Create a Country

[ConfederateFly]

My first 2 create a country threads had a lot of posts so lets hope this one will too! I have changed it a little bit I want to see timelines of countries from beggining or Independence to the present 2004 or end of the country by invasion from an other country or something else like makining them a rump state. Include military expeditions or wars, political occurreneces, economic factors, and foreign affairs. Some examples are Nazi Germany 1942-2004 or Roman Empire lasting to the 20th century, or Confederacy 1862-2004.

[Xen]

I'll give this a whirl. My country is the Byzantine Empire not only surviving but being stronger.

The Byzantine Empire or the Eastern Roman Empire had a life span from 395 AD to 1918 AD, existing for a little over 1500 years, the successor to the Roman Empire accomplished many things in its history. What is not commonly known is how close the Byzantine Empire came to falling, as corruption grew in Constantinople, so to did the Empire's enemies, the Empire's savior arose from the ghettos of Constantinople. Little is known of Theodore's early life, but it is known he was conceived in a horrible fashion. His mother was the youngest daughter of a poor street merchant in Constantinople, when she was 14 she was brutally raped by a group of soldiers, thus beginning the life of the Empire's greatest leader. At the young age of 17, Theodore quickly rose through the ranks of the army fighting the barbarians to the north, by the time he was 20 Theodore was the chief commander of all the Empires armies.

During the Fourth Crusade, Theodore had led the Byzantine armies into Egypt to reconquer the ancient land from the Muslims. He again proved his military genious again and again, with several victories over the Arabs. As his armies moved down the nile and further away from their supply lines, the casualties began to mount, and victories were more difficult to obtain. The Egyptians were mistrustful of the victorious Byzantines, Theodore assured the Egyptians he wasn't fighting to return them to Constantinople, instead he fought for Christianity. To assure victory Theodore called for help from the Christians of Europe who betrayed the Byzantines in 1204 by sacking Constantinople. Upon hearing of this outrage, Theodore appointed his most trusted commander, his brother Frederick to continue the fight in Egypt. Taking only the elite of his armies, Theodore left Egypt for Constantinople.

Theodore led the liberation of Constantinople in a brilliant campaign that took the Crusading Armies off guard and sent them fleeing out of the city. With the battle's end, Theodore proclaimed himself Emperor. Unfortunatley tragedy would soon follow, his brother Frederick was killed in a battle in Egypt. The new Emperor departed Constantinople to Egypt where he buried his brother and took his revenge on the Muslims in what became known as the Bloody Nile Campaign. The few surviving Muslims were sent back to Europe, the men were sold into slavery for hard labor, the women were sold into slavery as well, but as sexual toys for the Empires elite. Those Muslims who agreed to convert to Christianity would remain free, but second class citizens of Egypt.

Theodore left Egypt in 1206, keeping his word by crowning his sister, whom he adored as the Queen of Egypt. In truth Egypt was a puppet of the Byzantine Empire as the young Queen constantly submitted to her brothers will. Upon returning to the capital, Theodore swore that the Empire would never again join in the Crusades, and warned to keep the rest of Europe at an Arms length. Theodore's long reign ended in 1267, but his dynasty would be one of the most glorious in Europe.

The Byzantine's biggest challenge would come from the Ottoman Turks and the Mongols in the 1400's, both invaded Byzantine lands and had the Empire on its knees. The teenage Byzantine Emperor married the second of three daughters of the King of Egypt, a distant cousin. Egypt sent aid, along with its southern neighbor Ethiopia, the combined armies were able to drive the Mongols and Ottomans out of Byzantine Europe.

Though the Byzantine Empire had remained at arms distance away from Europe, King Julian realized if his Empire was to flourish he needed to trade with its European and Ottoman neighbors. Julian sent his sons across Europes as his ambassadors to open up trade, little did he know that his second oldest sons travels to England would become a legend, and one of the great romances of history. The reign of Henry VIII was a bloody time in England and a time of great religious turmoil. Prince Mark arrived in the heat of it all and met the young Queen Anne Boleyn. During his stay in London, Mark and Anne began a love affair, resulting in the birth of Princess Elizabeth (same name different woman). When Henry tried to have her executed Mark stepped up on her behalf, even threatening war, this Henry could not afford. Problems with the Catholic church came to a head when the pope refused to grant a divorce. Prince Mark negotiated with Henry which led to Henry's conversion to Eastern Orthodox, and his marriage to Mark's older sister Theodora. After Henry's marriage to Theodora, Mark married Anne Boleyn. He remained in London until his sister gave birth to Henry's child also called Henry. Prince Henry would be the first of four sons she gave the King. Mark and Anne left England in 1538, their romance was wrotten into legend by William Shakespear in the story of A Visitor from the East. Anne and Marks first child, Elizabeth married Ivan the Terrible while still a teen.

The Byzantine Empire attempted to keep a colony in the New World around modern day Texas. Disease, constant Indian attacks, and poor financial backing caused the colony to fail, and the Byzantines never again attempted to colonize the new world.

The Byzantines allied with Russia against the Ottomans in 1711 and the Swedes in 1715. The temporary alliance led to Russia's position as a power in the black sea, but failed at the Empire's goal of taking control of Armenia and Georgia. The last hoorah for the Byzantine Empire came during the Napoleanic Wars, afterwards the Empire began to become divided, with the Ottomans helping Greece establish independence in 1826. Shortly there after other nationalities rose against Constantinople with Albania being granted independence in 1866, and Serbia in 1877. The Byzantine Empire now encompassed modern day Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova as well as Thrace.

An alliance with Germany was formed in 1896 and renewed in 1912, unfortunatly Europe would explode into World War in 1914 and result in a loss for Germany and its allies in 1917. Bulgaria was granted independence by the Treaty of Paris and the old Byzantine Empire succumbed becoming the Republic of Romania. (the borders consist of Moldova, Romania, eastern Bulgaria and Thrace). Since World War I the successor of the Byzantine Empire has yet to find the same level of success. The Republic was over run by the Nazis in 1940 with Constantinople being plundered and visited by Adolf Hitler in 1941. It was "liberated" by the Soviets in 1945 and a Communist government installed. Constantinople was seceded to the USSR as Constantinople SSR in 1946 and the capital shifted to Bucharest. With the collapse of the USSR in 1992, Constantinople became part of Romania, and served as capital again in 1993 to present. The Republic of Romania joined the EU in 1999, and NATO in 2001.

[ConfederateFly]

That was a very good timeline! What did the Byzantine Empire do during the American Civil War? Did they support the Confederacy or the Union?

[Xen]

That was a very good timeline! What did the Byzantine Empire do during the American Civil War? Did they support the Confederacy or the Union?


Thanks. I havent thought about who they'd support in the American Civil War. Looking at who in Europe supported who in the war, its most likely they would have favored the Union. Western Europe tended to favor the south while Eastern Europe favored the north, so going by that I'd say the Union would have a friend in Constantinople.

This will lead to a second timeline and is part of my Write Your Own History, that I am working on.

[ConfederateFly]

Confederate States of America(1862-2004)

The C.S.A wins Independence after France reconizes them when they agree not to interfer with Maximillian. In 1867 France starts to pull troops out of the Empire of Mexico so the Confederates start to prop up Maximillian. This starts a long frienship. 1869 The Confederacy, Empire of Mexico, and Empire of Brazil form an alliance and the Confederacy recieves the Northern Mexican provinces of Baja California, Sonora, Chiuhuhua, Tampulias, Nuevo Leon, and Coahulias. The Confederacy starts a war with Spain over Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Confederates have a motley looking navy and army but still defeat Spain. At the Berlin Conference the confederates get an african colony to continue the slave trade. 1893 Confederate-Nicraguian War When Confederates help the pro-confederate Nicragugua to defeat Nicraguguian rebels, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. After France, Britain, and Mexico condem the Confederate slavery they turn to Germany. WW 1 The alliance of the Confederacy, Germany, Empire of Brazil, Turkey, and Austria. The Confederacy and its allies lose in 1918 after the U.S. entered. The Confederates and Germany aren't allowed a Navy, Air Force, tanks, or artillery and their Army is extremely downsized, also teh Confederacy and Brazil have to Gradually emancipate in the next 25 years. During the calm years of 1919-1939 Rise of Hitler and both Germany secretly help each other build up their Militaries. election of Strom Thurmond in 1939 and the pact of Nazi Germany, the Confederacy, and Japan. The Confederacy battles hard but is ultimly defeated in 1944 nad Slavery completly eliminated. The Confeeracy joins the U.N. in 1949 and they develop a strange relationship with the Soviet Union and join the Warsaw Pact in 1951. They send covert aid of weapons and Rangers to North Korea. 1967 start sending covert aid of weapons and Special forces to train North Vietamese and Viet Cong troops. In 1991 The U.S. and teh C.S.A. join forces in fighting Iraq. The Confederacy joins NATO in 1993. Send troops to Somalia to help the U.S. peacekeepers. Also sends troops to Bosnia and Herzgovinia in 1997. One of the Confederate pilots are downed and then Rescued and the movie Behind Enemy Lines is made. September 11, 2001 Bombings by Planes on The WTC in the U.S. and the Pentagon in the Confederacy sparks the War on Terror. The U.S. sends 15,000 troops to Afghanistan and the Confederacy sends 11,000. In 2003 the U.S., England, and C.S.A. send troops to Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. The C.S.A. sends 75,000 troops to Iraq and 50 ships to the Gulf. The C.S.A. takes Um Qusar and Basara. Also help in Mosul and Tirkrit. The Big thing of the year A Confederate Task Force finds Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in a Cave South of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Saddam and Osama are both ragged with long beards and Osama is close to dying because of complications with his Kindney Disease. But Confederate Doctors have him in stable condition.

[ConfederateFly]

So what does everybody think of my timeline?

[Straha]

very nice but I doubt the CSA would dare to anger the union again

[ConfederateFly]

Which event would the C.S.A. anger the Union?

[PM Nixon]

Good TL's so far. ConfedFly, I like the fact that the CSA and the USA actually became allies, instead of hating each other for all time. However, I'm a bit surprised they allied with the USSR. I guess that's why you called it strange....

[Straha]

just wait till my TL gets posted and we see how Japan-USA cold war politics get dicey with the japs supporting confederate conservatives

[ConfederateFly]

Thats what I was thinking of putting in my Confederate History just diff. time w/ the Confederacy supporting the old Emperor and the samurai in 1877 after they are pushed out power. They would help with weapons, volunteers and the confederate trade companies(like the British East India Company) at the Japenese ports helping with volunteers. And even going as far making a Confederate Foreign Legion.

