A.D. 1900 onward--Submarine development in Britain is stunted when opposition among
the Admiralty, lead by Admiral Arthur K. Wilson, prevents funding from reaching
submarine research programs. Wilson, who has branded submarines as "underhanded,
unfair, and damned un-English," will finally succeed, after assuming the post of First
Lord of the Admiralty in 1905, in seeing the few British submarines scrapped or sold to
foreign navies.

A.D. 1900--An alliance of Japan, Britain, France, Italy, Austria, Russia and Tawantinsuyu
(called the Seven Nation Alliance) send military forces to China to rescue people and to
put down what the West calls the Boxer Rebellion. Another Anglo-Ashante war erupts, in
what today is Ghana. Ashante warriors abandon skirmishing for frontal attacks against
British machine guns. Germany leads the world in literacy. Germany, especially Prussia,
is well supplied with engineers, chemists, opticians, skilled workers for its factories,
skilled managers, knowledgeable farmers and skilled military personnel. Literacy is said
to be above 90 percent in Britain, France, Tawantinsuyu, Norway, Sweden, and Australia;
between 70 and 90 percent in the United States, Canada and Japan; 78 percent in Italy; 50
to 70 in the Balkans; 30 to 50 percent range in Russia; and below 30 percent in China,
India, Africa and the Islamic countries. Also in this year, the Siberian exile of Vladimir
Ulyanov ends. He soon leaves Russia, and travels throughout Europe. He eventually
settles in Geneva, Switzerland, where he publishes a revolutionary newspaper and takes
the alias of Vladimir Lenin. In London, the British Parliament ratifies the proposed
Australian Constitution, and the constitution is given royal assent. The Commonwealth
of Australia is born. Keish guides an expedition to the Yukon River Region, where his
gold find is confirmed. News of the find is leaked to the world later that year, and the
Klondike Gold Rush begins. As many as 100,000 people trek to the region, but most do
not stay. Enough do, however, that the British government decides that a new colony
should be created to administer the region. Creation of the Yukon Colony. Also in this
year, Crown Prince Luis Ferdinand of Spain marries Anna Maria Theresia, daughter of
Grand Duke Ferdinand IV of Tuscany.

A.D. 1901--In China, the Dowager Empress Cixi signs an agreement ending the Boxer
Rebellion. At the insistence of Manco Capac Inca III of Tawantinsuyu, per the agreement
the Dowager Empress is forced to go into exile from China, never to return, and Emperor
Guangxu is returned to power. Cixi goes to live in seclusion on an estate in England.
Accusing them of complicity in the Boxer Rebellion, with the support of the Seven
Nation Alliance, Guangxu conducts a purge of Cixi’s conservative supporters, including
an influential general named Yuan Shikai, who had cooperated with the coup by which
Cixi had forced Guangxu into isolation and thus earned Guangxu’s undying enmity.
Yuan is arrested and beheaded in Beijing before the end of the year. Queen Victoria of
Great Britain dies. Edward VII is crowned. Alvin Lombard, an American manufacturer,
invents a practical version of what will later become known as the caterpillar track. He
uses it on various steam-powered log-hauling machines. Lenin joins the Russian Social
Democratic Labour Party, a Marxist party whose program is based on the belief that,
despite Russia's agrarian nature, the true revolutionary potential of Russia lies with the
industrial working class.

A.D. 1901 onward--The Emperor Guangxu, having been restored to power, Guangxu’s
own supporters, chief among them Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, return from exile
abroad, and together, they and the Emperor begin to reinstitute the program of reforms in
China which had been interrupted by Cixi’s 1898 coup. Having learned some lessons
from Cixi’s coup and the succeeding events, Guangxu institutes reform at a more
measured pace than that he attempted in 1898, which causes less disaffection among the
conservative elements of the population. Guangxu also actively courts the assistance of
Manco Capac Inca III of Tawantinsuyu, who Guangxu recognizes as being primarily
responsible for his own restoration to power. Guangxu seeks the advice and assistance of
the Inca in matters both political and military.

Acting on the advice of Tawantinsuya advisors at his court, Guangxu ends the isolation
of the imperial family in the Forbidden City at Beijing, and moves the capital from that
city to the old Chinese imperial seat at Xian, thus emphasizing his determination to
remove the barriers between the Manchu imperial family and the mass of the Chinese
people. The Forbidden City is demolished (apartment complexes for the common people
are erected on the site instead), while Guangxu inhabits much less ostentatious and
isolated quarters at Xian. These actions, along with Guangxu’s regular public
appearances at important State functions, greatly increases his popularity among the
people. He also wins the support of many anti-monarchist republicans such as Dr. Sun
Yat-Sen by his introduction of a democratically elected parliament and a constitution
creating a limited monarchy within two years of his resumption of power.

With the help of Tawantinsuya military advisors provided by Manco Capac Inca,
Guangxu is able to solve one of the most serious problems facing the Qing monarchy...the
reorganization of the army and securing it’s loyalty to the dynasty. The execution of
Yuan Shikai and other army generals of doubtful loyalty solve a large part of the latter
problem, and the supply of Tawantinsuya arms, equipment, and training for Guangxu’s
forces, which enable him to put down the various warlords who had established
themselves in different areas of China during the period of chaos following the Boxer
Rebellion, solve most of the rest of it. But the establishment of a centrally controlled
Imperial Military Academy at Xian at the suggestion of Guangxu’s Tawantinsuya
advisors (and the centralization of military training at this site by closure of the other
academies which had already been established under earlier Qing rulers) ...which would
not only train a professional officer corps but also indoctrinate it in loyalty to the
dynasty...finishes that particular task, and the possibility of army rebellions recedes ever
further as time goes on.

Finally, Guangxu’s reform of the education system on Western lines and promotion of
industrialization, also with Tawantinsuya assistance, greatly strengthens China. By the
time of Guangxu’s death in 1938, China will be well on it’s way to taking it’s place as
one of the first nations of the world.

