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Updated 2005-10-21

Pete's Alternate Draka Timeline: Draka 2α

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Draka 2α Timeline
Items in Progress

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<Items in progress follow>

British invasion of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka):

• weather: northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October), occasional cyclones and tornadoes
• terrain: mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior
• products: tea, rice, coconuts, sugar, rubber, gems, limestone, clay (cement)
• Narrow peninsulas separate Ceylon from India by less than 20 km at Palk Bay, but no major ports in that vicinity. Closest major Indian ports are at Tuticorin (about 150 km from Colombo) and Pondicherry (over 200 km north of Ceylon). Major ports on Ceylon are at Colombo (largest city), Trincomalee (east coast, with large sheltered bay), Jaffna (on northern peninsula).
• (before war with Britain) Domination bolsters the troop strength on Ceylon, but the British in India are unconcerned since there is no amphibious landing fleet on the island. This is apparently a defensive measure, although worrisome since India is the closest major power; are the Draka expecting the British to invade?
• (just before war with Britain) Fortifications on Ceylon against a landing from India are improved, and large quantities of preserved food, steel reinforcing rods, and artillery pieces are brought in. Plantations begin improving their existing buried blockhouses or building new ones.
• British ex-patriate radio journalist Paxton "Pax Britannica" Steepledale visits London, begins his famous series of "This is London" reports, often deliberately broadcasting during German attacks. [My invention merging Sir Winston Churchill and Mr. Edward R. Murrow.]
• (war with Britain) The Royal Navy blockades Drakan sea traffic with Ceylon, and their planes intercept several Drakan planes and dirigibles. Plans are drawn up for an invasion of the island. RAF bombers and fighters from across British India and Afghanistan are brought to the southeast of India to wage an air campaign over Ceylon.
• Paxton Steepledale makes his famous "blood, sweat and tears" speech: "What is Britain's policy? They will say 'It is to wage war in defense of peace, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us. To wage war against several monstrous tyrannies, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.' You may ask, what is Britain's aim now that striving for peace has failed? They will answer with one word. 'Victory.' Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. They have before them an ordeal of the most grievous kind. They have before them many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. They will give their all. They will give their blood, toil, sweat and tears. They shall go on to the end." In spite of this eloquence, the United States adheres to neutrality and allowing the British to only buy supplies and war materiel for cash.
  [Paraphrase of Winston.]
• The RAF attains air superiority over Ceylon through attrition of the Eagle fighters stationed there before war was declared, but suffers about a 2:1 loss ratio doing so. The Draka are unable to build more aircraft on the island, so their numbers dwindle even with superior training and equipment.
  [Loss ratio similar to RAF vs. Luftwaffe in Battle of Britain and in France afterward.]
• British air superiority over Ceylon allows them to mark the progress of Drakan fortification efforts. Daylight pinpoint bombing and strafing are initially successful, but losses to anti-aircraft guns soon force consideration of massive area bombing to reduce the beach defenses. RAF General Reginald "Bomber" Hargraves asks for authority to bomb plantations as well, including serf housing, but is refused.
• One Drakan carrier gets close enough to Ceylon to ferry in a load of Eagle fighters, which are stored in concealed locations and flown from grass airstrips on several plantations. Further tries are prevented or intercepted by improved electrodetectors in India and more aggressive Royal Navy patrols.
• After the new Eagle fighters wreak havoc on one British bombing mission, Hargraves is allowed to commence area bombing of plantations along with increased fighter escorts. Eagle attacks fall off markedly and finally stop.
• As the peninsula on Palk Bay is too heavily fortified, Jaffna is easily isolated, and Trincomalee's harbor is too enclosed, the British plan to land on the west coast of Ceylon at beaches on both sides of Colombo — the biggest city and second-best port on the island.
• The British landings near Colombo are successful with minimal initial resistance at the beaches, thanks to naval bombardment and air superiority. Janissary counter-attacks succeed against the southern beach, but the northern force is able to hold on and advance to secure the port. The British troops find they can usually advance during daylight against the many small ambush positions, but the nights are often a shambles when Citizens infiltrate and cause havoc in rear areas. Each plantation must be fought for to the death of all but the youngest Citizens, culminating in massive bombing or artillery use against the landholder's dug-in bunkers.
• Paxton Steepledale tours "liberated" Ceylon as British forces close in on the southeastern side of the island. He makes a moving radio speech: "They fought on the landing grounds. They fought on the roads. They fought in the hills and fields, every plantation a battleground. With the island girded at sea by the Royal Navy, and canopied in the sky by the Royal Air Force, with no hope of mercy, succor or rescue, they fought on. They never surrendered." His moving descriptions of the destruction and carnage, the tens of thousands of freed but homeless serfs, and the desperate fighting by Citizens, have a worldwide audience.
  [Another paraphrase of Winston.]
• Final casualty figures for Ceylon show that it took an average of 4.1 British soldiers to kill an adult (age 18–60) Citizen, about 1.3 per Janissary, with only a few infant Citizens taken prisoner. The entire surviving population of serfs is now homeless from the "carpet" bombing, infrastructure outside of the ports is utterly devastated. The serfs must either be evacuated or given massive material assistance in rebuilding, somehow avoiding forcing them to labor under worse conditions than they suffered as Drakan property. The British losses, while not all from English stock, are staggering; over 20 divisions were fed into the island, and the equivalent of only 5 remain — more than 1 casualty per square kilometer. While training and weapons can be improved, this was an isolated outpost of the Domination, and conquering their home territories will require either a massive expenditure in men, or a "wonder weapon" capable of laying entire cities to waste.

• In the late 1930s, as Britain refused to adapt to the new realities of war, Winston Churchill observed, "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences." — Change this slightly, and have it said by a German Militarist…

• A later Paxton Steepledale speech from Britain or Australia: "Upon this coming battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends the British life and the long continuity of their institutions and their Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on them now. The Archon and Chancellor know that they will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to them, all Europe, Asia and Africa may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us all therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years to come, men will say, 'This was their finest hour.'"
  [Paraphrase of Winston again, assuming both German-Domination and British-American alliances.]

Lend-Lease:

• Britain's war spending, especially the "cash and carry" trade with the United States, has massively increased government debt. The U.S. government is unwilling to extend credit, due to continuing neutrality and lingering high-level disapproval of the British actions in Ireland. Although taxes are increased, and the British people exhorted to buy war bonds, there is a net loss in income caused by a wartime decrease in international trade.
• Britain tries to reduce their defense commitments elsewhere and improve relations with the U.S. by offering long leases on several "spare" military bases in the Caribbean and in eastern Canada.
• The U.S. accepts the "Defense Expansion Leases" offered by Britain, freeing the equivalent of two divisions of ground troops for service elsewhere, and tying the two powers a bit closer together.

