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Updated 2005-10-24
Pete's Alternate Draka Timeline: Draka 2α
Section 2: 1815–1916
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Draka 2α Timeline
Section 2: 1815–1916
Previous: 1652–1815
Pre-Rebellion
- 1815–16: War of 1812 ends with the United States in possession of a large part of southern Upper and Lower Canada. During the Congress of Vienna, the US manages to disengage successfully from the purely European wrangling and deal with Great Britain alone, but other powers take note of the terms so Britain won't gain everywhere. The settlement gives the US southwestern Upper Canada (the peninsula between Lakes Erie and Huron), and mostly favorable resolution of the New York and New England states' northern boundaries. The new boundary with Canada crosses Lake Simcoe (later named Perry by the Americans, but the original name is still used by the British). The new territory is annexed by the USA and added to Michigan Territory for now. America gives up a small portion of northern Massachusetts (later Maine) that was in dispute. The United States also gains all territories north of the shore of Lake Superior (the westernmost of the Great Lakes) and west of the source of the Mississippi River. Great Britain retains all territories on the north side of the legendary Northwest Passage or north of the westernmost point of Hudson Bay. As the Passage is currently (and erroneously) believed to begin on the west side of Hudson Bay, and the Upper Louisiana Territory essentially ends at the south end of this new territory, the US quickly agrees. The vast new American lands stretching to the Pacific Ocean are designated the Far Northwest Territory. The British Crown promises to recompense the Hudson Bay Company, the prior owner, although the area was largely unexplored. The other European participants at the Congress are mostly satisfied, since the English are playing with territory off the Continent – that the seeds of two empires are being sown bothers only Russia.
Congress of Vienna confirms almost all of Africa as British; remaining Ottoman territories in western Libya and Algeria are peacefully transferred to Britain for payments and loans. Many British veterans and Napoleonic refugees immigrate to North Africa. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Greater Egypt (Egypt and Libya), Cyprus, Ceylon and (OTL French) West Africa territories established as British possessions under separate Governors than Drakia. British payment of 1,000,000 British pounds in gold and large loans to Ottoman Empire are chiefly drawn from Drakian gold and income, increasing Drakian resentment at being exploited for no local gain. Drakia agrees with paying the Dutch for Ceylon though, a lucrative gateway to Asia.
Need for colonial administrators for the vast African territories and India is so great that many abuses occur, and some Drakians are placed in high positions in the West African territories even though some in London disagree with Drakia's policies on slavery.
Drakians effectively control the Kongo (OTL present-day Gabon, Cameroon and continental Equatorial Guinea), as they took control of that area from the French without any British assistance, and have practical control of both it and Ceylon beyond the Governor's office.
(Existing British territories in West Africa were the current Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia. The British now effectively control continental Africa, although large parts of the central interior are unclaimed and virtually unexplored, and some eastern areas are relatively advanced native states. Spain controls present-day Guinea-Bissau, the island of Malabo off Cameroon, Western Sahara, and some small enclaves on the coast of Morocco. Portugal has many offshore islands such as Islas Verdes (off present-day Senegal), São Tomé & Príncipe, the Comoros, and the Mauritius. It also retains some trading rights in the formerly Portuguese Angola and Mozambique territories. The Dutch and French have been completely evicted from Africa, and Germany and Italy are too fragmented to have any colonial interests there.)
[United States begins interacting in European power politics, and gains more than expected when the other European states get Britain to make concessions for holding Africa. As exploration proceeds in the next several decades, Britain will find there is no feasible Northwest Passage, just icebound islands between Hudson Bay and the Beaufort Sea, and the other northern territories are almost as forbidding. British determination to put a brave face on their holdings in this area leads to insistence on obtaining Alaska from Russia later. Ian objects to some of Stirling's language here, somehow southern Africa was in question, no mention of payment to Ottomans. Ceylon is my invention, as are Drakian colonial bureaucrats.]
- 1815–21: US Army Engineer Corps detachments sent out with Army escort to continue survey of the Louisiana Purchase and new Far Northwest Territory and inform the natives of their new status. Several tense incidents on the shores of Hudson Bay, and British objections to the boundary survey, but the Americans are proven right in nearly all cases. These surveys not only clarify boundaries, they also thoroughly identify natural resources in the regions and likely transportation routes that might be better than existing ones.
An unintended effect of the "Ramer Rule" begins to arise: large families are forced to spread out geographically as sons reach voting age, or any after the first 2 will not be allowed to serve in the local militia with their father. American society is therefore forced early to be more expansionist and mobile down at the family level.
[Consider these surveys like Lewis & Clark more than 20-fold all at once. The only consistent way that the Army escorts escape serious conflict with the natives is through promising to move on quickly and not interfere in local tribal affairs.]
- 1815–30: Rapid growth of Drakian export agriculture and transportation network. Substantial anti-slavery sentiment arises in Britain, produces tension with Drakia and defiant anti-bourgeois sentiment in the colony. Thomas Carlyle immigrates to Drakia. Increasing local restrictions on slavery in other parts of the Empire, many slave-holders immigrate to Drakia. Importation of Indian and Asian slaves through Ceylon continues, increasing the slave-free ratio above 10:1 in Drakia. Drakia becomes elided to Draka in popular usage, with the adjective "Drakan," but the official name remains Drakia. British control of North Africa is tenuous outside coastline and fortresses as unconquered desert tribes resist.
[Instead of outlawing slavery in 1807 per OTL, it has persisted here mostly due to continued slave-generated income flowing from Drakia to London. Ian has no mention of Carlyle. Ceylon justifies a last burst of slave trading, my invention. "Drakan" is mine too. North African resistance is my invention to keep the British busy for a while, and be the flip side to Stirling's long pacification by the Draka. By the way, no rise of Mormons in the US, as Smith is sidetracked into militia activities and abolitionism.]
- 1816: Indiana Territory admitted as the state of Indiana. In recognition of the recent fighting in Ohio and Louisiana, 2 stars are moved from the white bar to the red bar of the USA state flag. Massachusetts (for combat in what later becomes Maine), Maryland, Vermont and New York turn down the opportunity to move their stars from the blue bar to the red, starting a tradition. The USA state flag becomes 2 stars in red, 14 in white, 3 in blue for a total of 19 stars.
[Indiana date is OTL. People in the US take a great interest in the national ceremonial flag even though they aren't allowed to use it themselves, and rarely get to see it. Fimbriations are quietly added to the flags to conform to the rules of heraldry.]
- 1817: Western half of Mississippi Territory admitted as the state of Mississippi. Remainder designated the Alabama Territory. Former southwestern Upper Canada added to Michigan Territory. However, no USA state flag design is ever officially proclaimed with 20 stars, as several more states are expected soon. While several local officials add a star in various locations on the white bar, sometimes rearranging the existing ones, none of these designs are sanctioned. [Mississippi is OTL]
- 1818: Follow-up negotiations with Britain establish joint US–British administration of Oregon Country, and cede the Florida Territory to Britain. Southern part of Illinois Territory admitted as state of Illinois. The rest, which will become Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, is now called the Wisconsin Territory. Like the 20-star flag, there is no official design for 21 stars.
[Joint administration and most of the territorial stuff is OTL, but giving back Florida is only because it seems to be full of swamps, alligators and vicious Indians with no redeeming qualities (the territory, not necessarily the Indians).]
- 1819: Britain acquires Singapore. Simon Bolivar succeeds in liberating Neuva Granada [OTL Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela] and the Federation of Gran Columbia is formed. Alabama Territory becomes the state of Alabama (here it includes most of the OTL Florida Panhandle, i.e. up to the Apalachicola River). Negotiations between Britain, Spain and the USA return Florida to Spain, and extend the western part of Louisiana state along the Gulf Coast. The western boundary of the Upper Louisiana Territory and the southern border of Oregon Country are better defined with Spain. Arkansaw Territory (later state of Arkansaw and central Oklahoma) split off from Upper Louisiana Territory. There is no 22-star state flag design either, in expectation of admitting Missouri soon.
[Singapore, Gran Columbia and admittance of Alabama are OTL, but these aren't the Florida Cession or exact Spanish treaty of 1819 of OTL. Louisiana expansion is 9 years earlier than OTL. Unlike OTL, Arkansaw will keep the name the same when it becomes a state.]
- 1820: Missouri Territory formed from Upper Louisiana Territory, and a state government selected, but anticipated results of the 1820 census and the associated wrangling over slavery prevent Missouri from being admitted as a state just yet. Senator Ignatius "Iron Legs" Clerksmith of New Hampshire makes several incredibly long speeches to successfully prevent Missouri's admittance.