[Straha]

umm.. thats not whats happening in my TL.. I'm gonig to have the USA,weimar gemrany,imperial japan and britain agaisnt communist italy,communist turkey and trostky's USSR.

[ConfederateFly]

I knew that, thats why I said 1877

[Straha]

theres going to be a cold war between imperial japan and the USA/western nations

[David S Poepoe]

Thats what I was thinking of putting in my Confederate History just diff. time w/ the Confederacy supporting the old Emperor and the samurai in 1877 after they are pushed out power. They would help with weapons, volunteers and the confederate trade companies(like the British East India Company) at the Japenese ports helping with volunteers. And even going as far making a Confederate Foreign Legion.

Okay, why not do a lot of research before you post.

1. There is no "old Emperor" in 1877. The Emperor and the samurai (or at least most of them) are two seperate entities. Don't rely on "Last Samurai" for any information besides there was a country called Japan.

2. A Confederate Foreign Legion would be made of up foreigners wanting to fight for the Confederates.

3. What your describing is nothing like the East India Company. Its more like the Kramer Company from "For the Want of a Nail".

[Hymie Goldberg]

The Peoples' Empire of Virginia might never have existed if the Federalist Party had been successful in thier deciet in trying to get the abomination known as the American Constitution ratified. The brave and patriotic People of Rhode Island were the only Imperial American subjects willing to stand up to the tyrranical designs of foreign merchant bankers and refuse to submit to an American Crown disguised as representative government.

The first First Secretary of our Glorious Republic, Mister Thomas Jefferson, perhaps said it best when commenting upon the bravery of the Rhode Island martyrs:

In all the Creator's glory did He deem the People of Virginia worthy of the sacrifice of those who were willing to die where they stood, our stalwart friends and compatriots in Rhode Island and on the Providence Plantations, when the mercenary armies of those vipers and snails who wrap themselves in the very skins of the People while counting thier notes did sentence them to trial by lead and death by blood for thier insolence.

Today Virginia bestrides the planet like a colossus. The poor and illiterate indigenous peoples of our colonies in the exotic lands of Oceana and Africa join hands in thanksgiving every morning--as prescribed by law--to the People of Virginia. Our semiliterate subjects in our lands to the south, formerly ruled by the Crowns of Spain and Portugal agitate openly to be granted citizenship in our Great State and fall over themselves in thier efforts to please us.

We Virginians effectively rule half the world (more than half if one counts the radiologically contaminated lands of the former nations of Europe--but those areas won't be usable for another hundred years or so). Were it not for the actions of those Rhode Island Martyrs, our boundaries might not stretch further than the Appalachians, and our People would be subjects of an evil cabal of moneylenders rather than rulers of all we desire. Even the mighty Ethiopian Empire dares not challenge our claims in Yemen for fear of swift Verginain reprisal.

Glory to the Eternal Beacon of Liberty, Virginia.

[Xen]

A continuation of my previous post:

The Ethiopian Empire

Africa's most influential Empire reached its pennicle in the Midieval Age after most of Europe's great Empires had already come to an end. Ethiopia shared close relations with the Byzantine Empire and with Coptic Christian Egypt.

After visiting Egypt and the Byzantine Empire, King Mengistu became inspired to create his own African based Empire equal to that of his Christian allies. By his death in 1381, Mengistu saw his empire claim dominance over the Red Sea by conquering Somalia and begin its expansion westward. Mengistu's son continued his father's dream seeing his Empire expand to the Gulf of Guinea. He is often credited with the term, One Land, One Religion, One Language, One Nation.

The Ethiopian Empire reached its height in the mid 1500's as it expanded from the Red Sea to Dakar in the west and as far south as (OTL) Angola. The Portugese arrived finding a flourishing Empire that expanded across most of the continent. In the south the Ethiopians faced a dangerous enemy in the Zulu who raided the southern provinces, and other enemies came from the east when the Ottoman Empire conquered Somalia in 1543. Portugal forced Ethiopia to cede its Northwestern Territory in 1589 and allied with the Zulu selling them weapons in their war against the Ethiopians. Portugese missionaries began converting the Zulu population to Catholicism, converting the King in 1607 making Catholicism the official religion of the Zulu.

Ethiopia's capital was sacked by the Ottomans from Somalia in 1645, and though it was recaptured the following year it marked the end of the Ethiopian Empire. In the following years divisions between the provinces came to a head and one after another left the Empire. By 1700, Ethiopia now made up a small but powerful nation along the Red Sea. Subsequent wars with the Ottomans lasted until 1754 when the Somali's cast their Ottoman overlords out.

Though the Ethiopian Empire was short lived it accomplished much, unfortunatley it was responsible for many genocides for those unwilling to submit to the Emperor or the Church. Its greatest legacy was leaving behind well developed nations, though still a few centuries behind western Europe much more advanced than before they had been part of the Empire.

After 200 years of Portugese rule, Niger (NW Africa) inspired by the American and French Revolutions declared independence becoming the first African Republic. Wisely Niger voted to remain neutral in the Napoleanic Wars.

The former Ethiopian provinces began to flourish during the Industrial Age, but was way behind Europe and the United States. During the last half of the nineteenth century many Africans began to immigrate to the America's. Instantly they became second class citizens in the countries they arrived (not too unlike the Chinese and Irish).

Neutrality kept Ethiopia and its former Empire out of World War I and World War II, however the Cold War would divide the continent. Niger, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Guinea allied with the United States, while Somalia, Mozambique and Congo allied with the Soviet Union, as did their former enemies KwaZulu. Like in Europe the communist nations eventually collapsed, Somalia left the Soviet sphere after it invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Communist regime collapsed in 1983. Congo and Mozambique's communist governments collapsed after the USSR in 1992, leaving only KwaZulu as the last Communist nation in Africa. The KwaZulu military seized control of the government in 1997 and has come under pressure by the EU, and US to give power to the people.

At a meeting in Narobi in 1996 the African Community was formed consisting of all African nations except KwaZulu. Inspired by the success of the Euro, the African Community is making plans to launch its currency, the Afro (not to be confused with the hair style) in 2007.

[Archangel Michael]

Soviet Socialist Republic of Persia

In early stages of World War 2, Persia (Iran) came under a government that sympathetic to the German Nazis, and the Soviets invaded in 1941. The Soviets held onto most of northern Persia through the whole war. After the war, realizing that the Soviets needed another Asian ally, they created the Soviet Socialist Republic of Persia.

In 1949, Persia joined the UN, and during the Korean War, gave supplies to the North Koreans. Southern Persia, or the Republic of Iran gave supplies to South Korea.

1955 saw the Persian War. The Persians invaded Iran early in June 3rd, and pushed through half of Iran in two months. Immeditaley, the UN began to send military forces to Iran to help her along. The war ended in 1959, with no territorial changes.

During most of the Cold War, the Persians remained quiet. In 1979 when the Russians invaded Afganistan, so did Persia. The Second Persia War was sparked off. This war was short and sweat, and saw that Persia's Army could not help the Russians.

1989 saw the Berlin Wall come down, and the collapse of Communisim. Months after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Persia too collapsed. Iran invaded, and set up a pro-western government. But that did not last long.

In 1994, the Iatolha (spelling, or whatever the OTL rulers of Iran are) came to power in Persia. The new Islamic Republic of Persia became the home to Osama bin Laden in 2001, and Saddam Huessein in 2003.

In mid-2004, American and Iranian special-ops took control of a small mountain, and found Osama bin Laden and Saddam Huessein together. Ossama was charged with over 3,000 counts of murders in New York, and was sentenced to death. Saddam was shipped to the Hague, were he currently sits waiting for his trial to start.

[Legolas]

Republic of Lithuania (1918 - 2004)

After the Great War, many new democratic governments in Eastern and Central Europe were crushed by fascist, nationalist or communist uprisings and revolutions. In some countries, for example Germany (in 1933), these were defeated by the semi-defunct Entente powers of France and Britain. In others, like Poland and Lithuania, they remained.
The slight power balance in Europe was destroyed when the Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1940. Although a nationalist government by itself, the Finns received aid from democracies like Sweden, Norway and even Great Britain. Some other smaller countries, as Lithuania and Estonia, sent help too, and together they managed to defeat the Soviets in what was later known as the Second Northern War.
This war, which lasted from 1940 to 1942, was a good precedent to create the Baltic Entente between Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. This union, alliance, supported by UK and to a lesser extent, France and Germany, soon became a strong international force and, what is more important, made the authortarian member nations to gradually reduce the political pressures in their internal policies. Lithuania became a multipartial democracy after the death of Antanas Smetona in 1961, Finland became one three years earlier, together with Estonia.
Also, this alliance soon grew to an international military, economical and political union, whose joint research programs were leading in the world in many areas - like social sciences (especially women rights), aeronautics (first faster-than-sound airplane), cosmic exploration (first manned space station, second moon landing after USA, first Jupiter probe, international space station with European Union - France, UK, Germany and Spain) and so on.
The political developments of the union and its member countries were varying. The plebiscite in Danzig and Vilnius in 1964 showed a major support for the areas to return to their former owners (Germany and Lithuania, respectively), but Poland denied these results. This caused the Twenty Days War, which ended when a popular revolution overthrew the government in Poland. Poland retained a small coastline with the port city of Gdynia, but Danzig region was ceded to Germany, as well as Vilnius and Suvalkai, which were granted to Lithuania. On the other hand, Poland soon became a member of the Baltic Entente, which helped the country much more than what the war took from it. Another conflict was with Latvia, whose military dictatorship clung to its position with any means possible. When international human rights experts noted such things, Latvia was invaded, the regime overthrown and the country partitioned between Lithuania and Estonia.
When the USSR collapsed in 1989, the new Republics of Pskov, Belarus and Karelia were invited to join the BE and accepted the same year.
Since then, the Entente retained good relations with the EU, and participated in many international operations (as the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the Saudi Arabian anti-terrorist operation in 2000, as well as peacekeeping operations throughout former USSR, also border conflicts between various African states). The economical and political borders continued to loosen as well, and by 2001 BE had its joint constitution, and by 2003 a joint Parliament and Chamber of Ministers. A complete union of all the member nations into one large federation is planned in 2008.
Lithuania has one of the strongest positions among the BE members. Their technological strength is unequaled (Vilnius' King Mindaugas Physics Institute was where the atomic bomb was designed in 1969, and the largest nuclear power plant in the world stands in Ignalina). Their economical might is only second to Sweden in BE, and fourth (after UK, Sweden and USA) in the world. Military power in constantly being reduced, but the worldwide famous Lithuanian anti-terrorist team 'ARAS' is teaching special agents from throughout the world. The territory of Lithuania includes OTL, plus northwestern Belarus, northeastern Poland and southern half of Latvia.