Fallout from Ireland:

• The first American militia units are ordered to report for overseas duty in Britain. A suspiciously large number of Irish-Americans get medical exemptions for "liver disease," but enough replacements are available to meet the deployment schedule.

Jet aircraft:

• 1924: Martin Baker, a British Royal Air Force cadet, writes a thesis outlining a jet propulsion system for aircraft. He develops this idea into a workable turbojet engine over the next 12 years while posted at a remote fuels research station, after angering his superiors with his insistence on the necessity for developing his concept.
• 1932: Gustav Haber, a German engineering student, independently proposes a turbojet engine for a future aircraft.
• 1934: Rodney Harris of Technical Section conceives of a sort of jet engine for aircraft while under the influence of kif, and gets the Theoretical Concepts Branch to begin research on the concept.
• 1935: After hiring Haber, the Heinzel Aircraft Company develops the turbojet engine concept with military funds into an almost-working prototype, the He-Y-1, a swept-wing design. Although the concept is proven, the company falls out of favor with the military for misuse of funds, and a long delay ensues as the favored Meckler company puts jet development on the back burner to push their own designs.
  The yearly review at Theoretical Concepts selects the turbojet aircraft engine as the most feasible project for practical development, and it is given full Technical Section support. Projects such as caseless ammunition and an extremely heavy clank continue to languish.
• 1936: Martin Baker's turbojet engine is successfully demonstrated to a receptive audience, and official Royal Air Force support is gained for further development and demonstration in an aircraft.
• 1937: The world's first jet aircraft, a heavily modified Royal Air Force Bfe.23/C Flitter, flies. The aerodynamics aren't optimized for a turbojet engine, but the potential is realized and a purpose-built airframe is designed for the follow-on.
  The first Domination jet flies, but crashes during its third flight when in a dive faster than the speed of sound. Flights are halted until the "Messner Limit" can be safely hurdled by Citizen pilots. A trans-sonic wind tunnel is built in the Congo to avoid further risky flight testing. Jet engine development is scaled down to prototypes in support of testing, and production is devoted to conventional designs until such time as somebody else deploys jet aircraft.
• 1938: The second British jet aircraft design, the Bfe.39/A Lightning, is built and flown. A careful test program approaches the Messner Limit, but doesn't reach it before small-scale production is to be authorized. At a secret demonstration, an experienced RAF pilot (with no time in a jet cockpit) insists on flying one, and manages to tear the wings off in front of the assembled dignitaries. The Lightning is sent back to the drawing board in the mistaken belief that structural failure was to blame.
• 1939: Round-the-clock wind tunnel testing and design iterations result in workable trans-sonic engines and aerodynamic swept-wing designs, which are then held in reserve in case the Domination finds itself overmatched in the air.
• 1940: Stockpiled jet aircraft soon approach significant amounts, but not enough Drakan pilots can be spared from current operations to train in the new aircraft. The Air Corps finally agrees to siphon off a portion of incoming trainees for the still-secret revolutionary new aircraft that Technical Section wants to inflict on them.
  A beefed-up Bfe.39/B Lightning makes a test flight, but can't reach the same speeds as the original. It goes back to the drawing board again, to produce an aircraft that won't fall apart in flight yet still beat conventional ones in performance.
• 1941: The U.S. Army Air Corps submits a request for a high-speed fighter aircraft that does all but specify a jet, since current prop designs can't meet the speed requirement. No U.S. aircraft companies are able to satisfactorily answer the request, and there is insufficient cooperation with Britain to get them to release their jet design secrets. Also, the Navy is satisfied with current aircraft designs (it has one fielded design each of carrier-capable torpedo bomber, dive bomber, interceptor fighter, escort fighter, long-range search seaplane, and light transport), so jet research isn't encouraged.
  The Meckler X-251 jet aircraft makes its first test flights, but the German military is more interested in optimizing production of current models than seeing new concepts.
  The Air Corps agrees to withhold jet aircraft from operations, although the Supreme Staff is tempted several times to employ them in the coming months. Technical Section responds to an internal request for a long-range heavy bomber by 1945 with a low-priority jet design effort and a stopgap transport conversion.
  After determining the true cause of the 1939 crash, the Bfe.39/C Lightning re-design heads off trans-sonic problems through elegant features, but the aircraft is too expensive for the Royal Air Force to build in large numbers. The entire jet project is shelved until the cost can be reduced or necessity demands; only theoretical studies continue.
• May 1942: German military support of jet aircraft development is halted, along with other advanced technology areas, when the German high command determines that the current war doesn't warrant new weapons, just more of the current ones. After all, the other members of the Continental Pact are asking for German weapons instead of developing their own. The Me-X-251 is allowed to continue flight tests, but production is prohibited.
• July 1942: After a Me-X-251 is lost to the "Messner Limit," operational limits are instituted and automatic controls installed to avoid exceeding the speed of sound in the remaining five German jet aircraft.
• 1943: The U.S. is late in developing jet engines and aircraft. When a British turbojet engine is brought over, it is copied and the first U.S. jet aircraft is built in record time and flight-tested. A composite design with a front prop and rear jet engine is built as well, but only the initial batch of 20 Harrison Z-2 Fireball aircraft are built and flown before pure jet designs gain favor, and no more are ever built.
• 1944: Germany resumes development of jet aircraft, but only fighters as bomber capability is deemed unnecessary. The thoroughly tested Me-X-251 is rushed into production as the Me-261 Schwalbe (Swallow).
• 1945: The Me-261 does rather well against enemy aircraft, but their small numbers aren't enough to turn the tide. Production facilities and intact aircraft become prizes as the invaders advance.
• 1945: America isn't able to develop and deploy jet aircraft before the war ends, although their effort is judged the most advanced Allied jet at the time.
• 1945: Britain completes wind tunnel studies on theoretical designs, and builds the first delta-wing jet.
• 1946: America places their first jet aircraft into a training role without ever seeing combat, and replaces them with second-generation designs using higher powered engines and larger fuel tanks, producing significant improvements in speed, ceiling and range.

Autogyros (helicopters, rotary wing aircraft): [much of this from http://www.helis.com/]
also see http://www.germanvtol.com/ for German WWII helicopter and VTOL designs.