[The beginning of a sequence that will culminate in the Slaver Exodus over 40 years later.]
- 1821: Initial results from the 1820 US census worry the "slave" states, as there is a growing disadvantage in Representatives and only a narrow margin above a 1/3 minority in the Senate. The southern states where slavery is practiced offer several plans to retain their power in Congress against a growing tide of abolitionism. The one that becomes practice for the next 40 years, called the Great Compromise, is to allow new states to be admitted to the USA only as an equal number of "slave" and "free". This should work for the Louisiana Purchase, but not the Far Northwest Territory. While parity will remain in the Senate, the House will swing firmly to the "free" side, as growth in voters is higher in the free states. But it's the best that can be done without coming to blows. Maine split from Massachusetts, and admitted as a state along with Missouri, to begin the implementation of the Great Compromise. The USA state flag is finally officially updated to 3 stars in the red bar (in honor of combat in what was Northern Massachusetts during War of 1812), 14 in the blue, and 7 in the white for a total of 24.
[This "Great Compromise" is similar to OTL, as far as I can recall. But the balance is less stable in the long term with a larger northern territory. And future territorial acquisitions by the US will only worsen the problem.]
- 1822: Commander of Drakian Militia authorizes issue of Telliard–Pauly (R-2) rifle, a bolt action with an elastic brass breech seal using shellacked gauze cartridges, after a "shoot-off" demonstrates clear superiority over the modified Ferguson rifle. First modern camera to record images on glass plates.
[R-2 slightly delayed from Stirling, as Drakia isn't conquering at the moment. Camera is OTL.]
- 1823: Monroe Doctrine. [OTL]
- 1824: First documented case of a known female using the monetary exemption from militia service to vote in a US election. The fine, set at one-half of a hired farm laborer's annual pay, is to dissuade men from paying money instead of serving the minimal amount of time that peacetime training usually entails. However, there have always been men who would pay that much for the privilege of voting without having to dirty their hands, or even take the mandatory courses and exams to qualify to be an officer. Some are idle rich, some are invalids, and others were certainly disguised women. As the money paid is not required to be passed up to the state or federal government, as it was intended for improvement of the local militia, it effectively became a bribe to the local election and militia officials to let somebody vote. This incident, where the notoriously independent (and rich) Mrs. Katherine Lacey of Baltimore insisted on publicly paying the fine and voting, set a precedent for female suffrage in the US. However, the high cost prevents it from being more than an annual diversion for a few rich women, as actual service in the militia or holding public office is still denied to women.
- 1826: A draft for a Slavery Act, which would utterly prohibit slavery or involuntary servitude in any form throughout the British Empire, becomes a pawn in Drakan relations with London. The draft is shelved, before ever becoming public knowledge, in exchange for Drakia taking on the pirates of Madagascar. These are a growing scourge to European trade with India and China for the past several decades. The Drakan Shipping Combine has been secretly paying off many pirates to keep Drakan trade safe, keeping the Combine from interfering with the construction of railroads that will bypass the pirates' range. The Drakian Militia has also planned operations to crush them utterly; the Madagascar kingdoms are the closest organized opponent, and are about to become even more unpopular in Europe.
King Radama I of the Merina of Madagascar dies after an arranged marriage to the next largest kingdom on the island. His wife, the xenophobic Ramavo, becomes Queen Ranavalona I and immediately starts moving against Christian missionaries and European traders at the urging of her Prime Minister.
[Ian says Slavery Acts come to open consideration before being defeated, causing public opinion against Drakia in Britain. Madagascar events are my own invention. Ranavalona is much like OTL, except 2 years early; here Radama was assassinated after practically uniting the island.]
- 1827: The Drakian Governor obtains Royal Navy support for a naval blockade of Madagascar in conjunction with operations by a small contingent of Royal Marines and a large force of Drakian Militia and Janissaries against the pirate strongholds. The entire island of Madagascar is conquered by Drakian troops, most of the pirates' loot is shipped off to London to justify the expedition, and the Governor quietly adds the island to his area of jurisdiction. This wipes out the native society on Madagascar, albeit one whose economy was driven by crime.
[Stirling doesn't say who the island is conquered from, but OTL it was the natives under French and British influence. Ian has conquest occur in 1844 with no explanation.]
- 1829: Arkansaw Territory reduced to what later becomes state of Arkansaw; remainder is returned to Upper Louisiana Territory. What was once southwestern Upper Canada is split from the Michigan Territory and called Perry Territory, in honor of the victorious American naval leader of the War of 1812. Perry has just died during a public trial of a prototype naval steamship, deliberately and heroically sacrificing himself and a skeleton crew to avoid the vessel exploding near a reviewing stand packed with dignitaries. The territorial capital is renamed from York to Toronto, and Lake Simcoe on the border is proclaimed Lake Perry by the Americans, although everyone else continues to use the original British name. The Great Compromise keeps Arkansaw from being admitted as a "slave" state until it can be paired with a "free" state.
[Oliver Hazard Perry survived an additional 10 years compared to OTL, but his brother Matthew never visited China and Japan.]
- 1830: The Federation of Gran Columbia dissolves into the nations of Ecuador, Venezuela, and the United States of Columbia [OTL Columbia and Panama].
[OTL]
- 1831: Petroleum first used as a motor fuel, although for a steam engine. Metallurgy is not yet advanced enough to consistently build an affordable internal combustion engine that can withstand the explosion cycle and corrosive exhaust.
- 1832: Slave trade banned in the British Empire despite Drakian protests, but only minor impact on Drakian internal slave economy as their system can still expand through African conquest. British attempts to enforce the ban are evaded by the few remaining traders until the Army is brought in. Foreseeing a ban on slavery itself next, the concept of the indentured serf rises as a method of abiding by the letter, but not the spirit, of the (expected) law. Antislavery movements in Britain and northern United States begin widely publicizing the Drakian treatment of slaves and serfs, notable for the systematic brutality. Drakian landholders begin openly advocating revolution should slavery and serfdom be banned, with no comment from the Governor.
Southern traders complain of British harassment at sea, inspecting ships for illegal slave trading. American Navy increases patrols in Caribbean and central Atlantic over objections of northern abolitionists, but the façade of protecting American commerce of all types, instead of just slave trading in particular, mollifies most. The latest census gives the "free" states a clear majority in the House, but the Great Compromise keeps them from the 2/3 majority in the Senate necessary to outlaw slavery over the President's veto. A state law in South Carolina to count a slave as 1/4 of a person for apportionment purposes is ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, citing the Second Amendment (regarding militia service) and several common-law principles of representation. Further admittance of new states appears to be deadlocked with only part of the Louisiana Purchase admitted.
[Ian says resistance rather than evasion, major effect on Drakian trade, but no talk of revolution or planning ahead. It's tougher to get a ban on contracts of indenture, which is why it takes 2 more years for the next Act to appear. Drakia is the chief reason for the 25-year delay in the British making the slave trade illegal, compared to OTL. More tension building over slavery in the US, just my own muddy recollection of American history bent to fit the situation.]
- 1834: Reform Act passed by British Parliament abolishes outright slavery and mandates humane treatment of bondservants. Drakan anger over this interference, and wealth being drained from the colony by government ownership, lead to the threatened revolt. Initial clashes between Drakan militias and British forces are over enforcement of the Act. Governor de Feld's limited control over local British military delays a coordinated armed response to the brewing rebellion. Some Drakan bureaucrats in other African territories are subverted or are sympathetic, and confuse the situation with misleading reports to London that divert resources and attention.
[British forces are slightly larger than in Ian's due to murmurs of resentment since 1815, but he has no Governor running interference or Drakans elsewhere.]
The Free Republic of Draka
- 1834–36: The Draka Rebellion. London attempts to replace Governor de Feld with a Military Governor, causing the Colonial Assembly to finally show their true colors. The rebellion succeeds after substantial mobilization of the local free men and several Janissary Legions overcome slowly reinforced British forces. Through a naval blockade, the British manage to interdict foreign mercenaries from assisting the rebels, but Draka is nearly self-sufficient already. The rebels install Rudolf de Feld as the first Archon, with Colonial Assembly members forming the Assembly of Free Citizens, and rename York to Archona. Archon elected by Assembly for up to two 6-year terms. All free men are called Citizens, and vote for members of the Assembly based on home districts. The Free Republic of Draka (FRD) is formed, a slavery-promoting militaristic authoritarianism with many of what would today be called fascist tendencies, and pretensions of continuing selected Greek and Roman traditions. Despite this, initial sentiment in much of the U.S. is pro-Draka, as another former British colony able to win freedom.