[basileus]

I repost this little masterpiece of mine :D

The Federal Empire of Lutherania

The origins of the Federal Empire of Lutherania trace back, obviously, to the Protestant Reform of Martin Luther.
The first idea of a common front of the Protestant states of northern Germany can be found in the written of Melantonius in 1547, after the battle of Muhlhausen in which Charles V won over the Protestant league. But realpolitik prevailed after the Augusta accords of 1552 and every Protestant power kept on just like before. The real shock which led to the creation of the Empire was the horrendous Fifty Years' War who devastated great part of Europe between 1618 and 1668. The Danish intervention in defence of the Protestant states of Germany in 1621 was completely defeated by 1627. Then the Swedish king Gustav Adolf invaded Germany in 1631, and was killed the following year at the battle of Lutzen. By 1638 even the Swedes had to get back home. When the Catholic cause seemed on the way to prevail, the unexpected French intervention in 1639 caused the collapse of the Hapsburg power in the Flanders after the battle of Rocroi (1643). This gave courage to the Protestant states of Germany and Scandinavia, which united to form the Lutheran League at Wittenberg in 1645. The united armies of Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, Brandeburg, Oldenburg and the former Hanseatic cities managed to push back the Austro-Bavarians at the battles of Erfurt (1646) and Leipzig (1647) and conquered Prague in 1648. The following year they failed in the siege of Vienna but managed to link up with the Transylvanian Calvinist rebels led by Bethlen Gabor, with its Hungarian Protestant allied. The devastations of war now ravaged across Austria, Bohemia, Slovakia, Hungary and Transylvania, ruining them for a century to come, as the Turks tried in vain to exploit the chaos to expand further north. They only managed to be fought off by the Protestants at Pressburg (1650) and by the Hapsburgs on the Mura (1652).
In 1650 Europe was in complete chaos. Civil war ravaged Spain in Catalonia and Portugal, had finished a year before in England and was beginning in France (1651-1653). The Protestant League had the upper hand but in 1652, when all parts wher on the verge of signing a peace by exhaustion, the sudden attack of Poland on the Protestant League reopened the war. The Poles conquered Prague and Bohemia cutting out much of the Protestant forces. The ensuing battle of Budweis was a slaughter in which a Protestant army of 80,000 thousand was exterminated by a joint attack of Poles from the north and Austro-Papists from the south (the Pope had joined his troops after the Poles attacked). When a Hapsburg army under Montecuccoli defeated again the Protestant League at Wurzburg in 1653 the Catholic were able to advance and fiercely pillage what remained to sack in the Low Saxony, whereas the Poles were stopped by Prussian and Swedes at Stargard. Called for help, Russia attacked the Poles at east in 1655. This, together with a major Cossack revolt in Ukraine under Taras Bulba, effectively put an end to the Pole menace. In the same year 1655 Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sent an army of 30,000 on the continent after settling out his quarrel with the Dutch (who savvily kept out of the war after the fall of the Spanish Flanders). This, together with a great rentrèe of the French army across the Rhine and renewed rebellions in Hungary and Transylvania, equilibrated the situation. Meantime the Savoyard king had ridden of the French influence and enetered the war on the Hapsburg-Catholic side, the Swiss knew their second civil war (1655-1659) making their country a battlefield between Hapsburgs and Bourbons. The English general Monk led the Protestant to the victory of Munster that forever chased the Catholics from the north of Germany, but with the death of Cromwell the English army was retired. At this point Prussia-Brandenburg and Sweden resolutely agreed to better unite forces, which was made through a dynastical marriage between Queen Christine of Sweden and Prince Frederick William the Great Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia (1659). The war dragged on harshly for some years, but after being defeated at Germersheim (1661) by the French, the Austrians were too much concerned with the Ottoman increasing strength to effectively continue the war. After years of debates and skirmishes it arrived to the Peace of the Palatinate (1668) which confirmed the "cuius regio, eius religio" principle. France annexed Savoy, Alsace, Lorraine and parts of the Palatinate, Prussia took Silesia and Pomerania, the former Catholic Munster was awarded to the Hannoverians, Hesse was finally recognized a Protestant state. The Austrians kept Bohemia and in the aftermath managed to crush the Magyar Calvinist revolts while keeping the Turks at bay. Switzerland's neutrality was officially recognized.
In the following years a weakened Denmark had the bad idea to make war on Sweden-Prussia on the issue of Lund. It was overrun with the conquest of Copenhagen by an assault across the frozen sea (1676) and obliged to signed a pact of vassalage towards the Swede-Prussian union. When in 1688 the Palatinate war broke out because of the French attitude towards southern Germany, the Protestant power initially stayed neutral, then enterd the war to protect Hannover in 1692. The bright victory of Kleve (1694) assured a reasonable peace treaty in Rijswijk three years later, by which Oldenburg, Hannover and the free cities along the North Sea and the Baltic all entered the Foedus Lutheranum signed in 1698 in Copenhagen. In 1701 Frederick I von Hohenzollern-Vasa was crowned King of Prussia, thus giving equal dignity to the two parts of his reign.
The Prussian-Swedish army became soon the most modern of Europe. Its skill and organization made it a terrifying instrument of war. It proved its valor during the long and bloody war with Peter the Great's Russia, the Great North War (1701-1711). General Karl Wagner von Jakobstadt defeated Saxony obliging it to enter the Foedus Lutheranum (1702), literally conquered all of Poland (1704) and entered the Ukraine. Despite the defeat of Poltava (1709), the final agreement of peace signed at Wilno in 1711 was favourable. The Russians gained Estonia and Ingermanland with their new capital town of St. Petersburg and ripped much of Byelorussia and Ukraine off Poland, who was to give the Prusso-Swedes Livonia and Danzig.
From the 1720s on the new empire searched for an identity. It assumed informally the name of Lutherania (first mention of this use in 1729) and expanded its navy establishing trading posts and colonies in Greenland, the Caribbeans (Virgin Islands), Suriname (taken to the Dutch in 1728), Gulf of Guinea (colonies of Fredericia, Nova Gothia and Benin) and Australia (colony of Fredericia Australis, 1740).
During the Austrian War of Succession Lutherania ripped Bohemia to Austria in 1742. It payed this very dearly. When it enterd in 1756 the Seven Years' War on the side of Britain it underwent the simultaneous attacks of Austrains, French, Poles and Russians. Only the extraordinary skill of its generals saved its southern part from being completely overrun. Stunning victories against the French at Leuthen and Rossabach marked the first two years of war, then the Russians invaded Prussia, setting Koenigsberg ablaze and conquering Berlin in 1762. When the war seemed lost, the Tsarine Elizaveta died, and his weak heir Peter, a fond admirer of Lutherania, exited the war in change of Livonia and another sizable chunk of the decrepit Polish kingdom. The final peace at Amsterdam (1763) regave Bohemia back to Austria, and that was all. The following years were marked by a growing critics of absolutism and a rise in science, technology and culture. These were the years of Frederick II the Bold. A new capital was built after 1765 at Fredericia, in the south of Sweden. German was the official language of Lutherania, but Swedish was also used and French was the language of the much-refined court.
The French revolutionary wars saw Lutherania opposing France after 1792. The first war raged till 1798 when the peace treaty of Strasbourg recognized the Batavian Republic and the French supremacy on southwestern Germany. When Napoleon dissolved the Holy Roman Germanic Empire in 1806 Frederick William III assumed the title of Emperor of Lutherania. The war broke out that same year, and the Lutheranian army was destroyed at the battle of Jena, after what all of Germany remained in French hands except Prussia proper, Denmark went her way and the Empire was humiliated. Its revenge came in 1813, after Napoleon's disaster in Russia. In the battle of Lipsia an Austro-Lutheran joint army thoroughly defeated Napoleon's last Armèe, then the following year, despite many tactical setbacks, Lutheranian troops entered first Paris. In 1815, then Feldmarschall Blucher destryed Napoleon at Namur without even the need of help by the English army of Wellington. The Congress of Vienna was a triumph for the Empire. It had to give Russia all of Carelia, but it was a long-due accord. For the rest, it retook all of its territories and all vassal countries not only reaffirmed obedience, but entered a federal union with the Empire which was to be progressively strengthened into a single, more powerful state. After the 1848 revolutions Lutherania too had its Constitution and slowly democratized, though a real constitutional monarchy was born only in 1867. Full male right of vote was given in 1896; women followed in 1916. In 1866 Lutherania lost a brief war with Austria re the control of southern Germany. General Benedek defeated Von Moltke's army at Pilsen and Lutherania recognized the Austrian sovereignity on the region, which was quickly incorporated in the new powerful Hapsburg Empire. In the following years, the British hostility obliged Lutherania to ally with Austria.
The scientific contribute of Lutherania to the world was astounding, in chemicals and engineering Lutherania was the best in the world, art and phyloslophy were thriving. It was the era of progress. In 1897 a Lutheranian engineer, August Karl Sonnenfels, built and piloted the first fragile motor airplane.
The First World War broke out in 1912 between the Franco-British-Russian Entente and the Pressburg League of Lutherania and Austria. In the end, in 1915, Russia had crumbled in pieces, France had to beg for peace and Britain agreed to the peace of Lausanne. The independent kingdoms of Poland and Italy were created, respectively vassal to Lutherania and Austria. Lutherania controlled the baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia too. In the 1920s the reunification of Russia by the fanatic United Motherland movement posed the pillars of the Second World war (1940-1946), which saw Russian and French forces overrun all of Central Europe and the Japanese rush across the Pacific. The Us-British-Lutheranian developed A-bomb solved the war after the destruction of St. Petersburg and Moscow. The Lutheranians had their part in in occupied Russia and annexed Carelia and the Kola peninsula.
Nowadays Lutherania is a stable and rich First World democracy, with a permanent seat in the UN, under His Imperial Highness Olaf I von Hohenzollern-Vasa and Prime Minister Hans von Pedersen, of the Lutheran Zentrum Party.
Its constituent states are the kingdoms of Sweden, Prussia, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Saxony, Hannover and the principalities of Oldenburg and Hessen plus the free cities of Hamburg, Bremen, Lubbeck, Stettin and Danzig. Its borders are west with Netherlands, south with the Hapsburg Empire, east with Poland, Lithuania and Russia. It controls Greenland and West-Australia as associated members of the empire for a complex of 75 M population. Lutheranian military have bases in Russia, Siberia, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, France and Benin, besides all of the territories of the empire and associated members.