A.D. 1902--Britain has won the Boer War. It creates the Union of South Africa and gives
it Dominion (Commonwealth) status. Bones of the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Rex are
discovered in the region which would be known in OTL as Montana. Britain signs an
alliance with Japan. The Australian Parliament passes the Franchise Act, which
guarantees the right of women to vote. But most non-European ethnic groups, including
Australian aborigines and Tawantinsuya, are denied the vote. Abdul al-Aziz ibn Saud, at the head of a 

Bedouin army, conquers Riyad and begins working to unite the kingdom of Arabia (both through military action and 

marriage with 20 women) under the puritanical Wahhabi Islamic order. Also in this year, the British government
offers to create a Jewish national home by donating 5000 square miles of the Mau Plateau in
Uganda, in East Africa. This proposal is transmitted to Theodore Herzl’s Zionist Group by the
British Foreign Secretary.

A.D. 1902 onward--Civil War in the Quilombo. In the Quilombo, the system of
government which was instituted in the early 18th Century (under Tawantinsuya
guidance) has generally worked well at managing and arbitrating the tribal conflicts
within the country. But the basis of the system...the division of the country into
tribally-based provinces, each of which is represented in the Great Assembly...has not
encouraged amalgamation of the various tribal groups or the creation of loyalty to the
Quilombo as opposed to one’s own tribe. And so old tribal hatreds still remain, and the
system of shared power has not eliminated them. With the industrialization programs
instituted by the government in the 19th century, these conflicts have become more
pronounced, as various tribal groups vie for lucrative government subsidies and industrial
contracts. These conflicts finally boil over in 1902, when a disputed election in the
Quilombo leads to violence as supporters of the various candidates (whose political
parties are formed largely along tribal lines) riot in the streets of the Quilombo’s cities.
This leads Great Chief Juma Dakarai to declare martial law and order the army to
suppress the rioters. Unfortunately, the army itself has become polarized along tribal
lines by the passions unleashed by the election, and fighting breaks out among army units
sent out to restore order. By the end of the year, organized government in the Quilombo
has virtually collapsed, and the country is in a state of civil war. Gradually warlords
emerge in control of various regions, and the fighting continues. It will go on, at various
levels of intensity, for years.

A.D. 1903--Alvin Lombard’s caterpillar track patents are purchased by American
manufactuer Benjamin Holt. Holt founds the Holt Tractor Company, producing
agricultural machinery which becomes popular in many countries. Manco Capac Inca III,
concerned by reports of Tawantinsuya citizens caught in the escalating violence in the
Quilombo, sends in Tawantinsuya troops to restore order. The Tawantinsuya end up
involved in a multi-sided guerilla war against the various regional warlords, and their
forces will be heavily involved in the conflict for many years. Meanwhle, the Quilombo
province comprising the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean is the one area of said
country not involved in the civil war. With the disintegration of the Quilombo into chaos,
the province declares it’s independence, and in this year the Republic of Haiti is
re-established, ruling over the entire island. An assembly adopts the original Haitian
constitution of 1796 as the governing document for the new nation, and a President is
elected later the same year. The Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic
Labour Party is held. The Congress is dominated by a dispute between two factions, lead
by Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov. Lenin’s faction argues for a small party of
professional revolutionaries with a large fringe of non-party sympathizers and supporters.
Martov’s faction disagrees, believing it is better to have a large party of activists. The
dispute proves irreconcilable, and the Party splits into two factions, the Bolsheviks,
headed by Lenin, and the Mensheviks, headed by Martov. In Prussia, Karl Jatho makes
several short flights in a powered, heavier-than-air craft. However, the flights are not
controlled, and his aircraft is more of a powered glider than a true airplane. Also in this
year, Crown Prince Benedict of the United States marries Lady Cynthia Troup, daughter
of a former Governor of Georgia, Lord George Troup.  Also in this year, 

the Uganda Proposal is brought before the Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.
The proposal is tentatively accepted by a substantial margin (after the Russian delegation walks
out in protest).  Konstantian Tsiolkovsky publishes a report that suggests the use of liquid
propellants for rockets in order to achieve greater range.

A.D. 1904--Conflicting interests in Manchuria and Korea between Japan and Russia
erupts in war, with Japan attacking the Russians at Port Arthur and landing troops near
Seoul, Korea. Tensions rise between Britain and Russia while Russia is at war with
Japan. Prussian support for Russia inflames British opinion. Sir John Fischer becomes
Britain's First Sea Lord and believes that war with Prussia is inevitable. Misunderstanding
creates a war scare, and war is narrowly averted. Queen Isabella of Aztlan dies, and is
succeeded by her 49 year old son, who reigns as King Phillip I of Aztlan. The British and
French sign an agreement regarding boundaries between their colonial empires. Also in
this year, Crown Prince Luis Ferdinand and Princess Anna Maria Theresia of Spain
produce a son (actually the second child of their union...the first being a daughter), who
they name Felipe Carlos.  The Zionist Congress sends a three man delegation to inspect the Mau plateau. Its
high elevation gives it a temperate climate making it suitable for European settlement. However
the observers find a dangerous land filled with lions and other creatures. Moreover it is populated
by a large number of Maasai who do not seem at all amenable to an influx of Europeans.

A.D. 1905--Defeats in the war with Japan create rebellion by Russian sailors, and their
rebellion spreads to cities including the capital, St. Petersburg, where Bloody Sunday
occurs as the Tsar’s troops fire into a crowd of protesting civilians. This does not end the
unrest, however, and the Tsar is finally forced to issue The October Manifesto, granting
basic civil rights, allowing the formation of political parties, extending the franchise
towards universal suffrage, and establishing the Duma as the central legislative body.
There are spontaneous demonstrations of support in most of the major cities when the
Manifesto is announced. The ongoing strikes and other unrest in the country gradually
peter out, and calm is restored by the end of the year.  

Also in this year, the Zionist Congress, upon hearing the report of the  delegation sent to inspect the

lands in Uganda, decides to decline the British offer of a Jewish National Home in Uganda.

Meanwhile, Japan has taken control of Port Arthur and the adjoining Liaodong peninsula.
Japanese in general are exultant in victory, and super-patriots are reinforced in the belief
that they are superior to others in Asia and deserving of empire. Japan takes power over
Korea's postal, telegraph and telephone services and power over Korea's foreign affairs,
its military matters and police.

In Bern Switzerland, Albert Einstein, at the age of twenty-six, publishes a number of
papers that unify work in physics done by others. He creates the "special theory of
relativity." This holds that the speed of light is constant and that energy is mass multiplied
by the speed of light, squared. 

Conflict has erupted between France and Prussia over Morocco, where Prussia has mining interests. 