[Slave trade is less important to Draka than in Ian's timeline. There's no "god-gift" of classical manuscripts found in the desert here; the inspiration for Archon and other terms is from some well-educated members of the Freedom faction in the Colonial Assembly. Archona is another of the cities originally named after the York in England but renamed later.]
- 1835: Colt patents his first revolver. Northern and southern states continue vigorously disagreeing over the issue of banning slavery like the British, or allowing local determination like Draka.
[Colt is OTL. The slavery issue begins coming to a head in the USA with a more visible external example (the Draka), and a lot more men under arms.]
- 1836: Independent Republic of Texas established by American settlers in the Mexican territory. Texas claims basically everything east of the Rio Grande going north to the Spanish treaty line of 1819. Mexico disputes almost all of this (they're willing to concede an area between Louisiana and the Red and Brazos Rivers) but suffers military defeat at San Jacinto.
[OTL, believe it or not, but without "Independent" in the name or Mexico being willing to let anything be independent without a fight. Texas claims what became the state of Texas, the panhandle of Oklahoma, and territory in eastern New Mexico, southwestern Nebraska, and slices of Colorado and Wyoming.]
- 1836–38: British purges of Drakan personnel from the colonial administrations of the other African territories lead to massive disruptions and bureaucratic sabotage. A coup-like military intervention by the Republic gains control of the area that is present-day Gabon, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Drakan plantation owners and their Janissaries take control of Ceylon, eject the British to India, and then petition for admission to the Republic. Britain keeps control of the rest of their African territories, and there are small-scale clashes on the borders until London finally recognizes the FRD.
- 1837–48: Security, War, and Settlement Directorates established in FRD. AM&M Company renamed Mining Combine, and the former Crown's share is now owned by the Drakan government. Procurement Section of War Directorate encourages continuing aggregation of industrial Combines and landholder guilds in effort to deal with larger organizations for economies of scale. The government begins acquiring additional holdings within commercial enterprises in lieu of taxes, soon mandates that the appropriate directorate(s) own a 20% stake of any new company but the government may not own more than 50%. Metric gold-backed currency, the auric, and adoption of the metric measurement system, but starting a new calendar is decisively unpopular and soon abandoned. The first real Drakan navy arises to protect shipping, though Britain is largely successful in restricting Drakan slave trade by sporadic boycotts of Drakan goods in the Empire, rather than naval battle. FRD forces begin large-scale conquest of (so far unclaimed by any colonial power) central and eastern Africa. About 20% of the free male population mobilized for years, initial and quickly increasing usage of slave/serf auxiliaries behind the front lines, along with Women's Military Auxiliary units in support. Janissary recruitment and training process greatly expanded. Disease in the central Kongo jungles proves prohibitive to settlement and large-scale exploitation of the area, despite massive research effort. Organized collection and repression of slaves under the new system leads to large-scale expansion of slavery, now legally referred to as serfdom. Security Directorate manages measures of serf control in "Police Zone." The FRD is geographically and politically isolated, but gains industrial self-sufficiency and begins organized encouragement of immigration and settlement of the frontier areas under a system of land grants for plantations and Combine properties. Rise of the two-part Drakan society (self-sustaining plantations and monopolistic industrial Combines, small firms only for niche markets), as well as the entrenchment of universal military service. External slave trade dwindles and ceases being important economically, yet is still a visible symbol of the FRD. Use of serf nannies for Citizen families is the norm and universal boarding school (with heavy emphasis on military skills) for all Citizen children. Increased employment of free women produces legal reforms, and increasing agitation for female suffrage. Government "rest homes" that encourage unhealthy habits of single (mostly aged) Citizens no longer able to provide military service are widely decried outside the Republic. A small stipend sufficient to cover a "poll tax" is paid to all Citizens, but not to serfs, thus institutionalizing the fiction that serfs are that way because they can't pay the tax. Landholder's League, created by aggregation of regional and specialized landholder councils/guilds, promotes advanced land management techniques and financing of cooperative bulk purchasing.
[Things diverge quite widely from Ian's timeline at this point, so there will be few comments on the differences from now on. Note that the land grants are really indivisible leases from the Settlement Directorate, subject to the Landholder being married and committed to producing free children, with substantial penalties for transfer outside the family.]
- 1839: Perry and Arkansaw admitted as states to continue the Great Compromise. Stars are added to the red and white bars of USA state flag to bring the totals to 4 in red, 14 in blue, and 8 in white. Although President Jason Stark agrees that Mexico has not been a good neighbor, he refuses to consider annexation of Texas, due to pressure from abolitionists who want to break the Great Compromise in their own favor.
- 1839–47: Suez Canal constructed by Anglo–Egyptian Canal Company, with substantial support from British military and commercial firms interested in bypassing the FRD on the way to India. British interest in the West Africa territories begins to decrease once the canal is completed.
[This Suez Canal is earlier than OTL, but not as blatant as Stirling's. The precocious development of steam engines (mostly by the Draka) compared to OTL, and British determination to punish the Draka by decreasing international (which is mostly British) shipping traffic around the Cape, are the chief reasons for the canal now.]
- 1840: Prussia begins using the Dreyse "needle gun", which is accepted in 1841 as the first breech-loader to achieve general issue by a European power. Iowa Territory established for what will later become a state. [Gun is OTL, Iowa is 2 years late.]
- 1842–43: First Mexican–American War. Begun over US landing rights in the port of San Francisco. Alta California seized from Mexico, US troops occupy Independent Republic of Texas at request of Texas although they establish a border at the Colorado River rather than the Rio Grande (as claimed by Texas). Although Britain has finally gotten Mexico to recognize the de facto independence of Texas, it is under the condition that it never be joined to the United States. The American occupation of Texas, with the Texans treating the situation as though they are nearly a state (although a few die-hards clamor for Texas to extend to the Rio Grande), keeps Mexico from accepting their defeat gracefully. For the next few years, any suspicion that a Mexican politician is "soft" on Texas is enough to ruin his career. Surprisingly, California isn't missed nearly as much.
- 1843–45: US Army Engineer Corps detachments sent out with Army escort to survey the Alta California and Texas territories. Gold discovered in Alta California.
- 1845: British East India Company buys remaining foreign assets of Danish East India Company: Tranquebar in Madras (now Tamil Nadu) and Serampore in Bengal. Texas and Michigan admitted, preserving the Great Compromise between slave and free states. Mexico protests vigorously, but is mollified by increases in American loans and reparation payments from the previous war, although the Texans are spoiling for another one. The USA state flag adds one star each in the red and white bars to bring the totals to 5 in red, 14 in blue, and 9 in white.
[India events are OTL.]
- 1846–49: "Forty-Sixers" California Gold Rush. USA buys additional landing and transit rights along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Mexico, American industrialists begin negotiating for a trans-Mexican and trans-American railroad. Alta California quickly achieves the requirements for statehood, but cannot be admitted without breaking the Great Compromise. Although given a fair price by the USA, Mexican resentment continues to grow.
[Gold Rush is a few years early, but these were very thorough engineers.]
- 1849: Drakan free female suffrage granted, voluntary enlistment of female Citizens for non-combat positions, Women's Military Auxiliary disbanded. F.J. Gatling settles in Diskarapur, develops improved seed drills and later first practical machine gun by using multiple barrels. First transcontinental railway between Shahnapur and Luanda (capital of Angola). Exploitation of Katanga copper begins (present-day Lubumbashi in Democratic Republic of the Congo) as Drakans enter the Kongo basin in greater numbers.
Elmira Naldorssen, an anthropologist and philosopher in the Education Directorate, proposes a state religion for the FRD. It has modified Hinduism for serfs, with a caste system and simplified pantheon, emphasis on karma, and advancement in this life and reincarnations only through proper behavior. The Citizens are offered a modified Norse mythology, with emphasis on proper service to the state (in the person of Odin-Father) and gaining glory in battle. The Hindu portion for serfs is heavily encouraged by the Brotherhood of the Lash to ease serf control, but only a militant fringe of Citizens supports the neo-Norse portion.
Captain Claude Etienne Minié of France refines the Nicholson ball and it gains worldwide acceptance.
Austrians try unmanned paper balloons to drop 30-pound fused bombs on the Venetians. Little damage is done.