• According to "Modern Marvels: The Helicopter" on The History Channel, the chief constraint on building a rotary wing aircraft OTL was power-to-weight ratio, and secondly control, not aerodynamics. Late steam engines (1890s?) were 100 pounds per horsepower; a conventional aircraft requires about 15 pounds/hp for sustained flight, and a helicopter about 3 pounds/hp.
• 1895: Trying to address the torque and stability problems, De los Olivos designs a tandem rotor helicopter with wings.
• 1906: Crocco of Italy suggests a cyclic control.
• 1907: Paul Cornu builds a twin-rotor rotating wing craft that passes a tethered flight test with a pilot aboard, but needs manual intervention by men carrying sticks to keep the body from twisting. Breuget-Richot gyroplane in France.
• 1911: Boris Yeriev publishes a description of a collective control device, and the main and tail rotor design.
• 1912: Ellehammer of Denmark builds a flying prototype, but his solitary ways squelch dissemination of his knowledge.
• 1916: Two Austrians, Lieut. Stefan Petroczy and Prof. Theodore von Karman, develop a captive helicopter. It was held aloft by cables anchored to the ground, and remained in the air for about one hour at a 600-foot altitude.
  (During the war, Anton Flettner of Germany develops a nose attitude control device for aircraft that is later applied to ships and aircraft as the "trim tab" to allow precise adjustments for hands-off stability.)
• 1923: In Spain, Juan de La Cierva builds the first Autogiro. While easier to design and build like an aircraft, the autogyro cannot hover nor descend vertically under power (autorotation is possible).
  Igor Sikorsky founds Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company on Long Island.
• 1924: Etienne Oehmichen flies a prototype rotary wing craft (helicopter) over a closed course of one kilometer in just under 8 minutes to win a prize. Emile Berliner and son Henry demonstrate a helicopter built from a plane fuselage and using wing-mounted rotors to the U.S. Army. Emile also invented the round flat phonograph record. Pescara of Argentina works in Spain and France, building the first flyable helicopter with collective and cyclic controls in this year.
  Professor Heinrich Focke (Dipl.-Inge) and George Wulf form a new aircraft company in Germany, Focke-Wulf.
• 1928: D'Ascanio of Italy builds a twin coaxial rotor helicopter. Hafner AR III/V in Austria. In the USSR, the Aerodynamic and Hydrodynamic Central Institute's (ZAGI or TsAGI) vertical flight department is created, and led by G. H. Sabinin.
• 1929: Nicolai Kamov and N.K. Skrzhinskiif start building KaSkr-I Gyrocraft, a coaxial rotor design based on de La Cierva's work.
  Sikorsky moves to Stratford Connecticut, and his company becomes part of United Aircraft Company. Work in the 1920s and 1930s was on amphibians and flying-boats as well as helicopters, particularly the Clipper series used by Pan American Airways, but concentrated on helicopters more and more.
• 1930: Juan de La Cierva invents the hinged flapping rotor blade, which made further development of practical helicopters possible.
  The ZAGI 1A flown by August 1930, had a fuselage made of welded tubes, a main rotor with four blades and powered by two engines of 120 HP installed with a vertical axis. This was the first twin-engine helicopter.
• 1931: Gerald P. Herrick of Philadelphia built a "convertaplane," an airplane with rotors so it could land at a steep angle. Due to the Depression and the high cost, his dream of putting one in every garage is never practical.
  Amelia Earhart sets an altitude record by reaching 18,000 feet in an autogyro.
• 1932: Flettner Fl-265, an early intermeshed vertical rotor design, in Germany.
• 1933: ZAGI 5EA tries interspersing long rigid and short movable (with cyclic control) rotors on same hub, abandoned for disappointing flight characteristics.
  In France, Louis Breueget and Dorand build a coaxial gyroplane with a 420 hp Wright engine.
• 1935: Wynn Laurence LePage (pioneer rotary wing designer) and Havilland Hull Platt (mechanical engineer and patent expert) become partners.
• 1936: The German Focke-Achgelis type 61 (later Focke-Wulf or FW-61) design is first to have really solved the helicopter control problems, thus recognized as the first successful helicopter. (Focke also built licensed versions of de La Cierva's C-19 and C-30 autogiros.)
  The "successful" accolade also applies to the Kamov A-7 Autogyro, which saw combat later as the armed A-7-3 and an observation model.
  Brueget-Dorand gyroplane reaches 108 kph on September 11th. Weir W.3 in Great Britain.
• 1937: FW-61 first flight. Hanna Reitsch demonstrates its precise control in a series of indoor flights. Eventual top speed of 122 kph.
  (late 1930s: Harold Pitcairn and Juan de La Cierva license Kellet Autogiro Corporation of Philadelphia, which builds the Kellet YG-1, the U.S. Army's first rotary-winged aircraft. Wynn Laurence LePage works for Pitcairn Aeroplane and Kellet, designing their first three autogiro designs.)
  Platt-LePage Aircraft Co. formed, but they are unable to produce the FW-61A in America due to worsening relations between Germany and the U.S.
• 1938: FW-61 sets altitude and duration records by remaining aloft at 11,000 feet for almost 80 minutes. Other designs from Focke during the war are the Fa-224, -226, -269, -283 and -284. The Fa-225 was an autogyro using an existing glider's body (the DSF-230) and the rotor from an Fa-223.
• 1939: First two-seater (Weir W.6).
  On September 14th, Igor Sikorsky's VS-300 becomes first helicopter to fly in U.S., and the first useful single-rotor design. Note that VS is due to merger of Chance Vought and Sikorsky. A long flight testing and redesign cycle will eventually lead to validating the tail rotor design over many other concepts for cancelling main rotor torque.
  Focke patents a design for a VTOL aircraft using twin rotors surrounded by the aircraft body (appears similar to a hovercraft), a variation of his "turbo-shaft" engine, ducting engine exhaust through the trailing edge of the body/wing.
• 1940: In July 1940 the Platt-LePage Aircraft Co. won the competition to build a helicopter designated XR-1 for the Army Air Corps.
  VS-300 endurance up to 15 minutes by the middle of the year.
  Kriegsmarine requests a helicopter design to operate from a naval deck. First Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache built. Fl-265 successfully evaluated for naval and army and large orders placed, but Anton Flettner convinces the Air Ministry to wait for the improved Fl-282. Fl-282 Kolibri design finalized in July; 2 seats, 7-cylinder 160 hp radial engine, maximum speed 150 kph, service ceiling 3300 meters, range 170 kilometers, empty weight 760 kg, maximum weight 1000 kg, rotor span almost 12 meters, twin two-blade rotors, automatically auto-rotates at low rotor rpm, large rear rudder, exposed pilot seat.
  Mil A-15 Gyrocraft built in Russia.
  Frank Piasecki's first design, the unbuilt PV 1, was a NOTAR (no tail rotor) design not possible with then-current technology but anticipating advances made over 30 years later.
• 1941: On May 6th, Igor Sikorsky establishes a helicopter endurance record of over 92 minutes.
  First flight of XR-1 on May 12, but control system problems delay further progress.
  First transition from helicopter to autorotate, then back to helicopter, by a Fl-265 in June. Fl-282 enters extensive flight testing.
• 1942: Productionized Fl-282 Kolibri first delivered, considered the most advanced helicopter in WWII, reduced to single seat and modified for shipboard operation. Flettner was also enamored with a design using dual intermeshing vertical rotors much like an eggbeater.
  First U.S. Army Air Corps service helicopter, the Vought-Sikorsky VS 316 Hoverfly, also known as the S-148 and R-4, and used by the Navy as the HNS. 200 hp engine, 3-blade main 11.6 meter rotor, 3-blade tail rotor, top speed 120 kph, cruise 104 kph, range 230 km, service ceiling 2400 m (7500 feet).
• 1943: XR-1 crashes and loses a rotor blade on July 4. Prototype of second model, the XR-1A, flies in December.
  Frank Piasecki's PV 2 and the Landgraf Model 2 in USA. First stabilizing bar on main rotor, on Arthur Young's Bell 30.
  First flight of VS 316A Hoverfly II (R-6, Navy HO5S) on October 15th, a two-seater with enclosed cockpit. Single 235 hp engine, 11.6 meter rotor diameter, maximum weight 1082 kg, speed 110 (max 154) kph, range 565 km, ceiling 4000 m.
  First US Coast Guard helicopter detachment, based in Connecticut.
  20 Fl-282 units operational with Kriegsmarine for convoy protection and reconnaissance. 2-seat version ordered for use with the Army; range 166 miles @ 71 mph single-seat, 106 miles @ 68 mph 2-seat.
  Doblhoff WNF 342 (Austria) built in Germany by Friedrich Von Doblhoff, A. Stepan and Theodor Laufer; first to take off and land using blade-tip jets to drive the rotor.
• 1944: Kamov KA-8 Vertolet, the first true helicopter from the Kamov bureau. They continue to specialize in compact coaxial designs for high-speed and naval use.
  Combined Army-Navy order placed for 1000 Fl-282s in both single and 2-seat versions. Only 25 are delivered due to Allied bombing; only 3 survive the war.
  XR-1A prototype delivered to U.S. Air Corps at Wright Field in June 1944, XR-1 flying again.
  July 4th, Stanley Hiller Jr.'s XH-44 flies in USA; world's first successful all-metal helicopter with rigid rotor blades. Stanley is only 19 years old, but convinces the Army to accept 3 units designated as X-2-235, a dual coaxial rotor design.
• 1945: Piasecki PV 3 is first tandem rotor helicopter (Frank Piasecki started in helicopter design at Platt-LePage). Kaman Aircraft founded.
  WNF 342 V4 and its builders surrender to American forces in late April.
  Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache is first helicopter to fly across the English Channel in May.
• 1946: Research into helicopters with ram-jet engines at the rotor blade tips. Bell 47 is world's first certified civil helicopter. Sikorsky S-51 DragonFly (H-5) is a commercial four-seat modification of the R-5, first flight on February 16th; engine now 435 hp, and other specifications superior to the R-5.
  Stanley Hiller Jr. joins with industrialist Henry Kaiser to begin forming United Helicopter. Their J-6, a NOTAR single-rotor design, is abandoned for insufficient engine power.
• 1947: Los Angeles Airways carries first load of mail on a helicopter. Platt-LePage sell off rights to their twin engined twin rotor helicopter and tilt rotor designs, and close Platt-LePage due to lack of orders.
  Anton Flettner begins consulting work for the American Office of Naval Research.
  Hiller 360X first flight in November.
• 1948: Mil bureau established in Soviet Union. Hiller 360 issued a civilian production certificate by the predecessor of the FAA.
• 1949: The Hiller 360 is the first civilian helicopter to fly across the United States.
• 1950: Convertiplanes and tiltrotor research begin. MASH units use helicopters in Korea for casualty evacuation. First Hiller 360 models for Army and Navy use.
• 1951: Sikorsky S-55 is world's first certified commercial transport helicopter. Kaman K-225 is first turbine gas powered helicopter.
• 1952: First transatlantic crossing by (Sikorsky) helicopters with stops; mechanical and weather difficulties stretch the 52 flight hours over 21 days.

