of a man named Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon’s military victories in the revolution against at first French loyalist and later British, Austrian, German and Polish-Hungarian Troops lead to the continuation of France’s power in Europe despite being in chaos. In 1792, Napoleon invaded Egypt with the intent to use it as a base to destroy the French Royalist allies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Byzantium and eventually use it as a base from which to attack British possessions in India. Not long afterwards, the Byzantine Senate voted to attack Egypt to keep the French from gaining too much territory in the region. The Byzantine Imperial Army invaded and attacked Napoleon defeating him at several major battles, forcing him to retreat home.
Once back in France, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, and then proceeded to attack and attempt to conquer most of the other powers in Europe. Prussia, Spain, Sweden, The Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth, Britain and the Byzantines all failed to defeat Napoleon in a divisive battle. In 1811, Napoleon concluded a secret treaty with the Byzantine Empire, to attack and divide up the Timurid Empire and then march to India. In 1812, He invaded, marching as far as Kiev before word finally reached that the Byzantines had betrayed him and not attacked. Nonetheless, Napoleon chose to continue his campaign eastward. By winter, he had sustained horrible casualties and found his supply lines stretched. Word also reached him of renewed attacks by Britain and Germany in the West. With no choice but to end his war, Napoleon retreated. By the time Napoleon reached France, he found his nation a wreck and his enemies united against him. Combined assaults from Britain, Prussia, Poland-Hungary and the Byzantine Empire eventually lead to the fall of his Empire, but with a conditional surrender. Napoleon was forced to step down as Emperor and instead took the position of Consul of the Second Republic. A position he held until his death in 1825.