[Much as I dislike using even a modified historical figure so long after the POD, somebody would have eventually applied the latest improvements in making metal tubes to weaponry. Naldorssen's religion will help hold down "born-serf" discontent in the established territories and cause problems later with "freeing" serfs. Minié is OTL, although building off the earlier Nicholson here instead of being followed by the OTL Burton. Balloon bombs are OTL.]
- 1850–60: Continuing difficulties in settlement of central Africa, despite great research efforts, and the social drive to ownership of plantations, combine to support various Drakan military expeditions and adventures in the rest of Africa. FRD surrounds central Africa and conquers Sudan and the outer reaches of Ethiopia. Incidents involving Spanish and Portuguese holdings within reach are condemned as adventurism by eager young prospective landholders, apologized for profusely, and paid for handsomely in reparation or acquisition. Portugal sells off all remaining African possessions to the FRD, and Spain does much the same. The Suez Canal and worldwide disapproval of slavery have made the southern African territories backwaters and political liabilities to these tottering colonial powers. Eventually, the Spanish control only some coastal enclaves in Morocco. The British eastern boundary is present-day Nigeria, Niger, Libya and Egypt. The British interest in the Suez Canal is enforced by powerful naval forces based at Aden and Alexandria, and de facto control over the African coast of the Red Sea, including much of northern Somalia (the Horn of Africa). The rest of Africa is under the yoke of the Free Republic of Draka. The Drakans avoid encroachment on British areas, to concentrate on consolidating their control and improving infrastructure. Border fortifications and patrols increase on both sides to catch escaped slaves. Landholder status granted to women, but marriage and childbearing requirements remain despite legal challenges. The Portuguese trading rights on mainland Africa expire.
[Ethiopia proper — the only significant native regime left in Africa — is under British protection, so the FRD just nibbles at the edges for now.]
- 1852: Henri Giffard of France flies a balloon with a propeller and 3 horsepower engine. [OTL]
- 1852–53: Second Mexican–American War, caused by a new Mexican government repudiating all previous agreements and demanding more money as well as return of Texas and Alta California. American military victorious in nearly all battles large and small, finally presses to the inner sanctum of Mexico City before the Mexican government will admit defeat. Annexation of all Mexico forced by No Tribute faction over President Eubanks' objections (Eubanks is a hero of the first war, who led his men to victory in Santa Fe and then took a detachment cross-country to secure southern Alta California). Wealthy Mexican landholders and government officials flee to Cuba and the Philippines with most of the wealth and the treasury, leaving large amounts of farmland to be divided among the poor peasants. The hopes of the southern members of the No Tribute faction are dashed, as putting the peons back into bondage akin to slavery isn't feasible. Texas border expanded to the southern Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers.
Upper and Lower British North America joined as the Dominion of Canada, then split into provinces for internal purposes. British Army presence in Canada, the Crown Colony of Greater Egypt and other British African possessions increased in response to American and Drakan activity.
Drakan Army Technical Section synthesizes advances from elsewhere to produce the R-3 rifle, a bolt action with rifled barrel using brass cartridges of black powder and a hollow-point lead bullet from a replaceable 8-round box with riser spring.
[Practically the same as Ian's here, but I inserted the T-2 slightly modified from Stirling, and made the war a rematch of the one ten years earlier — neither is OTL.]
- 1854: Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska Territories established, comprising what became several states later. Russian interests in northern Alta California are bought out by the US as part of restitution to Mexicans.
[Minnesota is 5 years later; Nebraska and Kansas are same as OTL.]
- 1854–57: Spanish–American War, caused by American demands to return Mexicans for trial, and the (later found to be accidental) explosion of a US Navy vessel in Havana harbor. Several southern states field militia units of slaves promised freedom if they serve out their term (unofficially called Southern Janissaries), but these fail to catch on since the units suffer tremendous casualties due to poor training and being given the worst assignments. Cuba, Florida, Hawaii, Philippines and Puerto Rico annexed by United States. First attempt by Southern filibusters (mercenary adventurers) to conquer in Central America fails. Later ones succeed, establishing a pattern of American adventurism that results in control of Panama.
Britain and Russia slug it out in Crimean War. Sepoy Mutiny narrowly defeated in India. Draka offers to buy British African territories are decisively rejected for reasons of British national pride. An American offer to buy out the British interest in the jointly-administered Oregon Country, which was ignored during the previous years due to Mexico, is strung along for several years since the British are busy now. The British Exchequer conceals evidence of a deficit due to military expenditures for several years until colonial revenues and increased taxes pay it off.
[I'm not too comfortable with the Philippines here, or familiar with the history of this era. Maybe the Philippines could be pushed back to the 1890s, or left with Spain (although with rebellions) until the Second Great War. As it is, the Philippines is quite a stretch for the US at this time, and become a salient begging to be whacked off by the Japanese. I've visited Hawaii enough to know that annexation there was possible around now, particularly upon the death of Kamehameha III. Crimean War is one year later than OTL. Rebellious Sepoys had not yet been issued the improved weapons used by the British and loyal Sepoys. I threw in a long-term economic reason to allow Draka to buy West Africa later.]
- 1855: Hall process, patented by Ferrous Metals Combine, enables steel to be produced as cheaply as wrought iron. Rival Bessemer method is quickly eclipsed. Multi-barrel machine gun, invented by F.J. Gatling, first issued to Drakan forces and used for serf control.
[The Hall process is the OTL Bessemer process. Here Bessemer pursued a strange occurrence with his horizontal puddling apparatus to a less-efficient steel conversion than the OTL vertical Bessemer converter.]
- 1856: After a number of cities have instituted a militia service exemption for professional firefighters, the phrase "and those continually serving the public's safety" is added to the governing national law. This is taken advantage of by some politicians, who have themselves appointed to positions like "Director of Public Safety."
[Professional fire departments become more widespread in the US about 20 years faster than OTL, partly due to better steam engines (for pumping water). While the men, through their militia service, are better able to work together, they have less time to volunteer and the tasks are very different. It takes local initiatives to consider fire fighting on par with militia service to keep some volunteer fire companies going. Making them professional, with exemption from militia service, allows cities that can afford it to better protect their people at all times. And of course there are always a few people who see an easy way out of hard work.]
- 1858: British Crown assumes all governmental responsibilities and administrative functions held by the East India Company, in the wake of the Sepoy Mutiny. The British establish Council of Rajahs as an advisory body to the Viceroy to avoid losing "the jewel in the Crown." "Visit" by British fleet forcibly opens Japan to Western trade.
[First is OTL. Second is my invention, and an attempt at reform in India. Busy with Mexico and the Philippines, the US leaves Japan alone instead of the 1853 "visit" by Perry in OTL.]
- 1858–63: The Slaver Exodus. So far, the Great Compromise whereby "slave" and "free" states are admitted in equal proportion has held for almost 40 years, but it's rapidly become untenable for the future. The free states are more heavily populated with voters than the slave states, so the Senate and House are usually at odds. To continue the compromise would force Cuba and Mexico into revolt if they became slave states. The alternative has denied several western territories statehood, in some cases for decades. So far, the solution has been to keep territories from becoming free states until paired with a new slave state, but that is starting to wear on everyone. When militia units exchange shots across state lines in several locations, the Army is ordered to maintain order impartially and all the governors are ordered by Congress to demobilize. It nearly becomes a civil war, but everyone is too evenly matched in arms and training to see a clear advantage in fighting, at least for the moment. The solution comes in the form of two transcontinental railroads to northern and southern Alta California Territory: sell part of the right-of-way to the railroad companies, some to settlers, and then compensate the slave owners and free the slaves. The gold and silver in Alta California and Nevada are starting to tail off, but the prospects for opening up the west and Mexico, especially if statehood occurs, sounds good to almost everyone. Everyone, that is, except the die-hard slave owners. And into this breach creeps the Free Republic of Draka.
The deal is proposed in late 1858, and the details emerge in 1859. First, the railroad property will be auctioned off, starting in 1860 with parcels at both ends, and continuing towards the middle as the railroad construction advances. Compensation will be paid in 1862, so that there is no partial solution — all the slave states will be emancipated at the same time. Getting news of this prospective windfall, Drakans begin circulating through the slave-owning planter aristocracy of the South, and offer new plantations and fresh slaves in Draka, if the slave owners will immigrate with their money. Abolitionists and bankers, fearing that the slave owners will remove a large amount of money from the country, and impoverish the US, put some additional conditions on the compensation. First, inspectors will rate the slaves during January 1862 for their ability to work, and give compensation accordingly, so mistreated slaves and infants won't count for much. Second, the compensation will not be all cash, but partially in "land bonds" redeemable for territory along the transcontinental railroads. (1/5 goes to the railroad companies at a very low price, 1/5 will be auctioned to settlers, 1/5 is for "land bonds", and the remaining 2/5 is for government use and Indian territories.) Third, if the slave owners leave the country they forfeit the land bonds to the freed slaves.