[basileus]

And again a repost:

The Coptic Empire

The Coptian Empire is the natural continuation of the millenary traditions of Egypt and Ethiopia. Its history roots back to the 6th century BC when , to resist the Persian superpower, the Egyptian pharaohs allied dinastically with Nubia and in the next century marched on Ethiopia, adding that huge land to the already wide Egyptian-Nubian empire. The conquest of Ethiopia brought explorations to such an extent that ancient Egyptians are still considered the founders of the geographical science. The Egyptian control of the Red Sea with its wealthy traffics made the empire increasingly rich, its merchant navy established trade and military posts throughout the Indian Ocean from the land of Opunt-Zimbabwe to Si-lon (Ceylon). After finally expelling the Persians in 363 BC, the Egyptian Empire was briefly overrun bey Alexander the Great, but the State survived in Nubia and retook its homeland against Alexander's diadochus Tolomaeus. Long struggles with the Seleucids were followed by the Roman invasion under Julius Caesar. Anew the Court transferred the capital in Nubia, were a brand new capital was build, City of the Gods. In the 2nd century AD Trajan almost managed to subdue even Nubia, but finally Adrian had to retire and grant Egypt its independence on the condition that it remained vassal to Rome providing it with food, slaves and spices. The accord lasted until the Roman Empire entered its 3rd century crisis: the Egyptian managed to conquer the kingdom of Palmyra, then were defeated by Aurelian and obliged to fully honor their commitments.
The penetration of Christianity was a decisive development. The tolerance of the Christian cult was officially declared in 250 as a response to Decius' brutal persecution in the Roman Empire, and the ancient millenary heathen religion was slowly replaced by a local version of Christianity with Neoplatonic, Gnostic and Monophysite infuxes called "Copt" (as it was the name of the Egyptians themselves). In 381 the capital was renamed Christopolis (Greek was always a popular language of culture in the empire, and with the advent of Christianity that went even better). After 395 the ancient enmity with Rome was replaced by a harsh boundary quarrel with Byzantium, often with doctrinal issues to pour gas on the flames amongst reciprocate excommunications and accuses of heresy and apostasy. During the 5 and 6th century the empire underwent a deep cultural change as the millenary traditions of old Egypt were finally replaced by the new Faith in Christ. Due to the abandoning of imbalsamation, the country had to endure severe epidemics of plague, that are calculated to have killed up to one-fifth of the population.
Religious sectarism and power struggles at court were also a problem. On the throne of the Pharaohs there was even a Gothic warrior of the Imperial Guard, Ildibada, who assuming the name of Ramses XXI (542-559) founded the XLVIIth Dinasty (till 645). However Egypt remained a viable power, and when in 640 the Arab Muslims invaded the Low Egypt, they couldn't remain there for more than few years. General Sam-Nafak liberated the Low Egypt defeating 'Amr in the battle of Heliopolis in 644, adate which marks a legend in Coptian history. From then on a century-long, fierce struggle with character of "holy war" (agiopolemon) and jihad respectively was fought between the Caliphate and the Coptian Empire. The major issues were control of the Holy Land and of the Indian Ocean trade. While in the former the Arabs proved generally winners, in the latter the Coptians managed to hold many of their trade posts and colonies and explored furthermore the ocean. In 972 the first Coptian embassy reached Sung China.
When the Turks overrun the northern tiers of the Caliphate, another enemy appeared on the horizon: the Western Crusaders, whose campaigning in Syria and Palestine was horrendously brutal and fanatic. When in the 13th century they twice tried to subdue the Low Egypt, they were routed and decimated by epidemics. San Francesco d'Assisi, a much respected figure in Egypt, brokered a lasting peace in 1221 with the Charta Menfitana.
In 1260 the country experienced the risk of being invaded by Hulagu Khan, which was avoided by paying tributes to the man that, after all, had forever destroyed the Caliphate. In the following centuries Egypt thrived economically, with its stong ties with Indian and Chinese commerce in the ocean and the Venetians in the Mediterranean. In 1271 two Genoese brothers, the Vivaldi, first circumnavigated Africa since the times of the Phoenician expedition under Egyptian mandate in the 6th century BC. Meantime the Coptian preached Christianity, converting to Coptism Ceylon, parts of Southern India, Madagascar and some Swahili kingdoms, besides sending missionaries into the mysterious wilderness of inner Africa, but they couldn't avoide the Islamicization of the Malayans and Indonesians. Some military questions over control of Libya arose with the Zenete Empire, but the countries were too distant to make war seriously. In 1440 a Copt fleet brought astray by a storm discovered Brazil. The news remained secret for less than two years, then the race to America began. The empire tried to hold its own but by 1525 Portuguese and Spaniards have chased them from the Atlantic.
The most terrible menace of modern Egypt came from the Ottomans. When they in 1517 crushed all the Muslim sultanates of Syria and Palestine they came in direct contact with the "polytheist" Copts. A strict alliance with the Hapsburgs ensued in 1530. The final defeat of the Ottoman plans to subdue and Islamicize gypt came with the failed siege of Thebes in 1690. From then on the Ottoman power declined. After a period of unrest, epidemics and religious disputes in the 18th century, the Coptic Empire began an astounding modernization under Joseph XVI (1830-1859). Only the oppositon of France and Britain kept Syria and Palestine in Ottoman hands after the victorious war of 1838-1840. Just before the Copts had helped with many men the independence of Greece and Serbia from the Turks.
With modernity came industrialization, at least in Egypt proper (many regions of Ethiopia were still at the Neolithic or something like this, and scarcely known). In 1854 the Canal of Suais, a work in progress since millennia, was opened, and in 1859, with the Pharaoh dying, the first Imperial Constitution. When WW1 came the Empire stopped the Ottomans with British help on the Canal, then the Coptic armies overrun the Turks in the battles of Gaza, Jericho, Samaria and Damascus. When the armistice of Mudros was signed, they were occupying Aleppo. In 1920, on Franco-British pressure, Egypt was obliged to leave again Syria and Palestine to Western mandates and had to write down a fully democratic Constitution (though the divine right of the Pharaoh remained). Meantime in Arabia another wave of fanaticism under the al Saud tribal clan had risen to power. This caused havoc in the Italian colony of Northern Yemen and when the Italians were overrun in 1927 (causing a brief crisis to Mussolini's fascist regime) Egypt was charged by the League of Nations to intervene and sane the situation. From then on a fanatical, bloody and cruel guerrilla war dragged on for decades till the Copts retired in 1962.
During the Second World War the Coptic Empire initially stayed neutral, but was attacked by Italy in June 1940 on the issue of Libya. In August the Italians had tken all of Libya, but a counterattack led by Grand General Yakob Boutrian defeated them in the battle of Port Apollonia. When the Italians were on the point of being overrun came Rommel with its excellent Afrika Korps, and in November 1941 the Copt 1st Army was severely defeated and routed in the Batlle of the Thousand Mile Sands. On Christmas day, 1941, Rommel reached the Canal but couldn't cross it. On the other side there were Copts, British, Australians, South Africans, Free French, the Hebraic Legion. Besides this he risked to be overrun from the south, where the Copt 7th Army stopped him in the battle of Lake Phayim. Meantime an integralist Islamic filo-Nazi insurrection in Jordan was crushed by the British. The Saudi king sided with Hitler but his forces were defeated on the ground by the Desert Rats in the spring of 1942 (it was the beginning of the Arabian War which was to be fought painfully until 1957). The Battle of the Canal dragged on till the two-pronged Operation Circle of October 24th, 1942, when the Copt 3rd Army and the British 8th Army attacked through the Canal under the fire of a thousand great-caliber guns and the same number of aircraft, whereas the 7th Copt Army and the 1st Anglo-American Army under Patton crushed the Italo-Germans in the bloody tank battle of Menfi. The entire Axis army in Africa was captured after a vain attempted breakthrough near Daba: 200,000 prisoners were made. After that, all of Lybia up to the Punian border in Leptis Noa was retaken by the end of December 1942.
After the liberation of Malta in April 1943 and the invasion and conquest of Sardinia and Corsica in June-August 1943, the Copt XXIIIth Mechanized Corps was sent along with the Allied invasion force in Italy (AIFI) that landed around Brindisi and Taranto on the 9th September, 1943. The XXIIIth Corps distinguished itself at the battles of Bari (after which Italy surrended formally), Termoli and Ortona until it was retired on inner politics issues in March 1944 to be replaced with a smaller Copt Task Force of two divisions, the celebrate 7th Cavalry and the 13th Mechanized. This two units were destined to the Balkan front after the landing at Pola (Istria) on the 6th of June 1944, same day as Normandy, and took part in the battles of Pisino, Capodistria and Trieste. The 7th Cavalry liberated Udine on the 15th October 1944, then the two Copt divisions were sent to battle in Slovenia and Hungary and finished the war, after the conquest of Vienna in Febrauary 1945, at Passau on the Danube, where they received the surrender of the whole German Army Group F with its commander, Feldmarschall Tolsdorf "The Mad".
In 1945 the Coptic Empire entered the Un and in 1959, not without debate, had itself accepted as associate member in the NATO. Its protracted help to Israel after 1948 and its presence in Northern Yemen exposed the empire to the not-so-glad attention of Arab terrorists, both nationalist and religious fanatics. The most terrible of this acts of violence was the hijacking on an El Al airplane in Christopolis crushed on the local soccer stadium during the final of the World Championship in 1998, France-Brazil, which killed more than 50,000.