• 1926: A Russian historian poring over the notebooks of Leonardo daVinci is intrigued by the "air screw" device portrayed, and has a replica built by the model-making shop of the Russian airplane design bureau. The bureau designs a "modern" version as well to show off, and then gets officially interested in the possibilities of a powered air vehicle that can hover.

• (items from the vice-commander of the 82nd Airborne's speech at the Army Aviation symposium 11/99, Mesa AZ)
• 1953: first tiltrotor (flight?)
  1973: first VX-15 flight
  1981: V-22 program initiated
  1998+: V-22 and variants fielded
• It took about 14 years for the US Army to field the Apache helicopter, 17 years for the Apache Longbow modification, 14 years for the SINGCARS (radio). Reducing this to something approaching the commercial development cycle is a major priority of US DOD acquisition reform. The continuum of increasing risk & cost seems to be:
  change procedures; change doctrine; modify existing equipment; buy COTS; buy new equipment (to military requirements).

Germ Warfare: (Shiro Ishii and Unit 731 are mostly OTL, but first seen on The Radium League timeline, which is only slightly different from OTL in this area)

• 1932: Shiro Ishii, a physician and Japanese army officer intrigued by germ warfare, begins preliminary experiments.
• 1933: Extensive testing of hormonal contraceptives on serfs leads to their being approved for use by Citizen women, Race Purity laws amended. Eugenics Directorate established with missions to improve the Citizens, find biological/chemical ways to control serfs, and develop biological weapons for use against the Domination's enemies. Taringa Biocontrol Institute established in the middle of the Kalahari Reserve, 10-kilometer radius around the facility cleared of all plant and animal life and aggressively patrolled.
• 1935: Research on vectors and diseases at Taringa closed down by a Senate committee after Conservation Directorate objections. Permitted avenues of research must now avoid indiscriminate slaughter and be self-limiting to avoid unleashing a holocaust into the Domination.
• 1936: Unit 731, a Japanese biological-warfare unit disguised as a water-purification plant, is constructed outside the city of Harbin in Manchuria. The large compound is more than 150 buildings over six square kilometers. Almost 9,000 test subjects, which Ishii and his peers call "logs," eventually die at this one compound alone. The Emperor approves this work, and gives it first pick in recruiting Japanese health professionals, as Shiro Ishii is able to convince the military hierarchy that the Russians are already far ahead in this area, and that human experimentation now will save the lives of Japanese soldiers.
• 1939: First tests of chemical agents that act directly on the human nervous system, refinements begin on effects, dosages, and delivery systems. Taringa becomes a popular alternative to destructive labor camps in the Security Directorate.
• 1941: Taringa delivers the first batches of a chemical contact nerve agent guaranteed to cause muscular paralysis and death within 5 minutes, yet effective for only 15 minutes after dispersal, packaged for the standard 250 kilo bomb and other delivery methods. An antidote is also made available.
• 1942: Shiro Ishii begins field tests of germ warfare on Chinese soldiers and civilians. Tens of thousands die of bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax and other diseases. Captured Russian soldiers are sent to Unit 731 and similar Japanese installations for the first testing on Caucasian subjects.
  Taringa nerve agent used on Gibraltar and Madrid is found to be almost 99% effective against unprotected subjects not familiar with poison gas precautions, but only 71% effective overall. Work proceeds on a viral agent that can penetrate a gas mask.
• 1945: In the final days of the war, Japanese troops attempt to conceal the existence of Unit 731 and other biological warfare facilities by blowing up the buildings and killing all remaining "logs."
• 1946: After surrender, the U.S. government obtains documents regarding the extent of war atrocities perpetrated upon the Chinese populace by the occupying Japanese government and its henchmen. The documents detail — in part — the insane human experiments and outright murder of Chinese civilians at the hands of Shiro Ishii at Unit 731. The documents reveal a nightmare of hideous tortures and plagues resulting in the deaths of at least 300,000 Chinese, 20,000 Russians, and several thousand Japanese who were accidentally exposed during various field tests.
  Several days later, news leaks to the American press regarding the cover-up of a secret deal between the U.S., Shiro Ishii and other Japanese leaders for the acquisition of germ warfare data based on human experimentation in exchange for immunity from war-crimes prosecution. It is not long before the U.S. government begins feeling the righteous anger of the public.
  Three days after the first press reports, the President addresses the nation regarding the war atrocities of Japan and especially Shiro Ishii. He promises that there will be no deal and that Ishii and his henchmen will, indeed, be prosecuted for war crimes. He adds that certain individuals in the Bureau of Defense have been detained under suspicion of collusion with Ishii and are undergoing questioning.
• 1947: War crimes trials against Shiro Ishii and other Japanese begin in the Philippines.
  After two months of proceedings, Shiro Ishii and five of his followers are found guilty of crimes against humanity. All six freely admit their activities in China and show no remorse. All are hung within one hour of the ruling.

Various helpful topics from Encarta (http://encarta.msn.com/):