What's unforeseen is that two kinds of investment companies are set up. One buys land out west long before the railroad reaches it, and sells it once the railroad arrives for a profit. The second type bets on being able to buy whole plantations cheaply, so the owners can flee to Draka with more liquid assets, and later sell parts of the plantation to the freed slaves, and make a profit from the land bonds too. These ruin the forfeiture scheme, and absorb a lot of available credit from the economy.
Unrest caused by poor whites as the rich ones are leaving causes anarchy in the southern states for months. Manipulations by embezzlers, banks and the Draka nearly stop the transcontinental railroads and cause a financial panic outside the slave states.
The Slaver Exodus produces a financially devastated USA and physically devastated southern states.
[It's debatable if this was a "better" result than the Civil War. But it's hard to believe that war could occur with the Draka out there as a major slave-owning society, and they didn't become completely involved. An independent Draka interfering would have drawn in their enemies, certainly at least Britain. And a Draka still beholden to Britain would have been restrained from aiding the Confederacy, or more than counterbalanced by the British Isles trading with the Union. Anyway, this buyout scheme results in lots of unhappy people in the USA, and even the planters that go to Draka won't leave with fond memories.]
- 1860: The transcontinental railroad construction, already started in the Alta California Territory and on the west bank of the Mississippi, is of worldwide interest. Investment companies are set up that speculate on the value of land being auctioned, and they have wild price swings on various pieces of news. Those who run plantations strictly as a business mostly plan to take the money and go into other business within the USA. A few even sell out early to other investment companies, which continue to manage the plantations while eagerly awaiting the government deadline for compensation (and ignoring the fact that they've just become corporate slave owners). But most, looking on a plantation as a family legacy, resent being forced out of their way of life, and would rather consider fighting than leaving the US for Draka. The politicians on both sides (especially those in slave states who aren't slave owners themselves) hail this as a great solution, but most of the people (for various reasons) disagree with spending all that money. But with a wedge driven between the poor whites of the slave states and the rich slave owners, the cards are stacked against the planter aristocracy. Once the first prominent families announce their intentions to sell out, the die is cast, and soon many are signing up to go to Draka as whole regions and clans. The problems will now be getting all that money out of the US.
The FRD begins building a fleet of armed luxury steamers to carry the expected flood of immigrants from southern US ports in early 1862. Armed because of fears of piracy, or US or even British naval intervention, luxury because some passengers will be wealthy even by Drakan standards. These ships will also carry small detachments of Drakan soldiers and teachers, to attempt to train and teach the immigrants in the ways of their new home while on the way to Africa. The FRD follows the twists and turns of the compensation legislation with great interest. Their hired lawyers find ways to help immigrants maximize their booty. They induce greedy men of the "free" states into setting up investment companies that will buy out the plantations early at a discount, and then sell off the land to the freed slaves and the land bonds as well.
- 1860–70: Germany united. Dominion of Australia unites Australia and New Zealand; aborigines are legally protected from exploitation. Electric generators and lighting.
Mosquito vector of malaria established at Shahnapur Institute of Tropical Medicine, and large-scale efforts to combat the tsetse fly in central Africa finally begin to achieve real success. Expansion of Drakan settlement northward begins to catch up with military conquests. Immigrants from the US slave states spread through the Drakan frontier and infuse a massive amount of wealth into the economy, catalyzing a massive expansion in the service and industrial sectors. Drakan dialect takes on a pronounced "southern" twang/drawl from the latest influx on top of the earlier Loyalists. FRD has the lead in high-pressure steam and air technology, including storage of compressed air in underground concrete tanks.
- 1861: Unrest rises among the poor whites of the slave states, as they see the top and bottom of southern society planning to get rewards while they will receive nothing. The most dangerous ones begin collecting weapons or subverting the local militia, and plan to kill the slave owners and/or the slaves during the transition period after January 1862. Several such plans are exposed, but southern governors refuse to act with unity. Abolitionists, representatives of investment companies and other "carpetbaggers" flood the slave states, pursuing their own agendas. Some abolitionists see opportunities to gain votes for northern political parties among the freed men, others are there to distribute guns or facilitate last-minute escapes (they're still slaves down there, even if slavery will end soon), and a few are humanitarians hoping to aid in the worst situations. The investment companies are there to sign contracts for land bonds. There are even a few fortune-seekers claiming to be long lost relatives of a planter, so they can get a share.
The railroad companies don't have enough workers, and importing Filipino labor only works for the Pacific end of the tracks. Mexico turns out to be a good source of workers for hire, as some of the pre-war peasants turned post-war small farmers are willing to try something else. A few railroad company agents enter the mix in the southern states, offering to buy strong slaves and even whole families, and employ them as free men on the westbound track building effort. Those sold before January 1862, and the owners that can pack up and leave early, are the lucky ones.
Interest rates begin to rise, as the banks notice a demand for loans to generate the cash to pay off slave owners now, or buy land on speculation. The large sums of money being thrown about give a giddy impression of high finance, but the industrial expansion of the early "robber barons" is being sidetracked. It takes special guarantees by the US Treasury to ensure that the railroad companies get the credit they need to keep building, as they won't show a good return until the lines meet.
Towards the end of the year, slave inspection teams composed of Army engineers and hired accountants and former slave traders, begin spreading throughout the slave states so they can get the job done quickly in early 1862. This volatile mix of people in the slave states, and the wild swings in value of "railroad land", will soon explode.
- 1862: Although the slave inspection teams try to do their jobs properly, they are often forced to intervene in the tense situations on plantations. Soon, havoc reigns with poor whites in militia-like bands attacking plantations, the slave owners and inspection teams and freed slaves defending themselves, some freed slaves taking revenge, and the recently compensated slave owners leaving a vacuum as they depart for the nearest port with whatever they can carry. Roving bands of freed slaves, radical abolitionists, and poor whites all seem willing to chase down rich former slave owners, and in most cases are willing to fight each other too. The plantations, highways, rivers and railways of the slave states become the settings for numerous robberies, small battles and atrocities. Congress finally authorizes mobilization of militia from free states to enter the slave states to try to keep the peace, but even they get bogged down and heavily involved with only slight progress. Some Drakan ships have to fight their way out of southern ports against angry mobs, and then defend against pirates sallying from parts unknown. While not a civil war, the unrest in the slave states is close to anarchy until the last departing slave owners are generally known to have left. All told, over 200,000 planters and family members leave for Draka, taking a vast amount of wealth and leaving tremendous bitterness and bloodshed behind.
The financial system of the rest of the USA teeters dangerously close to collapse. There is negative economic growth going on, and the credit needed to keep the railroads going while the investment companies wait is getting harder to come by. Extended deployment by northern militia units is also very unpopular at home, and hurting the economy even further.
Martial law declared in Virginia and several other southern states during the Slaver Exodus. Minnesota admitted as a state, star in white bar .
- 1863: Exhaustion keeps the warring factions in the southeastern US from more than sporadic local outbursts of violence. The slave-less area of northwestern Virginia is split off for separate civil administration and becomes known as West Virginia, while the rest of Virginia remains under martial law due to continued unrest. More Mexican militia and Army units are brought in, and finally a semblance of law and order is established in the South. However, in late 1863 a large amount of land bonds once controlled by the emigrants are suddenly all dumped on the market (the Drakans wrote some interesting provisions into the contracts). And most of the funds not paid out in compensation are lost to an embezzler who flees to Sicily. These events cause a financial panic in the northern states, but the South is past caring. The only good news is the steady progress and completion of the two transcontinental railroads; the railroads have taken to promising the workers some of the railroad land as incentives. All told, the railroads will give out nearly all their extra land beyond the immediate right-of-way, just to keep workers and creditors happy.
- 1864: The US economy begins recovering with the migration of people to the west and the vastly easier trade between east and west. But with the bad experience of the railroad land financial "bubble", the British proposal to invest in a northern transcontinental railroad that will link the Dominion of Canada to the jointly-administered (negotiations for an American takeover have been going on at a slow pace since the 1840s) Oregon Territory, passing through the Far Northwest Territory of the US, is initially treated as a bad joke. Full recovery in the former slave states will take a generation. The animosity between poor whites and freed slaves dissipates only when industrial expansion brings enough jobs, fairly allocated on the basis of ability, and the groups finally notice that neither is doing much better or worse at farming. Alta California achieves statehood just before the rails are joined in the Utah Territory. In honor of the first Mexican War, Alta California's star is in the red bar. Florida, Iowa, Kansas, West Virginia and Wisconsin also admitted as states, adding 5 more stars in the white bar. This brings the total to 6 in red, 14 in blue, and 15 stars in the white bar of the USA state flag. Martial law generally repealed except for a few counties in Mississippi and Arkansaw.