[basileus]

More:

The Republic of Liguria

The Republic of Liguria is one of the most ancient states in Europe, going back in its roots to the Medieval Comune of Genoa (XIth century). It occupies a stretch of land between the Vars and the Po Rivers, the Apuan Alps and the foothills of the Aemilian Appennines. Its borders are with Provence (west), the Kingdom of Savoy (north) and Italy (east). Southwards it opens on the Ligurian Sea.
The prigins of the Ligurian people are lost in the mist of times. About 3000 BC they occupied completely all of today's Provence and the western half of Northern Italy. Besides thata it seems lilely they have colonized some regions in the Pyrenees and, it seems, Portugal. The Ligurian language is unrelated to any other language in the world, with the notable exception of Basque, which shows some elements in common with. One of the most credited hypotheses is that the two non-indoeuropean languages were part of a paleo-european linguistical macrofamily of which some caucasian languages too (notably Georgian) would be the remnants; but there's much debate about this.
The Ligurians had their first impact with Indo-Europeans when the Umbrians colonized the Padan Plain giving today's Lombardy the name of Insubria. Then, after a brief period of Etruscan influence, came the Celts (VIth century BC), whose presence and domination deeply affected any land inhabited by the Ligurians. Provence and Lombardy were Celticized to such an extent that no trace of Ligurian language survived beyond the epoch of Hannibal. Liguria proper and Piedmont (along with an isolated pocket in the Aosta valley, the Salssi), however, developed a mixed Celto-Ligurian civilization in which both languages survived influencing somewhat each other. When the Romans came and conquered all of Liguria and Piedmont except the remotest alpine zones (181 BC) the Romanization of the land slowly began. In 30 BC the Salassi were ethnic-cleansed by the Romas, and in the centuries of the Roman Empire Piedmont north of the Po river
romanized deeply, till both Celt and Ligurian disappeared as spoken languages in favor of Latin. In Liguria and the low Piedmont, however, only the Celtophones and a minority of the Ligurian-speaking people passed to Latin. The cities and the hamlets along the Roman ways of communication were Latinized, the people of the inner mountains and hills kept on speaking their ancient mothertongue (also for religious purposes). The difficult and slow penetration of Christianity (from the IIIrd century onwards) endangered seriously the survival of the language, but the stubborn resistance opposed by the mountaineers preserved it through the storms of the High Middle Ages. After the fall of the Empire and the Ostrogoth kingdom, the land was fiercely battled between the Lombards and the Byzantines (571-640) till the former prevailed. Then, after Charles the Great, the territory was divided into three "marks" which soon fragmented for dynastical reasons, leading to a complete feudal chaos, while the Saracens dominated all of Provence and the Western Alps and regularly pillaged the land, just like the Magyars and the Vikings (Hasting's destruction of Luni, 862). During the XIth century the power of Genoa began emerging with the free Comune and the First Crusade. From that point on the power of the city-state rose steadily and unstoppably. By the end of the XIIIth century Genoa controlled all of the Riviera di Levante (east of the city) incorporating many little local feuds. Its enemies were Savona in the Riviera di Ponente (west of the city), the marquis of Monferrato (north, in the low Piedmont), Milan and the brigand-like feudal lords of the Appennines in the east (Fieschi, Malatesta). After various wars, only in 1528 Savona was brought under Genoese power (the Del Carretto marquisade of Finale fell to Spain in 1588, and to Genoa in 1714). After the XVIth century, with political stabilization, the alliance of Spain and the banking role of Genoa enriched the prominent families of the city. Now, with the liquidation of the Fieschi power (1547), the most notable menace were the Savoyards from Piedmont. Monferrato fell piece by piece in Genoese hands until it disappeared in 1630. With the elimination of the last "robber barons" in the east Appennines, the Landi, around 1690, Genoa controlled the bulk of current Liguria. After the Revolutionary Wars the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) assigned to Genoa all the seaports of Savoy giving it uninterrupted control over the coast from Nice to Carrara, confirming and enlarging its possessions in the low Piedmont and the Appennines. The Republic of Liguria (no more of Genoa) soon became a model of democracy in Southern Europe. When attacked by Austria in 1852 as a political menace, it astoundingly won a great victory with the allied Savoyards in the battle of Marengo, and helped the Italian unification movement. During WWI Liguria took the part of the Allies, contributing to the Italian victory against Austria-Hungary.
During WW2 the country kept neutral and remained unmolested, then entered NATO in 1958 (after much debate, the Communists were very strong in the country) and the EEC in 1960.
The economy of the country is based on the triad heavy industry-tourism-high quality agriculture. The industry is concentrated in and around the great ports of Genoa-Voltri, Savona-Vado and La Spezia and in the Bormida and Scrivia valleys. Tourism, both at seaside and in the lovely mountains, is massive, for the most part they are Savoyards from Piedmont and Lombardy but there are many Germans too.
Agriculture has always been dificult for the rugged mountainous terrain, but its productions are highly renowned. Ligurian wine (produced mainly in the Langhe and Monferrato subregions) and oil (on the Rivieras) are amongst the best in the world. Fruit and vegetables are cultivated throughout the territory and expecially in the Langhe and the Riviera di Ponente, and even exported abroad.
Even today Liguria is quite dominated by the sheer weight of its capital, Genoa, with its 1 million inhabitants (hinterland included, the city has 500,000). Other important cities are Nice (350,000), Savona (150,000), Spezia (250,000), Sanremo (100,000) and Alessandria (100,000).
The total population of the country is about 4.3 millions (2003). All of them can speak and write both in Italian and in Ligurian; there are newspaper and TV broadcast stations, both public and private, in both languages.
Today, as always in the last 2,000 years, Ligurian is currently spoken in family in the inner zones, with authentic strongholds in the Maritime Alps and all the Appenninic subregion, and in the smallest towns along the coast, while Italian is spoken in the cities and in the Monferrato area. Ligurian is all but an endangered language.

[basileus]

And the final (shorter) blow:

Ladinia

Ladinia is a long stripe of land in the East of the Alps, from San Gall (OT Sankt Gallen) to Grizza (OT Gorizia/Nova Gorica).
The country began forming around the counties of Tirol and Gorz in the XIIth century, and was well defined after the XIVth century, when the two counties were united via dynastical marriage. The unity of the country was made possible by the Neolatin language (even with great vernacular differences) spoken between Switzerland and Slovenia, and the mountainous character of most of the land, which permitted Ladinia to resist succesfully to every invasion, from that, early, of the Bavarians (VIth century), who were partially absorbed and formed a strong German minority in Tirol, to the Avaro-Slavs (VIIth century), stopped in the mythological battle at the Drava sources around 680 AD. After being part of the Empire of Charles the Great, the land was divided in counties in the ensuing period of feudal anarchy. It emerged united in the XIVth century struggling against the Hapsburgs, then against Venice. Its hated ally was the Ottoman Empire, which earned the Ladinians the nomea of "renegade Christians" amongst the neighbors. Another important allied was France, whose help proved crucial in the long and harsh years of the War of the Thirty Years (1618-1648) and throughout the XVIIth and XVIIIth century.
THe Napoleonic Wars that ruined Europe between 1796 and 1821 affected little Ladinia, a neutral power despite menaces from every country involved in the great struggle. After the fall of the French Empire of Napoleon, Ladinia helped the Italian nationalist movement to crush the old regimes and democratized slowly, following with deep interest the politicl debate in England, only slightly affected by the democratic revolutions of 1830 and 1848. Ladinia took part in the Crimean War with a small expedition corps, then was involved in the long and bloody War of the Four Crowns (1866-1869) as an allied of Prussia against Austria-Hungary and Italy. The final victory didn't bring any territorial advantage, the country was ruined and bled white and closed in a strict neutrality well guarded by the new German Empire.
The following years saw a great development in transportation with the construction of important railways across the Alps which reaffirmed the strategic position of the country, whose neutrality was consolidated a historic pact of mutual defence with Switzerland (1885). The First World War (1906-1909) saw the country maintaning the strictest neutrality, while banking and selling food and weapons to every part involved in the conflict. This enriched the country. The Second World War (1931-1938) saw the country warring for its survival in the last two years against the crazy German regime of the SS (Sigfried's Sons). The American army liberated the country, who suffered 60,000 casualties in the war, in the last days of the war. From then on Ladinia was a proud member of the NATO alliance and a sincere friend of the US and the UK. During WWIII (1962-1968) Ladinia was targeted by three tactical strikes on Uden (OT Udine), Pordenons (OT Pordenone) and near Ruareda (OT Rovereto), and suffered some 0.8 megadeaths from nuclear blasts, famine, biochemical warfare and land battles. Good state-led organization (ladinia was social democrat from 1936 on) and anti-atomic refuges prevented worst damages. The final victory of the Western Block ensured its position as a strong power in a devastated world. From then on, Ladinia has often sent his armed forces in policing actions throughout the world, holding, together with Switzerland, Ireland and Sweden, the Four Founders' Seats at the European Grand Council and at the AFW (Alliance of the Free World, successor to the US-led UN). Nowadays its most powerful enemies are the Neo-Ottoman Empire and the Greater Slavonian Kombinat.
Today (2003) Ladinia extends for about 100,000 square kilometers with about 5,5 million inhabitants. The capital is the 300,000 inhabitants-town of Borsanna (OT Bolzano/Bozen), as it was since 1574. Other cities of importance are San Gall (250,000), Treint (OT Trento, 150,000), Grizza (200,000) and the newly-built Cidad es Friuls (100,000). Uden and Pordenons were never reconstructed and left as a permanent monument of WWIII.
Nowadays the king is Peter Paul VII of the House of Tirol-Grizza. His Prime Minister is Anselm Da Curtz, of the Conservative Peasant Party (from 2001).

[G.Bone]

Mexico

In this TL, the Mexican Revolution did not occur due to Zapata being not refused in reclaiming land as occupied by another party. There was also the added POD that Diaz being more liberal towards the end of his last presidential term, thereby helping to usher Mexico into first world status in the late 1910's and early 1920's. This really threw off US foreign policy as other Latin American countries began to follow Mexico's path and trying to find their own road to first world status. In 1925 the Organization of American States was founded amongst Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico in order to help to safeguard their fragile economic status. [which was in full swing due to World War 1 and it's aftermath]

As a result of OAS becoming the local powerhouse, the US became more aggressive in it's foreign policy [in the idea that they could find other avenues of income than depending on illegal labor from S. America]. World War 1 happened on schedule with the US annexing much of the Pacific colonies that Germany had, as well as to increase it's investment in China. This started another rivarly with Japan that led to more US 'advisors' to appear in China to protect their investment, which gave reason to a Pacific War occuring in the late 1938/9. [The Great Depression ocurred only for 5 years with the OAS stepping in to help it's northern neighbor. Nethertheless, this really humbled the US that they were now dependent on the country that they had once treated like dirt.]