Prussia supports Moroccan independence. French hostility toward Prussia increases. War is narrowly averted.

Sweden's labor party, the Social Democrats, move to free their Norwegian "brothers"
from forced unity with Sweden. Swedish right-wingers want to discourage independence
by sending a force against the Norwegians. The labor movement in Sweden prevails.
Peacefully, Norway gains its independence.

King Consort Leopold of Aztlan dies. His death, following that of Queen Isabella the
previous year, is widely mourned in the kingdom as the end of an era. R. Hornsby and
Sons, an agricultural machinery company in Britain, patents a caterpillar track, which it
uses on farm tractors it builds. Traian Vuia, a Romanian working in Paris, achieves flight
with a powered aircraft capable of taking off from by it’s own power from a flat surface.
However, like Karl Jatho’s attempt in 1903, Vuia’s craft is not capable of controlled
flight, only of short hops into the air.

A.D. 1904-1929--The second Aliyah of Jews into Palestine, a migration of about 160,000 Jews,
of which about 20,000 will eventually leave, with the remainder becoming permanent residents.
The first Jewish defense organizations are formed during this period due to increasing hostility
from the local Arab population. During this period, some of the underpinnings of a future
independent Jewish nation-state arise: The national language Hebrew is revived; newspapers and
literature written in Hebrew published; political parties and workers organizations established.

A.D. 1906--In April 1906 the Tsar’s government issues the Fundamental Law, setting the
limits of the new political order. The Tsar is confirmed as absolute leader, with complete
control of the executive, foreign policy, Church, and the armed forces. The Duma is
shifted, becoming a lower chamber below the Tsar-appointed State Council. Legislation
has to be approved by the Duma, the Council and the Tsar to become law and in
'exceptional conditions' the government can bypass the Duma. In essence, despite the
promised changes of the October Manifesto, the country is unchanged...political power
remains with the Tsar, wealth and land with the nobility. The introduction of the Duma
and the clamp-down did, however, successfully disrupt the revolutionary groups. Leaders
were imprisoned or exiled and the groups were confused and uncertain--should they join
the Duma or stay outside? The resulting splits and internal divisions will keep the radicals
disorganized for many years.  

Also in this year, a lawyer in South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi, begins nonviolent
resistance to the mistreatment of his fellow Indians. Hornsby tractors are purchased by
the British Army for use as artillery tractors. Louis Bleriot of France develops a
monoplane aircraft, called the Bleriot V, which achieves the world’s first controlled flight
by a powered, heavier-than-air craft taking off from a flat surface under it’s own power.
The airplane is born, and development is soon proceeding at a frenzied pace in many
countries.  Abdul al-Aziz ibn Saud takes control of the Nejd and Hasa regions in Arabia.

A.D. 1907--Eight percent of U.S. households are wired for electricity. Modernists within
the Catholic Church have been trying to institute what they consider intellectual reforms.
Sixty-five of their proposals, 38 of which are biblical criticisms, Pope Pius X labels as
heretical. His encyclical describes "modernism" as an alliance between faith and false
philosophy. In Russia the government arbitrarily alters election laws in a way which
discriminates against the more liberal political parties. The Duma is largely reduced to a
collection of conservative landowners. The police crackdown on leftists. Rightists attack
Jews in Odessa. Also in this year, Prussian military attaches report the British use of
Hornsby tractors to their government. Prussia purchases some Holt tractors that same
year, which it uses for military research. King Benedict IV of the United States dies, and
is succeeded by his son, who reigns as King Benedict V.

A.D. 1908--King Wilhelm II of Prussia, the grandson of Queen Victoria, complains that
the English are "mad as hares" in their suspicions of Prussian intentions. "Time after
time," he claims, he has said that he is "a friend of England." His protestations do not
work. In a bloodless military coup, modernist soldiers overthrow the Ottoman sultan,
Abdul Hamid. Bulgaria's Prince Ferdinand declares Bulgaria independent of Ottoman rule
and himself as Tsar (king). Meanwhile, Austria-Hungary has been administering
Bosnia-Herzegovina. This has been understood to be temporary, and local Serbs are
looking forward to independence for all Serbs and a united Serbia. But then, in 1908,
Austria-Hungary announces it is annexing Bosnia-Herzegovina. Europe is stunned, the
Serbs are outraged, and Serbia threatens Austria-Hungary with war. A secret organization
in Serbia called The Black Hand (composed of Serbian army officers and other Serbian
nationalists) and students in Bosnia begins organizing resistance to Austrian rule in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, by violence if necessary. Russia threatens to go to war in
support of Serbia. King Wilhelm II of Prussia refuses to join with Russia in war, and war
is averted, narrowly. The capital of the Commonwealth of Australia moves from
Melbourne to Canberra. The first flight by a Tawantinsuya-designed airplane is
conducted by Captain Pariapichiu of the Tawantinsuya Army. Samuel Cody makes the
first airplane flight in the United Kingdom. Prince Imperial Napoleon of France marries
Princess Dagmar of Denmark, daughter to of King Frederick VIII.

A.D. 1909--In Palestine, Jews establish their first kibbutz. In Prussia, experiments with
armored cavalry units equipped with wheeled armored cars are proving unsatisfactory.
The wheeled vehicles simply cannot cope with rough terrain, nor cross the trenches which
are sure to be a major feature of the battlefield in a future war. Designers begin to
experiment with vehicles based on the new caterpillar track. Results are promising
enough that King Wilhelm II orders further development. Louis Bleriot of France
becomes the first to fly across the English Channel in an airplane. The firm of Rumpler
begins producing aircraft in Austria-Hungary.  British companies begin extracting oil in Iran.

American scientist Robert Goddard in his study of fuels, determines that
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen would serve as an efficient source of propulsion, when
properly combusted.

A.D. 1910--Japan formally annexes Korea. Emperor Guangxu of China proclaims an end
to slavery. The Union of South Africa is no longer a British colony. It becomes a member
of the British Commonwealth. In Portugal, a military revolt is followed by the abdication
of King Manuel. Portugal becomes a republic. Britain launches a new class of battleship,
the dreadnoughts, which make all other battleships obsolete. Aircraft production begins
in Prussia by the Albatros and A.E.G. companies. Other firms will soon follow. Prince
Imperial Napoleon and Princess Dagmar of France produce a son, who they name
Napoleon Joseph Louis Jerome Bonaparte.