[Note that there is no Canada nearby to bolster British determination to hold onto the Oregon Country (states of Oregon and Washington) in this timeline. Although there were some incidents over the years, for the most part the British have been there only as merchants at the harbors.]
- 1866: United States annexes Panama at the request of a ruling junta of filibusters, former Spanish colonial officials, and representatives of companies interested in building a canal. Navassa Island (south of east end of Cuba), Johnston Atoll (south of Hawaii), Howland, Baker and Jarvis Islands (South Pacific) annexed as US possessions. Montana, Colorado and Utah Territories established. Nevada admitted as a state; another star in the white bar of the USA state flag. The "acquired peacefully" area of the flag is getting rather crowded, though.
Friedrich Nietzsche immigrates to FRD. Assembly of Free Citizens changed to a Senate elected from pool proposed by Directorates and Combines, and a Provincial Assembly with 5 Representatives per province. Drakan women now liable for conscription, but still only into non-combat positions.
[Another historical figure, sorry! Let's just say a German philosopher who likes their amorality.]
- 1867: Columbia, Venezuela and Ecuador form Republic of Grande Columbia, remaining Central American countries form Central American Republic (Republica de Centro America). But U.S. hegemony over the Caribbean, Central America, and South America becomes a fixture of the region. Construction of Panama Canal begins. Serrana Bank and Roncador Cay (north of Panama) claimed by USA.
[Ian objects to the formation of so many mega-states. I can understand them bordering the U.S.; to avoid being gobbled up, amalgamate voluntarily with friends. Once I do some research on the revolutions against Spain and Portugal in South and Central America, I'll revisit this. Actually, there have been at least 4 Central American regional states in OTL, which broke up and re-formed several times. With the USA on both sides of Central America instead of OTL Mexico and the American client Panama, there would be more incentive to stick together. Like the Suez Canal for the British, the Panama Canal is built as a showcase of American technology and national will.]
- 1868: Tit for tat bureaucratic obstructionism at the borders has frustrated both American and British plans to build railroads to the Oregon Country. The American one was proceeding north from Alta California, the ambitious British one was planned to run west from Ottawa. With public attention called to the matter, the long-running negotiations for American acquisition of the Oregon Country are finally resolved between Britain and the US. The USA will take possession of the entire area, although the British get most harbor areas designated "free trade zones," their traders will remain, and are promised the same treatment as US ships when the Panama Canal is open.
An invasion of Panama by Grande Columbia forces is repulsed, but both sides agree to return to the status quo after Britain and France threaten trade boycotts. The European powers are more interested in seeing the Panama Canal built. However, the message is given to the USA that further American expansion on the northern or southern continents will not be tolerated. Official acceptance of this, regardless of jingoistic "North America is ours" rhetoric, turns American attention to internal development, seizing Pacific islands and meddling in the Far East just like the Europeans. Midway Island (west of Hawaii) annexed as US possession.
[Like West Africa after the Suez Canal, Oregon was a British backwater but much more isolated, although it will be missed in about 11 years.]
- 1869: A new amendment to the US Constitution prohibits federal government involvement in further schemes involving the sale of land, or construction or improvement of transportation routes (canals, railways, roads, or ship channels), reserving it to the states individually or in cooperation.
[This was inspired by the "Trolleyworld" alternate history, and intended to forestall another economic collapse like the Trans-Continental Railroad/Slave Emancipation caused. You can therefore expect a Homestead Act, but no Interstate Highways. The Panama Canal was the original target of this measure, but the powerful forces behind the project managed to delay ratification until completion is assured.]
- 1870: Le Matt (of Virconium) six-shot revolver with underslung buckshot barrel authorized sidearm for Drakans, and the last black powder one. Nebraska admitted as a state; yet another star in the white bar of the USA state flag, and one of the worst looking designs yet.
[OTL Alexander LeMat built a 9-shot .40–.42 revolver that used the central part of the cylinder as the barrel for a single .60–.63 buckshot charge. Several hundred used in Civil War, later ones were .35 over .50 (28 gauge) so "standard" .36 ammunition could be used. Here, the revolver with a surprise stems from the chaos as Le Matt left New Orleans, and he doesn't get away with as much trial-and-error once in Draka.]
- 1870s: Natural rubber production skyrockets after the tree is introduced from the Amazon jungle to Ceylon and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia and Malaya). The Drakan plantation system on Ceylon is more efficient, yet small private holdings persist elsewhere, as owners refuse to consolidate for fear of emulating the Drakans.
- 1872: Steam turbine perfected by Technological Institute of Archona. First rigid dirigibles. Archona and Philadelphia are first cities to have telephone networks and street lighting. Cordite or "smokeless powder" patented.
After combining numerous pre-war provinces, redistributing land and suppressing unrest, first group of former Mexican territory admitted as states ("estados" locally). Of these, 4 (Hidalgo [7 central entities including Mexico City], Jalisco [includes Colima], Veracruz [includes Tabasco] and Zacatecas [includes Aguascalientes]) have stars placed in the red bar due to fighting during the Second Mexican–American War. The other 3 (Potosi [San Luis Potosi], Sinaloa [includes Nayarit] and Tamaulipas) have stars in the white bar, as there was no significant combat there. Cuba is also admitted as a state, with a star in the red bar due to the Spanish–American War. The USA state flag now has a staggering 11 stars in the red bar, 14 in the blue, and 20 in the white for a total of 45 states. At least 20 more are expected from current territories and possessions.
- 1873: Long-brewing bitterness between American Indians and the westward-spreading white men erupts in a Sioux chief leading a growing force in a series of massacres of wagon trains and settlements. Several Army and militia units sent to stop them are wiped out or defeated.
- 1874: British East India Company dissolved. [OTL]
- 1874–75: After the Indian revolts spread to a wide area and even settled tribes begin leaving the reservations, several territorial governors petition the Congress and President for authority to call out the militias and mobilize the Army. (Territorial governors, unlike state governors, cannot call out militia territory-wide unless the Army is active already.) The rallying cry becomes "the only good'un is a dead'un!" Several gun manufacturers compete for business by offering substantial discounts and even credit purchase plans to militia members. These are state-of-the-art repeating rifles and revolvers, using the new smokeless powder. Essentially the entire male population west of the Mississippi is issued the most advanced firearms and allowed to use them, no questions asked, against American Indians. Atrocities are widespread on both sides. This includes nearly wiping out several encampments of peaceful Indians, severely discrediting "peace chiefs" like Black Kettle of the Cheyenne.
[In OTL, Black Kettle died in a second massacre almost 4 years after the first one the Cheyenne suffered in Colorado. Here, the much larger military forces fielded by the whites even with a slower entry into the Plains and Rockies, will result in a much quicker end to this timeline's equivalent of the Indian Wars. It isn't over in just 2 years, but after 1876 both sides will be quick to claim that only individual renegades/vigilantes are involved, not the entire tribe or the local militia, for fear of Army intervention.]
- 1875–79: Bulgarian peasant revolt violently suppressed by Ottomans, widespread condemnation of the brutality. Russia intervenes, attempting to create a Bulgarian state beholden to them. Ottoman attacks on Russia draw in the British to guarantee Russia doesn't gain control of Constantinople and the Dardanelles. Anglo–Russian War is fought primarily in Bulgaria and Afghanistan. British forces eventually win a hard-fought victory, and Britain brokers the creation of the Balkan countries of Bulgaria and Rumania. Britain extracts transfer of claim on Alaska from Russia to Canada as a bonus.
During the war, Draka extends purchase offers to Britain for the West Africa territories similar to those rejected 20 years earlier. The British popular response is negative, but the Exchequer is feeling the pinch and the Army fears an African war while busy elsewhere, and both pressure Parliament into allowing the FRD to effectively buy most of the area (OTL present-day Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania). The remaining coastal areas are perceived to be too valuable to give up at present, and are where the bulk of British investment in the region has been made, but sub-Saharan Africa has basically been a British backwater since the construction of the Suez Canal. The agreement allows escaped Drakan serfs to claim asylum in any British territory, a continuing point of tension until the Great War.