• Chartered Companies, companies created by a grant from a sovereign government. The word company was first used as a legal term in connection with the great companies chartered by European nations in the 17th and 18th centuries. The companies were given royal charters authorizing them to acquire and administer territory as well as to direct trade.
• East India Company, any of a number of commercial enterprises formed in western Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries to further trade with the East Indies. The major companies were given charters by their respective governments, authorizing them to acquire territory and to exercise in those territories the various functions of government. There were four major companies.
• The Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, held a monopoly that extended from the Cape of Good Hope eastward to the Strait of Magellan. In 1619 the company established headquarters in the city of Batavia in Java (now Jakarta, Indonesia) and spread its influence throughout the Malay Archipelago, China, Japan, India, and Iran. In 1652 the company established the first European settlement in South Africa on the Cape of Good Hope. In the 18th century internal disorders and the growth of British and French power caused the decline of the company. In 1798 the French-controlled Batavian Republic took control of the company.
• The French company, founded in 1664, established its first trading post in Bombay in 1675 and set up its principal Indian base at Pondicherry the following year. The company extended its operations to China and Iran and prospered in India between 1735 and 1761, when the British captured Pondicherry. The operations of the company were suspended in 1769, and it turned over its capital to the Crown the following year.
• The English East India Company was the most important of the East India companies and a major force in India for more than 200 years. Queen Elizabeth I granted the original charter in 1600, giving the company a monopoly of trade in Asia, Africa, and America, and in 1610 it established its first trading posts in India. During the reign of Charles II (1660-1685) the company acquired sovereign rights, and in 1689 it began its long rule in India. The military victories of company official Robert Clive over the French in 1751 and 1757 made the company the dominant power in India. All formidable European rivalry vanished with the defeat of the French at Pondicherry in 1761. In 1784 the India Act created a government department to exercise control over the Indian affairs of the company. Although the company lost its monopoly of the Indian trade in 1813, it continued its administrative functions until 1858, when the Crown assumed all governmental responsibilities held by the company. The company was dissolved in 1874.
  http://www.theeastindiacompany.com/history.html has a sketchy history. One notable quote: "By the early nineteenth century the East India Company's writ extended across most of India, Burma, Singapore and Hong Kong, and a fifth of the world's population was under its authority. The Company had at various stages defeated China, occupied the Philippines, conquered Java and imprisoned Napoleon on its island of St. Helena. It had neatly solved its perennial need for bullion to buy tea by illicitly exporting Indian-grown opium to China [leading to the Opium War and other incidents]. It was the largest single commercial enterprise the world had ever seen, with revenues derived not only from trade but also tax-collecting."
  From: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4040/india.html
  The original purpose of the English in coming to India was for financial gains, by the formation of trade settlements. However, it was only in 1613 that Sir Thomas Roe was successful in getting permission to establish the first factory in Surat (in Maharashtra). As the company grew, it had establishments in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), Calcutta and Madras (now known as Chennai).
  Of course, with their kind of power, the motives of the British went gradually from merely financial profits to political empowerment over India. Many Governor Generals of India help strengthen the British hold over India. One such notable man was Sir Robert Clive, who helped capture Arcot and other regions. Wars such as the Carnatic Wars (1746-1763), Battle of Plassey (1757), the Battle of Buxar (1764) guaranteed the British a firm grip over India.
• India: In 1398 the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane destroyed Delhi, massacring its inhabitants, but he left the area of his own accord and the Lodi dynasty of kings took power. In 1526 Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane and the founder of the great Mughal dynasty, defeated the Lodi army, proclaiming himself emperor of the Muslim dominions. The Mughal Empire attained its peak of cultural splendor under the rule of Shah Jahan (reigned 1628-1658). However, under Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb, the empire declined. In the political chaos of the half-century after the Mughal Empire, petty kingdoms and principalities, such as Hyderabad, arose.
  Beginning in the late 1490s the Portuguese won a monopoly of the lucrative Indian maritime trade. The Dutch East India Company broke the monopoly early in the 17th century. After negotiations, in 1612 the English founded their first Indian trading post, eventually gaining dominance over the Dutch. In 1773 the East India Company became a semiofficial agency of the British government, which ultimately subjugated the entire subcontinent and contiguous regions using its superior military power, as well as brutality and manipulation. British policy of annexing Indian territories engendered profound hostility. In 1857 the sepoys, native troops employed by the English East India Company, began a general, sometimes bloody, uprising, known as the Sepoy Rebellion. By mid-1858 the rebels had fallen. However, the Sepoy Rebellion resulted in the transfer of the administration of India from the East India Company to the British crown, which implemented important reforms. Regardless, the impoverished condition of the masses, popular resentment over the country's colonial status, and a growing spirit of nationalism remained issues of concern.
  At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, nationalist associations were formed, the most influential being the Indian National Congress. Hostile demonstrations against British rule became more frequent, and there was a popular boycott of British goods. However, the formation in 1906 of the Muslim League, which was generally pro-British, to some extent diverted attention from nationalism to Hindu-Muslim conflicts. Following the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) both Hindus and Muslims rallied to the British cause.
  After the war, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a Hindu social and religious reformer, called for a campaign of passive resistance (Satyagraha) against British repression. In early 1930 Gandhi led a movement against the government salt monopoly, and his subsequent imprisonment resulted in riots. In 1931 the British government arranged a truce with Gandhi, but bitter Hindu-Muslim conflicts and the world economic crisis, which had begun in 1929, completely disrupted the economy of India during the early 1930s.
  In 1935 British legislation known as the Government of India Act provided for the establishment of autonomous legislative bodies in the provinces of British India. The plan proved unworkable, however, and a Muslim League proposal for creation of an independent Muslim state (Pakistan) met with violent Hindu opposition.
  On the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), the viceroy of India declared war on Germany without consulting Indian leaders, alienating important sections of the Indian National Congress. Meanwhile, the Muslim League, many of the princely states, and certain members of the Indian National Congress had endorsed the British war effort. After unsuccessful proposals by the British, the civil disobedience movement resumed in 1942, and the National Congress was outlawed. In 1945 and 1946 discussions between India and Great Britain took place. The negotiations were fruitless, but a representative interim executive council, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, was eventually formed. Nonetheless, strife between Muslims and Hindus increased.