A.D. 1911--The French rescue the sultan of Morocco from rebels. Italy responds to
France's move in Morocco by making war against the Ottoman Empire for possession of
Tripoli and Cyrenaica-today, Libya.  British forces occupy southern Iran to protect the oil fields.

Experiments by Ernest Rutherford of Great Britain indicate that the vast majority of an atom's mass is contained 

in a very small nucleus at its core, made up ofprotons, surrounded by a web of whirring electrons. Robert 

Goddard of the United States is granted two U.S. patents for rockets using solid fuel, liquid fuel, multiple

 propellant charges, and multi-stage designs.

A.D. 1912--Italy wins against Ottoman Turkey. Turkey appears weak to the Bulgarians,
Serbs and Greeks, and they go to war for the remaining territory held by the Turks in the
Balkans. Prince Imperial Napoleon of France marries the Infanta Luisa Maria of Spain,
daughter of King Charles VII.  Japanese Emperor Meiji dies and new emperor Taisho shifts 

more power to the parliament.

A.D. 1913--In war to carve up the remaining Ottoman territory in the Balkans, Serbia
emerges victorious. Austria-Hungary fears Serbia's enhanced prestige. It increases
oppressions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and moves toward war against Serbia, with Russia
committed to protecting the Serbs. War is averted by Serbia withdrawing from a port on
the Adriatic coast and Emperor Napoleon IV of France not supporting Austria, stating
that his alliance with Austria is for defense only.

A.D. 1914--The War of the Black Hand begins. Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the
Austro-Hungarian throne, journeys to Bosnia without the usual protection against
assassins. He remarks that all is in the hands of God. In Sarajevo he is assassinated by
members of The Black Hand, a secret society of Serbian Army officers and other Serbian
nationalists which has the support of the Serbian government. Emperor Franz Josef of
Austria demands revenge against the Serbs, and Emperor Napoleon IV of France agrees
that the assassins and regicide should be punished, but does not give Austria a "blank
check" go-ahead for war. Despite this roadblock, however, Austria-Hungary secretly
moves to start its war against Serbia. Meanwhile, King Wilhelm II of Prussia goes on a
sailing vacation off the coast of Norway. While he is gone, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
begins mobilizing his troops, threatening war if the Austrians invade Serbia. Heedless of
the advice of Emperor Napoleon IV of France, Austria-Hungary launches its war against
Serbia. Russia declares war to defend the Serbs from the Austro-Hungarians.

When King Wilhelm II of Prussia returns from his vacation, he is horrified to see events
rapidly spinning out of control. He desperately begins looking for ways to defuse the
situation, and when, at the orders of Manco Capac Inca III, the Tawantinsuya ambassador
in Berlin offers to mediate, as a disinterested neutral party, between Prussia and the other
powers, Wilhelm gratefully accepts. France and Britain have not declared war against
Russia as of yet, but both are mobilizing their forces, as is Italy. Wilhelm feels he has no
option but to order Prussian mobilization as well, even as his diplomatic corps
desperately tries to defuse the rapidly escalating situation. The Tawantinsuya mediation
proves effective, however, and Emperor Napoleon IV of France, angry with his Austrian
allies for ignoring his advice and precipitating this crisis, is willing to negotiate. France
undertakes not to enter the war on the side of Austria if Prussia does not enter on the side
of Russia. King George V of Great Britain does likewise. The only other entrant into the
war at this time is Austria’s puppet confederation in southern Germany, the Sud-Deutsche
Bund, which obediently declares war on Serbia and Russia as an ally of Austria. As a
result of this declaration of war, a young Austrian immigrant and failed artist living in
Munich, Adolf Hitler, joins the Bavarian Army.

Another nation which does not enter the fighting in 1914 is Italy. Despite public clamor
for Italian intervention in the war against the hated Austrians, King Victor Emanuel III of
Italy is persuaded by his ally, King Wilhelm II of Prussia, to refrain from entering the
conflict. This leads many groups inside Italy to protest, and the Socialist Party in Italy is
split. An ambitious Socialist newspaper editor named Benito Mussolini soon founds his
own pro-war group, the Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria. This will evolve, over the next
few years, into the Fascist Party...a nationalistic, right-wing party opposed to the
Socialists and other left-wing parties in Italy. Riots between squads of black-shirted
thugs controlled by Mussolini and gangs of Socialists and anarchists will soon become a
regular feature of Italian political life.

The fighting in 1914 goes badly for the Austrians. Hammered by huge Russian
offensives, Austrian forces are pushed back in Poland and Galicia. However, the
Austrians eventually recover and dig in, and Austrian artillery and machine-gun fire
exacts huge tolls of ineptly lead attacking Russian troops. The front eventually stabilizes,
and a stalemate is in place by the end of the year on that front. Austria also, to it’s utter
shock and dismay, finds Serbia to be a difficult nut to crack, as it’s invasion of that
country is repelled with heavy losses.

A.D. 1914-1915--The Irish Civil War. In March 1914, the Irish Home Rule Act of 1914 is
introduced into the British Parliament. This bill provides for a bi-cameral Irish Parliament, to be
set up in Dublin (a 40-member Senate and a 164-member House of Commons) with powers to
deal with most national affairs; a number of Irish MPs would continue to sit in the Imperial
Parliament in Westminster (42 MPs, rather than 103); and finally, the abolition of Dublin Castle,
though with the retention of the Lord Lieutenant.

The bill is violently opposed by the Irish Unionist Party, mostly composed of Protestant Ulster
MPs, who feel that “Dublin Rule means Rome Rule.” The Unionists demand partition of
Ireland, with the northern six counties of Ulster to remain under direct government by Britain.
The Unionists proceed to form the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, and (secretly and
illegally) import tens of thousands of rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition via the
agency of a Prussian businessman (with the secret approval of King Wilhelm II of Prussia) with
which to oppose, by force, the implementation of the Act in Ulster. The Irish nationalist parties,
meanwhile, are adamantly opposed to partition, declaring their position that there must be “no
concessions for Ulster...Ulster must follow.” They, likewise, form a paramilitary organization
called the Irish Volunteers to oppose the Unionists and force Ulster to accept a united Ireland.
And they too, secretly import illegal arms from Prussia and other countries.