The turmoil that started World War 2 never really started off due to the heavy dependence that Europe had on the OAS powers. In it's stead, there were several 'socialist' revolutions that occured in Germany, Italy, and Spain that forced the Allied Powers to form a "Peacekeeping Force" in order to stop dicatorships from happening. However, such revolutions did have a cost with Russia reformatting itself into a Consitutional Democracy that had desires of lumping much of Eastern Europe within their new republic. This lead to a 10 year long Cold War with the European Union [consisting of all W. European countries] being founded in order to combat any 'annexation' that Russia had beyond Hungary/Yugoslavia. Luckily, the OAS stepped in 1951 to stop the Cold War from continuing because it was endangering it's interests in Africa and Asia.

By the year 1996, Mexico has literally become the country that the US had the potential to be. Much of Mexico's economy is both based on agriculture and industrial companies that are spread around the country. A unique system has been in place since the 30's whereas a welfare policy was established to help landless peasents support themselves without big businesses exploiting them. Voter perecentage and literacy rates are at 100% due to the a wide spread public educational system that helps lower income classes to increase their economic status. By OTL's terms, Mexico has become a welfare state along the lines of the Nordic countries, given a few deviances due to it's unique culture.

As for military actions, much of Mexico's armed forces are tooled to counter terrorists crossing the US/Mexico border as well as US-sponsored insurgents. The only formal military expiditions that Mexico has been in are mostly associated with mediated int'l quarrles (i.e. the breakup of the Yugoslavia). In the eyes of the international community, the OAS has become a psuedo-United Nations that strives for world peace as well as other humanitarian problems.

However this definition does not apply to the on-going problem with the United States. It is a known fact to historians that as Mexico increased it's status in the world, the US's status went down. The United States fell into internal turmoil as two factions started to gain power: the "White Fist" movement that advocated the disruption of Mexican infrastructure so that the US could gain that success, and the normal democractic movement that advocated more 'reformist' policies so that they could catch up with Mexico. This soon lead to the Southwestern states becoming more and more pro-Mexican due to their position along the Mexican border. In 1986, a White Fist terrorist attempted to blow-up a meeting of OAS heads in Zapatista [OTL Leon]. After much 'discussion', it was found out that some elements within the US Army actually assited in this assassination.

Thus the 'American War' occured, lasting 9 long years, with the US literally shattered into individual countries and protectorates. Both Texas, New Mexico, California, AZ, UT, Nevada are formally recognized as Mexican states. Much of the northern Western states are under Canadian jurisdiction. Both the Southern and the Northern states are under formal OAS 'guidance'. [i.e. they have their own gov't but OAS officials to keep watch over them]

This action has not gone well with the international community, especially China, which has become the destinaton for many refugees from the US. [China has a lot of American citizens, weapondry, and technology from the US due to the Pacific War. ] There is some rumor that China seeks the alliance of other states in order to counter the OAS's "illegal occupation of sovereign American soil". However, much of China's actions is severly curtailed due to it's squabbles with Russia and Japan.

[G.Bone]

Fun Facts about Mexico

-> Zapatista is regarded as a resort capital and home city of the Labor Party, which advocates reform to the peasent class

-> Mexico City is referred to as "Spanish Hollywood" due to the massive amounts of film produced there.

-> There are constant refugee problems in the Northern States as people from the Eastern US try to immigrate to Mexico for a better life.

-> Both English and Spanish are spoken in the Northern States, however, much of the English that is spoken has A LOT of Spanish words mixed into it as well as Spanish grammar.

-> Freedom of religion is allowed in the Northern States. Already there has been an increase of Roman Catholic missionaries in these areas to "convert" their increased flock.

-> MTV is regarded as a channel that not only airs popular music but critical commentary on world affairs. It currently is aired from Zapatista.

-> Much of the Native Americans have been extended the rights under the Gomez-Garcia Act of '28, which grants them a tax exemption and donations to allow them greater economic oppertunities.

-> The Mexican Space Agency is celebrating it's second anniversary of launching the first Lunar Base on the Moon. [currently serving as a telescope/observation post]

-> Mexico City is the largest city in the world, rivaling London or Paris.

-> There are three major political parties: the Labor Party [for lower class], Liberal [for economic measures], and the Conservatives [military/industry].

-> President Fox is the first Conservative President elected in 30 years. Much of his predecessors have been either Labor or Liberal.

[Othniel]

Some of these are very intresting, I'm reving this thread for more consideration.

[JHPier]

Kingdom of Brittany

POD: The Bretons fight off the Viking-invasion of 914. The old dynasty remains on the throne and the country is not obliged to submit to France's feudal overlordship to kick them out again.
Playing off England against France Brittany retains its independence throughout the Middle Ages. During the Reformation it remains staunchly Catholic. In the 17C its dynasty dies out, leaving an heiress which is married to James II of England. Thus when James loses his British kingdoms in the Glorious Revolution he retreats to Brittany. Under the Stuarts Brittany is a staunch ally of France. The French Revolution sees the Stuarts driven out and fleeing to Spain and Brittany annexed to Revolutionary France. This state of affairs lasts till Napoleon is exiled to Elba. Despite the presence of a Breton Legion in Wellington's army that served with great distinction, the British at the Congress of Vienna appear loth to restore the Stuart's kingdom. When Napoleon lands in France again therefore a number of exiles take matters in their own hands, land in Brittany and raise the people. Napoleon is forced to detach a portion of his army under Grouchy, something to which he ascribes his defeat at Waterloo. After which there is no question about the kingdom of Brittany's independence. Since 1848 it is a constitutional monarchy. During WWI it remained neutral. In WWII it endured 4 years of Nazi occupation. Since the war it has been a founder-member of NATO and has become a prosperous member of the EU.

[JHPier]

The republic of Nieuw-Zeeland

The beginning of our realm on the Amazon consisted of a fortified trading-post opposite the mouth of the Rio Xingu first founded in 1607, that came to be the city of Prins Mauritsstad. The fledgling colony was in its first twenty years under repeated heavy attack from the Portuguese until these were finally dislodged from their stronghold of Belem at the mouth of the Rio Tocantins in 1624. [In OTL it was of course the other way round. The Zeelanders concentrated on Essequibo, Berbice and Demerarij, now in Guyana] The tough merchants from Zeeland who financed this enterprise also had to see off English interlopers before they could enjoy the trade of the greatest river of South America. Crucially the Portuguese were the second quarter of the 17C preoccupied by our conquest of Northeast Brazil, which gave the colony of Nieuw-Zeeland the chance to grow and develop.
By 1700 the colony counted ca.15.000 whites and mestizos, while epidemics had reduced the native population to some 200.000. The economy was based on the export of forest products, principally sarsaparilla, although there were some sugar plantations in the neighbourhood of Mauritsstad. Rice and water buffalos were intriduced. The import of African slaves was limited, most of the colony's slave population being the product of raids on hostile Native tribes. The colony's territory extended a considerable distance beyond the junction of the Amazon, Madeira and Rio Negro, where it came upon the first Spanish missions, with which there were frequent clashes. During the War of the Spanish Succession the frontier shifted considerably upstream.
During the 18C the non-Native (mostly mestizo) population rose to 250.000, now outnumbering remaining Native Americans. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars saw the colony occupied by the British, but they gave it back after Waterloo. The British did however push the frontier with Spain yet further upstream. There followed the great days of the Rubber Boom, during which hundreds of thousands of coolies were brought in from Java and British India to make the rubberbarons' fortunes and rubbertappers pushed our borders close to the Andes. The Peruvians were at first disagreeable but a brief naval war (18901-1893) changed their tune.
But the Rubber Boom did not last. Impoverishment characterized the 20C. In 1964 the country was granted independence. It now has 5.1 million inhabitants. The economy is still largely dependent on forest products and agriculture. Attempts to foster manufacturing have had indifferent results but there are high hopes of tourism.

[JHPier]

The kingdom of Bohai

This started with a disgruntled prince of the Jin dynasty called Mengde who, because of his scandalous realtionship with his sister was banished as governor to one of the farthest provinces of the empire, Bohai [centered on what today is Vladivostok]. Shortly after Chinggis Khan started his campaigns against the empire. The disgruntled prince offered alliance and submission, which was accepted. Many refugees thereupon flocked to the new kingdom fleeing the Mongols' devastating campaigns [in OTL they wiped out agriculture in the region for the next 700 years]. Mengde and his successors were faithful Mongol vassals till the demise of the Yuan. A period of independence was followed by vassalship to Korea. This was terminated by Bohai's support for Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, the failure of which left Bohai on its own again, only to be incorporated in the growing Manchu empire. The kingdom was forcibly opened to outside commerce in 1871 by a Russian fleet. Following the fall of the Manchu's Bohai found itself under Russian overlordship, which changed to Japanese in the wake of the latter's intervention in the Russian Civil War.
The kingdom came to an end with the Russian invasion of 1945 and its conversion to a Sovjet-republic.
Nowadays the country is a struggling ex-sovjet republic of 11.8 million people, 95% Manchu-speaking.

[Grey Wolf]

The kingdom of Bohai

This started with a disgruntled prince of the Jin dynasty called Mengde who, because of his scandalous realtionship with his sister was banished as governor to one of the farthest provinces of the empire, Bohai [centered on what today is Vladivostok]. Shortly after Chinggis Khan started his campaigns against the empire. The disgruntled prince offered alliance and submission, which was accepted. Many refugees thereupon flocked to the new kingdom fleeing the Mongols' devastating campaigns [in OTL they wiped out agriculture in the region for the next 700 years]. Mengde and his successors were faithful Mongol vassals till the demise of the Yuan. A period of independence was followed by vassalship to Korea. This was terminated by Bohai's support for Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, the failure of which left Bohai on its own again, only to be incorporated in the growing Manchu empire. The kingdom was forcibly opened to outside commerce in 1871 by a Russian fleet. Following the fall of the Manchu's Bohai found itself under Russian overlordship, which changed to Japanese in the wake of the latter's intervention in the Russian Civil War.
The kingdom came to an end with the Russian invasion of 1945 and its conversion to a Sovjet-republic.
Nowadays the country is a struggling ex-sovjet republic of 11.8 million people, 95% Manchu-speaking.

I like this, this is very imaginative and well realised

Grey Wolf

[Redbeard]

It is late October 1813 and Napoleon and the Grande Armee is on the retreat through Germany after the defeat at Leipzig. At Hanau near Frankfurt am Main the head of the long collumn is stopped by 45.000 Bavarian and Austrian troops under the Bavarian General Wrede waiting outside the Lambois forrest. Napoleon himself rides forward to get an impression of the situation. After watching for some minuttes from the forrest edge he says: “I made Wrede a Count, but.....” and then he suddenly drops over hit by a stray Bavarian bullet in the forehead. The rumour instantly spreads “the Emperor is dead!” and panic follows. The Marshalls all want to be the one that saves the day and in that process waste the remaining cream of the Grande Armee in uncoordinated attacks against the pale plue and white line. As the last battalions of the Old Guard are wiped out by Austro-Bavarian grapeshot the Grande Armee simply dissolves, and the next couple of days is one long combination of massacres and mass surrenders as the head-less columns enters Wrede’s meat grinder.