  Fear of a Muslim-Hindu civil war led to the 1947 Indian Independence Act, establishing India and Pakistan as independent dominions of the Commonwealth of Nations. For the subsequent history of Pakistan, see Pakistan. As a result of partition, areas inhabited predominantly by Hindus were allocated to India, including most of the 562 princely states in existence, as well as other disparate territories.
  The delegates of the Muslim League boycotted the first Constituent Assembly in December 1946, and Nehru became the country's first Prime Minister. After partition, a mass exodus of Muslims from India into Pakistan and of Sikhs and Hindus from Pakistan into India took place, often accompanied by violence. Hostilities between the two countries grew serious over the status of the princely states, Kashmir in particular. The status of Kashmir was a recurring point of conflict and had yet to be settled in the mid-1990s. In 1948 Gandhi was assassinated, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, died as well.
  From: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4040/india.html
  India didn't actually begin to fight back until 1857. It was in that year that a wave of discontentment sparked a revolution, one that would later be dubbed as the Sepoy Mutiny by the British, and the First War of Indian Independence by the Indians. Though the Indians were severely defeated in that War, the unrest was too great to subside. The Indian National Congress was formed in Pune in December 1885. The world saw the rise of many revolutionaries such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Gopalkrishna Gokhale. Unfortunately, it was around this time that the British decided to implement a most disastrous policy, the 'Divide and Rule policy'. India being a secular nation, had many regions where the two major religions (Hinduism and Islam) collectively flourished. The partition of one such place, namely Bengal in 1905, led to turmoil and resentment. The sad point of it all is that the British actually succeeded in segregating the two religions. Standing testimony of this dastardly policy is the perpetual enmity that seems to have been rooted in the neighboring countries of India and Pakistan ever since the partition in 1945.
  The early 20th century saw the advent of a young politician by the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948). Dominating the Indian political scenario since the very time that he entered it in 1918, he introduced various methods of retaliation against the British, the most famous of which are Satyagraha (translated as 'the path of truth), and Ahimsa (the Buddhist principle of non-violence). The people of the land were thrown into jail like cattle being driven into an enclosure, but their spirit didn't waver. Gandhiji, as he was now affectionately called by the people, began to ask the Indian people to boycott British goods and to make their own clothes by spinning. This method was known as Swadeshi (Swa- self, deshi- country; hence "from one's own country") The 1920's and 1930's were strewn with incidents from both parties, treaties that were never honored, disappointments, and revolutions. All this came to a head with the Quit India Movement of 1942.
  On August 8th, 1942, the Congress in its meeting at Bombay passed a resolution known as 'Quit India' movement led by Gandhiji. In this resolution, Gandhi asked the British to quit India and gave a call for 'Do or die' to his countrymen. This was the worst movement of its kind. Leaders were arrested, government offices destroyed, telegraph wires were cut and communication paralyzed. The Government crushed this movement too. By now, there were two local parties struggling to grip the reins of India — the Indian National Congress, headed by Gandhiji, and the Muslim League, headed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
  In March 1947, Lord Mountbatten replaced the previous Viceroy, Lord Wavell. Most historians see this as a brilliant stroke of luck for, that very year, India claimed its independence. Lord Mountbatten came up with a plan (dubbed as 'The Mountbatten Plan'). In this plan he detailed principles based on which the country would be partitioned. Instructions on how power would be transferred from the hands of the British to the Indians were laid out, and its acceptance by the Congress and the Muslim League resulted in the birth of a new nation, Pakistan. The Indian Independence Act 1947 was the official name given to the Mountbatten Plan when it was introduced into the British Parliament on June 3, 1947. In accordance with this plan, India was partitioned on August 15, 1947 (a day henceforth celebrated by the Indian as Independence Day). Though Lord Mountbatten continued as Governor General for quite some time after the Independence, the real power had finally been transferred into the hands of the Indians. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of Free India.
  Paraphrased from http://www.itihaas.com/modern/contrib.html:
  Like a plastic surgeon who draws lines on human body before cutting, the East India Company's planners drew a line around an area which was very productive in the 19th century, but the Company was only getting 6 annas from every 1 rupee of revenue collected. Treaties signed around 1805-1809, when English were a much weaker military power in India as well as Europe, gave local Nawabs and a few Rajas the major part of money they collected. By 1857 things had changed; the biggest change in India was defeat of the Sikhs in Punjab in 1849 and English capability to control Punjab. The English kept young Maharaja Dulip Singh under their control as an "ace in the hole." If unrest in Punjab appeared, they would bring him back and pretend to be his agents. To their amazement Punjab stayed quiet and control of India under the East India Company was complete.
  Next, the English wanted to end the threat of Russian invasion of India. In the American Revolution, the English suffered from a weapon which in the 18th and 19th century was considered unfit for military use. That weapon was a slow to load muzzle-loader smooth bore musket called Brown Bess, more fit for hunting than for battle. American riflemen, often hunters and fur traders, armed with Kentucky rifles could hit a English soldier at 500-800 yards, while English musket could only fire effectively up to 50-70 yards. Learning from their defeat in the American Revolution, the English quietly introduced better rifles in their army. At first the results were mixed; a few English rifle regiments armed with the Baker rifle suffered at Waterloo. By 1851-1855 the English were the first European army to arm 90% of their infantry units with rifles; this allowed English to get away with a stalemate in Crimea. In 1856 they signed a treaty with Russia, and India was safe from Russian attack for the time being.
  Using cunning and dirty tricks, the East India Company was breaking their treaties with Indian Princes. The East India Company saw a chance to break all the old deals in one clean sweep. Another reason why they created the drama of a so-called mutiny was even meaner. After Crimea there was no threat from Russia, so how could the size of the native Indian army be reduced? One way was simply to retire about 40,000 sepoys, but the promised pension of 15 pounds a year per sepoy would be a large continuing expense. So the East India Company's Secret Committee decided to kill two birds with one stone. Let the sepoy units located in the area where English wanted to break their treaties mutiny, massacre English women and children to inflame the public in England, and draw the local Princes into the fight with the British Army.
  Indians in mid 19th century did not think much of English as military power. Marathas and then Sikhs were defeated mostly using dirty tricks. The English wanted to build their reputation as strong military power and their technical advantage of rifle added with the fact that they removed most of cannons from the area where sepoy mutiny was planned. Few sepoy units armed with new 1853-Infield rifle were fooled by the trick of cow and pig fat used to make the cartridge waterproof. This was not an unfounded rumor; the English dirty trick department actually bought fat of cows and pigs from slaughterhouses in Bengal, and openly mixed it using Indian laborers. English spies did the rest and the poor sepoys lost a major advantage. The drama of a kamal flower and roti as a symbol of upcoming mutiny was another English idea.
  Indians by their nature do not organize mass violent movements and especially people in and around Lucknow and Delhi who never had any day to day connection with English in mid 19th century. People still paid taxes to local Rajas or Nawabs and many of them had never seen an Englishman.
• An Indian chronology: (most inter-Indian battles and events are ignored)
  