The country is essentially a powderkeg, ready to explode, when in May 1914 the bill passes the
House of Commons. Unlike previous Home Rule bills, which had been required to pass the
House of Lords as well, this one does not have to do that because of the recent passage of the
Parliament Act. All that is needed is for King George V to give his assent. This does not
immediately happen, however, and political wrangling continues. Seeking to defuse the
potentially explosive situation in Ulster, the Parliament passes an amendment which is a
compromise which satisfies neither side. The six counties of northern Ireland will “temporarily”
be excluded from the territory governed by the new Irish Parliament, and will continue to be
ruled directly from Westminster. How “temporary” this arrangement will be is not specified.
Both the Unionists and the Nationalists reject the compromise and begin preparing for war.

In September 1914, King George V gives his assent to the Home Rule Bill, and the bill goes into
effect in Ireland. The Ulster Unionists immediately call out their paramilitary forces to oppose
implementation of the bill in northern Ireland. The Nationalists call out their forces to oppose
the Unionists, and the bloodletting begins. The British government is eventually forced to
deploy tens of thousands of troops to put down the Unionist rebellion, ironically fighting beside
the Irish Nationalists against those who have declared themselves “Loyal Ulstermen” and desire
to continue under British rule. The Unionist paramilitary numbers over 50,000 men, and is well
armed, and it takes over a year to finally subdue the rebellion. Most of the cities of Ulster are
reduced to smouldering ruins by the fighting, and thousands die on both sides. It is another sad,
bloody chapter in the history of Ireland.

In the aftermath, the Home Rule Bill is revoked by Parliament on the advice of King George V,
who argues that the rebellion proves that Ireland is obviously not ready for self-government.
This outrages the Nationalists, who fought beside the British to suppress the revolt and feel that
the British “owe” them for their “loyalty.” Unionist leaders, including such lofty personages as
Sir Edward Carson, are brought to trial and sentenced to death for treason (Carson is hanged in
early 1916). This, in turn, outrages the basically Unionist population of Northern Ireland.

But the issue of self-government for Ireland won’t go away, and eventually, more debate within
Parliament will lead to the passage of yet another Home Rule Bill in 1921 which will include a
permanent partition of the island.

A.D. 1915--The year of 1915 holds out new hope for Austria-Hungary, when the Ottoman
Empire, which has long-standing border disputes with Russia, as well as bitter memories
of recent Serbian aggression, enters the War of the Black Hand on the side of
Austria-Hungary. But this hope proves to be illusory. Turkey’s entry into the war leads
Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania to enter the war on the side of Russia and Serbia. And
the Ottoman offensive northward in the Caucasus region against the Russians fails, being
repulsed with heavy losses to the Turks. Patriotic Turks blame the failure on treason by
Armenians, and a massacre of Armenians follows. On the Polish/Galician front, the
stalemate continues, with several major Russian offensives being repulsed by the
Austro-Hungarian defenders. Both sides take extreme casualties. Meanwhile, seeing
what it thinks is an opportunity while the eyes of the major powers are focused on the
fighting in Europe, Japan presents China with Twenty-one Demands--economic
privileges, the power to "advise," and joint administration of police departments.
Indignation sweeps through China and Emperor Guangxu defiantly refuses the demands.
The Japanese thereupon declare war, and so begins the Second Sino-Japanese War. The
Japanese invade Manchuria, but to their shock, are met with stiff resistance by the
revamped Chinese Army. There, too, the war soon bogs down into a bloody stalemate as
both sides dig in. Also in this year, King Charles VII of Spain dies, and is succeeded by
his son, Luis Ferdinand, who reigns as King Louis II. The Prussian army begins to
deploy the first armored vehicles equipped with caterpillar tracks. They call them
Panzers. The ungainly vehicles are armed with light cannon and machine guns. British
and French spies soon learn of the deployment, and both nations are soon secretly
developing their own versions. The British code-name for the vehicles is "Tank," and
this will become the most commonly used name for them in the English-speaking world
in years to come.

A.D. 1916--In March, a Russian offensive against Ottoman positions in the Caucasus
region severely batters the Turks, but is finally repulsed without the Russians making any
significant territorial gains. However, the need of the Ottomans to reinforce the Caucasus
lines forces them to withdraw troops from Europe, which allows a Graeco/Bulgarian
army to capture Constantinople, eliminating Ottoman holdings on the mainland of Europe
for the first time in over 500 years. The loss of their capital city is a severe spiritual blow
to the Turks, and in May 1916 they sue for peace. In a treaty signed on May 31, the
Ottomans cede their European holdings to Bulgaria and Greece (these two nations are
soon at war with each other over division of the spoils. In the end, Bulgaria prevails, and
annexes all of the Turkish European territory, including Constantinople) and parts of
Armenia to Russia. With the surrender of the Ottomans, Austria stands alone.  One other minor

side affair arises out of the Ottoman surrender...in the wake of the defeat of the Ottomans in the 

War of the Black Hand, Sharif Husayn of Mecca leads a revolt against the Ottoman Empire in Arabia. It is crushed.

In July 1916, a Russian offensive lead by General Alexsei Brusilov...who has devised
innovative new infiltration tactics (similar to the ones which Prussia has been secretly
testing for years)...breaches the Austrian defenses in Galicia. A Romanian offensive in
Transylvania helps to prevent the Austrians from reinforcing their lines, and the result is
disaster. Hundreds of thousands of Austrian troops are captured, and Russian troops
advance rapidly southward into Austrian territory. Only the fact that the Russians have
outpaced their own supply lines and are totally exhausted finally halts the offensive in
early September, by which time the Russians have advanced all the way to the Carpathian
Mountains. By the end of the offensive, Austria-Hungary and it’s Sud-Deutsche Bund
allies have lost over 1.5 million men killed, wounded, or captured...among them an
insignificant Bavarian corporal named Adolf Hitler, who was vaporized when a Russian
mortar shell dropped next to him in his trench on the opening day of the offensive.
Meanwhile the Russians have lost half a million. But Russia can easily absorb these
losses, while Austria cannot.

The Austrian army is broken beyond repair, and everyone knows it...everyone, that is,
except Emperor Franz Josef, who is stubbornly determined to fight on. However, Franz
Josef dies in November 1916, and his successor, the Emperor Karl, who opposed the war
from the start, immediately seeks the aid of King Wilhelm II of Prussia in opening
negotiations with Tsar Nicholas of Russia for an end to the war. Nicholas agrees to
negotiate, and a cease-fire is declared in early December 1916 while the two sides work
out terms of a peace treaty.