Soon all Germany knows: “The Tyrant is finally dead and the Liberator is Wrede!” but Wrede do not rest on the laurels. In a few days all the neighboring principalities recieve envoys informing them about the vincinity of Bavarian troops and the good idea in joning now a Bavarian lead South German League. They are all bled pale by decades of war and the popular sentiment is certainly for the Bavarians. Only a few intelectuals have higher ideas about a Prussian led pan-germanism. Wienna isn’t asked and although somewhat nervous about the independently acting Wrede, Metternich sees him as a useful instrument against the Prussians and Russians. So before any Prussian or Russian soldier have reached the Rhine a peace agreement is dictated to France pushing back the borders to pre-revolutionary time and restoring the Bourbons, but letting the Napoleonic nobility keep their titles and loot. The British are happy about getting rid of “ol’ boney” but the Prussians and Russians feel like having had their candy stolen, and at the moment they really can’t do anything, especially as the British subsidies stopped as they got the news of the hole in Napoleon’s forehead.

In Wienna and London the moode is complacent, but in Moscow, Berlin and Munich they each plan how to expand. In Moscow Alexander sees himself as Christ vs. 2.0 and expects the Prussians to be his prophets. The Prussian King is hesitating to throw his country into another war but the Queen is effective.

By 1825 the situation is tense and over some tedious detail Prussia and Russia declares war on the South German League. But before the Russian troops can unite with the Prussians the Bavarians strike first and decisively defeat the Prussians in the famous battle in the parks around FrederickGreat’s old castle and grave at Sans Souci on 30th of Ocotober 1825 (I know it is an extra humiliation ofthe Prussians, but I feel evil today). Next the Bavarians wisely retreat before the huge Russian army approaching from the East, but the Russian army now experiences a new 1812 campaign – the French way. The constant rain and wind and temperatures around zero degree Celsius plus the always raiding Streifkorps take a heavy toll. The Russians soldiers complain that had it at least been freezing they would know how to cope, but this windy and wet climate is worse than anything they have experienced before. By December the Russian Army is down to a fraction of its original strength and have so far only dealt out blows into blue air. Then the shock suddenly strikes – Alexander dies – and back home in Moscow the new zar is powerless with the army and the guard suffering in Germany and circles among the higher nobility use the opportunity to take power and Russia is drawn into isolationism. All this things brings trouble elsewhere too. The Swedes had been uncautious enough to openly support the Prussian and Russians (paying back for getting Norway in 1813), but the incapacitation of both Russia and Prussia suddenly leaves Sweden alone. Revolt is soon in full outrage in Norway and a Danish army is landed in southern Sweden. Pressed from two sides the Swedes are soon in full retreat, but in Copenhagen a British “we are not amused!” signal is received. The British can in no way accept that one power again controls the Baltic approaches and there is nothing the Bavarians can or will do to help against the Royal Navy. But at the peace congress in Nuremberg the next year the King of Denmark is allowed to propperly annex the Duchies of Slesvig and Holsten into the Kingdom, and the King also gets sovereignty of Hamburg, Oldenburg, and Pommerania, but as a Duke in the loose but Bavarian led German Federation. Norway gains full independence and in Finland the long bloody road to independence in 1878 is started. Prussia is reduced to something like before Frederick the Great, even a small Poland is allowed with hesitating Austrian support.

Complacency is now prevalent in Bavaria, but concerns are growing in Vienna – in Paris the Bourbon King is fighting to be taken serious as a real King. The Austrians change from anxious to mad when they in 1848 learn about apparent Bavarian support behind Italian rebels, but this time the Austrians will strike first and sends an army into Bavaria and one into Northern Italy. Now the French are ready again however and soon enter Italy from the west and next Hungary is in rebellion. In Germany there is widespread dissatisfaction with the rather conservative (and Catholic) Bavarian hegemony, but nobody really can see the point in rebelling against the Bavarians if that only brings the Austrians. So all in all the Bavarians are allowed relative peace and quiet to assemble their own army and the federation forces to strike back. In Vienna the Emperor Ferdinand is forced to abdicate and as the new young Emperor Frans Joseph is killed while heading a valiant but foolhearted cavaly charge the Habsburg monarchy quickly disintegrates. Bavaria gets Austria itself and Bohemia and Moravia, while a number of French puppets are created in N. Italy. An independent Hungary is created taking all the remaining apart from that taken by the new Polish-Saxon alliance (Galicia and Silesia). The Poles and Saxons next turn on the isolationist Russia and soon carves out most of Ukraine, Belorus and Lithunaia. In the north there is wide spread rebellion amongst Germans against the Danish rule, but absent of outside support the rebels are defeated in a very bloody three year war where a lot of Scandinavian volunteers take part on Danish side. The war soon evolves into one big organised hate crime, but especially the well organised ruthlessness of the Danish troops awakes disgust around the world. In UK there is a widespread wish for supporting the peace and freedom loving Germans, but as the Germans in Hanover are not that happy about British rule either, support never exceeds empty words and some warm clothes.

In France one of Napoleons decendants now shows up and eventually claims to be Napoleon III – and, as usual, hears from his minister of war that the army is ready down to the last gaiter button – so war is declared on the German Federation – which is lost – as usual, but this time the opponent of the French also utilise the opportunity to subdue the Italians. So the scenery is unforgettable as the flamboyant (and raving mad) Ludwig of Bavaria is crowned Emperor of Rome at Versailles. The next couple of decades are know as a golden age with Ludwig building fairytale castles and supporting all kinds of culture everywhere. When France and UK by early 20th century finally had found together against the Roman Empire it was too late and the French could not resist the pressure from both the east and the south east. It had been hoped that the Saxons and Poles could have pressed the Romans from the east, but they were already heavily engaged in a fight with the cruel and barbarian Scandinavian Union over the Baltic areas. And the Hungarians were as usual bussy carving out lumps of the Ottoman Empire.

After the victory in the Christmas War (called so because it ended on Christmas day in 1914) there followed some happy decades with increasing wealth and poltical and social reforms, although the fascists in France and Spain had to be taught a lesson in the late 30’s. But all in all the Roman Empire with a Wittelsbach as the Constitutional Monarch was happy with doing business and having a good time.

The British tried to forget about Europe (giving up Hanover in 1915) and focused on the Empire. That worked OK, and the world had three major powers – The Roman Empire and vassals on the European continent, the British Commonwealth in GB, Africa and Asia and USA in the Americas and the Pacific Region. Brazil’s ambitions had collapsed with the rubber market but Japan was a rising power and the Roman Empires need for oil had kept the Ottoman rule over the Mid East survive in order to keep the British out. The colonies of the Roman vassals remainded under formal rule of the vassals, that saved the usually socialdemocratic governments in Munich of a moral problem, but secured a lot of overseas commodities. The Japanese got overconfident in the 1940’s and were told the consequences by the old powers. Pretty much the same happened to the Ottomans in the late 20th century, but by that time oil wasn’t that importnant a source of energy anylonger.

In 2005 King Kim of Korea announced that his scientiest had successfully tested the old theories about plutonium being extremely explosive if an uncontrolled fission could be initiated. All around the world governments asked for reports on how much plutonium was on stock in the numerous civilian reactors...

Regards

Steffen Redbeard

[JHPier]

The empire of Ahmad Gragn

In 1526 an ambitious soldier, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, called Gragn, the Left-Handed, by Christian Ethiopians, made Harar his power base, killing the previous ruler & assumed title of imam (in this context meaning the chosen one, i.e. the leader of the jihad), then, supplied with firearms by the Ottomans, set about the conquest of Ethiopia.
In 1529 his forces inflicted a major defeat on Lebna Dengel, the Christian emperor and by 1535 Muslim troops had overrun almost all of Christian Ethiopia and the emperor had been reduced to a fugitive in what had once been his own kingdom. In 1541 Ahmad destroyed a small Portuguese expedition of 200 men, [In OTL, this expedition of 400 well-armed men managed to fight its way through to the remnant Ethiopian Christian resistance and in 1543 defeat and kill Ahmad in battle. Without his charismatic leadership Muslim forces collapsed and the Christian empire was restored.] and by the 1550's Christian resistance was crushed. In the course of the next century most Christians converted to Islam, reducing Christians to a despised minority of ca.10% carrying out those crafts ordinary Ethiopians felt themselves too good for.
Ahmad's sons and grandsons proved unable to keep the empire together. The empire fell apart in provincial amirates in their civil war and the pagan Oromo were able to overwhelm the southern parts of the empire. By the 17C Oromo slave soldiers (or Janissaries) were the core of the armies of the successor amirates, and one of them in 1715 deposed the last amir of Ahmad's line.
The country remained disunited until first an army sent by the Mahdist caliph (1887) and shortly after the Italians put paid to their existence.

[Romulus Augustulus]

The Free Republic of America:

During the 1990s, the United States experienced a profound decline in political stability as the federal government grappled for control with various militant far right groups. Starting around 1992, a sizable assortment of far right groups, many vehemently opposed to the government and its policies arose. At first, these groups really didn't have much of an active following, but there were many people who joined the movement after what was perceived as government oppresion occured when the US Government went after several far-right groups. These actions were widely perceived as not having been executed for valid reasons, the government attacking militia groups not because of legal violations on the part of the militia groups (there were actually valid legal violations on their part; a number of white supremacist groups conducted drug and firearms smuggling) but rather due to ideological disagreements with said groups. The tensions between the government and far rights groups steadily rose, until it finally boiled over in 1993, during the government's siege of the Branch Davidians, holed up in Waco. As the government forces began to move in, a number of militiamen appeared on the scene, attacking the FBI. At the same time, various terrorist groups began a campaign of terrorist attacks on the federal government, and sizable numbers of members of far right groups rose in revolt, proclaiming the Free Republic of America. This was not a wise move on their part...national opinion was galvanized against them. The short lived Free Republic of America was crushed like an overripe apricot and completely destroyed.

[PaleHorseRiding]

One question for Xen why would greece go for independace from an Empire it Controled.

[Xen]

One question for Xen why would greece go for independace from an Empire it Controled.