  1497-8	First voyage of Vasco de Gama.
  1510	Portuguese capture Goa.
  1515+	Portuguese expand trading outposts and outright possessions in India, but are very intolerant of Muslims, and slow to counter competition from the other powers.
  1600	British East India Company chartered.
  1602	Dutch United East India Company formed.
  1609	Dutch open a factory at Pulicat.
  1611	English establish a factory at Masulipatnam.
  1615	Sir Thomas Roe arrives in India.
  1616	English establish a factory at Surat.
  1632	Grant of the "Golden Firman" to the English Company by the Sultan of Golkunda.
  1639	Fort St. George founded at Madras by English.
  1661	Cession of Bombay to British as part of Charles II's dowry from a Portuguese princess, island rented to British East India Company. Charles II also eventually gave the Company the rights to issue currency, erect forts, exercise jurisdiction over English subjects, and declare war/peace with natives.
  1686	English war with the Mughuls.
  1690	Peace between Mughuls and English.
  1698	London East India Company begins trading in India.
  1702	Amalgamation of London and British East India Companies.
  1740	England and France take opposing sides in War of Austrian Succession, bringing their operations in India into conflict.
  1744	French and British begin battling for supremacy in Carnatic region.
  1748	First Anglo-French War.
  1749	Madras restored to British.
  1757	Battle of Plassey, English defeat Siraj-ud-daulah, capture of Chandernagore.
  1759	Forde defeats the Dutch at Bedara.
  1760	English defeat French at Battle of Wandiwash in Third Carnatic War.
  1764	English defeat Mir Kasim at Battle of Buxar.
  …
  1961	Goa returned from Portugal to India