Meanwhile, the Sino-Japanese War enters it’s second year. A huge Chinese superiority in
manpower is beginning to wear down the Japanese, who, despite fanatical resistance, are
gradually pushed out of Manchuria and across the Yalu River into Korea.

A.D. 1916 onward--The Ottoman Empire, stung by it’s defeat in the War of the Black Hand and
the loss of Constantinople, is undergoing a political upheaval. The Young Turks, who had taken
over power from the Sultan in a coup in 1909, while retaining the Sultan as a figurehead ruler,
are discredited for having taken the Empire into the disastrous war. Sultan Mehmed V Reshad,
with his brother, Mehmed Vahdettin, see this as an opportunity to regain control again for themselves.
But they realize they need allies. Declaring the liberal constitution originally promulgated by
Sultan Abdul Hamid in 1876 to be restored, they call for an election for a new Ottoman
Parliament. This is welcomed by many in the Empire who have been disenchanted by the
increasingly authoritarian rule of the Young Turks, who promised constitutionalism but never
intended on delivering it. The elections are held in early 1917, and when the Parliament meets in
Ankara (where the government had been relocated after the fall of Constantinople), the Sultan
offers a number of amendments to the constitution which limit his own power...including a
provision forbidding the Sultan from suspending the constitution or dissolving Parliament...and
which guarantee the rights of all citizens of the Empire regardless of their ethnicity or religion
(this also is in stark contrast to the policy of the Young Turks, which was intensely Turko-centric
and alienated most of the other peoples of the Empire). These amendments are adopted by the
stunned Parliament, which wholeheartedly declares it’s devotion to the Sultan.

Mehmed V Reshad dies in 1918, and is succeeded by Mehmed VI Vahdettin, who continues
these policies. Mehmed Vahdettin also seeks to transform the Empire from the perennial “sick
man” into a modern State. He aggressively seeks sources of funding for various industrialization
and infrastructure-improvement projects, including funding from an un-usual source...the Zionist
Movement. In 1901, Theodore Herzl had approached Sultan Abdul Hamid II with a
proposal...the Zionist Movement would pay off the majority of the Ottoman Empire’s foreign
debt in exchange for a charter allowing the Zionists to colonize Palestine. Abdul Hamid had
refused this offer. But Mehmed Vahdettin is a more pragmatic man, and in 1919 he invites Otto
Heinrich Warburg, Herzl’s successor as President of the World Zionist Organization (Herzl
having died in 1904) to Ankara for talks. The Sultan reminds Warburg of Herzl’s offer, and
then drops a bombshell...if the Zionist offer is still open, the Sultan is willing to consider it. A
series of lengthy discussions results, and an agreement is finally hammered out in early 1920. In
exchange for the assumption of half the Ottoman national debt by the World Zionist
Organization, the Zionists will be granted, not an independent State, but an autonomous,
self-governing region within the Ottoman Empire. The Zionists undertake to respect the rights of
the Palestinian Arabs living in the region, and to guarantee the sanctity of the Islamic holy places
there. The Jews will be represented in the Ottoman Parliament, and the autonomy of their
homeland will be guaranteed by an irrevocable amendment to the Ottoman constitution. The
Jews will be permitted to maintain their own military organization for the purpose of protecting
themselves from attacks by the local Arabs, with the understanding that in time of war, the
Jewish military will serve alongside that of the Ottomans. This agreement is presented to the
Ottoman Parliament in April 1920, and the popular Sultan is able to get it passed, despite
objections by Arab nationalists serving in the body. For the first time in almost 2,000 years, the
Jews are to have a national homeland.

Of course, this legislation is not popular with the Palestinian Arabs, and riots erupt throughout
the region when the agreement is announced. But Ottoman troops bloodily suppress the rioters,
and in the aftermath, over 400,000 Arabs who took part in or supported the rioters are forcibly
removed from their homes and settled in various parts of the Empire outside of Palestine. Unlike
the OTL Palestinian diaspora...whose “identity” as a people has been artificially maintained in
large part because of the refusal of the Arab countries in which they have settled to accept and
assimilate them...these people will gradually merge with the populations of their new lands, and
will eventually be absorbed. Although unintentional, this large-scale removal of population
allows the Jews to form a majority population in Palestine within a relatively short time, and
cements their hold on the region. Although there will be periodic outbreaks of violence between
Arab and Jew in Palestine for many years to come, the Ottomans will remain true to their
agreements with the Jews and suppress Arab and Islamic extremism whenever possible. The
ultimate outcome of each outbreak of violence, therefore, will be to further diminish the Arab
population of the region. By the end of the century, Arabs will be a tiny minority in what the
Jews will call the Land of Israel, their national homeland.

Mehmed Vahdettin’s successor, Abdul Mejid II, will be further aided by the discovery of oil in
Mesopotamia (and later in northern Arabia) in the late 1920s, which will greatly increase the
revenues available to the Imperial Treasury. Modern industries will be built up in many cities
throughout the Empire, and infrastructure greatly improved. By the time of his death in 1944, the
underpinnings of a modern state will have been established. The “sick man” will be sick no
more.

A.D. 1917--In January 1917, the Treaty of Berlin ends the War of the Black Hand. The
terms are harsh for Austria Hungary, which is forced to cede Galicia to Russia. In
addition, it is forced to cede Bosnia, Herzogovina, and Croatia to Serbia...which the
Austrians were never capable of defeating during the entire war, and Transylvania to the
Romanians. The public outcry caused by the news of this treaty proves to be the last
straw for the Habsburg Empire. The Hungarian Diet, shortly after the announcement of
the treaty, votes to secede from the Empire. The Czechs and Slovaks also declare their
independence, and Italy takes advantage of the chaos to seize the disputed regions of the
Tyrol, Trieste and Fiume. Emperor Karl, not wishing to bathe his own empire in more
blood by attempting to suppress the uprisings and secessions, attempts to win back the
loyalty of his subjects by persuasion and diplomacy. He fails, and by the end of the year
is left in control of Austria only...the rest of the empire is gone.