Initial attempt by Technical Section to use smokeless powder is in the R-X-4 design, which fails long-term operational and field tests. The completely revised R-4a is developed to address the R-X-4's problems and make proper use of smokeless powder.
[I have an OTL reason for the Anglo–Russian War, then go further overboard. After obtaining Alaska from the Russians, the British wish they hadn't let go of Oregon so easily. As a military operational tester, I can't believe Stirling's T-3 got into the hands of the troops with so many problems. But note that the American gun manufacturers are already selling workable models using similar technology; the government-directed research of the Draka happens to be with the also-rans this time.]
- 1876: After a blast of carnage in which several American Indian tribes are completely wiped out, the remainder surrender to the Army (in preference to the more bloodthirsty civilians and militias) and meekly return to their reservations. The intervention of the federal government, particularly in the form of the Army, is instrumental in stopping the clashes between the tribes and territorial militias. The Indian Massacres — however you interpret the name — are over, but this horrific episode in American history, coming so soon after the anarchy in the slave states, colors the national psyche from then on. The United States basically turns inward in shock, to peacefully develop their frontiers and rebuild the former slave states. Decision made to reduce the size of all stars on the USA state flag so more can fit without changing the proportions of the bars; it will be seen with the next admittance of new states. "Century of Progress" exposition held in Saint Louis, Missouri; first serious proposal to move USA national capital to Saint Louis or another more central location than District of Columbia.
[The Indian Massacres is my own invention, taking advantage of both the lack of a moderating example in western Canada and a lower white population density in the "west" that still eventually encroaches on the Indians. It's a symptom of an America more willing to overreact to violence by calling out the militia. Inspired by an alternate Battle of the Little Bighorn in another alternate history, and a documentary about the OTL aftermath where the Sioux fled to Canada for a while.]
- 1877: Colorado admitted as a state. Initial decision to put the star in the red bar due to the Indian Massacres is reversed once the magnitude of the atrocities becomes known in the national capital. The star added to the white bar for Colorado is given the least honorable position (lowest right corner of flag).
[The count is now 11/14/21.]
- 1878: As part of the deal between the FRD and Britain, the rump state of Ethiopia — the only truly native regime left on the African continent — loses the British support that was keeping it out of the clutches of the Drakans. Yohannes IV, the last Emperor of Ethiopia, dies while leading the defense of Addis Ababa against the final assault by several Janissary Legions. In the end, his modern but small force was no match for hordes of Drakans supported by reconnaissance and supply dirigibles.
- 1879: Second group of former Mexican provinces admitted as states. One star placed in red bar for Neuvo Leon, 6 others (Baja California [includes Baja California Sur], Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacan [includes Guanajuato] and Oaxaca) have stars placed in the white bar. The rest are sparsely populated or still under military governorship due to continuing unrest, and on the northern (Arizona, Pueblo, Sonora) or southern frontiers (Chiapas, Yucatan) of the former Mexico. Southern portion of Oregon Territory admitted as state of Oregon [includes southern Idaho], star in white bar. Remainder becomes Columbia Territory [Washington and northern Idaho]. Puerto Rico also admitted as state, star in red bar.
[The count of stars on the flag is now 13/14/28.]
- 1880–89: Autosteamers achieve popularity as vehicles of the wealthy, especially in the Free Republic of Draka now that closed-cycle systems are perfected. Refrigeration, including central air conditioning and then smaller portable units, developed as a variant application of compressors. Solar power systems are developed for small-scale water heating and electric power generation. Single-barrel machine guns, flame-throwers, land mines, poison gas, and submarines are developed but not yet used in battle. Austro–German alliance with Ottoman Empire, construction of Berlin–Baghdad railway. Motion pictures developed. Steam turbine introduced for railroad engines. Antiseptic surgery and development of anesthetics, after the numerous amputations and preventable deaths of the Anglo–Russian War. Panama Canal completed.
American Indians petition US federal government to have their reservations and Indian territories administered at the federal level, rather than considered parts of states. The Indians regard the federal government and Army as their protector, and the states and territories as the source of the militias that were their strongest foes. Only several small areas in states east of the Mississippi become "Federal Indian Territories", most of them are created in the western lands still not yet states. Hashing out the boundaries keeps remaining territories in the American West from statehood for several years.
Free population of FRD is growing more slowly than serf population, leading to several bloody attempted slave revolts and the imposition of the harshest measures yet for control. Settlement Directorate raises childbearing requirement for plantation Landholders to 4 new or pre-existing acknowledged free births in first 10 years. Provincial Assembly authorizes increasing Citizen stipend for each additional free child to encourage free marriages and population growth, as acceptable immigrants have decreased greatly. Rise in popularity of impaling (inspired by the Ottomans) and use of crude flame-throwers or poison gas on rioting serfs. Uprisings in Kongo Province lead to large-scale deportations to destructive labor camps in addition to the usual measures. Brotherhood of the Lash encourages educational opportunities commensurate only with increasing responsibilities of serfs, leading to mostly illiterate plantation field hands and industrial machine tenders. Backlash to widespread international condemnation of these measures is the genesis of the Militarist philosophy in the FRD. Nearby British territories attract many escaping serfs. Several large water diversion and hydroelectric projects begun.
[Stirling has refrigeration much earlier; I may move it too, as an outgrowth of work with steam and air compressors. BTW, these weapons aren't all first developed in the Domination; there are some smart people elsewhere. The advances in medicine should have been triggered by the American Civil War, but there wasn't one. The anarchy in the slave states, while widespread, didn't produce thousands of dead or wounded in any single battle. Almost the same thing goes for the Indian Massacres. It takes a shocking amount of wartime casualties at once, and the knowledge that many could have been saved, to change people's minds about "biting the bullet" and germs. There has also been a quiet changeover going on from sail to steam in the world's navies; although there was no clash of ironclads, eventually every modern navy followed the lead of the Draka and USA so as not to be left behind by commercial steamships and airships.]
- 1882: Bondservant Identification Act requires neck tattoo on all serfs. Security Directorate given arrest powers for all but high-ranking politicians (Senatorial immunity) and Citizens currently serving the Republic outside the Police Zone (mostly War Directorate personnel in battle). Karl von Shrakenberg born.
Spanish declared a secondary official language of the USA in areas with significant Hispanic population (Texas, Alta California, former Mexico, Arizona and Pueblo Territories, Florida, Panama, Caribbean islands), but the English version of any government document has precedence. This is provoked by an embarrassing incident in Chihuahua City when reading aloud a faulty translation of the Constitution on the occasion of statehood.
- 1883: In continuing efforts to include the Hispanics (commonly still called Mexicans) in the USA, and better reflect the westward movement of America, further serious proposals have been made since 1876 to move the national capital from Washington D.C. to a more central location. Geographically, the center of the continental part of the nation is now in northern Texas or the Oklahoma Territory (still mostly Indian reservations). However, the best proposals are for somewhere along the Rio Grande, although not where the Mexicans were severely beaten; the best candidates are Laredo and El Paso, which both have "twin cities" across the river.
- 1885: After much secret and public deliberation, voting, arm-twisting and other forms of political corruption, the announcement is made that the national capital of the USA will be moved to El Paso/Ciudad Juárez in 1900, and the vicinity is transferred to the federal government as the "National District of Unitas." The District of Columbia will be retained as a national park and living museum, with no monuments or buildings moved, and no permanent residents allowed.
- 1886: Walter Jameson of Militarist Party elected Archon. Government resources allocated to mass industrialization, formation of a fully modern military including dirigible air forces and a navy competitive with Britain. Program to promote substantially higher Citizen birth rate, combination of traditional racism with intense Drakan nationalism. Naldorssen's Norse/Hindu religion made the only legal faith for serfs, several Christian missionaries expelled from FRD. The Militarist government's successes will inspire Militarism around the world (very similar to OTL Fascism). Powers of the Archon increased, including no term limit.
- 1888: First transatlantic flight, by a Drakan dirigible from Apollonaris (Dakar, Senegal) to Recife in Brazil.
[The Draka built the new city of Apollonaris after taking possession of the area from the British in the late 1870s. It is one of the few coastal locations that the British gave up, and happens to be the westernmost point in Africa.]
The Domination of Draka
- 1889: Free Republic of Draka renamed Domination of Draka by Nomenclature Act, after satirical cartoon in Times of London. "Citizens" and "Drakans" used interchangeably for plural non-serfs; "Citizen" or "Drakan" for singular non-serf, although "Drakan" is also used to label the Domination as a whole. Militarist Party emblem of a drakon (dragon) holding a bush knife and a slave chain becomes that of the Domination. Anti-bourgeois sentiment of Citizens in reaction to perceived hypocrisy of Europeans and Americans makes the philosophical gulf between the two camps even wider as time passes.