• Europeans first visited Japan about 1543. Jesuit missionaries converted numbers of Japanese to Christianity despite the hostility of the rulers, who eventually prohibited contact with the outside world. Superior Western military power, however, forced Japan to open itself to foreign relations in the 1800s. The shogunate established treaties, trade missions, and embassies in the name of the Emperor. The last shogun resigned in 1867, and control of the government passed to the Emperor. Clan feudal territories were replaced by a central administration, with the capital in Edo (Tokyo).
  A period of imitating and cooperating with the West created a modern society in Japan. Universal education, military conscription, rapid industrialization, and abolition of the samurai class were achieved. The constitution of 1889 provided for a Prime Minister and a bicameral Diet. The Emperor retained important powers.
  Following an aggressive foreign policy, Japan won the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) with China and then the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), which led to the annexation of Korea in 1910. Japan entered World War I (1914-1918) on the side of the Allies and forced Germany from several Pacific Ocean islands. Following the war, Japan became more liberal, granting universal male suffrage in 1925, easing pressure on China, and recognizing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Emperor Hirohito ascended in 1926, with a militarist as Prime Minister, and an aggressive policy toward China resumed.
  The Japanese army had conquered much of China by 1938. Japan entered into an alliance with Germany and Italy in 1940 and in 1941 signed a neutrality pact with the USSR. Occupation of French Indochina by Japanese troops and attempts to gain influence for Japan in the East Indies increased friction between the United States and Japan. By 1941, Japan had decided on war.
• The Netherlands and the surrounding area, known as the Low Countries, passed from the control of the dukes of Burgundy during the early 16th century into the hands of the Habsburg emperor Charles V, who held territories throughout Europe. In 1555 Charles granted control of Spain and the Netherlands to his son, Philip II, whose oppressive rule led to a war of independence waged by the Dutch from 1568 to 1648.
  A well-organized Protestant church movement developed in the Netherlands, and the disaffection with Catholic Spain coincided with the Protestant revolt against the Roman Catholic church. In 1566 anti-Catholic riots spread across the country. Philip sent Spanish troops, whose harsh actions resulted in open revolt. William I, prince of Orange, led the revolt and eventually took control of most northern towns. In 1579 the Union of Utrecht, an alliance of all northern and some southern territories, was formed. The provinces that joined the union would become the Netherlands; those that did not would become Belgium. In 1581 the Union of Utrecht proclaimed independence from Spain. The new nation suffered a series of reverses in the war with Spain, but eventually the tide turned. In 1648 the Spanish recognized the sovereignty of the Dutch Republic.
  About 1600 a merchant expedition of three vessels sailed from Amsterdam to Indonesia, the first of numerous journeys that resulted in lucrative Dutch trading stations throughout the world. By the mid-17th century the Netherlands was the foremost commercial and maritime power of Europe, and Amsterdam was the financial center of the continent. Inevitably, the Dutch and the English, the leading maritime trading nations, came into conflict. Two Anglo-Dutch Wars were waged during the 1650s and 1660s. Other wars, costly in lives and money, followed against England and France.
  Eventually the Dutch Republic was overshadowed by the expanding power of Great Britain at sea and France on land. In the late 18th century a struggle broke out between conservatives and those who desired democratic reforms. The conflict became moot after Napoleon I incorporated the Low Countries into the French Empire in 1810. After the fall of Napoleon, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was restored, with the addition of the territory that is now Belgium, but the union was short-lived. In 1830 the Belgians revolted and established their independence.
  The second half of the 19th century witnessed a liberalization of government. Suffrage was gradually extended, the administration of the colonies was reformed, and agitation for social reform increased. From about 1880 to 1914 the Netherlands enjoyed an era of economic expansion. During World War I (1914-1918), the nation suffered hardship through loss of trade as a result of the Allied blockade of the Continent. During World War II (1939-1945), the Netherlands was occupied by the Germans and suffered heavy destruction. The years following the war were marked by intensive efforts to rebuild the country and to restore trade and industry. In the colonies, the Netherlands lost a war against nationalists in Indonesia, which gained its independence in 1949. Netherlands New Guinea gained its independence in 1962; Suriname in 1975.
• Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford (1781-1826), British colonial administrator, born off the coast of Jamaica. He entered the service of the East India Company and in 1805 was sent to Pinang (now in Malaysia). In 1811 he prepared the way for a British invasion of the island of Java (now part of Indonesia), then a Dutch possession. After a successful campaign, Raffles remained in Java as Lieutenant-Governor. He returned to Britain in 1816, but three years later he established a settlement on the island of Singapore.
• South Africa is a modern industrial country, but it also exhibits many of the signs of a developing economy, such as a great disparity in the distribution of wealth. Until the mid-20th century, its economy hinged on mineral and agricultural products. Then a broad-based manufacturing sector developed. However, high unemployment and lack of job skills are persistent problems. Because of limited rainfall and infertile soil, most farmland is devoted to raising livestock. Nonetheless, the country produces almost all the crops needed for food, including sugarcane, grapes, maize (corn), potatoes, wheat, apples, and oranges. Timber production includes pine, eucalyptus, and wattle. Coastal fishing, for both domestic and foreign markets, is also an important industry.
  South Africa is the world's leading producer of gold, and the fifth-largest producer of diamonds. Its other important minerals are coal, iron ore, copper, manganese ore, lime and limestone, and chromium ore. Mining, construction, and manufacturing contribute 39 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Leading manufactures of South Africa include chemical products, petroleum and coal products, processed food and beverages, transportation equipment, iron and steel, metal products, machinery, paper, and textiles.
  By AD 1000 Khoikhoi and San peoples were scattered throughout what is now South Africa, while some Bantu-speaking peoples occupied the northern region. In 1652 the first Dutch settlers, later known as Boers, or Afrikaners, arrived and soon developed their own distinctive culture and language (Afrikaans). By the 18th century most of the Khoikhoi and San peoples had lost their lands to these European settlers. In the early 19th century, competition for land led to a period of conflict among blacks known as the mfecane. Hundreds of thousands died during the wars, entire groups disappeared, and centralization resulted in the creation of many Bantu nations (including Swazi, Zulu, and Sotho).
  In 1814 Britain purchased the Cape Colony from the Dutch, and soon thousands of British colonists arrived in South Africa, imposing English law and language and giving the Khoikhoi protection. Afrikaners resented these measures, and in what is known as the Great Trek, thousands of them moved northward to establish settlements. In the 1850s the British government recognized the independence of these Afrikaner settlements: the Transvaal territories, later known as the South African Republic, and the Orange Free State. After renewed struggles against British domination, the South African Republic achieved semi-independence, and in 1883 Afrikaner leader Paul Kruger was elected president of the republic.
  Discovery of vast gold deposits in the southern Transvaal in 1886 led to a mining industry financed by the British, and eventually Britain annexed the region. Afrikaner-British tension over control of this area escalated into the Boer War (1899-1902), which the British won. In 1910 the British Parliament established the dominion of the Union of South Africa. In order to represent blacks, in 1912 black African leaders organized what eventually became the African National Congress (ANC). The Nationalist Party was founded in 1914 by J. B. M. Hertzog to further the cause of Afrikaner nationalism and white supremacy, and Hertzog became prime minister of South Africa in 1924.
• Dutch West India Company, trading company incorporated by the States-General of the Netherlands in 1621 to share world trade with the Dutch East India Company. In return for subsidies to the state, the West India Company received a monopoly of trade in the Americas and Africa. The company colonized New Netherlands (later New York), Suriname, and Curaçao. The Dutch West India Company proved less successful than the Dutch East India Company. In 1674 it was dissolved because of financial difficulties.
• New York Colonization by Dutch & English:
  http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/kingston/colonization.htm
  http://www.academic.marist.edu/ssp97/huge2.htm
• Early history of Robben's Island (near Cape Town):
  http://www.freedom.co.za/history1.html
• Another history for the Netherlands was found at (a page not found as of 06 June 2001), summarized as:
  The country now known as the Netherlands was, during the Middle Ages, a collection of autonomous duchies (Gelre and Brabant) and counties (Holland and Zeeland) together with the bishopric of Utrecht. These territories, together with present-day Belgium and Luxembourgh, formed under Karel V the Low Countries, which were part of the great Burgundian-Hapsburg Empire.
  In 1568 when a number of the provinces rebelled against Philip II of Spain it marked the beginning of the 80 Years' War of Independence. Prince Willem van Oranje, who has gone into history as 'the father of the Netherlands', led the revolt. The peace of Westphalia (1648) recognized the Republic of the Seven United Provinces as an independent state.
  In the 17th century, Dutch merchants established trading posts all over the world. This period was characterized by an expansion of trade and shipping, earning it the name 'the Golden Age'. First there were many trading companies, which later, due to heavy mutual competition, merged together in a few big trading companies. The leading companies were the Dutch East India Company (VOC: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie), which traded with the Far East, and the West India Company (WIC: West Indie Compagnie) responsible for administration of New Amsterdam or New York as it later became. The need to protect trade interests led to several wars, notably against England.
  In 1789 the French Revolution broke out, with the result that French troops occupied the Republic in 1795. In 1810 Napoleon incorporated the Northern Netherlands into the French Empire as a vassal state. With the fall of Napoleon the Netherlands regained its freedom and in 1815 Willem I, prince of Oranje-Nassau, assumed the title King of the Netherlands. He was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The Netherlands assumed its present form when Belgium became independent in 1839.
  During the First World War, the Netherlands remained neutral. It continued to pursue a policy of strict neutrality right up until the Second World War, but was nevertheless attacked and invaded by Germany in 1940 and occupied for 5 years.

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