In February 1917, workers take to the streets in St. Petersburg, Russia, to protest food
shortages. The Tsar orders his troops to disperse the protesters. With their support for
the Tsar buoyed by the recent victory in the war, the troops respond to their sovereign’s
command and quickly put down the disturbances. Several hundred workers are killed.
Although the news of this "Bloody Monday" massacre will...like the "Bloody Sunday"
massacre of 1905...lead to strikes and peasant disturbances in various places in the
country, in general these are far less severe than in 1905, and the Tsar’s forces quickly
restore order.

Meanwhile, the Sino-Japanese War continues. Chinese forces have forced a crossing of
the Yalu River, and by the end of the year have advanced as far south as Seoul. Both
sides have taken enormous casualties in the bitter fighting, but the Chinese have the
manpower to burn and the Japanese don’t.

Also in this year, Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii dies. Unlike in OTL, she had married a
native Hawaiian nobleman in 1868 and had produced a son, born in 1870, who takes the
throne at her death and reigns as King Kalakaua II. Kalakaua had, shortly after his
mother’s near ousting during the constitutional crisis of 1895, married the daughter of one
of the upper ranking legislators in Hawaii’s legislature, a lady of mixed Chinese and
Japanese descent. The ascent to Hawaii’s throne of this lady as Queen Consort is seen by
many as a good omen for improved relations between the native Hawaiians and the large
Chinese and Japanese immigrant communities living in the islands. And, in the United
States, a son is born to King Benedict V and Queen Cynthia (who, up until now, have
produced only daughters...and two stillborn sons...together). They name him Benedict
Charles William Oliver Arnold. The Tawantinsuya military attaché in Britain learns of
the "Tank" project, and passes details to Manco Capac Inca III, who orders that
development of a similar vehicle begin in Tawantinsuyu.

A.D. 1918--In the United States, Britain and Australia the first mass-marketed laundry
detergent, Rinso, is selling well. The states of the Sud-Deutsche Bund, shorn of the
protection of their Austrian overlords, accept the inevitable and enter negotiations with
King Wilhelm II of Prussia aimed at unification with that state. On August 1, 1918, a
treaty is signed, and the German Empire is formally declared, with Wilhelm II as Kaiser.
A flu pandemic has begun which will eventually kill from 50 to 100 million people across
the globe. It is the possibly the most devastating epidemic to strike since the Black Death
of the Middle Ages. In the far east, the Japanese, bowing to the inevitable, sue for peace
with the Chinese. A Treaty is signed at Seoul in March 1918 ending the Second
Sino-Japanese War. Japan is forced to relinquish all holdings on the Asian mainland.
Korea is re-established as an independent state (a vassal of China, of course). The only
bright spot for Japan in the war has been at sea, where it’s superior navy has swept the
Chinese fleet from the seas. Therefore, although Emperor Guangxu would have desired
otherwise, China is not able to assert a claim for the return of Formosa, and Japan is able
to retain control of the island.  Also in this year, the defeat of the Hashemite rivals of the Saudi clan 

by the Turks in 1916 has encouraged Abdul al-Aziz ibn Saud to try to take the Hejaz, including Mecca and 

Medina.  He leads a bedouin army to Mecca and lays siege to the city. The Ottomans respond with a 

modern army and aircraft. The Saudis are defeated and Abdul al-Aziz is killed. Shortly afterward, civil war
breaks out among the bedouin tribes which were formerly united under the Saudi banner. The
Wahabbi kingdom of Nejd falls apart.

A.D. 1919--In India, a mob murders five Europeans. A British senior officer overreacts,
firing into a crowd, killing 379 and wounding 1,208 in less than ten minutes-the
Jallianvala Bach (Amritsar) massacre. Many who had been for gradual steps toward
self-rule now want complete independence. Jawaharlal Nehru joins the activist group to
which Mohandas Gandhi belongs, the Congress Party. In the United States, the Royal
Legislature, with the approval of the King, passes an amendment to the Constitution,
making it illegal to deny women their right to vote. Manco Capac Inca III of
Tawantinsuyu is assassinated by terrorists from the chaos-ridden Quilombo as he rides
down the streets of Cuzco in an open car. He is succeeded by his son, who reigns as
Pachacuti Inca II. Pachacuti soon begins planning the withdrawal of Tawantinsuya troops
from the Quilombo. But first he launches massive offensives against the various
Quilombo warlords, which soon force most of them to the peace table. Negotiations
begin at Cuzco later that year which will eventually bring an end to the fighting...and to
the Quilombo as a single nation. Britain and France begin deploying their versions of the
tracked armored vehicle, called the "Tank" in Britain and the "Char" in France.

A.D. 1920--A treaty is signed at Cuzco which recognizes the authority of the various
warlords over those areas of the Quilombo they rule, and establishes the boundaries of the
six new nations which are thus to be formed from the wreck of the Quilombo. All of
these nations will be ruled as military dictatorships, although the warlords make vague
promises of democratic elections at some unspecified time in the future. Pachacuti Inca
isn’t holding his breath for that, but accepts the situation as the price of disengagement
from what has increasingly become a bloody quagmire for the Tawantinsuya. Crown
Prince Ferdinand of Aztlan marries Princess Micay, the beautiful daughter of Pachacuti
Inca of Tawantinsuyu. This is the first-ever union between the royal houses of these two
powers, and marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation between the two. Later this
same year, King Phillip I of Aztlan dies, and Ferdinand succeeds to the throne as King
Ferdinand II, with Micay as his Queen.

A.D. 1921--South Africa's white government creates the Natives Land Act, preventing
blacks from holding land except in specially designated reserves. Britain gives Ireland
dominion status, except for six counties in the north which remain within the United
Kingdom. And Britain gives Egypt independence, except for the Suez Canal, which
Britain continues to control. King Ferdinand II and Queen Micay of Aztlan produce a
son, Crown Prince Felipe Juan Luis. Emperor Napoleon IV of France dies, and is
succeeded by his son, who reigns as Emperor Napoleon V of France. Benito Mussolini is
elected to the Italian Parliament. Tawantinsuyu deploys it’s first armored fighting
vehicles (tanks).  Also in this year, the Japanese Navy launches the HONSHO, the world’s first
purpose-designed aircraft carrier. Over the next two decades, Japan will be a world
leader in aircraft carrier development and above all in deployment of these new ships,
which are viewed with disdain by the “battleship admirals” who hold sway in most of the
world’s fleets.