[This could be slid to as early as 1887.]
- 1890–99: Regular dirigible service on several continents. American autosteamer production surpasses Dominations' as the limited market in the Domination is saturated by their high-quality goods, and American inventors and entrepreneurs have pulled down the cost of production to make less-sturdy products more affordable for their middle class. Continuing Drakan emphasis on an extensive military-industrial complex. Compression ignition (diesel) internal combustion engine invented, but no practical application yet. Semi-automatic pistols developed. Tolgren model 1890 "automatic" pistol issued in large numbers to Citizens as standard sidearm.
- 1892: In the mid-1880s, a review of the survey of Hudson Bay done almost 70 years earlier reveals that the border should be moved several hundred miles further north, from near Cape Churchill to the Chesterfield Inlet. Since nobody found a Northwest Passage out of Hudson Bay, the border fixed by the 1816 treaty remains based on the westernmost point of the bay. After negotiations and allowing for people and assets to be moved, the USA purchases — for the value of one pound — a slice of Northwest Canada and Alaska from Great Britain to extend the boundary of the Far Northwest Territories northward and solidify their foothold on Hudson Bay. Britain retains the valuable Alaskan coast. [This fixes the discrepancy between the results of 1812 and what's shown in the 1940 map, and actually does fix an error of mine caused by reading a distorted map.]
- 1894: Libyan oil fields discovered by British teams drilling for water. Automatic submachine gun developed by Technical Section of War Directorate; immediately issued to Security Directorate forces for riot control in the form of the Machine Pistol Mk. I. Columbia [Washington and northern Idaho], Dakota [North and South Dakota] and Montana admitted as states, 3 more stars in white bar of USA state flag.
[The count is now 13/14/31.]
- 1895: Alberta and Wyoming admitted as states, stars in white bar. Far Northwest Territory split into North Columbia [British Columbia], Saskatchewan, and Athabasca Territories, which are expected to become states in 15–50 years. While they're at it, elements of the former Mexican flag are inserted in the blue bar of the USA state flag.
[The count is now 13/14/33. The Mexican and former Spanish states call in enough favors to get the eagle and snake from the former Mexican Republic onto the US flag.]
- 1899: Chinese–Japanese War; Japan annexes Korea and Formosa. Western powers agree to maintain Chinese mainland ports open to free trade, extracting concessions from the weakening Qing Dynasty.
[The Qing Dynasty is OTL, and I'm assuming that the root causes of European, Japanese and American commercial exploitation and cultural imperialism are unchanged. The Draka have no serious interest here yet, except for a minor trade in import of slaves from Southeast Asia via Ceylon.]
- 1900: After embarrassing cost overruns and construction delays, which are made up with donations from school children and volunteer labor by militia units from as far away as Chicago, the new US national capitol complex in Unitas is ready by the Fourth of July. Over the past 15 years, the federal government has built a well-planned city, a host of government buildings with all the modern conveniences, and encouraged the states of Texas and Chihuahua to massively expand and improve transportation links to the area.
- 1900–10: Increasing tension between the European powers leads to a system of interlocking alliances and guarantees. Britain, France, Italy, and Russia (Grand Alliance) face off against Germany, Austria–Hungary, and the declining Ottoman Empire (Central Powers). The Domination of Draka is officially neutral, but the British expect an invasion of Greater Egypt by the Drakans and/or Ottomans. The United States is friendly to the Grand Alliance but wants to avoid foreign entanglements. Japan is friendly to the Central Powers due to the predominance of British, Russian, and American positions in China and nearby. Abortive Austro–Italian war degenerates into trench warfare and mass slaughter with machine guns before a peace that changes nothing. Development of heavier-than-air flight in France, Domination, U.S., Britain within a few years of each other. First spark ignition internal combustion engines. Internal combustion engine technology first applied to the heavy steam warcar concept in Britain, leading to the Land Battleship or "clanker" [OTL tank], rapidly copied in Germany and the Domination, a tracked armored vehicle carrying machine guns to break the trench warfare stalemate projected for the future of warfare. Women's suffrage movements gain strength outside the Domination. Wireless (radio) communications developed, then initial vacuum tube technology. Sound added to motion pictures. Drakan hydroelectric projects on major African rivers come on line, and portions of the railroad network are electrified.
British and German commercial interests begin exploration of Middle East and North Africa for other oil resources, Germans form various companies with Ottoman Empire involvement for exploitation. Draka begins military intelligence gathering efforts under diplomatic and commercial covers in Ottoman and British territories in the Middle East and North and West Africa. An international technological information gathering effort by the Domination is also increasing in size; there is an unofficial acknowledgment in the Draka government that there are not enough Citizens to keep ahead of everyone else in the sciences.
The Domination's school system, a universalized military version of the traditional Drakan boarding schools and reserves training for Citizens, is a source of pride for the Militarist government. It is praised in some nations for creating the new leaders and warriors of the world, even as they decry the other behavior of the Militarists. The neo-Norse (Citizen) portion of Naldorssen's state religion has government support, but eventually does little more than provide new curse words for the Drakan dialect. Christianity strongly discouraged in Domination for Citizens, has been prohibited for decades among serfs.
[Most of the European powers have been denied colonial and imperialist outlets in Africa. The Balkans, China, southeast Asia and the Pacific islands become the arenas. The American "Monroe Doctrine" keeps both the Europeans and the Americans from overt meddling in South America, but the Central American Republic and Grande Columbia are firmly suspicious of the USA.]
- 1901: Citizen women declared liable for wartime conscription into combat positions in the Domination, but training is still segregated. Yucatan, Utah and Panama admitted as states. Guam, American Samoa and Wake Island annexed as US possessions.
[The count of stars in the USA state flag is now 14/14/35; Panama was unsuccessfully invaded in 1868.]
- 1908–09: Japan becomes bogged down in a war in Manchuria. Russian intervention is defeated, both on land and at sea. First battleships sunk by aerial bombardment. The abysmal performance of the Russian armed forces, combined with social unrest, leads to a revolution in Russia. A true constitutional monarchy is established under Tsar Alykzandr IV, and several noted Westernizers are established in top government positions. A Communist group in St. Petersburg incites an armed uprising a little too late, and is crushed and rooted out by loyal troops and the Tsar's secret police. Qing Dynasty continues in China, but with a council of military leaders (warlords) the real power behind the throne. Pattern of competition among local warlords, with Western countries offering arms and money for trade concessions, is established and continues until 1940.
[My dictionary says Slavic scholars prefer "tsar" to "czar." Thought I'd get the Communists out of the way now.]
- 1910–1916: Amid a growing appreciation by world leaders that the interlocking alliances have led to a delicate Balance of Power that could be disastrously upset, many people believe that this is a true "Golden Age" for mankind. Unfortunately, it ignores the direct exploitation of millions by the Drakans, and the indirect activities in India and China that subjugate even more for the benefit of distant lands. But the march of technology has led to better lives in much of Europe, North America, and the lands of the Drakans, for those who can afford it or were born to it.
- 1911: Oklahoma admitted as a state; the delay was caused by lengthy haggling with the local Indians over the boundaries of the Federal Indian Territories that comprise almost half of the land. [The count of stars in the USA state flag is now 14/14/36.]
- 1912: Domination of Draka has free population of nearly 20 million, and 180 million serfs, with the Citizen population growth rate stimulated to nearly 4% per annum (enough to triple in 30 years). GNP is roughly equivalent to United States (population 135 million), but with great differences in distribution, etc. Germany adopts a more militarized national school system, a symptom of the rise of Prussian/Militarist influence in German government. Communist movement in Russia takes on heavy anarchist leanings, claiming that only violent revolution to sweep aside the decadent capitalist-imperialist system can begin to truly reform Russia; after several terrorist attacks, popular opinion supports continuing repressive measures by the Tsar's secret police to stamp out the Communists.
Domination begins issuing R-5 semiautomatic rifle and companion LAW-1 heavy automatic machine gun to armed forces.
[T-5 and SAW-1 delayed a few years from Stirling. I tinkered with when this population was reached, compared to Ian's, and slightly reduced the USA for not having all of Canada.]
- 1915: Arizona, Chiapas and Pueblo admitted as states. Again, negotiations with the Indians delayed admittance.
[The count of stars in the USA state flag is now 14/14/39. Pueblo is OTL New Mexico without the Gadsden Purchase.]
Next: 1917–1939
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