Man this timeline is well over a year old and was my first venture into mideval times. Before this timeline my limits of knowing the Byzantine Empire was it once was called Romania, therefore I wrongly thought Romania was the last surviving remnant of the old Byzantine Empire. Eh live and learn, I know much more about the Byzantines now, and know they were Greek not Romanian. Before attempting this I concentrated only on history from the American Revolution up. So what can I do? Cant change my ignorance from the past

[PaleHorseRiding]

Ok xen thats cool I was just curious was just thinking u had an interesting POD for it that is all.

[hans]

Some years ago ..... i have heared about a virtually union french-germany :
Framania and this had inspired me these:

[Imajin]

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania aren't Slavic.. Latvia and Lithuania are, I believe, Baltic, while Estonians are a Finnic ethnic group (I may be wrong, though.)

And Moldova is a Romanian ethnicity.. If it's going to join any country, it would be Romania. Of course, Transnistria is another story.

[hans]

Framania in 1996!

[Imajin]

Some more questions:
- Why didn't Denmark join Scandinavia?
- Why is Scandinavia a Republic? I don't see Sweden or Norway abolishing their monarchies..

[Midgard]

Cossack Free State of Ukrayiina:

The land popularly known as Ukraine has long been a battlefield between various factions striving for control, a perpetual no-man's land between the powers of Russia, Poland, the Tatars, and the Ottomans, the kind of place where the people who want to disappear go to. Torn between religions, ethnicities, and loyalties, and far removed from the glory days of what once was Kievan Rus, Ukrainian lands gave birth to a new kind of nation, the one formed as much by the military prowess of its inhabitants as by the principles that made them leave their previous homes in search of freedom from political or religious oppression.

The history of the modern state of Ukraine begins in the XVIIth century, when after a long and bloody war, the cossack army under the leadership of ataman Bogdan Khmelnitsky succeeds in expelling the Poles from the Eastern Ukraine. Despite many offers of alliance from Russia in the north, Khmelnitsky decided that Russia was a dangerous ally at best, and determined to continue the free state of Zaporizhka Sich, with the capital at Zaporizhye.

Subsequent decades had proven him right, as the fledgling state had to beat back not only the Polish incursions and Tatar raids from Crimea, but two full-scale invasion attempts from Russia. Its population swelling due to many runaway serfs from Polish and Russian territories, and its warrior culture still intact, the Sich was able to warrant its independence by the force of its arms. Its government of the time has been considered the first true European democracy, electing its military, financial, and political leaders by popular assembly at Zaporizhye. Its presense at the crossing of regional powers made sure that any moves in the area by one power would be resisted by the others, and thus the new cossack state had finally been able to reassert its situation by 1680s.

In the XVIIIth century, as Poland-Lithuania's hold on the Western Ukraine weakened, the Sich cossacks were received in the western territories as liberators, thus expanding their dominion. With much greater land and population, a stronger administrative structure became necessary, with the government moving to the centrally positioned ancient capital of Kiev. Russia under Tsar Peter attempted to intervene, however, battle-hardened cossacks were able to stop the Russian army before it crossed into the Ukrainian heartland. From now on, the new state started calling itself the Cossack Free State of Ukrayiina, or, more commonly, Ukraine.

The next centuries saw Ukraine become the main source of experienced, hardened mercenaries for much of Europe and the Middle East, serving in the Russian, Swedish, Italian, and Ottoman armies. With an easy source of troops available for a right price to any pretender, Russia descended into civil war in early XVIIIth century following the assassination of Tsar Peter, the state in which Russia would be for over sixty years. With Russia in turmoil, much of its outlying provinces were picked up by the Swedes, Poles, Ukrainians, Ottomans, and the other powers in the area.

In 1775, Prince Mikhail Vyazemsky of Russia finally united what was left of his dominions with help of Ukrainian mercenaries, being crowned Mikhail II in Moscow. He has paid dearly for their services, with the territory of Ukraine becoming exponentially greater than it has ever been. While Ukraine has been a much more liberal society than most of Europe, a number of disgruntled Russian nobles in the territories seceded to Ukraine attempted rebellion, asking Poland to intervene on their behalf. The resulting war was long and hard-fought, with the other nations entering down the line. Sweden and Austria entered on the Polish side, while the Ottomans and the French sided with the Ukrainians. Most of the fighting occurred around Poland/Ukraine border, with the exception of the second front of French-Austrian warfare.

During the war, several shortcomings of Ukrainian military became apparent to the country's leadership. While the cossacks were skilled warriors and mercenaries, they did not necessarily possess the organized leadership needed for large-scale military operations where winning depended less on individual prowess, but more on a carefully executed plan. Also, Ukraine did not possess the kind of industry that could support large-scale warfare on its own without resorting to purchasing arms and amunition from the other countries.

By 1787, after series of inconclusive battles, the sides were pretty much just where they started. Subsequent treaty resulted in disputed territories partitioned between Poland, Ukraine, and Russia, while no other territorial gains were made. In Ukraine, much emphasis was put into developing military technology, and upgrading the army to become a strong, organized fighting force. In Austria, in a meanwhile, the war has created a large level of popular discontent due to many casualties for no apparent gain. The discontent in France was even stronger, resulting in King Louis XVI's toppling by a popular uprising. The newly declared French Republic found itself at odds with most of its neighbours, and thus had to depend on Ukrainian mercenaries to fend off the Austrian, British, and royalist attacks. The ideas of the republic were heavily based on the Ukrainian model, not the Enlightenment philosophy that started to become popular in years before the revolution. In exchange, Ukraine received much military technology that allowed it to replace many obsolete designs in service.

By 1794, the revolution in American colonies of Britain gave the independence to the newly created United States of America. The new country was dominated by rich planter aristocracy, with the capital in Philadelphia, while New York remained in British hands. Due to harsh conditions the planters imposed upon their slaves and poorer citizens, the immigration to the West of the Appallachians has experienced its first major drive.

While suspected of pro-republican-French sympathies, Ukraine managed to stay neutral of the European conflict, attempting to rebuild its economy and military forces to be on par with that of the rest of the continent. By 1796, the French republic made peace with most of its enemies, who recognized its right to existense.

The XIXth century saw two outbreaks of conflict in Europe, one due to Greek revolts in the Ottoman Empire, and one due to the attempts at Italian unification. In the first one, the Ottomans faced the onslaught of the British and French armies, finally creating a limited Greek state in Morea, technically subservient to the Sultan, but practically independent. In the second one, Austria, France, and Britain squared off in the Italian peninsula, resulting in the country being divided into spheres of control.

With the XXth century dawning, Ukraine found itself a regional power, with up-to-date military and infrastructure, surrounded by a resurgent Ottoman Empire to the south, and stable Russian Empire to the north. The eventual unification of Germany, and disintegration of Austria led to another European war, which pitted the alliance of France, Germany, and Sweden against Russia, Ukraine, Ottomans, and Britain. The war, starting in 1904 and continuing on and off until 1915, resulted in fast progress of military technology, and the overthrow of monarchies in Germany, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, with republican governments coming to power. The Treaty of Warsaw that ended the war saw much of the continent consumed by warfare, with very little gains, thus creating a balance of power.

Currently, Ukraine is a member of the European Democratic Bloc, created as an economical and military commonwealth in 1956 as a response to the threat of then-militaristic United Empire of America. After American Velvet Revolution of 1987, as the peaceful breakup of the Empire is often referred to, the Democratic Bloc came to include the Free States of Massachussets, Pennsylvania, and Greater Georgia.

Ukrainian peacekeepers are often deployed in the zones of military conflict throughout the world, usually being trusted upon as impartial, skilled force. While still a provider of agricultural products, Ukraine is now also a supplier of technological products, testing its first nuclear weapon in 1937, and sending a man into orbit by 1948.

[hans]

Some more questions:
- Why didn't Denmark join Scandinavia?
- Why is Scandinavia a Republic? I don't see Sweden or Norway abolishing their monarchies..
Denmark had a goverment filo-germanic , Republic Federal of Scandinavia had one federal president and two kings (Norway and Sweden) and one president ( Finland)
AH Scenario made by me was principally subordinate at writing tales !

[Aussey]

Sorry this is short, but I'll need some help.

Anne Boelyn and Henry Percy marrry anyways. When King Henry VIII denounces ROme, say Northumbria secedes and is supported by alll major Catholic powers.....and are the first to colonize North America.

[Imajin]

Kingdom of Byelorussia

In this timeline, both the United Kingdom and the United States of America stayed out of the First World War. Germany first beat Russia, forcing them to follow the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which caused many nations to break away from Russia. One of these was Byelorussia. Originally, Byelorussian nationalists declared a Belarus Democratic Republic. The Germans, who had decided to install a Prince from the Duchy of Brunswick* on the Byelorussian throne, nevertheless decided to allow the Republic to exist while it defeated France. In the Treaty of Versalles, France lost the rest of Alsace-Lorraine, which was formed into a Duchy within the German Empire.
In 1918, the Empire of Germany invaded the Belarus Democratic Republic, along with the People's Republic of the Ukraine, who had both resisted monarchies being installed on their thrones. Eventually, both succumbed, with Prince Victor of Brunswick being installed on the Beylorussian throne.
King Victor I had a tough job ahead of him. The Beylorussian populace had mainly supported the short-lived Republic, and took much time to warm up to the German monarch. However, it happened slowly, and by 1935 King Victor was loved by his people.
Meanwhile, however, the winds of War began in defeated France. Phillipe Gaulle, leader of the French People's Solidarity Party, or the Popularistes, proclaimed a new Greater
Francia, and to this goal invaded and annexed much of Belgium. What remained of the tiny monarchy became the Protectorate of Flanders and North Brabant. Soon after, the Populariste Army moved into the seemingly invincible German Reich, where the Duchy of Alsace-Lorraine was added to the Empire. Later that year, Berlin fell to the Francian conslaught, and the monarchs of the Reich were forced to flee upon the declaration of the "State of Germany" in the east, and many annexations in the west. However, the Populariste Army was not done, as it sweeped into the Eastern Kingdoms with the help of the new Russian Soviet Republic. However, an alliance of Britain and America, and a Russian defection and restoration, resulted in the Liberation of France.
In a way, anyway. The democratic allies and the Monarchic Germans resulted in an odd monarchy-vs-democracy cold war, with a division of France into The Republic of West France and the French Kingdom, led by a Bourbon the Germans dug up. Byelorussia remains firmly in the monarchy camp, as this cold war goes on.

*- House of Hanover, Broke away from the British with Victoria