A.D. 1921-1923--One of the intermittent periods of drought which sometimes afflicts
Russia strikes, and grain harvests are dramatically reduced. A famine results. This
famine, which is not as severe as the OTL famine which struck during these years (which
was exacerbated by the effects of the Russian Civil War and Communist policies)
nevertheless kills as many as 2 million people. The inability of the Tsar’s government to
alleviate the hunger of the people...food stores still have not been built up since the end of
the War of the Black Hand, and the war pretty much bankrupted Russian finances, so
large-scale grain purchases are not an option either...will have major political
consequences as time goes on.

A.D. 1922--The British in India arrest Gandhi and sentence him to six years in prison.
The British in Kenya arrest the leader of the East African Association, Harry Thuku. With
tanks and aerial bombardment, Italian forces move deeper into Libya's interior, beginning
an eight-year war. In Italy, the escalating violence between the right-wing Fascists and the
left wing Socialists and Anarchists threatens to erupt into civil war. King Victor
Emmanuel III, feeling that he must choose between the two groups, appoints Mussolini
prime minister. Mussolini forms a cabinet of fascists and nationalists, and he is granted
"temporary" dictatorial powers. The hormone insulin is discovered and used to treat
diabetes.

A.D. 1922-1926--The Russian Revolution and Civil War. In January 1922, the inability
of the Tsar’s government to alleviate the suffering of the people in the face of the
continuing famine leads to riots in most of the major cities of the empire as desperate
people take to the streets demanding bread. When rioters threaten to attack the Tsar’s
palace in St. Petersburg, Tsar Nicholas’s heavy-handed response is to once more call out
the army to disperse the crowds. But this time, the troops refuse to fire into the crowds,
preferring instead to shoot their officers and join the crowds in marching on the palace.
The Tsar and his family manage to escape the palace and flee the city in disguise, but his
train is stopped by another group of disloyal soldiers. The Tsar and his family are taken
to a dacha about sixty miles from St. Petersburg and held under arrest. There, a
delegation of senior army officers...including the Tsar’s own cousin, the Grand Duke
Nicholas...and leaders from the Duma visits him and demands his abdication. Tsar
Nicholas at first refuses, but eventually is brow-beaten into signing the abdication. At the
insistence of Grand Duke Nicholas, the Tsar does not abdicate in favor of his sickly
hemophiliac son, Alexei. But instead of passing it to Grand Duke Nicholas as the latter
desired, the outgoing Tsar passes the crown to his liberal brother, the Grand Duke
Mikhail. Mikhail soon appears before the Duma, where he immediately issues a decree
calling for a new election for the Duma, open to all political parties, and re-establishes the
Duma as the chief legislative body, abolishing the Tsar-appointed State Council created
by his brother in 1906. He also declares that, once the newly-elected Duma takes it’s
seats, it’s first duty will be to select a committee to draft a formal written constitution for
the Russian Empire, which will thereby become a constitutional monarchy for the first
time in it’s history. The election is held on May 1, 1922, and the new Duma takes it’s
seats on July 1. The constitutional committee is soon nominated, and together with the
Tsar, begin work on drafting the proposed constitution. The committee submits it’s
proposals to a vote of the Duma on December 12, 1922, and the constitution is adopted.
A limited constitutional monarchy, similar in structure to that of the United States, is
adopted. A coalition government of liberals, socialists, and Menshevik Marxists emerges
as the dominant power bloc in the new Duma, and Alexander Kerensky is elected the first
Prime Minister, with Menshevik Leon Trotsky as his Deputy Prime Minister. With the
end of the drought in the spring of 1923 and the good harvest that year, the prospects for
the new government appear bright.

However, there are forces at work which are not ready to accept a peaceful transfer of
power from Tsar Nicholas II to Tsar Mikhail II. Grand Duke Nicholas, who was not at all
pleased when former Tsar Nicholas passed the throne to Mikhail instead of to him, is
soon intriguing with various reactionary army commanders with the aim of deposing
Mikhail and installing Grand Duke Nicholas on the throne. And Vladimir Lenin, who
had, up until now, been living in exile in Switzerland, soon returns to Russia and begins
organizing the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Marxist movement, aiming at toppling
the monarchy via revolutionary action. By mid-1923, both groups have raised armies,
and fighting has broken out between the dissident factions and forces loyal to the new
Tsar’s government. Thus begins the Russian Civil War, which will be both bloody and
destructive, and will continue until 1926. In the end, forces loyal to the government
defeat both the rebel generals loyal to Grand Duke Nicholas and the Marxist
revolutionaries lead by Lenin. Grand Duke Nicholas and Lenin (who in OTL died in 1924,
but since the stresses which contributed to his death were delayed in this timeline, is still
living in 1926) are both captured and hanged before the end of that year. The government
subsequently outlaws the Bolsheviks, and an effective crackdown essentially destroys the
remnants of the party. It seems that, for the time being, the new Tsar and his
constitutional regime are secure.

A.D. 1923--In Southwest Africa, the Khoikhoi (Hottentot) and Herero peoples rebel
against white South Africa's domination. South Africa attacks them with airpower. An
earthquake strikes Tokyo. Around 106,000 persons die or disappear and 502,000 are
injured. Hordes of people, made homeless by the quake and fires, roam the city. They
were without food and water. They include the city's Koreans. Packs of Japanese attack
and murder Korean men, women and children wherever they can find them. Police round
up labor leaders, socialists, and anarchists.  A secular constitution is proclaimed in Egypt (a

 British protectorate) to create a parliamentary monarchy.  Also in this year, Dr. Hermann Oberth, a 

Hungarian-born German, publishes a book about rocket travel into outer space. Because of his 

important writings, many small rocket societies spring up around the world.  The former Tsar Nicholas II of Russia 

leaves Russia with his family...including several beautiful and unmarried daughters...and settles on a country estate in England.

A.D. 1924--The first winter Olympics are held in Chamonix, France. The British release
Gandhi from prison.

A.D. 1925--Gandhi retires from politics, quits the Congress Party and turns his attention
to the evils of alcohol and other drugs. He hopes to transform the world through spiritual
power. In China, Sun Yat-sen dies. For the past several years he had served as Prime
Minister in the Emperor Guangxu’s Parliament, and his loss is deeply mourned in China.  

Also in this year,  Japan introduces universal male suffrage.